Transcript

10.22.26 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to The Mountain Eagle to read news
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Speaker 1: from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill Van Arsdel. We
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Speaker 1: will begin with the edition dated October 21st, 2026, which
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Speaker 1: the publishers have donated to Radio Eye. As a reminder,
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Speaker 1: Radio Eye is a reading service intended for people who
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Speaker 1: are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
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Speaker 1: to read printed material. The first headline is... Citizens offer
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Speaker 1: fiscal court licensing plan for data centers. Residents opposed to
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Speaker 1: data centers in Letcher County have offered the fiscal court
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Speaker 1: a proposed licensing ordinance to help address concerns about a
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Speaker 1: two-year moratorium the county attorney says the county cannot enforce.
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Speaker 1: Gary Wine of Bottom Fork presented the four-page draft prepared
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Speaker 1: by the Kentucky Resources Council at Monday's fiscal court meeting.
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Speaker 1: Wine praised the court's unanimous vote for a moratorium, but
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Speaker 1: said residents sought legal help after finding no written ordinance
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Speaker 1: to support it. But since then, I've noticed that there's
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Speaker 1: not a legal document or written document in support, Wine said.
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Speaker 1: County Attorney Jamie Hatton said other county attorneys he consulted
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Speaker 1: told him the county would need a planning and zoning
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Speaker 1: ordinance to prevent data centers from locating here. The Kentucky
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Speaker 1: Resources Council draft proposes a different approach, business licensing. The
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Speaker 1: proposed ordinance would require data centers to obtain a business
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Speaker 1: license and addresses what it calls nuisance conditions. Companies would
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Speaker 1: have to file both a notice of intent to apply
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Speaker 1: for a license and an application. The draft broadly defines
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Speaker 1: a data center as a facility primarily used to store, manage, process,
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Speaker 1: or transmit data. Its definition includes cryptocurrency mining, artificial intelligence
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Speaker 1: training and processing, and cloud computing. It also covers supporting facilities,
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Speaker 1: including water storage, air conditioning, wastewater and stormwater systems, and
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Speaker 1: energy generation. Wine offered the document as a starting point
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Speaker 1: for the county or its cities to consider, rather than
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Speaker 1: asking for an immediate vote. And so it's just a gift.
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Speaker 1: Use it as you need, he said. Court members accepted
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Speaker 1: the draft for review. Judge Executive Terry Adams said he
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Speaker 1: had already read it and made copies for the magistrates.
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Speaker 1: I think this is a good document, Adams said. He
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Speaker 1: suggested that magistrates and Hatton review it, and said its
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Speaker 1: criteria could help protect residents near a proposed data center.
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Speaker 1: Construction of a data center is not imminent in Letcher County,
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Speaker 1: but a company has obtained an option to buy property
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Speaker 1: at Gateway Business Park to explore building a 100-megawatt power
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Speaker 1: plant intended to attract data centers. A data center and
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Speaker 1: power plant have been proposed in neighboring Wise County, Virginia.
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Speaker 1: The group holding the option on the Jenkins property previously
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Speaker 1: sought support for an artificial intelligence data center in Pike County.
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Speaker 1: In the next headline, County Sheriff Confirms Protective Order Served
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Speaker 1: on Online Commentator. Letcher County Sheriff Billy Jones has confirmed
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Speaker 1: that his office served a protective order last week on
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Speaker 1: Elizabeth Marie Jones Online. after a Jenkins woman sought protection
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Speaker 1: alleging stalking and harassment of her family. Jones, 49, of
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Speaker 1: Rocky Hollow in Jenkins, operates social media accounts on YouTube, Facebook,
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Speaker 1: and other platforms. Jaden McKenzie Maggard sought protection October 13th,
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Speaker 1: according to a petition obtained by the Mountain Eagle. The
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Speaker 1: order's terms and any court findings were not available. The
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Speaker 1: petition describes alleged incidents on five specific dates. Along with
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Speaker 1: other conduct, Maggard says has left her children afraid to
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Speaker 1: sleep at home and her daughter afraid to attend school.
