Transcript

5.8.25 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill den Arsdale. We
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will begin with the addition dated May seventh, twenty twenty five,
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which the publishers have donated to RADIOI as reminder. RADIOI
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. The first headline is Isomwoman one hundred one
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honored for the Rosie the Riveter work she did during
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World War II. A Rosie gets her due years after
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she helped in war effort. Two days after celebrating her
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one hundred first birthday, Mildred Smith Brown of Isom was
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presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by the American Rosie
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the Riveter Association for her service during World War II.
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The Congressional Gold Medal is the high vast honor that
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can be bestowed on civilian by the United States Congress.
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It was presented to missus Brown because she was one
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of thousands of women who stepped up to serve their
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country by answering the call to action to fill job vacancies.
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Speaker 2: Left by men leaving to go fight the war on.
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Speaker 1: Front lines in Europe, Africa, and the South Pacific. Missus
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Brown was only seventeen when she traveled to Detroit, Michigan,
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to work in the factories as a riveter and buckler,
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working on World War II bomber planes for three years.
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Though Rosie the Riveter Congressional Gold Medal Act was signed
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into law in twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: The purpose of the Act is.
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Speaker 1: To award a Congressional Gold Medal collectively to the women
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in the United States who joined the workforce during World
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War II providing the aircraft vehicles, weaponry, ammunition, and other
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material to win the war that were referred to as
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Rosie the Riveter in recognition of their contributions to the
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United States and the inspiration they have provided to ensuing generations.
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HR seventeen seventy three. Missus Brown is the last surviving
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of twelve children born to Murda Ambergie Smith and William
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Tater Bill Smith and was raised on Wolfpenn Creek in
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Nott County. She married Lawson Brown, whom she met in
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Michigan during her Rosie days. She had two children, Janet
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Henry Madden and the late Joan Ronnie Sparks. She has
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four grandchildren with many more great and great great grandchildren.
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She attended Car Creek School in Litcar, where the celebration
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of receiving the medal was held. A very intelligent woman,
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she is a passionate reader, often reading a novel a day.
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Mildred has worked many jobs during her one hundred one years.
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She was a noted seamstress in her community, making clothes
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for women and children. She was a cook at Smoot
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Creek Elementary School, once a two room school in Letcher County.
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She also worked as an AVON representative and was a
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seamstress for Dawhair's Department store in Weisburg. She was an
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avid gardener, raising and preserving food for her family all
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her life. She and her husband, laws and Brown, ran
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Jets restaurant and grocery for many years on Lake Cumberland
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in Jabez. Mildred has also enjoyed traveling extensively. She has
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visited forty nine of the fifty States, as well as Canada.
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She loves the National park system and tried to visit
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as many parks as possible. Being afraid to fly for years,
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she found some of her favorite adventures to be piloting
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a float plane over a Glacier in Alaska with her
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granddaughters and taking a helicopter tour over the bad Lands
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National Park with her friend. Now living independently in Letcher County,
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she still enjoys cooking for family, sewing, patio gardening, and
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texting with friends and family on her iPhone. Most importantly,
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says her family, she continues to bless them with the
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stories and adventures of her amazing life. She attributes her
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long life to hard work, healthy eating but not after
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six p m. Moving as much as possible, and in
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her words, staying off the couch. Missus Brown was born
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April twenty fourth, nineteen twenty four. In the next story,
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agency that screens miners for black long left with few workers.
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The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the federal
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agency that tests safety equipment for construction workers and screens
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coal miners for black lung disease, has been hit with
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another round of firing, leaving the agency with nearly no employees.
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Union officials told WXVU radio, an NPR station at Philadelphia's
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Villanova University, that the cuts by the Trump administration removed
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ninety seven percent of the Cincinnati bargaining unit and ninety
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three percent of the agency employees nationwide. The cuts May
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second also hit the Morgantown, West Virginia office of NIOSH.
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Employees there and in Cincinnati were told they will be fired.
