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(Whitesburg) Mountain Eagle - 3.19.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

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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 Bills an Arsdale. We
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will begin with the addition dated March eighteen, twenty twenty six,
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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. And the first headline is Jenkins Council
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vaxxed plan for hotel at old country Club. The Jenkins
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City Council has approved a resolution supporting a plan to
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renovate the former Elkhorn Country Club into a hotel. Letcher
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County currently has no motels or hotels following the closure
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of the Parkway in in Whitesburg. Bed and breakfasts and
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short term rentals are the only lodging options now. Jonathan
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and Esther Brook Tucker hope to convert the abandoned clubhouse
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at the former Jenkins Country Club into a ten room hotel,
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wedding and event venue, and possibly at a campground on
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the old golf course. The couple approached the city council
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this month seeking support for a grant through the Federal
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Abandoned mind Land's Economic Revitalization or AMLER program. For profit
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entities cannot directly receive AMLER funding, but they may partner
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with public agencies or nonprofit organizations to promote job creation.
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The council's resolution expresses support for the project while details
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of such a partnership are worked out. We just have
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to work out a partnership and move toward it. Mayor
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Todd de Priest, said City councilman. Rick Damren said he
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believes the project would benefit Jenkins personally. I think that
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is a property inside the city that will create jobs.
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Dammer and sid Elkhorn Country Club was founded in nineteen
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forty six on the former Lakeside Dairy farm and officially
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opened on July fourth of that year. It featured a
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nine hole golf course and the original clubhouse was a
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converted farmhouse. The current clubhouse building opened in nineteen seventy.
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Over the years, the club included a golf course, swimming pool,
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and a shooting range. It closed in nineteen ninety one
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after Tico Energy Incorporated of Tampa, Florida purchased fifty six
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thousand acres in and around Jenkins with plans for strip mining.
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While the golf course was destroyed. The clubhouse building was
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later owned by Mountain Outreach, a local aid organization, until
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the death of its founder, former Sheriff Vernon Hull, in
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twenty fifteen. The property was once accessed through a tunnel
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near Jenkins Middle and High School, but that route was
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closed after construction of US twenty three. The clubhouse is
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now reached via a road leading to Gateway Business Park,
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which was developed on a former strip mine behind the site.
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The building has been vacant for at least a decade
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and is in serious disrepair, with broken windows, sections of
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missing roof, and a collapsed covered entryway. Despite the damage
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from weather and vandalism, the Tuckers told the council the
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structure remains sound, supported by steel beams. They planned to
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market the hotel not only to travelers, but also to
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all terrain vehicle riders using trail systems in Letcher and
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Pike Counties. You can park here and never touch your
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truck the whole weekend. Johnathan Tucker said, you can go
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eat at the Mexican restaurant, ride the Pike County Trails
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from here, plus the Letcher County trails. I think it
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would do wonderful While the initial plan includes ten rooms,
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esther Brook Tucker said there is potential for expansion. There's
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ten rooms right now, but there are large spaces downstairs
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that could be converted into additional rooms along with the
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old locker rooms. She said. If completed, the project would
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mark the second historic building in Letcher County to be
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redeveloped as a hotel. The Daniel Boone Hotel in Whitesburg,
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which opens during Independence Day weekend in nineteen twenty, has
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already been stabilized, and a second phase of renovations is
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currently in design. The project is expected to include about
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forty rooms. The next story is Judge Jim's local attorney
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case is delayed in federal court. A federal lawsuit filed
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against the Jinkins Independent Board of Education by Electricality VLAGGER
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is among several cases facing delays after a Weisburg attorney
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was found in contempt of court and suspended from practicing
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in federal courts. Chief U S. District Judge David Bunning
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has suspended attorney Jennifer L. Taylor from practicing in the U. S.
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District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The order
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came one week after US bankruptcy Judge Gregory R. Schaff
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denied Taylor's motion to vacate a contempt finding and suspended
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her from practicing in bankruptcy court for one year. She
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may reapply after that period. The suspension stems from what
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the court described as a failure to adequately represent her clients.
