Transcript

7.24.25 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Weisberg. Your reader today is Bill den Arsdale. We
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will begin with the addition dated July twenty third, twenty
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twenty five, which the publishers have donated to RADIOI as
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a reminder. RADIOI is a reading service intended for people
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who are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult.
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Speaker 2: To read printed material.
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Speaker 1: The first story is Wi Fi coming to Fishpond Lake.
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The Lecture County Fiscal Court has approved the installation of
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wireless Internet around Fish Pond Lake, giving visitors a way
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to browse the web or make phone calls without driving
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away from the park. Broadband coordinator Harry Collins told the
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court on Monday that the project will be done in
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two phases. The first, which will cost an estimated seven thousand,
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nine nine hundred and twenty seven dollars, will include placement
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of a pole, a starlink modem on the pole, and
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broadcasting equipment near the picnic area used for reunions. It
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will provide Internet connectivity to the picnic area, the caretaker's
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trailer and dam area, and possibly some coverage on the
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side near the main entrance. The Caretaker's trailer will also
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have telephone connected to the system. Eastern Telephone will build
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both phases. Collins said the county pays one hundred forty
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dollars and twenty four cents a month for internet and
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telephone to the trailer, and the new system will be
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one hundred and fifty dollars a month to provide service
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to the trailer and to the public in the area
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around the dam. With Wi Fi calling, people can just
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turn that on and make calls.
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Speaker 2: Colin said.
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Speaker 1: Phase two, which will cost about eighty four hundred seventy dollars,
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will provide coverage to the RV park and some of
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the area on the backside of the lake, judging by
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the map. Colin said the unit for the RV park
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should also cover the boy Scout camp below it. If not,
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it will put it within steps of coverage instead of
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no coverage at all, he said. While he suggested the
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county could save money by throttling the internet service during
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winter months, he said I haven't found a time when
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there aren't people at fish Pond. Members of the court
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agreed it should remain operational year round. People go up
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there and walk and jog. Judge Executive Terry Adams said
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this would give them a safer feeling. Collins said eventually
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he will ask the court to approve a third site
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at the lake. The next headline is parents want judge
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to order Eolia's school must stay open. Three Eolia area
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residents are asking Letcher Circuit Judge James W. Craft Second
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to sign an injunction stopping the closure of Arley Bogg's
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Elementary School. A hearing on the motion was scheduled for
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Thursday in lectri Circuit Court. Troy Danis, Hassel Hampton, and
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Melissa Eisen, all of whom identify themselves as citizens, property owners, taxpayers,
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and parents of children who attended Arley Bogg's Elementary last year,
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filed suit against the Letcher County Board of Education in March,
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claiming the board failed to act in good faith upon
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a sound, just and reasonable basis and have due regard
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for public interest and consequences upon the children affected when
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the decision was made to close Arley Boggs. The suit
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claims the closure of the school, which served the Cumberland
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River section of Letcher County, will force their children into
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overcrowded classrooms and will reduce property values in the area
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because there are no other schools in the county on
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that side of Pine Mountain. The suit goes on to
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claim the board made the decision to close the school
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in private. However, the board discussed the closure publicly in
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at least two board meetings and held a forum at
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the school before taking a final vote. The board answered
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the suit by acknowledging the identities of the person's filing
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the suit, but denying all other allegations. The plaiffs asked
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on Friday for a temporary emergency injunction to prevent the
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board from taking any other actions to close the school.
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That motion will be considered Thursday. The district has already
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reassigned teachers from the school and has scheduled the first
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day of school for teachers for August eleventh, and students
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are set to return to school on August fourteenth. Meanwhile,
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the Electrifiscal Court voted on Monday to table the request
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by the Lectri County Board of Education to return property.
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The court assumed ownership in nineteen eighty nine to help
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the school district finance an addition and renovation at Arlebag's School.
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The district and the county had an agreement to return
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the property once bonds were retired. The county declined to
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vote on the ownership issue until a representative of the
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board comes to the court to explain the timing of
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the request. The next story is man charged here named
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in forty.
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Speaker 2: One other court documents.
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Speaker 1: When the current Lectter County Grand Jury returned an indictment
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against James Cornett late last week, it marked the forty
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second time since nineteen ninety four, and the second time
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in two days that Cornett, fifty two of three Toho
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eight River Road, Cumberland, was indicted or charged with a felony,
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a misdemeanor, or a serious traffic offense in one of
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eight Kentucky counties. On July seventeenth, the grand jury here
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charged Cornett with first degree wanton endangerment of a police officer,
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three other counts of first degree wanton endangerment, speeding over
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one hundred miles per hour, being a persistent telony offender,
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and five other charges. This latest indictment of Cornett in
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Letcher County was handed up to Lecter Circuit Judge James W.
