Village of Beech Bottom

NEWSLETTER MARCH 2025 . BEARCAT SCHOLARSHIP: Applications will be accepted until April 7 for the Beech Bottom Bearcat Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded each year to a Brooke High School graduate who began their education at Beech Bottom Primary and are continuing their education at a 2- or 4-year program. When Beech Bottom Primary was closed, council voted to establish this scholarship as a way for the graduating seniors to know that even though the school is closed, the village still remembers them. This year’s recipient will receive $1000.00 at BHS Awards Program on May 15. Please contact your BHS counselor for an application. Village of Beech Bottom Fire Department will be holding their annual Fish Fry beginning on March 5, Ash Wednesday, and then every Friday thru April 18. Food available from 11 am until 7 pm. Come out and support the Fire Department. Make it Shine Day: Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 5 for our annual Make it Shine Day. On this day volunteers will canvass all public areas of the town for trash, litter, etc. and make our town SHINE after this long, hard winter. Volunteers will meet in the lower shelter on Third Street Playground at 10:00 am to receive your supplies and assignments. Clean up will end at 11:30 with a pizza lunch for all volunteers. DUMPSTER DAY: The spring Dumpster Day will be held on Saturday, April 12. Start collecting your garbage when doing your spring cleaning and use our free dumpster service! FYI, our maintenance crew will not be permitted to enter your house OR yard to collect your garbage. You must have your garbage in bags and, if unable to take to dumpster yourself, set bags on the curb in front of your house for pickup. Thanks for understanding. We want your plastic milk jugs!!! Please save your clear, gallon size milk jugs. Jugs may be left in the village office. Reminder: For those residents thinking of having a pool in your yard this summer. Per Ordinance 41 all pools with a water depth of 2 ft or more must be fully enclosed by fencing. Work progresses on our Water Line Extension Grant. This $1.9 million grant was received from Senators Manchin and Capito in 2023. While we are guaranteed the funding, paperwork must still be submitted prior to release of the money. Our engineering firm, the Brooke Hancock Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission (BHJ) and council continue to work on this project. Hopes were high that this project would finally go out to bid this spring, but the project, yet again, appears to be delayed due to governmental requirements. Council continues to work with Oglebay and WVU Extension Office on the replacement of trees throughout the village. Representatives will be touring the village soon as part of the process

WELCOME SPRING

NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2025 Hoping the month of February brings relief to the bone chilling month of January. Thanks to our Maintenance Department for working in the bitter cold to keep our streets clean. Thanks also to our Water Department for being pro-active and replacing our water lines twenty years ago. We have been very fortunate and not suffered any water line breaks due to the weather as many of our neighboring communities have. Please continue to keep any sidewalks adjoining your property clear for your neighbors. Winners of our Christmas Decorating Contest received their awards at the December 17 Council Meeting. First Place winner was the Springer Family on Hill Street. Second Place went to the Buchanan Family on Second Street and Third Place was awarded to the Philabaum Family on First Street. Congratulations to all our winners and thanks to all the residents who participated. BEARCAT SCHOLARSHIP: Applications will be accepted until April 7 for the Beech Bottom Bearcat Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded each year to a Brooke High School graduate who began their education at Beech Bottom Primary and are continuing their education at a 2- or 4-year program. When Beech Bottom Primary was closed, council voted to establish this scholarship as a way for the graduating seniors to know that even though the school is closed, the village still remembers them. This year’s recipient will receive $1000.00 at BHS Awards Program on May 15. Please contact your BHS counselor for an application. Village of Beech Bottom Fire Department will be holding their annual Fish Fry beginning on March 5 and every Friday thru April 18. Food available from 11 am until 6 pm. Come out and support the Fire Department. Council had to make a hard decision and have the trees along our streets cut down in December. Unfortunately, these trees became diseased, were a safety hazard and will have to be replaced. The affected trees were the Bradford Pear and Flowering Cherry trees that were planted by council approximately thirty years ago. These trees were removed in December in hopes of getting a quick start of replanting in the spring. The Bradford Pear trees have been declared an invasive species and communities are not permitted to plant them anymore. Therefore, council is currently in talks with the horticulturist from Oglebay Park and an agent with the WVU Extension Office to determine the best tree for replanting. We want your plastic milk jugs!!! Please save your clear, gallon size milk jugs. The office staff is collecting them for a Christmas project for later this year. Hoping everyone saw the float that was constructed by the Office and Maintenance Dept. this year. Many hours of work went into this project and it was very well received at both the Wellsburg and Weirton Christmas parades. Thanks to the generous donation of council member Bruce Hunter, the gingerbread house was set up along Rt 2 for everyone to enjoy after the parades. Great job everyone !!! Please leave your gallon milk jugs at the village office. Village Office will be closed on Monday, February 17th in honor of Presidents Day

BEECH BOTTOM — Beech Bottom and its leaders have been honored by the West Virginia Municipal League for their efforts to preserve the village’s history and address a major drainage issue affecting local roads and properties for many years. The community has been named a West Virginia All-Star Community by leaders of the league, who also presented honors to Mayor Becky Uhlly and John Niven, a longtime member of the village’s water board and council. Municipal League officials cited the establishment by village officials and volunteers of roadside parks marking the former site of an airfield established to train pilots for World War I and a former community whose prosperity relied entirely on a major power plant. Located west of state Route 2, near Beech Bottom’s north end, Lambert Park was named for Courtney Lambert, a pilot who died when his plane crashed during training at a privately funded airport at the site. Lambert was among members of the West Virginia Flying Corps, a volunteer group formed to provide air support to American military forces fighting in World War I. The group failed to attain military status, leading its founder, Louis Bennett Jr., to join the war effort as a member of the British Royal Flying Corps.

Summer fun time for the young and young at heart. Please bring all you kiddies down for Foam Fridays.

On Saturday, April 6 2024, twenty adults and three children volunteered to help make Beech Bottom SHINE! A total of 520 pounds of debris was collected along with eleven tires. The total amount of debris collected continues to decline each year in our Village. This is a good indication that the residents of Beech Bottom are being better stewards of their community and try to keep their community clean. The majority of debris was collected from the 49 Hill area, which continues to be a problem. We thank all those who volunteered their time for their community.

We would like to thank the citizens of Beech Bottom for their patients during the Alley "C" project.

The Village is proud that the continuing problems with alley C will be resolved.

A new business is moving into Beech Bottom. Pure Watercraft is a company that specializes in manufacturing high-performance electric outboard motors for boats. Their products are known for their zero emissions and low maintenance. The company aims to provide a better boating experience for its customers. They have also launched their first electric pontoon boat, which can be ordered with either single or twin Pure Outboard Systems motor that’s “juiced” by a GM-sourced battery pack that can be optioned up to 66 kWh. Pure Watercraft web page