Transcript

8.20.26 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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Speaker 1: from Whitsburg. Your reader today is Bills and Arsenale. We
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Speaker 1: will begin with the edition dated August nineteenth, twenty twenty six,
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Speaker 1: which the publishers have donated to RADIOI.
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Speaker 2: As a reminder.
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Speaker 1: RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
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Speaker 1: blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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Speaker 1: read printed material. The first story is state and Feds
0:30
Speaker 1: won't dredge, but local officials get blamed. Letcher County residents
0:36
Speaker 1: hit by flooding yet again are in the clutches of
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Speaker 1: dredging fever, and county officials are.
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Speaker 2: Feeling the heat.
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Speaker 1: I know we've been through that a couple times, but
0:47
Speaker 1: so the public will know on the point of dredging,
0:51
Speaker 1: so we know the importance. We think it would be
0:53
Speaker 1: a big deal. So why don't we dredge. What is
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Speaker 1: the real reason we can't dredge? Benny McCall asked, people
1:02
Speaker 1: have every right to be frustrated, every right to be angry.
1:06
Speaker 1: I mean, some of these folks have lost everything multiple times.
1:10
Speaker 1: I mean it's just that they're not getting assistance, so
1:12
Speaker 1: it's money out of their pocket. They don't have the
1:15
Speaker 1: money to keep doing it. I mean, I've dealt with
1:18
Speaker 1: some folks really upset. While McCall and Judge Executive Terry
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Speaker 1: Adams acknowledged that past efforts haven't worked or have caused
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Speaker 1: more problems, they insisted that it needs to be done again.
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Speaker 1: They cleaned it out last year or year before, and
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Speaker 1: now it's up to their McCall said, gesturing at eye
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Speaker 1: level to illustrate height of the stream bed. But still
1:43
Speaker 1: McCall said, residents want it done, and he believes they're right.
1:48
Speaker 1: That's what's on everybody's minds. And I can't help, but
1:50
Speaker 1: think it would help, he said. Adams also noted that
1:54
Speaker 1: debris was dipped out of the creeks after the twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty two flood as part of the federal food recovery work,
2:02
Speaker 1: but the federal government isn't involved anymore, and I think
2:06
Speaker 1: what left a bad taste in the federal agency's mouths
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Speaker 1: originally when there was so much material took that it
2:11
Speaker 1: actually widened the creeks and the streams, which caused a
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Speaker 1: catastrophic problem that we're dealing with every day, trees falling
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Speaker 1: in the streams. Adam said, when you come and take
2:22
Speaker 1: all that out. Then that water that's there every day
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Speaker 1: eats out under those roots, and those enormous trees are falling.
2:30
Speaker 1: You can see them everywhere. But he said he will
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Speaker 1: meet with state officials about removing some of the debris
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Speaker 1: from the creeks. McCall suggested that the county apply for
2:40
Speaker 1: state permits for homeowners to do the work themselves. I
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Speaker 1: believe the Division of Water would go along with that
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Speaker 1: as long as they're meeting the state requirements, Adam said.
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Speaker 1: Magistrate deb Collier also noted problems in her district, saying
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Speaker 1: there were two men in her district who had run
3:00
Speaker 1: heavy equipment for years and tried to dip out the
3:03
Speaker 1: creek in front of their homes. Someone called the State
3:07
Speaker 1: Division of Water the division made them stop. Magistrate Kenny
3:12
Speaker 1: Anderson mentioned several trees in the creek, and Adams said
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Speaker 1: the county has been working on removing those that are
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Speaker 1: adjacent to flood buyout property or county roads. He also
3:24
Speaker 1: blamed some of the more recent flooding on the state's
3:27
Speaker 1: insistence that permanent bridges could not be built to private
3:30
Speaker 1: property after the twenty twenty two flood, but supplied temporary
3:35
Speaker 1: culverts to homeowners and allowed the county to put those in.
