Transcript

6.25.26 · 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 Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill and Arsenale. We
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Speaker 1: will begin with the addition dated June twenty fourth, twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty six, which the publishers have donated to Radio I
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Speaker 1: as a reminder. Radio I is a reading service intended
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Speaker 1: for people who are blind or have other disabilities that
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Speaker 1: make it difficult to read printed material. The first lighting
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Speaker 1: is a photograph of a man ringing a bell and
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Speaker 1: the caption is bell still calls family together. Darryl Dean
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Speaker 1: Cornett ninety two, a retired NASA engineer from Arab, Alabama,
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Speaker 1: carried on a family tradition dating back more than seventy
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Speaker 1: years to the end of the Korean War, when he
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Speaker 1: rang the family dinner bell at the Cornett family reunion
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Speaker 1: in Blackie. The next story is Letcher Fire Department reopens
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Speaker 1: as ex chief under investigation. Letcher Volunteer Fire Department is
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Speaker 1: back on its feet A year after the department went
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Speaker 1: broke and its fire and ambulance services stopped. The fire
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Speaker 1: service is back open and officials say Neon Fire and
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Speaker 1: Rescue is expected to move an ambulance into the station soon.
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Speaker 1: The Neon service is currently taking calls in the area
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Speaker 1: from its Wisburg substation. An investigation is now under way
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Speaker 1: into Sean Gilly, who had leased the ambulance service, closed
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Speaker 1: it down and moved away, leaving thousands of dollars in
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Speaker 1: unpaid bills, creditors threatening foreclosure, and unusable new fire department building,
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Speaker 1: and less than six thousand dollars in a bank account.
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Speaker 1: The department still can't access state funding because of the
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Speaker 1: open investigation. For months, the department had to rely on
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Speaker 1: mutual aid from surrounding departments because it couldn't run enough
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Speaker 1: trucks to fight fires. Now, officials say bills are being
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Speaker 1: paid and it is back to responding to fires with
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Speaker 1: fourteen members on its roster. They've worked hard and they're
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Speaker 1: open and running, District four Magistrate Cheddy Smiths said after
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Speaker 1: a meeting of the department and community Monday night. Keith Adams,
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Speaker 1: chairman of the department's Board of directors, said the department
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Speaker 1: has all three of its stations back in operation, including
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Speaker 1: the main station at Spring Branch and substations at Blackie
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Speaker 1: and Campbell's Branch Community Center, and it is able to
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Speaker 1: pay the insurance and electric bills on all of them.
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Speaker 1: Diane Adams, who is married to Keith, said they've been
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Speaker 1: able to do it with financial help from people in
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Speaker 1: the community and from the Electrofiscal Court. Neon Volunteer Fire
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Speaker 1: and Rescue has been providing ambulance service to the area
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Speaker 1: from its Wisburg substation, but officials say Neon Volunteer Fire
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Speaker 1: and Rescue is ready to place an ambulance at the
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Speaker 1: Letcher Fire Station. Lecture. Fire Department is asking that Neon
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Speaker 1: pay the utilities for the building since its crews will
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Speaker 1: be there twenty four hours a day, Adams said. But
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Speaker 1: while the service may be beginning to turn around, a
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Speaker 1: history of alleged corruption by former officials is still hanging
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Speaker 1: like a dark cloud over the department. Longtime Chief personnel
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Speaker 1: manager Gary Rogers was indicted in March of twenty twenty
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Speaker 1: five on a charge of abuse of public trust greater
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Speaker 1: than ten thousand dollars but less than one hundred thousand
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Speaker 1: dollars for allegedly pocketing money that should have gone to
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Speaker 1: the department. Gilly and Fire Chief Wallace Spanky Bowling rested
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Speaker 1: control of the department from Rogers in twenty nineteen because
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Speaker 1: of what they said then was financial mismanagement and a
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Speaker 1: rumored plan to sell the service to American Medical Response,
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Speaker 1: a Texas based for profit ambulance service. The county loaned
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Speaker 1: the service three hundred and twenty four thousand dollars in
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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen to pay off a loan Rogers had gotten
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Speaker 1: from First Government lease of Northfield, Illinois, at an interest
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Speaker 1: rate of thirty one percent. The ambulance service paid that
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Speaker 1: loan off with the county loan and then paid off
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Speaker 1: the county loan, but Fire Department board voted to lease
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Speaker 1: the ambulance service to Gilly Enterprises, and in twenty twenty
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Speaker 1: four Gilly acknowledged that he had also borrowed money from
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Speaker 1: First Government, this time at thirty eight percent interest, and
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Speaker 1: First Government was again threatening to repossess the equipment and
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Speaker 1: the building. Those loans used fire trucks for collateral. Gilly
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Speaker 1: laid off all the employees and shut down the ambulance
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Speaker 1: service without notice. AMR then started to take runs for
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Speaker 1: Letcher immediately. The next headline is warning sirens in works
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Speaker 1: as devastating twenty twenty two flood nears its fourth anniversary.