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Craft the second after grand Jurer's heard testimony from Whitsburg
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City Police officer Mike Garner Cornett is also charged in
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the indictment with improper passing, operating a vehicle on a
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suspended or revoked operator's license, reckless driving, failure to signal,
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and first degree fleeing or evading police motor vehicle. The
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Letcher County indictment came one day after Cornett was indicted
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in Harlan Circuit Court on a drug charge, and one
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and a half years after he was indicted by a
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separate lectri grand jury on charges of flagrant non support
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and first degree being a persistent felony offender. On July sixteenth,
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the Harlan County grand jury indicted Coronett on charges of
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first degree possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine, and operating
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a motor vehicle while under the influence of a control substance.
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Cornett is also named in a sealed indictment returned in
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Harlan County the same day. Cordet's alleged crimes and traffic
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offenses have occurred in Boone, Fayette, Harlan, knot Knox, Laurel, Leslie,
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and Lesser Counties. Cornett is one of eleven people named
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in New felony indictments handed up to Judge Craft last Thursday.
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The others named include a Jenkins man accused of trying
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to strangle his partner, and a Jeremiah man in three indictments,
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including two charging him with trafficking in the drug methamphetamine.
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William Mitchell Back forty seven two six to two Highway
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thirty four hundreds, who was charged with second degree strangulation,
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domestic violence related, and fourth degree assault minor injury. Trooper
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Brandon Watts, who arrested and charged Back with the charges
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on the morning of July eighth, testified to the grand
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jury concerning the case. According to a citation written by Watts,
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Kentucky State Police Post thirteen in Hazard received a Line
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one one call from the alleged victim at eight fifty
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five a m. On that Tuesday. Watts wrote that on
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arrival to Back's home, the alleged victim, who was sitting
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in a nearby car, told him Back became angry when
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she refused to have sex with him. Back claimed that
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instead the woman bid him after he told her he
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was going outside to trim weeds. Upon my arrival, Neon
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pde Chief Dustin Jackson was speaking with the accused William
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Back on the porch. The citation says the victim was
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sitting in a red sedan with her juvenile son beside
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in front of the house. The victim stated she and
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William had a verbal argument that became physical. She stated
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William was upset because she would not have sex with him.
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She stated William began choking her with his arms around
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her in a hugging manner. She stated her face was
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at his chest. Then she bit him to get away.
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She stated. William then slung her to the bed. According
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to the victim, William took the keys from the wall,
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preventing them from leaving. The victim was unable to move
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her neck. She stated she had a previous neck injury.
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I went in the bedroom and the bed looked as
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if there was an altercation there. William stated the victim
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was upset because he was.
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Speaker 2: Going to weed eed.
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Speaker 1: He stated they were lying in bed and she bit him.
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A citation says Trooper Watts said the juvenile's son appeared
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to be scared of back. Robert Ryan Adams, fifty of
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seventy nine Edith Drive Jeremiah is named in an indictment
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charging him with first degree possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine,
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first defense, and buying or possessing drug peerphenelium. The first
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indictment was returned after Wichburg Police Sergeant Mike Garner told
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the jury about his arrest of Adams after stopping him
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for speeding on the Witchburg Bypass around one pm on
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June twenty fifth. According to a citation written by Sergeant Garner,
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he stopped Adams after the radar equipment in his cruiser
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showed that Adams, operating a twenty twenty two Kia four
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wheel drive vehicle, was traveling the bypass at seventy miles
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per hour. Garner said that while he was riding a
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speeding ticket to issue to Adams, assistant Weichburg Police Chief
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Justin Hunsucker arrived at the scene with the city's canine dog, Sully.
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After Sully performed an open air sniff of the vehicle,
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Garner writes in the citation, gave a positive alert and
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a search produced approximately two point five grams of suspected
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methamphetamine located in two small plastic baggies inside of a
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backpack in the front passenger seat. I also located one
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syringe another plastic baggie containing suspected meth residue and a
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small fabric container with feathers on that also contains suspected
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meth residue in the backpack. In the two other indictments,
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Adams is charged with first degree trafficking in a control
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substance over two grams of methamphetamine first defense, and first
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degree trafficking in a control substance less than two grams
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of methamphetamine first defense. Detective Gary Sykes of the Kentucky
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State Police Drug Enforcement Special Investigations THEESI Unit, testified to
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the grand jury in the two drug trafficking indictments. Adams
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is one of three people named in the latest indictments
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after being a arrested on metham fetomine related charges because
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of the work of the City of Weitsburg's drug dog.
