Transcript

12.4.25 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to The Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Heisburg. Your reader today is Bill van Arsdale. We
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will begin with the addition dated December third, twenty twenty five,
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which the publishers have donated to RADIOI as a reminder.
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RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. The first story is work on Fleming
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Neon's old city hall building leaves officials wondering what the
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structure was built to house. Fleming Neon residents for getting
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a fresh look at a building that has been hiding
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in plain sight on the town's main street. Work began
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recently on the city's sidewalks, and when the contractor began
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laying the faux stone for a sidewalk beside the former
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city hall, the metal front of the old building was
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torn down and workers found something surprising underneath. Behind the
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windowless tin was a brick and stone building with arched
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windows that had been blocked up long ago. A ghost
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sign meeting a faded sign for a former business spans
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the top of the facade that says something no one
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has been able to figure out. I have blown that
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picture up and I still can't make out what it says.
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Mayor Ricky Burke says the building is in poor condition,
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with cracks in the brick and large flat pieces of
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steel bolted to the front to hold it upright, but
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the mayor is hopeful that the one point nine million
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dollars awarded by the state will pay for rebuilding it.
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It's not known when the building was built, but it
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was home to Arley Lewis's garage in the February of
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nineteen fifty seven when Neon residents were rowing boats down
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Main Street in the fifty seven flood. The police department
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and the water company moved in some time after that,
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and building became City Hall in the early nineteen eighties.
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After a fire in nineteen seventy nine destroyed the town's
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original municipal building, the city offices moved out of the
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building in twenty twenty two when the July twenty eighth
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flood severely damaged the old building, which sits across the
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street from the City Park. The former poly and Craft
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funeral Home eventually bought it and moved into it. The
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old building sat empty until this fall. That's paid for
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by money from House bill I to redo that building
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and redo sidewalks. Burke said it's been a long process
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getting the funding. We were supposed to start last June.
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He said, work on the building was delayed again when
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the city couldn't get concrete delivered. He said bids for
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the work on the building haven't been let yet, though
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the city has advertised for proposals for what can be
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done with the building. Those were due last Wednesday, but
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Burke said they won't be opened until at least the
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next City Council meeting or possibly the one Act for that.
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We really aren't in a big rush. We're going to
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do the other part of this first, he said. But
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what does the mayor think will happen to the building?
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We're going to redo the whole front of it, give
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it a facelift, and hopefully one day have a restaurant
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in it. He said. The only restaurants in Fleming Neon
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now are outside the city limits. The next story is
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ex sheriff says he killed judge, but didn't do it intentionally.
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Former Leccher County Sheriff Sean Mickey Stoppines acknowledged in a
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lawsuit that he killed district judge Kevin R. Mullens, but
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said he did not do so intentionally. The statement was
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part of an answer to a wrongful death lawsuit filed
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by Mullins's widow, seeking damages from him and from three
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deputies she claims should have stopped Stein's defendant admits to
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shooting Judge Kevin Mullins in his chambers. Defendant denies he
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did so intentionally as he lacked the capacity to intend
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the actions alleged in plative's complaint. To the extent further
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responses required, defendant denies at this time, The answer says.
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Steys's criminal defense attorneys have said they intend to pursue
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an extreme emotional disturbance defense in his murder case, while
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he is represented by different attorneys in the civil suit.
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The answer follows the same defense. Defendant admits that upon
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information and belief, he was exhibiting paranoid and psychotic conduct.
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Defendant is without sufficient information to know what others observed
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and perceived, the answer says. The answer goes on to
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include boiler plate answers to the suit, including saying that
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other unknown persons or even missus Mullins herself, could be
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responsible for the emotional distress she claims in her suit.
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Stein's has also filed a motion to dismiss the suit
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against him in his official capacity. Case law is clear
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that negligence claims and intentional torque claims are incompatible and
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the elements cannot coexist under one claim. The motion says
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Stein's is being represented in a lawsuit by attorneys L.
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Scott Miller and Emily B. Pince of Lexington. A hearing
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in the case has been said for January seventh. The
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next headline is probe of Whitco murder began four years ago.
