The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

The way we were

Clips from Mountain Eagle front pages over the past 50 years



 

 

May 7, 1959

State officials told Whitesburg and Letcher County officials this week that a contract may be let this year for half the construction of a bypass route around the city.

Bert Bradshaw is serving as pastor of the First Baptist Church this week during the church’s annual youth week program. Young people have charge of the church services for the entire week.

You’ll be able to picnic in comfort at the top of Pine Mountain after May 15. The State Highway Department is busy now painting picnic tables and making adequate roads to the picnic area.

May 8, 1969

The National Steel Corp. of Pittsburgh announced this week that it will open a major new coal mine in Knott County. The mine will be located in the Caney Creek section of Knott County and will be served by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad.

Thirteen more Letcher County coal firms were warned by the state attorney general this week to provide protection for their workers under the state workmen’s compensation law or face legal action.

There will be a beard growing contest for all Letcher County men as part of the big Letcher County Day celebration. Starting date for beards is May 4 or later. Letcher County Day is July 4.

The U.S. Shoe Corporation said this week that it does not plan to build a factory in Whitesburg. Another site in another town has been selected — apparently in Jackson, Ky.

May 10, 1979

Kentucky Gov. Julian Carroll came to Whitesburg this week to assure the community that the Whitesburg bypass road will be built despite three failures in a row to obtain satisfactory bids from road contractors.

Members of the Fleming-Neon City Council were talking about pool at their regular meeting this week. They were discussing whether the Main Street poolroom, Roe’s Amusement Center, should be open on Sundays. Roe Wright, a city policeman, has challenged the council’s decision to close him down on Sunday.

“Blazing Saddles” starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder is playing at the Alene Theater in Whitesburg.

May 10, 1989

Landslides, worsened by heavy rainfall, have forced one Letcher County family out of its home and are threatening to push another house off its foundations. Alan and Reva Adams and their sons moved out of their Jeremiah home late last Monday after mud again began pouring off the mountain behind their home. The new mudslide is fueled by nearly a week of rain.

William Johnson of Carbon Glow has been chosen to play Wilgus Collier in Appalshop’s new film “Fat Monroe” starring Ned Beatty.

Letcher Circuit Judge Byrd F. Hogg has overruled a motion to alter his ruling in the suit over Lilley Cornett Woods. Hogg dismissed the case last month, saying the state is sovereignly immune from being sued. The suit, filed by Dock and Eula Mae Cornett, alleges the Kentucky Natural Resources Cabinet broke its promise to keep the woods in their pristine condition when it sold the area to Eastern Kentucky University.

May 12, 1999

All high school students in the Letcher County school system may attend the same high school within the next few years. Members of the school facilities planning committee voted 8 to 3 Monday night to recommend that the county board of education establish a comprehensive high school in the Whitesburg area.

Police confiscated a computer believed to have been used to send a bomb treat by email message to Whitesburg High School on May 6. A Whitesburg teen-ager is under suspicion for allegedly bouncing the message through two Internet servers before it landed in a teacher’s mailbox.

More than a third of the people whose wells were damaged by mining in the Camp Branch and Indian Creek areas still don’t have adequate temporary or permanent water supplies, state mining officials say. A report released by the Department of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement says that of the 18 homeowners whose wells were determined to have been damaged by Golden Oak Mining Co., all have adequate quantities of water, but only 11 have water of adequate quality.

Leave a Reply