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Whitesburg Mountain Eagle - 6.18.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Whitsburg. Your reader today is Bill Vanarsdale. We will
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begin with the addition dated June seventeenth, twenty twenty six,
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which the publishers have donated to Radio I 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. The first item is a photo and
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the caption is still swinging after all these years. Paul
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Wooten of Hayden and Annie Reynolds of Louisbourg, North Carolina
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respond to the caller's command swing your partner during the
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monthly Carcasone Square Dance on Saturday, June thirteenth at the
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Carcason Community Center. The gathering is believed to be Kentucky's
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oldest continuously operating square dance, having begun in the early
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nineteen sixties. Following the well attended June event, five dances
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remain on the twenty twenty six schedule, each held on
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the second Saturday of the month. The dances draw both
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local residents and visitors and are held at the historic
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Carcassone School, which is now over one hundred years old.
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Live music and a live caller are featured at every dance,
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and the next headline is County officials want to be
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educated on data centers. Judge and magistrates want to learn
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about the issue before any proposal comes to lecture. Lecture
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Fiscal Court members said they planned to attend a meeting
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of a group opposed to data centers in order to
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educate themselves before any proposal to build one in the
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county is brought forward. Judge Executive Terry Adams said no
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one has approached the county about building a data center,
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but added that officials should learn more about the issue
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before before that happens. It would be nice to have
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an education before we are approached, Adams said. The comments
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by Adams, District three Magistrate Deb Collier, and District I
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Magistrate Jack Banks came in response to questions from Michael Wine,
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an independent candidate for Congress from Bottom Fork. Wine asked
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whether anyone had approached the county about constructing a data center.
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He said he has collected a petition with about four
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thousand signatures across eastern Kentucky, including two hundred seventy from
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Letcher County, opposing such developments. Today I speak for a
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growing group of concerned citizens, and we're concerned specifically with
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the movement and encroachment of data centers into eastern Kentucky.
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Wine said there have already been discussions in Boyd County
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as well as Pipe County about bringing data centers there,
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and there are rumors through the grapevine that discussions are
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happening in county as well. Data centers are large computer
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facilities used to power cloud computing and artificial intelligence systems.
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Critics say they can place significant demands on electrical grids
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and water supplies. Wine pointed to Meta's Hyperion Data center
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in Richland Parish, Louisiana, a four million square foot facility
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occupying more than two thousand, two hundred acres. The project
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is expected to require about two gigawatts of electricity in
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its initial phase, with plans that could eventually expand to
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five gigawatts. For comparison, two gigawatts is roughly enough electricity
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to serve about one point five million to two million homes,
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depending on assumptions about household electricity use. A future five
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gigawatt facility would be several times larger. Still, Collier said
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she would like to serve on a committee if the
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county decides to form one to study the issue. It's
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going to be something that we more than likely are
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going to be approached with because we're approached with all
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the crappy stuff for lack of a better word. Collier said, so, yeah,
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I would like to be on that committee, and whatever
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we decide to do, I'd like to educate myself about it.
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Thanks also said he would like to serve on such
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a committee. Adams said he was not sure whether a
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committee would be formed, but said he wanted to discuss
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the issue further with Wine and learn more about it.
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Wine said he would welcome the court's involvement. So if
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you're just looking to get groundwork and you'd be willing
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to sponsor us, or you'd like to work alongside us,
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or you'd like to have both groups running simultaneously, I
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would see a place for any of those options. Wine said.
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The group will hold a meeting at five thirty pm
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June thirtieth in the middle level meeting room of the
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Harry M cl total Memorial Library in Wisburg. The discussion
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took place during Monday's meeting of the Lectrifiscal Court. The
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Court also approved a resolution accepting one point five million
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dollars in House BILLT nine hundred grant funding to construct
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a water line to the proposed Thunder Mountain Shooting Sports
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range at Millstone. Originally planned for sand Lick, the development
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is now proposed for the mountain top behind the county
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garbage transfer station. In other business, the court voted to
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extend the deadline for a net recovery to spend fifty
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thousand dollars awarded through opioid settlement funds for a rehabilitation
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program that uses electrical probes attached to patient's heads to
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provide gentle stimulation intended to reduce withdrawal symptoms in people
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recovering from opioid addiction. The court held the second reading
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and approved the county budget for the next fiscal year.
