UPDATE: Mt. Zion Cemetery gets $2 million from state for repairs | News, sports, jobs

File photo Headstones at Mt. Cemetery Zion lay overturned due to landslides following heavy storms earlier this month. Governor Jim Justice will visit the cemetery on Thursday to hand over money to help restore the cemetery.

Gov. Jim Justice presented a check for $2 million from state funds to help repair Mount Zion Cemetery, where more than 100 grave markers were destroyed by landslides following heavy storms earlier this month.

Justice presented the check along with Randall Reid-Smith, the cabinet secretary of the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History.

Original story

Mt. Zion Cemetery, badly damaged by severe storms earlier this month, is getting a financial boost for restoration thanks to Gov. Jim Justice.

Justice will make a stop in Wheeling today to, among other things, present funds for the repair and restoration of Mt. Zion Cemetery.

Justice will visit the cemetery on Thursday at 2 p.m. for the check presentation.

The cemetery was severely damaged by landslides during heavy storms in early April. Earlier this month, Charles Yocke, president of the Mt. Zion Cemetery Association, meeting with Reps. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, and Diana Winzenreid, R-Ohio; Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke; Cody Straley and Jessica Eichlin at the West Virginia Arts & Culture Commission; and Nathan Allison and Craig Arthur of A&A Monument Services of Calhoun County, W.Va.

The group viewed the damage and discussed what could be done to restore the cemetery. Yocke told the group that the mudslide, which initially occurred on April 3, continued to move. He said there is another area above the current one that “looked ready to come down.”

Yocke had hoped the state could provide funding to repair the damage, which he estimated has caused between 100 and 150 graves and headstones so far.

Justice will also be at Independence Hall in downtown Wheeling at 11 a.m. for an event with the West Virginia Coal Association. The topic of his lecture, according to a press release from the Justice Department, will focus on federal changes that could destabilize the current energy grid, increase energy costs and force closures of coal and natural gas plants.

Today’s latest news and more in your inbox