Oh, Kentucky

Fifty years and 12 stories of affordable housing for 55-year-old-and-older residents of Newport.

After 54 years of hellos at Harlan County schools, it's so long to Billie Gray.

The 32nd Charles Logsdon Historic Downtown Walking Tour commences Thursday in Etown.

Starting on digital literacy early, in Louisville.

Martin County is getting together Saturday to clean up and celebrate.

"Of course, lots of cities have amphitheaters, but not every town with a population of about 3,500 builds a venue that holds 5,000." Deborah Kohl Kremer has a nice feature in Kentucky Monthly on plucky Beaver Dam and its amphitheater.

Turning to sports, disc-golf season is underway in Lawrenceburg; Summit's Armco Park Iron Ore Hiking Trail, which "includes part of the brick road from the original Route 60 that went from Ashland to Lexington" (!), opened Saturday, but--too bad, so sad--you missed canoeing or kayaking the Woodbury-to-Aberdeen Green River Ramble.

Also, Danville's Advocate-Messenger lost its sports editor of three years to the Norton Center for the Arts, and the new person is an eager University of Louisville Cardinal alum who lives in Bullitt County and has been working on an assembly line.

Rest in peace, Rev. Dr. Hobgood, a Transylvania and College of the Bible product, former pastor of several Kentucky congregations and 2003-05 general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) "whose leadership in a transitional time called us to faithfulness in our witness as a pro-reconciling anti-racist Church."

Oh, Kentucky

Good (steel) jobs news from Coalton.

Freeze warnings are creeping into Kentucky forecasts, and the Barren County Detention Center lobby remains available to folks who need a place to stay overnight. The jailer "kept it open all summer, actually. We had some coming and going, and we actually had a woman and some kids stay up there a couple of nights. (Homelessness is) still prevalent. It's still out there and we're doing what we can to help them." I'm always impressed with a good meeting story, and Melinda J. Overstreet has a good one about the Barren County Fiscal Court in the Glasgow Daily Times. My favorite sentence is the last of her story: "The entire meeting, including the time for the roll call, prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, was just shy of 15 minutes."

“The wealthiest Kentuckians benefit the most from our growing economy, and by a widening margin,” Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Senior Policy Analyst Anna Baumann said. “It would be reasonable for them to pay a little more in taxes, according to their ability, for the investments that benefit us all. But instead, we have been cutting their taxes, cutting investments in our schools and community based services, and leaning more heavily on middle- and low-income Kentuckians.”

Re-org at Papa John's.

Recovery at Goodfellas.

A fresh start in Madisonville.

I've never been to one, but I'm always interested in these auctions of stuff confiscated by the state government. It's fun, for example, to imagine myself becoming a jon-boat guy.

Rest in peace, Sen. Huddleston, a Cumberland County native and World War II veteran who moved town to town up and down the dial of Kentucky radio stations before going to Washington and eventually being felled by 1984 "Switch! To! Mitch!" fervor at Fancy Farm and elsewhere.

HP SPECIAL REPORT: Back In Business In Beaver Dam

This is an HP Special Report ... the old "Arby's Island" Beaver Dam rest area along the Western Kentucky Parkway has reopened as a Huck's, and it's fantastic!

My wife and daughter and I stopped through there on our way back from Louisville this evening.

One of the things that really impressed us was the huge array of drink machines--a whole assortment of coffees and soft drinks, slushy drinks and hot chocolates, etc. I do really appreciate that Huck's offers the flavor additives you can spurt into your fountain sodas. I almost always at least throw a couple of vanilla squirts in with whatever I'm drinking.

In the old Arby's area, they've opened a large hot-food bar, with a strong emphasis on fried chicken and Godfather's Pizza, which, as reported way back in 1969, is huge in convenience stores across Kentucky.

Huck's is based in Illinois, and one of the oddities about the Beaver Dam store was that Illinois (but not Kentucky) gazetteers were available at the store in Beaver Dam.

Overhead, the store played what it called "Huck's Radio," and we heard a couple of oldies but goodies.