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Lois Rogers Trent's death was the stuff of nightmares. Beaten
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beyond recognition in her own living room. The eighty three
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year old Witco woman was murdered less than a week
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after her husband, Jack died of natural causes. Four years later,
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the nightmare still isn't over. Missus Trent's murderer still hasn't
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been identified, despite a DNA sample that was sent to
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a private laboratory in Texas because of the backlog at
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the Kentucky State Police forensic lab. Kentucky State Police Detective
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Scott Carwell, who is in charge of the investigation, said
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he is waiting for that information now, but couldn't say
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much more than that there are elements with it that
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are sensitive and putting them in the paper could damage
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the investigation, Caudle, says. Allison Trent Caudle, a granddaughter of
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Missus Trent, who lives in Tennessee, said Caudle has gone
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above and beyond, but it's still frustrating that the state
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hasn't dedicated more resources to solving her grandmother's murder and
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others in eastern Kentucky. She said she and other victims'
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family members even met with legislators in February to ask
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that more money be put into the State Police forensic Laboratory,
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but the facility is still outdated and short staffed. If
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it was somebody in power, there would already have been
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an arrest. The thing they don't realize is even though
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she might not be important to them, the person who
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did this is still running around, Cantrell said, Statistically speaking,
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somebody that is capable of committing the crime that was
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done to my grandmother, the brutality of it, is a
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repeat offender. The Trent family's nightmare began the morning of
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December twelfth, two thousand, twenty one. Allison's father, Scott Trent,
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came to visit his mother. When he went inside, he
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found her lying in a pool of blood dead. Her
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pistol lay on the floor a few feet away. According
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to Cantrell, Missus Trent was scared some one would break
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into her house and always kept the gun with her.
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Even when Allison would knock on her door, her grandmother
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would call out to see who it was, ask again,
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and then peep through the blinds before she would unlock
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the door. And yet police said no one broke in
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that morning, nothing was stolen, and despite early reports to
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the contrary, no weapon was used. Cantrell said she only
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learned the details recently because she didn't want that to
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be the last image she had of her nanny. I
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just came to the realization I had to have the facts,
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she said. Cantrell said the only two things taken were
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a towel, possibly for the murderer to wipe away blood
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or fingerprints, and her grandmother's phone. Police found the phone
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in the woods behind the house. Cantrell said she doesn't
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know if missus Trant was dead when the killer or
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killer's left, or if her phone was taken, so she
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couldn't call for help before she died. She had a
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lot of good DNA under her fingernails. She fought for
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her life, but that didn't stop them, she said. One
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of the things that hurts most, Cantrell said, is the
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thought that the killer could be a member of the
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extended family, since the door had to be unlocked for
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them to get in. I don't think they were related
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to her, if that makes sense. My grandfather had a
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lot of children, a lot of grandchildren, and not all
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of them were hers, she said. There were hard feelings
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after my grandfather died, but my nanny didn't inherit a
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single thing my granddaddy owned. What I believe occurred is
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somebody thought my grandmother was going to get a lot
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of money, she said, but pointed out that settling an
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estate can take months, and her grandfather had been dead
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for just six days. She had nothing. Cantrell said, there
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was nothing for them to gain. The next story is
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exhibit features Appalachians who helped build Cincinnati. For many of
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us who were raised in the mountains, we had no
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idea what a big city looked like until the first
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time we saw the skyline of Cincinnati in person. Most
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likely from the back seat of the family cars our
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fathers were driving north to visit relatives. Many others arrived
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there for the very first time time to attend college
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or look for work. Among those who went to the
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area to attend college are Erin Sweet, who grew up
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in Whitley County, Kentucky. She still lives in Cincinnati. After
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first seeing the city's skyline when arrived in the area
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to attend Northern Kentucky University in twenty sixteen, you see
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the skyline, you're kind of mesmerized by it, she said.
