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Whitesburg Mountain Eagle - 9.3.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: from Weisberg.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Your reader today is Bill VanArsdel.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: We will begin with the edition dated September 2nd, 2026,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: which the publishers have donated to Radio Eye. As a reminder,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Radio Eye is a reading service intended for people who
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: to read printed material. The first story is... Sides disagree
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: on where Stein's trial should take place. Defense attorneys for
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: former Letcher County Sheriff Sean Mickey Steins are continuing to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: oppose moving his murder trial out of Letcher County, but
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  Speaker 1: say that if the trial is moved, they want it
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  Speaker 1: held in Pike County, where two of his attorneys grew
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: up and attended school. Prosecutors have a different idea. They
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  Speaker 1: want the trial moved to Christian, Warren, or Davis counties,
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  Speaker 1: all in western Kentucky. Special Lecture Circuit Judge Christopher Coron
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: is a circuit judge in Warren and Edmondson counties. Both
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  Speaker 1: sides filed briefs with Coron concerning the trial venue. Defense
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  Speaker 1: attorneys Jeremy and Carrie Bartley, whose law office is in Somerset,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and James L. Cox of Mount Vernon, also appealed Coron's
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  Speaker 1: decision denying Steins' bond to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
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  Speaker 1: Steins is charged with murdering Letcher District Judge Kevin R.
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  Speaker 1: Mullins in Mullins' courthouse chambers in September 2024. Security video
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: from the office shows Steins firing repeatedly at Mullins as
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the judge sat at his desk and then fell to
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  Speaker 1: the floor. In their appeal, defense attorneys argue that Coran
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  Speaker 1: did not analyze whether Steins meets the exception to Kentucky's
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: constitutional right to bail, under which defendants are entitled to
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: bond unless the proof is evident or the presumption great.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: The defense discounts the security video as evidence for purposes
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of the bond decision, saying it allegedly depicts the shooting,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: but has not been authenticated. The attorneys also argue that
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  Speaker 1: the court did not explain what evidence it relied upon
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  Speaker 1: or how it evaluated possible conditions under which Steins could
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: be released. In their separate filing on Venue, Steins' attorneys
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  Speaker 1: renewed their opposition to moving the trial from Letcher County.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: They argue that if the trial is moved, state law
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  Speaker 1: requires it to be transferred to an adjoining county. The
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  Speaker 1: defense says Pike, Knott, Perry, and Harlan counties would be
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  Speaker 1: convenient for the approximately 40 witnesses expected in the case
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  Speaker 1: and would provide jurors who could be considered Steins' peers.
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  Speaker 1: Pike County is the defense's first choice if the.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Trial is moved. Attorneys say it.
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  Speaker 1: Has the largest population of the adjoining counties, offers more
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  Speaker 1: lodging choices, and that Pikeville is about 49 minutes from Whitesburg.
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  Speaker 1: The motion does not mention that Jeremy and Carrie Bartley
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  Speaker 1: both are natives of Pike County. Jeremy Bartley grew up
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  Speaker 1: at Virgie and graduated as salutatorian from Shelby Valley High School.
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  Speaker 1: Carrie Bartley grew up in Belfry and attended Belfry High School,
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  Speaker 1: according to publicly available records. Prosecutors Ramsey Dallum and Jackie
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Steele submitted a list of three counties they favor, Christian, Warren,
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  Speaker 1: and Davies, arguing that all are in different media markets
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: from Letcher County and have not been as saturated with
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: news coverage of the Steins case. Christian County, whose county
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: seat is Hopkinsville, is along the Tennessee border. Dallum previously
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: served as an assistant commonwealth's attorney there before moving to
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Texas and later returning to Kentucky to work for the
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Attorney General's office in 2022. Warren County, whose county seat
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: is Bowling Green, is about 60 miles east of Christian County.
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  Speaker 1: Caron served as Commonwealth's attorney there for about 20 years
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  Speaker 1: before being elected circuit judge for Warren and Edmondson counties.
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  Speaker 1: Davis County, whose county seat is Owensboro, is about 60
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  Speaker 1: miles northwest of Bowling Green. Steele is a Laurel County
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: native and serves as Commonwealth's attorney there. The next headline is,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Second Plea Brings Same Ten-Year Term. A Jenkins man who
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: appealed his guilty plea to 185 sex offenses involving a
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  Speaker 1: girl under age 16 has pleaded guilty again to the
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  Speaker 1: same charges. He received the same sentence the second time.
