Latest / Eastern Kentucky Newspapers / Whitesburg Mountain Eagle - 10.29.26
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Now we turn to The Mountain Eagle to read news
- 0:04Speaker 1: from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill Van Arsdal. We
- 0:09Speaker 1: will begin with the edition dated October 28, 2026, which
- 0:14Speaker 1: the publishers have donated to Radio Eye. As a reminder,
- 0:18Speaker 1: Radio Eye is a reading service intended for people who
- 0:21Speaker 1: are blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult
- 0:23Speaker 1: to read printed material. The first item is the caption
- 0:28Speaker 1: of a photograph, Fall Colors, Future Splashes. Fall colors brighten
- 0:35Speaker 1: the hills surrounding James Wiley Craft Memorial Park in Whitesburg,
- 0:40Speaker 1: where site preparation is underway for the city's long-planned splash pad.
- 0:46Speaker 1: The water play area will offer children a place to
- 0:49Speaker 1: cool off with fountains and sprays without the standing water
- 0:53Speaker 1: of a swimming pool. Planning began in 2020 when the
- 0:57Speaker 1: city received a $ 100, 000 federal land and water conservation grant
- 1:02Speaker 1: for a splash pad beside the municipal swimming pool in
- 1:06Speaker 1: West Whitesburg. The project is now taking shape beside the
- 1:10Speaker 1: playground at the park on the opposite end of town.
- 1:16Speaker 1: The next headline is School District Outlines Snow Plans Teachers
- 1:22Speaker 1: Seek Funding Letcher County Schools plans to notify families by 5.45 a.m.
- 1:30Speaker 1: when classes will be delayed an hour because of winter weather,
- 1:33Speaker 1: and no later than 6.45 a.m. when school is canceled.
- 1:39Speaker 1: Superintendent Josh Yonce outlined the district's winter weather plan online
- 1:44Speaker 1: last week and at Monday night's Board of Education meeting.
- 1:49Speaker 1: When school is canceled, the district may use nontraditional instruction
- 1:53Speaker 1: known as NTI or take a traditional snow day. Main
- 1:58Speaker 1: road only transportation is also among the district's winter weather options.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Yance said the district can use up to 10 NTI
- 2:07Speaker 1: days and has five additional days banked for weather cancellations.
- 2:13Speaker 1: On NTI days, students in kindergarten through eighth grade will
- 2:17Speaker 1: complete paper packets at home. High school students will use
- 2:21Speaker 1: computer-based instruction or paper materials. Teachers will work at their
- 2:27Speaker 1: schools from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on NTI days
- 2:31Speaker 1: to assist students or work remotely if weather conditions are
- 2:34Speaker 1: too severe. Teachers seek funding and raises in pay. Letcher
- 2:42Speaker 1: County Teachers Organization President Regina Brown urged board members and
- 2:47Speaker 1: others to support candidates who will help public education in
- 2:51Speaker 1: the November 3rd election. Our goal would be that people
- 2:54Speaker 1: that are elected, regardless of their party, support education, Brown said.
- 3:01Speaker 1: Brown criticized the legislature's latest budget, saying reductions in the
- 3:06Speaker 1: district's state SEEK funding had limited its ability to afford
- 3:11Speaker 1: employee raises and other needs. SEEK is the Support Education
- 3:16Speaker 1: Excellence in Kentucky school funding program. Brown, who lobbies lawmakers
- 3:22Speaker 1: on education funding, noted that State Representative Mitch Whitaker is
- 3:26Speaker 1: running unopposed. She urged board members to encourage him not
- 3:31Speaker 1: to rubber-stamp budgets that reduce SEEK funding while claiming to
- 3:35Speaker 1: support schools. Brown also said the teachers organization had written
- 3:41Speaker 1: Kentucky's U.S. Senators, U.S. Representative Hal Rogers, and the Federal
- 3:46Speaker 1: Emergency Management Agency, seeking payment of outstanding FEMA reimbursements to
- 3:51Speaker 1: the district. Receiving that money could allow the district to
- 3:55Speaker 1: resume discussions about employee raises this year, she said. Officer
- 4:01Speaker 1: Earns First Extra Mile Award The board presented the district's
- 4:07Speaker 1: first extra mile award to Jamie Turner, a newly hired
- 4:12Speaker 1: school resource officer at Letcher Elementary. Yance said a young
- 4:17Speaker 1: student at the school was afraid to ride the bus home.
