Transcript

8.28.25 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill Venarsdale. We will
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begin with the edition dated August twenty seventh, twenty twenty five,
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which the publishers have donated to RADIOI as a reminder.
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RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. The first item is a photograph and
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the caption is a little fun at Mom's expense. Stetson
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Pratt Age three of Halley, makes funny faces at his
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mother during the Campbell's Branch Community Center's Artisan and antiques
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festival on the Creek. Folks in the community are currently
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in the process of trying to revitalize the center and
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get it reopened. The center closed a few weeks ago
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because of a lack of resources. Thirteen, they will have
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a cruise in and swap meet car show by the Creek.
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The community efforts to get things back up and running
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at the community Center are being spirhaded by Stetson's grandmother,
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Barbara Prant. The next story is ex jailer calls for
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KSP probe into reported wrongdoings. Retired lecter County Jailer Bert
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Sloane has asked for a criminal investigation of allegations of
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sex abuse and rape in the Electra County Jail and courthouse.
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Sloane said he has the right to request an investigation
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as the former jailer. Sloan, who has not been personally
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named in the accusations, took office in January twenty nineteen,
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was re elected in twenty twenty two, and retired at
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the end of August last year. He said he feels
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like his reputation and the reputations of his former employees
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and family have been danned imaged, and he wants state
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police to determine, one way or another if any of
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the allegations raised about public officials are valid. His brother
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Brian Sloane, who served as chief deputy jailer under him
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and under Jailor Don McCall before him, was appointed to
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replace him, resulting in accusations of nepotism. Brian Sloan was
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hired by jailor Gary Cornett, who was jailer before McCall.
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Burt Sloane's wife, Donna, also worked at the jail before
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he was elected. Sloane made the request for investigation last week,
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after becoming frustrated with rumors that he said paint him
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and others in a false light. I spoke to Assistant
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County Attorney Mike Watts, and he has put in a
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request to the Kentucky State Police for an investigation. Burt
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Sloan said the allegations about jail and courthouse officials and
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employees began at the conviction of former Deputy Sheriff Ben Fields,
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who was moonlighting with a private company that handled home incarcerations.
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Fields pleaded guilty to third degree rape and third degree sodomy,
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admitting that he had sex with a woman who was
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awaiting trial and in exchange, did not charge her for
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the electronic monitoring ankle bracelet she was required to wear
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as a condition of bond. In at least one instance,
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Fields admitted in a deposition that he had sex with
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a Pike County woman, Sabrina Atkins, in the restroom in
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lecturer District Judge Kevin R. Mullins's chambers after hours. Fields
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served as bailiff for Mullins and had a key for
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a side door of the courthouse. The admission by Fields
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came while he was under oath. During the discovery process
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of a civil lawsuit filed by Atkins and another jail inmate,
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Jennifer Hill, who was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit
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against Fields and the office of Electra County Sheriff Sean
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Mickey Steins. Miss Hill died after the suit was filed,
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while Fields's case drew statewide attention after the civil suit
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was filed in February twenty twenty two. Scrutiny became more
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intense last September when then Sheriff Steins shot and killed
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Mullens as he sat at his desk smoking a cigarette.
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The act was captured by a security camera that Mullens
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had asked to be installed after Fields's guilty plea, when
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he admitted entering the judge's chambers in the early morning
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or late at night when the courthouse was closed. Since then,
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lurid rumors have exploded on tabloid television shows tik Tok
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and YouTube channels run mostly by women who spent time
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in jail. Those appearing on the shows say they are
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recovering from addiction, and court records show more. Most have
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been convicted of crimes here and in adjoining states, have
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been fired by the jail or are in relationships with
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convicted felons. The women claim they either knew about or
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were involved in sexual relations with the late judge and
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the jail guards, and unnamed higher ups had sex parties
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with inmates. These critics have claimed that while Fields was
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in jail for six months, he received preferential treatment because
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he had been a jail guard before and because his wife,
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Angie was chief deputy. Angie Fields never served as chief
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deputy in the jail and left her job at the
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facility located in the basement of the courthouse before the
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civil lawsuit or criminal investigation of her husband began. Sloan
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said he always thought he had a good reputation across
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the county, but he now hates to go out of
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his house because of what other people might think. After
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listening to the rumors being repeated on social media. I
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feel like I did the best I could do, he said,
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I did my best. I know I made enemies with
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my job, but I really liked the inmates. Most of
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them were excellent people once you got them off drugs
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and got them straightened out, excellent people. Sloane acknowledged that
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he made Benfield's a trustee during his time there, but
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said there were other trustees and they all have the
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same privileges. The reach of stories from local video blogs
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has been extended by video bloggers from other states and
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large corporations that produce sensational content for the Internet and
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cable TV. In at least one case, the host of
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a widely distributed blog, News Nation reporter Brian Inton mistated
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the content of a recorded statement from Atkins before playing
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the tape for viewers. He repeated the misstatement after the
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tape played. The Mountain Eagle reported on the contents of
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that same tape on December eleventh, two thousand twenty four.