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As of June second. In Morgantown, nearly two hundred employees
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will lose their jobs and have already been put on
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administrative leave. The Morgantown office handles the b readers that
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screen coal miners for Black Long. West Addington, executive director
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of the Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Weisberg, said b
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readers are embedded in the Blacklong program and he has
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no idea how the program can operate otherwise. NIOSH sends
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a van to coal mining areas regularly to do screenings,
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and it trains doctors to read chest X rays, something
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required before their testimony will be accepted. If you're a
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doctor trying to get certified to read chest X rays
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for minors or get re certified because you have to
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get recertified every five years, there's no way to do
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that now, he said. There are international doctors that take
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that test and they're certified around the world. That's not
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going to happen now. William McCool, president of the Black
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Long Association of Southeastern Kentucky said there was good and
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bad associated with the NIOSH program, saying no one with
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the agency ever told him he had black long. They
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just told me to go see a doctor. He said,
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I'm dead with it. I've almost got fourth stage.
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Speaker 2: He said.
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Speaker 1: I worked forty years in the mines and I should
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have been pulled out twenty years before I was. Addington
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said miners today are getting severe black lung and silicosis
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much sooner than their fathers and grandfathers, even with improved
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safety technology. The geologic factor is all the good coal
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seams are gone and they're having to mine all the
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layers of rock to get the coal, so they're exposed
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to much more rock dust, he said. And then on
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top of that, Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia have a
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history of running outlaw coal operations compared to the rest
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of the country. While Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
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Kennedy Junior, under whose authority in IOSH falls, has said
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the duties will be taken over by someone else, Addington
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said the work is very specialized and can't just be replaced.
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When all of the employees have been fired, you break
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the agency and then on the back end, you're trying
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to figure out the things you really can't do without,
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and said the longer you wait, the harder it is
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to bring it back. The next headline is Governors Medicaid
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cuts would bring more US deaths. The eight hundred and
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eighty million dollars in cuts to Medicaid that have been
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proposed by Congress will lead to sicker people, a worse economy,
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and more deaths. Democratic governors warned and a press conference Tuesday,
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Kentucky Governor Andy Basheer, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, Hawaii Governor
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Josh Green, MD, and New Mexico Governor Michelle Grisham joined
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healthcare advocacy group Protect Our Care for a video news
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conference on Monday to discuss how the proposed cuts will
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hurt their states. Kelly is chair of the Democratic Governors
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Association and Bashir is vice chair. While the Republican majority
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has claimed there is no plan to cut medicaid and
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say the word medicaid is never mentioned in their budget plan,
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experts say medicaid is the only place the eight hundred
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eighty million dollar cut committee members were ordered to make
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could come from. A cut can come in a number
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of different ways, and it's still a cut, even if
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this Republican Congress tries to call it something else. Basheer said,
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giving a block grant to a state that is less
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than the dollars we receive right now is by definition
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a cut, even if they claim it's a sufficient amount
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of money. Having a cap per individual and sending only
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those dollars in if it is less than the current
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dollars coming in is a cut as well.
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Speaker 2: Basheer said.
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Speaker 1: In many Kentucky communities, the hospitals and clinics are the
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largest employers, and with the large number of Kentuckians receiving
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Medicaid benefits, taking it away will close those medical facilities
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and leave residents having to drive long distances to receive care.
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Grisham of New Mexico called the cut and all out
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assault on America's healthcare system. Already, forty six percent of
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rural hospitals in rural America are nearing the brink of closure.
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That means that we need additional investments and better strategies
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to keep them afloat. Grisham said more than a third
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of their revenue comes from direct investments and payments from Medicaid.
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That's four hundred and thirty two hospitals that will close.