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Speaker 1: Tornado sirens are something Western Kentuckians and those in other
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Speaker 1: parts of Tornado Alley are used to but there is
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Speaker 1: a move now to install sirens in Lettter County and
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Speaker 1: link them to stream gauges that will be installed around
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Speaker 1: eastern Kentucky. According to Chris Back, a grant writer with
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Speaker 1: the Kentucky River Area Development District, the US Geological Survey
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Speaker 1: approached KRADD about the project because the four counties that
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Speaker 1: were hit hardest by the twenty twenty two flood were
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Speaker 1: in this region. Letcher County is especially important to the
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Speaker 1: project because three rivers begin here and heavy rains in
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Speaker 1: this county could have big effects on flood in other counties.
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Speaker 1: We've applied for funding of that project, said Back, who
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Speaker 1: reports monthly to the Electrofiscal Court about his grant writing efforts.
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Speaker 1: We've aligned ourselves with USGS on stream gages and we're
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Speaker 1: going to integrate that with the emergency county. Only ten
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Speaker 1: have so far emerged. Those are at the cottages at
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Speaker 1: Thompson Branch site at sand Lake, More have been built
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Speaker 1: by nonprofit relief agencies on private property across the county.
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Speaker 1: Many of the people who are being bought out are
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Speaker 1: using that money to pay a down payment for one
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Speaker 1: of the high ground homes. The county is currently working
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Speaker 1: on two buyouts, one with the Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Speaker 1: and Kentucky Emergency Management and the other through the Natural
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Speaker 1: Resources Conservation Service. The FEMA project had ninety nine homes enrolled,
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Speaker 1: and the county has purchased seventy nine of those. Of
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Speaker 1: the seventy nine, seventy one have been demolished and cleaned up.
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Speaker 1: The NRCS project includes one hundred and twenty eligible properties,
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Speaker 1: of which ninety three have been bought. Of those, forty
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Speaker 1: four have been demolished, and twelve more are approved for demolition.
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Speaker 1: Public buildings are moving faster, though some still aren't built.
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Speaker 1: In Fleming Neon, the city bought an old funeral home
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Speaker 1: and moved city hall there, and the library reopened June eighth,
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Speaker 1: twenty miles away in Blackie, the library still sits as
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Speaker 1: it was just after clean up from the flood. The
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Speaker 1: wall framing is exposed part way up on the lower
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Speaker 1: level of the building, and only the upper section is
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Speaker 1: open for limited services. An architect for Summit Engineering told
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Speaker 1: the Lesser County Library Board of Trustees last week that
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Speaker 1: it might be ready to advertise for bids after the
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Speaker 1: board meets again on July twentieth, the Blackie Community Center,
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Speaker 1: which was severely damaged in the flood, was torn down,
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Speaker 1: and the Electrifiscal Court approved a bid last week from
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Speaker 1: Nathan Bailey to remodel the old water treatment plant into
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Speaker 1: a community center. Trace Creek Construction of Vanceburg is serving
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Speaker 1: as construction manager on that project. Trace Creek was also
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Speaker 1: in charge of renovating all the school facilities that were
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Speaker 1: flood damaged, and work has been completed on all except
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Speaker 1: the Alternative Education Building site. Work is being done on
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Speaker 1: Grand View Subdivision at Jenkins, and Mayor Todd de Priest
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Speaker 1: said road will be completed after the house seats are done.
