Transcript

10.1.26 · The Mountain Eagle

0:01
Speaker 1: Now we turn to The Mountain Eagle to read news
0:04
Speaker 1: from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill VanArsdel. We will
0:09
Speaker 1: begin with the edition dated September 30, 2026, which the
0:14
Speaker 1: publishers have donated to Radio Eye. As a reminder, Radio
0:19
Speaker 1: Eye is a reading service intended for people who are
0:21
Speaker 1: blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
0:24
Speaker 1: read printed material. The first headline is... County officials vote
0:30
Speaker 1: to study nuclear power. The Letcher Fiscal Court has voted
0:35
Speaker 1: unanimously to study the feasibility of installing small nuclear power
0:40
Speaker 1: plants in the county after a resident proposed using electric
0:45
Speaker 1: power and data centers as economic development tools. Data centers
0:50
Speaker 1: came up again later in the September meeting when residents
0:53
Speaker 1: asked how the county would enforce the two-year moratorium it
0:57
Speaker 1: adopted a month earlier. County Attorney Jamie Hatton said the
1:01
Speaker 1: moratorium is not enforceable unless the county passes a planning
1:05
Speaker 1: and zoning ordinance. The moratorium, also approved unanimously, followed residents'
1:12
Speaker 1: discovery that a partnership, identifying itself as the Maverick Project,
1:17
Speaker 1: had bought an option on 100 acres at Gateway Business
1:21
Speaker 1: Park for a proposed 100-megawatt power plant. That proposal called
1:27
Speaker 1: for a natural gas-fired plant to supply a future data center.
1:32
Speaker 1: The September court meeting was the first time a nuclear
1:35
Speaker 1: plant had been mentioned. Ernie Bradley of Letcher asked during
1:40
Speaker 1: the public comment portion of the meeting that the court
1:43
Speaker 1: consider a feasibility study on placing small nuclear power plants
1:48
Speaker 1: on reclaimed strip mines across the county to lower electric
1:52
Speaker 1: costs and supply data centers. Bradley said research he had
1:57
Speaker 1: done using artificial intelligence indicated that nuclear units could be purchased, prepackaged,
2:03
Speaker 1: and no larger than a shipping container. I'm not asking
2:07
Speaker 1: the fiscal court to build a nuclear power plant. I'm
2:10
Speaker 1: asking the fiscal court to investigate the possibility. What would
2:14
Speaker 1: a small nuclear power plant cost, he asked. Bradley said
2:18
Speaker 1: he started going down this rabbit hole. when newly inaugurated
2:22
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump talked about nuclear and fusion power. The
2:27
Speaker 1: growth of data centers led him to consider whether generating
2:30
Speaker 1: electricity could offer the county an economic opportunity. Trump has
2:35
Speaker 1: been vocal in his support for data centers. A Gallup poll,
2:39
Speaker 1: conducted March 2nd through 18th, however, found that 71% of
2:45
Speaker 1: Americans opposed having an artificial intelligence data center built in
2:49
Speaker 1: their area. Bradley said he sees the facilities as an
2:53
Speaker 1: economic development opportunity. These are buildings that run the computers
2:57
Speaker 1: behind artificial intelligence, cloud storage, banking, businesses, and many of
3:03
Speaker 1: the services people use every day, and they use a
3:06
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of electricity, Bradley told the court. Electricity is
3:11
Speaker 1: becoming an economic development tool, he said. After another resident,
3:16
Speaker 1: Elaine Tanner, said Kentucky Power was already conducting a nuclear
3:21
Speaker 1: power feasibility study, Bradley suggested the county could partner with
3:25
Speaker 1: the company. Judge Executive Terry Adams and District 3 Magistrate
3:30
Speaker 1: Deb Collier, who is running against Adams in the November election,
3:35
Speaker 1: both voted for the study. Both spoke positively about Bradley's
3:40
Speaker 1: prediction that a nuclear power plant could cut electric rates
3:44
Speaker 1: in half. I think a feasibility study to that effect
3:47
Speaker 1: is something that we could probably look into, Adams said.
