The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Speak Your Piece

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Eagle accepts comments to Speak Your Piece by electronic mail. Our address is: mteagle@tgtel.com

Only a grandmother and aunt would go all out and dress up in shorts, top, pearls, gaudy earrings, fancy hat with big flowers, white gloves and Crocs to attend a wedding with family members for a little girl in a wedding dress and veil and her dog. We had a ball. There was cake and ice cream and lots of gifts for the new couple, who promised to be good companions and keep cool water and food in his bowl at all times. You should have been there.

I have been a resident in the City of Jenkins for many years. This is the first time in my life this town hasn’t been worth a bird flying upside-down. It’s not fit to crap.

I am a single man looking to get a relationship started with a woman between the ages of 26 and 46.

This is a concerned citizen who pays taxes: How can one family in No. 2 Hollow at Seco get three loads of gravel on June 26 when people need them all over the county? Who gave this order? If we all could do this, wouldn’t it be a glorious day? Thank you.

I would like to say hi to my friends Brittany Adams, Ally Morgan, Kasey Adams, Briana Vanover. You all have been great friends.

Listen. I get so sick and tired of hearing about horse trails, horse trails, horse trails. Horses are not against the law. Where are you wanting to ride them, out on the highway? Now you know that’s not going to work. Horses are part of the foundation of this country. What’s the big deal about a horse trail? Horses are animals, just like bears and deer, and nobody is complaining about them. But if you were out beside the road riding a deer somebody would have something to say about it. People who own acres and acres of land can make their horse trails wherever they want. Why can’t we have a horse trail? It would bring in more people and create little stores like gift shops.

Congratulations to Whitesburg for getting alcoholic beverages legalized in some of the restaurants. I don’t drink myself, but it is supposed to be a free country. If you can do something in Indiana then you should be able to do it here. If you do something in Cumberland you should be able to do it here.

What do we need to do to get four-wheelers legalized on the highways in Letcher County? Could we get it done if the majority of people signed a petition asking to legalize four-wheelers? I know where there’s a will there is a way. Riding four-wheelers is such a fun thing to do. It would be great to be able to hop on one and ride to McDonald’s to eat dinner.

Why are most of the stores no longer offering lay-away? I understand the part where people will put summer clothes on layaway in the spring then decide they don’t want them three months later. That is bad. However, I think all stores should offer lay-away for Christmas.

Guess what, all you Cram Creek druggies? It’s time to pay. You’re going down. You’ve been going to a certain drug dealer and he’s going to get busted.

Word is out that a certain dope dealer is still running around in Doty Creek selling his drugs.

While reading Speak Your Piece the other day I got to thinking about how life used to be and wondering how it will end. I got to thinking about how I would like to go fishing with Opie in the little town of Mayberry, and how I would like to talk to Andy and show Barney how to shoot his gun. I would love to eat some of Aunt Bee’s pickles. I always wanted to ride the range with Matt and play poker with Miss Kitty. I also got to thinking about Lucy and Ethel, and how I would like to teach Ellie Mae to cook cornbread and chicken and dumplings for Jethro to eat. Of all of them, the Brady Bunch was the funniest. I didn’t care for the girls, but always liked the little boy. I guess I like the old shows because they were more like reality. It seems the stuff we watch on TV today is not even close to reality. If I could have changed one thing it would have been the beginning of the Dick Van Dyke show. I always hated it when he fell over the chair at the beginning. My all-time favorite was the Beaver. I always dreaded seeing Mr. Ed the talking horse. It was fun to fantasize as a child.

To a certain woman: Everyone sees you having an affair with your dying husband’s brother. One of these days someone is going to do to you what you do to others. You could have at least waited until something happened to your husband. You’re just waiting to spend his insurance money. One of these days you will regret this.

Could someone please tell me who is over the 911 committee and how to contact them? Thank you.

(If you’ll look in the telephone directory you will see a listing for ‘Letcher County E911 coordinator.’ The number is 633-3322. The office is controlled by the Letcher Fiscal Court.)