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Speaker 1: The public part of that subdivision will be around one
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Speaker 1: hundred homes, with a privately developed area that will include
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Speaker 1: around two hundred more plus commercial property. The only people
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Speaker 1: eligible to live in those houses are a victims of
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Speaker 1: the flooding. Meanwhile, the Kentucky River Area Development District has
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Speaker 1: applied for a grant to make the North Fork of
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Speaker 1: the Kentucky River into a blue Way, a recreational stream
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Speaker 1: where people can fish, kayak, and canoe back. The krad
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Speaker 1: D grant writer said he's attempting to organize a clean up,
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Speaker 1: probably late next month to remove tires from the river.
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Speaker 1: The date for the work has not been set. The
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Speaker 1: next article is family tradition has endured over seventy years
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Speaker 1: when Arch and RDI Cornett hosted the first Cornett family
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Speaker 1: reunion on the family home place off River Road in Blackie,
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Speaker 1: near the end of the Korean Moar. Three of their children,
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Speaker 1: Elwood Cornett eighty eight, Darryl Dean Cornett ninety six, and
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Speaker 1: Mildred Cornett Strunk were there to take More than seventy
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Speaker 1: years later, the three surviving members of the couple's twelve
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Speaker 1: children joined more than ninety relatives and friends for the
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Speaker 1: June thirteenth through fourteenth reunion, continuing a family tradition that
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Speaker 1: spans generations. There are several photographs that go with this story,
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Speaker 1: and the captions are. Melanie Watts of Carl's Branch leads
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Speaker 1: the singing of gospel songs from the Old Regular Baptist
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Speaker 1: Songbook at the family cemetery. Elwood Cornett delivers a greeting
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Speaker 1: to his family to the Cornett family home place before
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Speaker 1: dinner on Sunday, June fourteenth, as brother Darryl Dean Cornett
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Speaker 1: and sister Mildred Cornett's strunk looked on Arch and Ardi.
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Speaker 1: Cornett's old house is now a family museum and guesthouse
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Speaker 1: that includes this nineteen forty seven Filko refrigerator. If the
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Speaker 1: unit ever stops working, plans are to be buried in
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Speaker 1: the family cemetery with its own headstone. Great great niece
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Speaker 1: George Anne and great niece artists share warm hubs for
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Speaker 1: Elwood Cornett. Reunion time was spent Saturday at the Cornett
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Speaker 1: family Cemetery, which is located across River Road from the
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Speaker 1: home place. Pigtails supported by George Anne, the five year
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Speaker 1: old granddaughter of Larry Stewart of Lecher County, were a
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Speaker 1: big hit. The next story is grand jury says man
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Speaker 1: endangered his two children by driving wrong way on the highway.
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Speaker 1: Father is one of eleven charged in latest indictments. Here,
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Speaker 1: a blacking man was charged with first degree wanton endangerment
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Speaker 1: after allegedly coasting his vehicle with two children inside down
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Speaker 1: Pound Mountain in the wrong lanes of US twenty three.
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Speaker 1: Zachary Allan Jones v. Eighty seven, Irish Hill Blackie is
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Speaker 1: charged with first degree possession of controlled substance first offense
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Speaker 1: metham pediman and two counts of first degree wanton endangerment.
