Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 20 > Article 17 - Multicounty Trail Network Authorities

• Adjacent county: means a nonparticipating county that directly borders any participating county in a multicounty trail network authority. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Agency: means any branch, department or unit of the state government, however designated or constituted. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authority: means a multicounty trail network authority created pursuant to this article. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Board: means the board of a multicounty trail network authority. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Commission: means the Natural Resources Commission. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Contiguous counties: means a group of counties in which each county shares the border of at least one other county in the group. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Director: means the Director of the Division of Natural Resources. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fee: means the amount of money asked in return for an invitation to enter or go upon a recreational area of a trail network, including a one-time fee for a particular event, amusement, occurrence, adventure, incident, experience, or occasion as set by an authority, which may differ in amount for different categories of participants. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• owner of land: means a person vested with title to real estate and those with the ability to exercise control over real estate and includes, but is not limited to, a tenant, lessee, licensee, holder of a dominant estate, or other lawful occupant. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Participant: means any person using a recreational area of a trail network for recreational purposes. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Participating county: means one of the three or more counties forming a multicounty trail network authority. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means any public or private corporation, institution, association, society, firm, organization, or company organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• property: includes , but is not limited to, roads, water, watercourses, private ways, buildings, premises, structures, and machinery or equipment, when attached to the realty. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Recreational area: means the recreational trails and appurtenant facilities, including trail head centers, parking areas, camping facilities, picnic areas, recreational areas, historic or cultural interpretive sites, and other facilities or attractions that are a part of a multicounty trail network authority system. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2
• Recreational purposes: means :

  (A) Any outdoor activity undertaken, or practice or instruction in any such activity, for the purpose of exercise, relaxation, or pleasure, including, but not limited to any one or any combination of the following noncommercial recreational activities: Hunting, fishing, swimming, boating, kayaking, camping, picnicking, hiking, rock climbing, bouldering, bicycling, horseback riding, spelunking, nature study, water skiing, winter sports, and visiting, viewing, or enjoying historical, archaeological, scenic, or scientific sites, aircraft, or ultralight operations on private airstrips or farms, or otherwise using land for purposes of the user. See West Virginia Code 20-17-2

• State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Take: means to hunt, shoot, pursue, lure, kill, destroy, catch, capture, keep in captivity, gig, spear, trap, ensnare, wound or injure any wildlife, or attempt to do so. See West Virginia Code 20-1-2
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.