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  Speaker 1: Gary Dean Adams, Jr., 48, of Smokey Row in Jenkins, said,
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  Speaker 1: signed his original guilty plea in 2024 when the late
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  Speaker 1: Edison Banks was Letcher County Commonwealth's attorney. Adams was sentenced
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  Speaker 1: to 10 years in prison under the plea agreement, but appealed,
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  Speaker 1: claiming the public defender who represented him entered the guilty
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  Speaker 1: plea without his full knowledge. Letcher Circuit Judge James W.
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  Speaker 1: Kraft II rejected the appeal, but the Kentucky Court of
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Appeals returned the case to Kraft and directed that another
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: hearing be held. Adams was then transferred back to the
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  Speaker 1: Letcher County Jail. Commonwealth's attorney Matt Butler said the court
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  Speaker 1: also had to appoint Adams a new public defender. Harlan
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: attorney Jordan Patel was appointed to represent him. Butler said
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  Speaker 1: he told Adams' new attorney that if the original sentence
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: were overturned, any new plea offer from prosecutors would be
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: much more severe. If the sentencing phase had to be repeated,
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  Speaker 1: Butler said, he would seek a substantially longer sentence. Adams
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  Speaker 1: was indicted in April 2022 following an investigation by Kentucky
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  Speaker 1: State Police Detective Anthony Trotter. He originally faced more than
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  Speaker 1: 200 counts. Adams ultimately pleaded guilty to 83 counts of
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  Speaker 1: first-degree sexual abuse, 42 counts of sodomy, 42 counts of
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  Speaker 1: unlawful use of an electronic device to induce a minor
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  Speaker 1: to engage in sexual or prohibited conduct, and 18 counts
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  Speaker 1: of first-degree rape. The individual sentences were ordered to run concurrently,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: resulting in a total prison sentence of 10 years. Adams
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  Speaker 1: is also required to serve five years of conditional probation
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: after his release from prison. he was ordered to pay
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the cost of therapy for the victim while his court
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: costs were waived. Under Kentucky law, when a person is
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: convicted at the same time of multiple related offenses and
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the sentences are ordered to run concurrently, the defendant serves
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  Speaker 1: the longest sentence rather than adding each sentence together. Under
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the terms imposed on Adams, he may have no contact
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  Speaker 1: with the victim or her family and must register as
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  Speaker 1: a sex offender. he must serve 85% of his sentence
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: and complete sex offender treatment before becoming eligible for release.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And the next story is, county officials are seeking Fed's
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  Speaker 1: help in clearing streams. A renewed push to remove sediment
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: and debris from Letcher County streams has now been put
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  Speaker 1: directly before the U.S.
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  Speaker 2: Army Corps of Engineers.
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  Speaker 1: And as the agency continues a major study that could
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: determine how eastern Kentucky communities are protected from flooding for
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  Speaker 1: decades to come. Letcher County Judge Executive Terry Adams told
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  Speaker 1: the new commander of the Corps' Louisville district during a
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  Speaker 1: recent meeting in Whitesburg that the county is not asking
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  Speaker 1: that the entire north fork of the Kentucky River be dredged. Instead,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Adams proposed concentrating work on roughly a mile of the
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  Speaker 1: river as it enters the Fleming Neon area, saying he
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  Speaker 1: believes targeted work there could alleviate much of the flooding
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  Speaker 1: trouble farther downstream. We're not proposing to dredge the whole
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  Speaker 1: North Fork, Adams told Colonel John Moran and two Corps
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  Speaker 1: engineers attending the meeting. Adams said removing debris and addressing
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  Speaker 1: the channel would have to be a cooperative effort, because
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  Speaker 1: local governments cannot afford repeatedly to repair flood damage. The
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  Speaker 1: proposal comes as the Corps is carrying out its Eastern
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Kentucky-Upper Kentucky River Basin General Investigation Feasibility Study, a 10-county
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: examination of possible long-term flood control measures, scheduled to culminate
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: in a final report in fall 2027. Letcher County and
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  Speaker 1: the North Fork Watershed are included in the study. So far, however,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the Corps has not publicly said Adams' one-mile proposal has
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: been added to the alternatives that will be modeled as
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: part of that study. That distinction could prove important as
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the debate over dredging continues in Letcher County. The Corps
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  Speaker 1: has said its study will use hydraulic and other advanced
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  Speaker 1: modeling to determine how proposed flood control measures would work
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  Speaker 1: and to minimize harmful effects elsewhere. Possible structural measures identified
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: by the Corps include stream widening, small dams, and levees.
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  Speaker 1: Other possibilities include flood-proofing buildings, elevating structures, property buyouts, and
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  Speaker 1: nature-based measures such as wetlands and tree planting.
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  Speaker 2: The Corps has not.