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Speaker 1: Maggard alleges that Jones repeatedly drove past her home, filmed
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Speaker 1: it for social media, and encouraged others to watch or
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Speaker 1: record her family. In the petition, Maggard says Jones filmed
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Speaker 1: her home October 7th while mocking her and asking followers
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Speaker 1: to call her Moo Moo. She alleges that Jones drove
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Speaker 1: past again October 9th while broadcasting on Facebook Live. Maggard
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Speaker 1: also alleges that Jones posted a false claim October 11th
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Speaker 1: about an affair involving Maggard and her husband's former employer.
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Speaker 1: On October 12th, Maggard alleges, Jones sent teenage sons and
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Speaker 1: a man to scare and intimidate us while they went
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Speaker 1: behind our house and our driveway trashing our mailbox. The
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Speaker 1: petition also alleges that Jones posted video of Maggard at
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Speaker 1: a gas station October 13th and made a social media
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Speaker 1: post insinuating I coordinated a fight to receive public harassment
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Speaker 1: and backlash. That allegation concerns a fight outside the Jenkins
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Speaker 1: Fire Department last week involving a 17-year-old boy and another teen.
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Speaker 1: Jones posted claims online that Maggard had arranged the fight.
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Speaker 1: Maggard disputes that accusation in her petition. Among the other allegations,
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Speaker 1: Maggard says Jones encouraged followers to drive past her home
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Speaker 1: and to film her in public, posted sexually explicit comments
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Speaker 1: about her husband, and had her teenage sons watch the
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Speaker 1: family's home from a football field at night. The petition
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Speaker 1: alleges that men coming to the home at night frightened
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Speaker 1: Maggard's children. Maggard also says her daughter became afraid to
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Speaker 1: attend school after Jones posted that she lived near the
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Speaker 1: school and would be seeing the family. Jones has posted
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Speaker 1: repeatedly about the fight between the two teens, claiming first
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Speaker 1: that five men beat the boy up. She then claimed
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Speaker 1: Maggard arranged to have teenagers beat him up. Jones also
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Speaker 1: claimed that a Jenkins City policeman had pushed the boy
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Speaker 1: back into the fight. Witnesses disputed that, but Jones threatened
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Speaker 1: to sue the city, saying that as the result of
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Speaker 1: a settlement she received in a lawsuit against Jenkins Independent Schools,
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Speaker 1: I have enough money to sue. Court officials say no
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Speaker 1: adults were involved in the fight, and other sources have
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Speaker 1: confirmed there were only two teens in the fight. among
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Speaker 1: other things Maggard alleges in the petition, is that Jones
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Speaker 1: went by my house making a video of my house
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Speaker 1: making fun of me and pointing camera at my home
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Speaker 1: and asking followers to call me Moo Moo, and October
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Speaker 1: 9th she drove by my home on Facebook Live for
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Speaker 1: her followers to see what I'm up to. Makes multiple
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Speaker 1: people harass me and encourages her followers to drive by
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Speaker 1: my home because it's a public road. puts on Facebook
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Speaker 1: that my husband needs to bend down and grab his
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Speaker 1: ankles for her to blank him and spank him, encourages
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Speaker 1: people to film me in public and send it to
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Speaker 1: her to post my every move, drives by home multiple
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Speaker 1: times a day, sits at a nearby restaurant to watch
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Speaker 1: my home, has her teenage sons to sit at football
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Speaker 1: field in the middle of night to watch our home,
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Speaker 1: Children are terrified to sleep at home because of strange
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Speaker 1: men coming to our home at night. My daughter's scared
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Speaker 1: to go to school because Elizabeth said she lives just
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Speaker 1: across the road from the school, so she would be
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Speaker 1: for sure seeing us. This is not Jones's first problems
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Speaker 1: with the law. Jones was one of two women police
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Speaker 1: asked to leave the Jenkins double quick recently after an
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Speaker 1: argument during which Jones struck satirical karate poses and mugged
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Speaker 1: for a camera, and loudly called another woman a bitch
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Speaker 1: while customers walked around the store behind them. The Mountain
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Speaker 1: Eagle does not usually report on minor offenses or incidents
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Speaker 1: in which there were no arrests, but Jones posted video
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Speaker 1: taken by a cohort on her social media accounts. Jenkins'
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Speaker 1: officials confirmed that someone called the police, and a Jenkins
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Speaker 1: officer asked both women to pay for what they had
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Speaker 1: and leave the double-quick. Jones claimed in the video that
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Speaker 1: the woman confronted her in the parking lot and followed
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Speaker 1: her in the store. On video, the woman tells Jones
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Speaker 1: repeatedly to stop talking about her. It was not clear
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Speaker 1: whether the incident is related to Jones' videos, in which
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Speaker 1: she regularly accuses people of alleged crimes and makes accusations
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Speaker 1: of extramarital sex or misconduct by public officials and their
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Speaker 1: wives or girlfriends. Jones has a criminal history in Ohio
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Speaker 1: that includes charges of harassing communications. She was also pulled
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Speaker 1: over on Amphitheater Road in Jenkins and ticketed by Kentucky
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Speaker 1: State Police on September 20th for failure to maintain car insurance,
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Speaker 1: failure to produce insurance card, no registration plates, improper registration plate,
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Speaker 1: and no registration receipt. The pickup truck's license expired in 2025.
