The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

The way we were

Clips from Mountain Eagle front pages over the past 50 years



 

 

December 4, 1958

The Letcher County Board of Education has issued a work order to the contractor directing him to go ahead with construction of the new consolidated high school and grade school building at Letcher. The work ordered was issued Wednesday shortly after the board sold $355,000 in bonds to finance construction of the building.

New contracts signed Wednesday between John L. Lewis’s United Mine Workers and Appalachian coal operators might spell disaster for non-union truck mines and other small-mine operators in eastern Kentucky.

The Dorothy Reese Circle of the Whitesburg Methodist Church will hold a Christmas bazaar next Wednesday.

“Thunder Road” and “Undersea Girl” are playing at the Alene Theater in Whitesburg.

December 5, 1968

The Whitesburg Municipal Housing Commission said today it is accepting applications for two-bedroom apartments. The commission said it still had far more applicants than space available for one, three and four bedroom units.

Army Private First Class Roger D. Adams, son of Mrs. Verda Cook of Whitesburg, received the Bronze Star Medal Nov. 10 near Tay Ninh, Vietnam. Pvt. Adams received the award for heroism in action.

T-bone steaks are $1.19 cents a pound at the Whitesburg A&P. Eight O’clock Coffee is $1.68 for three pounds.

December 7, 1978

Beginning Feb. 16, Universal Studios will be in Letcher County filming the movie version of Loretta Lynn’s book, Coal Miner’s Daughter. The cast and crew of approximately 100 will be working at various locations in the county about a month, according to Michael Apted, the film’s director.

The City of Neon is negotiating for purchase of a 13-acre site behind the Harlow Motor Company garage for a site for housing for the elderly. Mayor James Seals said Harlow is asking $100,000 for the site, which contains three acres of bottom land.

The Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) will be asked to ease the shortage of money for home mortgages in eastern Kentucky by floating a bond issue especially for eastern Kentucky. KHC is a state government agency which assists in the financing of homes for lowand moderate-income families.

At the first regular meeting of the new Blackey city government Tuesday night, plans were made for a work session this Saturday at 5:30 at the Blackey Community Center. This work session is another step in the long process of re-establishing a city government in Blackey to provide essential services.

December 7, 1988

Coal truckers who allow coal to spill from their trucks onto highways should be charged with criminal littering, a Letcher County Grand Jury says. The jury also says state and county police should crack down on overloaded coal trucks which travel KY 7 in Letcher County.

The state Department of Transportation agreed to study the feasibility of making KY 15 a four-lane highway from Campton to Whitesburg.

Residents of eastern Kentucky and Jefferson County were the most harsh when asked to give letter grades to their school districts in area ranging from teacher performance to job preparation. Eastern Kentuckians were far more likely than residents of other parts of the state to award failing marks to their school boards.

December 9, 1998

The Image Entry data processing facility may open temporarily in the large building hat is now partly occupied by Whitesburg City Hall. London-based Image Entry has been looking for a temporary home since it announced in late October that it would open a plant in Letcher County that will hire up to 150 people.

American College Test (ACT) scores reported recently to the Board of Education by the three high schools in Letcher County system show that the student bodies at all three schools are still lagging behind state and national averages.

The jobless rate in Letcher County rose eight-tenths of a percent to 7.8 percent in October, according to figures released by the Kentucky Cabinet for Workforce Development.

All-14th Region play LaShana Coleman of Jenkins, turned in a quadruple-double performance Nov. 30 in a 106-41 defeat of Cordia. She had 39 points, 11 rebounds, 10 steals, and 10 deflections.

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