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While Atkins claimed to have seen a video tape of
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Mullins having sex with a girl in his office, she
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went on to say she didn't know who it was
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and speculated it could have even been his wife. While
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she directed detectives to a person she said had the tape,
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that person told detectives he had never had such a
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videotape and refused to meet with investigators about an audio
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tape he did claim to possess. That didn't stop Anton
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from saying the tape clearly reveals that Atkins said she
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saw the tape of Mullens having sex with an inmate.
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He repeated the same thing in a video Monday night.
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A headline for that show claimed a defense attorney said
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Stein's killed Mullins after threats were made against him. However,
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attorney Jeremy Bartley said Stein's felt and believed there were threats.
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I will say that my class actions were the result
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of a mind that was overwhelmed with pressure here and
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untreated mental illness, Bartley said. Bartley also called for an
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independent investigation of the claims being made about court house officials.
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The same claims being made on outlets such as Entons
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have been made for months on local video blogs. I
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don't even know what to say. It's disheartening, Sloane said.
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People see this and believe it. Sloane was a deputy
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sheriff prior to his election as jailer, but he never
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worked for Stein's, who took office as sheriff at the
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same time he did. Steines served for years before his
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election as a bailiff in District Court under both Mullins
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and the late judge Jim Wood, who started the court's
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drug rehab program. Steins, like Fields, moonlighted as the home
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incarceration supervisor for the private company that provided the service
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to people out on bond. Atkins claimed in a taped
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interview with the detectives from the Kentucky Attorney General's Office
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that she had been told Steines had done the same
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thing as Fields when he had charge of home incarceration
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before he was elected sheriff, but she offered no proof.
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In addition to serving as a court bailiff for a
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former Lecter Circuit Judge Sam Wright, Sloane worked as a
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city police officer and served thirteen years as the school
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resource officer at Letcher County Central High School. Sloane showed
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The Mountain Eagle text messages in which he asked at
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least one local video blogger to correct the errors, but
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said no corrections have been made. Sloane said he asked
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for the Kentucky State Police investigation in order to clear
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his own name and the names of others in the
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court house, including Judge Mullins, whom he counted as a friend.
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He said he has no knowledge of any person in
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the courthouse ever having sex with prisoners other than Fields.
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If the investigation proves him wrong, Sloan said, I think
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it ought to be addressed and dealt with legally. Steins
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is in the Leslie County jail on a charge of murder.
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While speculation is rampant that he killed Mullins for having
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an affair with his seventeen year old daughter, the family
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and his attorneys have said that is not true. His
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attorneys are pursuing an insanity defense. Lawyers on both sides
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have until next Tuesday to file briefs on several motions
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that are pending before the court. The next headline is
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Kentucky Power is seeking large rate hikes. Kentucky Power Company
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is asking the Kentucky Public Service Commission for wide ranging
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rate increases, just two months after being approved for a
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six point three seven percent increase to payoff bonds. The
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proposed new rates, for which the company will file an
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application with the PSC on Friday, increase all or nearly
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all the company's tariffs, including those for residential, small, medium,
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and large businesses, industrial customers, water treatment plants, overhead lamps,
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and city street lights. Residential rates would increase about fifteen
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percent for residential customers, while small businesses will see a
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rate increase of fifteen point six percent in summer and
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more than fifty five percent during winter on peak hours,
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in addition to a four dollars per month increase in
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the basic service charge. Kentucky Power said in a release
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to customers that the rates will help people who are
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subject to large fluctuations in their need for power, such
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as in winter when the temperature drops. On August twenty nine,
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twenty twenty five, we will file a base rate review
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with the PSC, requesting to adjust rates to recover increased costs.
