Latest / Eastern Kentucky Newspapers / (Whitesburg) Mountain Eagle - 5.28.26

Transcript

(Whitesburg) Mountain Eagle - 5.28.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

0:01
Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
0:04
from Wisburg. Your reader today is Bill Dean Arsdale. We
0:09
will begin with the edition dated May twenty seven, twenty
0:12
twenty six, which the publishers have donated.
0:15
Speaker 2: To RADIOI as a reminder.
0:18
Speaker 1: RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
0:21
blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
0:24
read printed material. Thank you for listening to radioi's regional newspapers.
0:32
Due to work being done on the transmitters by Moorhead
0:35
State Public Radio during the month of June, listeners in
0:39
the Eastern Kentucky region using SCA radios will not have
0:43
signal from June two to June eighth, and may face
0:47
intermittent outages during the rest of the month. Other methods
0:51
of listening our app Alexa devices internet streaming.
0:56
Speaker 2: Will not be affected.
0:58
Speaker 1: Thank you to our friends at MMR for broadcasting the
1:02
RADIOI frequency at no cost to us or our listeners.
1:07
And the first story is wrong, turn right place. Two
1:14
Canadian foot doctors walk into a clinic in eastern Kentucky.
1:18
It sounds like the beginning of a corny joke, but
1:22
doctor Adam Botti and doctor Jacob Nasser are no joke,
1:26
even if they can't stop cracking them. Botti is from
1:30
the greatest city in the world, Toronto, Ontario, while Nasar
1:34
hails from Calgary, Alberta. The two attended po Dietary School
1:40
at Temple University in Philadelphia together and chose the same specialty.
1:45
Botty completed his residency in the Virginia Beach Norfolk area,
1:50
while Nasser trained in New York City. But like bugs Buddy,
1:54
taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque, the two Canadian pediatrists
1:58
ended up in Lecture count Body went to work for
2:02
a Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation in February twenty twenty four.
2:08
Nasir arrived five months later. In the time they've been
2:12
in Whitsburg, they've performed around three thousand foot.
2:15
Speaker 2: And ankle surgeries.
2:18
Speaker 1: I trained at a Level one and Level two trauma
2:21
center in the Virginia Beach Norfolk area, so I saw
2:24
everything from shark bites, gunshot wounds, car accidents, charcot foot
2:29
lawnmower accidents, you name it, Botty said. Here, it's a
2:35
little bit different for us because Whitesburg Hospital is a
2:37
Level four trauma center, so any patient coming in with
2:41
compound injuries, multiple injuries or needing a high level of
2:46
care is often transferred out before we can get our
2:49
hands on them. Here they treat a wide range of
2:53
foot diseases and injuries, many related to diabetes. That could
2:59
change as the Dockers expand their services into neighboring counties.
3:04
Nasar is already seeing patients in Harlan and Body plans
3:08
to begin surgeries in Hazard by the end of the year.
3:12
Most of what they see is related to diabetic foot ulcers,
3:16
though they also treat bunions, burns, broken toes, and other injuries.
3:22
Photos of some of their more serious cases are compiled
3:25
in a glossy twenty page brochure. That room was seen
3:30
for three years at another facility before she came to us.
3:33
She's all healed up now, Nasser said, pointing to before
3:38
and after photos of a patient with gangreen and an
3:41
open surgical wound. Body pointed out another patient, a burn victim,
3:46
whose treatment including grafting fish skin to an open wound
3:51
to help the patient's own skin grow back. It's tough
3:56
because we see so many different things in a day,
3:58
but the patients I worry about the most are diabetic
4:01
patients who haven't seen a foot doctor before or don't
4:04
have routine care. Nasa said a small wound or puncture
4:09
can turn into something that leads to infection, amputation, and
4:13
everything down the line. That's why we want to see
4:16
these patients proactively before any of those things happen. Body
4:22
said about fifteen percent of Americans will develop diabetes, and
4:26
about fifteen percent of those patients will develop diabetic foot ulcers.