The restrooms were delightfully clean, and I, for one, support the old-school handles and push buttons on the fixtures (as opposed to the sensor triggers to get soap, water and towels, which always seem to frustrate me).

I thought about picking up an Ohio County Times-News to check out that Bill Monroe story, but I didn't.

My wife thought about picking up some Harper's Country Ham, but she didn't.

We didn't really much consider getting donuts, though I am sure they would've been delicious.

And we didn't get any too serious about purchasing any Kentucky (but not Illinois) souvenir shot glasses, coffee mugs or Christmas ornaments.

But my daughter did get a cereal bar, for which we would've gladly paid the posted $1.29. But, alas, the gentleman at the counter remembered that the store was offering some 20-cents off coupons on that product and took it upon himself to go find one and apply it to my daughter's order. It was a good opportunity for us to all talk about the everythings of our lives and being creative and bold to do to others what we would have them do to us, and that turned out to be the very best part of a wholly satisfying visit to the new Beaver Dam Huck's Island.

Oh, Kentucky

Man, I hate this snow for the homeless and the people who feel shut in by it or forced out into it, etc., but I do love all of this social media from routes around Kentucky ...

A lot of secondary roads are still snow-packed in Ohio County, but a warm up is coming this weekend. https://t.co/EZJXfcrwLe pic.twitter.com/DowFDy1B86

— Ohio County Monitor (@OCMonitor) January 17, 2018

Current air temperatures (blue) and pavement (green) temperatures across the 12 KYTC highway districts.

If pavement temperatures drop below 20 degrees, salt and other melting agents aren't as effective. #SnowKY #kywx pic.twitter.com/5A0hDJKXrH

— KYTC (@KYTC) January 17, 2018

"For now," 28th-year Henderson Gleaner journalist Doug White is "is solely responsible for this subscriber keeping their subscription active."

"Roots to Riches," next month in Madisonville.

Reidland High's "Ricochet"/"Prince Puma" is headed to the WWE.

Crimes against persons was down and against property was up in Paducah last year.

Recycling is now deep in the red in Richmond, too.

Hiring in Erlanger.

Oh, Kentucky

Facing calls from both parties to resign, Rep. Dan Johnson refuses. He denies molestation accusation, blames political climate: https://t.co/ZIsLxnjQMz #LongCon pic.twitter.com/5wOW1QI6dy

— Kentucky CIR (@KentuckyCIR) December 12, 2017

This will take you about an hour. It's worth it, and you can support the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting here.

Good for First Baptist Church of Corbin!

Good for Madisonville Fire Department!

Christmas parades: Irvington and Owensboro, Nov. 18; Central City, Nov. 19; Ashland, Nov. 21; Lebanon, Nov. 24; Brownsville and Danville, Nov. 25; Greenup, Nov. 28; Cumberland, London, Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 1; Arlington, Barbourville, Beaver Dam (they typically alternate year to year with Hartford, but ...), Bowling Green, Cadiz, Corbin, Fordsville, Georgetown, Glasgow, Harlan, Hartford (... this year both it and Beaver Dam just went ahead and did parades on the same day), Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Madisonville, Marion, Munfordville, Murray, Paducah, Somerset and Winchester, Dec. 2; Dawson Springs, Evarts and Nortonville, Dec. 3; Mount Sterling, Dec. 4; Lexington, Dec. 5; Bardstown, Dec. 7; Frankfort and Fredonia, Dec. 8; Augusta, Berea, Burnside, Cave City, Crofton, Edmonton, Elkton, Hanson, Hickman, Hopkinsville, Paintsville, Salem, Vanceburg and Whitesville, Dec. 9, and La Center and Oak Grove, Dec. 16.

Oh, Kentucky

A new monument in Madisonville (#FalconFabulous!)

Christmas parades: Irvington and Owensboro, Nov. 18; Danville, Nov. 25; Greenup, Nov. 28; London, Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 1; Barbourville, Beaver Dam, Fordsville, Georgetown, Hartford, Henderson, Madisonville, Murray, Somerset and Winchester, Dec. 2; Lexington, Dec. 5, and Elkton, Hanson and Hopkinsville, Dec. 9.