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The proposed increase is fourteen point nine percent for residential
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customers and approximately thirteen to fifteen percent for commercial and
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industrial customers, with new rates projected to be in place
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in spring twenty twenty six. This case is necessary to
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maintain and improve the service you depend on. During this
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thorough and transparent review process, we always search for ways
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to reduce the customer impact. The company said. This review
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has a number of proposals that will be beneficial, and
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we want you to know about them. The six point
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three seven percent increase already approved by the PSC, replaces,
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among other things, the line item previously called the Big
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Sandy Rider that is the cost of retiring the coal
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fired Big Sandy power plant at Louisa. It also covers
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the cost of storm recovery and unrecoverable purchased power costs.
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Such rate hikes were made possible when the Kentucky General
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Assembly passed a law allowing utilities to sell bonds to
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pay for the cost of expenses such as those. The
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PSC said the earlier increase in rates will actually save
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customers money. Customers would have seen a substantially higher charge
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for these expenses and would have already been paying it
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for the past year or more if not for the
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securitization process, said p SC chair Angihattan. While seeing a
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new charge on a utility bill is never something customers want,
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this process has resulted in both an overall reduced monthly
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amount for individual customers and approximately ninety million dollars in
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total customer savings. The new request includes large increases for
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people who demand power, meaning they use more electricity at night,
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when power usage is lower and costs are cheaper, and
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less power during times of day with high demand. To
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reduce costs, the on peak cost for residential customers will
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increase to twenty two point ninety five to three cents
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per kilowatt hour from nineteen point two one point one
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off peak costs will increase to nine point four nine
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three from nine point two six nine cents per kilowat hour.
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Kentucky Power's full request to the PSC appears in a
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legal advertisement in this week's edition of The Mountain Eagle.
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The next story is baby raccoon survives getting drunk as
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a skunk. Weisberg might have had a most Wanted wild turkey,
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but now a raccoon has said, hold my moonshine. A
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young raccoon was found as drunk as a skunk after
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it crawled into a dumpster near Kentucky Missed Moonshine Distillery
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in Weisburg. It was apparently attracted to the sweet smell
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of fermented peaches, which the distillery soaked in distilled alcohol
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to make peach flavored moonshine. The coon soon found out
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it really likes moonshine infused peaches, and like many underage drinkers,
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it then found out it just can't hold its liquor.
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The raccoon, its mother, and its siblings were living under
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an old railroad bridge located over the north fork of
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the Kentucky River between the distillery and the Letcher County
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Health Department. Health Department employees who had been feeding the raccoons,
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were crossing what is now a covered bridge on their
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way to work on a recent morning when they saw
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the mother raccoon acting strange. When they checked the dumpster,
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they found the underage drinker lying on its back in
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rain water that had pooled at the bottom. Fearing the
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animal would drown, they got it out of its predicament and,
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believing it was sick or injured, started trying to revive it.
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After Health Department employee Misty Combs worked to awaken the animal,
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a call for help was placed to the Kentucky Department
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of Fish and Wildlife. After a Fish and Wildlife officer
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arrived from neighbouring Pike County, the raccoon was taken to
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veterinarian doctor Ben Cornett, who has a clinic at Eislan.
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Realizing the animal was drunk, Doctor Cornett treated it and
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kept it overnight while it sobered up. Released the next
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day from the drunk tank, the Fish and Wildlife officer
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took the raccoon back to Weisburg and released it near
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the bridge so it could reunite with its mother. The
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baby raccoon, a boy, is now known affectionately as Otis
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Campbell in honor of Mayberry's legendary town drunk. No word
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yet on whether the coon had visited the dumpster again
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or whether it will take itself to the jail the
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next time it ties one on and the next story
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isom Day's fest opens Thursday. Isom Days will hold its
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annual festival and rodeo this weekend. The festivities begin Thursday
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night with Summit Racings car show from five to eight pm,
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Rock and Roll Princess on the stage, and Family Night
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at the Carnival. Family Night tickets are twenty dollars. Food
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and craft booths will also be open. Four booths will
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open at eleven am Friday, and the carnival and bounce
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House will open at five pm. Rock and Roll Princess
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returns to the stage at six pm Friday, with the
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rodeo at seven thirty pm. Elvis and the Coupe Devilles
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will be on stage at nine thirty pm. The festival
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will wrap up Saturday. The Carnival, bounce House and food
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and craft booths will open at eleven am. Pure and
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Simple We'll take the stage at five thirty pm, followed
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by Rock and Roll Princess at seven. The rodeo will
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begin at seven thirty pm and close out the night.
