White powdery substance at W’Burg radio station prompts special response team Tue.

An unmarked envelope filled with an unknown white substance caused a slight panic Tuesday morning at a Williamsburg radio station, though police said there was ultimately no threat of danger.

Jack O’Lantern Jog draws 58 participants

58 people participated in the annual Jack O’Lantern Jog Saturday morning with many dressed in an array of Halloween costumes ranging from Forest Gump to Batman. Isaiah Curry was the overall winner with a time of 25:13. Cayleigh Zanet was the top female winner with a time of 33:28.

Foul play not suspected in fatal fire that also injured three firefighters

A structure fire in southern Laurel County early Monday morning claimed the life of a London woman.

District Court Records

Editor’s note: The News Journal publishes only the final disposition of district court criminal cases except for those which are waived to a grand jury or dismissed without condition.

Whether early or on Election Day – go vote!

Attention all of you social media know-it-alls that are constantly complaining about state government. The same goes for the Grumpy Gus’s, who are griping all of the time about the this and thats, which Frankfort does.

Guess what? We have an election next week to decide who the next governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state auditor, state treasurer and state agriculture commissioner are going to be.

I think I can speak for many people when I say that if you don’t go vote in this year’s November General Election, then I don’t want to hear all of your griping and complaining and crying about how bad government is or what it should be doing different.

Educate yourself on the issues and go vote. If you don’t like either candidate, then pinch your nose and vote for the one, who you mistrust the least. (Yes, I have literally done that before when I cast a ballot…LOL.)

Short of running for office yourself, this is the way that you change things and try to make them better, or in the alternative, keep them from getting any worse than they have to be.

Even if you can’t make it to the polls on Election Day Tuesday, you still have a chance to cast your ballot.

There will be three days of in-person early voting in Whitley County. You can do it Thursday, Friday or Saturday at one of two locations. You can either vote at the old courthouse in downtown Williamsburg or at the old district courtroom in the old Corbin City Hall.

Early voting will be from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, it will be from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.

There are people around the world, who are ruled by dictators, that risk their lives to go vote.

I don’t think it’s asking too much for Americans to go do their civic duty, take a few minutes out of their day, and go vote a couple of times a year.

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

• From what I have seen on Facebook, it looks like the Department of Community-Based Services (DCBS) gun safety event at the Kentucky Splash waterpark Saturday was a big success with a lot of attendance.

The event was organized after a recent heartbreaking gun death where a three-year-old accidentally shot a two-year-old near Corbin.

I’m a big proponent of the right to keep and bear arms, but I am also a proponent of doing so responsibly.

If there are young children around, then please put your firearms in a safe place. Put them out of reach of those children. Put them in a gun safe, or put a trigger lock on them. Store your gun in one place and your ammunition in another place even if it is just in the dresser right next to your gun.

Put your guns up high where little children can’t reach them, and educate older children on the dangers of firearms and the proper way to handle them.

• Congratulations to the Whitley County High School Lady Colonels Volleyball Team for winning the 13th Region Tournament, and moving on to state.

The Whitley County High School Baseball Team has already brought home one state championship this year, and I am hoping that the Lady Colonels Volleyball Team can make that two state titles in one year for the Whitley County School District.

Lawsuits

Ground breaking ceremony held for Corbin Center expansion, new hotel

Local and state officials came together for a groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon at The Corbin Center to celebrate its upcoming expansion and a new hotel to be built on adjacent property.

Conceptual designs for both projects were unveiled just prior to the groundbreaking ceremony during the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s partnership luncheon held with members of the Knox County and Manchester/Clay County Chambers of Commerce.

The Corbin Center expansion, which was discussed earlier this month during a Corbin City Commission meeting, will renovate the existing space and add an expansion that will increase the building’s square footage by over 12,500 feet. With the expansion, the center’s new footprint will take up over 33,000 total square feet.

The center’s expansion will allow for a much larger banquet room, that will push its existing capacity from approximately 260 people to around 320 people. In addition, the renovation will expand the kitchen so caterers will have more space and an audio and visual component will also be added to the facility.

The adjacent hotel will consist of a dual-branded property with both TownePlace Suites and Fairfield Inn under the same roof. The building will have 113 beds and include a conference room space for various business and association meetings.

The commission previously agreed to sell the 4.29 acres of land where the hotel will sit for $1 million.

Corbin Mayor Suzie Razmus spoke during the unveiling of the two projects, noting that the overall cost for both is estimated to be $15 million. The expansion at The Corbin Center, specifically, is projected to cost right at $3.5 million, which will be paid for through the sale of the adjacent land as well as with city and state funds.

Razmus also thanked Senate President Robert Stivers, who was the keynote speaker during Monday’s luncheon, for his work in the area.

“We are thankful for the vision of our good friend, Sen. Robert Stivers, and for his confidence in our ability to take these investments and multiply them to grow our business and community offerings,” said Razmus.

Construction on the two projects is anticipated to begin in the first quarter of next year.

W’burg Action Team saved the Lane Theater, but lacks resources to restore it

When you envision the landscape of downtown Williamsburg, chances are that the marquee of the old Lane Theater will be among the first images that come to mind.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

Although it has largely sat empty for decades, the Lane Theater is one of the predominant structures on Williamsburg’s Main Street, and has been since it was first built in 1948.

The Williamsburg Action Team, which purchased the building about 20 years ago, largely deserves the credit for saving this iconic structure, which closed in the 1980s.

At some point after its closure, the City of Williamsburg obtained the building, but didn’t do much with it besides putting a new roof on the structure shortly before selling it.