3:40
Speaker 1: Those culdrits then washed out, and the homeowners are blaming
3:43
Speaker 1: him and the magistrates, the state and FEMA went back
3:48
Speaker 1: and forth with that with local officials, with county judges
3:51
Speaker 1: all over eastern Kentucky, and county attorneys. He said, you know,
3:54
Speaker 1: everybody was involved in that. My question was that to
3:58
Speaker 1: put that money that it was going to be costs
4:00
Speaker 1: towards doing a more permanent access. They would not allow that.
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Speaker 1: That's why you see these areas that's got three four
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Speaker 1: five foot culverts side by side, because you had to
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Speaker 1: have something big enough to carry that water out, and
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Speaker 1: it had to be temporary, he said. He pointed out
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Speaker 1: that each of those culverts cost five to six thousand dollars,
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Speaker 1: and with the cost of labor and rock, it would
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Speaker 1: have been cheaper to build a bridge.
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Speaker 2: His request was denied.
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Speaker 1: Now, he said, people are calling him irate because their
4:33
Speaker 1: culverts washed out. FEMA and the state would not approve
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Speaker 1: doing anything permanent, and now I'm getting the blame for it.
4:40
Speaker 1: Benny's getting the blame for it. Adam said, it's not
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Speaker 1: my fault, it's not Benny's fault. The landowner was supposed
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Speaker 1: to take those out and put a permanent fix in,
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Speaker 1: and some of them considered that the permanent fix. And
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Speaker 1: you can't put five culverts in a string and expect
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Speaker 1: it to work. The next headline is the caption of
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Speaker 1: a photograph small store finding new ways of getting customers.
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Speaker 1: Six year old Reagan Bergmann is among the newest regular
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Speaker 1: visitors to Turner's Grocery in Big Laurel, Kentucky, near the
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Speaker 1: Lecher Harlan County line. Her parents first came to the
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Speaker 1: area from Dayton, Ohio about eighteen months ago to try
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Speaker 1: the region's all terrain vehicle trails. They liked eastern Kentucky
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Speaker 1: well enough to buy a home in Big Laurel, where
5:31
Speaker 1: the family now lives part time. The Bergman's return about
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Speaker 1: twice a month, once for off road riding and once
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Speaker 1: to take care of their house and property, but every
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Speaker 1: trip includes a stop at Turners. The longtime country store,
5:47
Speaker 1: once typical of communities throughout the mountains, has found new life,
5:51
Speaker 1: serving off road riders and other visitors as well as
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Speaker 1: its long term local customers. In the next line, despite
6:01
Speaker 1: heavy rains, Neon's water supply is nearly dry, flooding. Neon
6:08
Speaker 1: has had water everywhere in the past week, but barely
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Speaker 1: a drop to drink, despite a wet summer and heavy
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Speaker 1: rain last week that left downtown flooded twice in two days.
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Speaker 1: The city is asking residents to conserve water because seemingly
6:24
Speaker 1: none of that surface water is making it into the
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Speaker 1: city's wells. We've got a backup, but the water runs
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Speaker 1: in too slow to keep up. Mayor Ricky Burke said
6:34
Speaker 1: while the city was warning water customers to conserve drinking water,
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Speaker 1: storms moved in, but the resulting floods did nothing to
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Speaker 1: help with drinking water. The first flood came Tuesday night,
6:47
Speaker 1: dropping about three inches of rain over the course of
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Speaker 1: a couple hours and raising Wright's Fork to a foot
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Speaker 1: or moor in downtown. The second hit Thursday and left
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Speaker 1: up to three feet of water in some buildings on
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Speaker 1: Highway three seventeen, which is Neon's main street. Up to
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Speaker 1: three and a half inches fell through the.
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Speaker 2: Day and night.