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And in the next story, Neon Community blood drive planned
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for September sixth at three pm. The Neon Community Blood
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Drive will be held from eleven am to three pm Saturday,
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September sixth on the KBC Bloodmobile at Jurissic Coal nine
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thirty five, Kentucky, three seventeen, Neon. The drive is sponsored
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by the Neon Community Lions Club. Those attending should bring
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a photo ID and appointments are preferred, but walk ins
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are welcome. Appointments can be made until the day before
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the drive. For more information, calls six oh six eight
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two one sixty one sixty six. And the next story
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is schools to get extra officer. Letcher County schools are
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expected to get a second school resource officer this month.
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Letcher County Sheriff Bill Jones has retired Fleming Neon police
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chief Mike dingis as a deputy sheriff, and the Letcher
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County Board of Education is expected to vote on funding
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the new position in January. School districts, by law, are
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required to have a school Resource officer in every school,
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but Letcher County has only had one SRO in the past.
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Jones served as SRO at Letcher County Central High School
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until he was appointed sheriff in October, filling the position
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left vacant after the arrest and resignation of former Sheriff
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Sean Mickey Stys. Jones filled his former position at the
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high school with former Fleming Neon Chief Alan Burns and
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has now hired Dingas. Dingas is expected to alternate between
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Letcher Elementary and Middle School and Arley Boggs Elementary. He
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said the department has not been able to find officers
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for the positions in the past. We had it opened
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a couple of times and we just could not get
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qualified people to apply. Jones said the department is having
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the same problem hiring other deputies. The city of Weissberg
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pays substantially more than the Sheriff's department, and that has
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exhausted the pool of certified officers in the county. Joaones said.
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Jones is now seeking untrained applicants that the department will
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send to academy. He said the department has twelve applicants
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now and he plans to narrow down that number and
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then put finalists through a pre pops test to make
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sure they're physically able to meet State Police officer professional
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standards before hiring them. He ciity hopes to have the
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department back to regular patrols soon. Jones has already hired
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Isaiah Jacobs as a deputy and will be sending him
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to academy in February. The department also has two new
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court security deputies, Leylah Burms and Michail Billeter, who will
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be attending training for those positions and are currently running
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and in the next story, sheriff wants a new deputy.
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Letcher County Sheriff Billy Jones says he will be increasing
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patrols in the county as soon as a new person
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can be hired. Jones said the department currently has two
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deputies who work patrol, but he will expand the department
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to three and then to four later on. After that,
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he said, he and Chief Deputy Mike Dingis will cover days,
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while Deputy Isaiah Jacobs and the newly hired deputy will
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cover evenings. Deputies will be on duty until around two
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a m. Jacobs is scheduled to return to the police
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Academy in September to complete his training. Jones is seeking
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someone who is already certified for the new position. One
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of the department's court security officers is scheduled to attend
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the Police Academy in May to become a road deputy.
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Jones is hiring another court security officer to replace him,
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and another in addition to that. Court security officers do
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not receive the same training as regular deputies. They are
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paid by the State Administrative Office of the Courts, and
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most were added following the shooting death of Judge Kevin R. Mullins.
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The next story is Cougar's fall in opener, the Leccher
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County Central Cougars opened their twenty twenty five football season
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with a forty eight to six loss to perennial Class
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four A power Johnson Central. It was a tough opening
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matchup for the Cougars, but hopefully they bounced back with
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a win against Leslie County this week at Cougar Field.
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We have to give Johnson Central a lot of credit,
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said LCC coach Junior Matthews. They're a really good team,
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very physical on the offensive and defensive lines. We didn't
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execute well either, too many mistakes to overcome. LCC received
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the opening kickoff and was quickly forced to punt the
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punt was returned to the Cougar thirty three yard line.