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Candice n Combe's forty three of two eighty three Buck Creek, Whitesburg,
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was indicted on a charge of first degree possession of
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a controlled substance metham fetimine, first defense, and buying or
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possessing drug Paer Fernilia. According to a citation issued by
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Officer Hunsucker, the assistant Weisburg Police Chief who testified to
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the grand jury concerning the case. Combs was arrested on
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the afternoon of May twenty eighth, after Weisberg's Sergeant Garner
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pulled over a red twenty twelve Nissan Titan auto traveling
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on Kentucky Highway two three four at Ermine. During the
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course of Sergeant Garner's traffic stop, reasonable suspicion was established
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due to multiple passengers having warrants and stories not adding up.
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Hunsucker wrote in the citation, Canine Sully was deployed. Canine
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Sully had a positive alert on the vehicle. A meth
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pipe and small baggie with a small amount of myth
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was recovered. The above female advised it was her myth
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and pipe.
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Speaker 2: Jennifer N.
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Speaker 1: Cantrell, forty one of forty one Loves Branch Coulson, is
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charged by the grand jury with first degree possession of
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a control substance methempetomine, first defense, and third degree possession
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of a control substance drug unspecified. Assistant Weisburg Chief Hunsucker,
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who testified in this case before the Grand jury, arrested
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Cantrell after she was stopped in traffic on June twenty seventh,
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also by the w PD's Sergeant Garner, and also on
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Kentucky Highway two three four at Ermine. The traffic stop
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was conducted by Sergeant Garner Hunsucker Rights in the citation,
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he requested my assistance.
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Speaker 2: He had seen a.
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Speaker 1: Butane lighter and had reasonable articulable suspicion. I deployed canine Sully.
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Sully indicated the presence of narcotics during the free air
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sniff around the vehicle. A search was conducted and a
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small amount of myth and five Gabba pentant pills were located.
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Others indicted and the charges against them are Christopher Neve
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thirty seven sixty five Utopia Lane Jenkins, who was charged
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with second degree domestic violence assault of his wife on
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the night of July fourth. In an arrest citation, Kentucky
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State Police Trooper Charles Moore says k s P Post
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thirteen in Hazard received a nine one one call from
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some one saying the wife needed help at the home
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she shared with her husband. The call came on July sixth,
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two days after the alleged assault. The caller advised that
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the wife had messaged on Instagram due to Christopher Neve
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being abusive and was afraid to use her phone to
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dial nine one one. Trooper more rites. The caller advised
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that the wife said she had a possible head injury
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and was assaulted. ME and Trooper Adam Baker were dispatched.
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Speaker 2: To the scene. Trooper Moore continues.
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Speaker 1: Upon arrival, we made contact with the wife and husband.
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The wife had visible injuries on multiple locations of her body.
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EMS was also dispatched. The wife advised that this assault
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took place on July fourth, at approximately eleven pm. Christopher
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was placed under arrest and transported to the Lecher County Jail.
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Ernest Austin twenty two eleven Leopard Drive Jackhorn, who is
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charged with second degree rape no force of a person
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aged thirteen and custodial interference. Zachary Austen eighteen eleven Leopard
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Drive Jackhorn, who is charged with complicity to custodial interference.
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Travis Yeary forty four two seventy six Buster Road Millstone,
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who is charged with tampering with a prisoner monitoring device
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and first degree criminal mischief. Carlos Bentley forty eight seventeen
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twenty eight Doty Creek Jeremiah, who is charged with first
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degree fleeing or evading police motor vehicle, reckless driving, disregarding
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a traffic light, improper passing, and being a second degree
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persistent felony offender. Trooper Brandon Watts of the Kentucky State
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Police testified in the case Christopher Todd Mullens, forty four,
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one forty eight doctors Hill McRoberts, who is charged in
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five indictments with first degree bail jumping. In a sixth indictment,
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Mullins is charged with tampering with prisoner monitoring device and
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second degree escape from the custody of the Leccher County Jail.
