MARTINSBURG — The past, present and future of Berkeley County was highlighted Friday for U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. She made three stops before returning to Charleston.

On Thursday, Capito said she was hosted by the Department of Transportation in Morgan County to see the progress of the 522 Bypass.

Making use of her time in the Eastern Panhandle, she also visited The Martinsburg Initiative (TMI) at the Ramer Center, the Interwoven Mills/Perfection Garment Company site and the future home of Commercial Metals Company (CMC) in Spring Mills before returning home.

“The Martinsburg Initiative is amazing,” Capito said. She complimented the community involvement, noting how many organizations make TMI a growing initiative to help break the cycle of substance abuse.

TMI is based on the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that shows how early childhood experiences shape the lives of adults.

“There are ten ACEs,” Capito said. “One would be an incarcerated parent, drug use in the home and other things.”

The top 10 ACEs are physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, a family member who is depressed or diagnosed with other mental illness, a family member who is addicted to alcohol or another substance and a family member who is in prison.

“They try to focus on those kids,” she said. “The numbers are startling, and in terms of being able to identify precursive types of home situations so they can focus on those kids. It’s a national model. I’m really proud of their work.”

Capito’s second stop allowed her to have a special tour of the Interwoven Mill and Perfection Garment Company site, which is being redeveloped by The Monument Companies (TMC).

She was greeted at the active construction site by Tom Dickey and Chris Johnson, TMC co-founders and principals. Also in attendance was City of Martinsburg Mayor Kevin Knowles and Assistant City Manager Andy Blake.

Dickey told Capito the site has not been actively used since 1970.

“At one point, this was the largest sock factory on the planet” Dickey said. “They had over 1,600 people work her at one point.”

The tour was led by TMC Lead Superintendent Jon Hafferman, a Gerradstown resident. He said the opportunity to work on such an interesting project was something he could not turn down.

“It’s probably one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had," said Hafferman. “Just because, I mean, I’m from here. My kids are from here. My grandchildren are from here. In 20 years from now my great-grandchildren will come by here,  point at this building and say, ‘My great-grandfather built this.’”

The tour took the officials through the nearly completed apartments that are part of phase one. The phase consists of 109 apartments Capito described as spacious. Johnson said they hope to begin lease agreements in February 2024.

The final Berkeley County site visit Capito made Friday was to the CMC property in Spring Mills. Company representatives invited the Senator into a meeting room to learn more about their newest micro-mill for metal recycling. Director of Operations Carlos Zanoelo provided a start-to-finish micro-mill process.

Scrap metal is collected and story in yard operations. From there, the scrap metal is melted in an electric arc furnace. The heated metal is then transferred to a ladle metallurgical station, adding alloys to refine steel, and is formed into a continuous strand. That strand travels through an induction furnace and then through rolling mills. This creates straight length rebar and spooled rebar.

“First of all, I’m really pleased you’re in West Virginia,” Capito said. “This is obviously a great distribution area, centrally located in to the northeast and mid-Atlantic parts of the country, which is a real advantage here in the Eastern Panhandle.”

Capito asked what other advantages drew the company to the Mountain State. Zanoelo said the workforce size was a draw, transportation logistics and the West Virginia culture is how they decided to build in Spring Mills.