4:31
Of those, he said, fifteen to twenty five percent eventually
4:35
require amputation. Once you've had one amputation, there's a fifty
4:40
percent chance you'll have another within five years. Body said
4:45
once you get to the level of above the knee amputation,
4:48
there's a fifty percent mortality rate within five years. He
4:53
said there is a common misconception that podiatrists nibble away
4:57
at diabetic patient's feet a little at a time until
5:01
there's nothing left, but he said many patients do not
5:05
return for follow up care until the condition has worsened
5:08
beyond any treatment other than another amputation. Once doctors reached
5:14
the ankle, the next step is often a below the
5:17
knee amputation because those prosthetics are the most functional. Both
5:22
Body and Nasser said they take pride in fighting for patients.
5:27
Patients here often know their doctors personally because they grew
5:30
up together, but they don't know us from Adam Botty joked,
5:34
it is important for them to put patients at ease.
5:37
Speaker 2: They said.
5:39
Speaker 1: I think something we bring to the table is that
5:41
we grew up exposed to a whole different kind of
5:43
health care, being from Canada, where healthcare is a right,
5:48
not just something available to people who can afford it.
5:50
Speaker 2: Body said.
5:52
Speaker 1: If there's one thing I'll get arrogant about, it's our
5:55
bedside manner. He added, the approach we bring to healthcare
5:59
is unparalleled from what we hear patients are getting elsewhere.
6:03
Speaker 2: I think our.
6:04
Speaker 1: Patients and our reviews will attest to that. So why
6:09
did two doctors born in Canada and educated in Philadelphia,
6:13
New York and Virginia Beach come to Wisburg. I was
6:17
going to Florida, body deadpant I took a wrong turn,
6:20
ran out of gas, and ended up in Whitsburg. But
6:24
both doctors say they are happy they made the trip.
6:28
It's a big change, going from six and a half
6:30
million people to six and a half people. Body joked,
6:34
I've always been a big city boy, but I'm slowly
6:36
being converted.
6:38
Speaker 2: There's something to be said for.
6:40
Speaker 1: Zero traffic and waking up two minutes before you have
6:43
to be at work and still being on time. Don't
6:46
forget in the mountain range, Nasa interjected, the sunset up.
6:50
Speaker 2: On Pine Mountain.
6:52
Speaker 1: I drive into Harlan County all the time, and I
6:55
go to Knot County as well. Nasa said, that's a
6:58
gorgeous drive. Part of it for me is just the environment.
7:03
You've got nice mountain air. It's not so polluted and
7:06
everything is spread out. We both lived in Philly, so
7:10
we heard sirens twenty four to seven for about four years.
7:14
It's nice and quiet here after Philly and New York.
7:20
The next headline is family fight ended in fatal shot.
7:25
Speaker 2: Jury told.
7:28
Speaker 1: What began as an argument over a loud pickup truck
7:31
ended with a man dead and his uncle on trial
7:34
for murder. Jurors and Letcher Circuit Court heard Tuesday. Jurors
7:40
in the murder trial of Rodney Webb, fifty nine, accused
7:44
in the April twenty twenty four shooting death of his
7:47
nephew Nicholas Webb, were expected to begin deliberations today. The
7:53
prosecution had nearly finished presenting its case at press time Tuesday.
7:58
Among the witnesses called was Roger Webb, the father of
8:02
the victim. Roger Webb said Nicholas was fatally shot after
8:07
a dispute erupted when a loud pickup truck driven by
8:10
a visitor to Rodney Webb woke him during the argument
8:15
that continued after the two men broke off their fight.
8:18
Witnesses said Rodney pulled a gun from his pocket and
8:21
shot Nicholas once in the left groin. Nick was on
8:26
three blood thinners and he was bleeding quick. Roger Webb testified.
8:31
He said Tanya Stalard, who was also visiting his brother,
8:35
found a dog collar and tried to put it around
8:37
his son's leg as a tourniquet, but it didn't stop
8:40
the bleeding. Within three to four minutes, Nicholas Webb, forty four,
8:46
was dead. He looked like he went to sleep. Roger
8:50
Webb testified. The stories told by Webb. Two Kentucky State
8:55
Police troopers, Stalard and Caleb Combs, whose truck woke Roger
9:00
Webb that day, did not always match, but all painted
9:04
a picture of chaos that began when Combs's truck roared
9:08
up the hollow at u Z and Roger Webb came
9:11
out of his trailer yelling at Combs to stop the noise.
