Man charged in murder has long criminal record

Hearing set this week for two held in death of Gibson, 44

A man charged with the April 28 murder of Ricky Allen Gibson, 44, was on supervised release after a felony conviction in 2015, court records show, and was due to be released from supervision in just three weeks. It was the latest in a long line of convictions for Clifford Jermaine Caudill, as he went in and out of jail, […]

Family and friends of burn victim ‘waiting for a miracle’



No one quite knows what started the fire, but they know what fed it. Gary Collier had just had brain surgery two days before, and when the fire burned his oxygen tubing in two, there was no more stopping it. That was on April 18, and Collier is still in intensive care at Cabell- Huntington Hospital. A ventilator is doing […]

Virginia man charged after crash kills woman



A Virginia man will face manslaughter and assault charges after the horse trailer he was pulling with his truck jackknifed into the path of an oncoming car at Payne Gap. Franklin Travis Helbert, 37 of Appalachia, Va., was driving north on US 119 North in a 1999 Chevy Silverado, pulling a horse trailer, when he lost control of the truck […]

Medicaid work requirements to start slow




Kentucky’s new work requirement for certain Medicaid recipients will be phased in one county at a time, starting in northern Kentucky this summer. Months before the requirement arrives in Louisville, “the three largest counties in northern Kentucky will roll out one after the other,” said Kristi Putnam, program manager for the Kentucky HEALTH Medicaid transformation. Putnam was speaking at a […]

What kind of ticks do we need to fear this season?




EVANSVILLE, Ind. Deer tick, American dog tick, pigeon tick, ornate cow tick. Forrest Gump would be able to shoot a whole scene about the different kinds of ticks there are. As the weather warms up, nature draws out the masses for hiking, fishing, mushroom hunting and frolics in fields of wildflowers. Sadly, all those activities take place in tick haven. […]

Rites held for Ricky Gibson



Funeral services for Ricky Allen Gibson, 44, of Jackhorn, were held May 8 at the Neon Pentecostal Church. Burial was in the Hall family cemetery at Jackhorn. A son of Jackie and Norma Hall of Jackhorn, he died May 3 in Neon. He was preceded in death by a brother, Danny Gibson, and a sister, Rachel Hall. Mr. Gibson enjoyed […]

Services set for ‘Jeff ’ McPherson



John Jeffer y “ Jeff ” McPherson, 57, of Burdine, died May 6 at Pikeville Medical Center. Born in Dearborn, Mich., he was a son of the late John Henry and Thelma Mullins McPherson and the brother of the late Danny Ray McPherson. Mr. McPherson enjoyed fishing, and was a gifted crafter, artist and painter. Surviving are a daughter, Brandy […]

15 years after gun stolen, it turns up in Tenn.

Revolver was one of Webb’s first cases

A revolver stolen 15 years ago from a Letcher County constable was found this year in Tennessee when someone attempted to trade it in at Smoky Mountain Knife Works, a large, tourist oriented outdoor store in Sevierville, Tenn. On February 2, 2003, a month after Sheriff Danny Webb took office for his first term, District 4 Constable Harvey B. Campbell […]

The Way We Were



Clips from available Mountain Eagle pages since our founding in 1907 Thursday, May 17, 1928 Old Tobe, the old mule that has pulled more feet of lumber than any other mule in Letcher County, is being sent to the barn by the folks at the Whitesburg location of Hazard Lumber and Supply Company. Like so many of Old Tobe’s fellow […]

Women delivered library books here on horses in 1938




Their horses splashed through iced-over creeks. Librarians rode up into the Kentucky mountains, their saddlebags stuffed with books, doling out reading material to isolated rural people. The Great Depression had plunged the nation into poverty, and Kentucky — a poor state made even poorer by a paralyzed national economy — was among the hardest hit. The Pack Horse Library initiative, […]