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In addition to the one year's suspension, Chaff ordered Taylor
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to pay one thousand, five hundred dollars in sanctions to
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clients in the cited case. The court also notified the
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Kentucky Bar Association. Court records alleged that Taylor repeatedly failed
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to return phone calls and text messages, missed court appearances,
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and did not file required documents. She also failed to
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appear for a scheduled hearing on January twenty first. According
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to the record, Schaff initially found Taylor in contempt, but
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granted her a hearing on February eighteenth, after she filed
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a motion to vacate on January twenty sixth, a motion
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the judge described as lacking significant support. The motion requested
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a hearing at the court's regular motion hour in London
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on February eighteen, twenty twenty six. Although Taylor did not
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properly notice the hearing, resulting in a deficiency order. Chaff wrote,
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a deficiency order it was also entered because the proposed
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order had blanks, which is not permitted. The judge noted
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that Taylor failed to comply with that deficiency order, prompting
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the court to schedule the hearing itself. She later submitted
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a revised proposed order. In her defense, Taylor cited excusable neglect,
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claiming her registered court email had been hacked and compromised.
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She also referenced medical issues and said she would provide documentation,
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but according to the court order, she failed to adequately
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explain the missed filings or lack of response over several months.
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Taylor's excuse regarding her recuperation in her remote location is
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also extremely questionable. Schaff wrote. She suggests that the recuperation
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prevented all work, but admitted she was able to communicate
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with certain clients on a landline. She also dealt with
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multiple matters and other cases during the alleged recuperation period.
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Schaff said the report supports a finding of gross dereliction
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of her duty to her client. The court also conducted
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what it described as a thorough review of Taylor's cases
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in both district and bankruptcy courts and found similar issues.
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One example cited was a criminal case involving Corey Immanuel Skiles,
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who it's charged with possession with intent to distribute more
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than five hundred grams of methamphetamine. Taylor filed a last
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minute motion to continue his sentencing, but then failed to
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appear for the rescheduled hearing. According to the order, The
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ruling lists fourteen bankruptcy court cases in which Taylor failed
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to appear for hearings, failed to file documents, or had
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cases dismissed. In district court, judges have ordered new attorneys
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to be appointed or have notified parties to seek new
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council in at least five cases. In one handwritten filing,
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defendant Jose Carlos Miranda Morales, who faces multiple drug and
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financial charges, asks the court to remove Taylor and appoint
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new council, stating he and his family had been unable
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to contact her. I've been in here for almost eighteen months,
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and me and my family have tried to communicate with her,
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as she does not respond, Morales wrote in the lawsuit
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against the Jenkins School Board, the judge has given plainted
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Elizabeth Jones thirty days to retain new council or notify
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the court that she intends to represent herself. And the
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next headline is Blackie Library still facing flood repairs. Nearly
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four years later, forty four months after the Kentucky River
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rowse more than three feet inside the Blackie Public Library,
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the building's lower level remains gutted, and now the upper
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level could require major changes as well. The split level
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library includes an addition at the rear that sits several
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feet higher than the front section. Although the upper level
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did not flood, it still does not meet federal requirements
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that finished floors be at least one foot above the floodplain.
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Because of that, the building is currently ineligible for federal
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Emergency Management Agency funding, and the library board cannot obtain
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flood insurance unless engineers can find a way to bring
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the structure into compliance. Summit Engineers and Architects, which has
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been working on the project for more than three years,
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is now considering options to flood proof the upper level.
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Architect Charlie Robinson said his latest proposal is to build
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a new floor on top of the existing one, raising
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it about eight inches. The problem I have is before
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it gets up to the floor. Robinson said, Once you
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get up to that floor, it's difficult to waterproof, but
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I can deal with that. Earlier ideas included asking Letcher
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County Floodplain Coordinator Perry Fowler to re survey the building
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in hopes of lowering the floodplain designation or installing a
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waterproof membrane around the structure and replacing the lower exterior
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wood with more water resistant materials. Robinson said he has
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now largely settled on raising the floor. Fowler, however, said
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the issue may be simpler to address. He said the
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building is only about four point eight inches below the
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required elevation, and state officials have indicated that wetproofing would
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meet requirements and allow the library to qualify for flood insurance.