9:15
Rodney Webb, witnesses said, came out of a building where
9:18
another man, Mike Cook, was staying, and began yelling at
9:21
his older brother for yelling at his visitors. After Roger
9:26
shoved him, a fight ensued, during which Roger said he
9:30
threw his brother on the ground and jumped on top
9:32
of him. The two men rolled around in the dirt,
9:35
Roger sitting on top of Rodney and punching him in
9:38
the face. Roger Webb testified that his younger brother hit
9:42
him with an uppercut and told him to let up.
9:46
He said, let me up, and I let him up.
9:48
Roger Webb said, I thought it was over, he said.
9:52
Rodney Webb continued to yell at him, and Nicholas Webb
9:55
stepped between them. As he backed away from his brother, Rodney,
10:00
he started screaming again, and I saw him go for
10:02
his pocket, he said. Witnesses agreed there were no other
10:07
weapons seen, but Rodney Webb pointed a pistol he had
10:11
produced from his pocket and fired one shot at his
10:14
nephew from about ten feet away. Roger Webb said Cook
10:19
tried to wrestle the gun away from Rodney, but he
10:22
did not know much about what happened afterward because he
10:24
was focused on his son, Stallard, whose then boyfriend had
10:30
bought property from Rodney. Webb said she called nine one
10:33
one and tried to help stop the bleeding. They lost
10:37
track of where Rodney was. By the time police or
10:41
an ambulance arrived, Nicholas Webb was dead. Two Sheriff's deputies
10:46
arrived first and applied a tourniquet to his leg and
10:49
attempted CPR. State troopers followed rifles at the ready and
10:55
began searching for Rodney, assuming he had gone into the trailer.
11:00
There were five laws out there with automatic weapons and
11:02
they were hollering at Rodney to come out. Roger Webb said,
11:06
After a brief period of time, Rodney Webb came out
11:09
of the woods and we located a bag of clothes.
11:13
Trooper Brandon Watts testified. Trooper Jared Fields testified that Rodney
11:19
came out from behind the trailers and walked toward officers,
11:22
who placed him face down on the ground and handcuffed him.
11:27
Citing autopsy results showing the exit wound was two inches
11:31
higher than the entrance wound. Defense attorney Jonas Stevens suggested
11:35
Rodney Webb was lying on the ground when he fired
11:38
the fatal shot, but eyewitnesses agreed Rodney was standing and
11:43
aimed downward when he fired. The jury consists of six
11:48
men and seven women, one of whom will be excused
11:51
before deliberations begin, expected sometime Wednesday. In the next story,
12:00
man charged with firing shots on car Creek Lake, Kentucky
12:06
State Game Wardens have arrested a Perry County man accused
12:10
of shooting at another boater on car Creek Lake. Bert Kilburn,
12:15
sixty seven, of Happy was charged with three counts each
12:19
of first degree wanton endangerment and menacing, along with one
12:23
count of first degree disorderly conduct. His name and details
12:28
of the case were obtained through court records in the
12:31
office of Knott County Circuit Clerk Lisa Bollen after Kentucky
12:36
Fish and Wildlife declined to release the information. Sergeant Robert Owens,
12:42
public information officer for District seven Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement,
12:47
said wardens were called to the lake May twelfth after
12:50
a boater reported another man had fired at his vessel
12:53
while the two boats were on the water. Following an investigation,
12:58
Warden Dylon Fields obtained an arrest warrant for Kilburn, who
13:02
was arrested Saturday by Kentucky Game wardens from the seventh District.
13:07
According to the warrant, Kilburn was fishing when a boat
13:11
pulling a water skier passed him. The warrant says Kilburn
13:14
then fired a weapon. There were three people aboard the
13:19
ski boat. According to the warrant. Witnesses told Fields that
13:23
Kilburn pointed the gun at them and tracked the boat
13:25
with the weapon for thirty to forty seconds until it
13:28
disappeared from sight. They also reported seeing smoke rise from
13:33
the barrel of the gun. Kilburn was taken to the
13:37
Kentucky River Regional Jail in a hazard He was released
13:41
Monday on a two thy, five hundred dollars cash bond.