3:51
Speaker 1: He said high electric rates in eastern Kentucky, particularly Letcher County,
3:56
Speaker 1: are keeping residents in poverty. Collier supported a feasibility study,
4:02
Speaker 1: but opposed partnering with Kentucky Power. We could do our
4:06
Speaker 1: own and not be dependent on Kentucky Power, she said.
4:10
Speaker 1: Tanner was among at least two audience members who raised
4:13
Speaker 1: concerns about data center's or nuclear power plants. Michael Wine
4:18
Speaker 1: of Bottom Fork, an independent candidate for Congress, asked Hatton
4:23
Speaker 1: whether there had been any progress since his assessment that
4:26
Speaker 1: the county could not enforce a moratorium without planning and zoning.
4:31
Speaker 1: Hatton said nothing else had been done. Wine asked whether
4:35
Speaker 1: it was Hatton's job to help find a way to
4:37
Speaker 1: make the moratorium enforceable. Hatton said it was not. My
4:42
Speaker 1: job is to advise these people here, you know, on
4:44
Speaker 1: various legal issues, Hatton said. Wyne then asked the court
4:49
Speaker 1: what its next step would be, given that it had
4:51
Speaker 1: approved a moratorium with no enforcement mechanism. Adams said his
4:56
Speaker 1: understanding was that the moratorium could be enforced only through
5:00
Speaker 1: a planning and zoning ordinance. No other court members have
5:04
Speaker 1: made public moves to adopt one. Such ordinances have long
5:09
Speaker 1: been politically sensitive in Letcher County and elsewhere in eastern Kentucky.
5:14
Speaker 1: An extended exchange between Wine and the court ended without
5:18
Speaker 1: an answer about what would happen next. Wine said he
5:22
Speaker 1: had heard rumors that nondisclosure agreements had been signed but
5:26
Speaker 1: had been unable to confirm them. Adams told the Mountain
5:29
Speaker 1: Eagle this summer that he had not signed such an agreement.
5:34
Speaker 1: Speaking after Wine, Tanner said Chris Back a grant writer
5:38
Speaker 1: for the Kentucky River Area Development District, had told her
5:42
Speaker 1: the proposed Jenkins Power Plant would not be built in
5:45
Speaker 1: Letcher County. According to Tanner, Back said the developers were
5:50
Speaker 1: using the county as leverage to obtain what they wanted
5:53
Speaker 1: in Wise County, Virginia. Tanner, who said she is originally
5:57
Speaker 1: from Ohio, raised concerns about the partial meltdown at Pennsylvania's
6:02
Speaker 1: Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979. Constellation Energy
6:09
Speaker 1: is working to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 under
6:13
Speaker 1: an agreement to supply power to Microsoft. That reactor is
6:17
Speaker 1: separate from Unit 2, which suffered the 1979 accident and
6:22
Speaker 1: is being decommissioned. Unit 1 closed for economic reasons in 2019.
6:29
Speaker 1: That's my concerns because I got a lot of mining
6:31
Speaker 1: land surrounding me and I would not want to see
6:34
Speaker 1: a nuclear plant there, Tanner said. What about wind? What
6:38
Speaker 1: about solar? You know, at one time we were making
6:42
Speaker 1: headway in getting these renewable energies into our communities, but
6:46
Speaker 1: under the current administration it's kind of up against a wall.
6:50
Speaker 1: She suggested the court contact the Kentucky Resources Council in Frankfurt,
6:55
Speaker 1: saying it had worked with other communities on enforcing moratoriums.
7:00
Speaker 1: She also suggested that the county consider banning flock cameras
7:04
Speaker 1: from citing concerns about the data centers used to store
7:07
Speaker 1: and process their images. The court made no commitments on
7:11
Speaker 1: wind or solar power or on contacting the Kentucky Resources Council.