I hope someday when you all are old and sick and want a little peace and quiet that you don’t get a bit of it. And I’m not the one who has been calling on you, so you’re wasting your time if you think you’re aggravating me. By the way, if this deal goes through and I sell my trailer, these people will make you look like Tinker Bell at Disney World. Good luck. You’re going to need it.

To the person who wants me to call about the Virginia man: All I’ve got to say is he’s gone, gone, gone and I’m sitting on top of the world. I’m going to treat him the way he treated me. So don’t worry about it.

Too poor to paint, too proud to white wash. Something to think about, anyway. Let me ask a question: What were we put here for? Don’t think that God can’t put us down on our knees. But that’s not what He wants. He wants us to love Him from the heart. That’s all He asks for, your love. What is someone treated your son the way His was treated? Somebody is going to pray. I hope it is not you. This is His earth, and He is going to make it paradise again with or without you. It’s your choice. In my house we choose Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the light. Amen.

You didn’t put this in last week’s paper. I don’t know why. Whether it’s peer pressure or what, I have no idea. I just wanted to tell you my son was achieved at the Suburban Motel and I want a moratorium on tearing it down. I just wanted to save the hotel, but now they’re tearing it down.

My neighbors have biting dogs that chase cars and a sign up that says ‘Drive two miles an hour.’ It doesn’t make any sense. Tell them to keep their dogs in their yard. No one wants to kill a dog, but if you’ve got dogs that chase cars it’s going to happen. You need to stop the dogs from chasing the cars.

A few people in Pistol City like to stick their noses into other people’s business just to get a racket raised. I think they ought to mind their own business. It would make for smoother living. Some of them have tongues a mile long and just have to let something out. It’s too bad the sheriff can’t put people in jail for getting into other people’s business.

A few weeks ago I watched a Letcher County Sheriff’s deputy charge my daughter with AI – of course this stands for ‘alcohol intoxication,’ but ‘the law’ seems to see it as a situation in which they can ‘get you’ for being in ‘a public place,’ with alcohol on your breath, if they want to. I asked the deputy, as he was ‘citing’ my daughter for her condemnable condition (she was not drunk in the least – she’d had a drink, though – a margarita, I believe), I asked him, ‘Do you mean it’s illegal merely to have had a drink, or a beer, and to be out, walking down a sidewalk, or buying groceries? That’s a crime?’ Smiling, he told me that yes, it is a crime. Well, my comment is this: My daughter was ‘cited’ and then brought to court, and then punished by that fellow we pay so handsomely to punish us Letcher Countians. But if her condition was ‘illegal,’ then how was it that a mayor drank down an alcoholic beverage at a Mexican restaurant (as reported in The Mountain Eagle two weeks ago), and then walked back outside (in ‘public’), without committing the same offense my daughter had been punished for? My daughter received neither a ‘breathalyzer’ nor any other test to show how much she might have had to drink. ‘That ain’t the point,’ the deputy explained. ‘It ain’t how much, it’s just that she’s had anything at all, and I can smell for that.’ (Sniff, sniff…) I will speculate about my own question: I speculate that the mayor, with tequila on his breath, did commit the same offense my daughter committed, but he was not arrested or cited, or bothered. This is not exactly a brain twister. But my daughter – who is not a public official, duh, was taken aside and ‘wrote up’ because … who the heck knows? She did nothing worse than the mayor did when he left the Mexican restaurant. Yet she went to court and took her punishment, while he got his name on the front page. Take it away, next caller …

(The mayor did not – let us repeat – did not take a drink from an alcoholic beverage at the Mexican restaurant during the event to which you are referring. The Eagle reported on June 20 that a ceremony was to have been held the day before to mark the first time in 40 years an alcoholic beverage could be sold legally in the City of Whitesburg. The report quoted the owner of the restaurant as saying the first drink would be offered to the mayor. However, the mayor declined to order a drink when the offer was made. He said at the ceremony that it would be improper for him to have a drink while on the job. Because we didn’t carry a follow up to the June 20 article, it never got reported that the mayor did not have a drink even though he attended the ceremony.)