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Speaker 1: According to Jenkins police officer Jim Stevens, Jones said he
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Speaker 1: was going to Virginia to buy cigarettes because they were cheaper,
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Speaker 1: and ran out of gas. Jones allegedly made a U
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Speaker 1: turn in the southbound lanes and coasted the car back
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Speaker 1: down Pound Mountain toward Jenkins on the wrong side of
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Speaker 1: the concrete barrier in the median. The wanton endangerment charge
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Speaker 1: stems from Jones having two children under four years old
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Speaker 1: in the car with no car seats while going back
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Speaker 1: down the mountain, Stephens said. Stephens testified before the grand
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Speaker 1: jury in the case. Also among the indictments, three Electric
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Speaker 1: County residents were charged after they allegedly damaged a pickup
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Speaker 1: truck and stole around seventeen one hundred dollars from inside it.
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Speaker 1: Amy Bailey Bowling forty seven, twenty six seventy Highway three seventeen,
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Speaker 1: jackhorn Ellis Blevins fifty one one sixty Sharp Branch, Cremona
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Speaker 1: and Holly Strickland Lamb forty two forty three sixty six
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Speaker 1: Highway eight O three Gentkins Is each charged by the
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Speaker 1: Lecher grand jury with first degree criminal complicity to criminal
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Speaker 1: mischief in defacing, destroying, or damaging property causing pecuniary loss
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Speaker 1: of five hundred dollars or more when they broke out
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Speaker 1: two door windows on a Dodge Ram truck belonging to
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Speaker 1: David Thomas. The three are also charged with criminal complicity
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Speaker 1: to theft for removing a bank bag containing at least
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Speaker 1: seventeen hundred dollars in cash, possibly more, from the inside
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Speaker 1: of Thomas's truck. Kentucky State Trooper Donnie Bruce Kelly testified
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Speaker 1: in the case against all three. Stephen Fox sixty one
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Speaker 1: four eighty eight Highway twenty five forty five Thornton Billy
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Speaker 1: Bates sixty nine one eighty eight Sergeant Road, and Allan
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Speaker 1: Adams sixty five thirty one Pine Creek Road. May King
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Speaker 1: is each charged with criminal complicity to enter and remain
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Speaker 1: in a building with the intent to commit a crime
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Speaker 1: when they strip down a heat pump to obtain the
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Speaker 1: copper inside the unit, strip down the walls to obtain
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Speaker 1: the copper electrical wiring inside the wall, and removed several
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Speaker 1: light fixtures from their mounting to obtain the copper wiring
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Speaker 1: Kentucky State Trooper Khalil Sloan testified in the case. Wilson
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Speaker 1: Brownham fifty nine two forty two, Rocky Hollow, Jenkins is
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Speaker 1: charged with rear license not illuminated, possession of marijuana, first degree,
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Speaker 1: possession of control substance, first defense, methamphetamine, first degree, trafficking
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Speaker 1: in a control substance, first offense, meth and fettermine by
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Speaker 1: possessed drug paraphernalia, and failure to notify address change to
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Speaker 1: Department of Transportation. Branham was arrested May twenty second after
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Speaker 1: Jenkins Police Chief Joshua Richardson noticed a car with the
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Speaker 1: rear license plate not illuminated and conducted a traffic stop
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Speaker 1: with the assistance from Neon Police Chief Canine Dustin Jackson.
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Speaker 1: Richardson said in a citation that Jackson took canine Airees
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Speaker 1: around the above vehicle for an open air search, and
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Speaker 1: the dog indicated narcotics in the vehicle. The citation said
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Speaker 1: after stepping out of the car and Jackson explaining the
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Speaker 1: open air sniff, Branham told them he had marijuana in
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Speaker 1: his vehicle. Police said they found several empty bags and
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Speaker 1: scales above the driver's sunvisor. And a glass pipe in
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Speaker 1: the center console with a crystal like substance inside. Richardson
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Speaker 1: said he also located a black box that contained several
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Speaker 1: bags of a white, crystal like substance believed to be
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Speaker 1: methamphetamine on the floor totally one ounce. Chief Richardson testified
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Speaker 1: in the case. Austin Peas thirty one two seventeen Fairview Lane,
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Speaker 1: Wichberg is charged with first degree possession of a control
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Speaker 1: substance heroin public intoxication control substance excludes alcohol by possessed
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Speaker 1: drug paraphernalia, and third degree possession of control substance drug unspecified.