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I found the spots on campus where you could see
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the city, and I was kind of like, wow, there's
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so many people. But then you realize that Cincinnati is
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not as big as some other cities, and you're humbled
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a little bit. Sweet's description of her first time viewing
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the Cincinnati skyline came during a recent interview with Cincinnati
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Public Radio ninety one point seven WVXU. During the same interview,
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a recording of the late Marlon Whitman told his impression
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of the Cincinnati skyline the first time he saw it.
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We traveled all day long, coming up Route twenty five
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from Tennessee. We got here just after the sun had set.
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Whiteman said, we came up Dixie Highway around Covington Hill,
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and I saw the lights of the city shining on
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the river, and I thought that was the most beautiful
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thing I had ever seen in my life. Cincinnati and
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all its lights had never seen anything like this before.
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Whiteman admitted the area of Cincinnati he ended up staying
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in wasn't as glamorous as the skyline he first saw.
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Whiteman is among several Appalachian natives who moved to Cincinnati
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to find work who are part of a traveling exhibit
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of photos entitled Perceptions of Home the Urban Appalachian Experience
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by Malcolm J. Wilson, whose photos appear frequently in The
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Mountain Eagle. Wilson's photos prepared with text from interviews conducted
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by Don Carruthers three decades ago. The exhibit is now
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on display through December in the public Gallery of the
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Catherine C. And Thomas E. Hunfield Story Center on the
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second floor of the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
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Main Library, and available to view during the library's open hours.
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Completed in nineteen ninety six, Perceptions of Home features the
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images and stories of twenty two families and individuals who,
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through choice or circumstances, made Greater Cincinnati their home and
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includes artists, musicians, educators, business people, blue collar workers, students,
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and more. The Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Exhibit includes over
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one hundred recordings of short interviews conducted with Greater Cincinnati
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residents from twenty twenty one to present and captures who
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we are as Urban Appalachians today. Many interviewed are the
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grandchildren and great grandchildren of original migrants and no Appalachia
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only through stories shared by their elders. The Urban Appalachian
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Story Gathering Project digital exhibits can also be explored via
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the center's four fifty five inch interactive touch screens. One
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floor up from the Story Center is the Joseph S.
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Stern Junior Cincinnati Room, dedicated to the display of artifacts
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and material relevant to local history. The next head line
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is despite lies, city's old hotel is dry and solid.
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In a shocking example of how misinformation is spread through
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social media, Electric County video blogger claims she has opened
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a white collar hotel investigation that revealed a conspiracy around
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the old Daniel Boone Hotel. The trouble is none of
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it is true, and the facts around renovations to the
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old hotel are widely available on Google and in the
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archives of The Mountain Eagle. The newspaper downloaded a transcript
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of the YouTube video to confirm that the video exists
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after being told about it. The vlagger from Jenkins, whom
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The Mountain Eagle is not naming to prevent the further
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spread of misinformation, has built a brand around salacious reports
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about the shooting of Judge Kevin R. Mullins by then
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Sheriff Mickey Steins, and claims of widespread corruption in Letcher County.
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While most of her claims rely on murky stories of
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former jail inmates and known criminals, on Monday, she made
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unfounded claims about a story that has been widely reported
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on for more than ten years. She claimed that Letcher
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County Attorney Jamie Hatton is the real owner of the
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one hundred five year old Daniel Boone Hotel, a three
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story building the Dawhare family donated to the city of
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Whitchburg in two thousand and nine. Hatton said he does
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not consume any of her content, but was told about
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the segment by someone when he attended a ballgame. He
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laughed at the notion that he owns the hotel. I
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do not. The city of Weichburg owns it, Hatton said,
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my dad does own the building next door to it.
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Hatton does not now and never has owned the building,
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which last served as home to the Letcher County court
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House while that building was being renovated in the late
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nineteen nineties. Jamie Hatton does own an old hotel building
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in Weichburg. However, that building was once home to the
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long defunct Johnson Hotel and later the Johnson Funeral Home.
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It is located at ninety five Main Street, next to
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Average Funeral Home and across the street from Letcher Funeral Home.
