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Whitesburg Mountain Eagle - 10.1.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Now we turn to The Mountain Eagle to read news
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: from Whitesburg. Your reader today is Bill VanArsdel. We will
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: begin with the edition dated September 30, 2026, which the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: publishers have donated to Radio Eye. As a reminder, Radio
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Eye is a reading service intended for people who are
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: read printed material. The first headline is... County officials vote
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: to study nuclear power. The Letcher Fiscal Court has voted
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: unanimously to study the feasibility of installing small nuclear power
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: plants in the county after a resident proposed using electric
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: power and data centers as economic development tools. Data centers
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: came up again later in the September meeting when residents
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: asked how the county would enforce the two-year moratorium it
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: adopted a month earlier. County Attorney Jamie Hatton said the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: moratorium is not enforceable unless the county passes a planning
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and zoning ordinance. The moratorium, also approved unanimously, followed residents'
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: discovery that a partnership, identifying itself as the Maverick Project,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: had bought an option on 100 acres at Gateway Business
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Park for a proposed 100-megawatt power plant. That proposal called
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: for a natural gas-fired plant to supply a future data center.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: The September court meeting was the first time a nuclear
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: plant had been mentioned. Ernie Bradley of Letcher asked during
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the public comment portion of the meeting that the court
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: consider a feasibility study on placing small nuclear power plants
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: on reclaimed strip mines across the county to lower electric
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: costs and supply data centers. Bradley said research he had
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: done using artificial intelligence indicated that nuclear units could be purchased, prepackaged,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and no larger than a shipping container. I'm not asking
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the fiscal court to build a nuclear power plant. I'm
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: asking the fiscal court to investigate the possibility. What would
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: a small nuclear power plant cost, he asked. Bradley said
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: he started going down this rabbit hole. when newly inaugurated
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump talked about nuclear and fusion power. The
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: growth of data centers led him to consider whether generating
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: electricity could offer the county an economic opportunity. Trump has
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: been vocal in his support for data centers. A Gallup poll,
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  Speaker 1: conducted March 2nd through 18th, however, found that 71% of
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Americans opposed having an artificial intelligence data center built in
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  Speaker 1: their area. Bradley said he sees the facilities as an
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: economic development opportunity. These are buildings that run the computers
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: behind artificial intelligence, cloud storage, banking, businesses, and many of
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the services people use every day, and they use a
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: tremendous amount of electricity, Bradley told the court. Electricity is
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: becoming an economic development tool, he said. After another resident,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Elaine Tanner, said Kentucky Power was already conducting a nuclear
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: power feasibility study, Bradley suggested the county could partner with
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  Speaker 1: the company. Judge Executive Terry Adams and District 3 Magistrate
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Deb Collier, who is running against Adams in the November election,
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  Speaker 1: both voted for the study. Both spoke positively about Bradley's
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: prediction that a nuclear power plant could cut electric rates
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: in half. I think a feasibility study to that effect
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  Speaker 1: is something that we could probably look into, Adams said.
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  Speaker 1: He said high electric rates in eastern Kentucky, particularly Letcher County,
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  Speaker 1: are keeping residents in poverty. Collier supported a feasibility study,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: but opposed partnering with Kentucky Power. We could do our
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: own and not be dependent on Kentucky Power, she said.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Tanner was among at least two audience members who raised
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: concerns about data center's or nuclear power plants. Michael Wine
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: of Bottom Fork, an independent candidate for Congress, asked Hatton
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: whether there had been any progress since his assessment that
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the county could not enforce a moratorium without planning and zoning.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Hatton said nothing else had been done. Wine asked whether
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: it was Hatton's job to help find a way to
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  Speaker 1: make the moratorium enforceable. Hatton said it was not. My
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: job is to advise these people here, you know, on
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: various legal issues, Hatton said. Wyne then asked the court
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  Speaker 1: what its next step would be, given that it had
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: approved a moratorium with no enforcement mechanism. Adams said his
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: understanding was that the moratorium could be enforced only through
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: a planning and zoning ordinance. No other court members have
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  Speaker 1: made public moves to adopt one. Such ordinances have long
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: been politically sensitive in Letcher County and elsewhere in eastern Kentucky.