Good for Mr. Dennison's plan not to work so hard.

Baptist Health continues its expansion through acquisition.

NC2A ... #smh.

Oh, Kentucky

Guthrie recovering after flood, you can help https://t.co/szUIzdu1NQ pic.twitter.com/75lZdrQJAk

— WHOP AM/FM (@WHOPradio) September 2, 2017

Kentucky for sale (and the start of what I'm sure is an interesting story):

Good jobs news from Owensboro, Owensboro again and Beaver Dam. Hiring in Leitchfield and Louisville. "Holding our breath" in Wickliffe, per WPSD. And the Daily Independent reports, "there is a feeling Ashland, Boyd, and surrounding Greenup and Carter counties are on the verge of rounding the economic bend."

Trouble in Corbin and Crofton.

Reports WFPL, "according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 5,848 Kentucky residents had been approved for protections under DACA as of the end of March."

Oh, Kentucky

Harness racing today at the Graves County Fair. pic.twitter.com/aqNx0VQLD9

— Ryan Hermens (@ryanhermens) June 7, 2017

Tyler Eschberger in The Middlesboro Daily News has an intriguing story about a man's visit to the local country club to spur investment and interest in making a movie about the town's integrated Little League baseball team in 1953. Ron Schmidt is quoted: "So we make a movie with a Kentucky story, that not only shows kids, but it shows Middlesboro and it shows the beauty and culture of Appalachia…can we all hit a home run? Can you do that? Can you help bring hope to our kids?" Indeed, I would be interested in watching a movie based on Tyler Eschberger's story about Ron Schmidt's 2017 trip to the Middlesboro Country Club to talk about the 1953 story.

Meanwhile, here's a very dark and sad story about demons, healing, sickness, confession, redemption, relapse, justice and everything else in The Casey County News. Prayers for the pastor, the flock, the church, the police, the reporters and everyone around it.

Now back to happy--thanks to Adam Black in Ashland's Daily Independent: "When we first got married, I told her we would never move to Kentucky. Now look, we have opened a restaurant and live right down the road."

NKU's Vegy Vida for kids has been voted among the "Best University Startups 2017."

Appalshop scores among the "100 people, organizations, and movements that are shaping the future of culture."

Louisville comes in at No. 4 among the "Top Ten Worst Trucking Chokepoints in America."

Good jobs news from Bowling Green, Danville and Morganfield ("Leave the emotional garbage at home, you'll get your feelings hurt because we are realist. We are here to work not babysit the emotionally needed folks or put up with excuses. If you've got what it takes, we'd love to talk to you about joining our team.")

Says Kentucky's state climatologist: "For the average person it can be difficult sometimes to see, or maybe to convince yourself, that climate can be changing. But within the scientific community, people that spend their careers studying these things, there’s really a growing consensus that our climate is changing and that human activity is making an impact on that."

The city of Hartford is selling its recycling equipment and tearing down the building where it was used to turn into scrap metal for the practice of student welders. (Also, there will be no movies on the square this summer.)

Madisonville's skate park is open! And it's free to get into our ATV park all year. And we're having a Santa Race next month. So, boom.

Oh, Kentucky

Where will you be? Lowertown Arts & Music Festival today at 3. @WPSDLocal6 festival expected to draw 17, 000+ this weekend. #Paducah #arts pic.twitter.com/ToJEyI5Y9G

— Stefanie Martinez (@SMartinezWPSD) May 19, 2017

Meanwhile, in Midway, ...

Here's a handy guide to "Kentucky Proud Produce Availability."

From the Ohio County Farm & Home News: "The average age of farm operators in Kentucky is increasing, and over the next several years, many farm families will consider transitioning their farm to the next generation. The decision of when and how to begin the farm transition process can be difficult; often, farm families avoid the issue because it can be a difficult topic to discuss ..."

The Grayson County News-Gazette is hiring.

Bad jobs news from Hopkinsville and Lexington. 

Louisville's Kentucky Manufacturing Career Center celebrates its 1,000th job placement.

A Covington brewery is opening a beer R&D lab in Bellevue.