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He purchased the Johnson Building from former Letcher County Attorney
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Harold D. Bolling. It now serves as the offices for
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the Hatton and Watts law firm. The vlogger spent over
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two hours and thirty five minutes on YouTube Monday night
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falsely accusing Hatton of owning the Daniel Boone, which is
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being renovated in phases dependent on grant money the city
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receives from the federal government. The vlogger also speculated that
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Hatton is profiting from the federal dollars being spent on
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the rehab project, and she claimed that no work was
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ever done to the hotel despite a grant of more
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than a million. She has posted that the roof collapsed
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and questioned where the money went. They say they fixed
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all that, Well, where's the pictures? Why don't they put
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any pictures in the newspaper of all the work they've done?
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She said. The Mountain Eagle covered the first phase of
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the renovation extensively. Work began on August twelfth, twenty nineteen,
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and was completed around March first, twenty twenty. The newspaper
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carried multiple photos of the project. The vlogger says she
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remains a little envious that she applied for several jobs
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in the Whitesburg area but was never hired. It's something
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that I've just had to live with and I've had
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to struggle with. And I can't say that I got
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over it, because I'm still not over it. I still
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struggle with a lot of resentment. She said. She applied
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for a job with the Letcher County Tourism Commission but
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was rejected. I never did get any of their jobs.
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I never even got an interview. She has voiced similar
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complaints about the Letcher County Jail, against which she has
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made multiple accusations of corruption. I'm nothing but a very
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concerned citizen who feels like we have been lied to
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and lied to and lied to. And so if we
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can't get the answers that we're asking, we're going to
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find them ourselves. So this is the part where we
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put everybody on formal public notice because starting now we
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are requesting documents, not secretly, not quietly, not behind closed doors.
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We're going to do it in the daylight, The vlogger claimed,
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can you imagine how mad these people are going to
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be when we ask for these records. According to the vlogger,
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she discovered that Hatton secretly owns the building by watching
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a video of downtown Whitesburg her mother made recently and
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comparing images from it with satellite images of Whitesburg's main
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street available on Google Maps. She went on to claim
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that Google purposefully left the building off its street view
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photos and claimed that no work has been done to
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the building since the nineteen eighties. She was read reading
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an Eagle story about the first phase of construction when
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she made that claim. While many local people have expressed
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amusement or anger at her antics. National tabloid news channels
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such as Court TV and other utube and TikTok channels
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across the country have used her as an expert on
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Letcher County, lending credence to her stories. She also has
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offered a forum to others who have appeared repeatedly on
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her show, including a true crime vlogger in Georgia who
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is on the Sex Offender Registry for pleading guilty to
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a sex crime involving a girl under fourteen. Note. The
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Mountain Eagle took more photos inside the Daniel Boone Hotel
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on Tuesday morning. A city official unlocked the door and
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let us in. The next story is State Awards grants.
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The State of Kentucky will provide nearly a half half
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million dollars to assist the City of Whitsburg with ongoing
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expenses related to declared disasters. The city will receive four
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hundred fifty thousand dollars from the state aid funding for
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Emergencies ek Safe program to address strained liquidity caused by
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disaster related impacts. According to a news release from Governor
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Andy Basher, the grant is one of two disaster related
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aid packages involving Electra County. Another thirty five thousand, five
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hundred eighty dollars will go to the Kentucky Finance and
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Administration Cabinet to support survey work, title services, and other
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work required for property acquisition for high ground subdivisions in
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Lectri County grand View Adjekins and in Nott County Olive Branch.
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The next headline is to continue work. LKLP con Community
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Action has plans in place that ensure its critical business
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applications and procedures are supported even during a disruptive situation
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such as COVID nineteen. Additionally, LKLP has invested in technology
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to ensure a seamless transition for its employees to work
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remotely when possible. Please continue to call your local LKLP
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Community Action office for information and visit its website and
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Facebook pages. The next headline is Year's last Supermoon coming Thursday.
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The last supermoon of the year is scheduled to shine
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in December. Skies. The Moon's orbit around the Earth isn't
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a perfect circle, so it gets nearer and farther as
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it swings around. When a full moon is closer to
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Earth in its orbit, a so called supermoon happens. It
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makes the Moon look up to fourteen percent bigger and
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thirty percent brighter than the faintest moon of the year.