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Doctors will leave, nurses will leave. I can't urge the
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folks who are watching this enough. Please fight for your
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family members, fight for your communities, fight for your state,
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Fight for America's health care system. Kelly accused Congress of
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not trying to reduce deficits or balance the budget. There
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are other ways to look for efficiencies in government. Democratic
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governors do that every day, and we have found ways
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to do it while continuing to provide the services that
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our citizens need, she said. Hawaii Green, who is a
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licensed physician, said cutting Medicaid will have the exact opposite
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effect from cutting the budget. He and other governors said
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cutting Medicaid will cause people to avoid seeing a doctor
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until they are so sick they have to go to
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an emergency room. Basheer said the three year reduction in
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the rate of overdose deaths in Kentucky is largely the
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result of expanded Medicaid, and those deaths will increase again
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if the program is cut. Not only will people get
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sicker sooner, not only will those who are most vulnerable
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have complications that are much more severe, but it will
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as it enhances our suffering in America. It will also
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increase costs very dramatically. Green said. The Governor's urged residents
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to call their representatives in Congress and their senators and
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demand that they vote not to cut medicaid. The next
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story is new troopers, one from Whitsburg are assigned to
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Kentucky State Police Post thirteen in Hazard. The Kentucky State
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Police KSP announced the graduation of thirty three cadets from
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the KSP Training Academy. These troopers will begin their new
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public safety careers in communities throughout the Commonwealth. Three of
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the graduates will be serving at KSP Post thirteen. Cadet
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Class one O five arrived at the KSP Academy on
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November tenth, beginning twenty four weeks of demanding instruction and
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hands on training required to become a state trooper. Cadet
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Class one O five underwent more than one thousand hours
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of class room and field study in subjects such as
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constitutional law, juvenile and traffic law, use of force, weapons training,
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defensive tactics, first aid, high speed vehicle pursuit, criminal investigation,
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computer literacy, hostage negotiations, evidence collection, radio procedures, search and seizure,
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crash investigation, drug identification, traffic control, crowd control, armed robbery response,
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electronic crimes, sex crimes, hate crimes, domestic violence, bomb threats,
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and hazardous materials. Cadet Class one O five graduates assigned
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to Post thirteen are Dennis Howard, Hazard, Kentucky, Chase Lucas Weisburg, Kentucky,
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Marcus Prayer, Hazard, Kentucky. Seventeen cadets earned their associate degree
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in General Occupational and Technical Studies from the Bluegrass Community
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and Technical College during their twenty four weeks at the
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training academy. These cadets benefited from the new hiring guidelines
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established by the state legislature in twenty seventeen. Through this revision,
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any one who possesses a high school diploma or GED
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and as three years of full time work experience can
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apply for employment as a KSP trooper and earn an
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associate degree during the training process. Post thirteen Trooper Dennis
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Howard earned his associate degree. In the next headline is
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some airport plans move ahead after land by The Letcher
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County Airport Board is in the process of buying the
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final piece of property needed for the planned airport at Isomom.
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The Fiscal Court voted at its last meeting to turn
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over the thirty thousand dollars needed for that last purchase
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to the board. Jeffrey Justice, executive director of Pine Mountain
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Partnership and a member of the airport board, said this
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should address some of the concerns of residents in the
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area who were afraid their property might be taken. We
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will not be buying anybody out. It's not going to
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affect anybody there. Nobody's going to have to move. Justice said,
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after this piece of property, we will have all that
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we need. He said the road into the airport site
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will not affect Stamper's Branch, even though the airport will
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be on top of a nearby mountain. Judge Executive Terry
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Adams said the road will exit off Kentucky fifteen and
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start up the mountain on the opposite side of the
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ridge from Stamper's Branch, between the mountain and Rockhouse Creek,
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so everybody knows the road will be along that ridge
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that separates Stamper's Branch from the river, Adams said. Justice
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said people living there shouldn't have to worry much about
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noise either because of the size of airplanes expected to
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use the four thousand, five hundred foot runway, there's not
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going to be jumbo jets flying through, so it's not
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going to be disruptive like you might think an airport
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would be, he said. While federal money has been paused,
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Justice said the Airport Board has it in riding from
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the Federal Aviation Administration, promising that the airport sport will
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be built now it's a matter of waiting for the
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money to be released. According to the FAA, its money
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was not affected by the cuts in Washington. All the
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freezing and clawbacks didn't affect this.
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Speaker 2: Justice said.
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Speaker 1: Once the money is awarded, the airport is expected to
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take two to three construction seasons to complete. The first
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two years would be used for excavation, followed by paving
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the following year. The proposed airport is the top priority
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in the Kentucky statewide aviation plan. Much of that land
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has already been surface mined, leaving it flat, but FAA
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officials who visited more than a year ago said it
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will still require much site work. The airport has been
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in the planning stages for twenty two years, and several
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of the original board members have died before a single
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shovel of dirt has been moved. The next story is
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real ID is now must to fly. The deadline to
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get a real ID is here. After years of postponements
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and delays. Starting May seventh, your license or identification card
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will need to be real ID compliant to fly domestically
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in the US.
