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Whitesburg Mountain Eagle - 6.25.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill and Arsenale. We
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will begin with the addition dated June twenty fourth, twenty
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twenty six, which the publishers have donated to Radio I
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as a reminder. Radio I is a reading service intended
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for people who are blind or have other disabilities that
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make it difficult to read printed material. The first lighting
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is a photograph of a man ringing a bell and
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the caption is bell still calls family together. Darryl Dean
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Cornett ninety two, a retired NASA engineer from Arab, Alabama,
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carried on a family tradition dating back more than seventy
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years to the end of the Korean War, when he
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rang the family dinner bell at the Cornett family reunion
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in Blackie. The next story is Letcher Fire Department reopens
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as ex chief under investigation. Letcher Volunteer Fire Department is
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back on its feet A year after the department went
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broke and its fire and ambulance services stopped. The fire
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service is back open and officials say Neon Fire and
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Rescue is expected to move an ambulance into the station soon.
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The Neon service is currently taking calls in the area
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from its Wisburg substation. An investigation is now under way
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into Sean Gilly, who had leased the ambulance service, closed
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it down and moved away, leaving thousands of dollars in
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unpaid bills, creditors threatening foreclosure, and unusable new fire department building,
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and less than six thousand dollars in a bank account.
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The department still can't access state funding because of the
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open investigation. For months, the department had to rely on
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mutual aid from surrounding departments because it couldn't run enough
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trucks to fight fires. Now, officials say bills are being
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paid and it is back to responding to fires with
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fourteen members on its roster. They've worked hard and they're
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open and running, District four Magistrate Cheddy Smiths said after
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a meeting of the department and community Monday night. Keith Adams,
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chairman of the department's Board of directors, said the department
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has all three of its stations back in operation, including
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the main station at Spring Branch and substations at Blackie
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and Campbell's Branch Community Center, and it is able to
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pay the insurance and electric bills on all of them.
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Diane Adams, who is married to Keith, said they've been
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able to do it with financial help from people in
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the community and from the Electrofiscal Court. Neon Volunteer Fire
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and Rescue has been providing ambulance service to the area
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from its Wisburg substation, but officials say Neon Volunteer Fire
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and Rescue is ready to place an ambulance at the
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Letcher Fire Station. Lecture. Fire Department is asking that Neon
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pay the utilities for the building since its crews will
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be there twenty four hours a day, Adams said. But
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while the service may be beginning to turn around, a
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history of alleged corruption by former officials is still hanging
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like a dark cloud over the department. Longtime Chief personnel
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manager Gary Rogers was indicted in March of twenty twenty
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five on a charge of abuse of public trust greater
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than ten thousand dollars but less than one hundred thousand
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dollars for allegedly pocketing money that should have gone to
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the department. Gilly and Fire Chief Wallace Spanky Bowling rested
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control of the department from Rogers in twenty nineteen because
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of what they said then was financial mismanagement and a
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rumored plan to sell the service to American Medical Response,
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a Texas based for profit ambulance service. The county loaned
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the service three hundred and twenty four thousand dollars in
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twenty nineteen to pay off a loan Rogers had gotten
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from First Government lease of Northfield, Illinois, at an interest
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rate of thirty one percent. The ambulance service paid that
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loan off with the county loan and then paid off
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the county loan, but Fire Department board voted to lease
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the ambulance service to Gilly Enterprises, and in twenty twenty
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four Gilly acknowledged that he had also borrowed money from
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First Government, this time at thirty eight percent interest, and
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First Government was again threatening to repossess the equipment and
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the building. Those loans used fire trucks for collateral. Gilly
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laid off all the employees and shut down the ambulance
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service without notice. AMR then started to take runs for
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Letcher immediately. The next headline is warning sirens in works
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as devastating twenty twenty two flood nears its fourth anniversary.
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Tornado sirens are something Western Kentuckians and those in other
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parts of Tornado Alley are used to but there is
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a move now to install sirens in Lettter County and
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link them to stream gauges that will be installed around
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eastern Kentucky. According to Chris Back, a grant writer with
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the Kentucky River Area Development District, the US Geological Survey
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approached KRADD about the project because the four counties that
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were hit hardest by the twenty twenty two flood were
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in this region. Letcher County is especially important to the
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project because three rivers begin here and heavy rains in
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this county could have big effects on flood in other counties.