Several people, including myself, have children who play in Hogg Hollow in Neon. If the cars and trucks would slow down when they come in and out of here we would feel a whole lot safer. Thank you.

I am calling in regard to the horses being taken away. If you all had fed them no one would have taken them away. I have driven by and seen those horses and they looked pitiful. Whether or not you had water, I don’t know. All I do know is they needed to be fed a lot more.

A certain man who was featured in an article that appeared in The Mountain Eagle recently did not tell the truth to the author of the article. I have known the man’s family for more than 50 years, and I know the truth. The Mountain Eagle is welcome to check it out. It’s all a matter of public record. I cannot believe this man had the nerve to take credit for doing things he didn’t do. The stories he told were things his brother-in-law actually did. This man is a fraud. I will not sit quietly by any longer and allow this man to get by with saying these lies. He is a disgrace. How can he have the nerve to tell these lies when so many people, including his own family, know the truth? I just hope people take heed to what I’ve told and see this man for the person he really is. It’s all in the public record if someone will take a little time to investigate.

We’re having trouble in the Camp Branch area with people wanting to steal gas and batteries from cars. When some of them get caught it will be Katybar the-door. They better take this as a warning, because we’re going to start firing shots.

In the June 18 edition of The Sporting News, there’s a poll asking if Tubby Smith will have a winning record in his first season at Minnesota. Sixty-three percent of the reporters and writers of The Sporting News say yes, he will win. Fifty-nine percent of the public say he will win.

Have you ever been a victim of crime? Do you know the numbers on the back of your license plate? Those numbers are very valuable. If you don’t know your plate number you may not know that someone has switched plates with you. Why? Because they are going to gas stations and stealing gas by driving off without paying. When the attendant or camera sees the plate, it is really yours and you get the visit from law enforcement. Make sure you know your plate numbers and make sure your plate is secure.

How about those Fleming- Neon Little League Pirates this year? They went 21-0.

I saw the picture of the Whitesburg Minor League baseball team in the paper. I was wondering if anyone knows who the crazy woman was who ran out on the field after their game with Neon. I don’t know who she was, but she should have been arrested for acting like that around kids.

If you feel you are being treated and have been treated unjustly, you still have a lot to be thankful for. You haven’t been crucified yet.

I’m just calling to speak my piece about people who abandon their mothers and fathers at the end of their lives. I know a woman in the hollow who furnished a place for her kids their whole lives. They repaid her by evicting her. I think that’s no good. I can’t use the words I would like to say because you can’t print them. If you have elderly family members who need care, take care of them without charge. That’s the old American way.

The people who keep complaining about alcohol being legalized in Whitesburg should just get over it. It’s too late.

To the man who lives in Boggs Hollow: I love your chili.

To a boy on Adams’s Branch: I think it’s time you start a new life with a girl from Isom. I love you. I am glad we have been talking and I hope things continue to go great.

To a certain guy in Racetrack Hollow: I think you are the hottest guy around.

I understand that Wayne Fleming got the fiscal court to reverse its effort to loosen the ethics laws. If anything, we need tighter, not looser, ethics laws. Way to go, Wayne. We really appreciate you.

‘The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowing being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.’ – Richard Dawkins, God’s Utility Function

It’s a shame that a certain organization in Letcher County has dwindled to a very few volunteers because the leader can’t keep his hands off the members’ wives.

To the man in Bill Moore Branch: Everybody knows how you treat your family, especially your wife. Do you ever wonder where she is when you call? She prefers a real man, a position I was more than glad to fill on several occasions. Grow up and be a man, or else you’re going to lose what you don’t seem to realize you have. Hopefully, more people will see through your paper thin facade,

hypocrite.