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  Speaker 1: An extended exchange between Wine and the court ended without
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: an answer about what would happen next. Wine said he
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: had heard rumors that nondisclosure agreements had been signed but
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: had been unable to confirm them. Adams told the Mountain
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  Speaker 1: Eagle this summer that he had not signed such an agreement.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Speaking after Wine, Tanner said Chris Back a grant writer
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: for the Kentucky River Area Development District, had told her
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  Speaker 1: the proposed Jenkins Power Plant would not be built in
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  Speaker 1: Letcher County. According to Tanner, Back said the developers were
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  Speaker 1: using the county as leverage to obtain what they wanted
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: in Wise County, Virginia. Tanner, who said she is originally
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: from Ohio, raised concerns about the partial meltdown at Pennsylvania's
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979. Constellation Energy
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: is working to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 under
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  Speaker 1: an agreement to supply power to Microsoft. That reactor is
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  Speaker 1: separate from Unit 2, which suffered the 1979 accident and
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: is being decommissioned. Unit 1 closed for economic reasons in 2019.
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  Speaker 1: That's my concerns because I got a lot of mining
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  Speaker 1: land surrounding me and I would not want to see
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  Speaker 1: a nuclear plant there, Tanner said. What about wind? What
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: about solar? You know, at one time we were making
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: headway in getting these renewable energies into our communities, but
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  Speaker 1: under the current administration it's kind of up against a wall.
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  Speaker 1: She suggested the court contact the Kentucky Resources Council in Frankfurt,
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  Speaker 1: saying it had worked with other communities on enforcing moratoriums.
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  Speaker 1: She also suggested that the county consider banning flock cameras
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  Speaker 1: from citing concerns about the data centers used to store
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and process their images. The court made no commitments on
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: wind or solar power or on contacting the Kentucky Resources Council.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: The next story is, Jenkins officials say city did not
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: order Legion Post closed. The city of Jenkins did not
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: close American Legion Post 66, but it did stop the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: post from operating an unlicensed bar after state investigators documented
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: alcohol sales there, according to city officials and records obtained
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: by the Mountain Eagle. Jenkins' Alcoholic Beverage Control Administrator, Chris Anderson,
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  Speaker 1: said the American Legion itself later chose to close the
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: post rather than complete the licensing process required to continue
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  Speaker 1: selling alcohol. Neither the city nor the state has ordered
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the Legion closed, Anderson told the Mountain Eagle. Rather, it
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: was ordered to stop selling alcohol illegally. They had something
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: they were required by law to do, but chose not
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  Speaker 1: to do it, Anderson said. The closing of the American
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Legion Post, and who is responsible for it, has become
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: an issue in the races for seats on the Jenkins
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: City Council in the coming November election. Records from the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control show the state began
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: investigating Jenkins' American Legion Post 66, after receiving a complaint
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: on August 13, 2024, alleging alcohol was being sold at
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  Speaker 1: the post without a state license. The complaint identified the
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  Speaker 1: post at 119 Freedom Lane and listed Thurman Pete Wyatt
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  Speaker 1: as commander. The state investigation eventually confirmed that the Jenkins
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: post did not possess a Kentucky ABC license. But records
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  Speaker 1: supplied to the Mountain Eagle by Anderson showed Jenkins' officials
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: had already been trying to help the post obtain the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: necessary licensing before the state complaint was filed. Anderson said
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that shortly after he was appointed Jenkins' ABC administrator in
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: March 2024, Mayor Todd DePriest asked him to assist the
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  Speaker 1: American Legion in becoming properly licensed. Anderson said city officials
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  Speaker 1: supported the post because of its charitable work for children
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  Speaker 1: and veterans. An email dated August 1, 2024, shows Anderson
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  Speaker 1: sent Ronnie Bowling of the Jenkins American Legion a link
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  Speaker 1: to the state's online ABC licensing portal, instructions for beginning
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  Speaker 1: the application process, and additional links to state ABC information.
