Corbin School of Innovation senior secures scholarship

Maggie Hale, a 17-year-old senior at the Corbin School of Innovation, is making waves as she has secured the Ordway Scholarship to Florida Southern University.

The scholarship, awarded in recognition of her outstanding academic achievements, marks a significant milestone in her journey towards higher education.

Hale attributes her success to her diligent efforts and dedication to her studies, along with her “assertive stance,” on her scholarship essay prompt, saying, “My dreams will be reality because I choose for them to be.”

With her sights set on a bright future, Hale credits Corbin’s School of Innovation and its self-paced and project-based curriculum for her growing independence.

 

April clean-ups planned for Corbin, Williamsburg, Cumberland Falls

Spring is in the air and with it are some local opportunities early next month to help clean up your community.

The annual Corbin spring community clean-up will take place on Saturday, April 6, from 8-11 a.m. Registration will begin at 7 a.m. at Sanders Park, which is located along Main Street.

“Grab a trash bag and join us for a community wide litter and trash pick-up called Keep Corbin Clean! This event is designed to get local citizens, philanthropy groups and others involved in a city-wide litter abatement day,” according to the Corbin Tourism Commission’s website. “For all the volunteers that come out to help, we will provide all supplies (gloves, trash bags, litter grabbers), t-shirts, lunch and a chance to win a prize.”

For more information call (606) 528-8860.

Last year’s Keep Corbin Clean event was held in early September and drew about 35 participants.

The PRIDE Spring Clean-Up 2024 will take place one week later on Saturday, April 13, from 9 a.m. – noon at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. Registration begins at 8 a.m. at the gift shop.

Afterwards there will be a free lunch, prizes and awards.

This year’s clean-up is being held in partnership with Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, The Kentucky Wildlands, McCreary County Fiscal Court 109 Board, Whitley County Fiscal Court, U.S. Forest Service, McCreary County Extension Service, McCreary County Board of Education, Whitley County School System, Whitley County Tourism Commission and the Pine Knot Job Corps.

Outdoor Venture Corporation and United Cumberland Bank are this year’s corporate sponsors. For more information about the clean-up, contact The Kentucky Wildlands at (888) 577-4339 or (606) 677-6150.

Over 200 people registered for last spring’s PRIDE Spring Clean-Up at Cumberland Falls.

Next month, Williamsburg residents will have the chance to do some cleaning up closer at their homes with the annual City of Williamsburg Spring Clean-Up.

The clean-up will take place on the Highland Park side of town from April 1-5 and April 8-12. It will take place on the downtown side of town from April 15-19 and April 22-26.

During these time periods, city sanitation workers will pick-up one pick-up truck size load of debris, junk, old furniture and so forth from each residence.

All furniture must be wrapped in plastic or it will not be picked up. The city will pick up anything except for tires, batteries, shingles or any type of acids.

Please set all brush and limbs to the side, and do not put them in your trash container. Williamsburg residents can call (606) 549-6036 when they are ready for their one free pick-up.

 

Corbin taking center stage again with East KY Leadership Conference

Last fall’s SOAR Summit at the Corbin Arena placed the spotlight firmly on Corbin and Whitley County as people from all over the region converged in this area to network, educate, promote and award individuals who are out there doing great things in their respective communities. Next month, another great opportunity to do those things will present itself when the 36th Annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference comes to town. (more…)

 

Award-winning Corbin Arena continues to be great for live events

One can make a very valid argument that the Corbin Arena has turned into THE place to see a concert in not only in southeastern Kentucky, but also all across the Appalachian region.

The Corbin Arena was recently named the 2024 Best Large Music Venue (501 seats or greater) during the Appalachian Arts Entertainment Award’s ceremony.

This isn’t a statewide award but rather one for the Appalachian region, which includes: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee Virginia and West Virginia.

If that isn’t enough, this is the second time in three years that the Corbin Arena has won the award.

Kudos to Corbin Arena General Manager Kristina Balla and her staff for the accomplishment.

