Let’s face it. 2020 was quite the year from a worldwide pandemic to the third highest flood in Whitley County and Williamsburg history. Just in Whitley County alone, we were pretty much a war and a famine short of having our own Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse…LOL. Maybe 2020...

There’s a line from the song, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch,” which pretty well sums up the year that was 2020. “You stink, stank, stunk!” Unless you, a close relative or a close friend had a new baby in 2020 or you hit the Powerball big time, then chances are you HATED 2020....

We all know that our firefighters deal with a lot, particularly our volunteer firefighters, who don’t get paid for what they do. There are structure fires, brush fires, and auto accidents in addition to a host of other calls. There was one call that came across the radio scanner...

Corbin’s reverse Christmas parade Saturday night was definitely an interesting twist on a Christmas parade. For those that don’t know, during a reverse parade the participants are parked along the parade route, which in this case was on the right side of Main Street in downtown...

Often after someone gives their two or three-week notice at a place of employment, they, shall we say, put it on cruise control. Frequently, they don’t put in an extraordinary amount of effort from the point where they give their notice until they walk out the door. As I said,...

A few months ago, I was proofreading over a grant application that someone had written, and I remember commenting “Don’t tell me. Show me. Give me some local facts and figures that support this.” In regards to Gov. Andy Beshear’s latest executive orders regarding COVID-19...

So how popular was in-person early voting in Whitley County for this year’s presidential election? Let’s look at the numbers. Out of the 15,000 or so votes cast for president in Whitley County, 10,017 were done by people doing early, in-person voting. To put it another way,...

Barbara Neubert was a fire cracker. While she may have been small in stature, that little lady packed quite a bit of energy in a small package. Barbara was a fixture in the Williamsburg community for what seemed like forever. She was a smart, classy lady, who you often saw...

Believe it or not, the Kentucky Consular Center celebrated its 20th anniversary in Williamsburg on Oct. 25. The center has undergone numerous changes over the years. When it first opened, the center employed 45 people and its main concentration was on the U.S. Diversity Visa...

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...