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What Are the Steps to Making Wheeling a Golf Cart City?

Discussion. Discovery. Development. Deploy. And it all starts with the idea, of course, and that’s why Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron has been researching a number of options for Mayor Denny Magruder and the six members of Council to consider. Three cities in West Virginia allow golf carts on specific streets now, including Parkersburg, Nitro, and Eleanor, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. The Village of Shadyside, too, allows for golf carts on local streets only with seat belts and child safety seats mandatory, according to a WTRF report. "There's been a little bit of work that's been done on the neighborhood golf cart idea, and City Council has looked at what other communities have done,” Herron said. “They are interested in passing an ordinance which would permit golf carts on city streets with a maximum MPH for them. Our police department has taken a look at it, too, and they're on board with it. If a citywide ordinance is passed by the Mayor and six members of City Council, Wheeling Island would be one of the largest neighbors for the use of residential golf carts. "So now, City Council will need to circle back to it after they've reviewed what other communities have done and figure out what they would like to do here," he said. "They have to determine the best way to accomplish it in Wheeling." Herron has reviewed the regulations in place in Parkersburg, and he plans to recommend many of the same rules to Wheeling’s elected officials. "I think the golf carts should be limited to just city roads because I doubt there's any enabling legislation for state (or federal) roads," Herron explained. "We have a lot of state and federal roadways in Wheeling, too, so the golf cart owners will likely be limited to their neighborhoods. "There's going to have to be a public information campaign about the Dos and Don'ts and what roadways are permitted for travel," the city manager said. "So, City Council has a lot to consider while working on what fits best here." Those driving golf carts in any community must obey normal traffic laws like stop signs, turn signals, and one-way traffic. While Herron doesn’t expect the state Department of Motor Vehicles to be involved with the registration or inspection of the carts in the Friendly City, "As far as what will be required with the golf carts, I would expect mandates for things like headlights, brake lights, but it's my understanding that license plates are not required for golf cart programs like what City Council is reviewing right now," Herron said. "They would likely need to be registered with the city; that's what Parkersburg does. "The driver of the golf carts will have to have a driver's license," he said. “From there, we'll see what City Council wants to do." If and when the idea is considered by Wheeling's City Council, there likely will be rules about crossing state and federal roadways like W.Va. Route 88 in Woodsdale. When & Where? Former mayor Nick Sparachane is a resident of the Woodsdale area, a neighborhood that borders National Road and W.Va. Route 88, and he has been very supportive of the development of the golf cart ordinance. In fact, on May 28th, Nick shared a LEDE News commentary that pertained to the notion of allowing golf cart drivers to navigate the streets of Wheeling. He wrote: “Just fun, communities across America have them. … Rules for sure, all the city’s have rules - must be 16 and have a drivers license, proper (head)lights and tail lights. No highway access … Safer, max speed on golf cart around 20 miles per hour. Probably not for all sections of Wheeling, but, for sure, some. People want to live in fun community.” The majority of the Warwood neighborhood is situated along the banks of the Ohio River, and someone on a golf cart would be able to travel from Third to 23rd Street along Richland Avenue. When that fun will begin, however, has yet to be determined. "The timeline for this is up to City Council," Herron said. "It's up to them how they want to handle it, but this has been a conversation for a few months. I believe if the golf carts can be operated safely, allowing them in our neighborhoods just adds an dimension of transportation. "I would assume we're talking about an ordinance that is citywide, but it also needs to be able to safely operate a golf cart, and in some areas of the city there are some pretty steep hills," he said. "And go up those same hills might be difficult." There will be many unknowns about the use of golf carts until Wheeling's council members decide if a majority wises to move forward with the proposal during upcoming meetings scheduled for Tuesdays in August and September. Regular meetings for Wheeling’s City Council are scheduled for August 4th and August 18th, and in September, the body is set to gather on September 1st and September 15th. Herron does not know, however, whether or not the golf cart initiative will make the agenda for one or more of those meetings "I do want to stress that this has not been decided by council, and ultimately, that's who has to figure it out," the city manager confirmed. "It's all part of the process of investigating an idea that's been brought up by a council member or by a resident. Looking at what other areas have done was one of the first steps in this process, and it's gone from there. "If they want to continue the conversation, there are many more specifics to consider," he added. "There are a lot of different kinds of golf carts, that’s for sure." https://ledenews.com/novotney-golf-carts-on-wheelings-streets/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTXDHxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF4dXJLcHh0V1pMbFVoR2Mzc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHlmNQdDgs3U919RVIm7aV3hkMxy7PyD2yi9UkulgWYCkIcqtRdWo0XkubauU_aem_mfDBV_Ekvw6PRw1tdu95Cg Read the full article