13:46
The next headline is search committee sends names of two
13:50
to board for a superintendent's job. A superintendent search committee
13:56
has voted to send two names to the Letter County.
13:58
Speaker 2: Board of Education for.
14:01
Speaker 1: The school district received nine applications for the position, which
14:06
will be vacant as of July one. Superintendent Denise Jance
14:10
announced her retirement earlier this year. Though the district advertised
14:15
the position nationally, only two people applied from outside Kentucky,
14:20
said Tim Eaton, a Kentucky School Board Association official assisting
14:24
with the search. Neither of those two were selected. The
14:29
remaining seven were all from inside the state. Eton and
14:34
School Board Chairman Robert Kaiser declined to name the two
14:37
candidates who will be recommended to the board for consideration,
14:41
or to say if either is from inside the county.
14:45
Board members voted earlier to interview all candidates from inside
14:48
the county who applied, even if they were not otherwise
14:51
recommended by the search committee. The committee will give the
14:56
board the two names it recommends at a special called
14:59
meeting at at five pm on May twenty eighth in
15:02
the Lindell Smith Conference Room at the school bus Garage
15:06
in Whitesburg. The next story is new coach, new district
15:12
await LCC football. Major changes have been announced this month
15:18
for the e Lectri County Central High School football program.
15:22
On May first, Lectter Central announced the retirement of head
15:25
football coach Junior Matthews, who leaves behind a decade marked
15:30
by steady growth and improvement for the Cougar program, both
15:33
on and off the field. During his first season at
15:38
the Helm in twenty sixteen, Matthews guided the Cougars to
15:41
the first of what would become nine playoff appearances in
15:45
ten seasons. The only year LCC failed to reach the
15:49
postseason under Matthews came in twenty seventeen, when the Cougars
15:53
were still competing against Class five A schools despite declining enrollment.
16:00
We are grateful for the time, commitment, and passion he
16:03
is given to our football program and for the growth
16:06
and success achieved under his leadership, l CC said in
16:10
announcing Matthews' retirement. We wish Coach Matthews the very best
16:15
as he steps away to enjoy more time with his family.
16:20
School officials said a search committee, including a parent representative,
16:24
has been formed to identify the school's next head football coach.
16:29
L CC officials said they hope to have a new
16:31
coach in place before summer practice begins. We look forward
16:36
to the continued growth and future of l cc HS football,
16:41
the school said in its announcement. Another major development for
16:45
the Cougar football program came when the Kentucky High School
16:50
Athletic Association approved Letcher Central's request to move from Class
16:54
three A District eight to Class three A District seven
16:59
beginning with the two tenty twenty seven and twenty eight seasons.
17:03
Under the new alignment, the Cougars will compete against East Carter,
17:07
Floyd Central, Lawrence County, and Russell in District play.
17:13
Speaker 2: The request was approved during the sixth.
17:15
Speaker 1: And final regularly scheduled meeting of the KHSAA Board of
17:19
Control for the twenty twenty five twenty six academic year,
17:23
held May sixth in Lexington. Six other schools across the
17:28
state also received approval to change districts. In Class two A,
17:34
Leslie County and Nott County Central were approved to move
17:37
from District eight to District seven, while Martin County and
17:41
Prestonsburg will move from District seven to District eight. The
17:46
new Class two A District seven will include Brethick County,
17:49
Knott County Central, Leslie County, and mcgoffin County. District eight
17:54
will consist of Belfry, Martin County, Pike County, Central, Prestonsburg,
17:59
and Shelby Valley. In Class four A, Russell County was
18:04
approved to move from District six to District two, while
18:08
Breckinridge County will move from District three to District four.
18:13
The KHSAA Board of Control also approved a change to
18:16
the football playoff format beginning in twenty twenty seven. While
18:22
first round playoff games will continue to match sister districts
18:26
against each other, second round games will shift to an
18:29
RPI based semi state format, similar to the current third round.
18:36
Under the new system, the eight remaining teams in each
18:38
semi state bracket will be seeded by RPI, with matchups
18:43
set as number one versus number eight, number two versus
18:46
number seven, number three versus number six, and number four
18:50
versus number five. Higher seeded teams will host the games.