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Speaker 1: Officer Michael Garner of the Wichburg Police Department, who testified
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Speaker 1: in the case, wrote in a citation that he was
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Speaker 1: addressing a parking complaint on Cowan Street by placing no
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Speaker 1: parking notices on windshields when Peas came out of an
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Speaker 1: apartment with a backpack. Garner said he asked if Peas
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Speaker 1: could move his vehicle and then noticed he was unsteady
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Speaker 1: on his feet, talking extremely fast and slurring his words.
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Speaker 1: Garner said Pease could not stay still and stop moving,
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Speaker 1: and when he attempted to detain him, Peas tossed his
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Speaker 1: backpack halfway under a car and started to walk away.
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Speaker 1: Garner said he placed Peas under arrest and searched him,
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Speaker 1: finding approximately one half gram of suspected black tar heroin,
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Speaker 1: approximately a gram of suspected marijuana, half of a suspected
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Speaker 1: suboxone till, a marijuana grinder with suspected marijuana in it,
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Speaker 1: a two to three inch long metal tube with suspected
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Speaker 1: heroin in it, and a two to three inch length
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Speaker 1: of drinking straw with suspected suboxone in it. Upon arrest,
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Speaker 1: Peas allegedly told Garner that he had been smoking meth,
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Speaker 1: using fentanyl, smoking marijuana, using crack cocaine, and taking suboxone,
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Speaker 1: that he had been on a bender and had not
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Speaker 1: been to sleep in several days. Pease also allegedly said
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Speaker 1: he just finished smoking black tar heroine before encountering the officer.
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Speaker 1: Garner said he administered a preliminary saliva test and Peas
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Speaker 1: tested positive for cocaine, meth, fentanyl, and marijuana. Mister Peas
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Speaker 1: was honest and respectful, the citation said. Tiffany Quillen thirty seven,
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Speaker 1: seventy humble Hill Jenkins is charged with failure to eliminate headlamps,
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Speaker 1: first degree possession of control substance second offense, methamphetamine by
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Speaker 1: possessed drug paraphernalia and a prescription controls substance not in
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Speaker 1: proper container, second offense. According to the citation, fleming Neon
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Speaker 1: Police Chief Dustin Jackson saw Quillan's car pull out of
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Speaker 1: a gas station without her headlights on and pulled her over.
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Speaker 1: He said in the course of conversation, Quillan became nervous,
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Speaker 1: and when he asked if there was anything in the car,
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Speaker 1: she said there shouldn't be, but other people had been
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Speaker 1: in the vehicle. Jackson said he walked his canine around
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Speaker 1: the vehicle and the dog alerted on the passenger side door.
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Speaker 1: Jackson said he found a pink case in the passenger
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Speaker 1: seat containing two glass pipes with a crystal like residue
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Speaker 1: and one had a substantial amount of melted substance in
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Speaker 1: the bowl. He wrote that he also found a prescription
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Speaker 1: bottle of sub utechts and four Gabba pentant tablets not
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Speaker 1: in the original container, in the center console. Jackson testified
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Speaker 1: before the grand jury in the case. Philip ray Tackett,
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Speaker 1: fifty three, is charged with second degree burglary Tackett was
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Speaker 1: accused of squatting in a vacant house on Brickyard Hill.
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Speaker 1: Tackett had allegedly moved his clothing and other belongings into
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Speaker 1: the house without permission from the owner or caretaker. Chief
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Speaker 1: Jim Stevens of the Jenkins Police Department testified in the case.
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Speaker 1: Christopher Whittaker forty seven one twenty one West End Drive,
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Speaker 1: Whitesburg is charged with being a convicted felon in possession
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Speaker 1: of a firearm and being a convicted felon in possession
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Speaker 1: of a handgun. The citation was not available at press time.
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Speaker 1: Whitesburg Police officer Seth Whittaker testified in the case. Robert W.