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It heard a report from crisp Back of the Kentucky
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River Area Development District that the National Park Service has
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reopened its preservation grant program. He said the county may
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be eligible for grants to restore historic buildings. In Whitesburg,
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the court awarded a one point seven million dollar contract
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to Nathan Bailey Construction to renovate the former Blackie Water
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treatment plant into the new Blackee Community Center, and the
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court heard a report from Collier that a new certificate
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of need is not required for another ambulance service to
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operate in Electric County. I sent an e mail to
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k B E m S Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical
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Services about the situation and about a second certificate of
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need because some areas are not being served. Collier said
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the reply was that a second certificate of need is
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not required. You can operate an ambulance service, but the
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only stipulation is the second service can only do emergency runs.
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It can't do transports. The area previously served by Letcher
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Fire and Rescue is now being covered by Neon Fire
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and Rescue, which serves the area from Atswisberg Station and
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often has only two ambulances on duty. County wide magistrates
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have repeatedly questioned when that situation will improve. Adams said
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he has spoken with Neon Fire Chief Carter Bevins and
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plans to do so again, but has been told the
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service has been unable to find qualified personnel. In a
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related matter, Letcher Fire Chief Wallace Spanky Bowling said there
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are too few usable helicopter landing zones in the County
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and suggested using some of the property acquired through flood
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buyouts for that purpose. Adams said he believed it was
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a good idea. The next story is drones join in
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battle against invasive kudzuu. The much anticipated UFO report from
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the federal government didn't reveal any little green men. But
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here in the South we've had plenty of sightings of
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one very hungry alien green and voracious. It can grow
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up to a foot a day, crawling along the ground
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and gobbling up telephone poles, junk cars, and even entire buildings.
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If you don't know what this insatiable invader is by now,
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you ain't from around here. Kudzuo, the scourge of farmers,
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the bane of abandoned buildings, and the vine that ate
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the South, may be the worst invasive plant ever brought
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to the United States, and as the climate changes, it's
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only getting worse. With an abundance of eighty six degree
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days last summer and ample rainfall until near the end
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of the growing season, kudzoo has hit its full stride.
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Over the past few years. Parts of Lectter County that
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once had little or no problem with the ground creeper
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had disappeared beneath its broad, fuzzy green leaves, and while elk,
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deer and other wildlife may enjoy it, the Kentucky Department
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of Fish and Wildlife Resources says enough is enough. It's
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a terrible problem in that part of the state, said
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Jacob Stuart, private lands coordinator for k d f w R.
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With any plant, there are positives and negatives. Stuart said,
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elk bear, anything that is a browser will eat on it,
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but anything that takes over and becomes a monoculture is
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a detriment. Kudzu was never meant to be growing in
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the wilds of the United States. It was brought here
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from China in eighteen seventy six as part of the
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country's centennial celebration. The plant was intended to be grown
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on trellises to provide shade from the hot summer sun.
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While Southerners might tire of the heat, kudzoo thrived in
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it and grew like a weed, so to speak. Once
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it started growing, there were all kinds of plans for
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the foreign invader. Farmers were encouraged to use it as
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livestock feed. The U. S Soil Conservation Service promoted it
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for erosion control, but kudzoo proved ungovernable. It went where
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it wanted, grew where little else would, and if something
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else did grow there, the vine simply climbed over it
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and shaded it out of existence. The problem with getting
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rid of kudzu is that it is not only detrimental,
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it's determined. It will climb seventy five foot trees, scale cliffs,
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and cover almost anything that gets in its way. So
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k d f w R is borrowing an old military strategy.
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If you can't beat an invading army on the ground,
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call in air support. Fish and Wildlife is using drones
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to reach places that are difficult or impossible to access
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on foot. The drones carry tanks of herbicides called Escort
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and transline into the woods, weaving between trees and delivering
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treatment directly to the kudzu. We use it where it's
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non containable, in places that are not reachable by heavy equipment,
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sprayers and that sort of thing. Stewart said. The work
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is still experimental, but so far it has shown promising results.
