Latest / Eastern Kentucky Newspapers / Hazard Herald - 9.6.26

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Hazard Herald - 9.6.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

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  Speaker 1: Now we turn to the reading of the Hazard Herald
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  Speaker 1: for news of hazard in Perry County. I'm Lee Townsend.
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  Speaker 1: We begin with the online edition dated September 2nd, 2026.
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  Speaker 1: As a reminder, Radio Eye 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. MCCC facility recognizes
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  Speaker 1: Overdose Awareness Day. Individuals in recovery from drug addiction were
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  Speaker 1: joined by those who support them, as well as family
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  Speaker 1: and friends who lost those to overdoses for a balloon
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  Speaker 1: release August 31st at the Mountain Comprehensive Care Center's Drop-In
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  Speaker 1: Center in Hazard. The Drop-In Center offers numerous resources for
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  Speaker 1: individuals in recovery and in addiction, all in an attempt
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  Speaker 1: to get them to the other side of addiction, according
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  Speaker 1: to Center Director Becky Kilburn. Some people will come here
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  Speaker 1: at first just for a hot meal, and then they
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  Speaker 1: can see what recovery's done for us, Kilburn said. Case
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  Speaker 1: manager Elizabeth Sword said the problems with overdoses continue in
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  Speaker 1: Perry County and the surrounding area. Last year in Perry
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  Speaker 1: County alone, we had 18 people who died of an overdose,
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  Speaker 1: she said. That's a lot. In addition to those individuals
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  Speaker 1: who were family members and friends impacted by the loss,
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  Speaker 1: Swords said the balloon release and other efforts by the
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  Speaker 1: drop-in center to raise awareness of overdoses is about saving
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  Speaker 1: lives and sending a message to those who lost loved ones.
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  Speaker 1: We're showing we remember. We're trying to fix it, Swords said.
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  Speaker 1: It's vital, Kilburn said, that the stigma around addiction and
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  Speaker 1: overdoses be reduced because anyone can be impacted. I think
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  Speaker 1: that it's always that, well, that won't happen to me
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  Speaker 1: type of mentality, she said. It can happen to anyone.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody is immune to the disease of addiction. Anyone can
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  Speaker 1: have it. Harm reduces efforts such as Narcan distribution, needle exchanges,
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  Speaker 1: and initiatives such as vending machines that offer those types
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  Speaker 1: of services to users have helped in the fight against
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  Speaker 1: fatal overdoses. Narcan is really the biggest change, she said. However,
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  Speaker 1: the needle exchange program, Kilburn said, is also leading to
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  Speaker 1: a reduction in hepatitis C infections. Getting individuals in active
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  Speaker 1: addiction to help is important, Kilburn said, but preventing fatal
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  Speaker 1: overdoses is a big part of that. Nobody's hopeless, she said.
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  Speaker 1: As long as they're breathing, there's hope for them, and
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  Speaker 1: the Narcan keeps them breathing. The drop-in center is located
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  Speaker 1: at 1845 Kentucky 15 South in Hazard. Perry County man
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  Speaker 1: pleads guilty in rape sexual abuse case. A Perry County
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  Speaker 1: man has pleaded guilty in a case in which he
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  Speaker 1: was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse, and incest.
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  Speaker 1: Perry Commonwealth's attorney John Hanson said Malter M. Moore, 42,
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  Speaker 1: entered the plea during an August 24th hearing before Judge
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  Speaker 1: Allison C. Wells. Hansen said his office recommended that Moore
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  Speaker 1: serve five years in the case with additional conditions that
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  Speaker 1: he be registered as a sex offender for life, that
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  Speaker 1: he not be in contact with the victim for at
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  Speaker 1: least 10 years, and that he completes the sex offender treatment.
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  Speaker 1: Hansen said the deal, which will be finalized at Moore's
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  Speaker 1: sentencing hearing, currently set for November 5th, has been reached
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  Speaker 1: with the agreement of all parties connected to the victim,
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  Speaker 1: including the victim's appointed guardian, ad litem. This was done
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  Speaker 1: with consultation with our witnesses, the victim, and the guardian
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  Speaker 1: at length, she said. I think that outcome is fair.
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  Speaker 1: Hansen said the crimes connected to the charges took place
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  Speaker 1: prior to Hansen taking office. This has been investigated several
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  Speaker 1: years before I took office and nothing was done, Hanson said.
