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Whitesburg Mountain Eagle - 10.15.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

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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 Van Arsdal. We
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  Speaker 1: will begin with the edition dated October 14, 2026, which
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  Speaker 1: the publishers have donated to Radio Eye. As a reminder,
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  Speaker 1: Radio Eye is a reading service intended for people who
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  Speaker 1: are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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  Speaker 1: to read printed material. The first headline is, Names of
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  Speaker 1: 61 candidates on ballots as early voting nears. With in-person
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  Speaker 1: absentee voting set to begin next week, Letcher County election
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  Speaker 1: officials are publishing sample ballots for a November 3rd general
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  Speaker 1: election featuring contested races for county judge executive, sheriff, jailer,
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  Speaker 1: county clerk, and coroner, along with city and district offices.
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  Speaker 1: The sample ballots published in this week's Mountain Eagle also
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  Speaker 1: list races for U.S. Senate and Congress, state representative, district judge, constables,
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  Speaker 1: school board members, and soil and water district supervisors, along
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  Speaker 1: with a proposed amendment to the Kentucky Constitution. The three-page
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  Speaker 1: advertisement shows countywide races and the district and city contests
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  Speaker 1: that apply to voters in the listed precincts. City races
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  Speaker 1: are nonpartisan and and apply to voters within the respective
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  Speaker 1: city limits. Voting Dates and Deadlines According to the Kentucky
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  Speaker 1: State Board of Elections, the online portal at govote.ky.gov for
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  Speaker 1: eligible voters to request mail-in absentee ballots closes October 20th
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  Speaker 1: at 1159 p.m. Eastern Time. Excused in-person absentee voting will
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  Speaker 1: be available October 21st through 23rd and October 26th through
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  Speaker 1: 28th from 8.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Letcher
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  Speaker 1: County Clerk's Office for voters who meet the eligibility requirements.
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  Speaker 1: No-excuse early voting will take place October 29th through 31st
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  Speaker 1: from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Letcher County
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  Speaker 1: Recreation Center and the District Courtroom, according to the Clerk's Office.
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  Speaker 1: The U.S. Postal Service recommends mailing completed absentee ballots no
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  Speaker 1: later than October 27th. Ballots must be received by the
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  Speaker 1: county clerk by 6 p.m. on November 3rd to be counted.
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  Speaker 1: Voters may also return their completed ballots to the ballot
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  Speaker 1: drop box inside the Ledger County Clerk's Office at 156
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  Speaker 1: Main Street, Suite 102 in Whitesburg. Election Day voting will
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  Speaker 1: take place November 3rd from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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  Speaker 1: local time. Voters can check govote.ky.gov or contact the Electric
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  Speaker 1: County Clerk's Office for additional voting information. Election Day Voting
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  Speaker 1: Centers The Clerk's Office lists 15 voting centers for Election Day.
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  Speaker 1: Hamp Hill Community Center, McRoberts Community Center, May King Fire Department,
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  Speaker 1: Gordon Fire Department, Colson Fire Department, Cowan Elementary School, Letcher
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  Speaker 1: County Central High School, Jenkins High School, The Fleming Neon
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  Speaker 1: Middle School Gym, Letcher Elementary Middle School, Martha Jane Potter
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  Speaker 1: Elementary School, Isom IGA, Premium Baptist Church, The General Store,
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  Speaker 1: and PK's Snack Shack. The General Store is on US
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  Speaker 1: 119 at Oven Fork. P.K. 's Snack Shack is at
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  Speaker 1: 2629 Highway 1103 in Line Fork. County-wide races. Republican Terry Adams,
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  Speaker 1: the incumbent, and Democrat Deb Collier, current magistrate for District 3,
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  Speaker 1: are the candidates for county judge executive. The sheriff's race
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  Speaker 1: is between Democrat Billy D. Jones, the incumbent, and Republican D.L. Hammonds.
