Cappy Burnside

Lester Wade Burnside, Jr. (January 30, 1934 - August 30, 2014), better known as "Cappy" Burnside, was an American businessman. He was the driving force behind relocating the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division headquarters to North Central West Virginia and also served on the board of directors of the Friends of West Virginia Public Radio from 1992 to 2006 (now Friends of West Virginia Public Broadcasting) as well as other boards of directors and organizations.
Early life
Lester Wade Burnside, Jr. ("Cappy") was born on January 30, 1934, in Clarksburg, West Virginia to Lester W. "Brownie" Burnside, Sr. and Mary Louise Nowery. Cappy married Carolyn Mae Reynolds in 1956. They had two children: Kate Burnside and Mary Wade Burnside Triplett.
Education
Cappy Burnside attended Greenbrier Military School, graduating in 1951. He attended West Virginia University, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and a member of Scabbard and Blade (military honorary). He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce in 1955. He was a lifetime member of the West Virginia University Alumni Association, a member of the Emeritus Club, and frequently contributed to the Old Gold Club.
Military
Cappy Burnside entered the United States Army at the rank of Second Lieutenant and was posted to Fort Eustis, Virginia with his wife Carolyn in 1956, shortly after their marriage. When he and Carolyn moved back to Clarksburg, West Virginia in 1959, he continued in the United States Army Reserve where he achieved the rank of Captain before retiring from the military in the early 1960s. Cappy Burnside began working for his father at Consolidated Supply Company upon his return from Fort Eustis in 1958 as a salesman and was promoted to general manager within five years. In 1974, Brownie Burnside retired and Cappy became president and treasurer of Consolidated Supply Company. during the construction of Interstate 79, Corridor H, major road upgrades, as well as large-scale projects such as commercial buildings and cooling towers. Consolidated Supply Company also sold specialty brick products.
Both of Consolidated Supply Company's plants sustained considerable damage in the November 1985 floods that devastated West Virginia and surrounding states. The company recovered but subsequent damage, including a fire, complicated matters. He closed Consolidated Supply Company in 1992. from 1987 to 1989. In 1985, in response to a declining economy in the area, Cappy initiated a blue-ribbon committee of the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce in order to unify economic development efforts; this joint committee subsequently incorporated as Harrison 2000 with Cappy Burnside as president. Harrison 2000 would eventually oversee the relocation of the FBI Criminal Justice Identification Services Division to Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Organizations
Boards of Directors:
FBI Director William Sessions had written a letter to his friend Senator Byrd on May 8, 1990, declaring that the agency's fingerprint system "is now in danger of immediate collapse." President George H.W. Bush quickly signed the "dire emergencies" appropriations bill and Senator Byrd had succeeded in securing thousands of jobs for West Virginians.
The FBI had short-listed Clarksburg as a location for the new Criminal Justice Information Services Division from the beginning; Harrison 2000, the economic development group led by Cappy Burnside, spent long hours undertaking a diligent and arduous effort to ensure the FBI chose Clarksburg.
Opening in 1995 with over 1,000 employees, the FBI Criminal Justice Information Service Division in Clarksburg has grown to be the largest division of the FBI. Other services located at this site include the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System ("IAFIS"), Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal ("LEEP"), LEO Enterprise Portal ("LEO-EP"), Law Enforcement National Data Exchange ("N-DEx"), National Crime Information Center ("NCIC"), National Instant Criminal Background Check System ("NICS"), Next Generation Identification ("NGI"), and Uniform Crime Reporting ("UCR"). As of 2016, the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services in Clarksburg had over 3500 employees. Increased requests for background checks continue to create growth within the division.
Background information: Harrison County's rise and fall—the dire need for jobs
During the 1800s and much of the 1900s, Harrison County and its county seat of Clarksburg were profitable centers of business and industry; when the railroad was built through the area in 1856, industry and commerce accelerated. Coal, glass, oil and gas, drilling machinery, lumber, caskets, tin, graphite, pottery, and other industries provided plenty of jobs. During this prosperous time, downtown Clarksburg had streets lined with busy retail stores, grand bank buildings, and elegant hotels.