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Much of the treated kudzu has been killed down to
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the route, although repeated spraying over several years will likely
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be necessary. To eliminate it completely. The technique is promising
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not only because it allows crews to reach areas that
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would otherwise be inaccessible, but also because it is relatively inexpensive.
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Land Owners can treat their property for about seventy five
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to eighty dollars per acre in herbicide costs and then
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watch the vines die back. Anyone interested in removing kudzu
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from their property can contact Fish and Wildlife for a
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free consultation on managing land for wildlife without resorting to
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imported invasive plants. The next headline is Pipeville man fined
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ten dollars costs after speeding over one hundred twenty miles
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per hour to flee cop. Three others sentenced. A Pipefville
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man was sentenced to two days in jail and a
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ten dollars fine after being arrested for fleeing from police
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at speeds up to one hundred twenty miles per hour.
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According to the citation, issued shortly after noon on April thirteenth,
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Kentucky State Police trooper Brandon Watts driving north on US
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twenty three at Jenkins and running ringar when he met
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Christopher Bevins twenty eight of East Shelbyana Road in Pikeville,
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traveling eighty five five miles per hour in the opposite
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direction on the twenty twelve Harley Davidson motorcycle. Watts wrote
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that when he turned his cruiser around, Bevins fled, hitting
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speeds of up to one hundred twenty miles per hour
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in the fifty five mile per hour speed zone before
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pulling over at the Virginia state line. Bevans was charged
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with speeding twenty six miles per hour or more over
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the limit, reckless driving, first degree fleeing and evading police,
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no registration plates, no registration receipt, and no motorcycle operator's license. However,
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his charges were reduced as a result of his plea bargain.
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He pleaded guilty to first degree fleeing or evading police
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and a reduced charge of speeding five miles per hour
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over the limit. In addition to the ten dollars fine,
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he was ordered to pay one hundred sixty five dollars
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in court costs, given credit for time served and released
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from jail. Videns was one of three people to plead
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guilty in the past week in Lectri Circuit Court. A
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fourth person, Vincent Fleming was sentenced to nineteen years in prison.
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Jason Polly, forty five of seven to forty Lakeside Drive, Jenkins,
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was sentenced to fifteen days in the county jail for
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possession of drug paraphernalia, while a charge of first degree
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first defense possession of Metham fetemen was dismissed. As part
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of the plea deal, court costs were waived. Polly was
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arrested after police responded to domestic dispute and found him
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hiding in the home allegedly in possession of Metham fetemen.
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Vanessa Adams sixty nine of fifty Blue Jay Hill, Jeremiah,
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pleaded guilty to first degree trafficking in a controlled substance
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first defense greater than ten dosage units of an unspecified drug.
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She was sentenced to five years in prison, probated, and
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ordered to pay four hundred doll restitution. Court costs were waived.
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She asked that her prison sentence be waived, and the
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judge agreed she must be on supervised probation for five
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years rather than go to prison. The next headline is
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head Start expanding the Jenkins head Start is opening a
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new early head Start classroom in Jenkins. On June twenty ninth.
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Lklp's early head Start serves pregnant women, infants, and toddlers
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from six weeks to three years of age. Persons wishing
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to learn more information or apply may visit the Jenkins
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head Start Center call six oh six, four three, five, seven,
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nine six two. The next story is Yance takes helm
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of lecture schools, sets three major goals. New superintendent cites
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school safety, academic achievement, and enrollment growth as Letcher County's
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new superintendent of schools has three major goals for his
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first four years, hiring school resource officers in every school,
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elevating the district's schools to be the best in the state,
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and bringing students who have left the district back home
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to Letcher County. Josh Yance, currently the district's assistant superintendent
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for finance, said he still has two children in the
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school district and takes his duty to students and parents seriously.
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I know how I love my children, I know how
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parents in the community love their children, and I want
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to provide for them the best that I can, he said.
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The Letter County Board of Education voted four to nothing
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late Friday to hire him to a four year contract
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at a salary of one hundred and fifty five thousand
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dollars per year. Yance signed the contract in the Letcher
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County Central High School auditorium Friday night. Yance will take
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over as superintendent on July first. He will replace Denise Yance,
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who has announced her retirement. The two share a last name,
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but are not related. Josh Yhnce thanked the current superintendent
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for her service and support as his boss since she
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took over eight years ago. During the pandemic, I was
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made COVID czar, I guess, so I had to deal
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with all the contact tracing and everything during COVID. So
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all I got was the bad news. That's all I heard,
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he said. I'd say, Denise, what are we going to do?
