Groundbreakings, COVID-19, politics dominated Whitley County news in 2021

When it comes to the top stories of 2021, there was a mixed bag of both positive and negative news in Whitley County, Corbin, Williamsburg and the surrounding areas.

On the plus side, ground was broken on a pair of multi-million dollar projects in Williamsburg and the Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation that opens the door for Corbin to finally annex portions of property in southern Laurel County near the Exit 29 interchange.

On the negative side, a Corbin police officer was involved in a deadly off-duty shooting, a leaking toilet caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage at the Whitley County Judicial Center, and there was the closure of Jellico’s only hospital, which got more than half of its business from Whitley County.

Then there was COVID-19, which continued to rear its ugly head in Whitley County, but to a much lesser degree than it had the prior year and to a much lesser degree by year’s end than at the beginning of the year.

These are the top stories of 2021 as voted upon by the news staff of the News Journal.

1) Breaking ground

A proposed Corbin horse racing track, which was first announced in 2012, is finally becoming a reality, or is at least much closer to becoming a reality than it ever has been previously.

One of the big holdups for the project was securing a racing license, which has now been accomplished. In July, The Red Mile in Lexington began hosting the Corbin racing dates until Corbin’s track is completed.

Initially, the plan for the Corbin track was to host quarter horse racing, but instead, it will now host “trotters.”

In mid-October, ground was broken on the track’s satellite facility in Williamsburg called The Cumberland Mint Gaming Hall.

Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison described the groundbreaking as a moment mayors dream about.

“This is kind of one of those days as mayor that you dream about,” said Harrison. “This is something, a facility, that is going to come to our community. As nice as it is going to be … it’s phenomenal. I can’t wait until it is open.”

The facility represents a $90 million investment in the community, and it will create 213 jobs when completed in late summer 2022. The Williamsburg facility will feature hundreds of “historical wagering” machines.

The Cumberland Mint Gaming Hall will be located in Williamsburg just off Exit 11, but the race track will be located in Corbin off of the Corbin Bypass near the intersection of Allison Boulevard and Buchanan Boulevard. Site preparation work is currently underway.

2) Office holder changes

As a result of actions taken during 2021, Whitley County will be getting at least three new elected officials during the 2022 elections.

In early October, Whitley County Sheriff Todd Shelley confirmed that he would not be seeking re-election in 2022, and retired on Nov. 30.

Danny Moses was sworn-in as the interim sheriff, but said he has no plans to seek the office.

In early November, 82^nd Rep. Regina Huff announced that she didn’t plan to seek re-election in 2022, and endorsed assistant commonwealth attorney Nick Wilson for the job.

Wilson, who is best known for winning CBS’s Survivor: David and Goliath, has filed seeking the office.

In mid-December, two-term incumbent Whitley County Jailer Brian Lawson withdrew his name as a candidate for jailer in 2022, which has resulted in at least half a dozen people filing to run for the office.

3) COVID-19 impact

Much to everyone’s chagrin, COVID-19 continued to make headlines throughout 2021 in Whitley County.

The much anticipated vaccines began to roll out and by mid-January there were over 1,800 people on the waiting list to get vaccinations in Whitley County.

Life began getting more back to normal throughout the year as Whitley County marked the 12-month anniversary in late March of the first COVID-19 case being diagnosed in the county.

Also in March, Whitley County and other high schools began planning for in-person graduation ceremonies, and in-person classes started to resume.

In May, local school districts started processing requests for ‘do over’ years due to COVID-19, but few opted to take advantage of those, including only 139 requests in Whitley County and nearly 80 requests in Corbin.

News regarding COVID-19 wasn’t all bad as it was announced in July that Corbin will receive $1.856 million and Williamsburg will receive $1.365 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

By August, local school districts began debating whether to require masks for students and staff, but their decision making ability was soon usurped as Gov. Andy Beshear ordered in late August that masks would be required in schools.

When the mask decision was placed back into the hands of local school districts the following month, Corbin, Williamsburg and Whitley County all opted to continue mask use.

Later in the month, New York Times data placed Whitley County among the top 20 counties in the United States in regards to active COVID-19 cases per capita, and the Whitley County Health Department voted to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees.

In October, local school districts begin offering incentives for employees to get vaccinated, and by month’s end started changing masking policies in light of falling COVID-19 rates.

In December, the Williamsburg City Council voted to give all-full time employees a $2,500 Christmas bonus utilizing ARPA funds to pay for it.

