Transcript

4.24.25 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill then Arsenal. We
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will begin with the addition dated April 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
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difficult to read printed material. The first headline, three million
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dollars will finance next phase in old hotel project. A
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three million dollar legislative earmark for the Daniel Boone Hotel
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announced by the General Assembly last summer has finally arrived
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in Eleccher County. The Lecture Fiscal Court received the check
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last week and voted this week to enter into an
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agreement with the City of Whitsburg to pay for the
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hotel project. Using that grant, the money comes to the
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county and the project is handled by the city. Judge
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Executive Terry Adams said, it's the city's money we just
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passed through. Plans call for replacing the windows to seal
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the building from the weather, and renovating the first floor
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for retail space and possibly some limited lodging. The building
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is the largest in downtown Weisberg at about sixty by
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one hundred and sixty feet with four floors, including the
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full basement. When it was opened the weekend of July fourth,
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nineteen twenty, the Daniel Boone Hotel had cost about one
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hundred thousand dollars to build and furnish about one point
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two million dollars in today's dollars a bargain basement cost
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by modern standards. Stabilization of the building alone, begun in
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August twenty nineteen and completed in early twenty twenty, cost
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more than one million dollars. At the time the Daniel
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Boone was built, it was a first class hotel in
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a town that still had dirt streets and farm animals
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in downtown. In addition to rooms to rent, it featured
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a banquet room where many weddings and meetings were held,
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a cafe, a barber shop, and several offices. An open
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eight friom allowed sunlight from a skylight to reach to
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the bottom floor. The skylight was eventually the literal downfall
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of the building. Part of the glass in the skylight
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was broken and allowed water into the building, damaging three
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wooden floors below it. The roof, and all three floors
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eventually collapsed into the basement. The hotel operations ceased in
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the nineteen seventies. Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation used it for
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its first clinic beginning in nineteen seventy six, and the
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county rented it as a temporary courthouse from nineteen ninety
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seven through nineteen ninety eight while the nineteen sixty four
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courthouse just down the street was being renovated. The buildings
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sat empty for a number of years until the Dahhare
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family gave it to the city in two thousand and nine,
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and it has been unoccupied ever since. The city awarded
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bids for that first project to SSRG of Cincinnati. That
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company removed the debris and the damaged parts of the
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building and built a new structure inside the century old
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brick walls, including structural members, three new floors, a new roof,
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and an elevator shaft. SSRG has been involved in many
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of the historic renovations in the Over the Rhine district
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in Cincinnati, one of the largest historic districts in the country,
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with twelve hundred buildings built mostly between eighteen sixty five
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and the eighteen eighties. The Daniel Boone Hotel is in
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the heart of the downtown Whitesburg Historic District, where there
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are about eighty v three historic buildings built between eighteen
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ninety six and nineteen sixty four. The existing plans, laid
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out by now retired architect Bill Richardson, called for forty
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two rooms and a rooftop peenthouse, complete with outdoor patio
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and a first floor retail space. Those plans were preliminary.
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A new architect or engineer will need to be hired
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to do the final design. The next story is board
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members will decide fate of Eolia's school. The Lecher County
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Board of Education will decide the fate of Arley Bogg's
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Elementary School on Monday night. The superintendent, two board members,
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and more than one hundred others attended a public meeting
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in the school gymnasium on Thursday to discuss plans to
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close the school, and two things were made clear. The
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superintendent says the school is too small to remain open,
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and the parents say it is too essential to close.
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When the meeting started, Superintendent Denise Jance told the crowd
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of greenclad parents and community members that she didn't want
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to close the school, but enrollment is down to eighty
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seven for next year and only two children had registered
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for kindergarten this year. There are one hundred three in
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grades one through eight and eight in kindergarten. The school
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is down twenty five students from the last school year
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and down from one hundred forty in twenty fourteen twenty fifteen.
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The district has also had difficulties staffing the school with
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certified teachers because of split classes and the small number
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of teachers who are expected to teach eight grades plus kindergarten,
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and it has had problems with maintaining the aging building.