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  Speaker 1: Anderson told Bowling to contact him if he could be
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: of further assistance. Anderson again sent Bowling the state licensing
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  Speaker 1: link on September 16, 2020. On September 23, he forwarded the
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: City of Jenkins ABC application and again offered to help
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: with the process. The city's application packet revised August 1, 2024.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: lists the local and state licensing requirements for businesses and
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: organizations seeking to sell alcohol in Jenkins. Among the listed
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: licenses is an NQ-3 retail drink license available to qualifying
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: private clubs, including non-profit, charitable, civic, social, and fraternal organizations.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Anderson said officials initially allowed time for the Legion's application
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to work its way through the process. At some point,
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  Speaker 1: I followed up with it, and there was no application,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: he said. For several months, state investigators had difficulty determining
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: whether alcohol was actually being sold at the post. Surveillance
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: visits in August, September, and October 2024 generally found little activity.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: On February 6, 2025, undercover investigators attempted to enter the
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  Speaker 1: post but were not admitted. even though they reported seeing
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: lights and believed people were inside. At that point, an
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  Speaker 1: investigator recommended closing the complaint as unsubstantiated. That changed on
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  Speaker 1: March 14, 2025. According to the State Investigative Report, undercover
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: ABC investigators Nathan Caudill and Mike Nunley entered the post
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  Speaker 1: and each ordered a Michelob Ultra at the bar for $ 3. 00.
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  Speaker 1: The investigators reported they were not asked whether they were
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: American Legion members or veterans until after they had been served.
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  Speaker 1: When they said they were not veterans, they were told
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  Speaker 1: they could return one more time, but would be required
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  Speaker 1: to pay a $ 40 membership fee on a third visit.
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  Speaker 1: The investigators also reported seeing several poker machines, some of
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  Speaker 1: which were being played by patrons. They said people inside
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  Speaker 1: encouraged them to purchase additional alcohol before leaving. One investigator
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  Speaker 1: was allowed to leave carrying his beer. The investigators later
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: turned over their video recording and beer to the ABC
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: investigator handling the complaint. State charitable gaming officials subsequently told
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  Speaker 1: ABC that the Jenkins American Legion had never held a
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: charitable gaming license. The Post began an application in July 2023,
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  Speaker 1: but withdrew it the following month. Records say officials provided
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: information about reapplying in July 2024, but no new application
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  Speaker 1: was filed. There was a warning of criminal charges. State
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: investigators later met with Jenkins' officials and arranged a meeting
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  Speaker 1: with Wyatt. According to the investigative report, ABC investigators told
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Wyatt that violations had occurred and that he would receive
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: written warnings for operating without the required alcohol license and
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: for permitting gambling. Investigators also warned that if additional violations occurred,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: they would seek criminal charges. They told Wyatt the Post
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: could apply for an ABC license and potentially a charitable
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: gaming license. Anderson said the city then stopped the post's
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: unlicensed bar operation. He reiterated the decision to close the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: American Legion post itself was made by the Legion, not
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: by Jenkins or state ABC officials. Other Posts Licensed The
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: two other American Legion posts in Letcher County have obtained
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  Speaker 1: state alcohol licenses. Current Kentucky ABC records show American Legion
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Douglas Day Post 152 in Whitesburg holds active licenses for
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: retail alcohol sales, as does American Legion Post 104 in
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  Speaker 1: Fleming Neon. The Whitesburg licenses became effective July 15, 2026,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: while the Fleming Neon licenses became effective August 28, 2026.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: The next story is Over 632,000 birds crossed Letcher County
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  Speaker 1: in one night. While most Letcher County residents slept Monday night,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: an estimated 632,700 birds crossed the county on their way south,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: according to Cornell University's BirdCast migration system. The mass movement
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: was part of the annual fall migration now passing through
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: eastern Kentucky. and came as a new six-stop Pine Mountain
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Bird Trail is being promoted to bird watchers and local residents.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Cornell's BirdCast migration dashboard estimates the number of birds moving
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: through an area by using weather radar data. For Letcher County,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: the system showed migration beginning about 7.20 p.m. September 28th
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: and continuing until about 7.20 Tuesday morning. Traffic over the
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  Speaker 1: county peaked at about 10.50 p.m. when BirdCast estimated 137,400
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: birds were in flight at one time. They were moving
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: generally south at about 11 miles per hour and at
