My name is Scott Adams, and I want to introduce myself and let everyone know why this election is so important to the Northern Panhandle.
I was born and raised in Wellsburg, West Virginia, the son of a retired steelworker—Vietnam Veteran and a stay-at-home mother, Jerry and Ruth Adams. I could not have asked for a better upbringing. Although at times things were difficult, I never knew. My father and mother, who have been married over 50 years, worked extremely hard to take care of me and my two brothers. My youngest brother, Danny, is the strongest guy I know, having grown up with autism. He is my hero.
I am married for almost thirty years now to my best friend, Angel (Crabtree) Adams, and we have three amazing children, Abbey, Mac, and Ben. We adopted Abbey, who is 26 years old now, after we did not believe we could have children on our own. Just to prove how great God is, we had our oldest son Mac (whose middle name is McGwire because he was born the year Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs), just fifteen months later. And to prove God has a great sense of humor Ben was born seven years later. Abbey is now a cosmetologist in Steubenville, Ohio, Mac and his wife, Adrianna (Bailey) who is from Follansbee, WV, work and live near Fairmont, West Virginia, and Ben will graduate from Jefferson County Christian School this year.
My wife is the lead Pastor at New Day Christian Center in Follansbee, West Virginia. There is nothing more important to us than serving God. The church is our family and we dedicate all of our time to reaching the lost and hurting in our area. We believe strongly that God has a plan and a purpose for every single person.
I am a retired West Virginia State Trooper. My first nine years were spent in Ritchie County, West Virginia. It was in Ritchie County where I learned how to be a Trooper and Angel and I became Christians. It was also in Ritchie County where I began to have a passion for protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves, our children. As my career progressed, I was promoted and became the Sergeant of the Wheeling Detachment for over ten years. I continued to investigate the most heinous of crimes against children, and the last four years of my career, I was placed on the newly formed West Virginia State Police Crimes Against Children Unit. During my time in Wheeling, I along with some wonderful Assistant Prosecutors in Wheeling, successfully went to trial and won over thirty jury trials. These convictions and countless other pleas sent our worst criminals to the penitentiary for a combined over 1000 years. During my time with the State Police, I was awarded the Medal of Valor (2006), the Ohio County Elks Officer of the Year (2010), and the US Attorney’s Award (2014). There is no greater crime than those against our children.
Shortly after retirement, I was asked to become the Chief Deputy in Brooke County. For over four years I continued my law enforcement career. I am always the same person whether working, at home, or at church. In February of 2023 I picked up an inmate from Ohio and transported him to West Virginia. During the trip, we spoke at length about faith. At the conclusion of the trip, the inmate asked if I would pray with him, which I did. This incident set off a chain of events which led to my dismissal. I never imagined that praying for a person who was hurting could cause such hate for me and my faith. Which brings me to one reason why I am running for this office. The morals, values, and beliefs of our area is under attack not just from society but from our government officials. This isn’t true at only our local level, but at our state level as well. I will fight for our beliefs.
While in the State Police, I was also in the US Army Reserves with the rank of Captain. I served as the Company Commander of the 300th Chemical Company. On December 26, 2002, my reserve unit out of Morgantown, West Virginia was deployed to Iraq just prior to the beginning of the ground war. There, our unit was attached to the 5th Special Forces Group where we served until June 2003. My children were three and four years old at the time. During my time in the US Army both active and in the reserves I received two Army Achievement Medals (1998) and two Army Commendation Medals (2003).
In closing, I believe our values are under attack and there can never be enough done to protect our children. There are many issues which I am passionate about including chidren’s rights and the rights of those who cannot protect themselves, our rights as citizens of West Virginia, and all of our rights as children of God. My opponent has not voted or stood for these rights and has deliberately voted in favor of bills that contradict these. I appreciate and am honored by your support to make West Virginia a great place to live.