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Speaker 1: The mayor said all the rain recently has been in
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Speaker 1: sudden downpours, violent squalls that came up fast, dumped water
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Speaker 1: and then moved on quickly, leaving behind roasting temperatures to
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Speaker 1: evaporate everything left on the ground. You think rain goes
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Speaker 1: into the ground, but it rains and it runs off,
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Speaker 1: Burke said. Fleming Neon gets its water from an abandoned
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Speaker 1: Elkhorn Coal Company deep mine that Burke believes was mined
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Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties. Fleming Neon is no stranger to
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Speaker 1: water shortages, but those shortages usually come between October and January,
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Speaker 1: when mines are normally drier. This time, the shortage comes
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Speaker 1: on the tail end of the hottest July on record.
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Speaker 1: Burke said, no one knows what affected the water supply.
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Speaker 1: We're in old mine works. You don't know what might
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Speaker 1: have happen. Happened, he said. Burke speculated that there could
8:03
Speaker 1: have been a rooffall underground that blocked the flow of
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Speaker 1: the water underground. City workers put a camera down the
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Speaker 1: well and can see there was very little water in it,
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Speaker 1: but couldn't see anything blocking the old tunnels. Burke said,
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Speaker 1: if that's the problem, the rocks could have fallen anywhere.
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Speaker 1: It's a huge mine. It goes from hemp Hill over
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Speaker 1: to McRoberts Jenkins.
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Speaker 2: Burke said.
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Speaker 1: Meanwhile, city residents and business owners are cleaning up mud
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Speaker 1: and damaged goods from the flooding Thursday night. Most of
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Speaker 1: the damage was on Highway three forty three and a
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Speaker 1: low lying section of Highway three seventeen south of the
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Speaker 1: intersection with Kentucky.
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Speaker 2: Three forty three.
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Speaker 1: Many of the buildings on that end of town are vacant,
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Speaker 1: but the water caused damage to several of the nine
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Speaker 1: churches in downtown.
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Speaker 2: Flooding.
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Speaker 1: Neon has a population of five hundred and sixty seven
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Speaker 1: according to the US Census Bureau, making it the small
9:02
Speaker 1: city in Leccher County. The next story is You're invited
9:09
Speaker 1: to forum on energy bills. The Appalachian Citizens Law Center
9:14
Speaker 1: of Whitesburg will continue its first Tuesday conversations on energy
9:18
Speaker 1: affordability on September first, at five point thirty pm at
9:22
Speaker 1: the Letcher County Extension Office, also located in Whitesburg, at
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Speaker 1: four to twenty four Extension Lane. Attendees are asked to
9:30
Speaker 1: arrive in time for dinner. The next story is Sanders
9:37
Speaker 1: has spent a lifetime of helping Jenkins. When kid Sanders
9:44
Speaker 1: learned that the Kawanas Club of Jenkins had selected him
9:47
Speaker 1: to receive its Lifetime Achievement award, the news caused the
9:51
Speaker 1: eighty four year old McRoberts native to look back over
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Speaker 1: more than half a century of civic work. What he
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Speaker 1: saw was a list of projects, but more importantly, a
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Speaker 1: long list of people who have helped along the way.
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Speaker 1: I've always been surrounded by many other good citizens, Sanders
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Speaker 1: said in retrospect. Those people have become my best friends. Sanders,
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Speaker 1: who has been involved in civic work and Jenkins since
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Speaker 1: joining the Jenkins JCS in nineteen seventy one, will receive
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Speaker 1: the Lifetime Achievement Award at seven pm Saturday, August twenty second,
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Speaker 1: during the Jenkins Homecoming Festival. The honor recognizes a record
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Speaker 1: of community involvement stretching approximately fifty five years and touching
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Speaker 1: seemingly every corner of Jenkins its schools, athletic fields, water system, festivals,
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Speaker 1: historic buildings, parks, art programs, and recreational facilities. Sanders' path
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Speaker 1: to becoming one of the community's top volunteers began in McRoberts,
10:55
Speaker 1: where he was one of five children born to Hazel
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Speaker 1: and Roy Sanders. His father died when kid was about
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Speaker 1: four years old, leaving his mother a widow with a
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Speaker 1: family to raise.
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Speaker 2: Sanders attended Jenkins Independent.
