When you call up candidates running for elected office to interview them, you sometimes get some shall we say “interesting responses.” I’ll never forget the one candidate, who said, “Boy that’s a good question! I’ll have to think about that one,” when I simply asked him why he...

Did I ever pick a good time to leave Kentucky and go on vacation, or what? COVID-19 rates have pretty well skyrocketed recently in Whitley County. My wife, Cecelia, and I recently headed south to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week, then we headed over to the...

September is suicide prevention month, and it is more prevalent than most people probably realize. In Kentucky, one person dies every 11 hours from suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people ages 15-34, and the fourth leading cause of death in people ages...

It was sad to hear about the cancellation of the Williamsburg High School football game on Sept. 11 for multiple reasons. Every year students across the state bust their butts to get ready to play a game they love. As Head Football Coach Jerry Herron noted a few weeks ago, his...

A few months ago, I wrote a column explaining what some of the more commonly used court terms that appear in the newspaper mean in layman’s terms, and I mentioned that I might write a second column on the subject. While this column doesn’t involve court terms as such, it does...

Rest in peace Cpl. Billie Joe Hash, who was killed during the Korean War, and finally got to come home to Corbin last week after 70 years. Hash was laid to rest Saturday at Worley Cemetery, which is close to where his family used to live. It was an honor to be on hand Friday and...

Several years back, I still remember my one and only meeting with Tony Turner, who was the longtime WYMT station manager and news director. Tony was a legend in journalism here in the mountains. He was well respected and well-loved for good reason. The day I met him; Tony was in...

It’s amazing what you can find when you clean out a desk drawer, and/or a whole desk and several filing cabinets for that matter. As most of the you know, due to COVID-19 about five months ago the News Journal shutdown our Williamsburg office and consolidated operations in...

There is a lot of truth in the old joke that people choose a given profession just so they won’t have to do math. While this wasn’t the reason I choose to get into journalism, I will concede that it was a plus…only partially LOL. Truth be told, I have done a lot more math in this...

Every winter, Poplar Grove Baptist Church Pastor Bobby Joe Eaton tells the same story about a time many years ago when he was on the staff at Central Baptist Church in Corbin when it was a snowy, slick Sunday evening. Despite the weather, the church decided to still hold services...

Across the country, statues of confederate leaders are being moved, removed or vandalized and torn down, including a statue of Jefferson Davis, which was recently removed from the Kentucky State Capitol. For those who don’t know, Davis was president of the Confederacy during the...

On Monday evening, the Corbin City Commission officially voted to abolish the position of Downtown Manager. Downtown Manager Aaron Sturgill was let go from the position a few weeks ago. The Downtown Manager’s position over the last several years when Andy Salmons was at the helm...

Here are some words that I never thought I would ever say. It was actually nice to physically attend a school board meeting Thursday. Perhaps the even sadder part is I am pretty sure there were other people there, who probably shared the same sentiment…LOL. Unless you are being...

Simply put, the era of COVID-19 is not a good time to be in the newspaper industry. (Although for that matter, it also isn’t a good time to be in radio, the restaurant industry or pretty much any business or profession that isn’t selling Clorox or Lysol products…lol.) Numerous...

With the possible exception of those, who own stock in Clorox or Lysol, I think that we can all pretty much agree on one thing. COVID-19 stinks. First there were the business shutdowns, then the layoffs. Now we have the cancelation of events, such as NIBROC, Old Fashioned Trading...

A few weeks ago, I read a post that a friend of mine from college posted on his Facebook page about having “the talk” with his 10-year-old son. No, it wasn’t “that” talk…lol. This friend is black, and the talk he had with his son was what he should do if he encounters a police...

From graduations and church services to government meetings and eating out at restaurants, COVID-19 has certainly changed the way we do things, and next Tuesday’s primary election in Kentucky is no exception. Because of the coronavirus, the election is taking place in a quite a...

Wearing masks. It has become a hot button topic recently with several people proclaiming that they have a right not to wear a mask and that they simply aren’t going to do it. Here are the reasons why I try to wear a mask when I go out in public settings, particularly large or...

To our recent high school and college graduates, sorry your senior years got cut short, and some of you missed out on prom and a traditional graduation ceremony. It stinks. It really does. As you have probably already figured out though, life isn’t fair. Bad things happen outside...

My fellow Whitley County residents, I am quite proud of the way you have handled things so far during COVID-19 on so many levels. For starters, let’s talk about our local churches. I have to applaud our local churches and religious leaders. Even though early on most didn’t like...