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Ashland Daily Independent - 6.3.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Radio Ey's regional newspapers. Due
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to work being done on the transmitters by Morehead State
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Public Radio during the month of June, listeners in the
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Thank you to our friends at MSPR for broadcasting the
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We now turn to The Ashland Independent to bring you
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news from in and around Ashland and Boyd County. Your
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reader today is Jane. We begin with the addition dated
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June second, twenty twenty six. As a reminder, Radioized a
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reading service intended for people who are blind or have
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other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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Our first article, Always Remembering Ceremony offers eulogy gratitude for
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area gold Star families by Tammy Hetzer Womack for the
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Daily Independent Argyllite. It's a narrative so many spouses, parents
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and children know all too well. Peggy Mullins is no
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stranger to the tragic tale of campaigns which turn to combat.
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George Russell Caldwell was her grandfather, although she has no
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memory of the soldier from the verst colorized photo her
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father told her the Long and Short of It snippets
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of harrowing old memories. Her grandpa was killed in action
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in World War II, just eleven days after he turned
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thirty one years old. Mollin's father was only six at
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the time, outside playing pretend with his brother riding horses.
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Being kids in the country. He recalls watching the soldier
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man walk into their rural lessage, West Virginia hollow. The
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young warriors stopped chatting with the little ones before entering
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their family home. Cries eululated from inside as the ranked
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entry entryman notified their parents. Young George Caldwell, while not
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come home, killed in the fray. Whales of a mother
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quickly followed by a shift and family dynamic, Mollin's father
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soon becomes the man of the family after his own
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father passed away. He put on a brave face and
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shouldered them pain, tending to young children, helping make ends meet.
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He was told, ain't no use in crying now he's gone.
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In February, when Ashley Mayor Chuck Charles hoped to form
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a committee for a gold Star Family tribute in honor
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of America's two hundred and fiftieth Observance, Mollins was quick
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to volunteer to lend a hand. Hers was a layered
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story bereavement and anguish of a mother and father, fallout
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and hard knocks of monetary loss in tough war times.
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A jigsaw unraveling what really happened to her grandpa as
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he lost his life in a forest so far away,
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with a hope to someday find battleground answers. On Saturday,
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Mullins stood before a fellow gold Star families at the
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Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Northeast, the first day of sunshine in
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a week, as if the man in the tattered wartime
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photograph walked out for the fifty six year old Ironton
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woman who works for the City of Ashland. Work of
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many went into this day to honor the fortitude of
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the soldier who gives all to country. Mayor Charles hoped
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to draw everyone in and create acknowledgment of his fidelity
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to our Homeland. Mallins attended gold Star Family tributes at
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Wright Patterson Air Force Base, so she started reaching out
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to contacts who could make the inaugural event enduring and noteworthy.
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Just like a legion or squadron, a multitude of helpers
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converge to remember the paratroopers and pilots, gi and guards,
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honor the fallen, stand with their families. Always remember the
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May thirtieth rites needed the dignity and respect it deserves,
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shared Mollins, with area veterans offering help needed to get
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the memorial's servius moving toward fruition. Charles formed a planning panel,
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many of whom were direct descendants to those who lost
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lives in bloodshed. Daughters of the American Revolution leaders partnered
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while organizers at Wright Patterson work to provide needed furtherance.
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The gold Star Family's memorial monument stands in jet black
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contrast to the clear heavens where these United Soldiers marched together.
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Patriot Guard writers salute in leather and chrome, patriotic procession
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of music, laying of wreath's last roll call of the fallen.
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A volley of gunfire by the US Marine Corps League
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occur along with the playing of taps. Mollins is blessed
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with visiting family for Saturday's gold Star welcoming into the cemetery,
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including a cousin working to piece together her grandfather's combat
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timing and loss. Through her work creating the events, she
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made lifelong friends who shared a ligned history. A local
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artisan forged and shaped stained glass stars to share with
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family members. As the soldier names were announced, she soon
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learned of a historical tragedy based on Roosevelt Avenue in
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downtown Ashland. Five families lost their sons during war. Poignant emotions,
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enthusiastic sentiments, flowing of tears. Now a group to lean on,
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many never met before. Now they have a sisterhood and
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fraternity of survivors who find power of endurance through deepest tribulation.
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Mollins is already planning for next year. When my dad
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shared the story of my grandfather, it sparked something in me.
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I want to make sure no soldier or family is forgotten,
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Mollins said. In other news, Smithsonian exhibit opens at Highlands
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Doseum by Tammy Hetzer Walmack for The Daily Independent. It
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was some time around nineteen seventy nine when Nev Keyms
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first heard his grandfather's handmade cedar wooden flute. Keynes fifty two,
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visited Ashland on Friday from Harrodsburg, storytelling his Novajo wayfaring
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mission into Ashland from his impoverished life growing up in Arizona.