11:10
Speaker 1: Schools and graduated with the class of nineteen fifty nine.
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Speaker 1: Jobs were scarce in Jenkins and Letcher County during a
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Speaker 1: severe economic recession, and as a teenager he took whatever
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Speaker 1: work he could find, sometimes earning only twenty five cents
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Speaker 1: an hour and saving nearly every cent of it to
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Speaker 1: buy a car. A construction job paying thirty five cents
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Speaker 1: an hour, later raised to fifty cents because the boss
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Speaker 1: liked his work, finally made it possible. Shortly after turning sixteen,
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Speaker 1: Sanders paid one hundred fifty dollars for a nineteen fifty
11:45
Speaker 1: one Plymouth I was so proud of my achievement, remembers Sanders,
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Speaker 1: whose family didn't have a car while he was growing up,
11:54
Speaker 1: but he added, gasoline was twenty eight cents a gallon,
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Speaker 1: and my car took about every cent I made. Based
12:02
Speaker 1: on inflation adjustments, three dollars and twenty one cents would
12:05
Speaker 1: be needed today to equal the purchasing power of twenty
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Speaker 1: eight cents. In nineteen fifty nine. After high school, a
12:13
Speaker 1: chain of events took Sanders to Cleveland, Ohio and factory work.
12:18
Speaker 1: He worked every hour available and remembers the first time
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Speaker 1: he ever saw one hundred dollars. However, he also found
12:26
Speaker 1: that life in what he called a concrete jungle, performing
12:29
Speaker 1: repetitive factory labor, and traveling from one stop like to
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Speaker 1: another was not the future he wanted, and he missed home.
12:39
Speaker 1: I yearned to see the Kentucky mountains, streams, family, and friends,
12:43
Speaker 1: Sanders recalled, the mountain culture was embedded in me. Like
12:49
Speaker 1: many young people of his generation who saw few opportunities
12:53
Speaker 1: for higher education, Sanders considered the military. In early nineteen sixty.
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Speaker 1: He approached an Army recruiter, intending to enlist in the
13:02
Speaker 1: Army Airborne and study automobile mechanics, but an entrance examination
13:07
Speaker 1: changed those plans. After Sanders scored well on the exam,
13:13
Speaker 1: the recruiters suggested something very different, the Army Security Agency. Soon,
13:19
Speaker 1: a recruiter from Arlington, Virginia came to McRoberts, specifically to
13:23
Speaker 1: talk with Sanders. You can imagine what that did to
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Speaker 1: an eighteen year old kid's ego, Sanders recalled. The Army
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Speaker 1: Security Agency was the Army's signals, intelligence, and Communications security organization,
13:39
Speaker 1: part of the nation's Cold War intelligence apparatus. Its personnel
13:44
Speaker 1: intercepted and processed foreign military communications and performed cryptographic work
13:50
Speaker 1: that contributed to the larger intelligence mission coordinated by the
13:53
Speaker 1: National Security Agency in nineteen sixty. With the Cold War
13:59
Speaker 1: at its height, that work was especially important as the
14:03
Speaker 1: United States sought intelligence about the Soviet Union and other
14:07
Speaker 1: potential adversaries. Much of the assay's work was highly classified,
14:13
Speaker 1: and assignments involving intercepted communications and cryptography required high level
14:18
Speaker 1: security clearances.
14:21
Speaker 2: The NSSAY itself.
14:22
Speaker 1: Had been created in nineteen fifty two to consolidate cryptologic
14:26
Speaker 1: support for US military operations and meet the emerging intelligence
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Speaker 1: challenges of the Cold War. Sanders enlisted and went to
14:36
Speaker 1: Fort Dix, New Jersey for basic training in April nineteen sixty.