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We have to look at what's best for the students
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of Arley Bogs and that's why we are here tonight,
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she said. There will be no decisions made tonight and
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it's not for debate. We just want to hear from you. Parents, however,
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say they know what is best for their children and
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it's not riding a bus across Pine Mountain and Downlittle
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Callan twice a day. David Eastep questioned the district's spending
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choices and asked for an itemized accounting of the costs
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associated with the school, questioning why are we spending three
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million dollars for a football field. Eastep was apparently referring
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to the middle school football field in Whitsburg. Another parent,
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who did not identify herself, asked how many students there
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are in each classroom at Callan. Yachts said there are
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twenty in kindergarten, twenty eight in first grade, twenty three
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in second, twenty five and third, twenty three in fourth,
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thirty three in fifth, twenty four in sixth, thirty seven
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in seventh, and thirty eight in eighth district. To Magistrate
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Kenny Andrew, person whose son attended Arley Boggs and whose
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granddaughter will likely attend it if it is still open,
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questioned whether all the people employed at the school would
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be out of a job if the school closes. Yants
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said they would not. The teachers would transfer to Callen
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Elementary with the students, and there are enough openings for
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the classified employees as well. There's all kinds of things
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we need to look at before you do these things.
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These little community schools actually teach these kids, he said,
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I know firsthand. I had two that went to Whitesburg
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that couldn't write their name, and I think that's bad
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Mendy Boggs, who served on the Board of Education for
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twelve years, apologized to parents, saying she felt like she
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didn't fight hard enough as a board member. Enrollment is
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down from around three thousand, six hundred to two thousand,
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three hundred now. It is a financial stretch, but she said,
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we have money to keep the old vocational school going
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for years, for three sports teams to practice. Our kids
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have been through, for lack of a better word, hell
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for the last few years, she said, citing COVID nineteen
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in twenty twenty and the flood of twenty twenty two.
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Less than a year after school went back in session.
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When they returned to school again, a bus with more
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than twenty students on board was hit by a tractor
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trailer on Kentucky nine thirty two and rolled over the hill.
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There was one serious injury, and a few weeks later,
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a bus carrying the same students tilted onto its side
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in a ditch when the driver dodged another tractor trailer
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on US one nineteen. Over the course of the two
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hour meeting, parents, teachers, and current and former county officials
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came to the podium to speak out against closing the school.
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Only two current school board members could attend because of
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a state law that says any time a majority of
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members meet together, a special meeting must be called and
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public notice given at least twenty four hours in advance.
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Board Chairman Robert Kaiser attended the meeting along with Angie
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Miranda Holbrook, who took office as a school board member
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in January and represents the Cumberland River area. Holbrook taught
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at Arley Boggs, and at sixty years old, she said
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she spent twenty eight years there. She assured those present
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that no matter what the rest of the board does,
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she has made up her mind. I am not going
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to vote to shut my school down, she said. The
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next story is three more housing sites are coming. Lecher
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County will use a seventeen million dollar Rural Development Disaster
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Recovery grant to build three more high ground subdivisions. The
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county is partnering with non profit Housing Finance Organization FAIHEE
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and non profit Builder Homes Incorporated of Weisberg on the projects,
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which will bring a total of fifty new housing units
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to the county. That money is for the purchase of
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the property for the smaller high ground part Judge Executive
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Terry Adams told the Lectrifiscal Court at its regular meeting
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on Monday. There are several other subdivisions planned, but those
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are larger developments at Jenkins and possibly at Weisburg, though
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that site has not progressed far. The dollars are to
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procure three properties in Sicco, Thornton and us Extend the
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necessary infrastructure roads, water sewer if available, develop the properties,
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and build the houses, said Seth Long, Executive director of
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Homes Incorporated. We expect to build twenty four single family
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houses and thirteen duplexes twenty six on these properties. The
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projects are part of an effort to replace homes that
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were destroyed in the twenty twenty two flood. The high
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ground subdivisions are intended to be out of the floodplain
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and be of an energy efficient design. Ten houses are
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either complete or nearing completion at the old Marlow Coal
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Camp at Sandleck. The Cottages at Thompson Branch was a
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joint local, state, and federal project that started off with
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two mobile homes placed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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Homes Incorporated has since placed permanent block foundations built steps
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up the porches. Changed some of the siding and placed
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solar panels. Eight stick built homes are also being built,
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and all are either complete or nearing completion. All the
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houses at Thompson Branch are using rooftop solar panel to
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achieve net zero, meaning they are capable of producing as
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much energy as they use. The complete plan calls for townhouses,
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single family homes, duplexes, and apartments in locations around Letcher County.