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She said, We're going to get through it, and we're
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going to get through it together, and she was right.
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Josh Johns has been associated with the Lester County School
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District his entire life. He attended Martha Jane Potter Elementary
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School and is a nineteen ninety four graduate of Fleming
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Neon High School. After earning a bachelor's degree in history
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and math from the University of Virginia's College at Wise.
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He went on to earn a master's degree from Union College,
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certifications in principal ship and school finance, and an Education
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Specialist EDS degree from the University of the Cumberlands. He
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taught math and coached basketball at Martha Jane Potter served
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as principal there for six years and then moved to
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the Central Office as director of State and Federal Programs.
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I did that for about two years probably, and then
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I was hired as the finance director. I picked up
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the assistant superintendent duties to go along with it in
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twenty eighteen, John said. John said as finance director, he
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already budgeted for the district to hire school resource officers
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throughout the district. The state will provide the district twenty
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thousand dollars per school for an SRO. He said that
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amount is about a third of what is required for
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each position. State law requires one officer at each school,
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but the district has only been able to find three
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so far, and one of those quit after deciding the
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job was not a good fit. Yance said people often
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think of school resource officers as protection against major threats,
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but it is the smaller, day to day situations that
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demonstrate their value. As an example, he said he was
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taking his two younger sons to Fleming Neon Middle School
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when he encountered an accident in front of Martha Jane Potter.
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Thank god, no one was hurt, but there was Officer
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Joseph taking care of everything, directing traffic because our SRO
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was stationed at Martha Jane that day, He said, it
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made me feel good as a district administrator knowing there
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was somebody there taking care of that. It didn't have
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to be a teacher or a principal or an aide
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or something. We had somebody there who was trained for that,
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and that felt good. I want that for all our schools.
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Johns said his second goal is to improve education in
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Letcher County schools and make them the best in the state.
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He said the high school has already achieved a Blue rating,
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meaning it is among the highest performing schools in Kentucky.
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Now he wants the same distinction for the district's middle
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and elementary schools after a couple of years. I want
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our academic success to be unparalleled in the state. John
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said his third goal is to encourage students who left
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the district during COVID nineteen or after the flood to
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return to Letcher County schools. To do that, he said,
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the district must make its schools attractive to students and parents.
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I want a lot of our kids to come home.
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If they're in a neighboring district or a neighboring state,
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wherever it may be, I want them to come back home.
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This is their home. Lecher County is their home, and
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I want them back here. He said. We have a
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great school district, We have great schools, and it needs
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to be a warm, welcoming and inviting environment. I think
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we can do that. Yance is married to Martina Green Yance,
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and the couple have three children, Gage, who is in college,
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and Jude and Jace, who will be incoming freshmen at
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LCC this fall. The next story is County remains in
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severe drought. Letcher County remains in severe drought according to
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the latest US Drought Monitor report released June twelfth. The
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federal drought map places all of Letcher County in the
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D two, or severe drought category, indicating continued shortages of
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soil moisture and below normal stream flows. Despite scattered recent rainfall,
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Forecasters say the weather pattern may become more favorable for
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rain in the coming days. The National Weather Service is
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calling for a periodic chances of showers and thunderstorms through
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much of the week, with daytime temperatures generally reaching the eighties.
