‘Happy retirement’ to two friends: Danny Moses and Jerry Rains

Goodbye and good luck to two friends of mine, who have recently retired from working in emergency services.

Recently retired Whitley County Emergency Management Director Danny Moses was honored with this plaque of appreciation during a retirement luncheon, which was held Tuesday afternoon.

I’ve known Danny Moses pretty much as long as I have been at the News Journal, which is close to 30 years.

I first got to know Danny when he was a member of the Whitley County Board of Education, and then got to know him better when he served as an auxiliary sheriff’s deputy for several years and worked as a volunteer firefighter.

At the time, Danny’s day job was being assistant manager at IGA in Williamsburg. If I needed to get hold of Danny back in those days, I would usually just drive across the Cumberland Avenue bridge or sometimes walk over to IGA from my Second Street office and just look for Danny, who would usually be stocking the aisles.

On Mother’s Day 2008, I was down at Cumberland Falls covering a tornado that had struck that morning when Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. introduced me to his new emergency management director.

It was Danny. We both laughed.

When Whitley County Sheriff Todd Shelley retired in November 2021 with 13 months remaining in his term, Danny stepped up to serve as interim sheriff until a new sheriff, Bill Elliotte, was elected and took office in January 2023.

Over the years, Danny has always been great to work with helping me out in any way that he could. He always answered the phone if he could, and when he couldn’t he’d always call me back as soon as he could.

Danny has devoted a good chunk of his life to public service, and he will be missed by several people not the least of whom will be me.

Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate Jerry Rains on his recent retirement as a regional manager for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, which is a job he has held since October 2002.

I first got to know Jerry when he served on the Williamsburg Rescue Squad, which was long before he ever got paid to work in emergency services. The rescue squad was a volunteer organization, and 30 years ago it was one of the few Whitley County organizations that had a set of the Jaws of Life to extricate people trapped during automobile accidents.

When I first met Jerry, he served as the lieutenant for the organization, which was the number two person there, and then he served as the captain, which was the top person.

Jerry’s day job used to be over at Piggly Wiggly in Williamsburg as assistant manager. When I needed to get a hold of Jerry, I would just drive over and find him usually stocking shelves.

I’ve spent more than one Saturday out on Laurel Lake and on the Cumberland River with both Danny and Jerry as they were searching for the body of a deceased drowning victim, and many an evening out with them at a big accident scene on I-75.

I’m happy for both Jerry and Danny as they settle into a long overdue and much deserved retirement, but I’ll admit that a part of me is sad to see them go.

Now to touch on a few unrelated topics before I conclude this column.

• I got to check out The Mint Gaming Hall – Cumberland Run in Corbin as it held its soft opening last Wednesday. The facility features 50 historical wagering machines, food and drinks. It opened to the public Thursday, and is worth checking out.

There appears to be a lot of interest in the new facility, especially on social media. I posted a link on Facebook Thursday morning to a photo gallery of images on the News Journal website that were taken during the soft opening.

As of Sunday afternoon, it had already been shared more than 80 times.

I can’t wait to see the race track there host its first race this October.

It will definitely be something unique for this area.

• Remember that school is about to start back for some of our local school districts so be on the lookout for school buses, children waiting on school buses and so forth.

Whitley County School District teachers will report for duty on Tuesday, Aug. 8, and the first day for students will be Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Students in the Corbin Independent School District will return to classes on Monday, Aug. 28.

Williamsburg Independent School students will return to class on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

• Speaking of school about to start, not sure why somebody decided that now would be a good time to start resurfacing work on US25W in front of Whitley Central Intermediate School.