7:17
Speaker 1: The next story is, Jenkins officials say city did not
7:21
Speaker 1: order Legion Post closed. The city of Jenkins did not
7:26
Speaker 1: close American Legion Post 66, but it did stop the
7:30
Speaker 1: post from operating an unlicensed bar after state investigators documented
7:36
Speaker 1: alcohol sales there, according to city officials and records obtained
7:40
Speaker 1: by the Mountain Eagle. Jenkins' Alcoholic Beverage Control Administrator, Chris Anderson,
7:46
Speaker 1: said the American Legion itself later chose to close the
7:49
Speaker 1: post rather than complete the licensing process required to continue
7:54
Speaker 1: selling alcohol. Neither the city nor the state has ordered
7:58
Speaker 1: the Legion closed, Anderson told the Mountain Eagle. Rather, it
8:03
Speaker 1: was ordered to stop selling alcohol illegally. They had something
8:07
Speaker 1: they were required by law to do, but chose not
8:09
Speaker 1: to do it, Anderson said. The closing of the American
8:13
Speaker 1: Legion Post, and who is responsible for it, has become
8:17
Speaker 1: an issue in the races for seats on the Jenkins
8:19
Speaker 1: City Council in the coming November election. Records from the
8:24
Speaker 1: Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control show the state began
8:28
Speaker 1: investigating Jenkins' American Legion Post 66, after receiving a complaint
8:34
Speaker 1: on August 13, 2024, alleging alcohol was being sold at
8:39
Speaker 1: the post without a state license. The complaint identified the
8:43
Speaker 1: post at 119 Freedom Lane and listed Thurman Pete Wyatt
8:48
Speaker 1: as commander. The state investigation eventually confirmed that the Jenkins
8:53
Speaker 1: post did not possess a Kentucky ABC license. But records
8:59
Speaker 1: supplied to the Mountain Eagle by Anderson showed Jenkins' officials
9:03
Speaker 1: had already been trying to help the post obtain the
9:05
Speaker 1: necessary licensing before the state complaint was filed. Anderson said
9:11
Speaker 1: that shortly after he was appointed Jenkins' ABC administrator in
9:15
Speaker 1: March 2024, Mayor Todd DePriest asked him to assist the
9:20
Speaker 1: American Legion in becoming properly licensed. Anderson said city officials
9:25
Speaker 1: supported the post because of its charitable work for children
9:28
Speaker 1: and veterans. An email dated August 1, 2024, shows Anderson
9:35
Speaker 1: sent Ronnie Bowling of the Jenkins American Legion a link
9:38
Speaker 1: to the state's online ABC licensing portal, instructions for beginning
9:44
Speaker 1: the application process, and additional links to state ABC information.
9:50
Speaker 1: Anderson told Bowling to contact him if he could be
9:52
Speaker 1: of further assistance. Anderson again sent Bowling the state licensing
9:57
Speaker 1: link on September 16, 2020. On September 23, he forwarded the
10:04
Speaker 1: City of Jenkins ABC application and again offered to help
10:08
Speaker 1: with the process. The city's application packet revised August 1, 2024.
10:15
Speaker 1: lists the local and state licensing requirements for businesses and
10:19
Speaker 1: organizations seeking to sell alcohol in Jenkins. Among the listed
10:24
Speaker 1: licenses is an NQ-3 retail drink license available to qualifying
10:30
Speaker 1: private clubs, including non-profit, charitable, civic, social, and fraternal organizations.
10:38
Speaker 1: Anderson said officials initially allowed time for the Legion's application
10:42
Speaker 1: to work its way through the process. At some point,
10:46
Speaker 1: I followed up with it, and there was no application,
10:48
Speaker 1: he said. For several months, state investigators had difficulty determining
10:53
Speaker 1: whether alcohol was actually being sold at the post. Surveillance
10:58
Speaker 1: visits in August, September, and October 2024 generally found little activity.
