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The Way We Were

Clips from available Mountain Eagle pages since our founding in 1907

Tim Berners-Lee, physicist, computer scientist, inventor of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and founder of the World Wide Web, spoke at the Digital X trade fair in North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne in October 2019. (AP Images)

Tim Berners-Lee, physicist, computer scientist, inventor of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and founder of the World Wide Web, spoke at the Digital X trade fair in North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne in October 2019. (AP Images)

The World Wide Web (WWW) launched into public domain this week 27 years ago

By THE HISTORY CHANNEL

On April 30, 1993, four years after publishing a proposal for “an idea of linked information systems,” computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee released the source code for the world’s first web browser and editor. Originally called Mesh, the browser that he dubbed WorldWideWeb became the first royalty-free, easy-to-use means of browsing the emerging information network that developed into the Internet as we know it today.

Berners-Lee was a fellow at CERN, the research organization headquartered in Switzerland. Other research institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University had developed complex systems for internally sharing information, and Berners-Lee sought a means of connecting CERN’s system to others. He outlined a plan for such a network in 1989 and developed it over the following years. The computer he used, a NeXT desktop, became the world’s first Internet server. Berners-Lee wrote and published the first web page, a simplistic outline of the World Wide Web project, in 1991.

CERN began sharing access with other institutions, and soon opened it up to the general public. In releasing the source code for the project to the public domain two years later, Berners-Lee essentially opened up access to the project to anyone in the world, making it free and (relatively) easy to explore the nascent Internet.

Simple web browsers like Mosaic appeared a short time later, and before long the web had become by far the most popular system of its kind. Within a matter of years, Berners-Lee’s invention had revolutionized information-sharing and, in doing so, had dramatically altered the way that human beings communicated. The creation and globalization of the web is widely considered one of the most transformational events in human history. 4.39 billion people, including you, are now estimated to use the Internet, accounting for over half the global population. The average American now spends 24 hours a week online. The Internet’s rise has been the greatest expansion in information access in human history, has led to the exponential growth in the total amount of data in the world, and has facilitated a spread of knowledge, ideas and social movements that was unthinkable as recently as the 1990s.

THURSDAY MAY 2, 1940

Virgil Watts, age 24, son of Dan Watts of Roxana, lost his life on March 17 of this year accidentally in the City of Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands. Virgil was one of our finest young men and nearly four years ago he was enlisted in the United States Army here and two months later he was transferred to Hawaii where he had been stationed for three and one-half years. Virgil came to his death in a motorcycle accident in the streets of Honolulu. His body was brought back and on Saturday of last week at the home at Roxana, wrapped in the stars and stripes, and hundreds of his friends passed by for the last time.

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Figures recently released by the National Coal Association reveal that the fatality rate in bituminous coal mining in 1939 was the lowest ever attained. It was 2.28 fatalities per million tons of coal output. Ten years ago in 1930, the fatality rate was 3.46 per million tons. In 1910, 30 years ago, it was 5.32 per million tons.

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The soft coal industry has appealed to Congress for ships so that it can get a bigger share of the emergency market that was created by Europe’s war needs. Officials of the Coal Exporters Association estimated that the U.S. could boost its coal export trade 50 percent if the Maritime Commission were authorized to recondition more than 100 old government boats now rotting at anchor.

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“The Housekeeper’s Daughter” starring Joan Bennett will play Sunday and Monday at the Kentucky Theatre in Whitesburg.

THURSDAY MAY 4, 1950

At the annual safety banquet of the Fleming Division of the Elk Horn Coal Corporation, Jackhorn Mine No. 6 received a safety plaque for working three years, five months, and 14 days and mining a total of 1,265,870 tons of coal without a fatal accident.

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Charlie Wright took over the Letcher County Clerk’s office Monday following weeks of court action growing out of last November’s general election. The Court of Appeals had awarded the office to Mr. Wright after a recount in Letcher Circuit Court in February. Mr. Wright’s opponent in the general election, Troy W. Frazier, had been declared winner by the election commissioners. A recount gave Mr. Wright a majority.