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Wetproofing is what the state recommended, and they'll still be
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able to get their flood insurance. Wetproofing involves making the
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building water resistant while ensuring that any materials below the
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flood level will not be damaged if water enters. That
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includes installing non absorbent flooring and wall materials at least
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four point eight inches high and avoiding placement of vulnerable
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items below that level, they're five inches below, having at
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one foot above the floodplain, Fowler said, just don't put
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anything valuable down low. Some library board members raised concerns
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about adding a second floor layer, including whether it would
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leave electrical outlets and switches too low and whether moisture
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could become trapped between the two layers. Robinson said ventilation
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holes could be added to allow the space to dry,
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and waterproof insulation could be installed between the floors. Other
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planned improvements include adding a waterproof membrane around the building
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to the required height, raising windows above that level, and
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replacing the lower exterior wood with water resistant materials such
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as stone. That plan replaced an earlier proposal to build
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a flood wall around the structure. Soil tests conducted in
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recent months showed that option would require trenches up to
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twenty feet deep to support the wall. In the next story,
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rising costs delayed funds stall new housing here. Rising property
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taxes and delays in state grant funding are slow in
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construction of new housing in Electra County, according to nonprofit developers.
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Seth Long, executive director of Homes Incorporated, told the Electrofiscal
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Court that a home valued at one hundred sixty five
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thousand dollars before the twenty twenty two flood, is now
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a prey at two hundred sixteen thousand dollars. The higher assessments,
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he said, are creating affordability challenges for buyers and discouraging
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for profit developers from building in the county. Long said
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a typical three bedroom, one bath, ranch style home with
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about one thousand, one hundred square feet would now be
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valued at two hundred sixteen thousand dollars. In neighboring Nott County.
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That would mean an annual property tax bill of about
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two thousand, four hundred dollars or roughly two hundred dollars
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per month added to a mortgage payment. In Letter County,
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that same house would be appraised at two hundred sixteen
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thousand dollars, and the taxes would be three thousand fifty
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dollars a year about two hundred fifty three dollars a month.
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Long said if it's in Jenkins, where there's an additional
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layer of taxation, the taxes would be three thousand, four
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hundred forty five dollars a year, or about two hundred
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eighty seven dollars a month going toward taxes alone. That's
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not counting insurance, and everyone's insurance is going up. Those
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ESCRO costs, he said, push monthly payments beyond what many
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residents can afford and make it difficult for developers to
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sell new homes. Homes Incorporated, which has operated since nineteen
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eighty four, has built just over three hundred homes, most
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of them in Letcher County. That's not a lot of houses,
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but it is when you consider how few new homes
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are developed and sold in the county. Long said. While
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the housing shortage has driven up values, the average existing
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home in the county is still valued at about sixty
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four thousand dollars. Long said. Partnerships involving state, county, and
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FEMA funding helped finance projects like the cottages at Thompson Branch,
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but rising material costs, property values, and tax X rates
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continue to hinder new construction. Since July twenty twenty two,
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Homes has built thirty five houses, but none have used
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funds from the Community Development Block Grant CDBG Disaster Recovery Program.
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Additional projects are planned, but federal funds allocated for those
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efforts remained tied up At the Kentucky Department of Local Government.
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According to Long and Alex Ferris of the housing nonprofit
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FAHE Holmes recently hired a firm to conduct a historical
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and archaeological survey at the former Fleming Neon High School site,
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where it plans to build eighteen mixed income apartments. Long
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said the development could rely largely on rooftop solar power.
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The organization previously built net zero homes at Thompson Branch,
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where electric bills can be as low as twenty five
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dollars per month. What does it do for a family,
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especially a low income family, if their power bill is
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twenty five dollars a month, Long asked the court, drawing laughter,
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Raise your hands if your power bill is twenty five dollars.
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Homes is also planning thirteen duplexes in Sicco, a total
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of twenty six units to be sold as condominiums, along
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with twelve single family homes in Foroton and another twelve
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in u Z. However, Long said progress depends on access
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to CDBG disaster recovery funding. So far, all post flood
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construction has relied on other state funds, private donations, and
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homeowner contributions. We have project we've proposed for a long time.
