Investigative Report: Mountaineer Journal False Article

Asad Khan
Jul 1, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Jul 22, 2020

7/01/2020

Pros & Khans

An investigative report has revealed that Mountaineer Journal run by Caiden Cowger has published a false article about a local LGBTQ+ peaceful protest. On 6/30/2020, a group of Buckhannon citizens decided to have a peaceful protest involving the pride month of June.

Pride month was originally declared first by ex-president Bill Clinton on June, 2nd 2000, then gay marriage was legalized on June 26th 2015 by ex-President Barack Obama. The original pride festival that was set to take place at Jawbone was cancelled due to an extreme spike of the COVID-19 virus in Upshur County. To continue to show support despite the cancellation, the group of multiple citizens decorated Buckhannon City Hall with small handheld LGBTQ+ flags to show their support for the minority. Many citizens of the LGBTQ+ community reside here in Buckhannon, WV. The community is fighting for equal rights, and this was just a peaceful way to end the pride month of June. Suicide rates of LGBTQ+ are reaching an all time high, so this was also a way to say to the community " We are here for you". This caused much anger from local extremists in the town of Buckhannon, including an ineffectual city council candidate that took to Facebook to project to her supporters.

Mountaineer Journal, owned and operated by Caiden Cowger, produced a publication on 7/01/2020 stating that Opportunity House owner and operator Matthew Kerner and Ex-Mayor David McCauley initiated the event. With investigative reporting for The Pros & Khans, we can confirm that the article was IN FACT FALSELY REPORTED. Reports suggest that Kerner was confirmed to have nothing to do with initiating the event, only a supporter. McCauley was confirmed to not consent or dissent the decorating of City Hall. He was only notified after the flags were already placed, which by the time they were placed, Mayor Elect Robbie Skinner was going to be sworn into office putting David McCauley no longer in power. Many have been believing the article released, some even gathering groups

to storm city hall and forcefully remove the flags; however, the official report has confirmed that the Mountaineer Journal article written by Caiden Cowger was in fact false.