Knuckles, Corbin’s ‘watchdog’ has pulled out of the commission race

It was surprising that there was a $3 million mistake in the published budget a couple of weeks ago for the City of Corbin. But it was not surprising that Commissioner Trent Knuckles discovered it.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

You see, Trent Knuckles is the best “watchdog” for governmental affairs that I have ever known.

He showed us his expertise years ago when he became the editor of this newspaper. There were numerous occasions when Trent was questioning a budget, an ordinance or an action not only by the City of Corbin, but with other governmental and civic agencies.

Trent’s major in college was political science and he showed us from the very beginning of employment here that his education had paid dividends.

Unfortunately, when Trent ran and won the office of City Commissioner he had to give up writing about city government in this newspaper. Instead he voiced his concerns at the city commission meetings.

Another unfortunate circumstance for the taxpayers of Corbin now is that Trent has decided to pull out of the race for another term as city commissioner.

I’ll leave it to Trent to explain his reasons for pulling out of the race, but I fully understand why he may have wanted to do it.

While he was employed here as both an editor and then later the publisher I witnessed his frustrations and headaches dealing with government actions. It was not an easy job and Trent is one who will not back off until he has all the facts.

With respect to all others who are and have been a city commissioner, I doubt any has taken the job more seriously than Trent. This included not only finding a mistake in a budget, but also making suggestions and giving opinions on how the actions would affect the public, or giving input that turned red ink into black in the city’s budget.

You may, or you may not like the 95 gallon trash cans the city has provided, but it was Trent who often voiced his displeasure with the unsightly trash from the overflow of 32 gallon cans that littered the city’s neighborhoods. Now most of that problem has been solved.

I don’t know what Trent’s future plans are. I do know he just finished getting his Master’s Degree from the University of the Cumberlands.

I’ve often thought that when City Manager Marlon Sams decides to retire Trent would be an excellent choice to replace him.

This newspaper has good reporters. They are the best and have won numerous awards for their reporting. However, it is rare to have a nose for the news about government operations that Trent has demonstrated. Maybe he will continue to do that as a private citizen. We need people who do that. Good luck Trent! We still want to hear from you.

Our reporters will endeavor to continue to keep our watchful eyes on the operations of government as well as all the news that affects you, so that you, the public, will stay informed.

That became difficult this week because half of our staff has Covid. That’s right, Covid is still with us and as one person said, It will probably get everybody at some time.

Thankfully our staff was vaccinated. Yes, they had a fever, felt bad and suffered from the virus, but by having taken the vaccine their lives were not in danger. If you haven’t already, get vaccinated!