18:56
KHSAA officials said the change followed months of day discussion
19:00
and feedback from member schools and other groups, including concerns
19:05
about repetitive playoff matchups occurring too frequently. The next story
19:11
is older people should be dancing experts now, say Carol
19:18
Ross can't stop smiling at dance practice as she shouts
19:22
out the steps of a routine to members of her
19:25
Tap and Jazz troop for women age fifty and older.
19:30
I've been dancing my whole life. It's the best, said Ross,
19:33
who founded the Rodeo City Wreqetz group twenty three years ago.
19:37
At an age when many people are getting ready for
19:39
retirement now eighty seven, Ross and her husband and lifelong
19:45
dance partner, John also eighty seven, have long known what
19:49
more older adults are now discovering moving to music is
19:53
one of the best ways to stay healthy. Medical professionals
19:58
say it doesn't matter if it's Western life, line dancing,
20:00
ballroom steps, salsa, tap zumba, at the gym, or with
20:05
a group like the Wrequeats. Dancing is one of the
20:09
most powerful activities for older people, says Julio Laya, a
20:14
nurse and geriatric program coordinator at the Tucson Medical Center. Dance,
20:19
like other exercise, can help people lose weight, get stronger,
20:23
reduce fall risk, increase mobility and flexibility, and even improve
20:29
brain health. It engages their brain, it changes their mood,
20:34
and it connects them socially while getting them moving.
20:37
Speaker 2: Said Laya.
20:39
Speaker 1: And it's fun. Everybody has a good time. Doctor Thomas Johnson,
20:44
a geriatrician at the UC Health Seniors Clinic in Aurora, Colorado,
20:49
said he remembers one man in particular, whose passion for
20:52
dance was so strong that he willed himself to attend
20:55
one last class before he died in his late eighties.
21:00
His number one priority was that he danced until the
21:02
day that he died, Johnson said of his patient. Johnson
21:08
said dance can improve the balance of his patients at
21:10
the clinic, which serves about two thousand, five hundred people
21:14
seventy five and older a year. He said older patients
21:18
can benefit from adding two to three dance sessions to
21:21
the one hundred fifty minutes of aerobic exercises he recommends
21:25
for them each week because dancing often involves movements that
21:29
help with balance, such as walking backward or standing on
21:32
one foot. The Rikkeets practiced their routines during two hour
21:38
sessions at least twice a week in a rented dance studio.
21:43
After studying ballet as a girl, then moving on to
21:46
everything from ballroom to tap as an adult, Ross said
21:50
it made sense to keep dancing when she and her
21:52
husband moved from Philadelphia to retire in Tucson. John Ross
21:58
is a key part of the Rikkeet's room routines, typically
22:01
joining his wife for at least one number at one
22:05
recent practice. It was a saucy saunter to Merle Haggard's
22:09
let's chase each other around the room. I learned early
22:13
on that dancing was a great way to attract the chicks,
22:16
joked John Ross, who slid across the floor like a
22:20
much younger man. The next article is after Sicco, a
22:28
long fall, but then redemption.
22:32
Speaker 2: When Phil Shuffling Phil.
22:34
Speaker 1: Douglas disappeared from the Sicco baseball team in the spring
22:38
of nineteen twenty six, the Mountain Eagle never mentioned him again.
22:44
Readers who responded to our recent story about the former
22:47
New York Giants star pitching in Letter County wanted to
22:51
know the obvious question, what happened to him after he
22:54
left the Mountains. The answer is complicated, tragic, and finally redemptive. Douglas,
23:02
who helped pitch the New York Giants to the nineteen
23:05
twenty one World Series Championship, spent the remainder of his
23:09
life wandering through small town baseball coal camps, mining towns,
23:14
and mill villages across the South and Appalachia. After Major
23:18
League Baseball banned him for life in nineteen twenty two,
23:23
and now one hundred three years after that banishment, Baseball
23:27
has finally changed its mind. In May twenty twenty five,
23:32
Major League Baseball posthumously reinstated Douglas, placing him alongside other
23:38
formerly banned players, including Pete Rose and shoeless Joe Jackson.
