West Virginia Sheriff Who Fought Drug Trade Shot By Courthouse

A recently elected West Virginia sheriff was shot in the head while eating his lunch outside a county courthouse Wednesday, the Charleston Gazette reports.

Police arrested Tennis Melvin Maynard, 37, in connection with the shooting of Mingo County, W.Va. Sheriff Eugene Crum, who was reportedly dedicated to fighting the drug trade.

"Apparently somebody just drove up and shot him. That's what they told me. Shot him dead," county commissioner Harry Keith White told the Charleston Daily Mail. "That's from our county commissioner in the courthouse, who was crying when he called me."

Crum had previously been a magistrate — an elected position that is basically a state judge with limited powers. In that role, Crum set up a drug task force and did a "terrific job cleaning up drugs in the county," White told the Charleston Gazette.

He gave up his magistrate position to become sheriff in January.

"He wanted to clean up Mingo County," another magistrate, Kim Aaron, told the Gazette. "I respected that guy immensely."  

After Crum was shot Wednesday, the suspect was also shot and then taken into police custody, according to wsaz.com. The Mingo County Courthouse was locked down after the shooting — which comes after the brazen assassinations of two prosecutors in Texas.

Newsbreaker posted a tweet with Crum's picture:

BREAKING: WYMT TV: Mingo Co. Sheriff Eugene Crum shot outside county courthouse in W. Virginiabit.ly/16obFcb twitter.com/NewsBreaker/st…

— NewsBreaker (@NewsBreaker) April 3, 2013

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Virginia Sullivan: Aging Gracefully? No Way!

When it comes to aging gracefully, I'm clearly on the rebellious side. I refuse to give up. I run half marathons, raft with my friends and go to rock concerts. I'm finally getting to fulfill a life-long dream of skydiving next May. To do these things, I stay healthy.
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Certificate-of-Need Laws Prevent Access to Lifesaving Medical Technology

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in
the United States. In large part, that’s because less than half of
the population that should be getting screened isn’t getting
screened.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Medical science has found a way
to use CT scanners to do screenings non-invasively, negating the
need to insert a colonoscope into the rectum and large intestine.
But for regulatory hurdles, people could just go to a clinic, pay
for a quick photo & analysis session and be on their way.

However, as of 2010, 13 states require medical institutions to
get permission, in the form of a “certificate of need,” before
purchasing new CT scanners. Other states require doctors to obtain
a certificate of need before offering new medical procedures like
virtual colonoscopies, which are still relatively cutting edge.

From Darpana Sheth of the Institute for Justice, writing in the

Daily Caller:

In a lengthy and expensive process, verging on full-blown
litigation, medical providers must demonstrate a “need” for the
proposed services. Worse, existing healthcare facilities are
invited to oppose and defeat a would-be competitor’s application.
This process results in a de-facto “certificate of monopoly” for
favored established businesses.

Consider entrepreneur and physician Dr. Mark Baumel. He wanted
to open several “one-stop shops” for colon health in Virginia that
would provide virtual colonoscopies along with same-day polyp
removal, just as he does at his flagship facility in Delaware.
Unlike Delaware, Virginia prohibits purchasing a CT scanner without
first obtaining a certificate of need. And yet, Virginia’s
Department of Health has denied Dr. Baumel a certificate of
need.

None of Dr. Baumel's potential competitors even offer the
service that he wants to provide. But they could. And
state health planners apparently think protecting existing
businesses from even the possibility of competition is more
important than patient access to potentially lifesaving
screenings.

Baumel is suing Virginia, with the help of the Institute for
Justice. See more Reason coverage of certificate-of-need
laws here
and
here.

Disclosure: I am a former employee of the Institute for
Justice.

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