Christian County Schools--but not McCracken County Schools, Ohio County Work Ready Committee or Henderson or Madisonville community colleges--is getting a bunch of state funding to boost training for industry workforce.

Interesting article from WFPL's Roxanne Scott on the H-1B lottery scramble and its impact on J.B. Speed School of Engineering graduates and Louisville at large.

There is a Czech proverb that says, "A good neighbor increases the value of your property."

"We are a very family orientated park and I am going to keep it that way. I apologize to my neighbors and promise this will not happen again."

To equip leaders to serve the church and provide Licensed/Commissioned Ministers a forum for collegial support.

Oh, Kentucky

Kentucky for sale:

Police arrested that guy who allegedly stabbed the Middlesboro sports writer and college professor.

West Kentucky Star's Facebook post about a bank's sponsorship of an Alabama concert in Mayfield turned into a conversation about the bank's marketing expenditures, a 1981 show by the band in Paducah and Mitch McConnell.

Meanwhile, RaeLynn's coming to Madisonville.

The Hartings of Leitchfield make a return appearance on Family Feud. “Everybody needs to watch this time,” Pastor Harting tells Matt Lasley of The Grayson County News-Gazette.  “That’s all I’ll say.”

It's #QuiltWeek! These are some of the awesome pieces of artwork you'll see at this year's show. pic.twitter.com/iN0pUD1hXR

— Brianna Clark WPSD (@bclark_WPSD) April 26, 2017

Good jobs news from The McConnell House in Wurtland.

The Kentucky Democratic Party's new executive director is a Frankfort coffeeshop operator and Bernie Sanders backer.

You can come out to a meeting this afternoon in the City of Manchester Council Room to speak your piece on the proposed Ramsey Ballpark renovations (or you can write to Frankfort in the next couple of weeks), but, if you intended to hear state Sen. C.B. Ramsey (R-Louisville/Morgantown) talk General Assembly at the Ohio County Senior Citizens Center, you're a day late and a pillow short, bub.

Also in sports, ...

Former Edmonson County Coach Charles Alexander Has Number Officially Retired In Ceremony:https://t.co/hVuSibq63C pic.twitter.com/lx1FpPPZVh

— The Edmonson Voice®™ (@edmonsonvoice) April 26, 2017

Anderson Co. softball player @Bailey_Curry11 is closing in on national HR record despite a ton of intentional walks. https://t.co/oI1DpNmrtJ pic.twitter.com/TFtvzxndZR

— John Herndon (@ANewsJPHerndon) April 26, 2017

The 64-team field is set for the KHSAA state fishing championship, May 12-13 in Gilbertsville.

The parks aren't, but Kentucky State Parks is moving.

Oh, Kentucky

The rallying in support of Bob White continues.

Meanwhile, the attack on Jamie Vaught is terrifying.

The Kentucky Mavericks are shutting it down in Owensboro.

Take that, slimmer states! Make all the fun you want, but maybe you all would've won the big NIH grant to study the link between cancer and obesity if your state-park buffets were better.

"Instead of incarcerating and housing, let's heal."

"Some of them run, some are considered junk. Some people harvest parts from the junkers. Every item is sold as-is, where-is."

"what’s up with not allowing a #Americanflag at @CampingWorld."

What's up with the burning school buses in Ohio County?

Oh, Kentucky

Merry Christmas from Paducah:

Merry Christmas in Paducah, after all.

Christmas parades: Owensboro, Nov. 19; Ashland, Nov. 22; Lebanon, Nov. 25; Brownsville and Sebree, Nov. 26; Bardstown, Dec. 1; Maysville (the KHSAA girls' golf champ and her Mason County High teammates will serve as emcees), Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 2; Arlington, Beaver Dam, Beaver Dam/Hartford (but the party starts Friday), Berea, Bowling Green, Cadiz, Clinton, Columbia, Flatwoods, Frankfort, Glasgow, Harlan, Henderson, Horse Cave, Madisonville, Manchester, Munfordville, Murray, Paducah, Paintsville, Paris, Somerset and Winchester, Dec. 3; Boyce, Nortonville ($100 top prize), Owenton and Schochoh, Dec. 4; Hickman and Lexington, Dec. 6; Augusta, Burnside, Cave City, Crofton, Elkton, Hopkinsville, La Center, Livermore, Nicholasville and Pikeville, Dec. 10, and Auburn, Dec. 11.