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: an estimated altitude of 1,700 feet. Most passed unseen. BirdCast
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: says birds generally begin migrating 30 to 45 minutes after sunset.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: with the greatest numbers often in flight two to three
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: hours later. Much of the fall migration of songbirds takes
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: place under cover of darkness. Letcher County's movement was part
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: of an even larger statewide event. BirdCast estimated 12,449,300 birds
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: crossed Kentucky during the same night, with statewide migration traffic
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: peaking at an estimated 22.2 million birds in flight, shortly
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: before midnight. Cornell notes that the number of birds in
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: flight can be larger than the number that ultimately crosses
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: a region because some birds remain within the area rather
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: than flying all the way through it. The radar figures
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: show what is happening overhead, but observations submitted to Cornell's
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: eBird program show that many migrating species are also being
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: seen on the ground in Letcher County. September reports include
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: a northern parula as recently as September 27th, and a
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: black-throated green warbler, blue-headed vireos, and a scarlet tanager at
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Fish Pond Lake on September 25th. Other September sightings include
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: magnolia warblers, swainson's thrush, American redstart, Canada warbler, Tennessee warblers,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Cape May warblers, hooded warblers, rose-breasted grossbeak, indigo bunting, and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: ruby-throated hummingbirds. Some of the records came from Little Shepherd Trail,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: while Fish Pond Lake and other locations around the county
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: also produced numerous reports. Not every bird reported during September
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: is a migrant. Cardinals, chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers, and other species
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: remain in the area year-round or for much of the year.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: but the appearance of warblers, vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, and other
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: species during this period illustrates the seasonal movement now underway.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: Cornell's current list of nocturnal migrants expected in this region
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: includes northern parula, hooded warbler, Tennessee warbler, black-throated green warbler,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: bay-breasted warbler, blackburnian warbler, Blue-headed vireo, yellow-throated vireo, Swainson's thrush,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: rose-breasted grossbeak, summer tanager, and eastern wood peewee. BirdCast's seasonal
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: charts show many of those species concentrated in eastern Kentucky
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: during September and into October. The fall migration coincides with
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the establishment of the Pine Mountain Bird Trail. a project
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: of Kentucky Natural Lands Trust and its partners. The trail
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: consists of six birding locations along Pine Mountain, including Little
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Shepherd Trail and Bad Branch State Nature Preserve in Letcher County.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Signs and QR codes at the sites allow visitors to
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: connect with Cornell's eBird system and record the birds they see.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Those observations can become part of the larger scientific database
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: used to document bird populations and migration. Kentucky Natural Lands
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Trust has described Pine Mountain as part of an intercontinental
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: migration corridor connecting North, Central, and South America. The heavily
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: forested ridge also provides habitat where migrating birds can rest
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and feed before continuing south. A free guided outing along
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: portions of the Pine Mountain Bird Trail is scheduled for Saturday,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: October 3rd, with birders and naturalists including Jennifer Honeycutt, Martina Hines,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: and Ronan O'Kara expected to participate. The timing puts the
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: event near the heart of fall migration. Cornell's birdcast data
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: indicate that large numbers of birds continue to move through
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the region during October. although the mix of species changes
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: as the season progresses. For people on the ground, that
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: means some of the hundreds of thousands of birds detected
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: over Letcher County at night may be in the trees,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: along the ridges, and around local lakes and streams by daylight.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Cornell University's birdcast system and September reports submitted to eBird
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: show a wide variety of birds moving through or appearing
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: in Letcher County during fall migration. Warblers. Northern parula, black-throated green, magnolia, Tennessee, hooded,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Cape May, Canada, American redstart, bay-breasted, blackburnian, chestnut-sided, black and white,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and yellow-rumped. Vireos. Blue-headed, yellow-throated, red-eyed, and white-eyed. Thrushes. Swainson's
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: thrush and wood thrush. Other migrants, rose-breasted grossbeak, scarlet tanager,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: summer tanager, indigo bunting, ruby-throated hummingbird, Acadian flycatcher, eastern wood peewee,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: blue-gray gnatcatcher, and chipping sparrow. September eBird reports show several
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: of those species at Fish Pond Lake, Little Shepherd Trail,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: and other Letcher County locations. Migration by the numbers. 632,700
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: estimated birds that crossed Letcher County during the night of
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: September 28th through 29th. 137,400 estimated birds in flight over
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the county at the nightly peak around 10.50 p.m. 1,700
