Knee deep in the Big Sandy
By Mark Grayson
To get started again writing a column for a news media is a special decision for me because I am supposed to be retired. But all of a sudden I have a new spark to begin chronicling the goings on in our area.
I realized this makes 50 years for me covering local news in the Louisa, Ft. Gay, Blaine, Inez, Warfield, Prichard, Paintsville and yes, Magoffin County for newspapers and media of one sort or another. I birthed TheLevisaLazer.com 17 years ago in July of 2008 and it has run 24/7 365 all that time.
Most times I have written various stories, posts and opinion pieces but a few years back I stopped writing the column and left the writing to my staff. I’ve decided my column days need to resume not only because I’ve received a new spark, and bursting with energy —NOT… but nobody else has taken up the mantle of writing a serious, outrageous, and informative column that leads, follows and puts in the public eye the goings on of our community activities and lack thereof, so I’m at it again.
Read it if you please, ignore it at your own risk.
Every citizen has a road
When thinking of the one thing that affects every one of us it’s roads. As LC Judge/Exec Phil Carter has said many times our county has more miles of roads than nearly any county in the state so maintaining them is the county government’s main concern.
Our roads and bridges are essential to our lives no matter where we live but should taxpayers all over the state need to pay for every road up every hollow? If one chooses to live in an isolated area, roads in the vicinity are perhaps the most important thing for their lives.
Last week a group of citizens from different areas attended the fiscal court’s monthly meeting voicing concerns over the condition of their roads and bridges and telling Carter he is not doing enough to ease their broken roadways. Carter said the county doesn’t have the funds available for pavement to fix the flood ravaged spots and the people who are upset should call or text their state senator Phillip Wheeler and/or state representative Scott Sharp and ask for more state and federal money. We messaged both of them and neither responded this week, which is a working session in Frankfort.
The problem in funding lies with the fact that our state representative is much more responsive to voters in Ashland and Cattletsburg than Lawrence County simply because of the number of voters. This was done by GOP leaders when they reapportioned the state legislative districts three years ago and we lost Jill York of Grayson who was much more visible and reachable than Sharp has been so far.
OK, I don’t know if Sharp or Wheeler or Gov. Beshear decided to not include Lawrence in the latest flood disaster funding (FEMA) which included 14 Ky. Counties but not ours. If we had that much damage we should have been included. That is on Carter and the Frankfort delegation which apparently don’t have the pull with Trump that they thought.
But neither Carter nor Sharp nor Wheeler have the power to ‘poof’ our roads and bridges fixed properly and there is a long list of miscues on the part of the local road departments both state and county. Carter is working hard with the help of deputy Vince Doty but it remains to be seen how much progress they can make with not much pull in state or federal government.
Assistant County Attorney
Lawrence County has a new assistant county attorney in case you didn’t know and his name is Jason Greer. A 41 year-old attorney who is originally from Grayson, Greer also serves as assistant county attorney there as well, has for a long time. He is one of two part time assistants who work for LC County Atty. Johnny Osborne. The other is Greg Griffith who handles most of the prosecutorial duties but we’ll get to him in another column.
Here’s what Greer says about his background and his role in county government:
“…Good Morning Mark,
Ft. Gay water?
Our neighbors in Ft. Gay have a lousy water system. Hate to say it but we’ve been getting water outages and boil water advisories to post for years now and the system has apparently reached the level they cannot produce their own water. Now Louisa City Council is coming to the rescue by selling water to Ft. Gay without really knowing if the bill will ever get paid.
Ft. Gay needs new pipes, and a new sewage and water system. Leaders, especially the new mayor and city council members, need to find the grant the city was given for more than $800,000 to fix the system five years ago. That money has never been touched but the grant was announced by the former mayor several years ago. And with the fact that she was indicted for stealing $200,000 from the city recently, it’s a mystery now if there ever was such a grant. Time to start over again.
Anyhow, to me the best solution for us all is to combine the Louisa and Ft. Gay Water & Sewer operations into an interstate agreement and funding from both states. Doesn’t make sense to me and never has. Like Kermit and Warfield, it’s odd that one side of the river cleans its water properly while the other doesn’t, you still have a polluted river. And a mile down the stream you’re pumping it back out to clean and drink.
SWEET SIXTEEN 18 DAYS LATER?
For only the second time in history Lawrence County has an entry in the famed Kentucky Sweet Sixteen, a basketball tournament unparalleled in high school sports — anywhere. In Kentucky there are no classes in basketball, never have been, so the large metro schools square off against even the smallest schools in one big blowout when schools send their bands and pep busses to fill Rupp Arena when their team plays, and with all sorts of high school events going on including academic as well as athletic competitions.
It’s a big deal, and in the same year Lawrence County’s Supt. became State Commissioner of Education, a coup for eastern Ky., the excellence is showing not only in basketball.
LCHS has a bright, developing curriculum and a $10 million vocational facility to add which makes us one of the more desirable landing spots for students in the area. New Supt. Katie Webb seems made for the job after 30 years in the business and she’s 100% behind her Bulldogs as is LCHS principal Wrendi McDavid, who arranged for a sendoff for the players the day before the game and all the details which go with making the tournament. LC also has an award winning cheerleading squad to lead the crowd at the game(s).
Although we landed in the tall timber in Lexington with sharpshooters in every direction and got beaten soundly, it is a wonderful honor for our guys to make history in the state as going from bottom to top in the 15th with hustle and grit. Hope one of our guys or two grow a couple inches or maybe a NIL player can be added… oh well, that’s another story for next year. I love this team this year and what they accomplished. I think we have the best coach in the region by far…
Once a Dawg, always a Dawg.