F. Kathleen Foley in the Los Angeles Times: "To her credit, Winkler never condescends to her Southerners — a welcome departure from other recent playwrights who fetishize their characters’ regionalisms. The characters in ‘Kentucky’ may be wildly eccentric and speak with a twang, but they are otherwise people, coping as best they can with the detritus of disappointed lives. Given a more assured staging, one suspects that this ‘Kentucky’ could more effectively express the soaring musicality of a colorful and misunderstood state."

The Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame aims to open July 1, 2017, in Elizabethtown.

Happy 60th, Greer's Florist of Glasgow.

Mapping WKU's "safe spaces."

The unemployment rate went down in 82 Kentucky counties from October 2015 to October 2016, up in 33 and stayed the same in five. The low was 3 percent in Woodford County; the high, 14.1 in Magoffin. And statewide, it was 4.6 percent--a tick better than the national (4.7).

Toward more construction workers in and around Louisville.

Sweet Sixteen (1969)

The 1969 desk is at the fifty-second annual Kentucky State High School Basketball Tournament this weekend, and so are the Sweet Sixteen teams in the latest, exclusive-to-the-HP graphic!

Followers of 1969 know that Louisville Central has been strong all season, but the No. 1 Yellowjackets are joined on the right side of the bracket by No. 2 Clark County, No. 3 Covington Catholic and No. 8 Richmond Madison from the final Associated Press poll of the season. No. 7 Paducah Tilghman is the only member of the AP Top 10 on the left side.

I am rooting for Ohio County, which we followed through the 11th District and Third Region tournaments, and Hopkinsville, which won its first-ever Sweet Sixteen birth this season.

 

One of the things that really struck me through the last few weeks of my little ongoing 1969 research project is how much larger the Eighth District and Second Region tournaments loomed in the pages of the Kentucky New Era than did Kentucky's and Murray State's runs up to and into the NCAA tournament. 
At the Park City Daily News in Bowling Green in the early 1990s, I felt we gave the high-school tournaments about equal weight to those of the colleges. But that was with WKU in town, and, even still, we caught a tad of flack from folks who weren't natives, didn't have kids in the high schools and/or felt we paid too much attention to the preps. Not distracted with the need to commit staff to cover a local college, the Kentucky New Era in 1969 just totally went full bore on the local district and regional tournaments--relegating the wire stories about the colleges to definitively secondary status, sometimes not even on the sports front. It's a bold editorial judgment that 26-year-old me probably would've resisted; I definitely agree with the decision now. And, for those of us who tend toward an unexplainable, almost supernatural compulsion to revisit time and place in as much specificity as can be today claimed, it's an especially high heap of fun to dig through all of this old Kentucky New Era stuff.

For example, here's a terrific report of the coaches summit that preceded the Eighth District tournament and nailed down details around stuff like ticket prices (reserved chairbacks $5 for whole tournament or $1.50 per session), all-tournament-team voting (coaches vote for eight players but none of their own) and fanfare (no bands or confetti). 

It sounds like things were pretty harmonious among the coaches from Christian County, Dawson Springs, Fort Campbell, Hopkinsville and Todd County during this meeting. Cecil Herndon's equivalent story in advance of the Second Region tournament, however, told of "a somewhat stormy business session" with a flap around ticket revenues. "Failing to reach a decision in the open meeting, the issue was tabled and settled in a special meeting behind closed doors with only the school principals present. Over the reported opposition of both local schools, the matter was settled with the following agreement." Then Herndon went on to detail a convoluted scheme of pricing tiers having to do with whether the purchaser is a student or school staff member, when the ticket is bought and the type of seating sought. "In short, no adult tickets may be bought in advance," Herndon chase-cut.)

