8.17.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we turn to the reading of the Hazzard Herald
for news of Hazzard in Perry County. I'm Lee Townshend.
We begin with the online edition dated August twelfth, two
thousand twenty five. As a reminder, radioized a reading service
intended for people who are blind or have other disabilities
that make it difficult to read printed material. Kentucky board

(00:22):
approves Starfire solar facility. The Kentucky State Board on Electric
Generation and Transmission Sighting has conditionally approved a certificate for
STMOBNLLC Starfire to build a two hundred and ten megawatt
merchant solar electric generating facility spanning nineteen hundred and eighty

(00:45):
acres in not Breathitt in Perry Counties, according to the order,
The project, according to the order, will feature about four
hundred seventy thousand ground mounted photo of baltic panels, fifty
five inverters, and a main transformer connection to the Kentucky
Powers Harbard Substation. It will be located on a reclaimed

(01:07):
former mind site roughly six miles east of Window ages
Ford Airport. According to the statement, the Board's approval requires
Starfire to comply with more than thirty mitigation measures, including
limits on construction hours, noise control, road use agreements, wildlife
habitat preservation, and the decommissioning plan. Economic studies cited in

(01:33):
the order estimate the project will create one hundred ninety
two direct and three hundred four indirect statewide job use
during construction, generate one hundred twenty eight point nine million
dollars in economic output, and contribute six point nine million
dollars in state and local revenue. Local governments are projected

(01:54):
to receive up to fifteen point six million dollars through
a payment in lieu of taxes agreement over the life
of the facility. According to the order, the board found
the project compatible with surrounding scenic areas due to topography
and vegetation, and concluded it would not significantly affect property
values If set bikes and buffers are maintained, Noise from construction,

(02:18):
especially pile driving, will be temporary, and operational noise is
expected to be minimal. According to the order, Starfire must
also implement traffic and dust control measures, coordinate with local
emergency responders, and maintain a complaint resolution program. The facility
is expected to take twelve to eighteen months to build,

(02:40):
with construction projected to begin in twenty twenty six. Summer
interns with the Appalachian Arts Alliance stand in front of
their newly unveiled mural in downtown Hazard on August seven.
The artwork, inspired by the mascot of the long closed
Liberty High School, honors the school's legacy while adding color

(03:02):
and history to the city's landscape. In the picture are
Kayley Barrett, Mina Day, Gracie Stewart, Rose Ingell, Maddie Hayes,
Caleb Tory, and Brack Messer Murrell, honoring Liberty High veiled
in downtown by Justin Begley. What started as a fantasy
inspired dragon design became a colorful tribute to a piece

(03:24):
of Hazard's forgotten history when a group of young artists
turned up their summer internship into a lasting landmark. The
Appalachian Arts Alliance on August seventh, unveiled a new downtown
mural created by eight Summer interns under the guidance of
Education Director Lindsey Branson and Executive Director Tom Deaton Conway.

(03:47):
The Appalachian Arts Alliance welcomed eight Summer interns, giving them
the freedom to create a project that would leave a
lasting mark. Branson said what began as a simple dragon
murle soon became a journey into local history when they
discovered Liberty High School, whose mascot was a dragon, once
on Liberty Street, which closed in nineteen fifty six. The

(04:11):
interns Kaylee Barrett, Minor Day, Gracie Stewart, Rose Engel, Maddie Hayes,
Caleb Tory, and Brack Messer spent June researching and interviewing
community members before finalizing their design. By late July, they
began painting. On August seventh, the mural was complete. Branson
said it honors Liberty High while giving a local youth

(04:35):
a chance to express themselves through art, connect with their history,
and bring beauty to downtown Hazard. For mural designer Kaylee Barrett,
the project evolved in unexpected ways. Designing the mural was
definitely one of the hardest tasks of the whole thing,
there being little information about Liberty High and all, but

(04:58):
it didn't even start out that way, Barret, it said.
Barrett explained that the first draft featured a whimsical dragon
intended for the Old Castle building downtown. There were way
too many complications, such as needing a special paint and
worrying if we could just crumble off over time. Barrett said,
we landed on the grand walls eventually, but couldn't think

(05:20):
of what to put there until our boss told us
there was a school that had all but been forgotten
to time. Barrett said Liberty Street High, a segregated school
that closed in nineteen fifty six, still had a legacy,
even inspiring a Facebook page dedicated to his memory. Asking
around for information on Liberty High was definitely a frustrating task.