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Speaker 1: Booker fifty three sixteen Triplet Drive, Clintwood, Virginia is charged
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Speaker 1: with buy possessed drug paraphernalia and first degree possession of
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Speaker 1: control substance car fintain nil or fentanyl derivatives. According to
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Speaker 1: a citation filed by Fleming Neon Police Chief Dustin Jackson,
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Speaker 1: he stopped a vehicle in which he recognized the person
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Speaker 1: in the passenger seat as someone with an active warrant.
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Speaker 1: After detaining the passenger, he asked if they were were
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Speaker 1: any narcotics based on the passenger allegedly giving false identifiers.
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Speaker 1: Booker allegedly told him there shouldn't be Jackson walked his
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Speaker 1: kp arees around the vehicle and said the dog showed
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Speaker 1: a change of behavior at the driver and passenger door.
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Speaker 1: Jack said he searched the pickup truck and found a
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Speaker 1: glass pipe with residue and the loaded syringe that tested
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Speaker 1: positive for fentanyl in the center console and other syringes
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Speaker 1: inside the vehicle. Jackson testified before the grand jury. The
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Speaker 1: next headline is these six steps can protect you from bears.
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Speaker 1: As black bear sightings become more common across eastern Kentucky,
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Speaker 1: wildlife officials are encouraging residents to take simple steps to
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Speaker 1: reduce conflicts between bears and people. The Kentucky Department of
21:53
Speaker 1: Fish and Wildlife Resources is promoting the bear Wise program,
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Speaker 1: which recommends six basic steps to help keep bears wild
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Speaker 1: and communities safe. Never feed or approach bears. Intentionally feeding
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Speaker 1: bears or allowing them access to human food can teach
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Speaker 1: them to associate people and homes with food. Bears can
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Speaker 1: also become dangerous if approached too closely. Secure food, garbage,
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Speaker 1: and recycling food odors attract bears, so residents should store
22:30
Speaker 1: garbage and recyclables in secure containers and avoid leading food
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Speaker 1: waste where bears can access it. Remove bird feeders when
22:40
Speaker 1: bears are active. Bird Seed and grain are high calorie
22:44
Speaker 1: foods that can attract bears to residential areas. Never leave
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Speaker 1: pet food outdoors. Pet food should be stored indoors, and
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Speaker 1: when possible, pets should be fed inside. If feeding outdoors
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Speaker 1: as necessary, food and bowls should be removed immediately after
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Speaker 1: pets finish eating clean and store grills. Grills and smokers
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Speaker 1: should be cleaned after each use to remove grease, fat,
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Speaker 1: and food particles that can attract bears. Alert neighbors to
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Speaker 1: bear activity. Residents who see bears or signs of bear
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Speaker 1: activity are encouraged to notify neighbors and share information on
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Speaker 1: ways to prevent conflicts. Barewise notes that black bears have
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Speaker 1: adapted to living near people in many parts of the country.
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Speaker 1: By removing food attractants and taking a few precautions around
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Speaker 1: the home, residents can help prevent problems and reduce the
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Speaker 1: likelihood of unwanted encounters. The next article is when television
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Speaker 1: came into Letcher County with today's television viewers able to
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Speaker 1: choose from hundreds of table channels and streaming services. It's
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Speaker 1: hard to believe it's not been all that long ago
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Speaker 1: that people were complaining about not having enough choices available.
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Speaker 1: Before Electric County residents could complain about having too few channels, however,
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Speaker 1: someone first had to figure out how to get television
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Speaker 1: into the mountains. That story begins in November nineteen forty nine,
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Speaker 1: when Raphael's of Salar Radio Company in Whitsburg took a
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Speaker 1: new television set to the v D Pikelsheimer Cabin the
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Speaker 1: top Pine Mountain near Whichburg and discovered that programs from Cincinnati, Louisville,
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Speaker 1: and Columbus could be received there with surprisingly good results.
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Speaker 1: The set was manufactured by RCA Victor, had an eight
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Speaker 1: inch screen and cost three hundred dollars, which is the
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Speaker 1: equivalent of four thousand, one hundred and ninety eight dollars today.
