NEW PROSECUTOR PLANS NO BIG SHIFT IN POLICY

Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Miller plans no shift in policy, now that he
has taken the reins from Kasey Warner.

"The focus of the office is not going to change," the Putnam County native
said Monday.

"We're going to pursue violations of federal law where we find them. Drugs
and violent crimes that we have federal jurisdiction over and public
corruption are priorities of this office."

Miller couldn't comment on the specifics of Warner's departure, saying
only, "He left this morning. That's about all I can tell you. All I know is
they contacted me and told me I am the acting U.S. Attorney."

A West Point graduate, Warner was serving as judge advocate to the U.S.
Special Operations Command in Florida when President Bush chose him as a
federal prosecutor in 2001.

Just where he is headed now was not certain.

"He's retired from the military, so he has that," Miller said. "And he has
grandchildren, so I'd think he will be spending time with the family. I
really don't have any specifics.

"He was a good guy to work for. I have no complaints about him at all."

Miller considers drug trafficking a major problem in southern West
Virginia, one that consumes most of his office's energy and resources.

"It changes from time to time," he said. "There are different kinds of
drugs. Obviously, now methamphetamine is a big problem. It was cocaine for
a while. There had been a time when heroin had resurged in the area.

"But it's one that never seems to go away. Certainly, a lot of other crime
is related to drug activity."

After graduation from high school in 1965, Miller went to West Virginia
State College and worked as a deputy sheriff in Kanawha County in the early
1970s.

A graduate of the West Virginia University School of Law, he spent five
years in the Kanawha County prosecutor's office, working under both Mike
Roark and Cletus Hanley.

"We'll continue to operate the office without any significant changes at
all," said Miller, who has served in the U.S. Attorney's Office since 1984.

"I don't plan on making any staffing changes. We're going to go forward and
try to keep things running."