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  Speaker 1: It just took a little while. We feel like we've
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  Speaker 1: got a plea that's agreeable to everyone. Moore remains held
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  Speaker 1: in custody pending the outcome of the final sentencing, Hanson said.
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  Speaker 1: Perry County Fiscal Court presented strategic plan for coming years.
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  Speaker 1: The Perry County Fiscal Court is beginning the process of
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  Speaker 1: setting a plan for development through 2030. During the court's
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  Speaker 1: August 25th special meeting, the court accepted a plan from
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  Speaker 1: Bill McIntosh that follows up on a previous plan that
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  Speaker 1: guided the community's development from 2017 to 2022. McIntosh told
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  Speaker 1: the court that the plan is based on recognizing what
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  Speaker 1: the county has going for it and is needed as
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  Speaker 1: the community navigates the current economic climate. Surviving isn't enough,
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  Speaker 1: he said. We need to build an economy that gives
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  Speaker 1: our young people a reason to stay, gives our families
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity to prosper, and give businesses a reason to
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  Speaker 1: locate and invest here in our county. Economic development, McIntosh said,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't always have to be focusing on bringing in a
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  Speaker 1: big company. Sometimes it's about helping those businesses that are
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  Speaker 1: already here to expand, to hire more people and to
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  Speaker 1: remain competitive, McIntosh said. McIntosh said that for small businesses,
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  Speaker 1: the county needs to focus on identifying their problems and
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  Speaker 1: help build a qualified workforce. Businesses can't grow without qualified employees,
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  Speaker 1: he said. The county, he said, must also focus on
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  Speaker 1: building infrastructure and using tourism and its Appalachian identity as
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  Speaker 1: economic assets. Perry County is something that can't be manufactured,
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  Speaker 1: he said. We've got our mountains, our heritage, our music,
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  Speaker 1: our people, and our story. The county should be focused
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  Speaker 1: on not only bringing people in, but also on finding
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  Speaker 1: ways to keep them here longer. Economic success, McIntosh said,
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  Speaker 1: requires cooperation and planning focus. We don't need 10 different
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  Speaker 1: economic development plans. We just need one direction. Perry County
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  Speaker 1: Judge Executive Scott Alexander said the county will review the plan,
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  Speaker 1: make changes, and get the plan out to the public
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  Speaker 1: before it's finalized in a future meeting. The 48th Annual
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  Speaker 1: Fire School, hosted by the Mountain Firefighters Association, was held
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  Speaker 1: August 28th through August 30th at Hazard Community and Technical College.
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  Speaker 1: The event offered hands-on and classroom training for firefighters from
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  Speaker 1: throughout the region. At the kickoff dinner on August 27th,
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  Speaker 1: participants heard from Southgate Volunteer Fire Chief John Beatich, who
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  Speaker 1: was a firefighter during the response to the May 28,
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  Speaker 1: 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire at Southgate, one of
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  Speaker 1: the deadliest nightclub fires in the nation's history. Hazard man
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  Speaker 1: indicted on federal fentanyl trafficking charges. A federal grand jury
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  Speaker 1: has indicted a hazard man on federal methamphetamine and fentanyl
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  Speaker 1: trafficking charges. According to court documents, the grand jury indicted
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  Speaker 1: David Cofield, 37, of Gurney's Bend on charges of distribution
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  Speaker 1: of a methamphetamine mixture in fentanyl and possession with the
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  Speaker 1: intent to distribute controlled substances. According to a citation written
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  Speaker 1: by Hazard Police Chief Zach Miller on August 18th, officers
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  Speaker 1: served a warrant at Cofield's residence. During the course of
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  Speaker 1: the search, the citation said, officers located three 2-milligram vials
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  Speaker 1: of suspected fentanyl along with three bags of suspected methamphetamine
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  Speaker 1: weighing more than 2 grams. Cofield, the citation said, admitted
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  Speaker 1: to selling the illegal substances. He was lodged in the
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky River Regional Jail. According to the indictment, the federal
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  Speaker 1: charges each carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence and a
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  Speaker 1: minimum of six years of supervised release. Governor Andy Beshear
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  Speaker 1: announced in a statement August 27th that 36 law enforcement
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  Speaker 1: officers from agents across the Commonwealth, including Hazard Police Officer
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  Speaker 1: Skyler Weirich, have graduated from the Department of Criminal Justice
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  Speaker 1: Training's Basic Training Academy in Richmond. These law enforcement officers