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According to NASA, supermoons happen a few times a year
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in clusters taking advantage of the sweet spot in the
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Moon's elliptical orbit, and Thursday Night's event is the last
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of three in a row in twenty twenty five. The
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supermoon can be glimpsed in clear night skies without any
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special equipment, but it can be tough to discern the
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subtle change with the naked eye, whether a supermoon or not.
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The Moon also appears bigger when it's close to the
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horizon because of what's called the moon illusion. It's a
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strange visual trick that experts can't yet explain. When you
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have a supermoon, that effect is just slightly more striking,
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said astronomer William Alston with the University of Hertfordshire. The
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next story is Gabby's Fishing Fever by Greg Gabby Caudle
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catching suspended fish in colder weather. In the sport of fishing,
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many changes occur during the year, and as a fisherman
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you need to understand and adjust your style of fishing
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to match these changes. By doing this, you will become
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a much better angler. Right now on most lakes in
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our area, the big changes going on are the lakes
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dropping to winter pool, the turnover of the lakes, and
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the water stabilizing and clearing up for the winter. When
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this all has come to be on our car Creek Lake,
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it will bring some of the best fishing of the
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year for bass and crappie and even bluegill and shell crackers.
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But there are some winter patterns for these fish that
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I have learned over the years. During the cold winter months,
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these fish will move to Maine lake structure and hold
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along deeper areas like an old creek channel or drop off.
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The key thing to know is that while the fish
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are holding around deeper water, they will suspend in only
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a few feet of water and move vertically up and
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down the cover as needed. So an area with cover
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like standing flooded timber is a key form of cover
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for these fish like bass and crappie. Schools of baitfish
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will also use these areas, and that makes it even better.
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There are lures that will catch these suspending fish like
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small grubs and tube baits, Small crank baits and others
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will also work. However, the best bait at this time
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of year to me is a lively minnow under a
25:40
slip float, fished around four to six feet deep. I
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have fished like this for years and always done well.
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The next story is who is new UK football coach
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Will Stein? For Will Stein the roots in kroger Field,
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soil run deep. A native Kentuckian, Stein is the son
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of UK alumni. Father Matt played football at UK and
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mother Debbie, is an avid fan, and he inherited their
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passion as he grew up watching the Wildcats in the
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then Commonwealth Stadium, Section one twenty eight, Row thirteen to
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be exact. He later competed in the stadium as a
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collegiate quarterback and assistant coach. On Monday, the family's journey
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came full circle as Stein was named head coach of
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Kentucky football, as announced by UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhardt.
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Will Stein brings an outstanding track record of developing elite
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quarterbacks and leading some of the most dynamic and successful
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offenses in college football. Barnhardt says Stein thirty six returns
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to the Commonwealth from the University of Oregon, where he
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has been the offensive coordinate and quarterbacks coach for three seasons.
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One of the many attributes that since Stein apart is
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his ability to tailor his offense to his player's strengths.
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Year after year, He's designed systems around quarterbacks with very
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different skill sets, and each one thrived, helping lead elite
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units and Heisman Trophy finalists each of the past two years.
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A native of Louisville, Stein has football heritage as his father, Matt,
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was a defensive end for the Wildcats under coach Jerry Claybourne.
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Matt was a two year letterman in nineteen eighty three
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and eighty four, playing for UK's teams that made consecutive
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appearances in the Hall of Fame Bowl. Will Stein played
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his high school ball at Trinity High School, where he
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was a three time state champion and set the single
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season school record for touchdown passes with fifty four. Stein
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played at the University of Lowell from two thousand eight
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to twelve, then moved to the coaching staff as a
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graduate assistant in two thousand thirteen and quality control coach
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in two thousand fourteen. He and his wife Darby, have
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two children, Joey and Demy. This concludes the reading of
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The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been Bill then Arsenal.
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Now please stay tuned for continued programming on behalf of
28:28
everyone here at Radio I. Thank you for listening, and
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have a good day.