14:41
Speaker 1: After an FBI background investigation, he received a top secret
14:45
Speaker 1: security clearance and was sent to Fort Gordon, Georgia, for
14:49
Speaker 1: training in cryptography. Soon he was aboard of Military Air
14:53
Speaker 1: Transport aircraft bound for England. I remember the shock upon
14:58
Speaker 1: realizing that I was four one thousand miles from home
15:02
Speaker 1: and that I would not see my family for at
15:04
Speaker 1: least another two years, Sanders recalled, I had to adjust
15:08
Speaker 1: quickly to my new life. His Army Security Agency unit
15:14
Speaker 1: intercepted radio communications from Europe, North Africa, and Russia. The
15:19
Speaker 1: information was encrypted and sent to Arlington in an era
15:23
Speaker 1: before satellite communications, when transmissions traveled by land line and
15:28
Speaker 1: transatlantic cable on the ocean floor. Sanders left the military
15:34
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty three and eagerly returned to mc roberts.
15:39
Speaker 1: About a year later, the Nessay offered him a job
15:41
Speaker 1: doing essentially the same kind of work he had performed
15:44
Speaker 1: in the service. He turned it down. He wanted to
15:48
Speaker 1: come back home from army security to coal mining. Although
15:54
Speaker 1: Sanders had grown up in a mining community, he had
15:57
Speaker 1: never intended to work in a coal mine. I had
16:00
Speaker 1: no thoughts or intentions of ever becoming a coal miner,
16:03
Speaker 1: But fate intervened, He said, I found an opportunity to
16:07
Speaker 1: begin working for beth Elcorn Corporation as an underground coal miner.
16:13
Speaker 1: It was a good union job and good company, and
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Speaker 1: it was right here at home, and I wouldn't have
16:18
Speaker 1: to go back to Ohio to find a job. His
16:22
Speaker 1: first day underground nearly convinced him that mining was not
16:25
Speaker 1: for him. Sanders became sick after breathing smoke from explosives
16:30
Speaker 1: containing nitroglycerin. He never became accustomed to it, he said,
16:34
Speaker 1: but learned to stay upwind. Another major turn in his
16:39
Speaker 1: life came in nineteen sixty five when he married Eileen Williams,
16:44
Speaker 1: also from mac Roberts. Eileen had attended Midway Junior College
16:49
Speaker 1: and was studying to become an elementary school teacher when
16:53
Speaker 1: Sanders told her he had always wanted more education but
16:56
Speaker 1: had never had the opportunity. She encouraged him to begin
16:59
Speaker 1: taking classes part time at Pipewell College while continuing to
17:03
Speaker 1: work in the mines. Kid convinced the mind foremant to
17:07
Speaker 1: switch from days to nights so he could attend classes
17:11
Speaker 1: three days a week. That proved to be one of
17:14
Speaker 1: the most satisfying years of my life, Sanders said. The
17:19
Speaker 1: couple later moved to Lexington, where Eileen completed her education
17:23
Speaker 1: at the University of Kentucky and graduated in nineteen sixty seven.
17:28
Speaker 1: She taught second grade at Johnson Elementary in Lexington for
17:31
Speaker 1: four years. Kid meanwhile worked full and part time jobs
17:37
Speaker 1: while attending the University of Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky University,
17:42
Speaker 1: but jobs down there didn't pay half as much as
17:44
Speaker 1: coal mining, he noted in nineteen seventy three. Fourteen years
17:49
Speaker 1: after graduating from Jenkins High School, Sanders earned a Bachelor
17:54
Speaker 1: of Science degree in industrial vocational education, specializing in industrial
17:59
Speaker 1: election tricity. The Sanderses had already returned to Letcher County
18:04
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one. Ked resumed work for Beth Elkhorn,
18:09
Speaker 1: but took a six month leave of absence in nineteen
18:11
Speaker 1: seventy three so he could finish obtaining his college degree.
18:17
Speaker 1: Ked and Eileen have now been married sixty one years
18:21
Speaker 1: and have lived in Jenkins since nineteen seventy four. After
18:25
Speaker 1: their son Chris was born in January nineteen seventy two,
18:29
Speaker 1: the Sanderses decided it was not necessary for Eileen to
18:32
Speaker 1: continue teaching school. Our son, Stephen, was born in nineteen
18:37
Speaker 1: seventy eight and has given us four beautiful granddaughters, said Kid.