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In the next story, the comeback of Laser Tag may
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reach wrec Center here, a nineteen eighties game that is
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still gaining popularity more than forty years after it was invented,
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may be ready for its public debut in Leccher County.
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Letcher County Recreation Center Director Seth Otterson told the Lectrophysical
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Court on Monday that he's been talking with the company
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about setting up a Laser Tag arena in the former
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Bowling Alley, which was already in disrepair when it was
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inundated by flood waters during the July two thousand twenty
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two flood. The cost of the Wreck Center to the
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county has been a sore spot among members of the
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Fiscal Court for years.
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Speaker 2: Built in two.
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Speaker 1: Thousand eleven at a cost of seven point two million dollars,
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the county pays about forty thousand, two hundred dollars a
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month in bond payments and takes in very little income.
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Magistrates at various times have advocated selling the center, leasing
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space to private business, or hosting basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments,
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or gun and knife shows. Otterson, who took over as
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director of the center earlier this year, said laser tag
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would be an extra revenue stream to help defray some
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of the cost. On a really good week, I have
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five to six birthday parties in there, and that can
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accommodate kids up to about five six years old tops.
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The average income on a party right now is about
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one hundred dollars, and that includes concession. Otterson told the
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court the average income on a laser tag would be
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somewhere from three to five hundred dollars.
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Speaker 2: It just pens.
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Speaker 1: We haven't worked out all the prices yet. Laser tag
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was invented to mimic the blaster combat scenes in the
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Star Wars movies, and the first arena opened in Texas
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in nineteen eighty four, but instead of being a passing fad,
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laser tag has continued to grow. According to lasertag dot net,
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the sport is expected to reach a global market of
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six hundred and forty one million dollars by twenty twenty eight.
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The blog creative Works ranks it as the most popular
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and highest grossing attraction at family entertainment centers in the
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United States. Participants wear vests, harnesses, or headbands with infrared
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sensors attached, and carry taggers, gun like toys that fire
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an infrared beam similar to a television remote. When the
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beam hits the sensor on another player's vest, it sounds
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an alarm to show the person.
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Speaker 2: Has been tagged and scores the hit.
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Speaker 1: Real lasers are not used arena's charge admission or charge
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for play packages that include equipment needed to play. Currently,
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the recreation center party room is reserved in two hour blocks,
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and adding laser tag would allow two rooms to be
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booked at the same time. Otterson said, the old bowling
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alley is already cleared out and already has lighting set up.
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The room would have to be painted and tables and
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chairs added, but nothing else would need to be done
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other than get the equipment for laser tag. He told
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the court that the lower level of the bulling alley,
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where the lanes were located, would be used for laser
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tag games, and the upper level would have tables for
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partygoers to sit and eat. The next story is in
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American life, a growing and forbidding visual rises seeing law
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enforcement officers in masks while out on their jobs. In
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a matter of months, it has become a regular site
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around the country. Immigration enforcement agents detaining people and taking
20:37
them into custody often has public anger and outcry unfold
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around them, but in the process something has disappeared. The
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agent's faces covered by caps, sunglasses, pulled up neck gaiters,
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or balaclavas, effectively rendering them unidentifiable. With the year only
20:58
half over. The covered face, as deployed by law enforcement
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in a wave of immigration crackdowns directed by President Donald
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Trump's White House, has become one of the most potent
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and contentious visuals of twenty twenty five. The increase in
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high profile immigration enforcement was already contentious between those opposed
21:18
to the actions of Trump's administration and those in support
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of them. The site of masked agents carrying it out
21:26
is creating a whole new level of conflict in a
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way that has no real comparison in the US history
21:32
of policing. Trump administration officials have consistently defended the practice,
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saying that immigration agents have faced strident and increasing harassment
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in public and online as they have gone about their
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enforcement in service of Trump's drive toward mass deportation, and
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hiding their identities is for their and their family's safety
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to avoid things like death threats and dosing where someone's
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personal information is released without the permission on the internet.
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Speaker 2: I'm sorry if people are offended.