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He was educating young people at Highland's Doseum about his
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American Indian civilization. On May twenty ninth, museum shared a
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sneak peak of this riveting and gripping once in a
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lifetime exhibit, Americans an Owe to our nation's two hundred
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and fiftieth birthday. The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American
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Indian Develops Americans Exposition Executive director Kim Jenkins said the
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adaptable panels created for simple packable travel by Museum on
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Main Street. It is a joint effort in partnership between
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Smithsonian Institution and State Humanities Councils, with support for Museum
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on Main Street shared by US Congress. Last week, troops
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of volunteers and museum patrons united to breathe Americans to life,
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opening truckloads of pleated overlapping informational sections of relics, antiquities,
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and heirlooms. The early illustration acknowledges the often dark history
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Native Americans endured. Every ledger, tablet, footstone, or masterpiece on
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Downtown's first floor display grand Stand. It operates like pigtails
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or interlaces as leather moccasin courting, commissioned by Highland's Doseum
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meant to help young and old learned about how this
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region is impressed upon and influenced by Indigenous historical figures.
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Growing up in Navajo Nation, one life Reverie was to
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achieve a career as a musician, delivering optimism alleviating suffering
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through his composition. I grew up very poor, just a
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dirt floor in an old shack, he said, the museum's
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packed house, falling into silence between flute songs. Kimes is
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a celebrated storyteller, flutemaker, and instrumentalist, praying for happy hunting
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grounds and increased prosperity for her son. His mother enrolled
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him in a proper religious boarding school, an ample amount
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of Baptist, Pentecostal, Mormon, and Catholic teachings all harvested into
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one schoolhouse. We were forbidden to speak our language, added Keems.
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He said his usual punishment was to hold a que
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cumbersome English dictionary until his child's side sized arms collapsed
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in pain. He remembers sleeping on takei aslam esque clammy
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plastic bed sheets, freezing in winter times, soggy and sweaty
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during summer months. Little Nev figured the best alternative to
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avert for their child abuse was to run away from
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the strict draconian school, and soon plotted his escape. Once
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caught and returned, school headmasters whip Nev with a ruler
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forcibly and fears feercefully until he bled. He points out
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the scar across his head. Chastening measured up indelibly over
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the years. They told me I would be tougher for it.
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School administrators ordered and demanded Kens never cry when punishment doled.
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Beaten savagely, he remained brave. Indigenous students often wisted charcoal, scalding,
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a woeful sound lingered throughout the small campus. Young Nev's
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mother prayed to personally accept the shlacking and intense thanking
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for her son, if her savior might permit. Nev's cousin
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also fled the school, missing from authorities for an extended period.
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He was later found murdered. Kings knew it was time
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to find a positive means to honor his cousin. A
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kind school teacher taught him to play guitar. After awaking
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from a vivid dream, he began work on a handcrafted flute,
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which took close to three years to complete, constructed entirely
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using primitive tools. Life is so short. I had a
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dream of a song. It just came to me out
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of nowhere, he said, thanking God for his unique abilities
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to perform handiwork and the ingenuity to produce musical instruments.
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Kerns shared his woodwind rendition of amazing grace, tangled and
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weaved like an Aztec's syruppi or poncho, alongside a tribute
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tribal tune. Nowadays, he enjoys life on a small farm,
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turning into lessons from his ancestors. Just tend to the
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roosters and watch the trains go by, said Kerns, who
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once performed for US President Ronald Reagan. He thoroughly loved
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his Ashland trip to share with guests, talk about my
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life and my story, educate people about about the flute,
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how relaxing it truly is, and the good medicine it
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provides for American veterans who suffer from p t s D.
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Americans Exhibit offers something for everyone at Highland's Doseum Until
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July third, Sadie Pals seven joined her friend Finley Fletcher's
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seven for an evening revering and memorializing Americans and Dan's.
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The Ashland Girls incorporated all their schoolwork into this event.
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I would like to make flutes or drums when I
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grow up, Finley said. Next Sun's Out Buns Out in Ashland.
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Third annual Burger Week smashing success by Alison Scott for
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The Daily and Dependent with Ashland's Burger Week on the menu.
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This week, six local restaurants based off as the community
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judges tested what they cooked up one burger at a time.
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Now in its third year, Ashland's annual competition featured eleven
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different burgers from Sandy's Racing and Gaming, Kel's Tavern, Tuscan
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Prime Jerk, Riley's, Fat, Patti's and Sweet Peace Bakery, all
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fitting this year's theme, Red White and Burger Week, United Grill.