18:42
Speaker 1: Eileen later continued her education and returned to teaching and
18:46
Speaker 1: worked as a classroom teacher and school librarian.
18:51
Speaker 2: Over a twenty five year.
18:52
Speaker 1: Mining career, Ked worked at nearly every level of the industry,
18:56
Speaker 1: spending the final fifteen years of his career as a
18:59
Speaker 1: Federal eral coal mine inspector. A long record of community service.
19:06
Speaker 1: It was also after the return home that Sanders began
19:10
Speaker 1: the community service for which he will be honored Saturday night.
19:15
Speaker 1: Charlie Dixon, the future Jenkins mayor, who was then a
19:18
Speaker 1: school teacher and coach, invited him to join the Jenkins
19:22
Speaker 1: JCS in nineteen seventy one. Sanders later served a term
19:26
Speaker 1: on the Jenkins City Council in nineteen seventy eight to
19:29
Speaker 1: seventy nine and a term on the Jenkins Independent Board
19:32
Speaker 1: of Education from nineteen eighty through nineteen eighty four. In
19:36
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, he was appointed to the Jenkins Athletic
19:40
Speaker 1: Field Commission and would serve as its president for more
19:43
Speaker 1: than twenty years. During those years, Sanders and other volunteers
19:48
Speaker 1: helped transform the city's athletic facilities with assistance from coal
19:53
Speaker 1: severance tax money provided through the Electric County Fiscal Court.
19:57
Speaker 1: The commission installed new lighting at the football complex, constructed
20:02
Speaker 1: and expanded an athletic building, built a quarter mile asphalt track,
20:08
Speaker 1: upgraded the playing field, installed elevated bleachers, and improved the
20:12
Speaker 1: press box at the Jenkins Athletic Field, all of which
20:16
Speaker 1: are located on Lakeside Drive. Providing baseball facilities proved more complicated.
20:23
Speaker 1: While the football field had also been home to the
20:25
Speaker 1: Jenkins High School baseball team for many years. Sanders said
20:29
Speaker 1: that ended when some new houses were built beyond the
20:32
Speaker 1: outfield fence and the long ball hitters were breaking their windows.
20:38
Speaker 1: A new baseball field was then constructed near overlooked Terrace
20:42
Speaker 1: on an old Cno railroad bed, but after only a
20:45
Speaker 1: few years, the property was taken for construction of the
20:48
Speaker 1: new four lane US twenty three one to nineteen. For
20:53
Speaker 1: a time, the Jenkins High baseball team had to play
20:56
Speaker 1: all its games away from home. Tico Coal Company, a
21:00
Speaker 1: division of Tampa Electric, eventually donated property on a former
21:04
Speaker 1: strip mine on Joe's Branch, and with additional funding from
21:08
Speaker 1: the Fiscal Court, a new baseball field and facilities were built.
21:13
Speaker 1: The high school has used the facility since.
21:15
Speaker 2: Two thousand four.
21:18
Speaker 1: The Jenkins Athletic Field Commission also helped the community's Little
21:22
Speaker 1: League baseball program in nineteen eighty nine when it acquired
21:26
Speaker 1: property on Lakeside Drive and constructed a field for Little
21:30
Speaker 1: League with support from local businesses and individuals. That field
21:35
Speaker 1: is now used by the Jenkins High School softball program.
21:40
Speaker 1: Volunteer work was never sports only. Sanders's civic work was
21:46
Speaker 1: by no means confined to recreation. While he was a
21:50
Speaker 1: member of the Jenkins City Council under Mayor Jess Bates,
21:53
Speaker 1: the city established a Utilities Commission, a step necessary to
21:57
Speaker 1: obtain grant money to replace deterior raiding water lines. Sanders
22:02
Speaker 1: were called how the old system was losing more water
22:05
Speaker 1: than the city was selling. Years later, he was appointed
22:09
Speaker 1: chairman of the Utilities Commission and served approximately ten years
22:14
Speaker 1: during the administration of mayors Robert Schubert, Charles Dixon, and G. C.