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  Speaker 1: Republican Brian K. Fields and Independent Rocky Wright are running
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  Speaker 1: for jailer. Jones has served as sheriff since he was
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  Speaker 1: chosen to fill the unexpired term of Mickey Stines, who
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  Speaker 1: is charged in the September 2024 murder of District Judge
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  Speaker 1: Kevin Mullins. Republican D. Colin Fultz is challenging Democratic incumbent
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  Speaker 1: Winston Meade for the county clerk's office. Republican Josh Lowe
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  Speaker 1: and Democrat Tony Fugate are the candidates for coroner. Three
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  Speaker 1: other county offices each have one candidate's name printed on
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  Speaker 1: the ballot. Democrat Ricky Raymond Rose for property valuation administrator,
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  Speaker 1: Republican Michael Watts for county attorney, and Democrat Stephen Allen
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  Speaker 1: Dix for county surveyor. J. Nick Whitaker is the only
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  Speaker 1: printed candidate for district judge in the 47th Judicial District.
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  Speaker 1: The judicial race is nonpartisan. Whitaker was named to replace
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  Speaker 1: Judge Mullins after Mullins was gunned down in his chambers
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  Speaker 1: by then-Sheriff Steins. Thomas Dollarhide and Randy Bailey are listed
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  Speaker 1: for Soil and Water District Supervisor. That nonpartisan contest allows
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  Speaker 1: voters to vote for three with spaces provided for write-in votes.
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  Speaker 1: Federal and State Offices The U.S. Senate ballot lists Republican
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  Speaker 1: Andy Barr, Democrat Charles Booker, and Kentucky Party candidate Christopher Campbell.
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  Speaker 1: Four candidates are listed for U.S. Representative in the 5th
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  Speaker 1: Congressional District. Republican Hal Rogers, who is the longtime incumbent,
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  Speaker 1: Democrat Ned Pillarsdorf, and Independents Michael Wine and Gerardo Serrano.
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  Speaker 1: Current Republican Representative Mitchum Addison Whitaker is the only printed
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  Speaker 1: candidate for state representative in the 94th District. Magistrates and
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  Speaker 1: Constables Three of the county's five magistrate districts have two
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  Speaker 1: candidates listed. Districts 1 and 5 each have one printed
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  Speaker 1: candidate for magistrate. Voters may vote for one candidate for
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  Speaker 1: each office in their district. In District 1, Republican Rodney
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  Speaker 1: Gilley is listed for magistrate and Republican Jordan Absher for constable.
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  Speaker 1: The district's precincts are A101 West Whitesburg, A102 East Whitesburg,
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  Speaker 1: A103 Callen, A104 Eolia, A105 Upper Cumberland, A106 Dry Fork,
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  Speaker 1: and A108 Partridge. In District 2, Republican Kenneth Kenny Anderson,
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  Speaker 1: the incumbent, and Democrat Sherry Sexton are running for magistrate.
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  Speaker 1: Republican Robert Tony Sturgill is listed for constable. The district
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  Speaker 1: includes B-101 Isom, B-102 Colson, B-103 Baker, and B-104 Sand Lake.
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  Speaker 1: In District 3, Democrat Terry L. Adams and Republican Michael
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  Speaker 1: Pack are the candidates for magistrate. Democrat Charles Eugene Pauley
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  Speaker 1: is listed for constable. The district includes C-101 Neon, C-102 Thornton,
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  Speaker 1: C-103 May King, C-105 Seco, C-106 Millstone, and C-107 Irvine.
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  Speaker 1: In District 4, Democrat William Chetty Smith, the incumbent, and
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  Speaker 1: Republican Christopher Jerome Hogg are seeking the magistrate's seat. No
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  Speaker 1: candidate's name is printed for constable. The ballot provides a
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  Speaker 1: write-in space. The district includes D-102 Blackie, D-103 Halley, D-104 Dalma,
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  Speaker 1: D-105 Sugar Grove, D-106 Kings Creek Roxanna, and D-107 Doty.
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  Speaker 1: In District 5, Democrat Rodney Wayne Rose is listed for
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  Speaker 1: Magistrate and Democrat Eugene Williams for Constable. The district includes
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  Speaker 1: E-101 Burdine, E-102 East Jenkins, E-103 West Jenkins, E-104 Dunham,
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  Speaker 1: E-105 McRoberts, E-106 Fleming, and E-107, Haymond. County school board seats.
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  Speaker 1: The sample ballots list two nonpartisan Board of Education contests,
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  Speaker 1: with incumbent Lena Parsons the only printed candidate in District 1,
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  Speaker 1: and Roy Collins the only printed candidate in District 5.