In August 2002, the Williamsburg Action Team purchased the 600-seat Lane Theater from the city for $58,300. In 2007, the group received a $60,000 Renaissance on Main grant to pay off the building’s mortgage.

Aside from restoration of the marquee, the Williamsburg Action Team, which is a non-profit composed entirely of volunteers, has concentrated mainly on preserving the building with drain work, gutter work and so forth.

According to an estimate obtained about 20 years ago, restoration would cost about $2.2 million. This figure is likely significantly higher now.

Besides rental of the marquee for birthday wishes and so forth, the group has no steady source of revenue besides the sometimes rental of two office spaces adjacent to the theater.

The Williamsburg Action Team’s board of directors recently held a meeting concerning the proposed eviction of its one tenant, and by the end of the meeting three out of its four members announced their intentions to resign from the group.

There were also motions during the meeting to dissolve the group and turn the building back over to the City of Williamsburg, which went nowhere thanks to a tie vote.

As I wrote earlier, the Williamsburg Action Team deserves much of the credit for saving the Lane Theater. I don’t think many people know this but before they purchased the structure in 2002, at least one local business owner had reached out to the city interested in purchasing the building so they could tear it down and build a parking lot there.

Over the years the Williamsburg Action Team has done a lot of hard work in an effort to preserve the building. I salute them for it, but sometimes there is only so much a small, volunteer group can do. The Williamsburg Action Team has done all that it can realistically do for the Lane Theater.

This isn’t a knock on the many hard working members of the Williamsburg Action Team, many of whom I’ve known over the years.

The reality is that if the Williamsburg Action Team was capable of getting the grant money to restore the Lane Theater, then it would have already done so. It hasn’t, and it likely won’t, no matter how well intentioned the group is.

Let’s say for the sake of argument the Williamsburg Action Team could get the money to restore the Lane Theater and that it actually restores the structure. Then what?

The reality is that the group lacks the personnel and the infrastructure to operate it effectively.

If the Williamsburg Action Team wants to see the Lane Theater restored, then it needs to look at turning the theater over to another entity with resources that it doesn’t possess, such as the City of Williamsburg.

The Whitley County school district would be another good entity for them to have a discussion with. Whitley County High School has a top notch drama program, but no theater. The school district also has no major building projects in the works currently.

The University of the Cumberlands also makes sense. UC has traditionally often had more work study students than it knows what to do with, which might be an answer for getting people to operate the theater.

While UC has a first class theater on campus, the reality is that it doesn’t seat a whole lot of people. Even after renovations and construction of a stage, the Lane Theater would probably still have about twice the seating capacity of UC’s existing theater.

Perhaps a public-private partnership might make sense with the City of Williamsburg getting the property and getting grant or state funding to restore it, then partnering with UC to operate the theater and maintain it.

At the very least, it is an interesting idea.

For any of this to happen, the Williamsburg Action Team has to accept that it has done all it can do to save the Lane Theater, and then turn it over to someone else, who potentially has more resources to renovate it.

Amy Elizabeth (Douglas) Smith

Amy Elizabeth (Douglas) Smith, age 58, of Jellico, Tennessee, passed away suddenly on Saturday, October 28, 2023, at Jellico Regional Hospital.
She was born on December 9, 1964, in Jellico, TN, to the late Marshall “Boxie” Douglas and Sarah Amy (Overton) Douglas.
Amy was a graduate of Jellico High School – Class of 1983. She also graduated from the Nursing Program at Tennessee Vocational School.
She had been a much beloved nurse at the Williamsburg Health and Rehabilitation Center for 38 years.
She is survived by her husband, Mike Smith, of Jellico; daughter, Sarah Smith, and son, Aaron Smith, both of Jellico; sister, Charlotte F. Douglas, of Jellico; brother, Ray Douglas, of Reading, Ohio; uncle, Hugh Overton, of Ohio; four nephews, James Marple, and wife, Mary, Carl Marple, and wife, Barbara, Matthew Partin, and wife, Rhonda, and Jeffrey Marple; special cousin, Deborah Overton; sister-in-law, Jennifer Wyatt, and husband, Mark; father-in-law and mother-in-law, James Smith and Betty (Acuff) Smith, of Kingsport, TN; and numerous friends, neighbors, and other relatives to mourn her passing.
The family will receive friends for visitation on Thursday afternoon, November 2, beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Cox & Son Funeral Home Chapel.
Funeral services will immediately follow on Thursday afternoon, November 2, at 3:00 p.m. at the Cox & Son Funeral Home Chapel.
Interment will follow in the Douglas Cemetery.
Cox & Son Funeral Home of Jellico in charge of arrangements.

Mary Ruth Brown Wells

Mary Ruth Brown Wells, age 69, of Williamsburg, KY, passed away Friday, October 27, 2023 at her home.
She was born November 7, 1953 in Cincinnati, OH, to the late Henry Eugene and Rosemary Privett Brown. Along with her parents she was preceded in death by her three brothers, Cleston Brown, Butch Brown, and Mike Brown; and a special nephew who was like a son, Wesley Dale Hamblin.
She is survived by her husband, Henry Wells; son, Wayne Wells (Monica); four granddaughters, Sadie Wells, Macy Wells, Miley Wells, and Halen Lovett; mother, Rosemary Privett Brown; one brother, Donnie Brown; one sister, Gail Brooks; several nieces, nephews, and a host of relatives and friends to mourn her passing.
Funeral service will be 1:00 PM Monday, October 30, at the Ellison Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Roger Wells and Rev. Travis Wells officiating.
Interment will be in Maple Creek Cemetery.
Condolences may be made to the family at www.ellisonfh.com.
Ellison Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.