June
18, 2019
Gov.
Justice names two to W.Va. Parole Board
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Gov. Jim Justice has asked a multi-term
magistrate and a longtime community leader to share their expertise and
experience on the West Virginia Parole Board.
Justice has appointed
Kim Blair of Putnam County and John Sines of Wood County to complete unexpired
terms on the nine-seat board. The governor chose Blair to fill a term ending June
30, 2023, and Sines to one that expires June 30, 2022. The appointments, made
Friday, require state Senate confirmation.
Blair was first elected
as a county magistrate in 2002. The state Supreme Court appointed her to serve
as a senior status magistrate in 2012, a position she held until earlier this
month. She previously worked as a corrections counselor at a maximum-security
prison in Texas, after graduating with honors from the University of Houston
with a criminal justice degree. Blair has also been a social worker with the
truancy diversion program of Putnam County’s school system.
Sines served for a
decade on the Wood County Planning Commission as well as six years as a Lubeck
Public Service District commissioner. The 1973 Parkersburg South High graduate
has been a Local School Improvement Committee (LSIC) member for his alma mater
as well as Blennerhassett and Edison junior high schools. He has earned degrees
from Marshall and West Virginia University-Parkersburg.
Part of the W.Va.
Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, the Parole Board performs a
critical role in the state’s criminal justice system by deciding on the conditional
release of eligible adult offenders. Hearing cases in panels of three, it
contributes to public safety by facilitating the return of offenders to society
as law-abiding citizens. It also makes clemency recommendations to the
governor.
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