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While locally heavy rainfall could provide temporary relief, drought experts
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note that it typically takes several widespread rain events over
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an extended period to significantly improve severe drought conditions. The
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next US Drought Monitor update is expected Thursday. Drought is
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forecast to persist across most of eastern Kentucky through the
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end of summer, although some improvement will likely occur act
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times in the next month or so. The National Weather
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Service says some rain is possible Thursday and Friday. The
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mixt headline is the caption of a photograph delivered by
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rail driven home to Jeremiah by mule. An old horse
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drawn farm wagon sits on a farm near Jeremiah. The
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wagon was sold by by Sears, Roebuck and Company and
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shipped to Letcher County by rail some time after the
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arrival of the railroad in nineteen twelve. The wagon's original owner,
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Hezekiah highse Caudle, ordered it from a Seers catalog and
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had it delivered to Blackie by train. According to his
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grandson L. M. Mike Caudle, who took the photograph Highsey
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Road a mule to Blackie to pick up the wagon,
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spent two days assembling it beside the railroad depot, and
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then drove it home. The arrival of the railroad transformed
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life in Letcher County, allowing residents to purchase goods previously
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unavailable in the mountains. Through the Seers Catalog, families could
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order everything from horse drawn wagons too ready to build
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homes which were shipped by rail to depots from Blackie
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to McRoberts. And The next story is drought changes fishing
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patterns across area lakes. This is Gabby's Fishing Fever by
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Greg Gabby Caudle. We've been in a bad drought for
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quite some time now and it has had a major
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effect on our lakes. Low water levels have impacted many
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aspects of fishing, especially the spring sprawning season for a
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species such as bluegill and bass. Normally, these fish move
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into the backs of creeks and along shallow banks to
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spawn when lakes reach their summer pool levels. This year, however,
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they have had to seek out new areas with suitable
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spawning habitat The changing conditions have also made fishing much
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more difficult. Many anglers look forward to this time of
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year because fish are usually concentrated near traditional spawning areas,
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making it possible to catch a lot of fish in
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a short amount of time, But the unusually low water
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levels have changed those patterns. Some long time fishing spots
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in shallow areas are now completely dry. Beaches and area
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lakes also remain closed because of low water conditions. We
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have fished both deep and shallow water for bluegill over
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the past few weeks and have done fairly well, but
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we have had to work much harder to stay on
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active fish. Traditional spring fishing patterns simply have not worked
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under these conditions. Lake levels are slowly beginning to rise.
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I have received reports of some large lakes that are
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still twelve to fourteen feet below summer pool levels. If
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you get out on the water this time of year,
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keep moving and try different locations until you find active fish.
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As water levels continue to improve, fishing should gradually settle
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into more typical late spring and early summer patterns. The
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next article is Vaut's Views by Larry Vaught Reed Shepherd's
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NBA success is no surprise. Rhes Davidson knew his cousin
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Reed Shepard was a special player when he played at
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North Laurel High School and then the University of Kentucky. However,
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even Davidson has been a bit surprised by Shepherd's overall
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play the last two years with the Houston Rockets. I
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can't say I knew he would be where he is
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right now, especially this early. I thought it would take him,
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if he got to the NBA, probably a couple of
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years to do what he's done right now, said Davidson,
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who signed to play college basketball at Liberty after a
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superb career at North Laurel. I played with him in
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high school, and from when I played with him there
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to going to Kentucky his freshman year, and then now
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every step of the way, he's gotten better every year.
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Sheppard was the only Houston player to play in all
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eighty two regular season games, and one of only eighteen
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in the NBA to do so last season, when he
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averaged twenty six point two minutes and thirteen teen point
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five points per game, after averaging twelve point five minutes
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and four point four points as a rookie, He shot
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forty three percent from the field and thirty nine point
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four percent from three during the regular season. His one
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hundred twenty two regular season steals or sixth best in
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the league. Although he began the season coming off the bench,
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Sheppard started eleven of Houston's final fourteen regular season games,
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and during that stretch averaged fourteen point three points and
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four point three made three pointers per game. He started
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five of the team's six playoff games and averaged twelve
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point two points, four point seven assists, and two point
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two steals per game. North Laurel coach Nate Valentine told
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anyone who had listened that Sheppard was elite in high
27:52
school and that would translate to the collegiate level. Sheppard
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finished his high school career with three thousand, seven hundred
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twenty seven along with one thousand, two hundred fourteen assists
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and one thousand fifty rebounds. He was Kentucky's Mister Basketball
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and went on to become National Freshman of the Year
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at u K and was the third overall pick by
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Houston in the two thousand twenty four NBA Draft. A
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lot of people asked me, did you ever think he
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would be in the NBA, and I was like, yeah,
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I really did, because every stage that we put him
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on he excelled. Valentine said, this concludes the reading of
28:32
The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been billed an arsenal.
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Now please stay tuned for continued programming on behalf of
28:41
everyone here at radio. I thank you for listening and
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have a good day.