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  Speaker 1: now return home to serve, protect, and create a safer
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky home, the statement said. Kentucky's law enforcement officers nobly
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  Speaker 1: commit themselves to making our communities safer each day, and
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  Speaker 1: today these graduates join their ranks and become a lifeline
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  Speaker 1: of service, Beshear said. I ask all Kentuckians to join
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  Speaker 1: Brittany and me in praying for these officers that they
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  Speaker 1: have a safe, fulfilling career. The graduates of Class 572,
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  Speaker 1: the statement said, received more than 800 hours of recruit-level
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  Speaker 1: instruction over 20 weeks. Major training areas included patrol procedures,
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  Speaker 1: physical training, vehicle operation, defense tactics, criminal law, traffic and DUI, firearms,
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  Speaker 1: criminal investigations, cultural awareness, bias-related crimes, and tactical responses to
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  Speaker 1: crisis situations. I'm proud of your commitment to learning the
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  Speaker 1: skills and knowledge presented in the Basic Training Academy and
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  Speaker 1: wish you success in implementing this training in your home communities,
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  Speaker 1: said DOCJT Commissioner Mike Bossie. You can carry with you
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  Speaker 1: the responsibility of serving with honor, integrity, fairness, and transparency.
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  Speaker 1: Take this responsibility to heart and the people you protect
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  Speaker 1: will see how much you care. From the opinion page,
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  Speaker 1: guest column, When the Line Comes Through the Holler by
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  Speaker 1: Roger Ford, Rural Renewal Institute. After discussing what Appalachians should
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  Speaker 1: own in the AI economy, we should also remember how
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  Speaker 1: new technology has historically reached this region late, unevenly, and
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  Speaker 1: only after local people demanded that infrastructure serve them, too.
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  Speaker 1: My father was born in 1945. He remembers when electricity
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  Speaker 1: finally reached Ford's branch. When I was a boy in
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  Speaker 1: the 1970s, another kind of wire ran through the mountains.
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  Speaker 1: For $ 5 in the summer, I could walk the television
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  Speaker 1: line from the antenna on top of the mountain down
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  Speaker 1: to the house, cutting weeds and tree limbs so families
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  Speaker 1: could pick up three channels and KETs. Before cable came
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  Speaker 1: in the 1980s, that was the modern connection in this hollow.
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  Speaker 1: A mountaintop antenna, a hand-cleared line, and a little patience.
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  Speaker 1: That memory matters now because Appalachia has never been afraid
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  Speaker 1: of technology. We've simply learned, generation after generation, that technology
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  Speaker 1: usually reaches us late. Electricity was one example. Roads were another. U.S.
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  Speaker 1: 23 talked about for decades before it became a four-lane
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  Speaker 1: artery in eastern Kentucky. When it finally opened through Forge
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  Speaker 1: Branch in 1989, I stood at the top of our
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  Speaker 1: family cemetery and watched the first coal trucks roll across
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  Speaker 1: the bridge over the Big Sandy. It was not just traffic,
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  Speaker 1: it was proof that a promise had finally become pavement.
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  Speaker 1: The pattern continued. U.S. 119 to the West Virginia line
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  Speaker 1: came later. U.S. 460, long treated as one of eastern
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky's great unfinished corridors, took decades more. These are not
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  Speaker 1: abstractions on a transportation map. They are the lived chronology
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  Speaker 1: of a region too often asked to wait its turn
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  Speaker 1: while the rest of the country moved first. Broadband has
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  Speaker 1: followed the same script. Even now, too many rural communities
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  Speaker 1: are trying to finish the last infrastructure revolution while the
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  Speaker 1: next one has already been sold. The Federal Communications Commission's
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  Speaker 1: updated benchmark has shown how wide that divide remains, especially
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  Speaker 1: in rural Kentucky and America. AI arrives with both panic
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  Speaker 1: and promise. Some only see disruption. Others see only opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: Appalachia should see something more familiar. another national build-out that
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  Speaker 1: will decide who's connected, who's bypassed, and merely who is
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  Speaker 1: provided with ground beneath someone else's progress. The lesson from
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  Speaker 1: our history is not to reject the future. The people
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  Speaker 1: who waited for electric lines, cleared television wires, fought for highways,
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  Speaker 1: and begged for broadband were not anti-progress. They wanted progress
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  Speaker 1: to reach them, serve them, and stay long enough to
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  Speaker 1: change daily life. That should be our measure for AI.