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Speaker 1: according to the citation. The next story is Wreck Fatal
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Speaker 1: to Man, 34. A Knott County man is dead after
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Speaker 1: a two-vehicle collision on Kentucky 15 near Dry Fork this week.
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Speaker 1: Travis Thomas 34, of Hindman, was pronounced dead at the
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Speaker 1: scene of the accident, which occurred shortly before 11 a.m.
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Speaker 1: October 18th at the former Parkway Motel near the Kentucky
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Speaker 1: 15-Kentucky 3401 intersection just outside the Whitesburg city limits. According
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Speaker 1: to Kentucky State Police, Thomas was driving a blue 2023
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Speaker 1: Dodge Ram pickup north on Kentucky 15 when he drove
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Speaker 1: into the rear of a white 2022 Ford F-150 pickup
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Speaker 1: and pushed it into the southbound lanes. After the collision,
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Speaker 1: Thomas' pickup struck the guardrail and left the highway of
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Speaker 1: the southbound shoulder and crashed over an embankment. Kentucky State
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Speaker 1: Police arrived at the scene and called for the ambulance
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Speaker 1: to hurry. When the ambulance arrived, personnel confirmed Thomas was
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Speaker 1: dead and called the coroner. Thomas's body and his vehicle
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Speaker 1: had to be recovered from Leo Drive, a residential road
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Speaker 1: off 3401. The coroner's office pronounced Thomas dead. No autopsy
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Speaker 1: was scheduled, but toxicology results are pending. Trooper Brandon Watts
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Speaker 1: is investigating and reconstructing the accident. It is not clear
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Speaker 1: what happened, but there have been several rear-end collisions there.
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Speaker 1: The site is in a curve at the foot of
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Speaker 1: Whitcoe Hill, where a driveway and Kentucky 3401 both turn
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Speaker 1: off to the left. It is a two-lane section of highway,
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Speaker 1: and there is no deceleration lane for left turns. The
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Speaker 1: next headline is, City Coordinates Water Line Work with Hotel Architects.
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Speaker 1: Whitesburg officials are coordinating new water service for the Daniel
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Speaker 1: Boone Hotel with a project to replace downtown water lines
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Speaker 1: and extend the city's water system. An engineer with Nesbitt
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Speaker 1: Engineering told the Whitesburg City Council last week that the
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Speaker 1: firm will work with Joseph & Joseph Architects to provide
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Speaker 1: water service to the hotel. Mayor Tiffany Kraft said a
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Speaker 1: committee working on the hotel has been meeting monthly with
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Speaker 1: the architects. One more meeting is planned when the architects
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Speaker 1: are expected to present final plans and a rendering of
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Speaker 1: the hotel. The city has already advertised for bids on
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Speaker 1: materials for the waterline project and expects to seek bids
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Speaker 1: for labor around the beginning of November. The hotel project
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Speaker 1: will be advertised for bids once all plans are in hand.
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Speaker 1: The waterline project will replace aging lines in downtown Whitesburg
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Speaker 1: and extend the system beyond the city limits on the
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Speaker 1: west end. The downtown lines are made of cast iron.