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Wheeling's Dimmeydale Storm Sewer Project Slated to begin Monday

WHEELING, W.VA. - A storm sewer project is scheduled to begin in the Dimmeydale section of Wheeling on Monday, Feb. 23. Crews will begin work near the creek in Dimmeydale Park. The project will continue through the park and extend along Nottoway Drive and Rush Avenue. Roadways will be closed daily in areas where work is taking place. Drivers are encouraged to plan ahead and use alternate routes. The project is expected to be completed by the end of June. Please note that weather or other unforeseen circumstances may impact the schedule. The City appreciates your patience and understanding as this important work is completed. Read the full article

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Summer Camps Registration Now Open for Oglebay Institute Members

OI Members have priority access to register for camps during this special members‑only registration period from 9 a.m. Monday, February 16 through Tuesday, February 17. Plus, members save nearly 20% off the regular cost of camp! Membership gifts help make camps possible, and we are pleased to share these benefits with you. You can view a complete list of 2026 OI Summer Camps at OIonline.com/camps to begin making your summer plans. Not a Member?Join online today to gain access to priority summer camp registration. Online Registration To register online, you must be logged in to your OI online membership account.If you are unsure whether you have an online membership account—or need a refresher on how to access your account—please review the Accessing Your OI Online Account Instructions. If you’re having any issues accessing your account, we’re here to help. We want you to get the full value of your member benefits. Phone Registration Phone registration will remain available for those who do not wish to register online. As always, extra phone lines will be added to handle the additional calls. - Visual Arts Camps (Stifel Center): 304‑242‑7700 - Performing Arts Camps (Towngate Theatre): 304‑242‑7700 - Nature Camps (Schrader Center): 304‑242‑6855 - Dance Camps (School of Dance): 304‑242‑8807 Camp Scholarships — Online Application Now Available Scholarships are available to assist families in taking advantage of our fun and educational summer camps. You may complete and submit the Day Camp Scholarship Application online, print and mail it, or return it in person to Oglebay Institute’s Administration Office.For specific questions regarding scholarships, please call 304‑242‑4200. Applications received by March 17, 2026 will be given first consideration. Read the full article

#belmontcounty #Dimmeydale #MarshallCounty #OglebayInstitute #ohiocounty #SummerCamps #UpperOhioValley #wheeling

Storch: 'I Love Where I Live'

There is something special about waking up in Wheeling, West Virginia.

It is not just the way the morning light filters through the trees or how the Ohio River glimmers like glass at sunrise. It is the way this city feels. There’s a warmth here, a comfort that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world. When people ask why I love living here, I often find myself smiling, because how do you explain something that has become woven into who you are?

Wheeling feels like home in every way. It is the place I grew up, where familiar faces fill every corner, and even a quick trip to the grocery store can turn into a twenty-minute chat about everything from college football to how fast a friend’s kids are growing. The people here are what make it so special. They are genuinely friendly, not just polite but caring.

When someone in Wheeling asks, “How are you doing?” they truly want to know.

The Party on the Plaza Music & Food Festival brings people together to raise funds for WVU Medicine's Children's Hospital.

That sense of connection runs deep. I have seen it time and again, especially when someone faces a difficult time. Neighbors cook meals, churches organize fundraisers, and friends show up on doorsteps just to sit and talk. It is the kind of compassion that doesn’t wait to be asked. It simply shows up, and when times are good, this community knows how to celebrate, too. Whether it’s an event at Heritage Port or a neighborhood street fair, a Friday night game at Wheeling University, the Island Stadium, a Saturday at Lockhart Field, or fireworks bursting over the river on the Fourth of July, there are plenty of reasons to come together in our little town.