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No one really knew anything about the school except Miss
Emily Hudson, who gave us detailed information on the school,
such as the colors and even who all went there.
She said. The mural isn't just an art piece to
me and the intern through together, It's a memorial for
the school and its history. It's bringing the school who

(06:06):
originally served to keep Liberty Street away and bringing them
into Hazard for everyone to remember Liberty. Fellow intern Josie
Cones said the project also served as a way to
reconnect the neighborhood with the rest of the city. Our
Liberty High Mural was meant to bring Liberty Street back
into Hazard, Combs said, Oftentimes people forget that Liberty Street

(06:29):
is still a part of downtown. This mural is supposed
to bring attention to and honor those who were once there,
as well as invite the residents of Liberty Street to
take part in building back downtown. Hazard Georgia man sentenced
to fifteen years in trafficking case. A Georgia man has
been sentenced to serve fifteen years in prison for allegedly

(06:52):
trafficking and control substances in Perry and other eastern Kentucky counties.
According to court documents, on all seventh U S District
Court Judge Danny c Reeves sentenced Dennis Arnold Lines, thirty
five of Wagner Way, Wrex to serve a total of
one hundred eighty months in prison. In April, Lines pleaded

(07:14):
guilty to charges of possession with intent to distribute control
substances meth amphetamine and heroin, and possession of a firearm
in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Lines was arrested
December thirteenth in Perry County. According to an arrest citation
written by Kentucky State Police Trooper Matthew day, Day wrote

(07:36):
that he was observing for a twenty twenty three Chevrolet
Silverado in reference to a drug investigation. When he saw
the vehicle being driven at a high rate of speed
on Kentucky fifteen with a cracked windshield, Day wrote that
he conducted a stop and made contact with the driver, Lions,
who admitted after Day noted the smell of marijuana to

(07:59):
smoking the drug earlier. Day wrote that he observed tampering
which had been done to the rear bumper of the vehicle,
crawled under the vehicle and saw the spare tire was flat.
The tire of the citation said, had a large slit
in it and was found after removal to contain a
total of eighteen hundred and sixty three grams of meth

(08:20):
amphetamine and two hundred point zero four six grams of heroin.
According to the plea agreement in the case, law enforcement
had used a confidential informant to purchase meth amphetamine and
heroin from Lines before his arrest. According to the indictment,
Lines trafficked and the drugs and Perry Powell and Knot Counties.

(08:41):
After his sentencing, Lines was returned to the custody of
the Pike County Detention Center. Congressman Bar visits primary Care
to discuss job growth and more. In US Senate bid,
Kentucky Congressman Andy Barr total community members at the Primary
Care Center of en Facility Friday, August Eate that his

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run for the US Senate is rooted in his commitment
to Eastern Kentucky, a region he said deserves both recognition
and renewed economic opportunity. Barry Martin's CEO of Primary Care,
praise Bar's connection to the community. He's more than just
a politician, Martin said, He's very interested and very engaged,

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and he wants what's best for us. Barr, who has
served in Congress for about thirteen years representing Central Kentucky
alongside Congressman Hall Rogers, said his story with the region
runs deep. I want people to know that, even though
I've served in Congress for about thirteen years for Central Kentucky,
working side by side with Congressman Hall Rogers, I love

(09:46):
Eastern Kentucky. Bar said apple Read Legal Aid, hosting family
law clinics. Apple Read Legal Aid recently received a fifteen
thousand dollars grant from the Kentucky bar Foundation for their project,
the Apple Red pro See Capacity Building. Thanks to this support.
Apple Red Legal Aid said in a statement the organization

(10:08):
will host twenty four pro see family law clinics over
the next year, both in person and virtually across eastern
and south central Kentucky. These clinics help individuals who are
representing themselves in simple family law matters like uncontested divorce
or custody. Apple Red attorneys and pro bono attorneys guide

(10:29):
participants through drafting and filing the necessary documents, helping them
move their cases through the court system with confidence. Charnel Burton,
pro Bono director, said going to court alone can be
intimidating and confusing. These clinics and power community members by
providing the tools, knowledge, and support needed to navigate the

(10:52):
legal process. Community members walk out feeling less stressed and
more confident. Means joined AG's Special Prosecution Unit. Kentucky Attorney
General Russell Coleman announced in a statement August fifth that
Tony Skenes, the former Commonwealth Attorney for Johnson, Lawrence, and
Martin Counties, as joined the Attorney General's Special Prosecution Unit.