4) Corbin annexation bill

In 2020, the City of London passed an ordinance attempting to annex a portion of Exit 29 in the southern Laurel County/north Corbin area, which Corbin filed a lawsuit attempting to stop. Corbin’s lawsuit is still pending.

Although Exit 29 is listed as a Corbin exit, homes and businesses located there have Corbin addresses, and land based telephones there carry a Corbin prefix. Corbin had been prohibited under state law from formally annexing any portion of the area due to a quirk in state law.

In the spring, the Kentucky General Assembly finally approved a change to the law, which would allow Corbin to annex into portions of Laurel County where it had existing infrastructure.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers first ushered Senate Bill 274 through the Kentucky Senate despite opposition from several legislators, including fierce opposition from Senator Brandon Storm of London.

82^nd Rep. Regina Huff then ushered the bill through the Kentucky House of Representatives despite opposition from Laurel County legislators there.

Debate on the House floor about the bill didn’t even begin until 11:14 p.m. on the final day of the final hour of the legislative session with the House finally approving the bill by a vote of 62-25 in April.

Days later, Gov. Andy Beshear signed the bill into law, but Corbin is waiting on the outcome of the Laurel County lawsuit before attempting to annex into the area.

5) Firestone expansion

On Aug. 2, local, state and national dignitaries were in attendance at the groundbreaking for the Williamsburg Firestone Industrial Products’ $50 million, 68,000 square-feet expansion.

“Firestone Industrial Products has been a part of the Whitley County community and a key team Kentucky player since it first opened its facility here in 1989,” said Gov. Andy Beshear. “Already, Firestone Industrial Products employs more than 500 people. That means 500 families know where their paycheck is coming from and can provide opportunities to their kids and to their grandkids.”

“That is the type of security we like to see from our corporate partners, so while Firestone Industrial Products has already invested in the Commonwealth and our people, today we are taking it to the next level,” he explained during the groundbreaking ceremony. “We are actually standing on the ground where this new facility will be built. We are about to put shovels in the ground for what will be a $50 million expansion at Firestone Industrial Products Automotive Airsprings Manufacturing plant. When it is finished, which is expected to be in December 2022, this 375,000 square-feet facility is going to grow to 443,000 square-feet. Here’s the really great part – that extra capacity, this new addition, it going to create 250 new jobs for families in this community.”

The Williamsburg plant, which was purchased in 1988, is the only remaining U.S. Air Spring manufacturing plant. It was expected to produce more than 4.4 million airsprings in 2021.

6) Paul Brock murder case

The criminal case involving Paul Brock certainly took a number of unusual twists and turns in 2021.

Brock is charged with three counts of murder, one count of first-degree fetal homicide and tampering with physical evidence in the 2018 deaths of Mary Jackson, Aaron Byers, Tiffany Byers and Tiffany Byers’ unborn child.

In the lead up to Brock’s scheduled trial, Whitley Circuit Judge Dan Ballou was asked to rule on several matters, including whether a witness, who didn’t see the killer but heard them, could testify at trial, whether to allow ballistics evidence, and whether the unborn victim should be referred to as a fetus or a baby during the trial.

In September, jury selection was into its second day when Brock agreed to a plea deal, which called for him to serve 70 years in prison for the crimes.

Case closed? Hardly.

Brock announced that he was withdrawing his guilty plea at his October sentencing hearing. At that time, Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Bowling announced the case would be proceeding to trial and his plea offer would no longer be available.

Brock’s attorney, Andrea Kendall, explained in court that Brock had chosen to withdraw his guilty plea because of a first-degree persistent felony offender charge that was included in the plea bargain. Kendall said Brock could not plead to that charge, which Ballou later agreed to dismiss.

The trial was rescheduled for March 1, 2022, but defense attorneys are now asking that the trial’s location be moved to Pulaski County due in part to publicity over Brock’s previous plea.

“There has been substantial press coverage of this case. Press reported Mr. Brock’s arrest, ongoing litigation, his illegal guilty plea, and the case being set for trial in March 2022,” Kendall wrote in a motion.

The motion continues, “The widespread coverage of Mr. Brock’s guilty plea prevents a fair trial. Every press outlet in the county covered Mr. Brock’s guilty plea. Citizens who use Facebook and Twitter also saw this prejudicial coverage. The news coverage of Mr. Brock’s guilty plea and the voiding of that plea will defeat the presumption of innocence in the minds of the juror.”