- 4:20Speaker 1: Turner offered to accompany her, and rode the bus to
- 4:23Speaker 1: Gordon and back to help her feel comfortable with the
- 4:26Speaker 1: long trip. Turner wiped his eyes as he accepted the award.
- 4:32Speaker 1: He told the board he had never worked in schools
- 4:35Speaker 1: before and had not known what he was supposed to
- 4:37Speaker 1: be doing. Board Chairman Robert Kaiser said the bus ride
- 4:42Speaker 1: showed that Turner does know. If you make students feel better,
- 4:46Speaker 1: that's all we can ask, Kaiser said. Turner is an
- 4:50Speaker 1: officer in the district's new school police department. The next
- 4:57Speaker 1: story is, At 89, Kay Moore, still flying, now in
- 5:03Speaker 1: Aviation Hall of Fame. Kay Combs Moore was born a
- 5:10Speaker 1: month after Amelia Earhart disappeared while attempting to fly around
- 5:14Speaker 1: the world. She grew up inspired by Earhart, earned her
- 5:19Speaker 1: own pilot's license, and later portrayed the pioneering aviator for
- 5:24Speaker 1: various organizations. She also became an active member of the 99s,
- 5:29Speaker 1: the international organization of women pilots that Earhart helped found. Now,
- 5:36Speaker 1: at 89 and still flying, the Whitesburg native has become
- 5:41Speaker 1: the third Letcher Countian named to the Kentucky Aviation Hall
- 5:45Speaker 1: of Fame. Moore, the oldest daughter of the late Whitesburg
- 5:50Speaker 1: mayor Ferdinand Moore and Viola Combs Moore, traces her love
- 5:55Speaker 1: of flying to a trip with her father and his
- 5:58Speaker 1: instructor shortly after he returned home from World War II.
- 6:03Speaker 1: Her father's lessons ended when the area's only flight instructor
- 6:06Speaker 1: moved away, but the experience stayed with his daughter. About
- 6:11Speaker 1: 80 years later, she still remembers the view. I got
- 6:15Speaker 1: to see Black Mountain and saw the boys swimming in
- 6:17Speaker 1: the creek, and I just fell in love with seeing
- 6:20Speaker 1: things from the air, she said this week. Though she
- 6:25Speaker 1: lives in Lexington, Moore remains closely connected to Whitesburg, where
- 6:30Speaker 1: she was born in her parents' house on Madison Street.
- 6:34Speaker 1: She is historian for the Whitesburg chapter of the Daughters
- 6:37Speaker 1: of the American Revolution and returns to the area often.
- 6:42Speaker 1: Her hometown ties have not kept her from traveling, While
- 6:46Speaker 1: working full-time as a dental hygienist and teaching dental hygiene
- 6:50Speaker 1: at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville,
- 6:54Speaker 1: Mohler built a flying career that has taken her across
- 6:57Speaker 1: the United States and abroad. She competed in the commemorative
- 7:02Speaker 1: Powderpuff Derby, mentored generations of girls through Girl Scout Aviation Day,
- 7:08Speaker 1: and became a charter member of the Aviation Museum of Kentucky.
- 7:13Speaker 1: Her honors include the 99's North Central Section Governor's Service Award,
- 7:18Speaker 1: recognizing 60 years of membership, and the Federal Aviation Administration's
- 7:24Speaker 1: Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for more than 50 years
- 7:28Speaker 1: of safe flying. Moore earned her private pilot's certificate in
- 7:34Speaker 1: 1958 and later obtained a commercial pilot's certificate with instrument
- 7:38Speaker 1: and multi-engine ratings. She has never worked as an airline pilot.
- 7:44Speaker 1: She sold her airplane to a friend, but continued flying
- 7:48Speaker 1: it whenever she could until the friend sold it in August.
- 7:52Speaker 1: Now she is considering getting another one. For her 88th
- 7:57Speaker 1: birthday last year, Moore quietly arranged a flight in a
- 8:01Speaker 1: Cessna 172 at Georgetown Airport and hired an instructor to
- 8:07Speaker 1: accompany her. She checked that the airplane had only basic instruments,
- 8:12Speaker 1: then told the instructor after they boarded that she would
- 8:15Speaker 1: do all the flying. She wanted him to take pictures.