23:45
For Douglas's descendants, it was the closing of a wound
23:48
carried across generations. The rightful restoration of his eligibility is
23:53
a profound moment for our family, Douglas's great grandson, Joshua
23:58
Frizell told television statey WTVC after the decision was announced.
24:05
Douglas's fall from baseball had come swiftly. One year after
24:10
starring in the nineteen twenty one World Series, during which
24:13
he won two games against the New York Yankees, Douglas
24:17
destroyed his career by writing a drunken letter offering to
24:21
leave the Giants during the nineteen twenty two Pennant Race
24:24
because he hated the manager, John McGraw. Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain
24:30
Landis banned him from organized baseball for life. Douglas always
24:35
insisted he never threw a game and never intended.
24:38
Speaker 2: To fix one.
24:40
Speaker 1: Through the end of his life, he maintained that he
24:42
had been treated unfairly and that alcohol and emotional instability
24:47
had ruined his judgment. What followed was a long baseball exile.
24:54
According to baseball historian Mike Lynch, whose detailed research reconstructed
24:59
much of Douglas's post major league life, the former Giants
25:03
ace drifted through outlaw leagues and semi pro teams across
25:07
the South after his banishment. One stop on that journey
25:12
was Sicco, the Coal Camp built by Southeast Coal Company.
25:18
In May nineteen twenty six, The Mountain Eagle devoted front
25:21
page coverage to Douglas's arrival as player manager of the
25:25
Southeast Company team. Crowds rode passenger trains from across Letter
25:30
County to watch the former major leaguer pitch for the
25:33
Coal Camp team, but his stay appears to have lasted
25:37
only days or perhaps weeks. After those stories appeared, his
25:43
name vanished from the newspaper Elsewhere. However, Douglas continued pitching.
25:49
Lynch's research found Douglas playing for semi pro teams in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama,
25:56
and West Virginia, earning about seventy five dollars per week,
26:01
even after his major league career collapsed, his pitching could
26:05
still dominate local competition. One Tennessee resident later recalled Douglas
26:11
striking out nineteen batters in extreme heat despite having been
26:15
drinking the night before. He reportedly threw no hitters and
26:20
one hitters in places including Tracy City, Tennessee, Bluefield, West Virginia,
26:26
and Lynch, Kentucky, another eastern Kentucky coal town in neighbouring
26:30
Harlan County, where baseball was deeply woven into coal camp life.
26:37
But the father Douglas, traveled from the major leagues the
26:40
sadder his story became. A Pittsburgh sportswriter who interviewed him
26:45
in the mid nineteen twenties described him as thirty years
26:49
old looking fifty. Alcohol remained Douglas's lifelong enemy. His first
26:56
wife died of cancer in nineteen twenty seven, driving him
27:00
deeper into drinking. Though he remarried and eventually settled somewhat,
27:05
he spent much of the Great Depression living in poverty
27:08
while moving between Tennessee mining and industrial towns. Later, he
27:13
found steady work as a foreman for the Tennessee Highway Department,
27:17
but illness and strokes eventually left him unable to work.
27:22
He ended his life in severe poverty, living in a
27:25
small log cabin in Tennessee, supported largely by a modest
27:29
state pension. Douglas died in nineteen fifty two at age
27:34
sixty two. Until the very end, he insisted he had
27:38
never intentionally betrayed baseball. For one brief moment in nineteen
27:43
twenty six, one of the biggest stars of the baseball
27:46
world passed through the coal fields of Letcher County at
27:51
a time when coal camp baseball flourished across Appalachia. The
27:55
Southeast Coal Company team in Sicco was important enough and
27:58
drew large enough crowds to attract a former World Series hero.
28:04
With many of the old coal camps having mostly faded
28:07
into memory, the ball fields themselves are difficult to locate,
28:12
but the stories remain, and now, after more than a century,
28:17
baseball itself has finally acknowledged that Shufflin Phil Douglas deserves
28:22
to be remembered as more than simply a banned ball player.
28:27
For a few spring days in nineteen twenty six, he
28:30
was also part of Letcher County history. This concludes the
28:36
reading of The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been Bill
28:39
de and Arsdale. Now, please stay tuned for continued programming
28:44
on behalf of everyone here at Radio I, thank you
28:46
for listening and have a good day.