Jeffrey Carroll

Jeffrey Carroll, age 59, of Rockholds, KY, passed away Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at Baptist Health Corbin.
He was born September 18, 1963 in Cincinnati, OH to the late Howard and Barbara Liford Carroll. Along with his parents he was preceded in death by one brother, Jim Carroll; and one niece, Stacy Miller.
Jeffrey was a member of the Williamsburg Masonic Lodge #490 F&AM and a past master. He was a member of the Shiner Church of Christ.
He is survived by his wife, Rita Carroll of Rockholds, KY; two daughters, Elizabeth Adams (Josh) of Durham, NC, and Rachel Clifford (Ted) of Williamsburg, KY; two grandchildren, Adelynn Clifford, and Carlie Clifford, one sister, Sharon Miller (Marvin) of Corbin, KY; two nieces, Amy Simpson of Corbin, KY, and Stephanie Lane of Cleveland, TN; several great-nieces, and great-nephews; and a host of relatives and friends to mourn his passing.
Funeral service was Saturday, July 1, at the Ellison Funeral Home Chapel with Bro. Mike Anderson officiating.
Interment was in the Terrell-Murray Cemetery.
Williamsburg Masonic Lodge #490 F&AM conducted the Masonic Rites.
Condolences may be made to the family at www.ellisonfh.com.
Ellison Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

 

Minnie Trice

Minnie Trice was born April 24, 1941 in Balkin, KY. She passed away in New Haven, IN, on Friday, June 30, 2023. Visitation will be from 6 – 8 pm on Thursday July 6, at the Vankirk-Grisell Funeral Home. Funeral service will be at 10 am on Friday, July 7, at the Vankirk-Grisell Funeral Home. A graveside service will follow at 1 pm at the Balkan Cemetery in Bell County, KY. Vankirk-Grisell Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

 

Clem Helton

Clem Helton Jr. age 64, of Corbin, KY, passed away on Friday, June 30, 2023 at his home. Visitation will be on Saturday, July 8, from 12 pm until the funeral hour at 2 pm at Vankirk-Grisell Funeral Home with Rev. James Hodge officiating. Burial will follow in the Hart Cemetery. Vankirk-Grisell Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

 

Plans for Jellico Mtn. logging project remain unchanged, but maybe not for long

I have been trying, for several weeks now, to work on an update story pertaining to the proposed logging project in the Jellico Mountains of Whitley and McCreary Counties. It has been on my to-do list since late-May, but I have just found it incredibly difficult to actually sit down and work on. (more…)

 

WCHS’s Leslie Monhollen selected as National FFA Officer Candidate

The Whitley County High School (WCHS) Future Farmers of America (FFA) program is congratulating member Leslie Monhollen, who has been selected to represent the Kentucky FFA as a National FFA Officer Candidate.

Kentucky FFA is able to send one candidate and Monhollen was chosen after completing an extensive application and interview process.

She will now advance to compete against other state representatives when she interviews at the National FFA Convention in October. All of them will be trying to become one of six national FFA officers.

Monhollen is the first WCHS FFA member to accomplish this feat of becoming a National Officer Candidate.

“We are so excited to see her represent Kentucky FFA as the National Officer Candidate! Congratulations Leslie,” WCHS FFA wrote in a release.

 

Remembering the time I got shot by a guy shooting at an outhouse

So, did you ever hear about the time I got shot by these guys target shooting at an outhouse? FYI – No, I wasn’t in the outhouse at the time…LOL. (It’s OK to laugh. I do. Well, I do now anyway.)

Saturday will mark the 40^th anniversary of the occasion.

The day was July 1. I was 12 years old and had just finished playing in what would turn out to be my last baseball game. I had just broken out of a long hitting slump with a double and beat out a bunt at first base for a single.

I was in the car with my mom and we were on our way to pick up my sister at a friend’s house in Gray. We were driving by the road to our house and I asked my mom to stop and let me out.

“It won’t hurt you to go,” she responded. The was the last time I listened to her, I often joked.

We got to the house in Gray and I got out of the car and was walking around in the yard while mom went inside to talk. I heard some bangs but given that it was July 1, I just figured it was somebody setting off some fireworks and I didn’t think anything about it.

BAM! The next thing I knew I am falling to the ground.

As it turned out, a guy and his son were target shooting at an old outhouse about a block and one-half away with a .22 rifle and one of the bullets ricocheted and hit me in the right leg in the upper thigh.

For the first few seconds I thought maybe a bottle rocket or something had hit me, but it didn’t take me long to realize that I had been shot. Survival instincts kicked in and I started looking around to see if I could see the shooter, which I couldn’t.

You know how in the movies things seem to go into slow motion for people after they get shot? This is what happened to me.

My sister and her friend saw what happened and ran inside to get help.

I was rolling around on the ground in pain. It seemed like 20 minutes before anyone came out of the house, but in reality it was probably closer to 20 seconds.