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Three Letcher County men, all members of the 319th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion, will participate in an airborne invasion at Fort Bragg, N.C. The attack will be part of the Army-Air Force airhead maneuver. The three Letcher Countians are Pfc. Harlan Sanders, son of Mrs. Mary F. Sanders of Dunham, Sgt. Givens Hibbitts, husband of Mrs. Alberta Hibbitts of Burdine, and Pfc. Roy Halcomb, son of Mrs. Nannie B. Halcomb of Van.

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Norma Dere Cole, 11-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S.C. Cole of Millstone was the winner of the Pretty Girl Contest at a pie supper at the Millstone School April 19. The pie supper was for the purpose of raising funds for Millstone School’s eighth grade tour of Kentucky.

THURSDAY MAY 5, 1960

Governor Bert Combs told his Letcher County audience Friday that he was on their side on the question of whether a state park should be located on Pine Mountain in the Whitesburg area. Combs told the audience that any new parks project would depend upon two factors: the availability of money and decisions to be made by a parks advisory committee.

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That dull boom the folks heard the other day around Hurricane Gap in Letcher County on the Harlan County line was quite a blast at the limestone quarry. Five holes were drilled in the face of the limestone cliff and were filled with 2,700 pounds of explosive. The blast knocked down 1,000 tons of limestone.

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Members of the State Highway Department’s engineering staff are surveying the proposed extensions of the new East Kentucky highway to Whitesburg and Pikeville. Rep. Harry M. Caudill said he received a letter this week from Gov. Bert Combs and Highway Commissioner Earle Clements saying that this survey is in progress.

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Six projects for expansion of telephone service in the Letcher County area are underway by the Southern Bell Telephone Company. The expansion program involves expenditure of $72,000 extending into next year and providing addition of 137 telephone connections. The projects are: Linefork Creek, 30 customers; Defeated Creek, 16 customers; Eolia, 40 customers; Mill Branch, 13 customers; Ulvah, 20 customers; and Dry Fork-Kingdom Come, 18 customers.

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A Lions Club is being organized at Blackey, and charter membership will be available until June 2. Four members of the Whitesburg Lions Club, Cossie Quillen, Fred Coffey, Orval Hughes and Maurice Lewis, went to Blackey to help organize the new club.

THURSDAY APRIL 30, 1970

Federal inspection of coal mines was halted temporarily, then was resumed to a limited degree during the past week. All federal mine inspections were halted after a U.S. District judge in Abingdon, Va. issued a temporary restraining order requested by 75 small coal-mine operators and miners in southwest Virginia. The judge’s order prevented the Bureau of Mines of the U.S. Department of the Interior from enforcing rules and regulations published March 28 under the new federal mine safety legislation until a three-man federal court could rule on their constitutionality. The mine inspectors returned to work on Monday with orders to inspect all mines in accordance with standards outlined in the mine health and safety law, to inform operators when they are in violation of sections dealing with equipment but to issue no notices of penalties in these cases, and to enforce all sections of the law pertaining to imminent dangers in a mine.

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A grant of $346,896 in federal funds to fi- nance operation of the Head Start program in Letcher, Leslie, Knott and Perry counties was announced today by Congressman Carl D. Perkins.

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Tandy Industries, Inc., of Tulsa, Okla., has decided not to build a pre-fabricated housing factory in Letcher County near Neon. Tandy’s decision came as a surprise to Letcher County residents who had come to look on Tandy’s coming as a “sure thing.” Kentucky River Area Development District Executive Director Malcolm Holiday said he felt the decision was the result of current uncertainties regarding the housing market nationally, and the difficulty both home buyers and builders are having in obtaining adequate financing.

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Jimmy Hairston, a junior at Berea College, placed second in the long jump at a track meet at Berea. In basketball, however, Hairston, who is from McRoberts in Letcher County, is a forward for Coach Wilson Sargeant.

THURSDAY MAY 1, 1980

Arson is the suspected cause of a fire which destroyed a new house belonging to Letcher County Sheriff Vernon Hall near Payne Gap. The fire was already out of control by the time fire departments from Fleming-Neon, Jenkins and Mayking arrived. Hall and his family were three weeks away from moving into the new house.