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In addition to the ten houses at Marlow, Homes intends
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to build nineteen apartments inside the old Fleming Neon High School,
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twelve single family houses at Thornton, twelve single family homes
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at uz twenty six townhouses at Sicco, forty eight two
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story townhouses, and eight single story apartments on Townhill in Whitesburg.
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The Town Hill site will likely be the farthest in
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the future because of the need for water, sewer, a road,
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and other infrastructure to the mountaintop site. The work does
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not include houses homes will help build in surrounding counties
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or the houses it could build on the Grand View
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subdivision in Jenkins, where another three hundred fifty homes are
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planned on an old strip mine off US twenty three.
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More than sixty of the new homes will be multi
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family rental units, something long called a heavy lift. The
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next story is new law will let you ride ATVs
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on roads. People in Lectra County who own side by
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sides and ATVs will soon be able to drive them
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on the roads here legally if they meet certain requirements.
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Senate built sixty three, passed by the Kentucky General Assembly
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this year, allows counties to adopt ordinances allowing the use
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of special purpose vehicles on public highways with some restrictions.
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The Electrifiscal Court passed the first reading of an ordinance
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allowing that on Monday. The new law would allow people
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over the age of sixteen to drive the vehicles on
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two lane highway as long as they are street legal, registered, insured,
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and do not travel more than twenty miles on a
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road with a center line. The law takes effect June
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twenty seventh. Special purpose vehicles include ATVs, UTVs, mini trucks,
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pneumatic tired military vehicles, and full size special purpose built vehicles.
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Low speed vehicles as defined by state law are not included.
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In order to arrive the vehicle on the highway, they
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must have the following equipment one or more head lamps,
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one or more tail lamps, one or more brake lamps,
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a tail lamp or other lamp constructed and placed to
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illuminate the registration plate with a white light. One or
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more red reflectors on the rear of the vehicle. An
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amber electric turn system, one on each side of the
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front of the vehicle, amber or red electric turn signals
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on the rear of the vehicle. A braking system other
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than a parking brake, A horn or other warning device,
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a working muffler, rear view mirrors on the right and
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left side of the driver. A windshield unless the operator
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of the vehicle wears eye protection while operating the vehicle.
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A spedometer illuminated for nighttime operation. A roll bar or
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roll cage for multi passenger vehicles. A seat belt assembly
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that conforms to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for
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each designated seating position. Tires that have at least two
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thirty seconds of an inch or greater tire tread. The
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county ordinance is aimed at making the county friendly to
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tourists who travel hundreds of miles to ride ATVs and
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UTVs in the mountains. In the same meeting, the court
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approved an innerlocal agreement with First Frontier Appalachian Trails, part
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of the Kentucky Mountain Regional Recreation Authority. There are currently
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trails in eighteen counties in Kentucky, and the agreement allows
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the county partner with First Frontiers to connect trails within
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the state and to other states. First Frontiers also has
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liability insurance for the trails. Tim Whitehead, a community trail
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development coordinator for a First Frontier, said West Virginia's Hatfield
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and McCoy Trail brought in forty two million dollars and
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Kentucky wants to create something similar. The Spearhead Trail in Coburn,
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Virginia is a standalone trail, but the Hatfield and McCoy
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Trail is a system of trails. Hatfield and McCoy is different.
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It's all tied together, he said. Off road vehicles might
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need to get on public highways to move from one
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trail to the next, and that's why Whitehead said it
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is important for Lectri County to pass the ordinary allowing
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them to be made street legal. He said if the
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drivers obey the new law, they're welcome. He said drivers
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will also have to obey traffic laws noting that some
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people like to pop a can of beer when they ride.
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If they do that on the highway, they need to
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make an example of them, Whitehead, said. Judge Executive Terry
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Adams said ATVs can't run forever through the woods, and
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allowing the vehicles on the highway will make it easier
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for them to spend money in the community. Those people
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buy gas and groceries, he said. The next story is
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Letcher Central senior finishes second of two hundred ninety six
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in state archery tournament. Brooke Lucas, a senior at Lecher
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County Central High School, finished second of two hundred ninety
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six individual archers competing in the khsaa's Girls State Archery
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Tournament held April seventeen in Lexington Brookshaw, at two hundred
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and ninety two, only four points behind champion Madison Puckett,
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who attends Meade County High School. Overall, LCC's archery team
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finished twelfth among the twenty two teams competing in the attorney.