In her eight years as general manager, the Arena has grown in terms of the number of and types of events that it has hosted ranging from the 13^th Region Tournament to WWE and AEW wresting to country, rock and even rap artists, such as Snoop Dog.

Here’s hoping that the Arena and its staff keep up the good work. I can’t wait to see what they will do next.

Now for a few other thoughts before I wrap up this column.

• I had the good fortune to be the one covering the Whitley County Board of Education meeting last week, or it might have better been called, The Whitley East Elementary School Show. The board presented its monthly Above and Beyond Award to Whitley East Elementary School third-grade teacher Josh Vanover, who also served this past season as the first ever coach for the sixth grade district football team. The sixth grade team was composed of students from all of the county elementary schools throughout Whitley County.

Also, the board recognized Whitley East Fifth Grader Landen Vanderpool for his district award-winning essay, “Why My Mamaw is the Best” which was written for the AARP Grandparent of the Year Essay Contest.

In addition, Whitley East Sixth Grader Maci McKiddy was recognized for her district-award winning essay, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” The contest was sponsored by the William Whitley Chapter of the Daughters of the America Revolution.

If either Vanderpool or McKiddy wants to major in journalism, then they should keep in mind that I will probably be nearing retirement about the time they graduate from college. (Just saying…LOL.)

• If you are looking for something to do next month to help clean-up the environment or at least your little corner of it, then you won’t have to go very far.

The Keep Corbin Clean! clean-up will take place on Saturday (April 6) from 8 a.m. – 11 a.m. Afterwards there will be a free lunch and a chance to win a prize. When the event was held for the first time last fall about three dozen people turned out.

The following week on Saturday (April 13), the PRIDE Spring Clean-Up will take place at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park from 9 a.m. – noon. The event will offer a free lunch, prizes and awards. Over 200 people registered for last year’s event.

If you have a local church or youth group, Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop, or any type of civic club, either of these two clean-ups would be great events to help out with.

 

Second-Annual Superhero Day draws large crowd Saturday

Photos by TIMOTHY WYATT

Despite the cold, wind and a little bit of rain, hundreds of people still flocked to Patriot Park at the University of the Cumberlands to participate in the Whitley County Health Department’s second-annual Superhero
Day event. The event was full of giveaways from a variety of vendors. Additionally, attendees were able to obtain valuable information regarding local community resources. The event ended with several egg hunts for different age groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter event packs Rotary Park in Corbin

Photos by TIMOTHY WYATT

The Easter Bunny visited with this youngster during a Grace on the Hill pre-Easter celebration Saturday, which included an Easter egg hunt and live music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baptist Health Diagnostic and Specialty Care holds open house

Over three dozen people turned out Friday afternoon to help Baptist Health Corbin celebrate the grand opening of its newest facility.

Baptist Health Diagnostic and Specialty Care is located in the former Kmart building, and occupies part of the building where Grace Health Medical Campus is located.

“If you think about the mission of the hospital and with Grace, it is all about collaboration and making sure we are improving the health of everyone here and their families. That mission is demonstrated extremely well here today,” interim Baptist Health Corbin President Matt Bailey told the crowd Friday prior to the ribbon cutting.

The new clinic offers diagnostic and imaging services, including: mammography, X-ray, bone density, cardiac and vascular ultrasound, CT, general ultrasound, EKG, and blood draw.

It also offers specialty physician appointments.

“I want to thank our partnership with Grace Health bringing us along for the ride here in their new facility that is amazing. It is giving us access to having part of this building here so we can be on this side of town to expand our services for our community. That is what it is about, being accessible for our community,” said Baptist Health Corbin Vice-President of Planning Mark Steely.

Steely noted that one of the first projects he had 22 years ago in his first leadership position at the hospital was to help open a diagnostic center for the hospital, which was opened right below the hospital hill.

“22 years later, here is our second fully functioning diagnostic center with specialty clinic to make sure that we have that accessibility to our patients,” Steely said. “I thank you all for coming out today and celebrating this moment with us. We are very excited.”

