Transcript

5.28.26 · The Mountain Eagle

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the Mountain Eagle to read news
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from Wisburg. Your reader today is Bill Dean Arsdale. We
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will begin with the edition dated May twenty seven, twenty
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twenty six, which the publishers have donated.
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Speaker 2: To RADIOI as a reminder.
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Speaker 1: 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. Thank you for listening to radioi's regional newspapers.
0:32
Due to work being done on the transmitters by Moorhead
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State Public Radio during the month of June, listeners in
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the Eastern Kentucky region using SCA radios will not have
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signal from June two to June eighth, and may face
0:47
intermittent outages during the rest of the month. Other methods
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of listening our app Alexa devices internet streaming.
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Speaker 2: Will not be affected.
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Speaker 1: Thank you to our friends at MMR for broadcasting the
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RADIOI frequency at no cost to us or our listeners.
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And the first story is wrong, turn right place. Two
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Canadian foot doctors walk into a clinic in eastern Kentucky.
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It sounds like the beginning of a corny joke, but
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doctor Adam Botti and doctor Jacob Nasser are no joke,
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even if they can't stop cracking them. Botti is from
1:30
the greatest city in the world, Toronto, Ontario, while Nasar
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hails from Calgary, Alberta. The two attended po Dietary School
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at Temple University in Philadelphia together and chose the same specialty.
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Botty completed his residency in the Virginia Beach Norfolk area,
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while Nasser trained in New York City. But like bugs Buddy,
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taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque, the two Canadian pediatrists
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ended up in Lecture count Body went to work for
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a Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation in February twenty twenty four.
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Nasir arrived five months later. In the time they've been
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in Whitsburg, they've performed around three thousand foot.
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Speaker 2: And ankle surgeries.
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Speaker 1: I trained at a Level one and Level two trauma
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center in the Virginia Beach Norfolk area, so I saw
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everything from shark bites, gunshot wounds, car accidents, charcot foot
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lawnmower accidents, you name it, Botty said. Here, it's a
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little bit different for us because Whitesburg Hospital is a
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Level four trauma center, so any patient coming in with
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compound injuries, multiple injuries or needing a high level of
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care is often transferred out before we can get our
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hands on them. Here they treat a wide range of
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foot diseases and injuries, many related to diabetes. That could
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change as the Dockers expand their services into neighboring counties.
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Nasar is already seeing patients in Harlan and Body plans
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to begin surgeries in Hazard by the end of the year.
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Most of what they see is related to diabetic foot ulcers,
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though they also treat bunions, burns, broken toes, and other injuries.
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Photos of some of their more serious cases are compiled
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in a glossy twenty page brochure. That room was seen
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for three years at another facility before she came to us.
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She's all healed up now, Nasser said, pointing to before
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and after photos of a patient with gangreen and an
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open surgical wound. Body pointed out another patient, a burn victim,
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whose treatment including grafting fish skin to an open wound
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to help the patient's own skin grow back. It's tough
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because we see so many different things in a day,
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but the patients I worry about the most are diabetic
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patients who haven't seen a foot doctor before or don't
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have routine care. Nasa said a small wound or puncture
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can turn into something that leads to infection, amputation, and
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everything down the line. That's why we want to see
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these patients proactively before any of those things happen. Body
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said about fifteen percent of Americans will develop diabetes, and
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about fifteen percent of those patients will develop diabetic foot ulcers.
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Of those, he said, fifteen to twenty five percent eventually
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require amputation. Once you've had one amputation, there's a fifty
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percent chance you'll have another within five years. Body said
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once you get to the level of above the knee amputation,
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there's a fifty percent mortality rate within five years. He
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said there is a common misconception that podiatrists nibble away
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at diabetic patient's feet a little at a time until
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there's nothing left, but he said many patients do not
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return for follow up care until the condition has worsened
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beyond any treatment other than another amputation. Once doctors reached
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the ankle, the next step is often a below the
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knee amputation because those prosthetics are the most functional. Both
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Body and Nasser said they take pride in fighting for patients.
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Patients here often know their doctors personally because they grew
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up together, but they don't know us from Adam Botty joked,
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it is important for them to put patients at ease.
