James Bentler was stabbed at approximately 7:30 p.m. on the first evening of the festival.
It remains unclear exactly where the fight and stabbing occurred, but police said they have arrested the man that allegedly is responsible for the stabbing.
Police charged Johnny Ray Stewart, 38, of Main Street in Madison, with malicious wounding.
Stewart fled the scene following the alleged stabbing incident and was arrested by Madison Police Officer Arthur Jarret in the area of the Dollar Store in downtown Madison.
The weapon is believed to be a small knife, but has yet to be recovered, police said. No other details regarding the arrest were available.
Bentler was stabbed in the lower back and was taken by helicopter to a local hospital. A Boone County ambulance crew loaded Bentler onto an Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter at about 8:15p.m., Wednesday, June 16, near Stevens Funeral Home.
His condition remains unknown at this time.
• In an unrelated incident at the festival, an ill-advised post on the social networking site Facebook landed a Madison man in jail and forced a public gathering to close temporarily.
A complaint filed in Boone County Magistrate Court yesterday by sheriff’s deputies charged Zechariah M. Foxx, 19, of Madison with a felony complaint.
The ordeal began Tuesday, June 15, when Deputy D.J. Cottrell received a complaint alleging that Foxx had posted a message on his Facebook page on the Internet warning “don’t go to the Coal Festival. There’s enough C4 (explosive) rigged under the “Casino” ride to blow a crater the size of a football field”
Deputy Cottrell quickly printed a copy of Foxx’s Facebook page containing the threatening message.
On Tuesday evening, Chief Deputy Chad Barker, of the BCSD called in assistance from the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad who spent nearly two hours searching the event for explosive devices. During the evacuation all volunteers, employees and attendees of the Coal Festival had to be evacuated to a safe distance.
No devices were ever located.
While being placed under arrest, Foxx allegedly told the deputy that he had posted the comment to his Facebook page “as a joke.”
Foxx was arrested and charged with false reports concerning bombs or other explosive devices. West Virginia Criminal Code defines the punishment for anyone convicted of this crime “is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof should be fined not less than $1000 nor more than $2,000 and shall be confined in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than three years, or both.”
It also states, “If the person violates any portion of this section and directly causes economic harm the circuit court may order the offender to pay the victim or victims restitution.”
Now, it appears that Foxx, his family or the Facebook service had removed Foxx’s page from public view.
Boone County Sheriff Rodney Miller said police worked the case without causing any panic at the festival.
“We were able to get in, search the place, with help from Kanawha Co. S/O bomb dogs and get out before carnival was set to open,” Miller explained. “We got in, did our job and got out with hardly anyone knowing we were there working. That’s the way we wanted it, not to alarm anyone, while we were working.”
“Hardly anyone knew what we were doing, we worked it that way,” he added. “No need for panic, but the rumors after the fact need controlled, or they will take a like of it’s own. We were in and out; people were safe and didn’t have a clue until after it was over. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.”
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