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Long said, we have agreements with landowners to acquire property,
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but we can't move forward until we have a developers
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agreement from the Department of Local Government. Federal government allocated
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two hundred ninety eight million dollars in c DBG Disaster
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Recovery funds for the twelfth County region, but Long said
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federal and state requirements have delayed access to the money.
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Ferris said sites for single family homes have already received
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environmental clearance and are ready to move forward once funding
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is released. Once the development agreement is executed, we can
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begin acquisitions, she said. Long added that once property is secured,
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homes can work with the county to install infrastructure such
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as water, sewer and roads. One remaining hurdle is a
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requirement for performance bonds before funding is distributed. We only
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have so much ability to carry bonds, Long said, though
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he expressed confidence the issue can be resolved. In an
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effort to move the process forward, the Fiscal Court approved
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two resolutions Monday. One adopts a neighborhood Revitalization Plan recognizing
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the need for housing development, and the other establishes a
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citizen participation plan to gather public input throughout the CDBG process.
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The next item is a series of photographs Lady Cougars
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in Sweet sixteen. The captions are the Lecher County Central
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Champions of the fourteenth Region, advanced to the Sweet sixteen
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State A tourney, losing on March twelfth by Owensborough Catholic
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fifty nine to thirty five. Pictured playing in Ropperena are
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Kaylee Baker, Merra Dixon, and Molly Caudle. Lcces Annahattan runs
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around Owensborough Catholic's Taylor Manahan and Lesser County's Sadie Johnson
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is helped to the bench after an injury at Rapperina.
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The next story is Jenkins wants action, not plans that
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collect dust. Studies and plans for eastern Kentucky have been
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produced for decades, but many have never moved beyond paper.
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Jenkins City officials say they want to make sure that
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doesn't happen with the projects now under way following the
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twenty twenty two flood. The city has accepted bids from
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consultants and is preparing to launch a project aimed at coordinating, tracking,
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and managing multiple grants and development efforts. Everything we've been doing.
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We're trying to bring into one plan. Mayor Todd de
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Priest said, sometimes we do these plans and they just
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collect dust. We don't want that to happen this time.
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De Priests said that during renovations at City Hall last year,
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he discovered a display board tracking projects from the nineteen
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eighties and nineteen nineties when the late Mayor Robert pud
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Schubert was in office. He said he was surprised by
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how far some of those projects had progressed, and credited
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the tracking system for helping the city follow through. That's
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what we're trying to get back to, he said. The
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city is now seeking a Revitalization and Resilience Grant to
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help manage and oversee projects tied to flood recovery and
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future development. Those efforts include water and sewer line extensions
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to the proposed Raven Rock Resort near Pound Gap, water
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infrastructure and a storage tank for the planned Grand View Subdivision,
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construction of one hundred and seventy five homes in that subdivision,
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repairs to the city's water and sewer plants, a proposed
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hiking trail connecting downtown Jenkins to the resort, and renovations
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to City Hall to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
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With so many projects underway at once, Depriests said coordination
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is critical. Would be easy for something to slip through
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the cracks, He said, we don't want that to happen.
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The plans were discussed at a recent meeting of the
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Jenkins City Council. The council also heard the first reading
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of a telecommunications franchise ordnance. Officials said the service provider
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will not change, but the ordinance had expired and must
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be renewed. The next item is the caption of a
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photograph Winter hangs on, but Spring is coming. A late
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day sun breaks through the trees along Little Shepherd Trail,
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lighting up a stretch of road where winter is still
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hanging on, but not for much longer. Spring officially arrives Friday,
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March twentieth, which story is find a new Friend Saturday
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at pent adoption event. Here Pets Easter Bunny photographer will
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be present. Nuckey River Regional Animal Shelter will hold an
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adoption event Saturday, March twenty first, at the Letcher County
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Recreation Center in Whitesburg. The event will run from eleven
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a m. Until five pm and will feature dogs and
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cats available for adoption. The Easter Bunny will also make
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an appearance, and a professional photographer will be on hand
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to take photos of children and pets. Raffle baskets will
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be available during the event, with all proceeds going toward
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the care of animals at the shelter. The Kentucky River
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Regional Animal Shelter serves Letter not Perry and Breathet Counties,
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but the event is open to everyone. Please join in
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the fun and feel free to volunteer. The shelter said
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in a news release. Our animals need the support of
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our communities so they can find loving homes. Shelter staff
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will also be available to answer questions about adoption and
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animal care. Next is the story from Lectri County's history.
