March 16, 2012
Martinsburg players exposed to meth at motel
Kanawha City Motel 6 was found contaminated nearly 2 months ago
Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A West Virginia high school sports official said he didn't know that a Kanawha City motel recently had been contaminated by methamphetamine before placing a boys basketball team there Thursday night.

Four team members from the Martinsburg High School boys basketball team were taken to CAMC General Hospital and later released after being exposed to meth at the Motel 6 on MacCorkle Avenue Southeast, said Gary Ray, executive director of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission.

On Jan. 30, Charleston police discovered a meth lab inside Room 319 after they were called there for reports of a small fire. The room's occupants had fled the scene before officers arrived, according to reports.

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    15 Comments
    Posted By: habibhaddad
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    If Martinsburg wins, would that be considered an unfair advantage by virtue of use of performance enhancing drugs?
    Posted at: March 16, 2012 10:19:12 am

    Posted By: billyb84
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    Why was the motel still open for business if the contamination occurred several months ago? Where was the health department then? Does anyone on the health department staff have children attending GW?
    Posted at: March 16, 2012 11:12:25 am

    Posted By: jjofwv
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    Hey really Motel 6 these guys deserves better than a Motel 6 come on they have worked hard to get to where they are so treat them and make them want to return to Charleston I am sure the Motel and Hotels can work with the Board of education to ensure these guys a great tournament experience]
    Posted at: March 16, 2012 1:48:02 pm

    Posted By: LtPiper
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    @billyb84 Exactly. IF they discovered it months ago why was the room/motel still open. They shut down the one in Jefferson the day of. I'm curious as to what department discovered the lab to begin with. That would be quite telling I'm sure.
    Posted at: March 16, 2012 3:52:49 pm

    Posted By: dumb hillbilly
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    I don't stay in Motel 6 when I travel. I don't like paper bath mats. Nor do I stay in Marriott's. Surely there are mid priced nice motels to house the players in.
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 12:53:31 am

    Posted By: CD
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    We stayed at the motel next door for awhile last year and all you seen at Motel 6 was drug dealing,drunk people fighting constantly and prostitution. The cops were there alot but usually the people were gone and then came back when they left.It is giving the decent motels around it a very bad reputation.That place is alful. I feel sorry for the hard working girls who clean those rooms.They have to put up with alot,I have seen it.That team deserved alot better then that place.Not knocking on Motel 6 but this one is terrible.
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 1:17:45 am

    Posted By: MountainLover
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    There is a huge disconnect between Martinsburg and Charleston anyway, so the powers that be in Charleston have really hurt themselves with this. Someone needs to make sure the Martinsburg players are treated much better. A shameful story.
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 7:17:39 am

    Posted By: Goldeneye
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    Anybody with a little common sense knows that you don't stay that interstate hotels in KC...shame on whoever set this up...Charleston Chamber of Commerce? City of Charleston? SSAC? Kanawha Health Board? ???Why aren't these organizations involved? We already lost the football championships to Wheeling..I mean how inept can this valley get? With all of the hotels downtown why in the world were these kids allowed to stay in that place? Shame on everyone responsible for this and shame on the leadership of Charleston who has not a proactive decent bone left in its body to make the city a great place to visit or live for that matter.
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 8:11:16 am

    Posted By: nmmiller
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    Brings new meaning to "Leaving the light on"...
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 10:02:35 am

    Posted By: dakman
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    This is awful. Why didn't the Charleston Health Dept close this place back in January? They are too busy worrying about second hand smoke and restaurant report cards to care about this? And what does this say about our community to these visitors who will go back home thinking of Charleston as the meth capitol of WV?
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 10:17:05 am

    Posted By: Quickie
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    The Great Kanawha Valley, "Chemical Center of the World."

    Say it ain't so.
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 11:22:05 am

    Posted By: annebeth
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    I attended the boys basketball tournament and purchased a program. Inside, there is a list of approved motels for the area and a statement that if those motels are not used that the teams will not receive reimbursement. Motel 6 is not listed, so I would like to know why Gary Ray, executive director of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, placed the team in that motel? The ones that are listed in the program are the Marriott, Embassy, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, Ramada, Super 8, Wingate & Best Western, so why did he state that Motel 6 was on a list of motels that cooperate with the SSAC. The whole thing is rather foul and I just hope that the players are ok.
    Posted at: March 17, 2012 3:57:25 pm

    Posted By: Braxton Breeze
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    How about a little follow up reporting. Answers to the questions.

    How did these players end up at a this hotel?

    Who was responsible for that decision?

    Who placed them into a contaminated room?

    Why aren't blocks of rooms reserved by the SSAC at 3 star or better hotels? They know certain amount of teams will be staying overnight.

    Im confident that at the end of the day the answers are going to come down to $$$$ money! As in someone was looking to save a nickel.

    Well this one is going to cost someone some money when the lawyers jump in.
    Posted at: March 18, 2012 1:27:54 pm

    Posted By: treeman
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    With Kanawha Co. being the overwhelming leader in meth production and use in WV, I think it is time to move the tournaments to another location. I really feel that without the distraction, Martinsburg would have prevailed.
    Posted at: March 19, 2012 7:39:38 am

    Posted By: annebeth
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    I attended the GW-Martinsburg game and that game could have gone either way; Tino DiTrapino got things going for GW towards the end. The boys from Martinsburg were Superman tough to have had to go through this and still play as well as they did. They should hold their heads high and their coach needs to know he has some fine young men on his team, to have endured this meth mess. I am so sorry that this happened because I would not have allowed my dog to stay at Motel 6 in Kanawha City. The place is not safe for adults, let alone kids; in fact a Charleston police officer was shot there a while back. It is unreal that the team was placed in that motel. I hope that they is an investigation to see why this happened and next year I hope teams get better motels.
    Posted at: March 19, 2012 11:18:12 am

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