11:06
Speaker 1: On February 6, 2025, undercover investigators attempted to enter the
11:11
Speaker 1: post but were not admitted. even though they reported seeing
11:15
Speaker 1: lights and believed people were inside. At that point, an
11:20
Speaker 1: investigator recommended closing the complaint as unsubstantiated. That changed on
11:25
Speaker 1: March 14, 2025. According to the State Investigative Report, undercover
11:32
Speaker 1: ABC investigators Nathan Caudill and Mike Nunley entered the post
11:37
Speaker 1: and each ordered a Michelob Ultra at the bar for $ 3. 00.
11:41
Speaker 1: The investigators reported they were not asked whether they were
11:44
Speaker 1: American Legion members or veterans until after they had been served.
11:49
Speaker 1: When they said they were not veterans, they were told
11:52
Speaker 1: they could return one more time, but would be required
11:56
Speaker 1: to pay a $ 40 membership fee on a third visit.
12:00
Speaker 1: The investigators also reported seeing several poker machines, some of
12:04
Speaker 1: which were being played by patrons. They said people inside
12:08
Speaker 1: encouraged them to purchase additional alcohol before leaving. One investigator
12:13
Speaker 1: was allowed to leave carrying his beer. The investigators later
12:18
Speaker 1: turned over their video recording and beer to the ABC
12:22
Speaker 1: investigator handling the complaint. State charitable gaming officials subsequently told
12:28
Speaker 1: ABC that the Jenkins American Legion had never held a
12:32
Speaker 1: charitable gaming license. The Post began an application in July 2023,
12:39
Speaker 1: but withdrew it the following month. Records say officials provided
12:44
Speaker 1: information about reapplying in July 2024, but no new application
12:50
Speaker 1: was filed. There was a warning of criminal charges. State
12:55
Speaker 1: investigators later met with Jenkins' officials and arranged a meeting
12:59
Speaker 1: with Wyatt. According to the investigative report, ABC investigators told
13:04
Speaker 1: Wyatt that violations had occurred and that he would receive
13:09
Speaker 1: written warnings for operating without the required alcohol license and
13:13
Speaker 1: for permitting gambling. Investigators also warned that if additional violations occurred,
13:20
Speaker 1: they would seek criminal charges. They told Wyatt the Post
13:23
Speaker 1: could apply for an ABC license and potentially a charitable
13:27
Speaker 1: gaming license. Anderson said the city then stopped the post's
13:32
Speaker 1: unlicensed bar operation. He reiterated the decision to close the
13:37
Speaker 1: American Legion post itself was made by the Legion, not
13:40
Speaker 1: by Jenkins or state ABC officials. Other Posts Licensed The
13:47
Speaker 1: two other American Legion posts in Letcher County have obtained
13:50
Speaker 1: state alcohol licenses. Current Kentucky ABC records show American Legion
13:56
Speaker 1: Douglas Day Post 152 in Whitesburg holds active licenses for
14:01
Speaker 1: retail alcohol sales, as does American Legion Post 104 in
14:06
Speaker 1: Fleming Neon. The Whitesburg licenses became effective July 15, 2026,
14:13
Speaker 1: while the Fleming Neon licenses became effective August 28, 2026.
14:16
Speaker 1: The next story is Over 632,000 birds crossed Letcher County
14:26
Speaker 1: in one night. While most Letcher County residents slept Monday night,
14:32
Speaker 1: an estimated 632,700 birds crossed the county on their way south,
14:38
Speaker 1: according to Cornell University's BirdCast migration system. The mass movement
14:45
Speaker 1: was part of the annual fall migration now passing through
14:49
Speaker 1: eastern Kentucky. and came as a new six-stop Pine Mountain
14:53
Speaker 1: Bird Trail is being promoted to bird watchers and local residents.
14:58
Speaker 1: Cornell's BirdCast migration dashboard estimates the number of birds moving
15:04
Speaker 1: through an area by using weather radar data. For Letcher County,
15:09
Speaker 1: the system showed migration beginning about 7.20 p.m. September 28th
15:14
Speaker 1: and continuing until about 7.20 Tuesday morning. Traffic over the
15:18
Speaker 1: county peaked at about 10.50 p.m. when BirdCast estimated 137,400
15:25
Speaker 1: birds were in flight at one time. They were moving
15:29
Speaker 1: generally south at about 11 miles per hour and at
15:32
Speaker 1: an estimated altitude of 1,700 feet. Most passed unseen. BirdCast
15:39
Speaker 1: says birds generally begin migrating 30 to 45 minutes after sunset.
