I’m thankful for our local healthcare providers

The excellent treatment I received when I had minor surgery recently at Baptist Health in Corbin prompted me to write about it in my column. I appreciate how nice everybody was that assisted in getting me prepared for the surgery and the doctor who performed it. I complimented one of the nurses and she jokingly said, “Yes we are the Dream Team.” That they were… they put me to sleep!

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

I am not new to having surgery. My number of times for surgery over the years are double digit with most of it being done at Baptist Health. I have had major surgery at the University of Cincinnati and in Lexington at St. Joseph and the University of Kentucky hospitals.

As much as I dread having surgery, those who have provided the services to me have been outstanding.  It takes a special kind of people to work in the health field. I owe my life to some of them.

We are very fortunate in this area to have the quality of healthcare professionals that Baptist Health and Grace Health and others in the health field provide. And thanks to the professionals who assisted me, although I walked out of the hospital the same day, it took several people to make it happen.

• Last week the City of Corbin ran a half page ad of notification that a delinquent tax list would be placed on the Internet. Cities are not required to publish notices about the delinquent taxpayers, but counties are required to run all delinquent taxpayers one time in the newspaper in the county with the largest circulation, which in this case is the News Journal.

While I applaud the city for trying to increase awareness of delinquent taxpayers, putting the notice on the Internet is like hiding the list in a place where very few will take the time and effort to see it.

Not so when the list is published in a newspaper. One reason is curiosity. It is a natural that about everybody taking the paper will look to see if their name is on the list perhaps by mistake if they have already paid or if their neighbor’s name or somebody they know is listed. It is that easy to do.

For some people this would be a major embarrassment and no way do they want their name associated with not paying their taxes. Then there are others who don’t care no matter who sees it.

Fair warning to those in Whitley County who have not paid last year’s taxes. The delinquent list will be published soon in this newspaper. As of now there is over a half-million dollars in unpaid taxes in Whitley County.

This is a shame. Tougher laws should be passed by our legislators.  It is kind of like a situation in a homeowner’s association when one does not pay their monthly bill. It is not fair that all the others are paying for the delinquent one to have insurance, yard work and other upkeep for free. In the city and county the delinquent ones are getting roads, law enforcement protection, health services and many other benefits while the good citizen foots the bill.

In both cases tougher laws are needed!