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  Speaker 1: Specifically identified wholesale dredging of streams as one of its
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  Speaker 1: proposed remedies. The August 19th meeting was arranged by U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Representative Harold Hal Rogers and after another round of flash
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  Speaker 1: flooding struck northeastern Letcher County on August 13th. The National
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  Speaker 1: Weather Service said between 2.5 and 3 inches of rain
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  Speaker 1: had fallen in the hardest-hit areas by shortly after 9 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: Areas under the flash flood warning included Jenkins, Fleming Neon,
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  Speaker 1: Neon Junction.
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  Speaker 2: Seco, Hemp Hill, Haymond, and Millstone.
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  Speaker 1: Rogers said Fleming Neon flooded twice within 24 hours and
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  Speaker 1: told the Corps that debris and sediment continue to obstruct
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  Speaker 1: waterways in eastern Kentucky.
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  Speaker 2: Moran and the two Corps.
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  Speaker 1: Engineers heard complaints from local officials about both the cost
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: of clearing streams and the state and federal regulations that
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: can govern work within waterways. Rogers said possible ways of
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  Speaker 1: giving local governments more flexibility following emergency declarations were discussed
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  Speaker 1: but acknowledged that more work remains. Fleming Neon Mayor Ricky
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Burke discussed sediment and debris in streams and their effect
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  Speaker 1: on flooding. The mayors of Jenkins and Whitesburg also participated,
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  Speaker 1: along with State Senator Scott Maiden and State Representative Mitch Whitaker.
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  Speaker 1: The Letcher County Planning Commission and Missy Matthews, president of
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Childers Oil and Double Quick, hosted the meeting at Double
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Quick headquarters in Whitesburg. The building was extensively renovated after
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: being flooded in July 2022. Matthews and officials with the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: East Kentucky Heritage Foundation also briefed Rogers and the others
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: attending on the Raven Rock Resort and Thunder Mountain Shooting
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Reserve projects, both being developed on reclaimed mine lands. I
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: want everyone to love Eastern Kentucky as much as I do,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Matthews said. We are investing in reclaimed mine lands and
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  Speaker 1: repurposing it to generate new jobs and revitalize our economy.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: The CORE meeting is especially significant in Fleming Neon because
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the federal agency has dealt with the capacity of those
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  Speaker 1: same streams before. CORE records show that a federal flood
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: control project completed at Neon Fleming in October 1962 involved
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  Speaker 1: about one mile of Boone Fork, eight-tenths of a mile
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  Speaker 1: of Wright Fork, and. 15 mile of Yonks Fork. The
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: project widened Wright Fork and Yonks Fork to 10 feet
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  Speaker 1: and Boone Creek to 15 feet. Two highway bridges and
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: a footbridge were replaced and utilities were altered. Construction began
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  Speaker 1: in July 1962 and was completed that October. The Corps
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: later listed the federal cost at about $ 86, 500, with approximately $ 50, 000
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: more in non-federal costs for bridges, rights-of-way, and utility changes.
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  Speaker 1: That work was completed nearly 64 years before the latest flooding.
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  Speaker 1: Wright Fork carries water from the McRoberts area toward Fleming Neon,
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  Speaker 1: while Yonce Fork drains the Hemphill area. those streams are
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: part of the headwaters feeding the North Fork of the
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Kentucky River. Whether widening, deepening, or otherwise modifying those channels
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: today would significantly lower flood levels, and whether doing so
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: could move additional water downstream faster, are among the questions
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: hydraulic modeling can answer. The Corps has said the Upper
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Kentucky River Basin Study is intended to examine those kinds
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: of trade-offs before recommending projects. The study encompasses more than 2,600
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: square miles in the basins of the North, Middle, and
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: South Forks of the Kentucky River. Congress authorized the study
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: after the catastrophic July 2022 flooding, which killed 39 people
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: in eastern Kentucky and damaged or destroyed thousands of homes.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: The Corps received another $ 1. 2 million for the study in
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: its fiscal year 2025 work plan. Kentucky also has contributed
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: money toward the non-federal share of the study through Perry
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: County Fiscal Court, which serves as the local sponsor for
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: the multi-county effort. The Corps has said engineers will collect
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: information about locations that flood repeatedly effects on infrastructure and utilities,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: existing flood studies, and flood modeling. The next story is,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Dolly put a Letcher County town on a hit 1974 album.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Between Dolly Parton's 1968 appearance at the Whitesburg High School
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: gymnasium and her surprise 1980 visit with Jane Fonda came
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: another unusual Letcher County connection. On July 16, 1974, Parton
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: went into RCA Studio B in Nashville and recorded a
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: song she had written titled Blackie Kentucky. It appeared as
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the fifth song on side A of Love is Like
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: a Butterfly, Parton's 14th solo studio album, released by RCA
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Victor on September 16, 1974. The album eventually reached number
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: seven on Billboard's country albums chart, while its title song
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: went to number one on the country singles chart. Contemporary
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Reviews singled out Blackie, Kentucky as one of the album's
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: stronger tracks. There is, of course, no Lesher County community
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: officially spelled B-L-A-C-K-I-E. There is Blackie, B-L-A-C-K-E-Y, the historic coal