A few questions for us to ponder. 1. Is Ann Coulter the brideto be of the Antichrist or is she just a typical neocon who keeps her religion in her pocket and takes it out like chance when it’s convenient? 2. Has the Whitesburg ARH, in the blink of an eye, begun its fall from grace as one of the country’s best small hospitals while simultaneously glancing over its shoulder to see Wellmont in Jenkins? Also, is the change in management helping this process? 3. Will the City of Whitesburg return the taxes paid by a certain business now that it’s been show this business isn’t in the city limits? 4. Does the word nefarious stick when mentioning the former Jenkins Days Committee? 5. Will drug testing in the Jenkins school system prove to be a lawsuit waiting to happen?

This is a response from the girl whose name begins with an ‘S’. First of all, I’d like to say thank you and I’m very happy. The incident with the jail, that was his sister. And by the way, your blessing is hilarious. Because now your daughter, when she does marry that man, will become an adulterer ’cause I don’t think his wife is dead. How come you don’t forgive, preacher? Isn’t that being a hypocrite? I never claimed to be going to heaven, but if you make it I’ll slide right in. You enjoy your life and leave us alone. What we do is our business, and yours is yours. The more you try to hurt us the more it will come back on you. Thanks for making our lives the center of your world.

The gap between the rich and poor is steadily widening and employee abuse is increasing. There is probably nowhere in the country where it is worse than Letcher County. One of the most common dodges employers use to cheat employees in this area is to call the employees contractors so the employers don’t have to pay their share of FICA or cover the employees with workmen’s compensation. Employees who aren’t being covered by workmen’s compensation and FICA are being put at a tremendous disadvantage. First, if they become injured, they will find it difficult to get aid. Second, when they reach retirement, they won’t even have Social Security to fall back on. Any employee who is being so treated should report these violations to the state and federal government. As a backup, they should report it to the County Attorney. If an employer threatens those who object to not getting these rightful benefits with the loss of their job, that definitely should be reported to the County Attorney. The state determines the difference between contractors and employees in a very basic way – if the person looks like a contractor, he/ she is probably a contractor. If the person looks like an employee, they are probably an employee. Paying someone by the hour and calling them a contractor just won’t work.

Frequent complaints about drug activity, especially those directed at the Sheriff, make you wonder just how much the complainers are doing about the problem. Are the complainers making accurate reports to law enforcement, and are they willing to testify to a grand jury or in court? My guess is they’re long on talk and short on action.

Letcher County has the same old problems it’s had for years – drugs and crime of all types, unemployment, a largely discredited legal system, and a fiscal court that is in general disrepute

– but there are good things as well. These good things should be acknowledged and noted along with the bad. The new high school has become the hub for a range of wholesome activities that were never available before, and the City of Whitesburg is benefiting from aggressive, creative leadership which will probably have a beneficial effect on the whole county. In addition, the Calvary Campus recreation center is going to provide something for our young people to do in the lower end of the county, and the Parks and Recreation Department is hardworking and imaginative in providing facilities and parks. These admirable functions and efforts could well herald a brighter future and should be fully supported.

A recent Circuit Court decision is becoming known as the ‘chain saw’ verdict. For those who haven’t heard, it is called that because an expert witness testified that he could tell by looking at a stump who had cut the tree and what brand of chain saw they had used. This has caused some commentary, some ridicule, and a lot of jokes but it is not a laughing matter. A strong court system which has the respect of the public is the bedrock of a civilized society. If the court does not maintain that respect, all of society suffers.

This is to the guy I met at Isom who was from Pikeville: We chatted for a few minutes in the store. You were looking for the cereal aisle. If you are still interested to get together, I will be at Wal-Mart in Whitesburg around 8:00 Saturday night.

Those who are blaming the Sheriff for drug problems have a distorted notion of the situation. The Sheriff is arresting these drug-heads, many of them multiple times, but he can’t chain them to his desk, and the court lets them loose almost as fast as he arrests them. First, the bonds are set too low – pocket change for drug dealers. Second, if they fail to show up for any of their court appearances, there are no consequences. The court turns them loose again, time after time, with the original bond. If there’s finally a conviction, they are put on probation, and if they break probation, they have probation extended under the original terms. This makes them think, and rightfully so, that they are above the law. The inevitable result is crime expanding at an exponential rate and tragedies such as the one we’ve just seen at Partridge.


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