After brief remarks, Baptist Health Corbin officials cut the ribbon celebrating the grand opening, and then received a membership plaque from the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

Afterwards, there were tours of the facility, refreshments and giveaways.

 

Local manufacturer donates to WCHS; local teacher, students recognized

If Whitley County High School students want to pursue a career working at a local factory, then they are soon going to get the chance learn on the actual equipment that they may be using when they graduate courtesy of a local manufacturer.

During its monthly meeting last Thursday, the Whitley County Board of Education approved a purchase agreement between Absolute Haitian Corporation Equipment Consignment, Jones Plastic and Engineering and Whitley County High School.

Whitley County Superintendent John Siler said that the roughly $50,000 plastic mold injection machine is something Jones Plastic and Engineering is purchasing brand new for the high school.

Siler said that Jones Plastic will train the school’s electricity teacher, who will then teach the students how to run it and how to trouble shoot problems on it.

Then the teacher will go in and sabotage the machine by disconnecting a wire or replacing a good fuse with a blown fuse and things of that nature.

“Then students have to track it down and trouble shoot and figure out what is wrong with it and get it back going,” Siler said.

He said that this is training, which can benefit students when they graduate no matter what factory they might go to work at.

“A lot of the programmable logic controllers and circuitry and things like that are similar from machine to machine. Whether you are at Jones or Firestone or AISIN, it would be similar all the moving components and things and robotic like stuff,” Siler said.

“That is a huge donation and a huge investment by Jones Plastics and Engineering into our kids, but we are going to send them good workers that are trained at a little higher level than some of the other kids with this investment.”

In addition, the board also took some early steps last Thursday, which could result in the Whitley County High School Baseball Field and Softball Field getting a turf surface.

The board voted to approve geotechnical exploration of the fields not to exceed $20,000.

Siler noted that this is the first step in order to see what kind of drainage might have to be installed if the board pursued installing turf.

“The architects said we need to find out what is underneath here before we design anything. There could be a lot of slate and rocky stuff. You don’t want to have a turf field and not have a properly designed drainage underneath. This is the first step,” he added.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the purchase of three Freightliner TH10 buses and the purchase of one Freightliner TH3 bus. Siler noted that every year the district tries to replace a few of its oldest or most problematic buses with new vehicles. He said that the last few bus purchases for the district have cost about $150,000 each. The district runs about 60 bus routes per day.
• Presented the March Above and Beyond Award to Whitley East third-grade teacher Josh Vanover, who also served this past season as the first ever coach for the sixth grade district football team.
• Recognized Whitley East Fifth Grader Landen Vanderpool for his district award winning essay, “Why My Mamaw is the Best” which was written for the AARP Grandparent of the Year Essay Contest.
• Recognized Whitley East Sixth Grader Maci McKiddy for her district award winning essay, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” The contest was sponsored by the William Whitley Chapter of the Daughters of the America Revolution.

 

We give our opinions in an effort to better connect with you

Here at the News Journal our reporting staff can write a column stating their opinion on any subject on this page. I make this opportunity available to them because it is a way for you to get to know us better and for us to express our feelings and thoughts no matter how much effect they may have.

There are some subjects that I have visited over and over. For example, I have harped on the condition of Kentucky Street in Corbin many times. I don’t expect the Department of Transportation to react to my opinions, but rather it is a way that I can bring to you my knowledge and understanding of why nothing has been done to improve the situation.

Recently I asked a city official if he knew of any plans to resurface the street. He told me that the city has worked hard to have the state fix the problem but the best answer he could give was it will probably be at least two years or more.

Now wait a minute. I have witnessed the paving of  U.S. 25 all the way from London to Williamsburg and also north of London. Several roundabouts have been constructed and several other areas have received paving, mind you none needing the improvement as much as Kentucky Street.

It would seem to me that rather than have a time line for work to be done, the priority should be to fix the problems that need fixing first. Heaven forbid that we get a sink hole on Kentucky Street. It is not a sinkhole but the street needs fixing now.