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  Speaker 1: The advertisement lists the District 5 school board precincts as Blackie, Hallie, Dalma,
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  Speaker 1: Sugar Grove, Kings Creek, Roxanna, and Doty. Voters may vote
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  Speaker 1: for one candidate in the school board contest applicable to
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  Speaker 1: their district. City of Whitesburg. Current Mayor Tiffany Craft and
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  Speaker 1: Patty Wood are the candidates for Mayor of Whitesburg. Five
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  Speaker 1: candidates are printed for six city council seats. Calveston Cook,
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  Speaker 1: Wendy W. Little, Larry Everidge, Margaret Hammonds, and Perry Fowler.
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  Speaker 1: The council ballot allows voters to vote for six and
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  Speaker 1: provides write-in spaces. The Whitesburg city races are listed for
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  Speaker 1: the city portions of A101 West Whitesburg, A102 East Whitesburg,
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  Speaker 1: and qualified voters in C107 Irvine. City of Fleming Neon.
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  Speaker 1: Incumbent Mayor Ricky Burke and Linda Cantrell are the candidates
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  Speaker 1: for mayor on the ballot headed City of Neon. Six
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  Speaker 1: candidates are printed for six city council seats. James Jimmy Breeding,
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  Speaker 1: Jerry Little Martin, Frank Short, Patrick Fleming, Linda Adams Collins,
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  Speaker 1: and Clint Cook. Voters may vote for six. The city
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  Speaker 1: contests are listed for the city portion of C-101 Neon.
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  Speaker 1: City of Jenkins. Todd DePriest is the only candidate whose
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  Speaker 1: name is printed on the ballot for Mayor of Jenkins
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  Speaker 1: and but former Mayor G.C. Kintzer Jr. is actively campaigning
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  Speaker 1: for the office as a write-in candidate. Seven candidates are
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  Speaker 1: listed for six Jenkins City Council seats. Garnett Bentley, Chuck Anderson,
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  Speaker 1: Ben Benji Gibson, Richard Damron, Ernestine Hill, Gary Quinn Bolling,
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  Speaker 1: and Sarah Tackett Brown. Voters may vote for six. The
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  Speaker 1: Jenkins City races are listed for the city portions of
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  Speaker 1: E-101 Burdine, E-102 East Jenkins, E-103 West Jenkins, E-104 Dunham,
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  Speaker 1: and E-106 Fleming. Constitutional Amendment The countywide ballot also includes
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  Speaker 1: Constitutional Amendment 1, asking voters whether to limit a governor's
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  Speaker 1: ability to grant pardons or commute sentences around a gubernatorial election.
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  Speaker 1: Voters will choose yes or no. The next story is,
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  Speaker 1: food pantry struggles as demand is growing across Letcher County. Inflation,
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  Speaker 1: changes in federal food assistance programs, and rising operating expenses
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  Speaker 1: are putting increasing pressure on the Letcher County food pantry
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  Speaker 1: as it works to feed residents who otherwise might go without.
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  Speaker 1: Higher grocery and fuel prices are making it harder for
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  Speaker 1: families to make ends meet. while reductions in benefits under
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  Speaker 1: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, commonly known as food stamps,
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  Speaker 1: are adding to the demand for emergency food assistance. According
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  Speaker 1: to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, 42,870 Kentuckians had
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  Speaker 1: lost SNAP benefits as of May 2026, about 1 in
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  Speaker 1: 14 people who had been receiving assistance. The decline occurred
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  Speaker 1: during the first seven months after implementation of changes associated
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  Speaker 1: with the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.
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  Speaker 1: Local food pantries are among the organizations trying to help
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  Speaker 1: families affected by the reductions. Vicki Holbrook, a volunteer who
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  Speaker 1: operates the Letcher County Food Pantry, said volunteers distributed food
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  Speaker 1: to 139 families in just three days last week. We've
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  Speaker 1: just been bombarded with the prices of groceries and the
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  Speaker 1: price of gas, not so much for us but for
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  Speaker 1: the people we serve, Holbrook said. Those rising prices also
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  Speaker 1: affect the pantry itself, which must purchase food to supplement donations.
