The way we were

Clips from Mountain Eagle front pages over the past 50 years

November 21, 1957

The recount of votes in the Courtney Wells-Emmett G. Fields race for circuit judge is scheduled to start Monday in Perry Circuit Court. Fields, the Republican nominee, lost the race to Democrat Courtney C. Wells, the incumbent, by 64 votes.

Letcher County schools served 57,765 hot lunches during the month of October, despite several schools being closed because of an outbreak of flu.

“The Lone Ranger” starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels is playing at the Alene Theatre in Whitesburg.

November 23, 1967

Janie Adams, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bobbie Adams; Joe Reynolds, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Reynolds; and Ben Wright, son of Dr. and Mrs. B.F. Wright, attended a student conference on Kentucky Enterprise at Transylvania University in Lexington last week. The conference was sponsored by the Rotary Club.

The annual report of the Letcher County Health Department lists Dr. Richard F. Keeler at the health officer. The staff includes registered nurses Grace Wells Collins, Marilyn Frazier, Waughletia Little, Jeanette Sparks, Hazel Strebeck, and Lillian Wright; clerk-typists Barbara Blanton, Annette Raleigh, and Esther Sparks; and sanitary inspector Charlie Hall. Avalenia Niece is secretary to the school nurse.

Ten to 14 pound turkeys are on sale for 39 cents a pound at the Whitesburg A&P. Turkeys weighing 20 pounds and up are 29 cents a pound.

November 23 1977 This issue of The Mountain Eagle could not be found.

November 25, 1987

Donald Terry Bartley’s attorney has asked Letcher Circuit Judge F. Byrd Hogg for a change of venue in the penalty phase of his trial for the murder of Tammy Dee Acker. Bartley had pleaded guilty and Letcher County Commonwealth’s Attorney James Wiley Craft has recommended a 260-year prison sentence.

Federal tax loopholes permitted 11 corporations with ties to the Kentucky coal industry to escape paying more than $4 billion in income taxes for the period 1984-86. One of the firms, Blue Diamond Coal Company, paid no federal income tax during the period, despite income of $6.8 million.

Letcher County residents who depend on commodity cheese, milk and rice to round out their diets may find themselves hungry next year. The Reagan administration has announced it plans to cut distribution of these commodities in half in the coming year.

November 26, 1997

The owners of Golden Oak Mining Company are seeking offers for the purchase of the firm’s coal mines in Letcher, Knott and Perry County. Bids are expected in early December. Golden Oak operates the Sapphire preparation plant at Camp Branch.

The Letcher Fiscal Court has agreed to spend $5,000 to hire an engineering firm to conduct a feasibility study on a planned 75-acre industrial site near Payne Gap. The City of Jenkins proposed developing the site, but 415 below it is a deep mine which last saw activity around 1917 and there are questions whether the old mine could cause stabilization problems in buildings constructed above it.

The Letcher Fiscal Court and the City of Whitesburg are planning construction of a new building on the Whitesburg Industrial Site near Caudilltown. City and county officials hope the building will encourage a small manufacturing company to locate in Letcher County.