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We've applied for funding of that project, said Back, who
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reports monthly to the Electrofiscal Court about his grant writing efforts.
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We've aligned ourselves with USGS on stream gages and we're
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going to integrate that with the emergency county. Only ten
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have so far emerged. Those are at the cottages at
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Thompson Branch site at sand Lake, More have been built
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by nonprofit relief agencies on private property across the county.
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Many of the people who are being bought out are
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using that money to pay a down payment for one
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of the high ground homes. The county is currently working
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on two buyouts, one with the Federal Emergency Management Agency
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and Kentucky Emergency Management and the other through the Natural
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Resources Conservation Service. The FEMA project had ninety nine homes enrolled,
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and the county has purchased seventy nine of those. Of
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the seventy nine, seventy one have been demolished and cleaned up.
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The NRCS project includes one hundred and twenty eligible properties,
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of which ninety three have been bought. Of those, forty
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four have been demolished, and twelve more are approved for demolition.
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Public buildings are moving faster, though some still aren't built.
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In Fleming Neon, the city bought an old funeral home
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and moved city hall there, and the library reopened June eighth,
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twenty miles away in Blackie, the library still sits as
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it was just after clean up from the flood. The
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wall framing is exposed part way up on the lower
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level of the building, and only the upper section is
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open for limited services. An architect for Summit Engineering told
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the Lesser County Library Board of Trustees last week that
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it might be ready to advertise for bids after the
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board meets again on July twentieth, the Blackie Community Center,
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which was severely damaged in the flood, was torn down,
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and the Electrifiscal Court approved a bid last week from
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Nathan Bailey to remodel the old water treatment plant into
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a community center. Trace Creek Construction of Vanceburg is serving
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as construction manager on that project. Trace Creek was also
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in charge of renovating all the school facilities that were
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flood damaged, and work has been completed on all except
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the Alternative Education Building site. Work is being done on
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Grand View Subdivision at Jenkins, and Mayor Todd de Priest
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said road will be completed after the house seats are done.
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The public part of that subdivision will be around one
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hundred homes, with a privately developed area that will include
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around two hundred more plus commercial property. The only people
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eligible to live in those houses are a victims of
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the flooding. Meanwhile, the Kentucky River Area Development District has
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applied for a grant to make the North Fork of
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the Kentucky River into a blue Way, a recreational stream
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where people can fish, kayak, and canoe back. The krad
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D grant writer said he's attempting to organize a clean up,
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probably late next month to remove tires from the river.
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The date for the work has not been set. The
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next article is family tradition has endured over seventy years
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when Arch and RDI Cornett hosted the first Cornett family
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reunion on the family home place off River Road in Blackie,
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near the end of the Korean Moar. Three of their children,
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Elwood Cornett eighty eight, Darryl Dean Cornett ninety six, and
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Mildred Cornett Strunk were there to take More than seventy
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years later, the three surviving members of the couple's twelve
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children joined more than ninety relatives and friends for the
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June thirteenth through fourteenth reunion, continuing a family tradition that
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spans generations. There are several photographs that go with this story,
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and the captions are. Melanie Watts of Carl's Branch leads
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the singing of gospel songs from the Old Regular Baptist
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Songbook at the family cemetery. Elwood Cornett delivers a greeting
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to his family to the Cornett family home place before
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dinner on Sunday, June fourteenth, as brother Darryl Dean Cornett
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and sister Mildred Cornett's strunk looked on Arch and Ardi.
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Cornett's old house is now a family museum and guesthouse
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that includes this nineteen forty seven Filko refrigerator. If the
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unit ever stops working, plans are to be buried in
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the family cemetery with its own headstone. Great great niece
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George Anne and great niece artists share warm hubs for
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Elwood Cornett. Reunion time was spent Saturday at the Cornett
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family Cemetery, which is located across River Road from the
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home place. Pigtails supported by George Anne, the five year
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old granddaughter of Larry Stewart of Lecher County, were a
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big hit. The next story is grand jury says man
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endangered his two children by driving wrong way on the highway.
