User talk:Wes33

Karl "Wes" Lilly, June 6 1980-

Posted on: Monday, 6 August 2007, 03:22 CDT Karl Lilly: A Public Servant Leaves His Mark By Ali, Ann

CHARLESTON - Karl Wesley Lilly just wants everyone to understand and appreciate West Virginia and its history.

Lilly is best known as the assistant clerk of the state senate and associate editor of the "Blue Book," the yearly record of the state's history and current governmental officials, institutions and other information. Lilly retired from the Senate last year, and he just finished his first legislative session from a different perspective - as a per-diem senior consultant to the Senate.

"It was pretty interesting. I had always been behind the desk," Lilly said. "I was fascinated by how hard I'd worked."

Lilly was the sports editor for the Welch Daily News and the front-page editor in Beckley. He then began writing about the statehouse for United Press International and began working with the Senate to help with printing

Published works in books produced by poetry.com. In the years: 2003,2004,2006, and 2007 "I really hope the Senate continues with that (the "Blue Book")," Lilly said. "It's a great document, and you can put part of it on the Internet, but it's a historic record.

"When I left, I told my friends here if they did not try to keep an emphasis on the 'Blue Book,' I'd mount a campaign with historians, the newspapers and others to make sure they did. It was a very big part of my career."

Lilly said most West Virginians don't realize they can request a "Blue Book" from their legislators or the Senate Clerk's Office, and they will be mailed a free copy.

Lilly supervised Senate staff members and was a parliamentary adviser for the Senate, a knowledge specialty that he said is becoming harder to come by - "it's not something you can take a class in."

After the hustle of the regular legislative session was over, Lilly said he got to work on the "Blue Book" with his staff during the interims, the time between regular sessions.

The "Blue Book" is never an up-to-date, live record but rather a comprehensive log of federal, state, county and municipal statistics along with media contact information, zip codes and election results.

Odd-year "Blue Books" contained pictures and biographies of main of ficials, and even-year "Blue Books" contained cumulative listings of departments.