Gilmer County Volunteer Fire Chief Martin Hess is shown wearing the T-shirt that caused Gov. Jim Justice to remove him from the State Fire Commission in June. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG — COVID-19 dominated many headlines and aspects of life in 2020, but a story about the removal of a West Virginia Fire Commission over social media posts was the most read story of the year on NewsandSentinel.com.

Gov. Jim Justice took Gilmer County Volunteer Fire Chief Martin Hess off the commission after “inappropriate and inflammatory” posts were brought to his attention. According to the June 6 story, one of these showed Hess wearing a shirt that said “All Lives Splatter. Nobody Cares About Your Protest. Keep Your a** Out of the Road.”

The post came as protests were being held around West Virginia and the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis Police officers. Floyd died after an officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes, even after the man stopped moving and pleading for air, the Associated Press reported.

Hess deleted the picture from his Facebook page and later posted an apology, saying, “Due to my post I have upset a lot of people and I am sorry for that. By all means I did not mean (to) upset anyone.”

The second most-viewed story of the year came in May, when Wood County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook told Board of Education members it would be “impossible” to reopen schools in the fall under guidelines issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In this screencap from a May 26 Wood County Board of Education meeting, board members and Wood County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook wear face masks while observing social distancing. The meeting was broadcast online through Zoom as citizens were not permitted to attend due to concerns of COVID-19. (File Photo)

“I know everyone wants an answer. Unfortunately, I cannot provide an answer on how school will look in the fall,” Hosaflook said. “What I do know: School will not be normal next year.”

Wood County schools opened with a staggered schedule in which students were divided into two groups, with each attending school on alternating days and receiving remote instructions when not on the premises. A story about that announcement at a Board of Education meeting was the sixth most-viewed story of 2020.

Plans to send all students to in-person classes four days a week were derailed by increasing COVID-19 transmission rates in Wood County. When the county went to orange on the state’s COVID-19 map in November, all students moved to remote instruction.

In between those were three non-COVID stories.

The third most-viewed was a breaking news post about the arrest of a suspect allegedly caught on a security video brutally abusing a kitten.

Parkersburg Police Detective Mike Brown, left, handcuffs Bailey Keel after Keel’s arraignment on Jan. 10 on charges of animal cruelty and possession of a controlled substance. (File Photo)

Parkersburg resident Bailey E. Keel, 24, was charged with a felony count of animal cruelty after being identified from home security footage that showed a man slamming the animal to the ground multiple times. The video went viral after being posted on YouTube.

Keel pleaded guilty to the cruelty charge and was sentenced in November to one to five years in prison with credit for 292 days served, according to court records.

Parkersburg High School alumnus Joshua Swiger’s pending appearance on the Jan. 29 episode of “Jeopardy!” was the fourth most-viewed story. The member of the PHS Class of ’96, who now lives in Hawaii, had been a fan of the show since he was 7 years old. He won his first game, finishing with $16,400 and earning an appearance on the next day’s show, where he finished second.

Logging the fifth most views was an item about the Wood County Board of Education voting 5-0 to suspend Van Devender Middle School teacher Joseph Lindamood for 100 days without pay following a two-and-a-half-hour executive session at a June meeting. School district officials did not give a reason for the suspension, citing state law that prohibits discussion of employee disciplinary actions.

At seventh was a story about a Feb. 19 fatal accident on Staunton Turnpike outside of Parkersburg. An SUV collided head-on with a school bus and the smaller vehicle’s driver, David Shutts, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Shutts was an admissions counselor at nearby West Virginia University at Parkersburg, which held a memorial service for him a week later. The 27-year-old was survived by his wife, two children, parents and siblings.

A breaking news item about a man charged with killing his brother on Mother’s Day ranked eighth among the most-viewed stories.

William A. Nutter, 40, claimed self-defense after allegedly shooting Charles Ryan Cottle nine times at their mother’s south Parkersburg residence. A criminal complaint said Nutter was assaulting the woman and Cottle intervened.

Nutter was indicted by the Wood County Grand Jury in September. The court granted a defense motion for a continuance on Dec. 1, and his trial was rescheduled for May 4.

Rounding out the top 10 were a pair of COVID-related articles.

The first, which ran in April, dealt with Piggly Wiggly owner Jim Oppe’s decision to pull a particular brand of eggs from his stores’ shelves after the price was marked up 300 percent. Prices rose on a variety of food products as shoppers snatched up supplies in the early days of the pandemic.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s announcement May 11 of the next phase in the state’s reopening plan after his initial stay-at-home order was the 10th most viewed story.

At that point, small businesses with less than 10 employees, outdoor dining, churches, hair and nail salons, barbers and dog groomers had reopened the previous week, with elective medical procedures allowed to resume the week before.

Justice announced that indoor dining at 50 percent capacity and large specialty retail stores could reopen May 21, while campgrounds, campsites, cabins and lodges at state parks would reopen for West Virginia residents only on May 26.

Despite rising COVID-19 numbers, Justice has been reluctant to order another round of closures, saying in December he would do so only if it made an impact more than the symbolic. He did make wearing masks indoors at public buildings mandatory in November and ordered schools to go to full virtual learning for the week after Thanksgiving.