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Speaker 1: Rust in the lines often turns water brown or red
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Speaker 1: when hydrants are flushed or leaks are repaired. The next
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Speaker 1: story is Before the Swarm How to Reduce Fall Bug
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Speaker 1: Invasions Stink bugs are beginning to show up in Letcher County.
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Speaker 1: and the larger invasion of insects commonly called ladybugs are
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Speaker 1: expected to start swarming soon. For residents who have seen
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Speaker 1: hundreds of insects enter their homes, despite repeated efforts to
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Speaker 1: plug cracks, University of Kentucky entomologists offer a practical distinction.
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Speaker 1: Removing bugs after they get inside is cleanup. Reducing the
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Speaker 1: invasion requires attention to the outside of the house before
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Speaker 1: the insects enter. Local observations reported to the Mountain Eagle
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Speaker 1: indicate little Asian lady beetle activity so far this fall.
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Speaker 1: The heavier flights here often occur around November election time,
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Speaker 1: although the timing varies with weather. UK publications describe stink
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Speaker 1: bugs as the earlier arrivals, followed by multicolored Asian lady beetles.
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Speaker 1: Both seek sheltered places to spend the winter. Why this
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Speaker 1: feels like a newer problem The species responsible for these
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Speaker 1: mass invasions have relatively short histories in Kentucky. UK's earliest
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Speaker 1: records of Asian lady beetles date to 1992. Brown marmorated
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Speaker 1: stink bugs were first discovered in the state in 2010.
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Speaker 1: Asian lady beetles can be beneficial outdoors, eating aphids and
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Speaker 1: other plant pests. Their habit of gathering at houses makes
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Speaker 1: them unwelcome autumn visitors. Homes near woods and fields are
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Speaker 1: especially vulnerable. UK says lady beetles favor sunlit southwest exposures
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Speaker 1: and contrasting features such as dark shutters against light siding.
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Speaker 1: Paint color alone is less important than contrast and afternoon illumination.
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Speaker 1: Treat before they enter. UK generally recommends preventive exterior lady
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Speaker 1: beetle treatments in late September or early October. depending on
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Speaker 1: seasonal conditions. The governing principle is to treat before the
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Speaker 1: insects enter their winter hiding places. Where the main local
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Speaker 1: flight has not yet occurred, that principle suggests an opportunity
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Speaker 1: to reduce additional entry. It does not mean an exterior
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Speaker 1: spray will eliminate insects already inside siding, attics, or walls.
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Speaker 1: UK lists several effective professional treatments. Tall Star containing bifenthrin, Suspend,
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Speaker 1: containing deltamethrin, Tempo, containing cyfluthrin, and Demand, containing lambda-cyhalothrin. A
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Speaker 1: homeowner option is Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer for indoor,
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Speaker 1: and Perimeter 2, a ready-to-use formulation containing bifenthrin and zeta-cypermethrin.
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Speaker 1: Its labeling includes lady beetles and stink bugs. Homeowners should
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Speaker 1: check the exact container's label since similarly named products may
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Speaker 1: have different ingredients or directions. These are examples rather than
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Speaker 1: a ranking or a guarantee of complete protection. Homeowners do
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Speaker 1: not need to purchase or combine several insecticides. Where the
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Speaker 1: spray goes really does matter. UK describes targeted treatments around
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Speaker 1: likely entry points. including windows, doors, eaves, soffits, and attic vents.
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Speaker 1: Stink bugs often enter upper parts of buildings, so treating
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Speaker 1: only the ground-level foundation can leave important entry routes unaddressed.
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Speaker 1: The product label determines which surfaces may be treated, the
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Speaker 1: width of any spray band, how much to apply, and
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Speaker 1: when another treatment is permitted. A lawn insecticide should not
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Speaker 1: be assumed suitable for spraying house siding. The specified ready-to-use
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Speaker 1: ortho formulation needs no dilution. Its outdoor restrictions limit bands
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Speaker 1: around exposed entry points such as doors and windows to
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Speaker 1: one inch. Other permitted treatments have different limits. Spray only
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Speaker 1: is directed without soaking surfaces or allowing runoff. Follow the
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Speaker 1: full container label rather than applying a wide band everywhere.
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Speaker 1: Keep people and pets away from treated surfaces until dry.