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Father is one of eleven charged in latest indictments. Here,
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a blacking man was charged with first degree wanton endangerment
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after allegedly coasting his vehicle with two children inside down
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Pound Mountain in the wrong lanes of US twenty three.
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Zachary Allan Jones v. Eighty seven, Irish Hill Blackie is
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charged with first degree possession of controlled substance first offense
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metham pediman and two counts of first degree wanton endangerment.
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According to Jenkins police officer Jim Stevens, Jones said he
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was going to Virginia to buy cigarettes because they were cheaper,
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and ran out of gas. Jones allegedly made a U
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turn in the southbound lanes and coasted the car back
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down Pound Mountain toward Jenkins on the wrong side of
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the concrete barrier in the median. The wanton endangerment charge
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stems from Jones having two children under four years old
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in the car with no car seats while going back
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down the mountain, Stephens said. Stephens testified before the grand
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jury in the case. Also among the indictments, three Electric
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County residents were charged after they allegedly damaged a pickup
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truck and stole around seventeen one hundred dollars from inside it.
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Amy Bailey Bowling forty seven, twenty six seventy Highway three seventeen,
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jackhorn Ellis Blevins fifty one one sixty Sharp Branch, Cremona
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and Holly Strickland Lamb forty two forty three sixty six
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Highway eight O three Gentkins Is each charged by the
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Lecher grand jury with first degree criminal complicity to criminal
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mischief in defacing, destroying, or damaging property causing pecuniary loss
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of five hundred dollars or more when they broke out
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two door windows on a Dodge Ram truck belonging to
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David Thomas. The three are also charged with criminal complicity
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to theft for removing a bank bag containing at least
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seventeen hundred dollars in cash, possibly more, from the inside
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of Thomas's truck. Kentucky State Trooper Donnie Bruce Kelly testified
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in the case against all three. Stephen Fox sixty one
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four eighty eight Highway twenty five forty five Thornton Billy
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Bates sixty nine one eighty eight Sergeant Road, and Allan
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Adams sixty five thirty one Pine Creek Road. May King
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is each charged with criminal complicity to enter and remain
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in a building with the intent to commit a crime
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when they strip down a heat pump to obtain the
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copper inside the unit, strip down the walls to obtain
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the copper electrical wiring inside the wall, and removed several
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light fixtures from their mounting to obtain the copper wiring
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Kentucky State Trooper Khalil Sloan testified in the case. Wilson
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Brownham fifty nine two forty two, Rocky Hollow, Jenkins is
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charged with rear license not illuminated, possession of marijuana, first degree,
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possession of control substance, first defense, methamphetamine, first degree, trafficking
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in a control substance, first offense, meth and fettermine by
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possessed drug paraphernalia, and failure to notify address change to
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Department of Transportation. Branham was arrested May twenty second after
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Jenkins Police Chief Joshua Richardson noticed a car with the
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rear license plate not illuminated and conducted a traffic stop
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with the assistance from Neon Police Chief Canine Dustin Jackson.
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Richardson said in a citation that Jackson took canine Airees
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around the above vehicle for an open air search, and
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the dog indicated narcotics in the vehicle. The citation said
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after stepping out of the car and Jackson explaining the
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open air sniff, Branham told them he had marijuana in
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his vehicle. Police said they found several empty bags and
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scales above the driver's sunvisor. And a glass pipe in
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the center console with a crystal like substance inside. Richardson
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said he also located a black box that contained several
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bags of a white, crystal like substance believed to be
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methamphetamine on the floor totally one ounce. Chief Richardson testified
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in the case. Austin Peas thirty one two seventeen Fairview Lane,
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Wichberg is charged with first degree possession of a control
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substance heroin public intoxication control substance excludes alcohol by possessed
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drug paraphernalia, and third degree possession of control substance drug unspecified.
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Officer Michael Garner of the Wichburg Police Department, who testified
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in the case, wrote in a citation that he was
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addressing a parking complaint on Cowan Street by placing no
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parking notices on windshields when Peas came out of an
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apartment with a backpack. Garner said he asked if Peas
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could move his vehicle and then noticed he was unsteady
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on his feet, talking extremely fast and slurring his words.
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Garner said Pease could not stay still and stop moving,
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and when he attempted to detain him, Peas tossed his
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backpack halfway under a car and started to walk away.
