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Emmett Pugh ('68)

Mayor's Passion Is City of Beckley

This article appeared in the Register-Herald on June 15, 2003.

By ANNETTE Z. FOX

Continuing his heritage and becoming an integral part of a city he's been passionate about since childhood, Emmett Pugh is all about Beckley.

The mayor, born and raised off Beaver Avenue, has Beckley written all over him - evidenced in his history and current endeavors to make the city an even tighter, as well as productive, community.

Pugh wasn't the first in his family to pursue politics. His grandfather, A.K. Minter, served as mayor from 1938 to 1959. His other grandfather, E.S. Pugh, served on common council.

Both his paternal and maternal grandparents were initially affiliated with coal companies, but left the business when it became tough to work with the railroad companies.

Just as any other all-American boy growing up in Beckley, Pugh experienced neighborhood games and sports while living on Lancaster Street, in addition to participating in Little League and the Babe Ruth League.

"My parents got a lot of splinters from sitting on the benches at Little League and Babe Ruth," Pugh recalled. In Little League, he played pitcher and shortstop; in Babe Ruth, it was second base and shortstop.

"We had the first Babe Ruth team here that ever won the state championship," the mayor said with a gleam.

Pugh grew up with boys who would eventually become business and community leaders - Pat Fragile, the Rosenbaum twins, Palmer Farley and Fred Lewis, now a Supreme Court justice in Florida. Although many of the neighborhood crew were a few years older, they always included him and his brother in on the fun.

"That's where I learned my sports," Pugh continued. "They always included us in the whiffle ball games and the pepper games ... So we had a pretty close-knit neighborhood. It was a very quiet neighborhood."

His grandparents lived nearby, and across the street resided the late coach Ross Irle, who today remains a local sports icon.

"It was just a very close-knit, very sociable neighborhood. Everybody knew everybody."

Life as a teen

Pugh remembers his childhood fondly, as he does high school. He joined a local band, called the Red Barons, hosting a number of dances and gatherings around town and surrounding areas.

He and a number of peers formed their own "fraternity" at Woodrow Wilson High School and called themselves the "Dirty Dozen."

"High school was really a good time," Pugh said. "I had a great time."

Pugh's dad played the saxophone professionally, so he was no stranger to music.

"Music was always a part of my family," the mayor reminisced. "My dad had a very good singing voice. I started playing the trumpet and one thing led to another."

His first band experience was with the Red Barons; he initially played rhythm guitar for another group.

"If you knew three chords, shoot, you could be a guitarist, I guess. But we had another band and I had gone over to Phil Shucet's house one day and had my horn with me for some reason, and we played a couple songs. They wanted a horn section and that happened."

The Red Barons played several dances at the old YMCA - now Soldiers Memorial Theatre - after home football games.

"Then, a lot of times we would actually rent the Y and we would do the dance ourselves, and pay the Y the proceeds and we would keep the remainder. This was back in 1967 and 1968. We're talking about making $40 or $45 apiece. That was really good money."

The band eventually won a contest that led them to appear on Dick Clark's "Cavalcade of Stars".

"It was a good time in my life," he added, smiling. "We played a lot of proms here and down in Virginia, across the border down in Richlands. I think, at the time, we were OK. I think actually we're better now than we were then."

Reality check

Looking back on his life, Pugh recalls two eye-opening, life-threatening events that will never escape his memory.

As a youngster, he and his brother Lex enjoyed playing with their new pellet guns - until an accident changed Pugh's opinion of guns.

"I shot my brother with a pellet rifle," Pugh recollected. "It's one of those things where we begged for pellet guns for Christmas. And there again, my mom said we didn't need those. Dad got them. We were very responsible with them, but it just so happened, one Sunday morning... we were shooting air at one another."

Lex and his friends had been "messing around" with the .22 action pellet rifles the night before and someone placed a pellet in Pugh's gun.

"Here we are, going to shoot air at one another. Well, (Lex) shot air at me and so I put a couple three pumps in the thing and cocked it ... and shot him. The next thing I know, his hand goes like this and blood starts coming out."

Pugh had shot his brother in the corner of the eye. He would normally pump the gun eight or nine times. The more it is pumped, the higher velocity is achieved.