15:44
Speaker 1: with the greatest numbers often in flight two to three
15:47
Speaker 1: hours later. Much of the fall migration of songbirds takes
15:51
Speaker 1: place under cover of darkness. Letcher County's movement was part
15:56
Speaker 1: of an even larger statewide event. BirdCast estimated 12,449,300 birds
16:04
Speaker 1: crossed Kentucky during the same night, with statewide migration traffic
16:09
Speaker 1: peaking at an estimated 22.2 million birds in flight, shortly
16:14
Speaker 1: before midnight. Cornell notes that the number of birds in
16:18
Speaker 1: flight can be larger than the number that ultimately crosses
16:21
Speaker 1: a region because some birds remain within the area rather
16:25
Speaker 1: than flying all the way through it. The radar figures
16:28
Speaker 1: show what is happening overhead, but observations submitted to Cornell's
16:33
Speaker 1: eBird program show that many migrating species are also being
16:38
Speaker 1: seen on the ground in Letcher County. September reports include
16:42
Speaker 1: a northern parula as recently as September 27th, and a
16:46
Speaker 1: black-throated green warbler, blue-headed vireos, and a scarlet tanager at
16:52
Speaker 1: Fish Pond Lake on September 25th. Other September sightings include
16:57
Speaker 1: magnolia warblers, swainson's thrush, American redstart, Canada warbler, Tennessee warblers,
17:05
Speaker 1: Cape May warblers, hooded warblers, rose-breasted grossbeak, indigo bunting, and
17:12
Speaker 1: ruby-throated hummingbirds. Some of the records came from Little Shepherd Trail,
17:17
Speaker 1: while Fish Pond Lake and other locations around the county
17:20
Speaker 1: also produced numerous reports. Not every bird reported during September
17:26
Speaker 1: is a migrant. Cardinals, chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers, and other species
17:32
Speaker 1: remain in the area year-round or for much of the year.
17:36
Speaker 1: but the appearance of warblers, vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, and other
17:41
Speaker 1: species during this period illustrates the seasonal movement now underway.
17:47
Speaker 1: Cornell's current list of nocturnal migrants expected in this region
17:51
Speaker 1: includes northern parula, hooded warbler, Tennessee warbler, black-throated green warbler,
17:58
Speaker 1: bay-breasted warbler, blackburnian warbler, Blue-headed vireo, yellow-throated vireo, Swainson's thrush,
18:07
Speaker 1: rose-breasted grossbeak, summer tanager, and eastern wood peewee. BirdCast's seasonal
18:14
Speaker 1: charts show many of those species concentrated in eastern Kentucky
18:19
Speaker 1: during September and into October. The fall migration coincides with
18:25
Speaker 1: the establishment of the Pine Mountain Bird Trail. a project
18:29
Speaker 1: of Kentucky Natural Lands Trust and its partners. The trail
18:33
Speaker 1: consists of six birding locations along Pine Mountain, including Little
18:38
Speaker 1: Shepherd Trail and Bad Branch State Nature Preserve in Letcher County.
18:43
Speaker 1: Signs and QR codes at the sites allow visitors to
18:46
Speaker 1: connect with Cornell's eBird system and record the birds they see.
