Annexing 13 miles away is as ridiculous as it sounds

Here is my prediction for the outcome of London’s attempt to extend its city limits to the area in north Corbin at Interstate Exit 29.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

The lawyers win, the taxpayers lose and it will be tied up in court battles for years.

This is a shame, because the property in that area has great potential. What is a worse shame is that a city can go 13 miles down an Interstate highway along a utility line and pick and choose what to annex.

That area doesn’t need the city of London or the city of Corbin to decide its future. It seems to me that the development in that area would be up the the people who live there. Is it not possible for citizens of south Laurel to organize voters to decide its future, or would they rather pay city taxes and be directed by a city hall that is miles away?

I don’t get it. Surely the legislators who drew up annexation laws didn’t forsee a city reaching far out of its territory to govern. If they did, shame on them. The annexation laws need to be revised.

Way back when county lines were being drawn I’m sure the people doing it had no idea that some day a town would have a noose around its neck because of where the lines were drawn.

Many years later a legislator with bad intentions against the city of Corbin had legislation passed that tightened the noose a little tighter, making annexation into Laurel County for those who wanted it impossible by the City of Corbin.

Years ago, in the good old days, people worked together. They formed the London-Corbin Airport. Corbin city officials expanded utilities into southern Laurel County. Some of those same people worked to bring American

Greeting Card and other jobs to the area. In my youth it seemed as if everything was hunky-dory.

It is a different world we live in today. Cooperation is a thing of the past. I even saw where one person was threatening our Secretary of State because he cooperated with the governor on an election bill. It is unthinkable that a Republican and Democrat would cooperate in today’s world as illustrated in the cartoon below.

If the annexation took place can you imagine looking at a city map of London? There would be a big circle, then a long line followed by a little circle at the tail. Ridiculous!

Enough about that. Let me ask, are you going to wear a mask or not? When I was in my early thirties the Surgeon General put out a warning that smoking cigarettes could cause cancer. I quit smoking because it could harm my health.

Now we have a warning that we should wear a mask to protect the health of others. In other words, don’t spread the virus.

Like 50 years ago, not everybody quit smoking, and today not everybody wears a mask. The difference is, then you did it for your own protection, and now you do it for others.

I would like to think that we care enough about each other to follow social distancing guidelines and to wear a mask. It was a lot harder to quit smoking than it is to wear a mask! Do the right thing!