My mom was freaking out and at one point sat on me. (I never was sure why. I don’t think she knew either.)

My dad, who was at work at the time, didn’t initially know where the shooting had taken place, and just assumed that it happened at my ballgame. He thought that maybe someone had gone nuts and literally tried to kill the umpire and I got shot by mistake.

After what seemed like an eternity, an ambulance showed up and took me to the old Corbin hospital where I would stay for the next five days.

After that, I was on crutches for about two months.

I still have the slug in the middle of my leg, in case anyone is wondering. Surprisingly, it doesn’t set off metal detectors. The doctor told me about 40 years ago that it would be a major surgery to have it removed, and that contrary to what you see on MASH, if a bullet isn’t in a vital place, the doctors often just leave it.

The two guys, who were shooting, were a man and his son. The son had played baseball in high school for my dad, who was his coach. My parents didn’t press any charges in case anyone is wondering. I think that was the right decision.

A few years later, dad and I ended up playing golf with the son a few times. He apologized. I think he was almost as scared that day as I was that day.

In some ways, I was as lucky the day I got shot as I was unlucky. If the bullet had been a couple of inches higher, then I would have been paralyzed.

There are some common questions I get when people find out that I have been shot before.

Does it still hurt?

Some times, but probably not in the way you might imagine. If I am standing for an extended period of time, then my leg will start getting this cold, numb kind of feeling that is painful. It’s nerve pain. When this happens, it gets more painful the longer I stand.

The only thing I can do at that point is sit down and get off my feet for three or four minutes. Then, the pain goes away. I get back on my feet and the cycle starts over again if I am standing for a long period of time, like at a ballgame, at a museum, or something like that.

Do I get nervous if I hear loud sounds or being around guns?

While I jumped hearing loud sounds for probably a couple of years after I got shot, I don’t anymore. Being around guns never bothered me before or after this happened. The gun wasn’t the problem. It was the people using it.

There are lessons to be learned from this story.

When target shooting, know where your bullets are going.

Also, be careful around outhouses in general…LOL.

 

Getting the facts right on Corbin’s history

As I was turning out the lights preparing to go to bed last Tuesday night the word “east” entered my mind. In my column last week I wrote “east” rather than “west” of the underpass in giving the location of what used to be the Hall-Watson Furniture Co. building. The paper had gone to print and nothing could be done about my error.

The Mershon Building, which Hall-Watson’s was part of, was built in 1913 and knowing a lot of people new to the area would not know anything about these buildings I gave the location.

That was not the first time something like that has occurred in my 35-plus years of writing columns for this newspaper. But when it does it makes it very difficult for me to go to sleep. I get it on my mind and it won’t go away.

But that wasn’t the only mistake I made last week. I should have known that the building at the corner of Roy Kidd Ave. and Main Street was the oldest in the City of Corbin. It was right under my nose and I had looked at the sign on the building many times.

It was the Corbin Bank built in 1902 for the same year Corbin was incorporated as a city and was the first brick building in the city.

Readers have pointed out to me that at one time it was Dr. Starr Steele’s office. I find it interesting that one of the Board of Directors of the bank was Dr. E.H. Steele. Now it is the Crawford Law office. I have a picture of the building with the sign reading the Corbin Times. So, that building has a lot of history behind it.

Diane Mitchell, who is doing research on the history of Corbin and working to prepare a room at the Corbin Public Library for that purpose, also updated me on the location of the first theaters in Corbin.

Last week I wrote that our offices for this newspaper were in the Kentucky Theater building which some thought was the first theater in Corbin. Not so. Diane informs me that the Majestic and Palace theaters predated it. The Palace was located at the rear of the building we occupy and the Majestic was on Main Street in the block between First and Second Streets.

Many people use social media on the Internet to write about our past. So much of it is incorrect because they rely on memory. The people Diane is working with rely on facts.

Now that I’ve finished my history lesson I want to wish everybody a Happy Fourth of July. Both Corbin and Williamsburg put on great firework shows and provide lots of fun. Corbin’s is on the 3rd and Williamsburg’s is on the 4th.

 

