Previous experience has shown us that early voting works, and it should stay

Election Day is coming on Tuesday, May 16, but if you want to avoid lines at the polls remember you can vote early Thursday through Saturday at the old courthouse in Williamsburg and in the old district courtroom in Corbin, which is located in the old city hall.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

One of the few good things to come out of the pandemic (other than maybe most of us learning to how wash our hands properly…LOL) was the move to allow early voting in Kentucky and elsewhere. Whether its younger voters, older voters, Republican voters or Democratic voters, I have yet to speak with anyone about the subject who doesn’t like the early voting option.

Early voting is definitely something that I think should stay, especially with a Saturday option. It gives more people more of a chance to go vote rather than forcing them to find time during a 12-hour window on a Tuesday. It really benefits people with jobs that don’t have flexible hours.

I would contend that voting isn’t only a right but a civic duty.

If we want better government, then we need to educate ourselves on the issues and go vote even if sometimes that means pinching our noses and voting for the least bad candidate.

Let’s use early voting folks. Otherwise the geniuses in Frankfort (sarcasm greatly intended…LOL) may decide to take away that right.

Early voting will take place from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Now let me touch on a few other topics before I conclude this column.

Williamsburg Tourism Director Alvin Sharpe is now in some pretty elite company. I mean, it’s not too many people that get a building named after them like he did last Saturday afternoon.

Sharpe and about three dozen people were on hand last Saturday to celebrate a major renovation project at the Williamsburg Tourism and Convention Center, which turned one of the gymnasiums into an event space complete with new flooring, new walls, a new sound system and a new lighting system to name just a few improvements.

What many of those people in attendance knew and Sharpe didn’t until the ceremony was nearly over was that the tourism commission had decided to rename the facility The Alvin Sharpe Conference Center after their director of 34 plus years.

It’s a pretty fitting honor for a man, who has spent much of the last three decades promoting Williamsburg to visitors, in addition to helping plan and design some major improvements and renovations in town, such as much of the work at Briar Creek Park and the Kentucky Splash waterpark.

The newly renovated building will feature a plaque in the entryway noting its new name, and Sharpe’s name will also appear on at least one of the mats as you enter the building.

In other words, if any of Alvin’s former students over at the University of the Cumberlands have ever wanted to walk all over him, here is your chance…LOL.

On a serious note, let me say congratulations to Alvin, who has done tremendous work for the city. You’re deserving of the honor my friend.

Speaking of tourism, sounds like the recent Cumberland Falls Cleanup went well. Each spring, volunteers turn out to help pick-up trash alongside the roads leading to Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in addition to picking up trash around the actual falls and downstream from that.

A total of 511 bags of trash, 11 tires and one hot water heater were collected by the 183 volunteers.

Cumberland Falls State Resort Park averages between 800,000 – 1,000,000 visitors each year. At 68 feet tall and 125 feet wide, it is the second largest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who came out to help clean up one of the most beautiful places in the world.