- 8:19Speaker 1: He didn't touch the controls, Moore said. I liked him.
- 8:25Speaker 1: When she learned to fly, the nearest airport was a
- 8:27Speaker 1: dirt field at Cumberland. Whitesburg Municipal Airport did not open
- 8:32Speaker 1: until 1967, nine years after she earned her private pilot's certificate.
- 8:38Speaker 1: Moore never flew into or out of the completed airport,
- 8:42Speaker 1: but she had landed at the site earlier. I landed
- 8:46Speaker 1: there before it was built, she said. Daddy came up
- 8:48Speaker 1: and got me. The airport lasted less than 20 years
- 8:54Speaker 1: before it was destroyed by vandals. Its runway remains atop
- 8:58Speaker 1: a mountain at Colson along the Letcher-Knot County line, though
- 9:03Speaker 1: the road is closed and trees have encroached on the
- 9:05Speaker 1: runway's edges. Construction of a new airport, One Ridge Over,
- 9:10Speaker 1: is expected to begin in spring 2027. Moore joins two
- 9:16Speaker 1: other Letcher County natives in the Aviation Hall of Fame,
- 9:21Speaker 1: Ralph Waldo Emerson Webb, inducted last year, and Dr. Shelba J. Proffitt,
- 9:26Speaker 1: inducted in 2004. Webb, whose father N.M. Webb founded the
- 9:34Speaker 1: Mountain Eagle, joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942.
- 9:40Speaker 1: After officer and flight training, he served in the China-Burma-India Theater,
- 9:45Speaker 1: as one of the Hump pilots, flying combat and support
- 9:49Speaker 1: missions over the Himalayas. He later served in the U.S.
- 9:53Speaker 1: Air Force, with a career that included flying and instructing
- 9:57Speaker 1: in numerous military aircraft. Proffitt, an ISAM native, was the
- 10:03Speaker 1: first Letcher Countian inducted into the Hall of Fame. She
- 10:07Speaker 1: worked with Wernher von Braun's space team and helped develop
- 10:10Speaker 1: the nation's missile defense program over a career spanning more
- 10:15Speaker 1: than 30 years. She earned her pilot's license in 1973.
- 10:21Speaker 1: Moore is the second woman from Letcher County to receive
- 10:24Speaker 1: the honor. The next story is Letcher Man Accused of
- 10:31Speaker 1: Stabbing Woman, Threatening Police. A Letcher County man is accused
- 10:37Speaker 1: of shooting at police in Virginia after allegedly stabbing a
- 10:41Speaker 1: woman at his home in Thornton. Stuart Reynolds, 72, was
- 10:47Speaker 1: arrested early Sunday, October 25th, at an overlook on Pound Mountain.
- 10:53Speaker 1: A Wise County Sheriff's deputy suffered a minor injury from
- 10:56Speaker 1: shattered glass during the encounter, Virginia State Police said. Reynolds
- 11:01Speaker 1: was not injured. Reynolds faces three counts of attempted aggravated
- 11:06Speaker 1: murder of a law enforcement officer and one count of
- 11:10Speaker 1: malicious wounding. He is being held in the Southwest Virginia
- 11:14Speaker 1: Regional Jail in Duffield. No charges had been filed in Kentucky.