18:51
Speaker 1: Those observations can become part of the larger scientific database
18:56
Speaker 1: used to document bird populations and migration. Kentucky Natural Lands
19:01
Speaker 1: Trust has described Pine Mountain as part of an intercontinental
19:05
Speaker 1: migration corridor connecting North, Central, and South America. The heavily
19:11
Speaker 1: forested ridge also provides habitat where migrating birds can rest
19:16
Speaker 1: and feed before continuing south. A free guided outing along
19:21
Speaker 1: portions of the Pine Mountain Bird Trail is scheduled for Saturday,
19:24
Speaker 1: October 3rd, with birders and naturalists including Jennifer Honeycutt, Martina Hines,
19:31
Speaker 1: and Ronan O'Kara expected to participate. The timing puts the
19:36
Speaker 1: event near the heart of fall migration. Cornell's birdcast data
19:41
Speaker 1: indicate that large numbers of birds continue to move through
19:44
Speaker 1: the region during October. although the mix of species changes
19:48
Speaker 1: as the season progresses. For people on the ground, that
19:52
Speaker 1: means some of the hundreds of thousands of birds detected
19:56
Speaker 1: over Letcher County at night may be in the trees,
19:59
Speaker 1: along the ridges, and around local lakes and streams by daylight.
20:04
Speaker 1: Cornell University's birdcast system and September reports submitted to eBird
20:10
Speaker 1: show a wide variety of birds moving through or appearing
20:13
Speaker 1: in Letcher County during fall migration. Warblers. Northern parula, black-throated green, magnolia, Tennessee, hooded,
20:23
Speaker 1: Cape May, Canada, American redstart, bay-breasted, blackburnian, chestnut-sided, black and white,
20:31
Speaker 1: and yellow-rumped. Vireos. Blue-headed, yellow-throated, red-eyed, and white-eyed. Thrushes. Swainson's
20:40
Speaker 1: thrush and wood thrush. Other migrants, rose-breasted grossbeak, scarlet tanager,
20:47
Speaker 1: summer tanager, indigo bunting, ruby-throated hummingbird, Acadian flycatcher, eastern wood peewee,
20:56
Speaker 1: blue-gray gnatcatcher, and chipping sparrow. September eBird reports show several
21:02
Speaker 1: of those species at Fish Pond Lake, Little Shepherd Trail,
21:06
Speaker 1: and other Letcher County locations. Migration by the numbers. 632,700
21:14
Speaker 1: estimated birds that crossed Letcher County during the night of
21:17
Speaker 1: September 28th through 29th. 137,400 estimated birds in flight over
21:20
Speaker 1: the county at the nightly peak around 10.50 p.m. 1,700
21:22
Speaker 1: feet estimated altitude at peak migration. 11 miles an hour
21:25
Speaker 1: estimated flight speed. General direction of travel. 12.4 million estimated
21:45
Speaker 1: birds that crossed Kentucky during the same night. When to watch.
21:50
Speaker 1: Fall songbird migration continues through October. Many species migrate at
21:56
Speaker 1: night and stop during daylight hours to rest and feed.
22:00
Speaker 1: The next story is Diesel costs squeeze county schools budget.
22:06
Speaker 1: Soaring diesel costs and millions of dollars in unpaid flood
22:10
Speaker 1: reimbursements are putting pressure on the Letcher County School District's budget.
22:17
Speaker 1: A $ 425, 000 reduction in state SEEK funding this year has
22:21
Speaker 1: already forced the district to reduce its reserve from 7.3%
22:24
Speaker 1: to 5.76% of the budget, Superintendent Josh Johns told the
22:26
Speaker 1: Mountain Eagle. He said the reserve will fall further unless
22:35
Speaker 1: diesel prices come down. Yance, who served as assistant superintendent
22:40
Speaker 1: and finance director before becoming superintendent this year, said he
22:44
Speaker 1: had always tried to budget extra for transportation to account
22:48
Speaker 1: for fluctuating fuel prices, but the current increase has exceeded
22:52
Speaker 1: what he anticipated. Yance said the district may have to
22:56
Speaker 1: draw on other funds if fuel costs do not ease
23:00
Speaker 1: by January or February. In October of last year, the
23:04
Speaker 1: district bought 12,697 gallons of diesel for $ 30, 392. As of
23:06
Speaker 1: Monday night, it had purchased 5,433 gallons for $ 30, 727. Those
23:08
Speaker 1: figures work out to about $ 2. 39 a gallon for last
23:09
Speaker 1: October's purchases and $ 5. 66 a gallon for the more recent purchases.