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: feet estimated altitude at peak migration. 11 miles an hour
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: estimated flight speed. General direction of travel. 12.4 million estimated
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: birds that crossed Kentucky during the same night. When to watch.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Fall songbird migration continues through October. Many species migrate at
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: night and stop during daylight hours to rest and feed.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: The next story is Diesel costs squeeze county schools budget.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Soaring diesel costs and millions of dollars in unpaid flood
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: reimbursements are putting pressure on the Letcher County School District's budget.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: A $ 425, 000 reduction in state SEEK funding this year has
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: already forced the district to reduce its reserve from 7.3%
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: to 5.76% of the budget, Superintendent Josh Johns told the
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Mountain Eagle. He said the reserve will fall further unless
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: diesel prices come down. Yance, who served as assistant superintendent
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: and finance director before becoming superintendent this year, said he
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: had always tried to budget extra for transportation to account
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: for fluctuating fuel prices, but the current increase has exceeded
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: what he anticipated. Yance said the district may have to
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: draw on other funds if fuel costs do not ease
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: by January or February. In October of last year, the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: district bought 12,697 gallons of diesel for $ 30, 392. As of
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Monday night, it had purchased 5,433 gallons for $ 30, 727. Those
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: figures work out to about $ 2. 39 a gallon for last
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: October's purchases and $ 5. 66 a gallon for the more recent purchases.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: The district has spent slightly more money for less than
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: half as much fuel. I don't know what we'll do
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: if it continues to go up, maintenance and transportation director
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Brian Johnson said. The district is also waiting for Federal
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Emergency Management Agency reimbursements for repairs following the July 2022 flood.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Yance described the reimbursement problem as a two-fold thing. There's
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: $ 8 to $ 10 million that we still haven't received from FEMA,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Yance said. In addition to that, Kentucky Emergency Management has
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: withheld 10% of all our FEMA reimbursement until all our
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: projects are finished. Yance said he had been told that
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: some school district received FEMA money years ago, but used
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: it for other budget purposes rather than repairs. He said
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: he understands why Kentucky Emergency Management is withholding part of
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the reimbursement, but the delay creates problems for the district.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Yance said the district is owed about $ 3. 1 million for
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the new sports complex in West Whitesburg. Flood damage there
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: included the loss of football bleachers, a field house, a
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: concession stand, and fences. The middle school football field was submerged.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: The district also has not been reimbursed for work at
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the education center, formerly a vocational school, although some minor
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: work remains to be completed there, Jans said. The center
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: is now used for alternative education and as a practice
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: area for archery, wrestling, cheerleading, and other small teams. The
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: next story is, Monday is deadline to register for voting.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Residents who want to vote in the November 3rd general election,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: but have not registered, have until Monday, October 5th to
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: do so. Registration forms are available at the Letcher County
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Clerk's Office. Residents can also register online at govote.ky.gov. According
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: to the Kentucky State Board of Elections, online registration must
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: be completed by 4 p.m. local time, October 5th. Mailed
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: registration cards must be postmarked by that date, and cards
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: delivered to the clerk's office must arrive by the close
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: of business. Other dates to remember are October 20th, deadline
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to request a mail-in absentee ballot through the online portal.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: The portal closes at 11.59 p.m. Eastern Time. October 21st
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: through 23rd and October 26th through 28th, in-person excused absentee
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: voting for eligible voters. October 29th through 31st, early in-person
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: voting without an excuse. November 3rd, Election Day. Polls are
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. Completed
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: mail-in absentee ballots must reach the county clerk by 6 p.m.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Election Day to be counted. A postmark alone does not
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: meet that deadline. The State Board of Elections urges voters
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to return absentee ballots promptly. Voters may mail completed ballots
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: or hand-deliver them to the county's designated ballot dropbox. Information
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: about Dropbox locations, voting sites, and hours is available at govote.ky.gov
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: or from the County Clerk's Office. This concludes the reading
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: of The Mountain Eagle. Your reader has been Bill VanArstel. Now,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: please stay tuned for continued programming. On behalf of everyone
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: here at Radio Eye, thank you for listening, and have
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: a good day.