- 11:20Speaker 1: The woman, Sarah Maggard, 39, was taken by Neon Fire
- 11:25Speaker 1: and Rescue to Whitesburg ARH Hospital and then transferred to
- 11:29Speaker 1: Pipeville Medical Center. Her injuries were reported to be non-life-threatening,
- 11:35Speaker 1: Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayhart said. Kentucky State Police
- 11:40Speaker 1: were notified shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday that a 911
- 11:45Speaker 1: call reporting the stabbing on Thornton Road had been mistakenly
- 11:49Speaker 1: routed to Winchester Police. Reynolds is accused of stabbing Maggard
- 11:54Speaker 1: in the chest during an argument at his home at
- 11:57Speaker 1: Thornton Gap before driving into Virginia. Virginia State Police said
- 12:03Speaker 1: a preliminary investigation indicates Reynolds called Wise County Dispatch about 12.22 a.m. Sunday,
- 12:10Speaker 1: reported that he had stabbed someone in Kentucky, and provided
- 12:14Speaker 1: his location at an overlook near the state line on
- 12:18Speaker 1: Pound Mountain. When a Wise County Sheriff's deputy and two
- 12:23Speaker 1: Town of Wise police officers arrived, Reynolds immediately fired at them,
- 12:28Speaker 1: striking their vehicles multiple times, Virginia State Police said. The
- 12:33Speaker 1: officers returned fire. A short time later, Reynolds raised his
- 12:38Speaker 1: hands and surrendered. The injured deputy was taken to an
- 12:42Speaker 1: area hospital for treatment. The Virginia State Police Bureau of
- 12:47Speaker 1: Criminal Investigation's Wytheville Field Office is investigating. The next story
- 12:55Speaker 1: is Jenkins Man Pleads Guilty to Five Felonies in Dog
- 13:01Speaker 1: Shooting Case A Jenkins man charged with shooting a neighbor's
- 13:07Speaker 1: dog entered a plea on Monday, heading off a trial
- 13:11Speaker 1: that was set to begin that day. Johnny Tennell, 41,
- 13:15Speaker 1: of Rocky Hollow, pleaded guilty to four charges of first-degree
- 13:19Speaker 1: wanton endangerment by discharge of a firearm and one charge
- 13:24Speaker 1: of torture of a dog or cat. Tennell used an
- 13:28Speaker 1: Alford plea, which acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him,
- 13:32Speaker 1: but does not admit guilt. Otherwise, it has the same
- 13:36Speaker 1: effect as a guilty plea. Commonwealth's attorney, Matt Butler, said
- 13:41Speaker 1: Tennell will be sentenced to five years but the charge
- 13:44Speaker 1: will be probated for five years. He said that means
- 13:48Speaker 1: Tennell will not spend time in prison, but will never
- 13:51Speaker 1: be able to own a gun again, and will be
- 13:54Speaker 1: banned from having any contact or communications with the victims.
- 13:59Speaker 1: The victims expressed to me that they didn't really want
- 14:01Speaker 1: him to go to prison because he has kids, Butler said.
- 14:05Speaker 1: They just didn't want him to have a gun. Tennell
- 14:09Speaker 1: was accused of shooting a neighbor's dog in the chest,
- 14:12Speaker 1: while it was in another neighbor's yard. Rambo, a small-to-medium
- 14:19Speaker 1: mixed-breed dog, was in the yard of Josh and Ashley
- 14:23Speaker 1: Gibbs in the 200 block of Rocky Hollow on April 20,
- 14:27Speaker 1: when witnesses say Tennell shot him. Video from a surveillance
- 14:32Speaker 1: camera shows Rambo, known to some neighbors as Baby, collapsing
- 14:37Speaker 1: in the driveway in front of the Gibbs home. and
- 14:40Speaker 1: yelping as he scrambled to his feet and ran away.
- 14:45Speaker 1: Tinnell was accused of endangering the Gibbses and their two
- 14:48Speaker 1: minor children by firing his gun in their direction. Another
- 14:53Speaker 1: neighbor took Rambo to the vet who recommended euthanasia, and
- 14:57Speaker 1: then the owner, Regina Collins, took him again to another
- 15:01Speaker 1: vet for a second opinion. The dog survived the wound
- 15:06Speaker 1: and is still alive. The Gibbs family had had trouble
- 15:10Speaker 1: with Tennell in the past and were upset about how
- 15:12Speaker 1: the situation had been handled by then Jenkins Police Chief
- 15:16Speaker 1: Jim Stevens. Mrs. Gibbs had accused Tennell of shooting their
- 15:21Speaker 1: husky on October 31, 2024, when she said Tennell claimed
- 15:26Speaker 1: the dog was chasing his rooster and he shot toward
- 15:29Speaker 1: her and her children. Tennell was not charged in that incident.
- 15:35Speaker 1: When the April shooting took place, Sergeant Josh Richardson opened
- 15:39Speaker 1: an investigation and filed the charges after watching security video.