7) Corbin officer involved in shooting

On Feb. 14, off-duty Corbin Police Cpl. Steve Meadors was at home when he was contacted by a neighbor in reference to a prowler complaint about 3:30 a.m.

Meadors went to investigate and confronted the prowler, who was identified as Phillip N. Davenport, 20, of Corbin.

The two became involved in an altercation during which time Meadors discharged his agency’s issued firearm striking Davenport and killing him.

In October, the Whitley County Grand Jury cleared Meadors, who is now a sergeant, of any wrong-doing in connection with the shooting.

“The Grand Jury did further conclude, also by unanimous vote, that there is no further investigation or charges warranted concerning the death of Philip Nicholas Davenport, specifically finding that Sergeant Meadors’ use of force was lawful and justified under the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” the grand jury report stated.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Bowling, Jr. said the presentation was partially delayed by the retirement of Kentucky State Police Sgt. Duane Foley.

8) Jellico Hospital closes

As 2021 came to an end, Jellico officials were still working trying to get Jellico Community Hospital re-opened.

The Jellico City Council unanimously voted to terminate the contract with Rennova Health during its meeting on Feb. 25.

Prior to the termination of the contract, the Jellico City Council served notice on the hospital stating that the hospital was in violation of its contract because it was supposed to be running the hospital as an acute care location, which means the hospital is supposed to admit patients, but the hospital had not admitted a patient since late November of 2020, said Jellico Mayor Dwight Osborn.

The council gave Rennova Health 30 days to come into compliance with the contract, but at the conclusion of those 30 days, the company had failed to do so.

On March 1, the ambulance services and others informed the mayor that there were signs on the hospital doors which stated that the emergency room was closed.

Rennova Health sent a statement to the News Journal regarding the closure stating, “Repercussions of the decision made by the City of Jellico at last week’s public Board meeting mean it is no longer viable for Rennova Health, Inc. to consider the financial support or investment needed for Jellico hospital to continue to operate in any capacity on a daily basis.”

“Regrettably, management of Rennova Community Health, Inc. that oversees our hospital operations in TN, had no option but to cease operations at the facility yesterday morning and will comply with the City of Jellico’s Board request in an orderly manner.”

9) Whitley County Judicial Center leak

Water leaks are never a good thing. When you get one on the top floor of the Whitley County Judicial Center over the weekend though, it can cause major damage.

On Sunday, June 27, a leak was discovered after a worker went into the building and found moisture.

The damage was caused by a water leak from a little used toilet near a third floor conference room, which is located near the Second Street side of the building.

The leak soaked the third floor restroom and leaked down to the second floor in the grand jury meeting room, the grand jury’s waiting room, and into the courtroom of District Judge Cathy Prewitt.

The leak caused ceiling tiles to break and crumble onto the wooden bench seating below, some of which also were soaked by water. The water also soaked a portion of the back wall in Prewitt’s second floor courtroom and portions of the back floor in the courtroom.

From there, water leaked through the ceiling causing more ceiling tiles to crumble on the first floor in the bookkeeping area of the circuit clerk’s office damaging some furniture and soaking the floors. Water also damaged Circuit Court Clerk Gary Barton’s personal office space and that of a deputy clerk, whose office was also located along the Second Street side of the building. At least four computers in Barton’s office were damaged.

The judicial center was closed June 28 – July 5 due to the water leak.

Portions of the building remained closed for longer periods of time as workers labored to repair hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.

10) Corbin pool issues

It started out with a simple request.

Like many swim teams, the Piranhas swim team has trouble finding a place to practice during the winter months so the group asked the Corbin City Commission to install a pool heater and a doom over the existing pool, which closes after Labor Day for the season.

The city agreed to purchase a solar blanket for the pool in August.

The Piranhas planned to pay for most of the cost for the dome.

While there was debate over things like, who would own the dome, who would be able to use the pool in the fall and spring, and so forth, the Corbin City Commission was generally in favor of the project although some commissioners were more luke warm to the prospect than others.

Efforts to get the pool ready for cold weather use came to a screeching halt on Sept. 28 when a state inspector ordered the immediate closure of the pool until repairs were made, which included fixing the main drain line, installation of filter system capable of filtering at the approved filtration rate, and more.

As of the close of 2021, city officials were working with Brandstetter Carroll in an effort to determine the best way to make the repairs and to get an estimate on the costs in an effort to get the pool ready for opening in 2022.