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  Speaker 1: The thing is, what we're having to pay for groceries
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  Speaker 1: goes up too, Holbrook said. The federal law signed by
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  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump in July 2025 changed eligibility and work
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  Speaker 1: requirements for SNAP recipients and shifted additional program costs to
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  Speaker 1: state governments. The legislation expanded an existing requirement that certain
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  Speaker 1: adults work, volunteer, or participate in job training for at
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  Speaker 1: least 80 hours per month to retain benefits beyond a
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  Speaker 1: limited period. It raised the upper age limit for those
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  Speaker 1: requirements from 54 to 64 and narrowed the exemption for
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  Speaker 1: adults caring for dependent children. Previously, adults responsible for children
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  Speaker 1: younger than 18 generally qualified for that exemption. Under the
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  Speaker 1: new law, the exemption applies to those responsible for children
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  Speaker 1: younger than 14. The law also eliminated certain exemptions previously
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  Speaker 1: available to veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young adults who
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  Speaker 1: had been in foster care. Holbrook said older residents living
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  Speaker 1: on limited incomes are among those struggling to afford food.
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  Speaker 1: There again, the ones most impacted by those kinds of
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  Speaker 1: things is the elderly, she said. The elderly, they slashed
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  Speaker 1: it down. Some of them don't get even $ 100 in
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  Speaker 1: food stamps, and most of them get the least social
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  Speaker 1: security they can get. The federal changes also mean states
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  Speaker 1: must shoulder a larger share of the cost of administering SNAP.
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  Speaker 1: Beginning October 1st, the state's share increased from 50% to 75%.
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  Speaker 1: Additional changes affecting state responsibility for benefit costs are scheduled
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  Speaker 1: to begin in future years. Building needs expensive repairs. Even
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  Speaker 1: as demand for food assistance grows, The Letcher County Food
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  Speaker 1: Pantry faces substantial expenses to maintain the aging building where
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  Speaker 1: its volunteers work. The pantry is operated entirely by volunteers,
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  Speaker 1: but it spends an average of about $ 2, 700 a month
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  Speaker 1: purchasing food and another $ 460 a month on electricity, according
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  Speaker 1: to Harold D. Bowling, a retired attorney who serves as
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  Speaker 1: the pantry's treasurer. Much of the electricity is needed to
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  Speaker 1: operate freezers and coolers used to store food. Those expenses
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  Speaker 1: are in addition to the costs of owning and maintaining
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  Speaker 1: an older building. Bowling said the pantry benefits from a
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  Speaker 1: great network of local donors, including residents who have moved
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  Speaker 1: away from Letcher County, and eight to ten churches that
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  Speaker 1: contribute regularly. However, the building itself is becoming an increasingly
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  Speaker 1: expensive problem. Damage from the July 2022 flood remains, the
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  Speaker 1: floor is sagging, and the pantry recently faced an electrical
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  Speaker 1: problem that threatened to cause a fire. A local contractor
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  Speaker 1: repaired the breaker box and wiring, but other problems remain.
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  Speaker 1: The building still has a malfunctioning cooler, an aging heating
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  Speaker 1: system that is failing, a roof needing repairs, and other
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  Speaker 1: maintenance issues. We're desperate to get some things done, Bowling said.
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  Speaker 1: Right now it's in the neighborhood of $ 40, 000 to fix everything.
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  Speaker 1: Holbrook and Bowling said the pantry has enough people willing
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  Speaker 1: to volunteer their time. What it needs most is additional
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  Speaker 1: financial support and donations of food. Government food supplies decline.
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  Speaker 1: The pantry is also receiving fewer commodities through government food
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  Speaker 1: assistance programs. For decades, the federal government has purchased agricultural
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  Speaker 1: products from American farmers and distributed some of those products
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  Speaker 1: to organizations serving people in need. Those commodities have been
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  Speaker 1: an important source of food for local pantries, but Holbrook
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  Speaker 1: said supplies have become less dependable. This year, the Letcher
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  Speaker 1: County Food Pantry has received almost no apples, far fewer potatoes,
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  Speaker 1: and reduced quantities of several other products. Holbrook said the
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  Speaker 1: pantry received blocks of butter from the government last week,
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  Speaker 1: something it badly needed, but very little meat has been available.
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  Speaker 1: In the past, the pantry received frozen chicken breasts and
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  Speaker 1: legs that volunteers could divide into smaller packages for families.
