The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

The Way We Were

Clips from available Mountain Eagle pages since 1907.

THURSDAY JUNE 10, 1921

A movement is now underway in Troy, Alabama to remove a statue of John Wilkes Booth, murderer of Abraham Lincoln. The statue was erected in Troy just after the Civil War.

A 50-year-old Hazard woman and her 71-year-old husband are the proud parents of a 10-pound baby boy. While the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Elhanan Crawford, have been married for many years, this is their first child.

In a crowd of 10 men seen on Main Street in Whitesburg earlier this week, eight of them were political candidates.

A crowd of about 300 people turned out in Millstone on Sunday to see that town’s baseball team defeat Whitesburg, 6 to 5.

Judge Sam Collins of Whitesburg is expected to be appointed to the office of Chief Prohibition Agent for Kentucky.

THURSDAY JUNE 11, 1931

“That typhoid fever will take from us some of our loved ones this summer and fall is almost certain,” the Letcher County Health Department writes in an effort to persuade citizens to build sanitary pit privies and screen their homes from disease-carrying insects.

The state law requiring smallpox vaccinations for all students and teachers will be enforced beginning in July.

Funeral services were held Saturday for McRoberts postmaster S.H. Fisher, who died June 5. Mr. Fisher was a native of Roane County, Tennessee.

Record crowds attended the grand reopening of the Kentucky Theatre in Whitesburg last week. Manager J.E. Issac said patrons are well pleased with the theatre’s new RCA sound equipment.

Word is circulating around Jenkins that a golf course might be in the plans for the town.

Residential rates for electricity in Whitesburg and vicinity will rise to 7 cents for the first 30 kilowatt-hours used in any month and 4 cents for the next 50 kilowatt-hours. Minimum month bill will be $1, says the Kentucky and West Virginia Power Company.

Ford cars may now be equipped with safety glass in all doors and windows at extra charges of $15 and $20, depending on the model.

THURSDAY JUNE 12, 1941

During a heavy rainstorm in Whitesburg, it was discovered an airplane over the city was in trouble. The plane, after circling in search of a suitable landing field, put down in the rye pasture belonging to Randall Day. The pilot, H.T. Sheffey, accompanied by his wife, had started for Portsmouth, Ohio to train students. According to Mr. Sheffey, his plane had been carried around in the storm for about two hours when he finally found the field and landed.

Dr. B.F. Wright announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for County Judge of Letcher County.

Burley Creech, Eugene Cox, Lena Sturgill and Juanita Mullins, all 4-H Club members, are attending Junior Week on the University of Kentucky campus. They were awarded the trip for being the best 4-H Club demonstration teams in Letcher County.

“High Sierra” starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart will be shown at Isaac’s Kentucky Theatre this week.

From The Eagle’s sister publication The Neon News:

FRIDAY JUNE 13, 1941

Curtis Collins, of Colson, died June 3 following injuries received in a car wreck on April 5. Immediately after the accident he was taken to the Fleming Hospital, then to Hazard Hospital, and the Norton Infirmary at Louisville, where he remained until a week ago, when he was brought back to the Hazard Hospital, where his death occurred.

On June 25, the Kentucky Crippled Children’s Commission will hold its annual clinic in the Presbyterian Church in Whitesburg. The clinic is for the examination of physically handicapped children under 18 years of age in Letcher County. It is free and open to the public.

“Holiness Church is being held at the Pert Creek Schoolhouse,” says the Pert Creek News, “and is being pastored by B. Day, regular time, Saturday night.”

The Camp Branch 4-H Club is progressing fine. They have as their leaders Mrs. Blaine Collins and Mr. Ted Adams. They held their regular meeting Friday, with 20 members present.

THURSDAY JUNE 14, 1951

The associate editor of The Mountain Eagle, Fred Luigart Jr., will leave the paper this Friday to enter the Air Force Officer’s Candidate School in July. His place on The Eagle will be taken by Russell Rice.

The second annual “Coon on

Log” contest will take place at Bailey’s Lake, Mayking, on June 30. The contest will again pit a racoon against a dog. Dogs will vie with each other to see which one can dismount the racoon from a log in the least amount of time. The program is sponsored by the Pine Mountain Coon Hunters Club.

Sgt. Robert B. Yonts, son of Roy E. Yonts of Neon, has been listed as missing in action in Korea since November. Yonts had served eight months in Korea before being reported missing in action.

Pfc. Charles M. Belt, who enlisted in the Air Force last March, is now going to Central College, Missouri, taking a special course. Pfc. Belt is a graduate of Fleming-Neon High School in the Class of 1950.

THURSDAY JUNE 15, 1961

The Mountain Eagle won two second places in the 1961 Kentucky Press Association newspaper production contests. The newspaper won second place in the contest for Editorial Writing and second place in the contest for Community Service. It also received honorable mention in the Editorial Page Production contest.

The Whitesburg City Council has authorized Mayor Ferdinand Moore to negotiate and sign a contract with Kentucky Power Co. for installation of new streetlights on Main Street.

Neon’s U.S. Army Reserve unit will receive its annual activeduty training at Fort Knox July 2 through July 16. About 30 reservists will attend from Neon’s unit, Company K, 397th Regiment.  Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Angie Dickenson star in “Ocean’s 11” playing at Isaac’s Alene Theatre this week.