23:31
Speaker 1: The district has spent slightly more money for less than
23:34
Speaker 1: half as much fuel. I don't know what we'll do
23:37
Speaker 1: if it continues to go up, maintenance and transportation director
23:41
Speaker 1: Brian Johnson said. The district is also waiting for Federal
23:46
Speaker 1: Emergency Management Agency reimbursements for repairs following the July 2022 flood.
23:54
Speaker 1: Yance described the reimbursement problem as a two-fold thing. There's
23:59
Speaker 1: $ 8 to $ 10 million that we still haven't received from FEMA,
24:02
Speaker 1: Yance said. In addition to that, Kentucky Emergency Management has
24:06
Speaker 1: withheld 10% of all our FEMA reimbursement until all our
24:10
Speaker 1: projects are finished. Yance said he had been told that
24:14
Speaker 1: some school district received FEMA money years ago, but used
24:18
Speaker 1: it for other budget purposes rather than repairs. He said
24:22
Speaker 1: he understands why Kentucky Emergency Management is withholding part of
24:26
Speaker 1: the reimbursement, but the delay creates problems for the district.
24:31
Speaker 1: Yance said the district is owed about $ 3. 1 million for
24:35
Speaker 1: the new sports complex in West Whitesburg. Flood damage there
24:40
Speaker 1: included the loss of football bleachers, a field house, a
24:43
Speaker 1: concession stand, and fences. The middle school football field was submerged.
24:49
Speaker 1: The district also has not been reimbursed for work at
24:52
Speaker 1: the education center, formerly a vocational school, although some minor
24:57
Speaker 1: work remains to be completed there, Jans said. The center
25:01
Speaker 1: is now used for alternative education and as a practice
25:04
Speaker 1: area for archery, wrestling, cheerleading, and other small teams. The
25:11
Speaker 1: next story is, Monday is deadline to register for voting.
25:16
Speaker 1: Residents who want to vote in the November 3rd general election,
25:20
Speaker 1: but have not registered, have until Monday, October 5th to
25:23
Speaker 1: do so. Registration forms are available at the Letcher County
25:27
Speaker 1: Clerk's Office. Residents can also register online at govote.ky.gov. According
25:35
Speaker 1: to the Kentucky State Board of Elections, online registration must
25:39
Speaker 1: be completed by 4 p.m. local time, October 5th. Mailed
25:44
Speaker 1: registration cards must be postmarked by that date, and cards
25:48
Speaker 1: delivered to the clerk's office must arrive by the close
25:51
Speaker 1: of business. Other dates to remember are October 20th, deadline
25:56
Speaker 1: to request a mail-in absentee ballot through the online portal.
26:02
Speaker 1: The portal closes at 11.59 p.m. Eastern Time. October 21st
26:07
Speaker 1: through 23rd and October 26th through 28th, in-person excused absentee
26:14
Speaker 1: voting for eligible voters. October 29th through 31st, early in-person
26:20
Speaker 1: voting without an excuse. November 3rd, Election Day. Polls are
26:26
Speaker 1: open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. Completed
26:32
Speaker 1: mail-in absentee ballots must reach the county clerk by 6 p.m.
26:36
Speaker 1: Election Day to be counted. A postmark alone does not
26:40
Speaker 1: meet that deadline. The State Board of Elections urges voters
26:44
Speaker 1: to return absentee ballots promptly. Voters may mail completed ballots
26:49
Speaker 1: or hand-deliver them to the county's designated ballot dropbox. Information
26:54
Speaker 1: about Dropbox locations, voting sites, and hours is available at govote.ky.gov
27:02
Speaker 1: or from the County Clerk's Office. This concludes the reading
27:06
Speaker 1: of The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been Bill VanArstel. Now,
27:11
Speaker 1: please stay tuned for continued programming. On behalf of everyone
27:15
Speaker 1: here at Radio Eye, thank you for listening, and have
27:17
Speaker 1: a good day.