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Speaker 2: They said.
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Speaker 1: I think something we bring to the table is that
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we grew up exposed to a whole different kind of
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health care, being from Canada, where healthcare is a right,
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not just something available to people who can afford it.
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Speaker 2: Body said.
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Speaker 1: If there's one thing I'll get arrogant about, it's our
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bedside manner. He added, the approach we bring to healthcare
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is unparalleled from what we hear patients are getting elsewhere.
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Speaker 2: I think our.
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Speaker 1: Patients and our reviews will attest to that. So why
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did two doctors born in Canada and educated in Philadelphia,
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New York and Virginia Beach come to Wisburg. I was
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going to Florida, body deadpant I took a wrong turn,
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ran out of gas, and ended up in Whitsburg. But
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both doctors say they are happy they made the trip.
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It's a big change, going from six and a half
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million people to six and a half people. Body joked,
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I've always been a big city boy, but I'm slowly
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being converted.
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Speaker 2: There's something to be said for.
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Speaker 1: Zero traffic and waking up two minutes before you have
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to be at work and still being on time. Don't
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forget in the mountain range, Nasa interjected, the sunset up.
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Speaker 2: On Pine Mountain.
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Speaker 1: I drive into Harlan County all the time, and I
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go to Knot County as well. Nasa said, that's a
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gorgeous drive. Part of it for me is just the environment.
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You've got nice mountain air. It's not so polluted and
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everything is spread out. We both lived in Philly, so
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we heard sirens twenty four to seven for about four years.
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It's nice and quiet here after Philly and New York.
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The next headline is family fight ended in fatal shot.
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Speaker 2: Jury told.
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Speaker 1: What began as an argument over a loud pickup truck
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ended with a man dead and his uncle on trial
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for murder. Jurors and Letcher Circuit Court heard Tuesday. Jurors
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in the murder trial of Rodney Webb, fifty nine, accused
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in the April twenty twenty four shooting death of his
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nephew Nicholas Webb, were expected to begin deliberations today. The
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prosecution had nearly finished presenting its case at press time Tuesday.
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Among the witnesses called was Roger Webb, the father of
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the victim. Roger Webb said Nicholas was fatally shot after
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a dispute erupted when a loud pickup truck driven by
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a visitor to Rodney Webb woke him during the argument
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that continued after the two men broke off their fight.
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Witnesses said Rodney pulled a gun from his pocket and
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shot Nicholas once in the left groin. Nick was on
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three blood thinners and he was bleeding quick. Roger Webb testified.
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He said Tanya Stalard, who was also visiting his brother,
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found a dog collar and tried to put it around
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his son's leg as a tourniquet, but it didn't stop
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the bleeding. Within three to four minutes, Nicholas Webb, forty four,
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was dead. He looked like he went to sleep. Roger
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Webb testified. The stories told by Webb. Two Kentucky State
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Police troopers, Stalard and Caleb Combs, whose truck woke Roger
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Webb that day, did not always match, but all painted
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a picture of chaos that began when Combs's truck roared
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up the hollow at u Z and Roger Webb came
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out of his trailer yelling at Combs to stop the noise.
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Rodney Webb, witnesses said, came out of a building where
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another man, Mike Cook, was staying, and began yelling at
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his older brother for yelling at his visitors. After Roger
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shoved him, a fight ensued, during which Roger said he
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threw his brother on the ground and jumped on top
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of him. The two men rolled around in the dirt,
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Roger sitting on top of Rodney and punching him in
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the face. Roger Webb testified that his younger brother hit
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him with an uppercut and told him to let up.
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He said, let me up, and I let him up.
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Roger Webb said, I thought it was over, he said.