"If I had pumped it eight or nine times, I probably would have killed him," he continued. "Actually, I missed him right between the eyes where I was aiming."

Pugh barely missed his brother's eyeball; Lex had to undergo an operation to have the pellet removed.

Although the outcome was not "that serious," Pugh said it "taught me a real good lesson that I don't mess around with guns."

Admittedly, Pugh is not a hunter. Yet, he joined his grandfather Minter on hunting excursions as a child, specifically bird hunting.

"He would take us out," the mayor recalled. "He was an avid outdoorsman. Liked to hunt and fish. To this day, hunting ... is not for me. I just don't mess around with guns."

Pugh spent many summer weekends at his grandparents' place at Flat Top where he learned to fish and boat.

Facing death

Pugh will never forget the time a vehicle accident could have cost him and a friend their lives.

Just after graduation from Woodrow Wilson in 1968, he and Mitch Childers were headed to the beach. Pugh, who was driving, had fallen asleep at the wheel. He had been working at the F.O.P. pool prior to his departure.

"That was really scary because the way it happened, it was early in the morning. We had gone over a hill - about a 50-feet embankment. The car went over. We sideswiped a tree and I don't know how it happened but ... my door was completely ripped off.

"And we went on down the hill and hit a tree just dead-on. And luckily, to this day, (Childers) was asleep in the front seat. He was kind of lying down on the seat - and thankfully, that's where he was - and the hood came right back through (the windshield). If he had been sitting up, I don't know what would have happened. Now we didn't have seat belts on, and actually, the officer told us it probably saved our lives because we weren't stiffened up when we went over."

Childers' right leg darted into the dash, breaking the femur. Pugh's left knee hit the dash, snapping the femur.

The mayor took about 260 stitches in and around his face. Thinking the two young men would have their legs set and put in casts, Pugh mistakenly figured they would end up heroes once they returned home from outside Richmond, Va.

"The doctor looked at me and said, 'Son, you've laid yourself up for about a year.' Of course, we had. They put us in traction. We were in traction in the Medical College of Virginia for about eight weeks. We were then in body casts from the chest down for about 10 or 12 weeks. Then I had to wear a leg brace after that. It was very interesting."

On to college

The accident caused Pugh to enter college a little later than he had planned. He had hoped to attend West Virginia Wesleyan, but after a semester, the school just wasn't for him.

He then opted to attend Beckley College before enrolling at the University of Alabama. He obtained an undergraduate degree in political science and history, with a specialization in local and state government, which ironically would end up playing a large part in his current career.

Having known the late Lew McManus and with both grandfathers involved in city government, Pugh was quite aware of politics. But as a college student entering the field of political science, he had no idea he would actually end up in the same place.

"My whole thing, really, was going to be geared to law school," Pugh explained. "But when push came to shove - I had been in school for five years for a four-year degree - I was just tired. Like everybody else, if I could go back and do it again, I'd probably go to law school."

Pugh attended Alabama during the Vietnam War and exercised caution because of student deferments that required a specific number of course hours.

"I would actually get report notices to go up and start the physical testing," Pugh noted, adding he would then be exempted due to school.

Back home

"In my mind, there was never any doubt that I would come back here to Beckley. Going somewhere else never entered my mind. It just seemed like I was supposed to come back here."

He never bothered attending job fairs because he knew he didn't want to leave.

Once he returned to Beckley, he began his first job with D&D Reclamation. He had worked for the company during high school.

"What that job did was give me a healthy respect to know that I did not want to do that for a living," he said, laughing. "You got paid from the time I left Beckley to when you arrived in Mingo or Logan counties. That was the good part. But out on those strip mines, with nothing but rock ..."

Afterward, Pugh worked for Jim Songer, selling cemetery property, which, too, was a "tough job."

He and close friend Steve George - also a member of the Red Barons - had been bowling since 1961 in leagues at Bowl Wick bowling center.

"It came on the market, so Steve and I ended up buying that in 1974 and owned it until 1987, and sold it.

"It was a great time. We had a good business. We kind of got out of it right when ... a lot of women started going back to the work place," he said, referring to a downturn in women's bowling leagues.

