Dr. Tae-Joon Seo Memorial Scholarship awarded to two students

Baptist Health Corbin has awarded the Dr. Tae-Joon Seo Memorial Scholarship to two local students.

The Dr. Tae-Joon Seo Memorial Scholarship was created to honor a longtime Baptist Health Corbin physician who died in 2007. Through the generosity of Dr. Seo’s family members, his memory will live on through this annual endowment within the Baptist Healthcare Foundation.

Two students, Hannah Davis from Corbin and Mallory Taylor from Harlan, who are both currently enrolled in a radiography program, are the recipients of this year’s scholarship. The purpose of this scholarship is to support students in South Eastern Kentucky and encourage them to obtain their degree and remain in the area to begin their career.

Baptist Health Corbin is a 273-bed, acute care facility providing a wide variety of healthcare services to residents of Whitley, Knox, Laurel, Bell, Harlan, Clay, McCreary counties in Kentucky and Campbell County in Tennessee.

Five Impact Archery members named 2024 KY S3DA 3D state champions

Five Impact Archery members were crowned state champions during a recent competition in Owensboro. Four were 3D “Top Gun” Shooters of the Year, and three were second place finishers. All 11 competing members finished in the top 10.

The Eagle team also placed second in the team event.

Jr Eagle Open – Coalson Bingham  (Buckle Winner)

Jr Eagle Barebow – Bryson Hall (Buckle Winner) and Malarie Hall

Eagle Open – Aubrey Shelley

Eagle Pins– Boston Shelley (Buckle Winner), Nathanael Bingham, Gracelynn Lay and Jackson Blankenship

Youth Open – Paisley McKiddy (Buckle Winner)

Youth Pins – Braylynn Spray

Young Adult Pins – Jalynn Grubb

Eugene Siler, a life revisited (part 7)

Before being elected to a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1958, Williamsburg’s own Eugene Siler, Sr. was hard at work in searching for opportunities that might provide some relief to the people living in some of the more impoverished areas of his home district.

One of those efforts was documented in an article that appeared in the July 10, 1958 edition of the Whitley Republican. “Congressman Eugene Siler hopes McCreary County, Kentucky will be eligible for help under the depressed areas bill pending in Congress,” the report read. “He has taken action to make McCreary, and perhaps several other hard-hit counties, eligible for consideration. The Williamsburg Republican is a member of the House Banking Committee, which has recommended a $275,000,000 depressed areas bill.”

The report noted that, of the 17 counties that were in Siler’s district at that time, a total of 13 were already on the eligible list of depressed counties. This included Whitley County.

In August, Siler asked the House to aid Southeastern Kentucky, being quoted in the August 7, 1958 Republican as saying, “Such an area is one where the levee of misfortune is so high that the flood tide of prosperity never spills over into its little valley of despondency. It is a place where the jam is never quite down on the lower shelf… It is a hungry bread line in the midst of a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Siler went on to once again encourage his fellow congressmen to enact the aforementioned depressed-areas bill, which would provide millions of dollars in grants and loans that would, hopefully, “stimulate new factories, public facilities, technical help, and vocational training in hard-hit areas.”

Siler described Southeastern Kentucky to his peers in the House as “rolling in verdant beauty, abounding in mineral wealth, and rising high above in magnificent mountain peaks.”

“Yet, paradoxically, it is something of a barren desert,” Siler added. “That is to say, a desert in the matter of employment opportunities for its citizens. Eastern Kentucky lost about 92,000 people between 1950 and 1956, or more than a tenth of all its population.”

Clearly, Siler had his work cut out for him during this particular moment in time, but as mentioned in a previous column in this series, he never ceased in being a cheerleader on behalf of the region.

In September of that same year, he complained to state and federal officials that the plan to begin work on the Kentucky leg of the new north-south interstate highway was not designed to provide employment where it was most needed.

Instead of beginning work near Cincinnati and continuing south, Siler argued, construction should begin at the Tennessee line and go north.

“Please doctor the sickest patient first,” Siler was quoted as saying in the September, 18, 1958 Republican. “The one in bad shape down here in Southeastern Kentucky. Our people want work, and feel that this construction will be a great help to them if begun down here.”

In response, Siler was re-assured by Governor A.B. Chandler that work in that area would get underway shortly, sometime in 1959.

1959 would end up being another eventful year for Siler, as we will soon see…

Reminder – After his political career came to an end, Eugene Siler continued to serve the people of Whitley County, using a newspaper column that he titled “Head or Tales” to keep the local citizenry informed of various important topics. He would also often discuss historical matters, offer thoughts on recent events, and more.

To learn how you can read many of these Head or Tales columns for yourself, contact the Whitley County Historical and Genealogical Society at (606) 549-7089.