- 15:44Speaker 1: Sheriff Billy Jones posted a statement on his official webpage
- 15:48Speaker 1: at the time, outlining Tennell's arrest. Sergeant Richardson gathered video
- 15:54Speaker 1: evidence and witness statements, then presented them to the county
- 15:57Speaker 1: attorney's office for review and charges. Jones said in a
- 16:01Speaker 1: statement on his official Facebook page at the time, At
- 16:05Speaker 1: approximately 7.10 p.m., Sergeant Richardson, along with Letcher County Sheriff's
- 16:10Speaker 1: Office Chief Deputy Dingus and Deputy Jacobs, conducted a traffic
- 16:14Speaker 1: stop on Main Street in Jenkins. The suspect, Johnny Tennell,
- 16:18Speaker 1: was inside the vehicle. Police arrested Tennell during the traffic
- 16:23Speaker 1: stop on a new warrant charging him with torture of
- 16:26Speaker 1: a dog or cat and first-degree wanton endangerment by discharge
- 16:30Speaker 1: of a firearm. Both charges are felonies. Torture of a
- 16:36Speaker 1: dog or cat is punishable by one to five years
- 16:39Speaker 1: in prison. First-degree wanton endangerment by discharge of a firearm
- 16:44Speaker 1: is punishable by five to ten years in prison. The
- 16:50Speaker 1: next story is Family Seeks Help After Fatal May King
- 16:55Speaker 1: Crash The family of a Virginia man killed in a
- 17:00Speaker 1: motorcycle collision at May King is raising money to help
- 17:03Speaker 1: pay for his cremation. Travis Gilliam, 48, of Norton, Virginia,
- 17:09Speaker 1: died October 22nd after his motorcycle collided with an SUV
- 17:14Speaker 1: on US-119 near the intersection with Combs Branch. His family
- 17:21Speaker 1: has started a GoFundMe campaign. No service is planned at
- 17:25Speaker 1: this time, according to the family's memorial tribute. The collision
- 17:30Speaker 1: occurred about 1.20 p.m. Kentucky State Police said a preliminary
- 17:34Speaker 1: investigation indicates Gilliam was traveling north on a 1999 BMW
- 17:40Speaker 1: motorcycle when he lost control, crossed into the southbound lane,
- 17:45Speaker 1: and struck the side of a 2019 GMC Terrain. Letcher
- 17:51Speaker 1: County Coroner Perry Fowler pronounced Gilliam dead at the scene.
- 17:56Speaker 1: No autopsy will be conducted, and toxicology results are pending.
- 18:01Speaker 1: Trooper Jarrett Fields is investigating. And the next story is
- 18:07Speaker 1: Motorcycle Recovered, Elk Creek Man Arrested. A blackie man was
- 18:13Speaker 1: arrested October 25th and charged with receiving stolen property after
- 18:18Speaker 1: authorities recovered a motorcycle stolen the night before. Dylan Cottle, 31,
- 18:25Speaker 1: of Donna's Road at Elk Creek, is charged with receiving
- 18:28Speaker 1: stolen property after valued between $ 1, 000 and $ 10, 000. Letcher County
- 18:35Speaker 1: Sheriff Billy Jones said the dirt bike was stolen from
- 18:38Speaker 1: Matt Yeary's home on Harrison Branch at Isom. Jones said
- 18:43Speaker 1: Caldwell's stepfather persuaded him to turn himself in. Jones went
- 18:48Speaker 1: to Caldwell's home, took him into custody, and recovered the motorcycle.
- 18:53Speaker 1: Caldwell is being held in the Letcher County Jail. Bond
- 18:57Speaker 1: has not been set. The next story is, PSC Places
- 19:03Speaker 1: Limits on Kentucky Power Company's Power Plant Project. The Kentucky
- 19:09Speaker 1: Public Service Commission has approved a replacement cooling tower at
- 19:14Speaker 1: the Mitchell Power Plant in West Virginia, but rejected several
- 19:18Speaker 1: Kentucky Power Company requests concerning how customers would pay for
- 19:21Speaker 1: the project. The recent order authorizes construction of a mechanical
- 19:27Speaker 1: draft cooling tower for Mitchell Unit 2, and partial demolition
- 19:32Speaker 1: of the existing tower. The project has an estimated cost
- 19:36Speaker 1: of $ 191 million, with Kentucky Power responsible for half before
- 19:42Speaker 1: federal assistance. Approval is conditioned on receipt of a $ 51
- 19:47Speaker 1: million U.S. Department of Energy award for the project and
- 19:51Speaker 1: approval by West Virginia regulators. Kentucky Power and Wheeling Power,
- 19:57Speaker 1: another American Electric Power subsidiary, each own half of Mitchell.