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Speaker 2: Unfortunately, it doesn't.
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Speaker 1: Seem like there will be another delay in the deadline
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this time. So if you're confused about how to get
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a real ID, why you even need one in the
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first place, and what happens if you don't now have one,
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here are some things to know. What is a real ID.
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It's a federally compliant state issued license or identification card
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that the DHS says is a more secure form of identification.
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Besides needing a real ID to fly domestically, you will
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also need one to access certain federal buildings and facilities.
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Why is this happening? When the real ID Act was
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signed into law in two thousand and five, it enacted
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a recommendation from the nine to eleven Commission that the
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government set security standards for state issued driver's licenses and IDs.
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Real ID is a coordinated effort by the federal government
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to improve the reliability and accuracy of driver's licenses and
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identification cards. John Essig, the Transportation Security Administration's security director
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for airports in the New York City region, said in
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a press release on April third, the improvements are intended
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to inhibit terrorist's ability to evade detection by using fraudulent identification.
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The real ID Act was supposed to be in rolling
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out in two thousand eight, but has faced repeated delays
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due to state implementation challenges and the COVID nineteen pandemic,
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said Nino Rougeiro, Senior editorial director for Travel and Leisure.
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The combination of varying state processes and shifting deadlines has
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added to the overall confusion around real IDs and likely
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led some travelers to take the deadlines less seriously. How
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do I know if I already have a real ID.
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If you've gotten a new ID in the last few years,
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it could already be real ID compliant. I also hear
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from travelers who are confused as to whether or not
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they already have a real ID. Rugueiro said some people
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who have recently renewed their license may already have a
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compliant ID and not know it, so you may want
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to double check yours before starting the process. A real
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ID compliant driver's license has a symbol, in most cases
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a star in the top corner of the card.
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Speaker 2: What happens Now.
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Speaker 1: In mid April, a group of state senators from Kentucky
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asked the agency to delay implementing the new requirements yet again.
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They said the state has limited appointments available to people
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seeking the new cards, and that there has been a
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rush to meet the Mai seventh deadline. However, TSA spokesperson,
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Dan Vellaz, told the ap that the agency does not
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intend to delay the real ID deadline again. The next
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story is new homes not only out of floodplain, they
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are also solar powered. It was five thirty a m
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July twenty eighth, twenty twenty two when Michael Riley got
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up to get ready for work and rain was pouring
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down on the metal roof. When he looked out the
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back door of the mobile home he and his family
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rented at Mayking, the north fork of the Kentucky River,
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which normally runs behind the home, was now on the
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left and right as well, and when he went to
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the front door, the yard was already shinned deep in
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muddy water. I knew it had been raining, but I
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didn't know it was raining like that, Riley said. Kathy Thomas,
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an accountant, saw Rockhouse Creek rising at her house Isien,
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but the rain stopped as she was preparing to get
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in her car and leave.
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Speaker 2: I thought it would go.
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Speaker 1: Back down, and I went back in the house and
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it started coming up through the floor.
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Speaker 2: She said.
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Speaker 1: She ended up losing her car, her house, and everything
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she owned. My Higher Ground was sitting on the washer
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and the water was up to my knees, she said.
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Speaker 2: Within the next few weeks, the.
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Speaker 1: Rileys and Thomas will be neighbors living three doors away
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in the first Higher Ground subdivision and what may be
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the first solar powered neighborhood in the area.
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Speaker 2: If there are other.
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Speaker 1: Communities like this, they're not in communities like ours. If
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there is one, it would be in a more affluent,
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progressive area, said Seth Long, executive director of Homes Incorporated.
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The Wisburg nonprofit is building the subdivision at Marlow, just
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outside Wichburg as part of a partnership that includes the
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State of Kentucky, the Federal Emergency man Management Agency, the
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Leicher Fiscal Court and FAHE, a housing development financing nonprofit.
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I don't know of another net zero development around, Long said,
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net zero means The eight site built houses in the subdivision,
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called the Cottages at Thompson Branch, are designed to produce
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as much energy as they use by adhering to a
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formula of keeping doors and windows closed, thermostats set to
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seventy two degrees year round, and lights being used only
22:32
when someone is in the room. Families should be able
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to pay an average of just the minimum electric bill,
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about twenty one dollars and fifty cents per month. There
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are two manufactured homes on the site, under which homes
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built foundations and converted from mobile home titles to house titles,
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added solar panels to the roofs, and made other modifications.