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Speaker 1: By them wearing masks, but I'm not going to let
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my officers and agents go out there and put their
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lives on the line, their family on the line because
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people don't like what immigration enforcement is. Immigration and Customs
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Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons said last month there's pushback,
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as expected. Democrats and others, including the several state attorneys general,
22:28
have pushed back, saying the use of face masks generates
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public fear and should be halted. In a letter to
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Lyons last week, a group of Democratic senators said, the
22:39
stepped up immigration enforcement in workplaces, restaurants, and other sites
22:44
was already causing dismay, and the increasingly common sight of
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masked agents represents a clear attempt to compound that fear
22:52
and chaos and to avoid accountability for agents' actions. In
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American culture, covering one's face has often gone hand in
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hand with assumptions of negative behavior. Think bandits dotting bandanas
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in Cowboy movies or robbers putting on ski masks before
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pulling a heist on a bank. Even comic book superheroes
23:14
who cover their faces have been swept up in storylines
23:18
in recent years that derisively refer to them as masks
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and say their decision to hide their identities while enforcing
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justice is transgressive, and the presence of masked police or
23:30
paramilitary forces in other countries has been seen by Americans
23:34
as antithetical to promise democracy and justice for all and
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the common law principle of being able to face your accusers.
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Mask wearing overall in American life took another hit during
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the COVID nineteen pandemic, when many Trump supporters scoffed at
23:52
notions that protective masks would insulate people from the deadly
23:55
virus and scorned people who wore them. Trump has come
24:00
out against masks, at least when they are being worn
24:03
by protesters. He posted on social media last month that
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demonstrators wearing masks should be arrested. Given all that cultural context,
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it's even more problematic that those enforcing laws be the
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ones with their faces covered, said Tobias Winwright, professor of
24:22
moral theology at Saint Patrick's Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland.
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He has worked in law enforcement in the US and
24:30
writes frequently about policing ethics. If what you're doing is
24:34
above board and write, he said, then why conceal your identity.
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Power gives different symbols different meanings. For those who question
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why it's different for law enforcement to wear masks if
24:47
protesters and non law enforcement personnel are doing it, it's
24:51
because symbols have different meanings based on the power and
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position of the people using them, said Alison Kinney, author
24:58
of Hood, a book of that clothing item and the
25:01
various ways people have used it. Ice agents are agents
25:05
of the state, and they're invested with not only power,
25:08
but also with protections in carrying out their job, she said,
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But that job is also supposed to be public service.
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It's also supposed to be accountable and responsible to the public,
25:20
and so they have a greater responsibility for transparency and
25:23
accountability and making themselves known so that we can hold
25:27
them accountable for the justice or injustice of their actions,
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she said. Concerns over how law enforcement is held accountable
25:35
to the public have come up before.
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Speaker 2: Advocates pushed for officers.
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Speaker 1: To wear body cameras and demanded that police officers have
25:44
visible names and badge numbers, but there hasn't previously been
25:48
much discussion around police masking because there isn't a history
25:51
of it being done in any kind of official, widespread
25:54
way in the United States outside of swat or undercover
25:58
type operations. Winwright said, the most high profile example of
26:04
mask wearing in American history for the purpose of hiding
26:06
identity is also its most negative one, racist attacks carried
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out by the members of the Ku Klux Klan. The
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masks served a purpose, of course, of keeping the wearer's
26:18
identities secret, said Elaine France, a history professor at Kent
26:22
State University and author of Ku Klux The Birth of
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the Klan during Reconstruction, but they also made it easier
26:30
for those wearing them to commit violent acts against others.
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Speaker 2: She said.
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Speaker 1: One thing about a mask is it kind of works
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like being behind a riot shield. France said, When you
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have more of separation from the person you're attacking, it's
26:44
easier to dehumanize that person. Winwright said he hoped law
26:49
enforcement mask wearing wouldn't be normalized. There has been at
26:53
least one expansion into local policing in Nassau County on
26:58
Long Island, just outside New York. County Executive Bruce Blakeman
27:02
last week signed an executive order allowing police officers to
27:06
wear masks during certain types of work, including working with
27:10
immigration agents. Winwright is concerned, though, that the move could
27:16
strain police community relations even more, thus putting officers at
27:20
even more risk. Wearing a mask seems to increase fear
27:25
and decreased trust, and policing from federal to local in
27:28
America needs trust and transparency and community relations that are positive,
27:33
he said. He added, the harms the risks are greater
27:38
by wearing masks, not only to the individual officers, but
27:42
to the profession itself as well as to the United
27:45
States society. It's just going to further exacerbate the US
27:49
versus them polarization, the lack of trust, and that's probably
27:54
the last thing we need right now. And this concludes
27:59
the reading of the Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been
28:02
build an arsenal. Now please stay tuned for continued programming
28:07
on behalf of everyone here at Radio I.
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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening, and have a good day.