22:18
Speaker 2: Kincer. During Dixon's administration.
22:22
Speaker 1: Former Beth Elcorn General manager Dave Zegeir gave the city
22:26
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars to address dilapidated properties. Dixon and the
22:31
Speaker 1: Jenkins City Council created the Blighted, Deteriorated and Nuisance Committee
22:36
Speaker 1: and appointed Sanders and Paul Greer to help identify properties
22:40
Speaker 1: under an improve or remove standard. Approximately twenty five buildings
22:46
Speaker 1: were removed with the money. Another project involved a Jenkins
22:50
Speaker 1: landmark believed to be in danger of disappearing. After the
22:55
Speaker 1: new Jenkins High School opened in nineteen seventy two, the
22:58
Speaker 1: Leiser Fiscal Court purchase the old Jenkins School on Main Street.
23:03
Speaker 1: The county used the building for various purposes over the years,
23:07
Speaker 1: but the cost of maintenance became a burden. Fearing the
23:11
Speaker 1: possibility of the building being demolished, concerned citizens, led by
23:15
Speaker 1: former student Rosemary brown Shook, organized the Save the Old
23:19
Speaker 1: School Committee. Sanders joined the effort, recalling how he and
23:25
Speaker 1: other volunteers, working under Mayor Dixon's supervision, removed tons of
23:29
Speaker 1: accumulated debris. Sanders said building eventually was leased to another
23:34
Speaker 1: party and underwent an approximately three million dollar grant funded renovation. Today,
23:40
Speaker 1: the former school contains twenty eight modern apartments for qualifying tenants.
23:47
Speaker 1: Efforts included annual Jenkins Festival. The Jenkins Festival itself is
23:53
Speaker 1: another part of Sanders's long record of service. When the
23:57
Speaker 1: Letter County Mountain Heritage Festival was a state lablished in
24:00
Speaker 1: the early nineteen eighties, individual communities were assigned dates for
24:05
Speaker 1: their own celebrations. The Jenkins Festival, originally known as Jenkins Days,
24:10
Speaker 1: eventually separated its event from the Mountain Heritage Festival and
24:14
Speaker 1: moved its dates from September to August to avoid rain outs.
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Speaker 1: Sanders and other Jenkins Committee members raised money, recruited vendors,
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Speaker 1: and helped develop the festival into one of the area's
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Speaker 1: larger events, featuring both nationally known and local entertainers. Through
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Speaker 1: the years, Sanders, along with fellow Jenkins residents Paul Greer
24:37
Speaker 1: and Paul Thompson, repaired and upgraded the festival site on
24:41
Speaker 1: the city's mini park, including electrical and plumbing systems serving
24:46
Speaker 1: the food booths. They rebuilt the stage, improved stage lighting,
24:51
Speaker 1: and constructed three ramps to make the facility more accessible
24:54
Speaker 1: to people with disabilities. The committee was not deterred. Sanders
25:01
Speaker 1: is quick to credit Jenkins City employees and members of
25:05
Speaker 1: the fire and police departments for helping with community projects
25:08
Speaker 1: over the years. So many people came forward and just
25:12
Speaker 1: wanted to help, Sanders said, you might get started with
25:16
Speaker 1: an idea from one or two people, but then others
25:18
Speaker 1: would join the effort. One of his most ambitious undertakings
25:23
Speaker 1: came on the abandoned Cno railroad bed near the old
25:26
Speaker 1: train tunnel leading from Jenkins to Pound, Virginia. The late
25:32
Speaker 1: Don Ambergey, a longtime librarian in the region, led an
25:36
Speaker 1: effort to acquire property for an amphitheater where the outdoor
25:40
Speaker 1: drama The Little Shepherd of Kingdom com could be presented.