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  Speaker 1: More recently, those products have been replaced by tubes of
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  Speaker 1: ground beef or chicken that cannot easily be divided into
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  Speaker 1: smaller portions, Bowling said. The changes make it more difficult
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  Speaker 1: for volunteers to distribute the available food efficiently. With demand growing,
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  Speaker 1: food prices remaining high, and thousands of dollars in building
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  Speaker 1: repairs needed, pantry officials say continued community support will be
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  Speaker 1: essential to keeping food available for Letcher County families. The
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  Speaker 1: next story is, Stein's mental exam delayed as defense appeals continued.
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  Speaker 1: The Kentucky Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked a second
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  Speaker 1: court-ordered psychiatric examination of former Letcher County Sheriff Sean Mickey
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  Speaker 1: Stimes while it considers legal arguments over whether the examination
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  Speaker 1: should be allowed. The temporary stay, issued verbally by a
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Court of Appeals judge Friday, October 9th, prevents the examination
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  Speaker 1: scheduled for October 14th from taking place while the matter
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: is under review. A written order was not available on
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the court's website at press time. Steins is charged with
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: murder in the September 19, 2024, shooting death of Letcher
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: District Judge Kevin Mullins inside the judge's chambers at the
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Letcher County Courthouse in Whitesburg. Steins' attorneys are challenging Special
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  Speaker 1: Judge Christopher Coron's decision to allow prosecutors to have Indiana
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  Speaker 1: psychiatrist Dr. George Parker conduct another examination of the former sheriff.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: The defense argues that Steins already underwent a criminal responsibility
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: evaluation through the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, and that another
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: compelled interview could violate his constitutional rights and reveal defense strategy.
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  Speaker 1: The temporary stay applies only to the scheduled examinations. It
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: does not resolve whether the prosecution will ultimately be permitted
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  Speaker 1: to conduct a second psychiatric evaluation. The defense also is
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: challenging other portions of Coran's rulings, including his decision to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: deny Stein's bail. Prosecutors maintain that the denial of bail
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  Speaker 1: was justified under Kentucky law. In a sharply worded response
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: to the defense's appeal, Kentucky Assistant Solicitor General J. Grant Burdett,
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  Speaker 1: argued that the evidence supports the trial court's decision. The
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: proof of guilt was evident and the presumption great, so
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  Speaker 1: the court did not abuse its discretion, Burdett wrote. The
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: court should affirm. Burdett also argued that the defense appeal
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: did not comply with the rules of criminal procedure and
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and pointed to video evidence of the shooting. There's no
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: conflicting evidence here. Steins unquestionably shot and killed the judge.
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  Speaker 1: That Steins is planning a mental health defense and that
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  Speaker 1: his aunt testified to circumstances that might support one do
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: not lessen the call-on-video proof here, the prosecution's brief states.
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  Speaker 1: The Court of Appeals' temporary stay of the October 14th
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: examination does not settle the dispute over whether a second
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: evaluation will be permitted. The order also does not halt
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the murder prosecution, which remains pending. The next story is
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: License Found in UZ Field Family Sought An old driver's
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: license found in a field at UZ has prompted a
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: search for the family of the woman pictured on it.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: The Kentucky license bears the name Cora Sparks and lists
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Letcher County as her residence. It was issued in March
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: 1981 and expired in April 1985. LM Mike Caudill said
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: a worker found the license about three weeks ago while
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: preparing to harvest sorghum on his river-bottom property beside the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: main road at UZ. Caudill believes the July 2022 flood
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: may have carried the license onto the property. He hopes
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to return it to Sparks' family. Anyone who recognizes Sparks
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: or knows how to reach her relatives is asked to
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: contact the Mountain Eagle at 606-633-2252 or visit the newspaper
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: office at 41 North Webb Street, Whitesburg. Caudill, Chief Executive
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Officer of Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation, asks that inquiries about
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: the license be directed to the newspaper. The next headline is,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: he left Letcher County but kept its stories alive. First shower,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: first bicycle, native of Gordon preserved his memories. Alan Lester
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Holcomb's first shower was one he remembered for the rest
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: of his life. He and a high school buddy, Doyle Crace,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: had discovered a large miner's bathhouse at Lynch. Neither boy
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: had ever taken a shower before. and the rows of
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: shower heads were too tempting to pass up. They piled
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: their clothes in a corner and stepped under the water.