April unemployment rates drop in Whitley, Laurel and Knox counties

Unemployment rates decreased in Whitley, Laurel, Knox, Bell and McCreary counties between March 2024 and April 2024, according to the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.

Whitley County

Whitley County’s unemployment rate decreased from 5.9 percent in March 2024 to 4.9 percent in April 2024. Whitley County’s April 2024 unemployment rate was 0.9 percent higher than the April 2023 unemployment rate.

Laurel County

Laurel County’s unemployment decreased from 5.4 percent in March 2024 to 4.9 percent in April 2024. Laurel County’s April 2024 unemployment rate was 1.3 percent higher than the April 2023 unemployment rate.

Knox County

Knox County’s unemployment rate decreased from 7.0 percent in March 2024 to 6.2 percent in April 2024. Knox County’s April 2024 unemployment rate was 1.5 percent higher than the April 2023 unemployment rate.

Bell County

Bell County’s unemployment rate decreased from 6.6 percent in March 2024 to 5.7 percent in April 2024. Bell County’s April 2024 unemployment rate was 0.9 percent higher than the April 2023 unemployment rate.

McCreary County

McCreary County’s unemployment rate decreased from 7.3 percent in March 2024 to 5.8 percent in April 2024. McCreary County’s April 2024 unemployment rate was 1.1 percent higher than the April 2023 unemployment rate.

Statewide unemployment

Kentucky’s unemployment rate decreased from 5.1 percent in March 2024 to 4.3 percent in April 2024. Kentucky’s April 2024 unemployment rate was 0.8 percent higher than the April 2023 unemployment rate.

Unemployment rates rose in 118 counties between April 2023 and April 2024 and fell in Ballard and Lewis counties, according to KYSTATS.

Washington and Woodford counties recorded the lowest jobless rates in the commonwealth at 3.2 percent each. It was followed by Fayette, Marion and Oldham counties, 3.4 percent each; Scott and Shelby counties, 3.5 percent each; and Anderson, Bourbon, Carroll, Jessamine and Spencer counties, 3.6 percent each.

Magoffin County recorded the state’s highest unemployment rate at 9.7 percent. It was followed by Martin County, 9.1 percent; Pike County, 8.1 percent; Breathitt County, 7.9 percent; Leslie County, 7.7 percent; Carter County, 7.6 percent; Elliott and Lewis counties, 7.5 percent each; Johnson County, 7.2 percent; and Clay and Knott counties, 7 percent each.

Kentucky’s county unemployment rates and employment levels are not seasonally adjusted because of small sample sizes.

The comparable, unadjusted unemployment rate for the state was 4.3 percent for April 2024, and 3.5 percent for the nation.

Unemployment statistics are based on estimates and are compiled to measure trends rather than actually to count people working. Civilian labor force statistics include non-military workers and unemployed Kentuckians who are actively seeking work. They do not include unemployed Kentuckians who have not looked for employment within the past four weeks.

Whitley County has a civilian labor force of 13,696 people with 13,022 employed and 674 unemployed. Statewide, Kentucky has a civilian labor force of 2,052,931 people with 1,963,913 employed and 89,018 unemployed.

Learn more about Kentucky labor market information at https://kystats.ky.gov/KYLMI.

Whitley Co. Grand Jury hands down five drug-related indictments

A Whitley County grand jury returned a pair of drug-related indictments against a Rockholds man Monday morning.

Supporting World Elder Abuse Day

Corbin Health and Rehabilitation Center and Williamsburg Health and Rehabilitation Center officials were on hand last Friday morning at the Williamsburg Senior Citizen’s Center to give a safety presentation. After the presentation, attendees took part in a balloon release in support of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which was Saturday, June 15.

Photo Gallery: Cleaning up Cumberland Falls

A total of 20 volunteers and 30 participants overall took part in a trash clean-up near the base of Cumberland Falls June 14. Participants collected 30 bags of trash plus tires, doors and other oddities that had washed up along the shore due in part to recent hard rains and flooding.

Photo Gallery: Cumberland River Cruise-In

Downtown Williamsburg was a popular spot for some Saturday as the Cumberland River Cruise-In was taking place around the old courthouse and Third-Annual BBQ in the Burg was taking place at The Green Space on Main.

Grand opening celebration…

Don Franklin Corbin held a week long grand opening celebration June 10-15, which included a ribbon cutting Friday. After the ribbon cutting, the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce presented Don Franklin with a new membership plaque. In addition to the ribbon cutting Friday, University of Kentucky football players Jalen Farmer and Ja’Mori Maclin were on hand to sign pictures, like this one presented to Jack Brooks Jones, 7.

Parts to repair Corbin’s splash pad have arrived

Corbin’s splash pad isn’t fixed yet, but it should be by early next month while an outdoor warning siren in southern Corbin should be fixed by the end of the week.