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A quilt depicting highlights in the long public service career of former Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall will come out from under the wraps when four Letcher County sisters unveil their handiwork for Mrs. Stovall’s inspection. The quilt’s creators are Louama Banks, Thelma Banks, Virginia Brown and Beulah Caudill. The finished quilt will be a gift to Mrs. Stovall from the Kentucky Commission on Women in tribute to her service to the state and to charitable organizations.

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County Judge Pro Tem Garnet Ruth Webb quit her post in which she had served as a chief assistant to County Judge/ Executive Robert Collins. She said there is so much gossip and backbiting and suspicion that “I don’t see how anyone gets any work done in the courthouse. I have tried hard not to take sides.” This was an apparent reference to the continuing spats between Judge Collins and Sheriff Vernon Hall.

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Tammy Breeding, a 5’3” guard from Letcher High School, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball for the Alice Lloyd College Lady Eagles this fall. The daughter of Verlon and Betty Breeding of Isom, she averaged 16 points, 4 rebounds and 9 assists per game.

WEDNESDAY MAY 2, 1990

A Kentucky State Police bomb disposal unit Monday removed several sticks of dynamite and detonated a blasting cap that someone apparently had intended to use to blow up part of an underground mining operation at Thornton. The blasting cap was detonated after two state troopers removed it and 10 sticks of dynamite from a block building. The building covers an airshaft that is being reactivated for use by Aberry Coal Inc., a Virginia-based company that is mining part of an old Bethlehem Steel operation formerly known as Mine 22.

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Three Letcher County school administrators and a former superintendent are among nine people applying for the post of Letcher County School superintendent. Applicants include former superintendent Jack M. Burkich, assistant superintendent for instruction Daryl Boggs, director of curriculum and instruction Billy F. Caudill, and director of pupil personnel Billy K. Banks.

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The Jenkins Cavaliers used three firstplace finishes by distance runner Brad Damron and a pair of firsts by Brian Johnson to win the 1990 Eastern Kentucky Mountain Conference track championship last week in Jenkins.

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Letcher High School senior John Lynch has won two prestigious scholarships — a $2,000 National Merit Scholarship and a $1,500 Robert C. Byrd Scholarship. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Greg Lynch of Jeremiah. Lynch has been admitted to Yale University and plans a career in research in chemistry.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 26, 2000

A federal grand jury has returned a new indictment against Letcher County residents, Wilford Henry Niece, his wife Melissa Niece and Jackie R. Blair of McRoberts, in an alleged cocaine conspiracy — this time asking that the three forfeit more than $200,000 in cash and cars. The indictment charges that the three conspired to possess “a measurable quantity” of cocaine, with intent to distribute it.

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A list published by the Letcher County Fiscal Court shows that 1,091 individuals and 10 businesses owe the county $469,363.19 in past-due garbage bills. The fiscal court voted in March to publish the names of people who were delinquent on the garbage bills as of April 15. The county has been taking in money ever since the announcement was made and it has made some headway in collecting fees.

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Eastern Kentucky University has honored the late Joe Begley of Blackey with its first Earth Day Environmentalist Award. The award was presented to Begley’s widow, Gaynell Begley. The award recognizes individuals who have “made a significant impact on sustaining their community and environment.”

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Guy and Irene Johnson of Jenkins celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary April 1 with a surprise party given by their children.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 28, 2010

Letcher County Board of Education Chairman Will Smith told a group of concerned parents from Arlie Boggs Elementary School that the Eolia school will remain open next school year. The parent group voiced concern about the future of the small school with an enrollment of 135 students.

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James E. “Chum” Tackett, a former Jenkins mayor, was arrested after being indicted on charges of stealing more than $50,000. Tackett was charged with 66 counts of theft over $10,000, one count of theft under $500, and five counts of exploitation of an adult over $300. Golden Years Rest Home Inc. of Jenkins is named as a co-defendant in the indictment.

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Ssg. John Reazola, a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve in Abingdon, Va., has returned after serving two years in Afghanistan. He and his wife Michelle have three sons, John, Michael and Matthew, who live at Cowan.

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