(11:17):
Skeen served as the Chief Felony Prosecutor for the twenty
fourth Judicial District from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty four.
Before his election, he served as Assistant Commonwealth Attorney for
over two decades. While in the Commonwealth Attorney's Office, the
statement said, Skenes formed a special victims unit centered on
securing justice for the victims of child abuse and child

(11:40):
sexual abuse. Back to School Bash hosted by Threads of Love.
Threads of Love, in partnership with the Little Mountain Flower Clinic,
hosted a back to school event Saturday, August ninth, offering
free sports and school physicals through the clinic's mobile lab,
along with free school supplies and haircut. Black packs donated

(12:01):
by Perry County schools were filled with supplies purchased through
community donations and Golden Combs volunteered to provide haircuts. National
grant helped local businesses recover from flood. As some downtown
businesses continue to recover from February's devastating flood, one Main
Street shop was found a much needed boost through a

(12:25):
National grant program aimed at helping small businesses rebuild. Coal
Country Candles, located at one fifty one East Main Street,
was one of two hazard businesses recently awarded the Viking
Small Business twenty twenty five disaster Recovery grant from American
Express and the Main Street America Organization. Owner Shannon Gabbard

(12:50):
said she learned about the grant through a local social
media post. Bailey Richards had actually posted on the Downtown
Small Businesses Facebook a while by about a grant through
American Express in the Main Street American Organization. Gabride said
they do grants every year for main street businesses across
the country. This year they decided to split it into

(13:13):
two different grants. Gabbard said. The first round, which Cold
Country Candles applied for, awarded one hundred grants of ten
thousand dollars each to small businesses impacted by a natural disaster.
But you had to be in a federally declared natural
disaster zone for the time outline, and the February flood

(13:34):
allowed us to qualify for that. So we applied. Out
of one hundred businesses selected across the country for this grant,
two of them were in Hazard. It's pretty awesome, she added.
There were also a lot of recipients in North Carolina
and California, along with various other states, but I thought
it was great that two of the recipients were right

(13:55):
here in hazard. The program also includes a second round
of funding. Gabbard said there's another grand period where they
would distribute four hundred grants, but the application process for
that one just ended July thirty first. That grant can
also be for any main street businesses across the country

(14:15):
that qualifies. They do five hundred total grants a year.
UK student searches for contaminants in Appalachian streams ten weeks,
ten hard to reach a headwater streams, and a determination
to understand how land use shapes water quality. That is
the summer resume of Amanda Beale, a chemical engineer rising

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sophomore from the University of Kentucky Stanley and Karen Pigman
College of Engineering, working with the Martin Gatton College of Agriculture,
Food and Environment. She's participating in the work as part
of the research experiences for undergraduates. Beale worked closely with
water resources engineer Tiffany Messer, the Bill Gatton Foundation and

(15:02):
Dowd Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Biosystems
and Agricultural Engineering. According to a statement from the UK,
Messer is also the principal investigator of the four hundred
eighty seven thousand dollars grant from the US National Science
Foundation that supports this RAU site. THEREU brings undergraduate students

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from across the country together to focus on addressing water
resource and sustainable engineering challenges facing Appalachian region through research
and professional development. The twenty twenty five cohort had twenty
five undergraduate participants from six universities. Guided by Messer and

(15:45):
graduate student menors William Rudd and Matthew Russell, Bill set
out to locate field sites that capture the range of
pressures facing Appalachian's waterways. Messer believes Bill's work has been invaluable.
Amanda has been a vital part of our team this summer,
and we're ecstatic to have her continue her work with

(16:07):
us by joining the team as an undergraduate research assistant.
Is Fault. She has shown incredible aptitudes for research through
her curiosity to create a more resilient Kentucky through water
resource and sustainable design solutions. For Bill, the project open Door,
she'd not considered during her first year as a chemical

(16:28):
engineering student. This experience showed me the analytical side of
environmental work, how chemistry, mapping, and field logistics in her
lock I'm leaning toward graduate study now may be in
biosystems engineering, so I can stay on the research track.
Bill said from the opinion page. Low Tolerance by Jeff Vanderbeck.