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Johnson Central had a five play scoring drive, punctuated by
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a one yard touchdown run by Colin Cantrell. The two
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point conversion was good to give the Golden Eagles an
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eight to nothing lead. LCC quarterback Gunner Holbrook completed a
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one yard pass to Jeff Outlaw on a wide receiver
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screen to start the next drive. Senior Brett Sturgell then
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caught an eight yard pass for a first down. The
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drive stalled after that, and the Cougars were forced to
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punt again. Johnson Central had a six play, sixty yard
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scoring drive, with running back Braxton Perry scoring from nineteen
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yards out on a sweep play. The extra point failed,
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keeping the score at fourteen to nothing. With three point
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fifty left in the first quarter, the Cougar offense still
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couldn't get anything going and their punt was downed at
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the LCC forty two yard line. Johnson Central methodically moved
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the ball down the field and scored on a nineteen
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yard run by Perry on a counterplay. The extra point
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split the uprights to make the score twenty one to zero.
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LCC's Hlebrook showed his speed by gaining twelve yards on
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a quarterback draw to begin the next drive. Running Back
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Garrett Howard then gained six yards on a run up
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the middle. A holding penalty on the Johnson Central defensive
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back gave the Cougars another first down and moved the
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ball near midfield. Two plays later, and facing third down
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and fifteen yards to go, Jeff Outlaw made a leaping
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catch on a perfectly thrown deep ball for a twenty
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one yard game. However, the Cougars couldn't move the ball
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any further and turned it over on downs. Johnson Central
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followed with a nine play drive, ending with a twelve
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yard touchdown run by Logan Music out of the wishbone formation.
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The extra point was good to make it twenty eight
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to zero with two thirty left in the second quarter.
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Things then got worse for the Cougars, who had a
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punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, putting Johnson Central
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ahead thirty four to nothing at halftime. Johnson Central received
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the second half kickoff and quickly scored on a six
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yard run by Maddox Bryant to increase their lead to
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forty one to zero. And start a running clock for
25:55
the rest of the game. After another Johnson Central touchdown,
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l c C freshman quarterback Cooper Bates threw a bomb
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of Mason Stevens on a deep post for a forty
26:06
six yard game. On the next play, Outlaw made a
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great catch on a goal route for a thirty four
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yard gain. Howard ran up the middle for a three
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yard touchdown to make the final score forty eight to six.
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Garrett Howard gained thirty eight yards on eleven carries on
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the ground and had a touchdown run. Cooper Bates came
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in on relief to complete three passes on four attempts
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for seventy seven yards. Jet Outlaw led the receiving corps
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with four catches for fifty nine yards. Mason Stevens had
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one catch for forty six yards. Stevens led the defense
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with ten tackles, and senior Garrett Howard had nine tackles.
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Colton Stidham and Canaan's Sergeant had five tackles. Apiece junior
26:56
Parker Richardson had the loan tackle for loss for the Couters.
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Letcher Central will have their home opener this Friday against
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Leslie County. Kickoff set for seven thirty pm. The next
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story is Gabby's Fishing Fever by Greg Gabby Caudle shell
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cracker is largest he's ever caught. This past week was
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a huge fishing weekend for me, including the recording of
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my first live Fishing with Gabby fishing show for the year.
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We went to car Creek Lake last Monday morning to
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start fishing and filming. We started with a couple poles
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out with floaters and using nightcrawlers for bait. The water
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in the area we were fishing was very stained and shallow.
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After we caught a few small bluegills, I had a
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line take off really fast and saw the floater was
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pulled down. I thought it was a bass at first,
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and when I set the hook I could tell it
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was a big fish. I was just using four pound
27:58
test lines, so I could not pull two hard. As
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I worked the fish in, it was a big channel
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catfish about eight pounds. As soon as I got it close,
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it ran and broke my line. We went to the
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main marina. After rebaiting my line and putting it back
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in the water, it did not take long before it
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took off. I let the bobber go down and set
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the hook. I could tell it was a huge fish
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and thought it had to be a bass. But as
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I brought it up, I could not believe what I
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was looking at, the biggest shell cracker I have ever
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seen or caught. I pulled the fish in and was
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so excited I couldn't even talk. That fish was a monster.
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It was two pounds and over twelve inches long, big
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enough to have mounted, but I chose to release it
28:46
to make more shell crackers that big. This concludes the
28:51
reading of the Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been build
28:55
of an arsenal. Now please stay tuned for continued programming
29:00
on behalf of everyone here at Radio. I thank you
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for listening, and have a good day.