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  Speaker 1: It was the neatest thing we'd ever run into, Holcomb
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: recalled in a recorded conversation. All that good warm water
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: pouring down on us, and we didn't even have any
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: soap or nothing, just water. The boys spent about twenty
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: minutes enjoying the novelty, he remembered. Grace had trouble adjusting
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: the water and nearly scalded himself, but both emerged with
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: a story to tell. Asked whether they got into trouble,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Holcomb said nobody knew they were there. Had a couple
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: of miners walked in, he figured, they probably would have
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: died laughing. Holcomb, a Gordon native and former Letcher County teacher,
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  Speaker 1: died October 7th at age 90. But readers can still
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: hear him tell that story and others in a collection
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: of YouTube videos called Lester Tales, Memories of Alan Lester.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: The conversations preserve memories of his mountain childhood and life
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: after moving to Indiana. They offer a chance to hear
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: familiar places and everyday adventures described by someone who lived them.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Gordon lies on the Letcher County side of Pine Mountain,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: across from the Cumberland area in Harlan County. Nearby Lynch
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: developed as a coal town for a U.S. steel subsidiary,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: with facilities serving the miners who worked underground. For Holcomb
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and Crace, a bathhouse intended for washing away coal dust
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: offered an unexpected introduction to a modern convenience. Holcomb's recollection
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: of his first bicycle reaches back to the early 1950s.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: He said he was 16 and working his first year
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: at Del Monte when he ordered it. Born April 2, 1936,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: he would have been that age in 1952-53. His obituary
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: describes seven summers working on a Del Monte pea farm
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: near Mendota, Illinois, to finance his education. He hitchhiked between
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Gordon and Mendota each summer. The bicycle was a three-speed,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: he explained, with a control on the handlebar that made
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: climbing hills easier. He and Crace rode miles together around
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Letcher County. Another bicycle adventure taught him that going down
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: a mountain could be harder than going up, he and
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: another friend pushed their bicycles to the top of Pine Mountain.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Their plan was to tie large pine branches behind the
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: bicycles so the dragging brush would slow their descent. It
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: did not work as intended. They gathered more speed than
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: they could comfortably control and eventually had to walk their
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: bicycles down the mountain. He agreed it had been a
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: dangerous idea, but said he had thought it would work.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Holcomb graduated from Kingdom Come High School in 1955 and
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: attended Campbellsville Junior College and Pikeville College. He taught at
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Maple Grove near Eolia and at the Blue Diamond Coal
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Company School at Leatherwood before moving his family to Winchester,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Indiana in 1961. There he worked as a journeyman machinist
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: at Mall Brothers, Mall Technology, until 2009. His obituary remembers
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: a lifelong learner who enjoyed reading, writing short stories, and
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: telling stories to others. The recorded conversations leave those stories
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: available to listeners, including people in the county where they began.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: To watch the videos, search YouTube for Lester Tales and
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: look for Memories of Alan Lester. The next headline is,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Patient's estate sues ARC over death at Pike Drug Treatment Center.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: The estate of a man who died receiving addiction treatment
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: at a Pike County facility has sued Addiction Recovery Care
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: and two affiliated companies, alleging inadequate monitoring, staffing, and medical
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: care contributed to his death. The lawsuit concerns Michael Anthony Rison,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: who entered ARC's River Place facility June 9, 2025, for
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: residential treatment of opioid use disorder. He was found unresponsive
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: early July 17 and pronounced dead that morning, according to
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the complaint. ARC has provided rehabilitation services to Letcher County
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: defendants seeking treatment as an alternative to incarceration. James Earl Rison,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: administrator of Michael Rison's estate, filed the lawsuit September 14th
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: in Pike Circuit Court. It names Addiction Recovery Care LLC,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: doing business as ARC Riverplace, Odyssey Incorporated, Pioneer Health Group LLC,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: and three unidentified defendants. The complaint seeks compensatory and punitive
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: damages and a jury trial. Its allegations have not been
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: established in court. This concludes the reading of The Mountain Eagle.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Your reader has been Bill Van Arsdell. Now, please stay
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: tuned for continued programming. On behalf of everyone here at
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Radio Eye, thank you for listening, and have a good day.