I love that Wheeling changes with the seasons. Each one feels like a fresh chapter, offering its own reasons to pause and breathe in its splendor. In the fall, the hills that surround us come alive with fiery reds, oranges, and golds. You can almost hear the crunch of leaves underfoot no matter where you go. I think fall is when Wheeling is at its most breathtaking. I love driving along National Road (especially now with the excellent Veteran banners) or hiking along the trails in Oglebay as the air turns crisp.

Then comes winter, when the snow settles softly over the city and everything seems to slow down just a little. We have spent countless evenings bundled up, driving through the Festival of Lights at Oglebay, watching my kids or visitors press their faces to the car windows, their excitement lighting up the night almost as brightly as the displays themselves. It is one of those traditions that never gets old, no matter how many times you’ve seen it.

Oglebay's annual Festival of Lights will begin in just a few weeks.

Spring brings the feeling of renewal. The trees bloom. The riverbanks come alive, and people seem to have a little extra pep in their step. I love those first warm days when you can roll down the car windows and hear the sounds of life returning to the streets. I love the laughter, the music, the hum of lawnmowers in the distance.

Summer in Wheeling? That is when the city feels wide open and alive. Heritage Port fills with festivals and concerts, and evenings stretch long enough for backyard cookouts and front porch sitting. Some of my favorite memories are of sitting outside as the sun sets, lightening bugs flickering in the yard, and that unmistakable sense of contentment washing over me.

What I have come to appreciate most about living here, though, is the sense of family that never fades. My own family’s story is intertwined within this city. Holidays spent gathered around familiar tables, summer afternoons at Wheeling Park pool, and winter sled rides in Oglebay that always seemed to end with hot chocolate and laughter.

Ice skating at Wheeling Park has been very popular for several decades.

While I wasn’t born here, I have been here long enough to claim it as mine.

There is comfort in knowing that the same streets I grew up walking are the ones my children have come to know. It is a feeling that connects generations.

In Wheeling, family is not just about blood. It is about community. It is the friends who have become like siblings, the neighbors who keep an eye on your home when you are away, the teachers who go the extra mile to help your children succeed. It is about seeing the same faces at church, the farmer’s market, or Friday’s fish fry, and knowing you belong to something larger than yourself.

Of course, Wheeling is not perfect. We have had turbulent times and our share of challenges. There have been economic shifts, floods, and growing pains that come with change. But I think that’s part of what makes this city so endearing. Wheeling is resilient. It bends, but it doesn’t break. It remembers where it came from and keeps working toward where it’s going.

A plethora of changes have taken place in Wheeling's downtown area, and hopefully even more will take place in the years to come.

I’ve traveled to and lived in many places, but no matter where I go, I always find myself longing for home. Once a New Englander, I ached for the familiarity of home. For the haul down two-mile hill or Fort Henry bridge and the tunnels that greet you as you drive into town, for the sound of the river on a quiet night, and for the people who wave when they see you, even if they don’t know your name. There is a peace here, a sense of belonging that is rare in the world today.

When I think about why I love Wheeling, it is not because it is grand or glamorous. It is because it is real. It is steady and familiar, like an old friend who is always there when you need them. It is where we have built a life, raised a family, and learned that happiness doesn’t come from having everything. It comes from being part of something that matters.

Wheeling is where I have planted my roots, and every season, every smile, every shared memory reminds me why I stay. It is not just where I live.

It is who I am, and there’s nowhere else I would rather call home.