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United Week Grill in celebration of America's two one hundred
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and fiftieth anniversary by picking up a burger passport Participants
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could try any of the entered burghers, vote on Ashland's
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website and then take a picture submitting it for the
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chance to win a one hundred dollars gift card to
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the participating restaurant of their choice. It's friendly fire with
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the restaurants. It's friendly competition, said Celeste Combs, Visit Ashland's
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Tourism director. But it just gives a community a reason
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to get out and go and patronize our local businesses
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and our restaurants. Sandy's Racing and Gaming has won the
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competition every year and is planning on winning another with
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three burgers created by three different employees of the in
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house restaurant Kitchen and Spirits. We're very competitive and this
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is our time to just come out right, gloves out,
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ready to go, said food and beverage manager Christina George.
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And we love to come up with a different creation
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each year that's going to be bolder each time. That's
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what I love about it. George's creation, the Revolutionary Burger,
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named after Revolutionary Racing, featured two blackened patties, Cajun mac
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and cheese, onion straws and hot honey. The home Run
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Slammer created by kitchen manager Corey Davies. Was made with
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the intent to combine all of America's pastimes into one bite,
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with spicy mustard, a beef patty, American cheese, fried pickles,
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a smashed broughtwurst patty, pepper jack cheese, spicy ketchup, and
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raw onions. Baker and cook Susan Gillenwaters creation Susan's Firecracker
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Burger featured Texas toast, garlic, butter, garlic, gaoli, a patty
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with cream cheese, and her personal recipe of onion bacon jam.
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You would expect this place to be a glorified concession
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stand because it's inside of a casino, but in reality,
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we make everything housemade, said George. Everything is cut by hand,
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battered by hand, cooked with love. We're not just a
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casino concession stand. We're a restaurant that puts a lot
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of heart and soul into it. Kell's Tavern, a local
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restaurant that opened last July, aimed to secure a win
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for their first year participating their creation. The Independence Brunchburger
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was made to highlight the restaurant's recent edition of a
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brunch menu with a brisket. Sir loinburger, hickory bacon, cheddar cheese,
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crispy hash browns, and an over easy egg topped with ketchup.
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It's competitively fun to try to compete against other restaurants
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and do the same thing. Kel chef David Borklund said,
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I thought it would be an important thing to do
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just because I think it gets people interacting more with
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the downtown restaurants, a little bit more than what they
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would normally interact with. Both restaurants said since the start
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of the competition they've noticed an increase in business from
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those eager to try all the new burgers. The winning
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restaurant that received the most votes is set to be
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announced Monday. I do believe that the community needs more
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programs and more competitions like this, because not only does
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it highlight others, and it brings out the absolute kindness
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in people, Davies said. Georgia agreed, asking at the very
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end of the day, who doesn't love a good burger.
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In other news, Healing Appalachia twenty twenty six canceled by
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Aaron Snyder of The Daily Independent. Healing Appalachia twenty twenty
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six is canceled according to a press relief from the
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organization Hope in the Hills. The festival will return to
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the Boyd County Fairgrounds in Colton on September tenth and eleventh,
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twenty twenty seven. According to the release, Healing Appalachia cited
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current economic conditions and the rising cost of large scale
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festival production as reasons Hope in the Hills decided to
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cancel the twenty twenty sixth installment of the music festival.
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Hope in the Hills will instead focus its resources on
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the recovery programs at the heart of our mission, it wrote.
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According to the release, although the festival is paused for
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this year, the need for recovery support is not. Thank
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you to the artists, fans, partners, donors, and communities who
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continue to stand behind the mission, Hope in the Hills wrote.
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This year, with your support, our goal is to cross
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the two million dollar mark investing in recovery programs across Appalachia.
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Join us in keeping Hope Alive. Healing Appalachia took place
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in Boyd County for the first time in twenty twenty five.