The Kentucky New Era printed excited briefs about "the most comprehensive printed program ever offered" and "a special Sportsmanship Award ... selected on the basis of overall conduct in regard to competitiveness, courtesy and fair play."

  

 Once the actual game action was underway, the New Era (along with WHOP and at least one other radio station) were right there at courtside. 

Per a Page 2 police brief, an 18-year-old "star basketball player" for Hopkinsville was arrested at 4:30 in the morning on the day that the district tournament started. He was reportedly apprehended while driving a minister's car, which the minister had reported stolen from the Hopkinsville College of the Bible between 7 and 9 the previous night. The student was being held on bond of more than $500 on charges of possession of stolen property and driving without a license.


And yet, even without their star, ...

So it was on to the regional--right back at Hopkinsville High's gym--for the Tigers, Christian County, Earlington (the Litkenhous Second Region favorite), Lyon County, Nortonville South Hopkins, Trigg County, Union County (the AP-poll fave) and Webster County. Cecil Herndon's March 11 tournament preview in the New Era was headlined, "Outbreak of 'basketballitis' rages in Second Region area."

The defending Second Region champ, Christian County, blazed to a 17-8 advantage in its tournament opener, making all seven of its field goals in the first period. But it was Union County that prevailed in overtime, 63-61. The Braves next outlasted the only team to ever come out of the Second Region and win a state championship, Earlington, 78-76. Meanwhile, on the other side of the regional bracket, Webster County powered by Trigg County, 53-50, and home-standing Hoptown edged the South Hopkins Tomcats, 61-57. And, then, Hoptown dispatched Webster, 70-64. 

Cecil Herndon's New Era column on the Union-Hoptown championship was headlined, "They did it!":

Who will ever forget it?

After, lo, these many years, the Hopkinsville High School Tigers are the undisputed kings of basketball in the Second Region.

And who can ever forget the way they did it?

After playing an almost flawless first half against the big, tough Union County Braves, the Tigers saw their lead evaporate in the third quarter.

They regained a narrow margin momentarily, only to see it go down the drain before the relentless pressure of the well-disciplined Braves.

When Union took the lead for the last time in the final critical stages, few in the gym would have given the staggering Tigers a prayer.

How easy it would have been for a team with one ounce less of heart to fold and forever kid itself into thinking it had given it all it had.

Not so the Tigers.

Tiger Captain Wendell Lynch, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, stepped to the free throw line and tied the ball game with only seconds remaining.

When Union failed on its trip down the floor, big Richard Decker--a tower of strength on the boards during the entire tournament--tipped in a missed Tiger shot for the winning basket. ...

They were, and are, everyone heros.

And, so, days off were granted, and pep was rallied. ("Mayor Alfred Naff presented each player a symbolic key to the city in the form of tie-clasps," reported Cecil Herndon, without noting whether the star who allegedly stole the minister's car got a key, too.) Buses were arranged, and congratulations were editorialized. It was on to the Sweet Sixteen for Hoptown, for the very first time.*

Oh, Kentucky (1969)

Still 1969ing in Ohio County ...

  
And the regional-champion Eagles made the front page of the March 20 Ohio County Times!

 Not above the banner, but still ...

Of course, the new barbershop made P1, too. (Real me had my hair cut here one time along about 1998!) (Also, I love walnut paneling.)

So, I know ... let's make this movie about this little high school and its basketball team in Kentucky in 1969, and let's put all in all of this sign-of-the-times, touchstone stuff like ... hmmm? ... oh, I know, one of the former students who has been drafted could write a letter home, cheering on the basketball team ... and there could be all kinds of cultural-warfare stuff like fights going on in town about sex education in the schools ... maybe some warmed-over integration stuff ... oh, and, hey, I've got it! ... the kids at the school could write back to the soldier with a--get this!--50-FOOT LETTER THANKING HIM FOR HIS SERVICE ... that'll be gr- ... well ... nyah, too hackneyed ... none of that stuff would've really been going on all at the same time ...

Let's get back to the basketball team (and some big snakes in Central Grove) ...

Eat up, boys!

I love the movie Paper Lion. Love it! 5 stars, highly recommended.