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Rodney Webb continued to yell at him, and Nicholas Webb
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stepped between them. As he backed away from his brother, Rodney,
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he started screaming again, and I saw him go for
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his pocket, he said. Witnesses agreed there were no other
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weapons seen, but Rodney Webb pointed a pistol he had
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produced from his pocket and fired one shot at his
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nephew from about ten feet away. Roger Webb said Cook
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tried to wrestle the gun away from Rodney, but he
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did not know much about what happened afterward because he
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was focused on his son, Stallard, whose then boyfriend had
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bought property from Rodney. Webb said she called nine one
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one and tried to help stop the bleeding. They lost
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track of where Rodney was. By the time police or
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an ambulance arrived, Nicholas Webb was dead. Two Sheriff's deputies
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arrived first and applied a tourniquet to his leg and
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attempted CPR. State troopers followed rifles at the ready and
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began searching for Rodney, assuming he had gone into the trailer.
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There were five laws out there with automatic weapons and
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they were hollering at Rodney to come out. Roger Webb said,
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After a brief period of time, Rodney Webb came out
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of the woods and we located a bag of clothes.
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Trooper Brandon Watts testified. Trooper Jared Fields testified that Rodney
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came out from behind the trailers and walked toward officers,
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who placed him face down on the ground and handcuffed him.
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Citing autopsy results showing the exit wound was two inches
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higher than the entrance wound. Defense attorney Jonas Stevens suggested
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Rodney Webb was lying on the ground when he fired
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the fatal shot, but eyewitnesses agreed Rodney was standing and
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aimed downward when he fired. The jury consists of six
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men and seven women, one of whom will be excused
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before deliberations begin, expected sometime Wednesday. In the next story,
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man charged with firing shots on car Creek Lake, Kentucky
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State Game Wardens have arrested a Perry County man accused
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of shooting at another boater on car Creek Lake. Bert Kilburn,
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sixty seven, of Happy was charged with three counts each
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of first degree wanton endangerment and menacing, along with one
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count of first degree disorderly conduct. His name and details
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of the case were obtained through court records in the
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office of Knott County Circuit Clerk Lisa Bollen after Kentucky
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Fish and Wildlife declined to release the information. Sergeant Robert Owens,
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public information officer for District seven Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement,
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said wardens were called to the lake May twelfth after
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a boater reported another man had fired at his vessel
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while the two boats were on the water. Following an investigation,
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Warden Dylon Fields obtained an arrest warrant for Kilburn, who
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was arrested Saturday by Kentucky Game wardens from the seventh District.
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According to the warrant, Kilburn was fishing when a boat
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pulling a water skier passed him. The warrant says Kilburn
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then fired a weapon. There were three people aboard the
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ski boat. According to the warrant. Witnesses told Fields that
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Kilburn pointed the gun at them and tracked the boat
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with the weapon for thirty to forty seconds until it
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disappeared from sight. They also reported seeing smoke rise from
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the barrel of the gun. Kilburn was taken to the
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Kentucky River Regional Jail in a hazard He was released
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Monday on a two thy, five hundred dollars cash bond.
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The next headline is search committee sends names of two
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to board for a superintendent's job. A superintendent search committee
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has voted to send two names to the Letter County.
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Speaker 2: Board of Education for.
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Speaker 1: The school district received nine applications for the position, which
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will be vacant as of July one. Superintendent Denise Jance
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announced her retirement earlier this year. Though the district advertised
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the position nationally, only two people applied from outside Kentucky,
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said Tim Eaton, a Kentucky School Board Association official assisting
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with the search. Neither of those two were selected. The
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remaining seven were all from inside the state. Eton and
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School Board Chairman Robert Kaiser declined to name the two
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candidates who will be recommended to the board for consideration,
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or to say if either is from inside the county.
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Board members voted earlier to interview all candidates from inside
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the county who applied, even if they were not otherwise
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recommended by the search committee. The committee will give the
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board the two names it recommends at a special called
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meeting at at five pm on May twenty eighth in
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the Lindell Smith Conference Room at the school bus Garage
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in Whitesburg. The next story is new coach, new district
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await LCC football. Major changes have been announced this month
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for the e Lectri County Central High School football program.
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On May first, Lectter Central announced the retirement of head
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football coach Junior Matthews, who leaves behind a decade marked
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by steady growth and improvement for the Cougar program, both
15:33
on and off the field. During his first season at
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the Helm in twenty sixteen, Matthews guided the Cougars to
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the first of what would become nine playoff appearances in
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ten seasons. The only year LCC failed to reach the
15:49
postseason under Matthews came in twenty seventeen, when the Cougars
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were still competing against Class five A schools despite declining enrollment.