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The headline is story books make kids dumb, county official
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said in nineteen sixty debate over funding once threatened survival
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of library then housed in room of old Llenn Depot
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in Whitesburg. If they read some kind of story books
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and don't get their history at all, they come up dumb.
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That was the warning issued in nineteen sixty by Lettri
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County Magistrate Cleman Scott as the fiscal Court debated whether
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to spend public money to keep the county's struggling library alive.
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Scott was one of two magistrates who voted against funding
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the Letter County Public Library. But despite such opposition and
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years of financial uncertainty, the library survived through the persistence
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of local citizens, especially members of the Whitesburg Women's Club,
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and eventually through public funding that secured its future. Today,
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the Letter County Public Library System serves communities across the county,
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but its survival was far from certain in the early
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nineteen sixties, when the library operated out of borrowed rooms,
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depended on donated books, and struggled year after year to
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stay open. At the time of Scott's remarks, the library
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was about to move into a thirty five foot by
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thirty five foot room inside the abandoned L and N
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Railroad depot at the mouth of Cow Hollow in Whitesburg,
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near the foot of School Hill, in an area that
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today serves as the main street ramp to the Whitesburg Bypass.
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There was nothing luxurious about the library's new home in
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the abandoned railroad depot. Still, it was a far cry
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from the library's previous quarters in a dilapidated building behind
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the old Lectric County Jail. That site was later occupied
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by a county Health Department building that now serves as
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home to the Electric County Sheriff's Department. The Mountain Eagle
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is not certain when the county's first public library opened
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in Whitesburg, but records showed that one closed in August
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nineteen forty three for lack of resources. In his final
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financial statement to the public library treasurer W. H. Pooh
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reported the library began the year with forty one dollars
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raised during two events, a pie supper and a tea,
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and spent it all on book purchases. Electric County remained
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without a public library for at least nine years. Then,
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in December nineteen fifty two, a group of citizens, including
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several school teachers and members of the Whitesburg Women's Club,
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began a drive to reopen one. Volunteers went house to
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house collecting donated books and magazines for the shelves. Sometime
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in the summer of nineteen fifty three, the Bank of
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Whitesburg agreed to let the group use one of the
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rooms in its Main Street building as a library. By then,
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the collection had grown to two hundred fifty four books
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and one hundred and fifty good magazines, according to news
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reports published in The Eagle. Just five years later, however,
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the library was again in danger of closing because it
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received little financial report from the Electric County Fiscal Court.
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By nineteen fifty eight, the library had moved out of
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the bank building and into the old structure behind the jail. Finally,
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in late nineteen sixty, the library was saved by two
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one hundred dollars in funding from a reluctant fiscal court.
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The payment was approved on a four to two vote
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and included nine hundred dollars the county had budgeted in
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nineteen fifty nine but never paid, along with one thy
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two hundred dollars for nineteen sixty. When the library moved
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to the abandoned L and M depot in the early
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nineteen sixties, Women's Club members helped refurbish the building and
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prepare it for use as a public library. Anne F.
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Caudle later recalled that members spent many hours and days
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and weeks decorating the depot, cataloging and shelving books, and
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covering worn volumes with bright wallpaper dust jackets. They also
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worked to obtain new books through the state Library and
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bookmobile program, and suddenly the library was flooded with readers
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young and old, Cardle said. Later the club worked to
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obtain new modern quarters as a part of the planned
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new Lectric County Courthouse. This concludes the reading of The
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Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been billed an arsenal. Now
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please stay tuned for continued programming on behalf of everyone
28:54
here at Radio I thank you for listening, and have
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a good day.