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: town on the North Fork of the Kentucky River. Parton
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: begins her song with the words, in my hometown of Blackie, Kentucky,
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  Speaker 1: and immediately establishes a coal field setting as the song
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: tells the story of a poor young Appalachian woman who
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: wants to escape poverty and the coal mines. She leaves
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: her Kentucky hometown with an older man who promises her
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: wealth and the chance to see the world. She gets
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: the wealth, but she does not get happiness. The woman
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: finds herself living thousands of miles from Kentucky in a
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: mansion with a husband who does not love her. Worse,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: he is ashamed of her poor mountain family and refuses
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: to allow them to visit. As the song progresses, her
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: longing for home becomes overwhelming. She thinks of her coal
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: mining father, her mother, the other children, and the friends
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: she left behind. The ballad ends tragically. the woman decides
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: to take her own life and leaves instructions that her
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: body be returned to Blackie, Kentucky, where her family and
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: friends can visit her grave. It is a dark song,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: but its subjects, coal mining, poverty, leaving Appalachia in search
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: of something better, homesickness, class shame, and the pull of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: family and place, were themes Parton understood well and returned
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: to repeatedly in her songwritings. Did Dolly actually visit Blackie?
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: There is an.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Intriguing possible explanation for how the Letcher County community entered
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Parton's songwriting. Mountain Eagle contributing photographer Malcolm J. Wilson recently
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: wrote that research he has done indicates Parton and Porter
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Wagoner traveled around Letcher County before their 1968 Whitesburg concert
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: and stopped at Blackie. Wilson says Parton liked the little
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: town and its name. which explains why Blackie, Kentucky appeared
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: on a Dolly Parton record six years later. The next
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: story is Rogers' Federal Prison Project Moving Ahead. U.S. Representative
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Hal Rogers says planning is continuing for the proposed federal
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: prison at Roxanna, including work by the U.S. Army Corps
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: of Engineers. Rogers gave the update while meeting with local
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: officials and Corps representatives in Whitesburg on August 19th. I
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: am receiving monthly updates from the Bureau of Prisons about
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: progress on the proposed construction site, including the Army Corps'
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: geotechnical study, and we are moving forward, Rogers said. The
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: proposed prison is expected to create more than 300 jobs
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: if built. Rogers also pointed to the new Roxanna Water Project,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: which was developed in connection with the proposed prison, but
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: is already serving area residents. Completion of the new water
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: project at Roxanna will not only provide water for the prison,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: but is already sending clean water to more than 70
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: homes that were relying on wells, Rogers said. The work
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to prepare for the prison has already improved this county.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: The next story is Whitaker reverses course now opposes data centers.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: State Representative Mitch Whitaker, whose 94th House District includes all
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: of Letcher County and portions of Harlan and Pike counties,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: says he has changed his position on large-scale artificial intelligence
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: data centers and would no longer support the tax incentives
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: he voted to expand last year. Whitaker's change comes as
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: the data center issue has moved to the forefront in
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Letcher County, where a proposal known as Project Maverick calls
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: for construction of a 100-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant at
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the Gateway Regional Business Park in Jenkins in an effort
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to attract data centers to the site. Opposition to data
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: centers has also reached the Letcher County Fiscal Court, which
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: approved a two-year moratorium on their construction last month However,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: County Attorney Jamie Hatton has since told magistrates that he
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: believes the moratorium would be unenforceable because Letcher County has
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: never adopted planning and zoning. Against that local backdrop, Whitaker
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: issued a lengthy statement recently explaining why he supported legislation
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: expanding Kentucky's large-scale data center tax credits in 2025 and
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: why he says he would vote differently today. Whitaker said
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the General Assembly voted on the legislation in March 2025,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: before data centers had become the controversial issue they are now.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: He said he could not recall receiving a single telephone
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: call or email from a constituent about the measure at
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the time and found little evidence that the issue was
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: being widely discussed locally. Whitaker said he viewed data centers
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: then as one part of a broader piece of legislation
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: that also contained incentives involving beginning farmers and tourism development.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: He also said he was not seeing the opposition to
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: AI data centers in eastern Kentucky as that had begun
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: appearing in other parts of the country.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: What I see clearly now.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: In 2026 is that my constituents are firmly against AI
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: data centers, and I'm with you, especially without utility ratepayer
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: protections in place, Whitaker said. He said new information about
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: data centers has changed the public discussion and that residents
