Troop 3
MARCH UPDATE
By Lonnie Carpenter
Mar 20, 2007, 08:58

Update for March 2007

            On March 19, 2007, I attended the monthly WVTA meeting in Charleston. As most of you know by now we did not do very well  during the Legislative session. Our 55 to 50 was killed in the Senate Finance because Senator Walt Helmick failed to put it on the agenda. This was after he promised to put it on the agenda. We believe that someone else told him not to put it on the agenda, but for all intents and purposes he lied to us. We did have a lot of support for this bill; both Senators Foster and Duke supported us very well. So if they are in your area, make contact with them and thank them.

            The On Call bill did not get very far, it made it through the House Judiciary, and that was it. The Department was against this bill, so that might have had a lot to do with this bill being killed. We need to come to a decision on this guys. I will do what you want, I think we have a law suit for the non-payment of night calls. I think we should go forward with the law suit.  We gave the State an easy way out with the bill we presented, and they basically turned their back on us. We also have a law suit with the way they pay us overtime too. I say we wrap the suits together. I believe we have given the Department and State every chance to make this right. I need you guys to e-mail and tell me what you want to do.  Also I need to know which guys have to stay at their office to take night calls, by this I don’t mean that you stay there because you live too far away to take night calls at home, I mean you are required by one of your supervisors to stay at the office. Also remember that if you get called out twice in one night the Department is under an agreement with us to pay you for eight hours. Also remember if you do not get five hours of continuous sleep they have to pay you for the hours you were off. So if you get home at mid-night and get called out at 0300 hours, you need to charge the Department for the three hours between mid-night and 0300 hours, this is part of the FLSA law which we are required to follow by policy. So by not charging the Department you are violating policy. We need to make a change in the way we think, I know none of us expect to get paid for not working but if they won’t come to us then I guess we will have to take it to them.

            The table games bill passed, so Troopers will be in the race tracks. We will also be the lead agency on all felonies that occur at the race tracks. The bill was not exactly what we wanted; our bill required at least four Troopers in each race track. This bill leaves the amount of Troopers up to the Superintendent and the Lottery Commissioner.

            We did get a 3.5 % pay raise which will come out to be about $1200.00 so if you add that to the second installment of our three year pay raise plus the $400.00 of longevity we are getting a good pay raise this year. We would not have gotten this extra 1200.00 if not for our union rep. She was at every meeting making sure they did not forget about us. We were not on the first pay raise bill, Elaine met with the Governor twice a week and got us on the pay raise bill. That what the union does for us, they are there when we can’t be.

            As for old news the Plan B to Plan A suit is set for trial on April 17^th in Kanawha County Circuit Court. Lets keep our fingers crossed for the guys that are affected. Also we are having a problem with the America Association of State Troopers soliciting money from people here in West Virginia and telling them that they represent us. These callers are very pushy and are causing several complaints to come into our office. If they have one member from our Department then they can say they represent West Virginia Troopers. They are telling people that they are collecting money for the WVTA, which is not true. The best we can figure they have collected $200,000 in the last year from West Virginia. That is money that could be coming to us, then to you in form of scholarships, legal assistance, and financial assistance. I need to know if any of you guys are members. I don’t think very many of the new guys are, but I hear that they came in a while back and offered $1000.00 check at retirement for you to sign up as a member. I need to know if any of you guys are members.

            In closing you guys need to make sure you are giving out the Bears Against Durgs merchandise. We need to give the presentations also. Remember Bears Against Drugs is what makes it possible for us to collect money as a non-profit organization. We need to make sure we continue to do the Bears Against Drug presentations.