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  Speaker 1: If the coming build-out only places fenced data centers on
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  Speaker 1: Appalachian land, it will repeat an old pattern in a
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  Speaker 1: new form. But if it strengthens local institutions, creates technical
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  Speaker 1: pathways for young people, improves digital infrastructure, supports research, and
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  Speaker 1: connects with the region, through economies forming around energy and computation,
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  Speaker 1: then it can become something more durable. Progress is not
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  Speaker 1: the announcement. Progress is what remains after the announcement fades.
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  Speaker 1: My father remembers the electric line reaching Forge Branch. I
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  Speaker 1: remember walking along that hillside to clear the television wire.
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  Speaker 1: Like you, I remember U.S. 23 opening through the Big
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  Speaker 1: Sandy Valley below our cemeteries. Those memories do not make
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  Speaker 1: me fearful of AI. They make me watchful. This time,
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  Speaker 1: Appalachians should not be the only place reached, the cheapest
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  Speaker 1: place used, or the easiest place forgotten. This time, when
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  Speaker 1: the line comes through the hollows, it should carry opportunity
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  Speaker 1: in both directions. Editors note, this is the fifth installment
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  Speaker 1: of a six-part series by Roger Ford. Roger Ford is
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  Speaker 1: a Pike County native and founder of the Rural Renewal Institute,
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  Speaker 1: where his work focuses on rural economic development, energy policy, infrastructure,
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  Speaker 1: and Appalachian renewal. From Tragedy to Action, How Kentucky Hospitals
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  Speaker 1: are Fighting Sepsis Together by Melanie Landrum, Kentucky Hospital Association.
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  Speaker 1: The death of NASCAR champion Kyle Busch earlier this year
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  Speaker 1: stunned millions of Americans. At just 41 years old, what
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  Speaker 1: began as pneumonia quickly progressed into sepsis, a medical emergency
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  Speaker 1: that claimed his life in a matter of days. For
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  Speaker 1: many people, it was their first time hearing the word sepsis. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: too many families across Kentucky know that story all too well.
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  Speaker 1: Sepsis is the body's overwhelming response to an infection. It
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  Speaker 1: can begin with something as common as pneumonia, the flu,
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  Speaker 1: a urinary tract infection, or even an infected cut. Left untreated,
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  Speaker 1: it can rapidly lead to organ failure and death. When
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  Speaker 1: sepsis strikes, every minute counts. The encouraging news is that
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  Speaker 1: while sepsis remains one of America's leading causes of death,
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  Speaker 1: many of those deaths can be prevented through earlier recognition
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  Speaker 1: and rapid treatment. That is why hospitals across Kentucky have
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  Speaker 1: spent years working together to speed up the identification and
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  Speaker 1: treatment of sepsis. When time is critical, preparation saves lives.
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  Speaker 1: For Kentucky resident Darrell Rakes, that preparation became deeply personal.
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  Speaker 1: After routine knee surgery, he developed septic shock and went
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  Speaker 1: weeks in a medically induced coma. He survived against extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: odds and now dedicates his life to helping other sepsis patients.
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  Speaker 1: He shares his story so others understand how quickly this
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  Speaker 1: condition can become life-threatening and why seeking care immediately can
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  Speaker 1: make all the difference. Stories like Daryl's remind us that
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  Speaker 1: sepsis is not rare and it can affect anyone regardless
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  Speaker 1: of age or health. That is why Kentucky Hospitals chose
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  Speaker 1: collaboration over competition. In 2020, hospitals from across the Commonwealth
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  Speaker 1: formally launched the Kentucky Sepsis Consortium, establishing one of the
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  Speaker 1: nation's most comprehensive statewide quality improvement collaboratives focused on sepsis care. Today,
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  Speaker 1: 104 hospitals participate, representing every Kentucky hospital with an emergency
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  Speaker 1: department and multiple specialty hospitals. Together, hospitals are sharing best practices,
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  Speaker 1: strengthening screening protocols, and improving how quickly patients receive appropriate
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  Speaker 1: evidence-based treatment based on their clinical needs. The results demonstrate
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  Speaker 1: the reach of this collaboration. Nearly 99% of patients arriving
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  Speaker 1: in participating emergency departments are screened for sepsis during triage.