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: of the 94th District have made their position clear. The
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: next story is, PSC opens statewide probe into affordability of utilities.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Electric prices rose nearly 22% in five years. The Kentucky
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Public Service Commission has opened a statewide investigation into whether
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: electric and natural gas service is becoming unaffordable for Kentucky
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: households and what can be done about it. The proceeding
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: comes as Kentucky's average residential electricity price increased nearly 22%
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: in five years, and amid continuing concern in eastern Kentucky
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: about electric bills that consume an increasingly large share.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Of household income.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: The PSC opened case number 2026-00185 on August 26th to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: examine the causes of rising.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Utility costs.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: And possible ways to make electric and natural gas service
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: more affordable for residential customers. All regulated electric utilities in Kentucky,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: including Kentucky Power Company, have been made parties to the case,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: along with the state's five largest natural gas utilities. The
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Commission is also inviting organizations and members of the public
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to participate. The Commission cited Federal Energy Information Administration figures
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: showing Kentucky's average residential electricity price increased from 10.87 cents
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: per kilowatt hour in 2020 to 13.24 cents in 2025,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: an increase of 21.8 percent in five years. The PSC
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: said access to electric and natural gas service is fundamental
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: to the health, safety, and well-being of Kentucky residents, and
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: that rising utility costs warrant a broader examination of affordability.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: The Commission said the case will allow it to better
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: understand the factors driving utility affordability problems across Kentucky and
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: evaluate both existing and potential approaches for addressing them. The
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: proceeding follows a request made two months ago by seven
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: advocacy organizations, including the Whitesburg-based Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Kentuckians
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: for the Commonwealth, and Mountain Association. The organizations asked the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: PSC to establish a proceeding devoted specifically to utility affordability.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Other organizations joining the request were the Kentucky Chapter of
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the Sierra Club, Kentucky Conservation Committee, Kentucky Solar Energy Society,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: and Metropolitan Housing Coalition.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: The coalition asked the Commission to consider.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: A wide range of issues, including how the costs of
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: serving large new electric customers should be allocated, energy efficiency programs,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: alternative rate structures, and the potential costs and risks associated
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: with serving large data centers. Those issues could have particular
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: significance for eastern Kentucky, where Kentucky Power customers have faced
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: repeated rate increases in recent years. Eastern Kentuckians cannot continue
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: to pay higher and higher energy costs. said Rebecca Shelton,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: director of policy for Appalachian Citizens Law Center in Whitesburg.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: We need to develop new and innovative solutions that can
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: disrupt the vicious trend we're currently facing, Shelton said. We
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: appreciate the PSC opening this docket as a means through
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: which to seek those solutions. The advocacy organizations say affordability
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: is particularly difficult in eastern Kentucky and because many residents
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: live in older, less energy-efficient homes, while the region's population
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: and industrial base have declined. Josh Bills, senior energy analyst
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: for Mountain Association, said many eastern Kentucky residents pay some
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: of the highest average monthly electric bills in Kentucky. Bills
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: said older homes that lack adequate insulation and efficient heating
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: and cooling systems require residents to use more electricity simply.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: To remain comfortable.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: At the same time, declining population and industry leave fewer
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: customers among whom utility system costs can be divided. Bills
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: said greater investment in energy efficiency could reduce household and
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: business bills while also reducing demands on utility infrastructure, including poles, wires,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: and generating plants. The advocacy groups also pointed to figures
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: cited by the PSC showing the problem extends beyond the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: price of a kilowatt hour. According to their release, the
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Commission's order cites data showing that energy costs can consume
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: as much as 18% of household income in low-income and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: disadvantaged communities. The order also cites federal data showing 152,798
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: residential electric service disconnections and 24,921 residential natural gas disconnections
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: in Kentucky during 2024, according to the groups. The PSC
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: has asked utilities and other parties to submit initial comments
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: and suggested topics for the investigation by September 30th. The
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Commission plans to hold a technical conference in 2027 to
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: examine issues developed through the proceedings. Members of the public
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: do not have to become formal parties to participate. The
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: PSC is accepting public comments through the public comments section
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: of its website. This concludes the reading of The Mountain Eagle.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Your reader has been Bill Van Arsdal. Now, please stay
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: tuned for continued programming. On behalf of everyone here at
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Radio Eye, thank you for listening, and have a good day.