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I have a low tolerance for a lot of things. Stupidity, ignorance, laziness,
and pain taught by List. I don't like pain physical, emotional, spiritual, financial,
or any other type, so I spend a lot of
time avoiding pain at all costs. However, pain just has
a habit of seeking me out and keeping me in

(17:14):
its crosshairs. If you've ever seen my walking, gate, go modue.
I'll walk like I've been attacked by a rabid buffalo
and barely survived. I limp on both sides. My shoulders
are erect, so lifting my arms or anything makes me
want to go to the subox onm clinic. For the record,
I don't partake, and I rarely take. I'll be profen

(17:36):
for my pain. I'm a longtime sufferer, so I would
rather suffer than get relief. About five years ago, I
had one hip replace and I've had issues with it
ever since. I thought for sure there was something wrong.
I went back to doctor Hugh and he took pictures
of my lower extremities. While he was looking at the
X race, he rubbed his head in anguish. I wasn't

(17:59):
sure if he was feeling sorry for me or contemplating
which boat to put a deposit on because of my
impending need for yet another's surgery. Doctor Pugh said, Jeff,
the surgery went fine. However, there are other issues. You
have bresidas in your hip and that was replaced. You
need the other hip replaced. It's bone on bone besides

(18:22):
the bresidas. He said, the reason why your replaced tip
is causing you issues is because of this, and he
took his ballpoint pen and ran it along the X
ray on the screen. The tip of his pen traced
my spine. This is your problem. Your spine is crooked.
After looking at the X ray, I said, it's more
crooked than a politician. He chuckled and said, I've had

(18:46):
bad disks and pinched nerves and a myriad of other issues.
If I want relief, I need to have that address now.
I like doctor Pugh. I don't always like what he
has to say to me regarding the potential impending need
for another surgery, but I guess that's his job. There
are times when I don't like my job, but explaining

(19:07):
bad news won't allow me to get a boat. His
immediate plan was to address the presidis, then at a
later time, addressed the other hip, and then consult a
specialist about my bike issue. I complied, I asked the
big question, how do you deal with the bresidas. His
response was, well, Betty, we inject some medicine directly into

(19:29):
your hip and in a few days you'll start feeling
better more pain. I figured. I was under the impression
that the injection was a big procedure and that I
would have to schedule a time, get put to sleep,
and have the injection while I was out. He had
an assistant immediately cleaned the injection areya and then said,

(19:50):
hold on, I was not prepared. He put the needle
directly into my hip and administered the medicine. I was
fine until he pressed down on the needle. I immediately went
into a turette like cursing rage and started saying stuff
about his mother and how could she raise a child
who wanted to hurt people. For about five seconds, there

(20:11):
was a fair amount of pain for me anyway, and
Pugh told me he has little old women who would
get those injections with no issue. He had several people
in the room, and I was explaining my tall intolerance
to pain and how the last surgery was traumatic for me.
I told him that after the first surgery, a seventy
eight year old woman saw me hobbling around food City

(20:34):
and called me a slag name for a cat because
I was complaining about my surgery. She told me she
was dancing several weeks after her hip replacement and that
I needed to stop acting like and get on with life,
and then she walked away. I stood in the milk owl,
flabber yested at what just happened. I was verbally accosted

(20:56):
by a seventy eight year old woman who called me
a p word pew to his entourage nervously laughed. I
think they felt sorry for me. Almost a week later,
the presidest is virtually gone, the other hip is a mess,
and my crooked spine makes Kentucky politicians look righteous. I'm
not sure the plan for the future, but I am

(21:16):
tolerating the pain. While in some old woman's eyes, I
may be weak. That was five years and she may
be eighty three by now. So if and when I
get the other hip done statistically, she may not be
able to call me name. People matter I call them
by Russ Cassiday. Politics has always been a nasty business.