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Harrison County High School finished first. Jenkins High School's Kimber
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Collins tied for fifth place in the tournament. The next
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headline is MSU grad from Letcher County accepted into competitive
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state internship program. Letcher County native Arwin's Sergeant, a current
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Moorhead State University student majoring in public history, has been
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accepted into the competitive internship program at the Kentucky Department
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of Libraries and Archives KDLA. This opportunity will provide her
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with hands on experience in the field of archiving and
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library science, further preparing her for a future career as
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a librarian or archivist. Sergeant, who graduated from Letcher County
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Central High School in twenty twenty two, has long aspired
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to a career in library science. She has been a
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dedicated student worker in the archives at MSU's Camden Carroll
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Library since her freshman year of college. Her acceptance into
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this internship marks a significant step toward her professional goals.
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The KDLA internship will provide Sergeant with practical training and
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professional networking opportunities, allowing her to build on the skills
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she has developed at MSU. This experience will be invaluable
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as she prepares for graduate studies in library science and
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a career in the field. The internship at the Kentucky
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Department for Libraries and Archives is an amazing opportunity, said Sergeant.
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I've had a work study position here in the campus
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archives since my freshman year, and I've wanted to pursue
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a Master of Library Science since high school. I've always
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had a deep appreciation for libraries since I was a
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small child, and knew by high school that I wanted
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to become a librarian or an archivist. This internship gives
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me the chance to make some great connections and learn
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a lot this summer. I was beyond ecstatic when I
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got the email offering me the position. Getting this experience
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before I even start grad school is just absolutely amazing.
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According to doctor Adrian Manzi, MSU's Public History program prepares
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students for a fulfilling career by providing them with real
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life work experiences, from direct involvement in cutting edge research
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to unique study abroad opportunities. In her time at MSU,
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Arwin has studied while walking across the ruins of the
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Acropolis in Athens, Greece, excavated a Civil war battery in Georgia,
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explored the Nazi death camps and Ashwitz Poland, and worked
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under the direct supervision of the Head of Special Collections
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at the Camden Carroll Library Sergeant's achievement exemplifies the success
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of students in the program and highlights MSU's commitment to
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fostering opportunities for experiential education and professional development. The next
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story is friends Remember Tom Bethel, Eagle reporter for more
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than sixty years and tireless advocate for coal miners Appalachia
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and others. When the Scotia mine in Letter County exploded
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twice in March of nineteen seventy six, Mountain Eagle reporters
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spread out to interview miners, recovery workers, and others, gathering
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facts and chasing down rumors. Fortunately for them and readers everywhere,
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Tom Bethel, then research director for the United Mine Workers,
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had dropped everything and was standing by in Whiteburg to
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turn their raw material into a seamless, compelling narrative, pecking
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away on a typewriter with only one finger at a
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speed that shamed the best touch typist. Bethel, who died
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peacefully on April tenth in Washington, d C. At the
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age of eighty six, shaped stories in that week's Eagle
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that gave a complete account of the disaster and all
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the mistakes that led to it. Tom Bethel was no
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stranger to the Eagle or coal miners. A contributor to
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The Mountain Eagle for six decades, he dedicated his extraordinary
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investigative writing, photographic, and analytic skills to demand justice for
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coal miners and Appalachia. Tom was a prince of a man,
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a saint in the too small world of advocacy journalism.