Storch: 'I Love Where I Live'

There is something special about waking up in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is not just the way the morning light filters through the trees or how the Ohio River glimmers like glass at sunrise. It is the way this city feels. There’s a warmth here, a comfort that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world. When people ask why I love living here, I often find myself smiling, because how do you explain something that has become woven into who you are? Wheeling feels like home in every way. It is the place I grew up, where familiar faces fill every corner, and even a quick trip to the grocery store can turn into a twenty-minute chat about everything from college football to how fast a friend’s kids are growing. The people here are what make it so special. They are genuinely friendly, not just polite but caring. When someone in Wheeling asks, “How are you doing?” they truly want to know. The Party on the Plaza Music & Food Festival brings people together to raise funds for WVU Medicine's Children's Hospital. That sense of connection runs deep. I have seen it time and again, especially when someone faces a difficult time. Neighbors cook meals, churches organize fundraisers, and friends show up on doorsteps just to sit and talk. It is the kind of compassion that doesn’t wait to be asked. It simply shows up, and when times are good, this community knows how to celebrate, too. Whether it’s an event at Heritage Port or a neighborhood street fair, a Friday night game at Wheeling University, the Island Stadium, a Saturday at Lockhart Field, or fireworks bursting over the river on the Fourth of July, there are plenty of reasons to come together in our little town. I love that Wheeling changes with the seasons. Each one feels like a fresh chapter, offering its own reasons to pause and breathe in its splendor. In the fall, the hills that surround us come alive with fiery reds, oranges, and golds. You can almost hear the crunch of leaves underfoot no matter where you go. I think fall is when Wheeling is at its most breathtaking. I love driving along National Road (especially now with the excellent Veteran banners) or hiking along the trails in Oglebay as the air turns crisp. Then comes winter, when the snow settles softly over the city and everything seems to slow down just a little. We have spent countless evenings bundled up, driving through the Festival of Lights at Oglebay, watching my kids or visitors press their faces to the car windows, their excitement lighting up the night almost as brightly as the displays themselves. It is one of those traditions that never gets old, no matter how many times you’ve seen it. Oglebay's annual Festival of Lights will begin in just a few weeks. Spring brings the feeling of renewal. The trees bloom. The riverbanks come alive, and people seem to have a little extra pep in their step. I love those first warm days when you can roll down the car windows and hear the sounds of life returning to the streets. I love the laughter, the music, the hum of lawnmowers in the distance. Summer in Wheeling? That is when the city feels wide open and alive. Heritage Port fills with festivals and concerts, and evenings stretch long enough for backyard cookouts and front porch sitting. Some of my favorite memories are of sitting outside as the sun sets, lightening bugs flickering in the yard, and that unmistakable sense of contentment washing over me. What I have come to appreciate most about living here, though, is the sense of family that never fades. My own family’s story is intertwined within this city. Holidays spent gathered around familiar tables, summer afternoons at Wheeling Park pool, and winter sled rides in Oglebay that always seemed to end with hot chocolate and laughter. Ice skating at Wheeling Park has been very popular for several decades. While I wasn’t born here, I have been here long enough to claim it as mine. There is comfort in knowing that the same streets I grew up walking are the ones my children have come to know. It is a feeling that connects generations. In Wheeling, family is not just about blood. It is about community. It is the friends who have become like siblings, the neighbors who keep an eye on your home when you are away, the teachers who go the extra mile to help your children succeed. It is about seeing the same faces at church, the farmer’s market, or Friday’s fish fry, and knowing you belong to something larger than yourself. Of course, Wheeling is not perfect. We have had turbulent times and our share of challenges. There have been economic shifts, floods, and growing pains that come with change. But I think that’s part of what makes this city so endearing. Wheeling is resilient. It bends, but it doesn’t break. It remembers where it came from and keeps working toward where it’s going. A plethora of changes have taken place in Wheeling's downtown area, and hopefully even more will take place in the years to come. I’ve traveled to and lived in many places, but no matter where I go, I always find myself longing for home. Once a New Englander, I ached for the familiarity of home. For the haul down two-mile hill or Fort Henry bridge and the tunnels that greet you as you drive into town, for the sound of the river on a quiet night, and for the people who wave when they see you, even if they don’t know your name. There is a peace here, a sense of belonging that is rare in the world today. When I think about why I love Wheeling, it is not because it is grand or glamorous. It is because it is real. It is steady and familiar, like an old friend who is always there when you need them. It is where we have built a life, raised a family, and learned that happiness doesn’t come from having everything. It comes from being part of something that matters. Wheeling is where I have planted my roots, and every season, every smile, every shared memory reminds me why I stay. It is not just where I live. It is who I am, and there’s nowhere else I would rather call home. Read the full article