25:44
Speaker 1: Amberg he organized the Cumberland Mountain Arts and Crafts Council
25:48
Speaker 1: and obtained approximately six acres from Tico Coal Company on
25:52
Speaker 1: the north side of Pine Mountain above Lakeside. Sanders was
25:56
Speaker 1: asked to oversee development of the site, but the townes
26:00
Speaker 1: was easier said than done. Decades of mud had accumulated
26:04
Speaker 1: on the property. Old railroad drains were buried, and trees,
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Speaker 1: briers and undergrowth covered the site. Sanders recalled that in
26:13
Speaker 1: places even a farm tractor could not get through.
26:17
Speaker 2: With funding and.
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Speaker 1: Road equipment from the Lectrophysical Court and assistance from an
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Speaker 1: independent contractor, workers constructed.
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Speaker 2: A road more than a quarter mile.
26:26
Speaker 1: Long to reach the future theater site. It took months
26:30
Speaker 1: to develop the area and the facilities, but the committee
26:33
Speaker 1: was not deterred, said Sanders. The site eventually hosted Indian
26:38
Speaker 1: Summer folk festivals, bluegrass festivals, an Arts and Crafts Festival,
26:43
Speaker 1: Civil War reenactments, and performances of The Little Shepherd of
26:47
Speaker 1: Kingdom Come. Sanders also organized nature and history hikes to
26:52
Speaker 1: places many residents knew by name but had never visited,
26:56
Speaker 1: including Lily Cornett Woods, Scuttlehole Gap, Bad Branch Falls, Raven
27:02
Speaker 1: Rock Overlook, the Red Fox Trail and the sight of
27:06
Speaker 1: the Killing Rock Massacre. His interests away from organized civic
27:11
Speaker 1: work have been nearly as varied. In middle age, Sanders
27:15
Speaker 1: became a runner and race walker. He also took up hiking, spilunking,
27:19
Speaker 1: and river rafting, and participated in bungee jumping and skydiving.
27:25
Speaker 2: Along the way.
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Speaker 1: I wrote and self published two books, Sanders added, referring
27:30
Speaker 1: to High as a Cat's Back and Low as a
27:33
Speaker 1: Snake's Belly, a collection of old sayings and tall tales
27:37
Speaker 1: and short stories from the shady side of Pine Mountain.
27:40
Speaker 1: He also has written numerous articles for local newspapers and
27:44
Speaker 1: regional magazines. I find it very gratifying. An interest in
27:50
Speaker 1: art led him to the father Edward Randall, who offered
27:53
Speaker 1: free art lessons when he led Saint George's Catholic Church
27:56
Speaker 1: in Jenkins. Sanders credits the late father with developing his
28:01
Speaker 1: abilities to create numerous paintings, four of which have been
28:04
Speaker 1: released as prints. I find it very gratifying to see
28:09
Speaker 1: some of the projects that I have worked on and
28:11
Speaker 1: reflect on the many friends I have been associated with
28:14
Speaker 1: working on these projects.
28:15
Speaker 2: He said.
28:17
Speaker 1: While Sanders has many noteworthy accomplishments. He doesn't offer a
28:21
Speaker 1: polished assessment of his own life or pretend that decades
28:25
Speaker 1: of public involvement came without mistakes. On a personal note,
28:29
Speaker 1: I admit that I have made a lot of mistakes
28:31
Speaker 1: in my life, mostly due to misjudging the character of
28:34
Speaker 1: some of the people I have known, he said in
28:37
Speaker 1: the end, I hope it can be said that my
28:39
Speaker 1: good outweighs my bad. The Lifetime Achievement Award will be
28:44
Speaker 1: presented to Ked Sanders at seven pm during the Jenkins
28:48
Speaker 1: Homecoming Festival. And this concludes the reading of The Mountain Eagle.
28:54
Speaker 1: Your reader has been billed and arsenal. Now please stay
28:58
Speaker 1: tuned for continued programming on behalf of everyone here at Radio.
29:02
Speaker 2: I thank you for listening, and have a good day.