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Speaker 1: Television came to Electric County last week. The Mountain Eagle
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Speaker 1: reported on November fourteenth, nineteen forty nine, from indications it
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Speaker 1: may be here to stay. The problem, as Salur quickly recognized,
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Speaker 1: was getting TV signals to the valleys and hollows below
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Speaker 1: Pine Mountain, as only a motel and a handful of
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Speaker 1: getaway cabins were located on the top Picklsheimer, for instance,
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Speaker 1: was then vice president of Southeast Coal Company, the firm
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Speaker 1: that built the coal camps of Sicco and Millstone, and
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Speaker 1: spent most of his time at his home in downtown Wisburg.
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Speaker 1: Salu predicted at the time that not everyone would be
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Speaker 1: able to pick up television programs depending on mountains, but
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Speaker 1: soon took on the challenge that would shape the next
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Speaker 1: several decades of television service in Electric County. Eighteen months later,
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Speaker 1: in the spring of nineteen fifty one, a group of
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Speaker 1: homeowners in the Lakeside neighborhood of Jenkins, most of them
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Speaker 1: officials with Consolidation Coal Company, had erected what The Mountain
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Speaker 1: Eagle called a co community television antenna a top pine
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Speaker 1: mountain near Pound Gap. The result was excellent reception in
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Speaker 1: at least five lakeside homes. The Eagle reported in its
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Speaker 1: May seventeenth, nineteen fifty one edition that visiting New Yorkers
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Speaker 1: said the television reception in Jenkins was better than in
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Speaker 1: New York. In Whitsburg, Salyer kept experimenting by March nineteen
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Speaker 1: fifty two, he had erected a tower on Callan Mountain,
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Speaker 1: better known as Town Hill, which stood between the School
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Speaker 1: Hill residential area and the community of Little Callan. From
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Speaker 1: that tower, Salyer ran a line to Forster Brown's house
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Speaker 1: on College Hill that offered what was reported to be
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Speaker 1: good reception both day and night of a television station
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Speaker 1: in Huntington, West Virginia. That was the beginning of what
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Speaker 1: became Letcher County's officially recognized cable television system, one that
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Speaker 1: continued to grow, largely through the help of Phil Holston,
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Speaker 1: who joined Salor Radio within two years of his nineteen
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Speaker 1: forty seven graduation from Whitesburg High School and would quickly
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Speaker 1: become the company's only cable linemen installer and in home
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Speaker 1: TV repairman. A nineteen fifty four Mountain Eagle column by E.
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Speaker 1: Hampton Barnett described the work of Saler and Holston in
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Speaker 1: memorable terms. Ray Saaler and Phil Holston have done it again,
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Speaker 1: Barnett wrote, calling them electric wizards who built a tower
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Speaker 1: above Whitsburg and brought the wires off the hill and
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Speaker 1: thus pulled TV into the valley. Ten years later, Saler
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Speaker 1: and Holston were still working to improve and expand the system.
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Speaker 1: The November nineteenth, nineteen sixty four edition of The Mountain
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Speaker 1: Eagle reported that Salier was publicly opposing a proposal by
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Speaker 1: a group of county residents working to raise seven two
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Speaker 1: hundred dollars needed to build a TV translator on Pine
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Speaker 1: Mountain that would provide a TV signal from wbr TV
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Speaker 1: in Knoxville, Tennessee, to antenna equipped homes from the community
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Speaker 1: of Whittaker near Neon Junction to the head of sand
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Speaker 1: Lit near Whitzburg. Sallier was disappointed that some residents of
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Speaker 1: Whitesburg itself were supporting the translator project because they had
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Speaker 1: rather received one channel with no guarantee of good recession
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Speaker 1: instead of paying the small cable fee the multiple channels
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Speaker 1: his company was providing. This concludes the reading of The
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Speaker 1: Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been billed an arsenal. Now
28:39
Speaker 1: please stay tuned for continued programming on behalf of everyone
28:43
Speaker 1: here at Radio I thank you for listening, and have
28:47
Speaker 1: a good day.