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(Publisher’s Note: The 12-part series, “The Children of Wheeling’s Mob Era,” will be re-published each evening over the next two weeks so those who missed some or all of the chapters will have another chance to read it. A collection of Steve Novotney’s mob stories over the years will be released in book form this summer.)7Tom Burgoyne, G-ManHe didn’t pound on tables or toss interrogation room chairs. He didn’t have to. He had a gift.Tom Burgoyne was just 27 years old when J. Edgar Hoover assigned him to the Pittsburgh office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Burgoyne initially worked in the bureau’s Miami detachment, but in 1967, he moved to Wheeling. During his second day, he arranged his office inside the Federal Building on Chapline Street, and on his third day, Burgoyne met a man named Paul Hankish.Hankish was an individual he was told about by his superiors in Washington, D.C. Hoover knew the name because Hankish had survived the dynamite bombing most believed was ordered by mob boss “Big Bill” Lias in January 1964.All “Big Bill” allegedly accomplished, though, was blowing off Hankish’s lower extremities resulting in his “Pauly No Legs” nickname, and elevating the man to “folk hero” status throughout the underworld.Burgoyne and his federal task force teammates only knew him as a street-thug criminal who operated multiple rings and rackets as the boss of the mob. Madames and their prostitutes, thieves and burglars, hijackers and hitmen, and bookies and bar owners all answered to Hankish and his gangsters, and it was Burgoyne’s job to help former U.S. Attorney Bill Kolibash connect the dots.They started with a two-state case along “the strip” near Chester in Hancock County; next up was the Gallo gang in the Morgantown area; and then Hankish, a well-known mobster with an arrest record as long as his list of connections with organized crimes along the entire East Coast.The federal government first hired Bill Kolibash in Wheeling in 1973, and 10 years later he was appointed as the U.S. Attorney by then-President Ronald Reagan. Kolibash was the "quarterback" of the team that convicted Hankish on a plethora of RICO charges.“Tom was here in Wheeling before I came back from the military and when we first all met, the FBI was working on a lot of bank robbery cases, and some stolen car cases,” Kolibash explained. “There were some gun cases with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), and some cases with the IRS over tax cases, and that’s what made up the bulk of the criminal work.“I don’t want to minimize those kinds of cases, but when we got started with the corruption that was taking place in Hancock County in the late ‘70s, that’s when the job got very interesting,” he explained. “That’s when I started to have a very close relationship with Tom Burgoyne because that’s when we started working side by side for 20 years.”Once Burgoyne retired from the FBI in 1996 after 33 years with the Bureau, he served two, four-year terms (2000-08) as the Sheriff of Ohio County, was a founding member of the Ohio Valley Cold Case Task Force, and he was hired as an investigator by several local and regional law firms before he passed away nearly a year ago on January 26th.“After we met at work, we realized our kids were the same age, he was big into sports like I was, and our wives became friends so there was a lot for us to talk about other than the cases we were working on,” Kolibash explained. “Tom was a good man, and he was very good at his job, too. He was terrific with getting suspects and witnesses to talk. I never saw anyone better.“He was a New England Irishman, and he had the accent and everything,” he recalled. “He loved his Red Sox and all his Boston teams, and he really loved the game of baseball. And when it came to doing his job, you always got what we needed when it came to information. Tom wasn’t the quickest when it came to the paperwork, but he did the job better than most did.“There's a picture in the book of Tom and I coming out of the courthouse, and I think that exemplifies the relationship.”Kolibash used this photo in his book - 'Justice Never Rests' - because he believes it reveals the relationship he had with the late Tom Burgoyne.‘People Were Getting Hurt’Freddy Lynn was the center fielder for Burgoyne’s beloved Boston Red Sox for six ultra-successful seasons in the late 1970s, and he was a Gold Glover in the field and the American League batting champion in 1979.Of course, Burgoyne loved Lynn, and Kolibash believes that’s why the FBI agent pulled a prank on the former prosecutor and his staff while the outfielder was having yet another All-Star season.“There was a time when he told us at the office that Freddy Lynn’s team jacket was stolen, and that he was going to look into it. He told us he was going to see what he could find out that the investigators didn’t,” Kolibash recalled. “A couple of weeks later, Tom showed up at the office with a Freddy Lynn jacket. He never said anything about it. We asked, but he never said anything.