The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

The way we were

Clips from Mountain Eagle front pages over the past 50 years


June 16, 1960

Letcher County at long last has taken definite action to replace its ancient and decrepit jailhouse. Fiscal court at its June meeting Tuesday instructed County Attorney F. Byrd Hogg to place on the ballot for the coming election a question of issuing bonds to pay for the new jail.

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State Rep. Harry M. Caudill of Whitesburg was named this week to a two-year term on the new Commission on Public Education. The commission will undertake a detailed study in the depth of public education in Kentucky.

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County Judge Arthur Dixon has taken the first steps toward setting up a system for election of Letcher County’s new commissioners next year Plans call for reducing the eight-member fiscal court to three members, and election of three county commissioners. Under the new setup, magistrates would take care of trials and other legal matters, while the commissioners would handle the county’s business matters.

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A deer hunting season is provided this year in the Pine Mountain Game Preserve in Letcher County. The four-day season is Nov. 30 through Dec. 3.

June 18, 1970

Hindman Mayor George Clarke has asked the Division of Reclamation of the State Department of Natural Resources not to issue any permits for strip or auger coal mines within the city of Hindman, or on any of the headwaters of Troublesome Creek, above the city, or its tributaries. Clarke pointed out that the federal government has gone to great expense to dredge Troublesome Creek within the city and strip mining and auger mining would soon fill it again and cause flooding.

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Funeral services were held June 16 for Doyle Hogg, 35, a Letcher County native who reportedly was beaten to death by a street gang in Baltimore, Md.

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Hamburger is 59 cents a pound at the A&P food store in Whitesburg. Sea trout is 79 cents a pound.

June 19, 1980

Attorneys for the families of 24 of the 38 men killed in a 1970 mining disaster near Hyden have filed a motion asking for a new trial in the case because the judge who had presided over it did not reveal that he had financial interests in the coal industry.

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Letcher County Judge/Executive Robert Collins appealed this week to Gov. John Y. Brown to do something to save the eastern Kentucky coal industry. Collins, a coal operator himself, said the high cost of production of coal had led to recent industry layoff s of 300 to 400 miners in Letcher County.

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Letcher County’s unemployment rate for April was 12.1 percent. Of the county’s total labor force of 7,126, only 6,263 had jobs and 863 were unemployed.

June 20, 1990

Letcher County could have mandatory garbage collection by next month. Letcher Fiscal Court members held hearings for proposed increases in garbage rates by four contract garbage haulers last week, but instead of granting the raises, court members said they will vote on a mandatory garbage collection ordinance June 29.

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Whitesburg officials have eliminated auxiliary police offi cers, saying the risks involved with using them are too great.

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Letcher County has a new society dedicated to “searching out and preserving the rich history and heritage of Letcher County and its families.” The Letcher Historical and Genealogical Society was organized June 11 at the Letcher County Public Library in Whitesburg.

June 21, 2000

The City of Whitesburg will forge ahead with plans for sewers in the Stone Avenue area, and soon after that, the Day Hollow area.

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The late Appalachian author and historian Harry M. Caudill was inducted June 14 into the University of Kentucky College of Law Hall of Fame. Caudill, a Whitesburg native and attorney who died in 1990, is best known for his extensive writings about the Appalachian area where he lived. Caudill’s highly acclaimed book, Night Comes to the
Cumberlands
(1963), chronicled the effects of strip mining in eastern Kentucky.

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At the Kentucky Prep Softball East-West All-Star games played this weekend in Frankfort, Jenkins High School’s April Damron was named the 14th Region and Section Four Player of the Year. Section 4 includes the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th Regions.

 ’Big Momma’s House’ and ‘Where the Heart Is’ are playing at the Jeremiah Drive-In Theatre.


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