Having a Grand Old Time…

Corbin Mayor Suzie Barton Razmus and Michael Noftsger, Chief Administrative Officer at Forcht Bank, attended the 2024 Republican National Convention this past week in Milwaukee, WI, as a part of the Kentucky Delegation. Both Razmus and Noftsger served as alternate delegates from Kentucky’s Fifth Congressional District.

Sweet new festival coming to W’burg Saturday

This weekend, Williamsburg is getting a sweet new festival.

The inaugural Honey Festival will take place Saturday from 5 – 9 p.m. at the Green Space on Main Street, which is catacorner to the old Whitley County Courthouse.

The event will feature demonstrations by the Whitley County Beekeepers Association in addition to over 45 vendors, who will be selling things, such as honey, wax, honeybuns, T-shirts, jewelry, soaps, food, snow cones among other things.

From 5 – 7 p.m. there will be a live DJ playing country, rock and dance pop.

From 7 – 9 p.m. the band Black Molly will perform a variety of country and rock and roll hits.

Admission is free but you will need to bring your own lawn chair and your wallet as several items will be on sale.

The event is the brainchild of Shale Oak Wine Tasting Owners Greg and Iskra Arenas, who are located at 209 Main Street. They organized it in part to get more foot traffic in downtown Williamsburg.

“We just want to get more people in downtown Williamsburg. We own Shale Oak Wine Tasting room where we do wine tastings. We are going to bring on bourbon in the fall. We need to have reasons for people to come downtown after work and on weekends during the day on Saturdays and stuff,” Greg Arenas said.

“It seems like when they actually did some type of event, whether it be a concert or art in the park or something like that, people would show up. When there is no event, crickets. My wife and I decided after talking to a few friends to let’s do a honey festival. Everybody loves honey.”

Iskra Arenas, who is into homeopathic medicine, initially started trying to find a natural way to treat her husband’s occasional allergies, and found out that taking local honey is good for that type of thing.

She then got in touch with Theresa Martin, who is over the local beekeepers association, Greg Arenas noted.

Planning for the event got off to a slow start. After that Iskra Arenas did some advertising in the newspaper and friends talked to other friends and so forth.

“Then it just exploded. We have almost 50 vendors,” Greg Arenas noted. “We are hoping the turnout will be big. This is our first one. Obviously we will get better as the years progress. Then we will start looking at other festivals and just add more and more so that every weekend there is something to do in downtown Williamsburg.”

Whitley County could see a drastic cut to road aid funds this year

Whitley County could be receiving less money this year to help maintain its many secondary roads.

W’Burg Independent Earn and Learn students receive laptops

Photos by TIMOTHY WYATT

Williamsburg Independent High School students participating in the Learn and Earn program through the Partners for Rural Impact (PRI) congregated in the school’s auditorium last Friday morning for a lecture from Amon Couch, director of programs for PRI and former Williamsburg Independent superintendent, on leadership. The Learn and Earn program allows selected students to gain valuable professional experience by working with local organizations in fields that the students have an interest in pursuing as a career. The students are also compensated for their time. Following Couch’s lecture, students “graduating” from the program were provided with laptops and backpacks.

Single vehicle crash Saturday morning snares traffic near Whitley County Fair

Photo by TIMOTHY WYATT

A portion of Savoy-Clear Creek Road was closed off for several hours Saturday morning and into the afternoon after a truck left the roadway and went over an embankment, where it was lodged against a tree just above the river. Officials at the scene said the driver, identified as Roger Wilson, had a medical emergency while driving. No injuries were reported.

Biden approves federal disaster declaration for Whitley, Knox counties

Whitley and Knox counties were included along with 13 other counties in a federal disaster declaration, which was approved by President Joe Biden on Tuesday (July 23). The declaration covers damage from severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, landslides and mudslides from May 21-27, 2024.

After a severe weather system that ultimately took the lives of six Kentuckians moved through the commonwealth on the weekend before Memorial Day, Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency and requested a federal disaster declaration.

“We are once again thankful to President Biden and his administration for approving this funding. This support will be a big help for our families as they recover and rebuild from yet another terrible storm,” Beshear said. “As always, we saw our first responders and everyday Kentuckians rally to help each other in those toughest of moments, and that is why I am so proud to be Governor of this great commonwealth.”

The President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Christian, Clay, Greenup, Hopkins, Knox, Logan, Muhlenberg, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren and Whitley counties. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

The May 26-27 storms in Whitley County were likely straight-line winds that got up to about 90 mph and followed a similar path as the April 2 storm primarily going through north eastern Whitley County, said Whitley County Emergency Management Director Jerry Rains.

Rains said that according to National Weather Service radar, the storm appeared to have started at Cumberland Falls in Whitley County, then went up through Dog Slaughter and Frankfort School Road, across Tidal Wave Road and into Woodbine before going along US25E towards Gray.

The National Weather Service in Jackson confirmed a brief EF-1 tornado that spun-up near the Legacy Chevrolet dealership near the Corbin bypass and US25E in Knox County and travelled less than one mile before dissipating between Lynn Camp High School and Lynn Camp Elementary School.

Federal funding is also available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities damaged by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, landslides and mudslides in Adair, Allen, Ballard, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Crittenden, Cumberland, Edmonson, Estill, Fulton, Garrard, Graves, Grayson, Green, Hart, Hickman, Hopkins, Jackson, Knox, Larue, Laurel, Lee, Leslie, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, McCreary, McLean, Meade, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Owsley, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Whitley and Woodford counties.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

E. Craig Levy Sr. of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate federal recovery operations in the affected areas.

Additional designations may be made at a later date if warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362) or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or other similar service, can give FEMA the number for that service.

This is the third time this year that Whitley County has been included in a federal disaster declaration.

In April, Biden approved a federal disaster declaration for Whitley County and more than 70 other Kentucky counties that had been affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, flooding, landslides, and mudslides on March 3-4.

On May 22, Biden approved a federal disaster declaration for Whitley County and 10 other Kentucky counties in connection with April 2-3 tornadoes and storms that swept across Kentucky.

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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.

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