- 20:03Speaker 1: Kentucky Power serves customers in Letcher and 19 other eastern
- 20:07Speaker 1: Kentucky counties. The Commission's decision affects the cost of maintaining
- 20:12Speaker 1: a major source of electricity for those customers. The PSC
- 20:17Speaker 1: found that deterioration of the existing concrete cooling tower threatens
- 20:22Speaker 1: Unit 2's continued operation. Initial repairs begun in 2024 revealed
- 20:30Speaker 1: more extensive cracking and deterioration than anticipated, prompting the company
- 20:35Speaker 1: to evaluate alternatives. The commission said evidence established that the
- 20:41Speaker 1: existing tower no longer meets its design loads, presents a
- 20:45Speaker 1: safety hazard, and could suffer catastrophic failure during an extreme
- 20:49Speaker 1: weather event. The company has continued operating the unit while
- 20:54Speaker 1: monitoring the tower. After considering alternatives, including further repairs and
- 21:01Speaker 1: replacing Unit 2 with new generation, The Commission found the
- 21:06Speaker 1: proposed tower to be the most reasonable option, based on
- 21:09Speaker 1: costs and operational risks. The PSC acknowledged that the project
- 21:15Speaker 1: would increase costs, but concluded that failing to address the
- 21:19Speaker 1: problem would threaten adequate service or expose customers to higher costs.
- 21:26Speaker 1: Commission Limits Cost Recovery Approval of construction did not mean
- 21:31Speaker 1: approval of all the company's proposed financial arrangements. The PSC
- 21:37Speaker 1: rejected Kentucky Power's request to earn a return on qualifying
- 21:41Speaker 1: construction expenditures through its generation rider without an offset for
- 21:46Speaker 1: financing costs accumulated during construction. Under the method required by
- 21:51Speaker 1: the Commission, those financing costs would generally be accumulated as
- 21:56Speaker 1: part of the investment for recovery after the new facilities
- 21:59Speaker 1: begin providing service, rather than collected as a current return
- 22:03Speaker 1: during construction. The Commission said that approach better aligns costs
- 22:09Speaker 1: with the customers receiving the benefit of the investment. It
- 22:13Speaker 1: ordered Kentucky Power to revise the Generation Riders language to
- 22:17Speaker 1: make the required accounting treatment clear. The PSC also rejected
- 22:23Speaker 1: a proposed annual depreciation rate of 8.33% for the new tower.
- 22:29Speaker 1: Depreciation allows a utility to recover an investment over time. Instead,
- 22:35Speaker 1: the Commission directed Kentucky Power to use the existing Mitchell
- 22:39Speaker 1: depreciation rate until its next base rate case, when a
- 22:44Speaker 1: new rate could be established based on evidence presented then.
- 22:48Speaker 1: The Commission denied the company's request for special authority to
- 22:52Speaker 1: defer certain project-related expenses for possible recovery later. It also
- 22:58Speaker 1: confirmed that incremental property taxes and operating and maintenance expenses
- 23:03Speaker 1: associated with Mitchell cannot be included in the Generation Rider.
- 23:10Speaker 1: The Order discusses several estimates of the project's effect on
- 23:13Speaker 1: residential bills. but those estimates reflect differing assumptions and proposed treatments.
- 23:20Speaker 1: It does not establish a final monthly bill increase reflecting
- 23:24Speaker 1: all the Commission's decisions. Federal award is a condition. The
- 23:31Speaker 1: PSC said the $ 51 million federal award is critical to
- 23:35Speaker 1: the economics of the replacement tower. Kentucky Power filed a
- 23:40Speaker 1: copy of its agreement with the Department of Energy in September.
- 23:44Speaker 1: The award is to be paid as technical objectives are
- 23:47Speaker 1: met over the course of the project. The Commission concluded
- 23:51Speaker 1: that replacing the tower is competitive with repairing it because
- 23:55Speaker 1: of the federal assistance which is available for the replacement project.