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Speaker 1: Follow label directions for protective clothing, weather, and application limits.
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Speaker 1: Prevent spray and runoff from reaching creeks, drains, and ponds,
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Speaker 1: and avoid drifting onto blooming plants visited by bees. A
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Speaker 1: claim of up to 12 months of protection on a
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Speaker 1: package should not be read as a promise of year-long
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Speaker 1: protection against outdoor beetle or stink bug invasions. The ortho
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Speaker 1: claim applies to specified insects, on indoor, non-porous surfaces. For
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Speaker 1: repeated heavy invasions, particularly where upper-story entry points are difficult
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Speaker 1: to reach, UK suggests considering a professional pest control firm.
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Speaker 1: Keep sealing, but expect limits. Repairing screens, weather stripping, and
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Speaker 1: accessible gaps remains worthwhile. UK also acknowledges that buildings may
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Speaker 1: have countless openings that are difficult to seal completely. Once
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Speaker 1: stink bugs or lady beetles are inside, indoor spraying generally
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Speaker 1: provides little lasting benefit. UK discourages foggers and warns that
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Speaker 1: dead insects accumulating in hidden spaces can support carpet beetles.
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Speaker 1: A vacuum remains useful for removing visible insects, but cannot
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Speaker 1: prevent more from entering or emerging from concealed spaces. Neither
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Speaker 1: species reproduces inside the house. Homeowners seeking help choosing a
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Speaker 1: product or identifying entry points can contact the Letcher County
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Speaker 1: Cooperative Extension Service. The realistic goal is fewer insects getting inside,
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Speaker 1: rather than a promise that any one treatment will stop
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Speaker 1: them all. The next headline is Partnerships that Deliver. Letcher
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Speaker 1: County continues to rebuild after the flood. Between July 25th
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Speaker 1: and July 30th, 2022, A series of complex thunderstorms brought
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Speaker 1: heavy rainfall, deadly flash flooding, and devastating river flooding to
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Speaker 1: eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia. The historic 1,000-year flooding event
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Speaker 1: severely damaged or washed away residential water meters throughout the
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Speaker 1: Letcher County Water and Sewer District, LCWSD. Under the leadership
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Speaker 1: of Letcher County Judge Executive Terry Adams and with support
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Speaker 1: from Congressman Hal Rogers through a congressional appropriation administered by
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Speaker 1: the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, USDARD, LCWSD
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Speaker 1: utilized assistance from the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, RCAP, to
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Speaker 1: prepare and submit a funding application to USDA-RD for disaster
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Speaker 1: grant assistance. The Flood Damage Meter Replacement Project was awarded $ 2, 571, 000
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Speaker 1: in USDA-RD disaster grant funding made available through the Congressional appropriation.
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Speaker 1: Construction began in April 2026 and was completed in August 2026,
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Speaker 1: resulting in the installation of approximately 3,000 residential water meters.
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Speaker 1: Through the combined efforts of local leadership, Congressman Hal Rogers,
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Speaker 1: USDA Rural Development, and RCAP, a significant community need was addressed,
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Speaker 1: and critical water service was strengthened for the future. This
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Speaker 1: partnership-driven approach not only helped Letcher County recover from a
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Speaker 1: historic disaster, but also reinforced the community's ability to withstand
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Speaker 1: and respond to future challenges, while continuing to provide safe,
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Speaker 1: reliable drinking water to its citizens for years to come.
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Speaker 1: The next story is, what are we losing as invasive
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Speaker 1: species spread? The autumn insects gathering at windows are among
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Speaker 1: the most visible reminders that eastern Kentucky's natural landscape is changing.
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Speaker 1: Other invaders are doing their work farther from the house,
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Speaker 1: replacing native plants, killing trees, and altering the habitat that
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Speaker 1: supports wildlife. At Bad Branch State Nature Preserve in Letcher County,
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Speaker 1: the stakes extend from hemlock trees to the streams beneath them.