“He had that kind of sense of humor,” he remembered. “But his focus was immediate when it came to the job. His smile went away, and he went to work. He had that switch.”Tom met his bride, Kathy, in Wheeling and the couple raised a son and two daughters in the Dimmeydale neighborhood of the Friendly City.Before Hankish ultimately was sentenced to 33.5 years in federal prison in October 1990, he had served time in the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville and in the Marin County Jail in Fairmont.“Pauly No Legs” was notorious, and he enjoyed the notoriety that came with it.Burgoyne often told tales about seeing Hankish at Ernie's Esquire, the finest supper club in the Wheeling area, and how the mob boss would send drinks to him, and he’d send them right back. While Hankish enjoyed making grand entrances when arriving at the eatery, Burgoyne, too, made it quite obvious in public whose team he was on.The man, after all, coached softball and baseball with his FBI badge positioned on his belt and in plain sight.“I don’t think Tom had a start time and a finishing time when it came to his job, and he could pick up a conversation with you exactly where you left it off with him. By the time we got started with the Hankish case, Tom was married to his wife, Kathy, and he was a great father to his children, but he was always working the case like I was,” Kolibash said. “It was on his mind for sure.“Organized crime was a pretty normal thing in and around Wheeling because of the gambling and the prostitution, but Hankish upped the game with the drugs and the murders. Tom knew that,” he recalled. “People were getting hurt.”Paul “No Legs” Hankish had a long criminal record at the time he was brought to trial in October 1990.Burgoyne’s superpower was communication and an example of it was mentioned by former U.S. Attorney William Wilmoth in what he told the media soon after the former sheriff’s passing.“I would put him on the stand, every time I got a chance. He would look at me and listen to my questions. And then he would turn to the jury and tell them the answer. And they were mesmerized because he was just so such a wonderful, wonderful guy,” Wilmoth told the Wheeling newspapers. “We had a series of cases from Hancock County that involved charges of political corruption. And I had Tom on the stand and a high-powered criminal defense attorney from Pittsburgh said to me, I think in jest, that he thought that it was some sort of constitutional violation for me to always put Tom Burgoyne on the witness stand.”Kolibash saw it, and he used it, too.“Tom had a personality that allowed him to get information from a witness or suspect very effectively. He was very persuasive, and he did everything the proper way, and that carried over when he was on the witness stand. He always had a tremendous rapport with the jury,” Kolibash said. “Tom was a man who could relate to everyone, and that included the bad guys. Plus, he was a fairly large, stocky individual too, which kind of gave him that good ole ‘G-Man look. And it worked.“When we were working the cases against Hankish and his operations, there wasn’t any of the physical intimidation during interrogations. I know that’s what most people see on TV, but that’s not the reality I remember,” he said. “Tom didn’t need to do that stuff anyway, and even if he tried, those guys wouldn’t have cared because they were never going to cooperate with us anyway.”Following his 33 years with the FBI, Burgoyne went to work for Wheeling Jesuit University before running - and winning - two terms as Ohio County Sheriff.Open the RefrigeratorRaids were taking place, gang members were getting arrested, and newspaper reporters were telling a story about an organization crumbling piece by piece.Drug dealers were squealing, prostitutes were singing, and the evidence was overwhelmingly against the bad guys. There also was a rumor floating around downtown Wheeling in the late 1980s that Hankish put a hit out on Kolibash and Burgoyne.“But we heard that one of Hankish’s enforcers, Jesse Anderson, stopped it. We heard it was Jesse who thought that would cross the line, and that was a guy who did a lot of bad things while working for Hankish,” Kolibash explained. “We never knew if it was all true; that’s just what some of our people told us.“The murders that took place happened outside of Wheeling; the ones that we know about anyway,” he said. “They were in the Pittsburgh area, in Uniontown; up there because the bigger gambling stuff spread that far. And some things turned out pretty bad sometimes.”Those realities didn’t stop Burgoyne from having some fun from time to time even if it meant portraying a nun known as “Sister Aloysius,” a strict, Catholic school disciplinarian in the play and movie “Doubt.”All three of his children graduated from Wheeling Central Catholic High School, and Burgoyne often could be seen on the Maroon Knights' sidelines during football games.