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We are grateful for the time, commitment, and passion he
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is given to our football program and for the growth
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and success achieved under his leadership, l CC said in
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announcing Matthews' retirement. We wish Coach Matthews the very best
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as he steps away to enjoy more time with his family.
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School officials said a search committee, including a parent representative,
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has been formed to identify the school's next head football coach.
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L CC officials said they hope to have a new
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coach in place before summer practice begins. We look forward
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to the continued growth and future of l cc HS football,
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the school said in its announcement. Another major development for
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the Cougar football program came when the Kentucky High School
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Athletic Association approved Letcher Central's request to move from Class
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three A District eight to Class three A District seven
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beginning with the two tenty twenty seven and twenty eight seasons.
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Under the new alignment, the Cougars will compete against East Carter,
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Floyd Central, Lawrence County, and Russell in District play.
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Speaker 2: The request was approved during the sixth.
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Speaker 1: And final regularly scheduled meeting of the KHSAA Board of
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Control for the twenty twenty five twenty six academic year,
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held May sixth in Lexington. Six other schools across the
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state also received approval to change districts. In Class two A,
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Leslie County and Nott County Central were approved to move
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from District eight to District seven, while Martin County and
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Prestonsburg will move from District seven to District eight. The
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new Class two A District seven will include Brethick County,
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Knott County Central, Leslie County, and mcgoffin County. District eight
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will consist of Belfry, Martin County, Pike County, Central, Prestonsburg,
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and Shelby Valley. In Class four A, Russell County was
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approved to move from District six to District two, while
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Breckinridge County will move from District three to District four.
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The KHSAA Board of Control also approved a change to
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the football playoff format beginning in twenty twenty seven. While
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first round playoff games will continue to match sister districts
18:26
against each other, second round games will shift to an
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RPI based semi state format, similar to the current third round.
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Under the new system, the eight remaining teams in each
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semi state bracket will be seeded by RPI, with matchups
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set as number one versus number eight, number two versus
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number seven, number three versus number six, and number four
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versus number five. Higher seeded teams will host the games.
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KHSAA officials said the change followed months of day discussion
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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
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out the steps of a routine to members of her
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Tap and Jazz troop for women age fifty and older.
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I've been dancing my whole life. It's the best, said Ross,
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who founded the Rodeo City Wreqetz group twenty three years ago.
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At an age when many people are getting ready for
19:39
retirement now eighty seven, Ross and her husband and lifelong
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dance partner, John also eighty seven, have long known what
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more older adults are now discovering moving to music is
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one of the best ways to stay healthy. Medical professionals
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say it doesn't matter if it's Western life, line dancing,
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ballroom steps, salsa, tap zumba, at the gym, or with
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a group like the Wrequeats. Dancing is one of the
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most powerful activities for older people, says Julio Laya, a
20:14
nurse and geriatric program coordinator at the Tucson Medical Center. Dance,
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like other exercise, can help people lose weight, get stronger,
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reduce fall risk, increase mobility and flexibility, and even improve
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brain health. It engages their brain, it changes their mood,
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and it connects them socially while getting them moving.
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Speaker 2: Said Laya.
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Speaker 1: And it's fun. Everybody has a good time. Doctor Thomas Johnson,
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a geriatrician at the UC Health Seniors Clinic in Aurora, Colorado,
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said he remembers one man in particular, whose passion for
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dance was so strong that he willed himself to attend
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one last class before he died in his late eighties.
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His number one priority was that he danced until the
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day that he died, Johnson said of his patient. Johnson
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said dance can improve the balance of his patients at
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the clinic, which serves about two thousand, five hundred people
21:14
seventy five and older a year. He said older patients
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can benefit from adding two to three dance sessions to
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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
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everything from ballroom to tap as an adult, Ross said
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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
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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
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on that dancing was a great way to attract the chicks,
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joked John Ross, who slid across the floor like a
22:20
much younger man. The next article is after Sicco, a
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long fall, but then redemption.
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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.
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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.