- 24:01Speaker 1: If the award is canceled, becomes unavailable, or is materially
- 24:04Speaker 1: changed before construction or the first disbursement, Kentucky Power must
- 24:09Speaker 1: stop material work and seek amended approval. If such a
- 24:14Speaker 1: change occurs after construction has begun and the first disbursement
- 24:17Speaker 1: has been made, the company must notify the PSC within
- 24:21Speaker 1: 14 days and explain how it proposes to proceed. Kentucky
- 24:27Speaker 1: Power must also report a West Virginia decision approving or
- 24:31Speaker 1: denying the project. The Kentucky approval is expressly conditioned on
- 24:36Speaker 1: West Virginia's approval. Other conditions require reporting of construction milestones,
- 24:43Speaker 1: final costs and increases exceeding 5% above the estimated project costs,
- 24:49Speaker 1: including contingency. Future investments still subject to review. The Attorney
- 24:57Speaker 1: General's Office and Kentucky Industrial Utility customers supported approval of
- 25:02Speaker 1: the tower while opposing several of Kentucky Power's financial requests.
- 25:07Speaker 1: Sierra Club initially challenged the company's analysis and but ultimately
- 25:12Speaker 1: did not oppose construction approval in light of the federal award.
- 25:16Speaker 1: It sought conditions concerning future investment decisions at Mitchell. The
- 25:22Speaker 1: PSC said approval of this project and its earlier decision
- 25:25Speaker 1: allowing Kentucky Power to continue taking electricity from Mitchell beyond
- 25:31Speaker 1: 2028 do not settle the merits of future major investments.
- 25:36Speaker 1: For future projects requiring construction approval, Kentucky Power will still
- 25:40Speaker 1: have to evaluate reasonable alternatives, including replacement generation, when appropriate.
- 25:49Speaker 1: The next story is, LCC takes two-game winning streak to Belfry.
- 25:57Speaker 1: Letcher County Central will take a two-game winning streak into
- 26:00Speaker 1: its regular season football finale, Friday, October 30th, at Belfry.
- 26:06Speaker 1: The Cougars improved to 5-4 by defeating MacGuffin County 53-0
- 26:11Speaker 1: at home on October 9th and Powell County 34-8 on
- 26:15Speaker 1: the road October 16th. LCC outscored the two opponents by
- 26:20Speaker 1: a combined 87-8, reversing a three-game losing streak. Friday's kickoff
- 26:27Speaker 1: at Belfry's Haywood Stadium is scheduled for 7.30 p.m. LCC 34,
- 26:30Speaker 1: Powell County 8. Trigg Wisnett and Mason Stevens each scored
- 26:39Speaker 1: on a pass reception and a return, as LCC won
- 26:42Speaker 1: at Powell County. Wisnett caught four passes for 43 yards
- 26:48Speaker 1: and a touchdown, and returned a fumble 58 yards for
- 26:51Speaker 1: another score. Stevens caught three passes for 66 yards and
- 26:56Speaker 1: a touchdown, added a kickoff return touchdown, and intercepted a pass.
- 27:02Speaker 1: Cooper Bates completed 14 of 27 passes, for 182 yards
- 27:07Speaker 1: and two touchdowns. Preston Combs had three catches for 49 yards,
- 27:12Speaker 1: Jet Outlaw caught two passes for 11 yards, and Bryson
- 27:16Speaker 1: Frazier added a 13-yard reception. Frazier led the rushing attack
- 27:21Speaker 1: with 59 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Wisnett
- 27:26Speaker 1: gained 26 yards on three carries, Drake Wright rushed seven
- 27:30Speaker 1: times for 22 yards, and Gunnar Hall added eight yards
- 27:34Speaker 1: on two attempts. LCC finished with 115 rushing yards and
- 27:40Speaker 1: 297 yards of total offense. Will Reynolds led the listed
- 27:45Speaker 1: tacklers with 10 stops, including 8 solo tackles and 1
- 27:49Speaker 1: tackle for loss. Braxton Banks had 7 tackles and forced
- 27:54Speaker 1: a fumble. Magnus Morrell recorded 6 solo tackles and an interception.
- 28:00Speaker 1: Gavin Adams recovered 2 fumbles and returned them a total
- 28:03Speaker 1: of 7 yards. Morgan Reynolds forced a fumble and recorded
- 28:07Speaker 1: three tackles for loss. LCC was credited with eight tackles
- 28:12Speaker 1: for loss, three fumble recoveries, and two interceptions. Jackson Childers
- 28:18Speaker 1: kicked two extra points. This concludes the reading of The
- 28:24Speaker 1: Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been Bill VanArsdel. Now, please
- 28:29Speaker 1: stay tuned for continued programming. On behalf of everyone here
- 28:33Speaker 1: at Radio Eye, thank you for listening. And have a
- 28:36Speaker 1: good day.