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Garner said he placed Peas under arrest and searched him,
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finding approximately one half gram of suspected black tar heroin,
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approximately a gram of suspected marijuana, half of a suspected
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suboxone till, a marijuana grinder with suspected marijuana in it,
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a two to three inch long metal tube with suspected
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heroin in it, and a two to three inch length
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of drinking straw with suspected suboxone in it. Upon arrest,
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Peas allegedly told Garner that he had been smoking meth,
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using fentanyl, smoking marijuana, using crack cocaine, and taking suboxone,
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that he had been on a bender and had not
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been to sleep in several days. Pease also allegedly said
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he just finished smoking black tar heroine before encountering the officer.
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Garner said he administered a preliminary saliva test and Peas
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tested positive for cocaine, meth, fentanyl, and marijuana. Mister Peas
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was honest and respectful, the citation said. Tiffany Quillen thirty seven,
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seventy humble Hill Jenkins is charged with failure to eliminate headlamps,
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first degree possession of control substance second offense, methamphetamine by
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possessed drug paraphernalia and a prescription controls substance not in
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proper container, second offense. According to the citation, fleming Neon
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Police Chief Dustin Jackson saw Quillan's car pull out of
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a gas station without her headlights on and pulled her over.
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He said in the course of conversation, Quillan became nervous,
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and when he asked if there was anything in the car,
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she said there shouldn't be, but other people had been
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in the vehicle. Jackson said he walked his canine around
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the vehicle and the dog alerted on the passenger side door.
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Jackson said he found a pink case in the passenger
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seat containing two glass pipes with a crystal like residue
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and one had a substantial amount of melted substance in
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the bowl. He wrote that he also found a prescription
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bottle of sub utechts and four Gabba pentant tablets not
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in the original container, in the center console. Jackson testified
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before the grand jury in the case. Philip ray Tackett,
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fifty three, is charged with second degree burglary Tackett was
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accused of squatting in a vacant house on Brickyard Hill.
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Tackett had allegedly moved his clothing and other belongings into
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the house without permission from the owner or caretaker. Chief
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Jim Stevens of the Jenkins Police Department testified in the case.
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Christopher Whittaker forty seven one twenty one West End Drive,
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Whitesburg is charged with being a convicted felon in possession
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of a firearm and being a convicted felon in possession
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of a handgun. The citation was not available at press time.
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Whitesburg Police officer Seth Whittaker testified in the case. Robert W.
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Booker fifty three sixteen Triplet Drive, Clintwood, Virginia is charged
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with buy possessed drug paraphernalia and first degree possession of
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control substance car fintain nil or fentanyl derivatives. According to
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a citation filed by Fleming Neon Police Chief Dustin Jackson,
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he stopped a vehicle in which he recognized the person
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in the passenger seat as someone with an active warrant.
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After detaining the passenger, he asked if they were were
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any narcotics based on the passenger allegedly giving false identifiers.
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Booker allegedly told him there shouldn't be Jackson walked his
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kp arees around the vehicle and said the dog showed
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a change of behavior at the driver and passenger door.
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Jack said he searched the pickup truck and found a
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glass pipe with residue and the loaded syringe that tested
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positive for fentanyl in the center console and other syringes
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inside the vehicle. Jackson testified before the grand jury. The
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next headline is these six steps can protect you from bears.
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As black bear sightings become more common across eastern Kentucky,
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wildlife officials are encouraging residents to take simple steps to
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reduce conflicts between bears and people. The Kentucky Department of
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Fish and Wildlife Resources is promoting the bear Wise program,
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which recommends six basic steps to help keep bears wild
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and communities safe. Never feed or approach bears. Intentionally feeding
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bears or allowing them access to human food can teach
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them to associate people and homes with food. Bears can
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also become dangerous if approached too closely. Secure food, garbage,
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and recycling food odors attract bears, so residents should store
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garbage and recyclables in secure containers and avoid leading food
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waste where bears can access it. Remove bird feeders when
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bears are active. Bird Seed and grain are high calorie
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foods that can attract bears to residential areas. Never leave
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pet food outdoors. Pet food should be stored indoors, and
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when possible, pets should be fed inside. If feeding outdoors
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as necessary, food and bowls should be removed immediately after
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pets finish eating clean and store grills. Grills and smokers
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should be cleaned after each use to remove grease, fat,
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and food particles that can attract bears. Alert neighbors to
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bear activity. Residents who see bears or signs of bear
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activity are encouraged to notify neighbors and share information on
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ways to prevent conflicts. Barewise notes that black bears have
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adapted to living near people in many parts of the country.