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I'd love to look at today's political climate and say
that it's worse than it's ever been, but that would
be deeply inaccurate. It's been as bad as now, if
not worse, at times in the past. The difference is,
in my opinion, we have the entirety of human history
to serve as an object lesson to teach us that
if we're looking for salvation through political figure, party, or system,

(22:02):
we're barking up the wrong tree. In other words, we
should know better. Our political system here in the United
States is an experiment, albeit one that's been going on
for more than two hundred years now. No nation in
the world has ever been established with the ideals and
policies that our forefathers brought to the table. Those men

(22:24):
weren't perfect, but the idea that freedom should be the
most paramount consideration at the center of the decision making
resulted in the best thing going. We can argue until
the cows come home about why that was. But what
I've seen indicates that Christian beliefs and ideals, even if
not explicitly followed as gospel by all involved, were inspirations.

(22:48):
At the center of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is
the reality best elucidated in one of the most famous
Bible verses of all time, John three point sixteen. For
God so low the world that he gave his only son,
that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have
eternal life. For God so loved the world is central

(23:10):
to the idea I've tried to express here. God, in
his infinite wisdom and love, love the entire world, even
the jerks, the greatest, the least, the in betweens, All
are equally loved by Him and are intended beneficiaries of
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on a cross. He gave
his life so all could access salvation. No one, no

(23:35):
political figures, celebrity, no one at all, has ever given
more for a greater impact and result than He did.
They can't politics, and politicians cannot save us. In fact,
it's very often that they do the opposite. However, if
we have nothing else to latch onto for salvation, even

(23:55):
a flawed system can look better than the alternative looks
can be deceiving. If we latch onto human politics for salvation,
then those individuals and organizations who represent our beliefs can
easily become idols. And in the service of idols we
dispense with humanity of our opponents. We forget that they

(24:17):
too are loved by giving in sacrificial God, the same
one who overlooks many of our flaws as well. It's
fine to disagree. It's not okay to demean, dehumanize, or
harm another being created in the image of the Almighty,
in the name of a flawed human system. But Russia say,

(24:38):
I don't believe that nonsense. That's fine. It's your freedom
to believe or not believe. However, I also believe it
would be difficult to deny that the world would be
a better place if we treated people as if they mattered,
even the jerks. I pray we can turn this thing around.
That I believe we can. We all, myself included, just

(25:00):
have to do better. Here in all of the obituaries,
Walter Neil Bogg sixty sixth of Hazard died Thursday August seventh.
Ruth Miller, eighty one of Hazard died Thursday August seventh.
Roger E. Fields, twenty, formerly of Busy, died December one,

(25:21):
nineteen fifty, in Korea in service to his country. James
Lowell Jimmy Combe sixty five of Hazard died Friday August first.
Helen Gontterman ninety two, formerly of Perry County died Monday,
July twenty eighth. John D. Mitchell eighteen died Friday August first.

(25:46):
C TB promotes Thompson to regional senior lender. Mark A. Goots, Chairman,
President and CEO of Community Trust Bankcorp, Incorporated has announced
in a statement that Senior Vice President Jody Thompson and
has been promoted to the position of Regional Senior Lender
with Community Trust Bank Incorporated. Thompson's responsibilities include providing consumer, residential,

(26:11):
and commercial lending options to new and existing clients, as
well as offering a variety of financial solutions to individuals
and business including acceptance of time and demand deposits, providing
cash management services to corporate and individual customers, issuing letters
of credit, and managing multiple customer relationships. The statement said

(26:34):
his office is located in the Pikewell Main Office at
three forty six North Mayo Trail in Pikewell, a hazard
man is facing felony charges after an incident in which
he allegedly intentionally calls the vehicle crash. According to a
warrant taken out by the Perry County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Duff,
on June tenth, Travis Hudson, thirty five, of High Street,

(26:57):
intentionally used a vehicle he was driving to cause a
crash with another vehicle on Kentucky seven at Viper. The crash,
according to the warrant, placed three occupants of the other
vehicle at serious risk of physical injury and caused significant
damage to the other vehicle. The three victims, the warrant said,
all suffered injuries, but none required emergency medical care. Hudson,

(27:22):
the warrant said, told police he intentionally struck the other
vehicle in an attempt to get away from someone. This
concludes the reading of the Hazard Herald. Please stay tuned
for continuing programming. Thank you for joining me and on
behalf of everyone here at RADIOI. This is Lee Townshend
wishing you a good day.