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  Speaker 1: In 2025 alone, Kentucky hospitals screened more than 1.5 million
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  Speaker 1: emergency room patients, giving care teams an important opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: recognize sepsis sooner and begin treatment when it can make
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  Speaker 1: the greatest difference. These numbers represent far more than performance measures.
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  Speaker 1: They represent parents returning home to their children and grandparents
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  Speaker 1: celebrating other birthdays. They also represent friends, neighbors, and coworkers
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  Speaker 1: getting another chance because someone recognized the warning signs before
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  Speaker 1: it was too late. Improving sepsis care is not limited
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  Speaker 1: to what happens inside hospital walls. It also depends on
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  Speaker 1: raising awareness in communities across Kentucky. The Kentucky Senate unanimously
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  Speaker 1: passed DAO's resolution named after Rakes to increase awareness of
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  Speaker 1: this life-threatening condition. Members of both political parties and state
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  Speaker 1: legislature and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear have continued to recognize
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  Speaker 1: Sepsis Awareness Month because protecting patients is not a political issue.
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  Speaker 1: It's a shared responsibility. Yet despite this progress, public awareness
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  Speaker 1: remains far too low. Many people do not recognize when
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  Speaker 1: an infection may be developing into sepsis. Warning signs can
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  Speaker 1: include fever or chills, confusion, extreme pain or discomfort, difficulty breathing,
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  Speaker 1: clammy or sweaty skin, and unusual sleepiness. If an infection
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  Speaker 1: is accompanied by these symptoms or a person's condition is
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  Speaker 1: rapidly worsening, seek medical care immediately and ask, could this
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  Speaker 1: be sepsis? Learn the signs, trust your instincts, and do
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  Speaker 1: not wait. With sepsis, tomorrow may be too late. As
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  Speaker 1: Sepsis Awareness Month approaches, Kentucky hospitals are not simply taking
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  Speaker 1: people to learn a new medical term. They're asking families
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  Speaker 1: to recognize sepsis as a medical emergency and to seek
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  Speaker 1: swift medical attention when symptoms appear. To learn more about
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  Speaker 1: sepsis and Kentucky's innovative approach to reducing mortality and morbidity
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  Speaker 1: through rapid screening and evidence-based treatment, visit Kentucky Hospitals Associations.
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  Speaker 1: The Kentucky Sepsis Consortium demonstrates that it's possible when hospitals
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  Speaker 1: work together with one goal, delivering better care for every
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  Speaker 1: patient who walks through our doors. Quality improvement is often
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  Speaker 1: measured through data, dashboards, and clinical benchmarks. These measures matter
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  Speaker 1: because they help hospitals improve. But the true measure of
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  Speaker 1: success is much simpler. It is the Kentuckians who return
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  Speaker 1: home to their families because someone recognized sepsis just a
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  Speaker 1: little sooner. That's the story Kentucky hospitals are proud to tell,
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  Speaker 1: not only during Sepsis Awareness Month, but every day of
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  Speaker 1: the year. Melanie Landrum is the interim president and CEO
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  Speaker 1: of the Kentucky Hospital Association. Here are the obituaries. Wilma Jones, 87,
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  Speaker 1: of 16 Mile Creek, died Tuesday, August 25th. Stephen Lloyd Pence, 59,
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  Speaker 1: of Viper, died Sunday, August 23rd. And Rose Imogene Watts, 79,
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  Speaker 1: of Hazard, died Friday, August 21st. With his Democratic challenger
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Gary Kilburn announcing his withdrawal from the race for Perry
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: County attorney, incumbent Republican Derek George Campbell said, is looking
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  Speaker 1: toward the next term. We started out with a goal
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  Speaker 1: to bring common sense back to the justice system, to
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  Speaker 1: hold folks accountable, and to make sure that people who
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  Speaker 1: deserve a second chance got one, Campbell said. Campbell said
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  Speaker 1: one issue he wants to tackle is the presence of
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: abandoned and blighted properties. Ultimately, something I want to tackle
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: next term is housing. I think there's a role for
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  Speaker 1: both the county attorney's office to play and local governments
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  Speaker 1: to play in making sure that abandoned and blighted properties
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  Speaker 1: that are distressed actually become good homes again and a
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  Speaker 1: good source for our tax base and local schools. It's
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  Speaker 1: a project that we've been working on and will continue
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  Speaker 1: to develop over the next four years, Campbell said. Recently,
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  Speaker 1: Campbell said, Adriana Whitaker was hired to oversee probation at
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the district court level and be a resource partner for
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  Speaker 1: recovery resources. She will be a point of contact for
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  Speaker 1: them and work with our Department of Public Advocacy and
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  Speaker 1: ultimately help these people access and utilize the recovery resources
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  Speaker 1: that are best suited for them and the community, he said.
