Letters to the Editor for 4-7-2010

Read at letter from the Kentucky Dept. of Corrections addressing Ms. Field’s concerrns by clicking here.

Whitley jail staff lacking in "common compassion"

To the Editor:

I’ve had some communication with the Dept. of Corrections (local) about my concerns regarding the Whitley County Detention Center and I wanted to share it with anyone who has had a bad experience with the jail system. The address is on the communication letter so if you have had bad treatment at the jail please write to the Dept. of Corrections and voice your story, your complaint, because if you don’t open your mouth, nothing will change.

I am lookign for the girl who allegedly had the miscarriage while in jail. Her name is Kimberly and this would have taken place in March of 2009. If you happen to read this and this did happen to you please contact me (Jacqueline Fields 549-0144). The jail has no record of this, but when you finally received medical attention, you was told it wasn’t a miscarriage that you had kidney stones! My niece was in there with you but she can’t remember your last name, but that you lived at Mud Creek. I would also like to talk to anyone who has had seizures while in the jail and didn’t get prompt medical attention.

Evidently, the Dept. of Corrections thinks inmates at Whitley Co. get 24/7 medical treatment and I have spoken with the nurse and according to her she is not at the jail 24/7 but on call and she don’t know what hours the nurse practitioner has. So this says to me that if the jailer or staff don’t think you need to be seen immediately then you wait until Ms. Halcomb or Ms. Freeman comes in. So that’s why some of our inmates are not seen in a timely manner. And they see who they think are the most serious first, and Ms. Halcomb states that if you have medication that is to be taken three times a day they split it into two doses and inmates are dosed twice a day.

That isn’t what happened with my niece; she got dosed one or two times and that was it for the whole time she was in there. I’ve also spoken with a young man who went in for DUI without a shirt and went without a shirt or blanket for three days and it was a lot colder than 65 – 85 degrees.

I’ve also heard that none of the inmates had any trouble giving up cigarettes cold turkey. Then I also heard that some of the inmates had tried to chew the nicotine patch they were given. Does that sound like none had trouble going cold turkey? Sounds funny don’t it? I bet it wasn’t so funny for some of these people. I’m still waiting to find out what killed Bobby Hubbard, the 18-year-old kid. If the boy was in good health and didn’t have any marks on him, then I see it being drug withdraw that probably killed this kid, and if that be the case then why wasn’t he evaluated by the nurse practitioner and then sent back to detox somewhere? This whole jail system seems to be lacking in common compassion. I can’t stand the thoughts of this child dying in there alone in isolation. I won’t stop, I can’t stop until this crew that’s supposed to be taking care of our inmates are out of there. That could have been my child. It could have been your child!  People of Whitley County, please don’t let this go on.

Jacqueline Fields
Williamsburg

Siler’s support of prevailing wage law hurts Whitley County

To the Editor:

Your elected state representative has told you he is a man who gets things done. One of the things he hasn’t been talking about much is the prevailing wage. The prevailing wage is a state law that provides and ensures all county, state and federal government buildings will be built on union scale wages, which costs approximately one quarter more than it would otherwise.

Charlie Siler signed this bill and was very instrumental in getting it passed. In the past 20 years, the school buildings in the county, Corbin and Williamsburg has cost somewhere around $80 million. Whitley County built a jail, the buildings at the airport and, at this time, is working on a justice building in Williamsburg. The agriculture building in Corbin up on the hill cost $3 million additional dollars because of the prevailing wage.

School taxes alone went from 15 to 50 cents per $100 of appraised value. We need the facilities, but without Charlie’s help on the prevailing wage, we could be paying off the same buildings at a 30 or 35 percent tax rate. All of this has not helped one local citizen, contractors bring their workers in from out of district or out of state. We personally don’t feel we need any more help like this from Charlie.

We hope the people will find his opponent academically and morally qualified to represent the people of this district. Always sober, always read to fight for what is right.

Paul Cummins
Corbin

P.S.: The prevailing wage has cost the county millions and the state billions.