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The annual festival was in West Virginia before relocating moving
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on Kentucky Power assures protections for residents in Q and
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A by Aeron Snyder of The Daily Independent. After Tero
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Wolf announced a data center is coming to two hundred
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and eighty five acres of land in East Park Tuesday,
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The Daily Independence submitted five questions to Kentucky Power regarding
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the subject. Question what makes East Park suitable for Tero
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Wolf's project? Answer? East Park is an established industrial site
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in Kentucky Powers Service Territory with access to electric infrastructure
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and within close proximity seven hundred and sixty five killable
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transmission lines. Questions about why tero Wolf selected the site
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would be directed to Terra Wolf. Question will this data
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center helped Kentucky Power meet the goals it sought to
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achieve with its recent PSC rate with request? Answer? Kentucky's
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Power recent rate request was about maintaining and operating the
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electric system that serves customers today. That included everyday costs
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like poles, wires, substations, vegetation management, and reliability work across
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our service area. The Terowolf project is separate from that
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process and is still years away from operation. Like any
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large industrial customer, projects like this can provide long term
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economic and system benefits over time by adding significant electric
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demand to the system. But the important point is that
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the customer will be served under the Kentucky Powers approved
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industrial tariff structure with protections designed so existing customers are
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not subsidizing the project. Question how will this data center
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impact residential power rates in Void, Green Up and surrounding counties? Answer?
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The customer will pay under Kentucky Powers approved industrial tariff,
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not a special discounted rate. The tariff includes protections such
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as long term contracts, minimum billing obligations, and financial security requirements.
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Those protections are intended to keep existing residential and business
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customers from subsidizing the project. To ensure our customers understand
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the stateguards already in place and also how data centers
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can support long term off to bilibility, we recently published
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a web page explaining this information. Question. In states with
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high data center volume, electricity prices have increased. How can
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Kentucky Power assure residents this won't happen here? Answer? That
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is exactly why the tariff structure matters. Kentucky Power's approach
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is that large load customers must pay their own way.
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They are served under approved tariffs with safeguards designed to
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protect existing customers from being left with cost caused by
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a large new load. We also plan through the regulatory process,
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not around it. Any major infrastructure or generation need must
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be reviewed through the appropriate planning and approval channels. Question
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how would power outage at a data center of this
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magnitude to impact the surrounding area? Answer? Large customers are
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served through planned infrastructure designed to protect the reliability of
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the broader system. Kentucky Powers team of engineers studied large
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load connections before service begins so the system can be
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designed to operate safely and reliably. The goal is to
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serve the customer without compromising service to surrounding homes and businesses.
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In other news, community rallies to keep to try to
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keep AW open by Allison Scott for the Daily Independent Argelite.
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After four years of keeping the community fed, AW Meat
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House announced they would be closing their doors, but with
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an overwhelming amount of support from customers and the community,
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this outcome could change. Tyler Wells, owner of the Custom
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Meets Process facility, announced the news in a Facebook post
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last week that his business might be closing and out
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of caution, would close their doors June first, with its
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foreclosure sale on the following day. This decision is out
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of our control. Overwhelming debt to construct this facility, high
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cattle prices, and some wrong choices along the way led
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to this event. Although our business has made significant strides
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over the last year, it is still not enough to
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cover our multimillion dollar mortgage, Wells wrote in the post.
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Since the post, Wells has seen the largest lines of
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both regular customers and new customers who hadn't heard of
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his business until the news. Since we have announced our
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potential closer, we did more on Saturday than we do
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in a typical week, said Wells. The line was out
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the door, although Wells said he didn't think it was
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possible they have done. They have gone through two thousand
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pounds of ground beef, eight hundred pounds of chicken, and
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five hundred pounds of bacon, while also working to fill
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their popular pick five bundles. While cooking this week's patch
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of bacon, Wells said that he and his eight employees
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have been hard at work. After getting a stack of
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orders about two inches thick. Farmer Green of Future Farmers
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of America member Cadence Wood, alongside other former FFA members,
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started a fundraiser that within four days reached two nine
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and twenty five dollars. Tuesday, Wells went to Facebook with
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some good news for his business. Not going to say
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it's a done deal, but I have a pretty good
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feeling about the future of aw Meathhouse. Don't give up
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on us just yet, wrote Wells in the post. We
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will be working harder than we ever have this week
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to serve y'all more news to come. Once working as
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a chemist with Marathon Refinery, Wells owned a farm near
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East Park, naming it Triple A Farms after his three kids,
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whose names all started with the letter A. After having
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a four child and opening his business on Logtown Road,
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Wells said he had no other choice but to name
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it a WM Meat House. I've been into this thing
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for four years and I've not been paid. Obviously, we
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need to pay our bills, but this is truly a
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labor of love, Wells said. It's something I hope that
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we can keep alive and the legacy will continue. Wells
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explained that due to larger agribusiness corporations known as Big Four, JBS, Cargill,
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National Beef, and Tyson Foods, the cattle market has increased,
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making the average cost of a calf twenty five thousand,
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hundred dollars, when he was once able to purchase a
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calf at around six hundred dollars. This concludes excerpts from
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recent editions of the Ashland Daily Independent. Your reader has beend.
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Jane On behalf of everyone here at radio. I thank
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you for listening, Keep on listening and have a good day.