I am late on this annual opinion because I have been either sick or recovering from an accident. But annually I write about daylight savings time. I’m against it! I grew up with standard time and without a doubt it is best.  A recent poll I saw had 73 percent favoring standard time. With the summers getting hotter and hotter, the earlier we get darkness the sooner we can go outside without roasting and enjoy it before bedtime.

And finally, Easter is my favorite religious occasion. “Then came the morning, night turned into day; The stone was rolled away and Death had lost and life had won.” It is the greatest day ever. Jesus Christ rose from the grave that we may live again!

 

The Center for Rural Development awards ARC mini-grants to City of Corbin Parks and Recreation Dept.

The Center for Rural Development has awarded $16,480 in grant funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for a Corbin parks project and a leadership development program that serves Laurel, Whitley, and Knox counties.

The City of Corbin Parks and Recreation Department has been approved to receive a $10,000 ARC mini-grant to develop a master plan as part of the city’s long-term, citywide planning project.

The master plan will identify the community’s needs and vision for the Corbin Parks and Recreation Department through an open house workshop, staff input session, and web-based survey. The goal is to develop a plan that represents the ideas of all who utilize the facilities.

Corbin Parks and Recreation Director Jacob Roan said previously that there would be a town hall meeting in April to get community input on the master plan.

Leadership Tri-County (LTC), a leadership development program that serves Laurel, Knox, and Whitley counties, has been awarded a $6,480 ARC mini-grant to expand their website to include an online learning environment for current and future classes.

The project, Bridging Leadership Skills & Community Networks through Leadership Tri-County, will inform and connect current LTC classes and alumni through the development of short online, self-paced course modules that support the program curriculum and transform the online alumni database into a community.

The LTC project was developed out of a growing need for leaders in Southeast Kentucky to stay abreast of evolving skills and competencies in an increasingly dynamic professional environment.

LTC, a nonprofit organization, was established in 1987 as an educational program designed to identify potential, emerging, and current leaders to nurture their continued development into community leaders. The organization currently has over 500 graduates.

“This grant funding is a vital step toward moving forward with projects that will change the lives of people in Southern and Eastern Kentucky,” said Lonnie Lawson, President and CEO of The Center for Rural Development. “We are making a difference throughout our communities and investing in the economic development of our region.”

The two projects were funded through The Center’s Developing and Implementing Community Strategies Program in partnership with the Department for Local Government and ARC.

During this ARC funding cycle, The Center awarded $105,934 in federal grant funds to 13 projects in more than 15 Kentucky communities for capacity building planning and implementation projects.

Other projects to receive ARC mini-grants were AppalReD Legal Aid, $1,954; City of Hazard Department of Downtown Development, $10,000; City of Liberty, $8,000; Clay County Fiscal Court, $10,000; Gateway Area Development District, $10,000; Hwy 7 Community Outreach, Western Letcher County Tourism and Cultural Initiative, $7,500; Jackson County Development Association, $7,500; Jackson County Fiscal Court, $10,000; Lawrence County Health Department, $4,500; Rowan County Fiscal Court, $10,000; and Tri-City Chamber of Commerce,$10,000.

The mini-grant program (sometimes referred to as the Flex-E-Grant program) is open to qualified local units of government and non-profit entities in 35 ARC-designated economically distressed counties.

Grants are subject to approval for up to $10,000, require a 20 percent match of the total project costs, and are to be completed within a six-month timeframe. Mini-grant funds are available on a reimbursement basis only.

Since 2005, The Center’s Developing and Implementing Community Strategies Program has presented more than $1.1 million in ARC funding support to distressed communities across Southern and Eastern Kentucky.

Established in 1996 through the vision of U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, (KY-05), and other leaders, The Center for Rural Development is a nonprofit organization fueled by a mission to provide leadership that stimulates innovative and sustainable economic development solutions and a better way of life in Southern and Eastern Kentucky.

In its 45-county primary service region, The Center provides innovative programs in leadership, public safety, technology, and arts and culture. The Center is committed to constantly expanding its capabilities in order to deliver a range of key services throughout Kentucky and the nation.