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By removing food attractants and taking a few precautions around
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the home, residents can help prevent problems and reduce the
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likelihood of unwanted encounters. The next article is when television
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came into Letcher County with today's television viewers able to
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choose from hundreds of table channels and streaming services. It's
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hard to believe it's not been all that long ago
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that people were complaining about not having enough choices available.
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Before Electric County residents could complain about having too few channels, however,
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someone first had to figure out how to get television
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into the mountains. That story begins in November nineteen forty nine,
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when Raphael's of Salar Radio Company in Whitsburg took a
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new television set to the v D Pikelsheimer Cabin the
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top Pine Mountain near Whichburg and discovered that programs from Cincinnati, Louisville,
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and Columbus could be received there with surprisingly good results.
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The set was manufactured by RCA Victor, had an eight
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inch screen and cost three hundred dollars, which is the
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equivalent of four thousand, one hundred and ninety eight dollars today.
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Television came to Electric County last week. The Mountain Eagle
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reported on November fourteenth, nineteen forty nine, from indications it
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may be here to stay. The problem, as Salur quickly recognized,
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was getting TV signals to the valleys and hollows below
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Pine Mountain, as only a motel and a handful of
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getaway cabins were located on the top Picklsheimer, for instance,
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was then vice president of Southeast Coal Company, the firm
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that built the coal camps of Sicco and Millstone, and
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spent most of his time at his home in downtown Wisburg.
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Salu predicted at the time that not everyone would be
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able to pick up television programs depending on mountains, but
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soon took on the challenge that would shape the next
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several decades of television service in Electric County. Eighteen months later,
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in the spring of nineteen fifty one, a group of
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homeowners in the Lakeside neighborhood of Jenkins, most of them
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officials with Consolidation Coal Company, had erected what The Mountain
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Eagle called a co community television antenna a top pine
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mountain near Pound Gap. The result was excellent reception in
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at least five lakeside homes. The Eagle reported in its
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May seventeenth, nineteen fifty one edition that visiting New Yorkers
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said the television reception in Jenkins was better than in
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New York. In Whitsburg, Salyer kept experimenting by March nineteen
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fifty two, he had erected a tower on Callan Mountain,
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better known as Town Hill, which stood between the School
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Hill residential area and the community of Little Callan. From
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that tower, Salyer ran a line to Forster Brown's house
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on College Hill that offered what was reported to be
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good reception both day and night of a television station
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in Huntington, West Virginia. That was the beginning of what
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became Letcher County's officially recognized cable television system, one that
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continued to grow, largely through the help of Phil Holston,
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who joined Salor Radio within two years of his nineteen
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forty seven graduation from Whitesburg High School and would quickly
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become the company's only cable linemen installer and in home
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TV repairman. A nineteen fifty four Mountain Eagle column by E.
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Hampton Barnett described the work of Saler and Holston in
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memorable terms. Ray Saaler and Phil Holston have done it again,
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Barnett wrote, calling them electric wizards who built a tower
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above Whitsburg and brought the wires off the hill and
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thus pulled TV into the valley. Ten years later, Saler
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and Holston were still working to improve and expand the system.
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The November nineteenth, nineteen sixty four edition of The Mountain
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Eagle reported that Salier was publicly opposing a proposal by
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a group of county residents working to raise seven two
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hundred dollars needed to build a TV translator on Pine
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Mountain that would provide a TV signal from wbr TV
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in Knoxville, Tennessee, to antenna equipped homes from the community
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of Whittaker near Neon Junction to the head of sand
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Lit near Whitzburg. Sallier was disappointed that some residents of
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Whitesburg itself were supporting the translator project because they had
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rather received one channel with no guarantee of good recession
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instead of paying the small cable fee the multiple channels
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his company was providing. This concludes the reading of The
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Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been billed an arsenal. Now
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please stay tuned for continued programming on behalf of everyone
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here at Radio I thank you for listening, and have
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a good day.