Harold Wayne Osborne

Harold Wayne Osborne, Sr., age 53, of Corbin, Kentucky, passed away on Thursday, June 22, 2023, at his home.
He was born on May 30, 1970, in Dayton, Ohio, to the late Harold Lloyd Osborne and Carolyn (Wilson) Osborne, who survives. He was the grandson of the late Oakley and Edith (Terry) Osborne and Renee and Nora (Thompson) Wilson.
Harold loved his children and family very much. He was a hard-working son, brother, father, and grandfather who could build or repair just about anything. He worked for the Cox Construction Company for many years as an electrician.
He was a graduate of Jellico High School – Class of 1988.
In addition to his father and grandparents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Lloyd Allen Osborne.
Harold is survived by his three children, Harold Wayne Osborne, Jr., and Amanda Perez, of Caryville, TN, Kera Osborne, of the Morley Community of Campbell County, TN, and Chloe Osborne, of Knoxville, TN; four grandchildren, Lillyanna Perez, Aylissa Jeziorowski, Ayrrianna Perez, and Jenna Perez, all of Caryville; mother, Carolyn (Wilson) Osborne, of Corbin; brother, David Osborne, and sister, Katrina (Osborne) Davis, and husband, Jeremy, all of Corbin; special friend, Benny Gosnell; several nieces and nephews; and a host of friends, neighbors, and other relatives to mourn his passing.
The family will receive friends for visitation on Saturday, July 8, 2023, beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Cox & Son Funeral Home Chapel.
The memorial service will immediately follow on Saturday, July 8, at 7:00 p.m. with Bro. Benny Gosnell officiating.
Cox & Son Funeral Home of Jellico in charge of arrangements.

 

Rescue group saves its 2,000th dog

Animal lovers have reason to celebrate as the Kentucky Mutts Animal Rescue (KMAR) group, specifically serving Whitley County among several others, recently reached an impressive milestone of 2,000 lives saved on their regular transport Saturday with the help of Bruno, a very lucky and very adorable chocolate lab mix puppy.

Miss Billie Cornett, Bruno’s first KMAR Foster Mom, wrote a story on his early life and shared it with others.

“He was born into a drug infested area of eastern Ky, abandoned by any human that may have known he was born… forced to hide from people in a community where cruelty to animals is a way of life… scrounging for food among the many burnt out remnants of meth houses along a very busy stretch of road, and running from the other semi feral dogs trying to survive,” said Cornett.

Cornett first encountered three pups and a skittish mom dog, calling them Mama Dog, Ms Cleo, Ringo, and Bruno, but eventually only two remained (Bruno and Ms Cleo). “They just never came back – not unusual in that neighborhood,” Cornett clarified.

Cornett set out a kettle of drinking water and fed them.

When dangerously cold weather set in before Christmas of 2022, Cornett convinced them to enter her home with her other two rescues. Add Pippi to the pack and Cornett had her hands full.

KMAR was contacted to provide help and yes without hesitation.

The three were taken into KMAR on their way to a new life.

Cornett had come to love Bruno and his company, but knew that, although a tough decision, she had to do this.

“He needed out of this neighborhood (to survive) and I comfort myself that I 100% did the right thing,” Cornett said.

Vikki Crook, Founder and Director of KMAR, shared meaningful information regarding the volunteers who helped the number get to 2,000.

Across five states, hundreds of dedicated volunteers are in on the cause, working tirelessly to transport these animals, primarily dogs with a few cats, to their “Forever Homes.”

The importance of KMAR’s mission becomes more apparent when considering the high counts of animal abuse, cruelty, and neglect incidents in southern states.

The organization firmly believes every animal’s life is worth saving, regardless of the circumstances.

KMAR, explicitly founded three years ago, collaborates with coordinators and teams primarily in rural Eastern areas. The organization is involved in community outreach along with rescuing, transporting, and fostering to adoption. They work with rural shelters to pull dogs that were either owner-surrendered or strays that were never claimed.

The animals receive essential veterinary care from several clinics, including the Corbin Animal Clinic, Corbin Animal Health & Wellness, Mt. Vernon Animal Clinic, and Hopewell Animal Clinic.

Jennifer Cobb-Cannon, Practice Manager at both Corbin clinics, emphasized KMAR’s commitment. “Not only does KMAR vet healthy dogs, but they also rescue the sick and injured. Countless animals have lived long, healthy lives because of their generosity and compassion.”

Volunteers, like any, are not paid for this pricey and heroic adventure. The organization heavily relies on donations to cover the high costs of vetting and caring for animals. For reference, KMAR vetting costs for 2022 were over $80,000.

Donations are highly encouraged, welcomed, and appreciated.

“We could not have accomplished nothing without our amazing family of volunteers,” said Crook.

To learn more about KMAR, how to volunteer, or to donate to this wonderful cause and its awe-inspiring mission, visit their website at www.kymutts.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KentuckyMutts, where you can find details on Bruno’s story.

 

Corbin Rotary Club awards scholarships to area seniors

Corbin Rotary Club hosted a dinner at David’s Steakhouse for Lynn Camp and Corbin High School scholarship recipients and their families.

Each recipient briefly discussed their future plans regarding college and career. The scholarship was funded by the annual Dave Hudson Memorial Golf Scramble and each recipient received $1,000.

The recipients that attended were – Noah Giles, Rachelle Gilbert, Dalton Grega, Mandy Cathers, Seth Steely, Nikhil Patil, Allison Lundy, and Jade Jones from Corbin.

The scholarship winners not in attendance were:

Corbin High School – Mary Jackson, Abigail Lunsford and Grace Gibson

Lynn Camp High School – Leigha Cox, Elizabeth Cox and Paris Pennington