THURSDAY JUNE 17, 1971

The Beth-Elkhorn Corp. was totally shut down this week as members of the United Mine Workers of America launched a wildcat strike nationwide, apparently to demonstrate support for UMW president W.A. “Tony” Boyle. A judge had ruled that Boyle and other union officials had conspired to misuse the UMW Welfare and Retirement Fund and ordered that Boyle step down as a trustee of the Fund no later than June 30.

The Office of Economic Opportunity has approved a grant of $489,321 to the LKLP Community Action Council for another year of operation of a Home Repair project which provided repairs to the homes of 1,500 poor families in the past three years.

“House of Dark Shadows” starring Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall and Joan Bennett will play at Isaac’s Alene Theatre this week.

“Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Frazier and Mr. and Mrs. Begie Layme Breeding and girls all went to Buckhorn Lake Sunday to try out the Fraziers’ new boat,” writes Jeremiah correspondent Clarinda Back. “Everything was fine until they found the lower deck was full of water because they had lost the plug. They had much excitement at the time, but a lot to laugh about when they were on dry land again.”

THURSDAY JUNE 18, 1981

Kentucky State Police have impounded records from the May 26 primary election in Letcher County and are investigating all aspects of the election. County Judge Robert Collins says he has given the officers the use of the first floor of the courthouse for their work. Circuit Judge F. Byrd Hogg said he understood the activities of all election officers and candidates are being checked.

In Washington, it is Rep. Carl D. Perkins vs. President Reagan as the White House tries to trim $36 billion in the 1982 federal budget from the special programs Perkins has fought to build.

Letcher County School Superintendent Jack M. Burkich has withdrawn a recommendation for the school board to place Cowan Elementary School Principal Robert Gatton into a teaching position and cut his pay. Gatton said he and his wife, Christine, also a teacher, were considering moving to another county. Burkich acted after a day and a half of testimony concerning the proposed demotion at a hearing requested by Gatton.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 12, 1991

Improvements on US 119 over Pine Mountain are expected to be completed by November. Contractors for the state began clearing rights of way there last week. Residents of the area have complained about the condition of the road for years, but the repairs may cause some complaints as well. The traffic delays that will be caused by the construction are described as “significant.”

South-East Coal Co. is recalling some laid-off workers, but local union officials are accusing the company of trying to provoke a strike. Local 3007 President Rex Fields said South-East sent callback letters to workers laid off in April, but has ignored United Mine Workers’ requests that they be recalled by seniority.

Unemployment fell slightly in Letcher County during April. The county’s unemployment rate was 13.3 percent in April, down from 13.9 percent in March.

Officials are still examining a human skeleton found at Linefork, but an official from the state medical examiner’s office says it is probably that of a native American and could be hundreds of years old.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 13, 2001

“Green hat” miners have found a bottleneck in Kentucky’s efforts to fill industry employment demand during the current coal boom. Green hats are miners who have completed a 40-hour state-required training course, but haven’t spent the required time underground to be fully certified. Coal firms either aren’t able or aren’t willing to hire large numbers of the trainees, who have to spend 45 days in the company of an experienced miner before they can work on their own.

State Division of Waste Management officials say they ordered Letcher County to submit a water monitoring plan for the defunct Millstone landfill eight times in the past 10 years, but the county failed to do so. Now the state wants county officials to sign an agreement to pay off a $5,000 fine and perform a 16-point list of repairs and changes at the landfill or face more severe penalties. Letcher County could end up paying thousands of dollars in fines, or perhaps millions more for work, to correct problems at the landfill which hasn’t accepted garbage since June 30, 1992.

The new United States Post Office in Whitesburg will be open for business beginning June 18. The new post office is located at Pine Mountain Junction. One new feature resulting from the move is Sunday delivery of mail to post office boxes.

School consolidation will be the subject next week at a special meeting of the Letcher County Board of Education. The board has invited Mark Ryles, director of the Division of Facilities Management for the Kentucky Department of Education, to come to Whitesburg for a “working session” regarding plans to consolidate Letcher County’s three high schools into one.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 15, 2011

Fleming-Neon residents who have been tapping into fire hydrants are responsible for “dingy water” which has ruined clothing and threatens to damage appliances, said Water Department Superintendent Carlos Phillips. Phillips told the Fleming-Neon City Council that whether the fire hydrant taps are done legally or otherwise, they damage the system by stirring up sediment in the lines which then creates the dingy water that goes through taps.

Sanitation fees in the City of Whitesburg will go up $1 per month to address rising fuel costs and increases in landfill fees. The Whitesburg City Council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance which raises garbage rates for residential customers from $8.75 a month to $9.75 per month. Senior citizens can apply for rate of $7.75 a month.

A house at Payne Gap was burned as part of a training exercise for the Neon and Jenkins Volunteer Fire Departments recently. The owners of the home filed paperwork to have the structure torched and the two departments took the opportunity to use the controlled burn as training.

The Fleming-Neon Economic Development Committee has issued an invitation to Letcher County residents to join in constructing flowerboxes and filling them with soil and plants. Participants are asked to bring cordless drills, shovels, hand cultivators and spades, and wheelbarrows.

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