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  Speaker 1: Campbell said cooperation of government at all levels between Hazard
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  Speaker 1: and Perry County will be important moving forward. We don't
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  Speaker 1: look at problems in our community as city problems or
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  Speaker 1: county problems. They're all just issues, he said. They're opportunities
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: to serve people better. Perry County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: a hazard man on charges including public intoxication and adult
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: abuse and neglect after an incident at the Perry County
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Hall of Justice. According to a citation written by Deputy
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Chris Jones on August 26th, he was contacted by PCSO
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant Keith Quinn, who informed him that a man later
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  Speaker 1: identified as William Darrell Miller, 40, of Roseanne Whitehalla was
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  Speaker 1: intoxicated at the Hall of Justice and appeared to have
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  Speaker 1: pill residue in his nostrils. The citation said Miller was
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: at the courthouse for a court appearance regarding custody of
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  Speaker 1: his mother, for whom he was also acting as a
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  Speaker 1: caregiver at the time. Once on the scene, Jones wrote,
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  Speaker 1: he made contact with Miller, who appeared to be manifestly
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: under the influence, and admitted that he'd been taking Xanax
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and was acting as a caregiver for his mother. After
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: being placed in custody, the citation said, Jones found half
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a pill believed to be Xanax in Miller's pocket. Jones
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: wrote that because Miller was manifestly under the influence and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: was a caretaker, he neglected his mother's well-being. Miller was
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: arrested on charges of public intoxication, third-degree possession of a
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: controlled substance, and reckless abuse and neglect of an adult.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: A Kentucky group representing minors with black lung is urging U.S.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Representative Hal Rogers to to support a bill significantly boosting
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the federal disability benefits these minors receive. In a Tuesday letter,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the Black Loan Association of Southeastern Kentucky urged him to
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: sign as a sponsor or co-sponsor for the Support Our
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Minors Act, a bill introduced by Democrats in Congress earlier
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: this summer that seeks to increase monthly black loan disability
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: benefits back to the same funding level relative to inflation
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: as minors received in 1969. The Kentucky Public Service Commission
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: announced in a statement August 26th that it has opened
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: a case to provide an opportunity for the public and
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: stakeholders in the Commonwealth to identify and discuss concerns and
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: potential measures to improve the affordability of electric and natural
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: gas utility service for residential taxpayers. The commission, according to
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: the statement, made all regulated electric utilities and the five
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: largest natural gas utilities party to the proceedings to create
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: a comprehensive record. The Commission, the statement said, invites interested
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: groups or individuals with a special interest in the affordability
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of electric and natural gas utility service to participate by
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: seeking intervention to the case or by filing public comments.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Addiction Recovery Care announced in a statement on August 27th
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: that it's appointed Chris Briney as Director of Enterprise Risk
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: and Regulatory Operations. The role, the statement said, reflects ARC's
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: continued focus on strengthening regulatory practices, managing enterprise risk, and
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: building systems that both support teams and the care of individuals.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: The statement said Briney brings more than 15 years of
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: experience in the behavioral health industry. His most recent service
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: was Director of Compliance at Aaliyah Health Group in Newport Beach, California,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: where he spent five years leading enterprise-wide compliance efforts across
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: multi-state behavioral health organizations. This concludes the reading of the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Hazard Herald. Please stay tuned for continued programming. Thank you
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: for joining me, and on behalf of everyone here at
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Radio Eye, this is Lee Townsend wishing you a good day.