However, by the early to mid-1980s, cheap imports and buyouts by larger corporations that chose to close local factories began an economic downturn. Thousands of jobs were lost. In July 1986 Anchor-Hocking was the area's top employer—albeit being the last remaining glass factory—having just added to its workforce, bringing the total number of employees to 950. However, in 1987, Newell Company purchased Anchor Hocking and decided to shut the plant down three months later. Ultimately, the plant closed leaving nearly 1,000 workers unemployed. Retail stores were struggling or closing because people didn't have money to spend. Downtown Clarksburg had very few open businesses. Harrison County was economically devastated by the closing of its last glass plant and major employer, Anchor-Hocking. Clarksburg as well as Harrison County as a whole needed help. Cappy Burnside had been trying to help as a member of the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce and other city and county development groups, and working long hours at Consolidated Supply Company. Once he learned the FBI was considering Clarksburg as a location for its new fingerprint division, he decided it was time to take the helm, put other business aside for the time being, and adopt the mission of bringing the FBI to Harrison County.
The road to creating Harrison 2000 and consolidating economic development in Harrison County to meet FBI needs
In response to a steady loss of jobs in the area, Cappy Burnside initiated a Blue Ribbon Committee of the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce in 1985 in order to unify economic development efforts. Cappy brought them together into one non-profit organization. This evolved into the Joint Committee for Economic Development. For their first project, this non-profit group eventually secured, along with the City of Clarksburg, $2.5 million in government grants; this was to build the West Virginia Life Sciences Center, an industrial park for biomedical companies.
The Life Sciences Center was still under construction and tenants were being recruited when Cappy learned that the FBI was considering Clarksburg as a possible site. An agreement was made that Harrison 2000 would be formed to be an umbrella for economic development leadership in Harrison County and the state's confidence problem with Harrison County was resolved.
Located adjacent to Interstate 79, of appropriate size and not visible to those outside the land, the former strip mine was approved by the FBI. Cappy had already approached the owner of most of the land and discussed the possibility of selling it if the FBI were willing to purchase it.

First, the FBI demanded a Clarksburg address but the property was just outside the known Clarksburg city limits. Bridgeport mayor Carl Furbee wanted the FBI to be located in Bridgeport because the City of Bridgeport would be able to collect taxes (starting with taxes on the construction) and reap other obvious benefits. But the FBI insisted on Clarksburg—or another location. A battle between the cities took place that was taken to West Virginia Supreme Court. At one point Senator Byrd told them to resolve it or they—perhaps even West Virginia—would lose the FBI. A solution was found: Cappy Burnside used his zoning and engineering skills to find a shoestring approach: he found a highway, abandoned roadway, and creek bed that led to the property. Bridgeport did fight this annexation, but Clarksburg prevailed and the FBI stayed in Harrison County.
At that time, there was an agreement between then-Clarksburg Mayor James C. Hunt and then-Bridgeport Mayor Carl Furbee that the Clarksburg line would end outside the FBI property and the rest would be within the Bridgeport city limits, giving Bridgeport the revenue for the multitude of new developments and businesses to come. Much development in the area was anticipated, and is continuing decades later. In August 1991, Hunt and Furbee ceremonially buried a "hatchet" to finally mark the end of the annexation problem between the cities.
The next problem was a lack of direct access to the proposed FBI property; there was no paved road to the property and no direct exit or interchange to and from Interstate 79. The FBI refused to accept the property until the road situation was solved. FBI agents announced to Cappy and other Harrison 2000 members that, unless an interchange that allowed direct exit from Interstate 79 and a connecting road to the proposed property were constructed, they would seek another site for the fingerprint center. Within a few hours, they had planned a road and interchange that the state and FBI both agreed upon. Later that day, they met with then-Governor Gaston Caperton and received final approval for the interchange (now Exit 124 from Interstate 79) and for the road that became State Route 279 and Jerry Dove Drive to the FBI. Cappy and the FBI agents returned that evening with the results: Even more jobs for West Virginians to build the road and interchange, and the FBI deal was saved. The bridge that is the overpass that crosses Interstate 79, part of that interchange, was named after Cappy Burnside, the "driving force" behind the FBI, in 2014 in honor of all of the work he had done to attract the FBI and ensure they remained in Harrison County and even West Virginia.
Cappy did a great deal of work for Harrison 2000 and the FBI transition, but he was humble and not one to take credit.
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After the FBI
After Cappy Burnside had dedicated a great deal of time to attracting the FBI to Harrison County and solving problems to ensure the FBI deal succeeded as president of Harrison 2000, Cappy became a bridge consultant. Cappy's full-time work with Harrison 2000 and time dedicated to FBI matters caused extended absences from his own office and went into decline. He closed his company in 1992. He continued this work, often from his home office, until approximately 2012—two years before his death at 80 years of age. was dedicated in Cappy Burnside's honor on September 26, 2014, 27 days after his death. This bridge is part of the interchange that Cappy had received approval in order to keep the FBI in Harrison County.
The quality of life in North Central West Virginia continues to improve 25 years after FBI CJIS dedication
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