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On behalf of those who carry an unequal share of
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our nation's burdens, said longtime Eagle contributor Jim Branscomb. Tom's
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persistence in demanding justice for coal miners and the mountains
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as few equals coal miners and the cause of mind's
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safety never had a better friend. Thomas N. Bethel was
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born on January eighth, nineteen thirty nine, in Beverly, Massachusetts,
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the youngest of three siblings. He attended, but did not
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graduate from Harvard University, possibly expelled the story goes for
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dropping a typewriter from three stories to see if it
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would bounce. In nineteen sixty two, he began a series
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of editing jobs, the first of which for Boston publisher
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Houghton Mifflin brought him to Weisberg. A year later, he
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began to write for The Eagle. Beginning his long and
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powerful advocacy for Appalachia and its people. In nineteen sixty seven,
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Bethel became information officer for Appalachian Volunteers a v's, a
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federally funded anti poverty program. Unlike many poverty warriors who
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came to the mountains with their own preconceptions and agendas,
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Bethel would listen and learn, said Suella Koback, a Pipe
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County native whom Bethel befriended in the nineteen sixties. He
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was so much more aware of who he was within
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Appalachia while he was there and the limits placed on
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him in that place. Mike Clark, whom Bethel hired as
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an av shortly after the two met on a Not
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County strip mine in nineteen sixty seven, quickly learned that
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Bethel was a fast study and driver. Tom had a
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unique ability to put interviewees at ease while talking about
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death and injuries in the minds, Clark said, as a
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journalist dealing with hard reality such as mind disasters, black
24:49
lung and the bleakness of poverty, greed, and murder, he
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never lost his capacity to find hope in ordinary people.
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He was the finest journalist I ever had had the
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pleasure of working with, and he taught me enormously how
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to use ordinary words to tell complicated stories with clarity, passion,
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and accuracy. For all his serious work, Bethel never lost
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his great sense of humor, sharp wit, and zest for life.
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He traveled across the mountains in a succession of small,
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fast cars that he drove at high speed, often challenging
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coal trucks on narrow, potted roads. Clark said he loved
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classical and rock music and had an ability to make
25:35
up and sing songs at full volume while rocking at
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high speed. Bethel and Clark resigned from the AVS to
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protest that organization's firing of draft resister Joe Molloy. At
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Bethel's urging, Clarke went to work with The Eagle, whose publishers,
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Tom and Pat Gish were the go to sources for information, inspiration,
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and to sleep on for countless people from and interested
26:03
in Central Appalachia. Bethel became the Guish's lifelong friend and partner,
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often finding reporters for their always screaming but struggling Weekly.
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Phil Primack was one of many recruited by Tom into
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the Eagle Aids Society I visited Eastern Kentucky while still
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in college near Boston, said Primak. In nineteen sixty nine,
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I was steered to Tom Bethel, who at the time was
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helping to launch the weekly Boston Phoenix. He in turn
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steered me to Tom and Pat. Instead of accepting job
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offers from some big daily papers, I went to work
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for The Eagle in nineteen seventy. I thanked Tom Bethel
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for keeping me off a much more boring career ladder.
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Writing for The Mountain Eagle meant covering mind disasters, strip
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mind destruction, and other heavy topics. Bethel was always a
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fa to not only help synthesize and navigate such difficult issues,
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but to lift the mood in the newsroom every time
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he visited, said Sally Bright, who worked for the paper
27:11
in nineteen seventy two. Tom teased everyone, cracked jokes, and
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generally created an atmosphere of fun, and yet he was
27:19
very serious about his mission to keep the coal companies
27:22
in check and to champion the residents of the coal field.
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Bethel pursued that mission with a steady stream of always insightful,
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always perfectly written pieces in The Eagle and beyond. In
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nineteen seventy, he created Appalachia Information, becoming a one man
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operation doing herculean work writing about coal related developments in labor,
27:45
industry and government in Coal Patrol, his monthly newsletter. His
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journalistic advocacy and skills weren't limited to coal. In the
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late nineteen eighties, as policymakers debated ways to engage young
27:59
AMAS Americans in public service, he played a quiet but
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crucial role in reviving an old idea, a national Youth
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Conservation Corps. Similarly, his work on social security stands as
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a testament to his unwavering commitment to protecting and strengthening
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one of America's most vital social programs. Tom Bethel leaves
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behind his wife, Catherine Joyner Bethel, stepdaughter Lydia Joyner, stepson
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Thomas Macavity the third, and step grandson Simon Macavity. He
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also leaves two older siblings in Massachusetts and Vermont. This
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concludes the reading of The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has
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been billed An Arsdale. Now please stay tuned for continued
28:47
programming on behalf of everyone here at Radio I thank
28:51
you for listening, and have a good day.