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Speaker 1: Kentucky Nature Preserve managers described treating hemlocks at Bad Branch
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Speaker 1: and Blanton Forest to slow an invasive insect's spread and
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Speaker 1: help protect streams supporting the federally threatened Blackside Dace. Their
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Speaker 1: records illustrate an important point. An invasive species can affect
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Speaker 1: much more than the plant it attacks. A threat close
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Speaker 1: to home. The hemlock woolly adelgid, an insect introduced from Asia,
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Speaker 1: was first discovered in Kentucky in April 2006, near the
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Speaker 1: boundary of Harlan and Letcher counties, according to UK's Kentucky
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Speaker 1: Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program. The insect attacks eastern and
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Speaker 1: Carolina hemlocks. The loss of those trees can change the
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Speaker 1: conditions of an Appalachian stream and the forest around it.
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Speaker 1: Research at the U.S. Forest Service's Coweta Hydrologic Laboratory in
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Speaker 1: North Carolina documents changes in water and nutrient cycling, decomposition,
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Speaker 1: and stream processes following hemlock losses. Those findings describe regional
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Speaker 1: research rather than a measurement of conditions at Bad Branch.
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Speaker 1: Kentucky's preserve managers connect the protection of hemlocks with the cool,
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Speaker 1: high-quality stream habitat required by Blackside Dace. The state reports
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Speaker 1: that tens of thousands of hemlocks have been treated at
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Speaker 1: Bad Branch and Blanton Forest collectively, with assistance from agency staff, volunteers,
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Speaker 1: and other partners. A youthful planting becomes a problem. Autumn
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Speaker 1: olive presents a different history, a plant brought here and
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Speaker 1: promoted for purposes considered beneficial. Native to Asia, autumn olive
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Speaker 1: arrived in the United States around 1830 as an ornamental.
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Speaker 1: It was subsequently cultivated for wildlife habitat and erosion control.
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Speaker 1: according to USDA. Its ability to survive difficult conditions also
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Speaker 1: made it useful in reclaiming mined land. UK's current Woodland
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Speaker 1: Management Guide says autumn olive is particularly common and problematic
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Speaker 1: on Kentucky's reclaimed mining sites. The same tolerance of poor
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Speaker 1: soils that made it attractive for planting helps it establish
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Speaker 1: dense stands. Those stands can out-compete and shade out native plants.
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Speaker 1: A partnership with nitrogen-fixing bacteria gives the shrub an advantage
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Speaker 1: where nitrogen is limited. The effect reaches wildlife, too. UK
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Speaker 1: says autumn olive changes habitat structure and food availability. Birds
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Speaker 1: eat its berries, but the guide describes the fruit as
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Speaker 1: less nutritious than fruit from native plants ripening at the
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Speaker 1: same time. The birds and mammals eating the fruit also
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Speaker 1: carry its seeds to new places. Thus, a planting made
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Speaker 1: on one tract can become a management problem elsewhere. The
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Speaker 1: ecological question is what an invading plant replaces. Kentucky Forestry
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Speaker 1: describes bush honeysuckle reducing the light, moisture, and nutrients available
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Speaker 1: to other plants, Japanese knotweed forming thickets that exclude native species,
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Speaker 1: and kudzu blackening trees and blocking sunlight. Different routes, lasting consequences.
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Speaker 1: Some unwanted species arrived accidentally with commerce. Others were planted
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Speaker 1: for ornament, erosion control, forage, or wildlife. Current UK guidance
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Speaker 1: on autumn olive is directed toward controlling it and choosing
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Speaker 1: native alternatives. Removal can require more than one effort. UK
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Speaker 1: warns that cutting autumn olive without follow-up can produce vigorous re-sproutings.
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Speaker 1: and that new seedlings may establish after treatment. Forest restoration
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Speaker 1: can also require putting something back. A UK project description
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Speaker 1: for previously mined land at Robinson Forest pairs autumn olive
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Speaker 1: control with soil decompaction and planting native trees and shrubs.
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Speaker 1: Landowners can seek identification and management help from the Letcher
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Speaker 1: County Cooperative Extension Service or the Kentucky Division of Forestry.
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Speaker 1: This concludes the reading of The Mountain Eagle. Your reader
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Speaker 1: has been Bill VanArsdel. Now, please stay tuned for continued programming.
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Speaker 1: On behalf of everyone here at Radio Eye, thank you
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Speaker 1: for listening, and have a good day.