The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

The Way We Were

Clips from available Mountain Eagle pages since our founding in 1908



 

 

April 23, 1964

The first beam was put into place in the new Letcher County Courthouse after more than four months of demolition and foundation work.

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A school bus carrying Eolia Grade School students was involved in a collision on US 119 on the Cumberland side of Pine Mountain. School officials say none of the children was hurt seriously. The accident occurred when the bus was struck by a car on a curve.

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The Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled that Ray Collins vacated his position on the Letcher County Board of Education when Royal Crown Cola Bottling Company, in which he has an interest, installed soft drink machines in county schools. The court said state law prohibits any member of the school board from having an interest in materials sold to the school board. Letcher Circuit Judge J.L. Hayes had ruled that Collins had not lost his board membership, but the Court of Appeals reversed his opinion.

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The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said an earthquake March 27, 1964 which had devastated cities in Alaska was also felt in Letcher County. A USGS official said automatic water level recording instruments at the John Ramsey well, just outside Whitesburg, and the Elkhorn Jellico Coal Company well, near the Sapphire mine on Camp Branch, showed raises in water levels at the time of the quake. The recording instruments are in the wells in connection with a USGS ground water survey of the Whitesburg-Jenkins area.

April 25, 1974

Pickets remain posted at the entrance to Whitesburg Appalachian Regional Hospital as non-professional employees continue a chainwide strike of the hospital system. Drivers for the Buckhorn Emergency Ambulance Service were fired when they refused to perform jobs normally done by the striking hospital workers.

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A small mine operated by Kenneth Collins, K&J Coal Company No. 29, has been closed by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration for allegedly containing a “imminent danger that reasonably could be expected to cause death or serious physical harm before the imminence of such danger could be eliminated.” Collins said equipment required by MSHA would cost about $28,000 and he couldn’t afford it. The Collins mine has two employees.

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Both Millstone correspondent Mabel Kiser and Jeremiah correspondent Hassie Breeding are commenting on the number of gardens being prepared. “I see more garden spots cleaned and plowed that I have in a long time,” writes Mrs. Kiser. Mrs. Breeding writes, “Have you ever seen so many spots prepared for planting? Even portions of lawns.”

April 25, 1984

Whitesburg architect William Richardson has been hired to design the new Whitesburg High School. The actual planning cannot begin until the school board obtains a site on which to locate the structure. The board wants to put the new school on the industrial site in West Whitesburg. However, the City of Whitesburg is appealing a ruling by Perry Circuit Judge Calvin Manis which says the school system cab condemn the industrial site.

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Local hunters bagged a record number of wild turkeys during the first half of the hunting season. Twenty-five turkeys were killed in Letcher County and wildlife officials are expecting the total to reach at least 35. Since the stocking of 23 turkeys on Black Mountain in 1973, the turkey population has been increasing rapidly.

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John Combs, a senior at Jenkins High School, has been named the Eastern Kentucky Mountain Conference Most Valuable Player for the 1983-84 basketball season. Combs averaged 17.3 points and seven rebounds per game. The Cavaliers won the conference title, and Jenkins Coach Bernard Hall has been named EKMC Coach of the Year.

April 27, 1994

Five days after the opening of hunting season, 85 wild turkeys had been checked in at the check stations around Letcher County. Letcher County fish and wildlife officer Jerry Coots says the county is one of the best hunting areas in Kentucky.

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The Caudill family of Whitesburg has created an endowed student scholarship fund at Southeast Community College in honor of Atha B. Caudill of Whitesburg and the late James B. Caudill.

April 28, 2004

Funeral services for Macie Duncil Warf, 88, Letcher County’s first female sheriff, will be held at the First Baptist Church in Whitesburg. Mrs. Warf was the Letcher Circuit Court Clerk for 12 years and belonged to the Kentucky Court Clerks Association. She also held the office of Letcher County Sheriff from November 1970 until December 1971. She became sheriff after her husband, former Sheriff R.C. “Tip” Warf, died before his term in office expired.


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