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While Long said they might not be as energy efficient
22:58
as the house is built by homes in US Incorporated,
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they will be better than what would normally be expected.
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Every house in the subdivision has solar panels, high tech appliances,
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and insulated and heated crawl spaces.
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Speaker 2: They also have.
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Speaker 1: Net metering, meaning that in summer, when the sun is shining,
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the electric meters essentially run backward, crediting the homeowners instead
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of charging them. That meter then builds a credit during
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the long days of summer and then uses those credits
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during the winter months. Long said Riley said he expects
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the savings from the solar power to pay the difference
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between his rent now and his mortgage on the three
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bedroom house at Thompson Branch, but that's not his main concern,
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he said. The main concern is that the house is
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out of the floodplain and safer for his children. In
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July twenty twenty two, he woke up his wife Ariel
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and told her to get the kids and to grab
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their daughter's medication and anything important she could find. We
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rounded up everything as fast as we could, and in
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about thirty minutes, it had gone from shin deep to
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waist deep, he said. Riley, who is manager of NAPA
24:11
Auto Parks in Whitesburg, was able to get his family
24:14
and his truck out and to the main highway, and
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they attempted to get to Airy O'Reilly's grandparents' house in Jenkins.
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Speaker 2: Instead, they spent the next.
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Speaker 1: Several hours stranded in the parking lot of an abandoned
24:27
gas station, waiting for the water to go down. They
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lived for three months with her grandparents and then moved
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back into a rental mobile home on the same site again.
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Three months after that, there was another flood that came
24:42
within six inches of flooding their home again.
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Speaker 2: Riley said the.
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Speaker 1: Flooding has traumatized his children, ages ten and five, and
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he and his wife felt they had to move someplace
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where they were not constantly watching from rain and waiting
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for another flood. They started filling out the paperwork to
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buy a home at Thompson Branch last year. My girl
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is autistic and nonverbal. I guess she knows, but she
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can't express herself, he said. I have a little boy
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that is terrified when it rains. Thomas had her own
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difficulties after the flood. She said it took three weeks
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to find her car, which was washed away in the flood.
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It was buried in a creek bank a quarter of
25:26
a mile away. She has been living with her mother
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for nearly three years now. She has already started moving
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into her new home and expects to be living there soon.
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So far, there are two other neighbors in the subdivision
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and two more getting ready to move in. When the
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subdivision is full. Everyone there will be someone who lost
25:47
a home in the flood. The next story is kc
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TCS board to meet. Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College
25:59
has scheduled two meetings of its Board of Directors this week.
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A special meeting is scheduled to take place Wednesday at
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five pm in christmin Hall Conference Room on the Crberland campus.
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The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the presidential
26:12
search process and vote on the candidate recommendation to the
26:16
KCTCS system president. A regular business meeting will be held
26:21
at ten am on Thursday, May eighth at the Conference
26:24
Room on the Harland campus. The meeting will include reports
26:27
from the interim President and Cabinet, discussion and approval of
26:31
the twenty twenty five twenty six operating budget and six
26:35
year capital Plan, and an evaluation of the interim President
26:40
and In the next headline, nominations are sought for LLCHS
26:45
Site based Council. Nominations for the parent members of the
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Letcher County Central High School Site Based Decision Making Council
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began on Monday May fifth and will end on Friday
26:57
May ninth at four pm. Nations are to be made
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to secretaries Kimberly Sturgel or Angie Harten in the school office.
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Those who are interested in running for council membership, or
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if you wish to nominate another parent, should pick up
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a nomination for him in the front office. You may
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also call the school at six oh six sixty three
27:17
three two three three nine to submit a nomination.
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Speaker 2: You will have to have a child enrolled.
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Speaker 1: At LCCCHS for the twenty twenty five twenty six school
27:27
year to be eligible to run. This concludes the reading
27:33
of The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been Bill then Arsenal.
27:37
Now please stay tuned for continued programming on behalf of
27:42
everyone here at Radio.
27:43
Speaker 2: I thank you for listening, and have a good day.