“We would have different social events in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and when someone was getting to retire, we’d have a party for them,” Kolibash explained. “Well, when we had those gatherings, Tom would dress up like Sister Aloysius and do an impersonation of a nun during the party. We didn’t know where he got the nun outfit, but it was hilarious every single time.“Tom played the spoons, and the big joke that every time the refrigerator opened, he was going to play us a new song,” he said. “He always picked the right times to lift morale.”While Paul Nathaniel Hankish passed away in May 1998 at 66 years old, Burgoyne and his wife enjoyed many years in retirement being involved with community-driven causes and events. Tom lost Kathy when she passed away on September 7, 2018, but he remained active in the community.Youth Services System, in fact, honored Burgoyne in April 2021 as its Good Samaritan of the Year. “Tom was a tremendous asset to our community, and it’s been about a year since he passed so I’ve been thinking about him a lot. We have a chapter in the book about Tom and his role in what we were able to accomplish, but also because there were two aspects to him – he was the investigator, and he was the man who liked to be social out of the office because he loved his community.At the time when Burgoyne was transferred to Wheeling, the downtown area was packed with plenty of retail, professional, and food service businesses along Main and Market streets.“His wife, Kathy, was from here and they raised their kids here,” he said. “He always made his trips back to Massachusetts, but he loved Wheeling and everything about it.”During his three decades with the FBI, Burgoyne investigated much more than organized crime and a big-leaguers baseball jacket, and that includes the rape and murder of Sister Robin, a young lady from the Fulton area of Wheeling who was preparing to become a nun at Mount St. Joseph just outside of Oglebay Park’s campus.Roberta Elam was her full name, and sadly she was discovered motionless during the morning hours of June 13, 1977. It was determined the 26-year-old was raped and murdered while meditating in a remote area of the grounds. A number of law enforcement agencies were involved with the investigation, and it remains unsolved and one of Ohio County’s most infamous cold cases.After he was elected as Ohio County Sheriff in 2000, Burgoyne took another look, and his detectives concluded that investigators only needed one more piece of evidence – the perpetrator’s DNA – and the case could be closed. That, however, has not yet happened.“Of course, Tom wanted to solve every case he had and the (Sister Robin) case was no different. He wanted to give her family the closure they wanted,” recalled Kolibash, who will be releasing his book, “Justice Never Rests” in two weeks. “He was the same way with everyone involved with the cases related to the Hankish organization, too, and I know he told (mob hitman) Jimmy Griffin that he was going to ‘get him’ one day and put him away.“Griffin usually shrugged off what Tom said back then, but Tom and I went to a prison up in Pittsburgh where Jimmy was in jail for murder (in the late 1980s). We wanted to see if he’d give us any more on Hankish since he was probably gone for good, but he refused to tell us anything. He’d never talk to us,” the former federal prosecutor recalled. “But then Jimmy looked over at Tom and said, ‘Guess you got me like you always said you would.’”The Series:https://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-the-prologuehttps://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-betty-and-a-bombhttps://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-hamm-the-newspaperman-vs-wheelings-mob-bosseshttps://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-tales-of-a-tow-truck-driverhttps://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-eyes-on-ernies-esquirehttps://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-max-and-his-mob-barshttps://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-the-cocaine-courierhttps://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-tom-burgoyne-g-man/https://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-a-truck-stops-convicted-king/https://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-a-daddy-his-daughter/https://ledenews.com/the-children-of-wheelings-mob-era-dickie-and-the-mahoff/(Author’s Note: Each week I’ll be sharing a link to one of the chapters of my first “Wheeling Mob” series I wrote while serving as the founding editor-in-chief of Weelunk, a digital media site now owned and operated by Wheeling Heritage, a non-profit organization that promotes the history and heritage of the city of Wheeling.)https://weelunk.com/the-wheeling-mob-part-7/ Read the full article