A fork in the road

In 1987, Pugh joined the staff at Wheat First Securities, where he was responsible for finance and investments. Former Mayor Chuck Shoemaker died in 1988, and Pugh, who had served on common council, filling an at-large seat since 1979, took over his unexpired term, and has remained ever since.

"It was one of those fork in the road decisions you make, and I decided I really wanted to do it," Pugh explained. "I felt like I was heading that way all the time."

He had filed to run for council at-large for two reasons: Someone talked him into it, and he wanted to see where his name would take him.

Pugh was also told that former councilman Irle - a fixed member - was not going to run.

"Well, he did run," the mayor chuckled. "So I lost my first election by a few votes."

Irle took office that July and died about four or five days later.

Then-Mayor John McCulloch contacted Pugh to find out if he was interested in being on council. He was.

Pugh filled Irle's unexpired term, then ran again in 1983 and 1987, winning both elections.

"John McCulloch was definitely my mentor in politics," Pugh recalled. "I admired him. I admire him to this day. He had such a good handle on things. He could always elevate himself above the fray. He had a very common demeanor about him. And, I think, in looking back on it, he was kind of grooming me to do this at the same time."

McCulloch hated ribbon and welcoming ceremonies and always sent Pugh to cover the events on behalf of the city.

When Shoemaker died, Pugh was chosen to fill his unexpired term.

"I had enough votes to fill the unexpired term," he said. "It was like going in as an incumbent."

Pugh had three years in office before running for the post. He has been elected every time, most recently last month.

"I'm the longest serving mayor in Beckley history," he noted, "and also the only ... mayor (still living)."

Pugh attributed his opportunity to become mayor to his wife, Carol, who entered the work field when he first entered office.

"She was very supportive," he said. "We really had a decision to make in 1988 about becoming mayor or staying with Wheat. She didn't have to work then. For me to do this and having three kids, we knew we couldn't make it on what the mayor's salary pays. So she went to work. If she hadn't have done that, I could have never done this."

Bumps and hurdles

One of the toughest projects Pugh has been able to bring to fruition is Rails-to-Trails. If it wasn't for a few good men who have offered support and assistance, it may not have begun.

Bureaucracy most often hinders efforts when wanting to complete projects involving state and federal governments. Government can be slow.

Pugh and council began working on Rails-to-Trails in 1997; to date, only a portion has been completed.

But he keeps plugging along, learning a few lessons and recognizing the good in the community.

"I think we've always tried to keep good people," he said of Beckley's government. "I've tried to put good people around me - the department heads. And I try to impress upon the department heads that they need to try to put good people around them, too. Then it's a win-win for everybody. Sometimes things happen. You just have to deal with that. I don't micro-manage our department. I like to check in and make sure everything is OK."

Beckley is the only city consisting of at least 10,000 residents in West Virginia that does not impose service fees such as for fire and police.

Pugh wants to keep it that way.

As for his own service to the community, he always returns telephone calls and he wants to keep residents tightly knit and working together in harmony.

One goal for the mayor is to see the East Beckley bypass - including the crosstown connector - finished before he leaves office. The new highways will alleviate traffic congestion on both Eisenhower Drive and Harper Road, as well as provide access into the city and a "beltway around the city."

New highways will also mean more economic development and, hopefully, and abundance of jobs in the county, something Pugh has strived for over the years.

As for future endeavors or career plans, Pugh has no intention on pursuing state government.

"I don't want to do that," he said, referring to the slow process in state government.

"To say I couldn't be enticed to do something on the state level would not be true," he expressed. "I possibly could at some point. But I don't think I would run for an elected office on the state level. The position I have here, you know, I'm at the top of the food chain.

"Now that could have good and bad because some people chew on that food at some time," he added, laughing.

"I'm perfectly happy. I have four years now, which will make me 56. But that's not old by any stretch of the imagination. I could certainly run again. And I really don't see much reason not to unless I really just get burned out. Have I burned out? Yes, a couple, three years ago. I was just fed up with the whole process."

Because of the slow bureaucratic process, Pugh said he used to think of reasons not to pursue or complete projects.

"That's really not the right thing to do. If that's the attitude you got, then you really don't need to be here. I had an attitude adjustment."

[Photo by Steve Brightwell]