2 - November 06, 2014 Your Hometown Newspaper News Outlool
OPINIONS
Heaven Is
A Lot Like
Kentucky
By Charles Mattox
"When one with hone
words but evil mind persuades
the mob, great woes befall the
state."
Ancient Athenian Play-
wright; Euripides
"Elections belong to the
people. It's their decision. If they
decide to turn their back on the
fire and burn their behinds, then
they will just have to sit on their
blisters."
President Abraham Lincoln
"[The American President]
has to take all sorts of abuse
from liars and demagogues ....
The people can never under-
stand why the President does not
use his supposedly great power
to make "era behave. Well, all the
President is, is a glorified public
relations man who spends his
time flattering, kissing and kick-
ing people to get them to do what
they are supposed to do anyway."
President Harry S. Truman.
Truman left the Whitehouse in
January 1953 and was at that
time receiving an Army pen-
sion of just over 8112 a month.
He was asked later in life why
he never took a corporate job
and became rich like so many
alleged leaders have done
since leaving the political are-
na. His reply was this.
"I turned down all of those of-
fers. I knew that they were not
interested in hiring Harry Tru-
man, the person, but what they
wanted to hire was the former
President of the United States.
I could never lend myself to any
transaction, however respect-
able, that would commercialize
on the prestige and the digniy of
the office of the Presidency.
Well I hope you got out to
vote Tuesday, dear reader.
As Hncoln once said about
blisters on the backside, I hope
you have at least noted that our
house of democracy is on fire!
It's been burning for a while.
With the US Senate race be-
tween Republican incumbent
Mitch McConneU, Democratic
challenger Alison Lundergan
Grimes and an unlikely hope-
ful in Libertarian candidate
David Patterson, the entire na-
tion is watching how Kentuck-
ians vote.
McConnell has had 30 years
to "be a candidate of change"
but the only thing I see chang-
ing is the skyrocketing person-
al wealth he has accumulated
since taking office.
He kept going on and on
about "Obama's War on Coal"
when I heard him speak a cou-
ple of weeks ago but I always
figured it was a war on pollu-
tion.
Just for one minor area
of clarity about 'The war on
coal": Spurlock Power Station
is a coal-fired power station
owned and operated by East
Kentucky Power Cooperative
near Maysville, Kentucky.
I'3LIS-rER_q
In 2010, Abt Associates is-
sued a study commissioned
by the Clean Air Task Force,
a nonprofit research and advo-
cacy organization, quantifying
the deaths and other health
effects attributable to fine par-
ticle pollution from coal-fired
power plants. The study found
that over 13,000 deaths and
tens of thousands of cases of
chronic bronchitis, acute bron-
chitis, asthma-related episodes
and asthma-related emergency
room visits, congestive heart
failure, acute myocardial in-
farction, dysrhythmia, isch-
emic heart disease, chronic
lung disease, peneumonia
each year are attributable to
fine particle pollution from
U.S. coal-fired power plants.
Fine particle pollution is
formed from a combination of
soot, acid droplets, and heavy
metals formed from sulfur
dioxide,' nitrogen oxide, and
soot. Among those particles,
the most dangerous are the
smallest (smaller than 2.5 mi-
crons), which are so tiny that
they can evade the lung's natu-
ral defenses, enter the blood-
stream, and be transported to
vital organs. Impacts are espe-
dally severe among the elder-
ly, children, and those with re-
spiratory disease. Low-income
and minority populations are
disproportionately impacted
as well, due to the tendency
of companies to avoid locating
power plants upwind of afflu-
ent communities.
The table below estimates
the death and illness attribut-
able to the Spurlock Power
Station. Abt assigned a value of
$7,300,000 to each 2010 mor-
tality,' based on a range of gov-
ernment and private studies.
Valuations of illnesses ranged
from 852 for an asthma epi-
sode to 8440,000 for a case of
chronic bronchitis.
Table 1: Death and disease
attributable to fine particle
pollution from the Spurlock
Power Station
Source: "Find Your Risk
from Power Plant Pollution,"
Clean Air Task Force interac-
tive table, accessed February
2011.
Now I'm told that with the
installation of new "coal scrub-
bers" part of the Environmen-
tal Protection Agencies (EPA)
requirements for the Spurlock
and other coal fired plants, the
pollutants released into the
air we breath has been made
safer.
Senator McConnell told me
(and everyone in the crowd)
that if elected he would do
completely away with funding
the EP& The only practical
watch dog group that not only
says they care about the health
of the environment and those
who attempt to survive in it,
but they actually have actions
that reflect those words.
I continue to be a staunch
advocate for clean water and
healthy streams and as such
I am completely opposed to
Mountain Top Removal, or
"raping the earth" for profit
for a select few coal conglom-
erates which pollute for profit
the environment of those left
with the mess•
Dozens of those cases have
been documented in eastern
Kentucky.
Google Trinity Coal Com-
pany lawsuits if you get bored
sometime if you don't believe
me.
But we are entering an age,
as seen during the recent elec-
tion advertising, where coal
isn't just polluting our land and
our streams it's starting to pol-
lute our democracy.
Have any ofyou ever been to
a rich and thriving coal town?
I've never heard of one in
our state. But if coal is so im-
portant to the economic wel-
fare of our citizens why do the
citizens of these communities
along with the communities
that have had coal mines for
decades not thrive?
I'm not anti-coal but rather
pro healthy environment. I
believe coal can be extracted
from the ground in Kentucky
without unnecessary risk to
workers or those who live
nearby. I believe it can be used
to power plants that produce
energy in a cost-effective man-
ner.
Certain CEOs may only get
a million dollars in bonuses
rather than ten million, but I'm
of the opinion that they will not
have any problem paying their
phone bill.
I'm not an advocate bt
Grimes or Patterson but I am
against McConnell and hope
he isn't sent back to do evOn
more damage to those he
should be supporting. He's
made his millions and tens Of
millions. I'd like to see som-
one get a chance to help ot V
citizens. Anyone, even a r-
dom non-English speaking
guy or gal on the street could
do less damage.
,, [
I hope you voted and I hope
your vote reflects that you
want change. The way I see
it, we can't hardly stand mu
more of the same old tired po|-
tics that has nearly destroyl
US;Fhis is my opinion and
and it should ¢
opinion
only
noted that it was printed a(tr
the election, so, my opLmi @
would not "taint anyone s d
cision. It is my opinion alon,
but I didn t just wake up tl
other day with it. I've be(n
watching the corruption 9f
politics and the destruction 9f
our very environment for far
too long to remain silent. ,
We can do better and is
high time we demanded bettgf
form our alleged leaders.
Type of Impact Annual Incidence Valuation
Deaths 76 $550,000,000
Heart attacks 120
$13,000,000
Asthma attacks 1,200 $62,000
Hospital admissions 56 $1,300,000
Chronic bronchitis 45 $20,000,000
Asthma ER visits 65 $24,000
By Cecil Lawson
i
, etimes, when I drLw
through.Salt .,Lick, .or, Ow-
ingsville, or Sharpsburg,
or Bethel, I see ghosts.
These formerly bustling
towns are full of them, and
if you are passing through
and your mind is unoccu-
pied, you just might catch
a glimpse of these spirits
from the past.
It is a sad thing to see
so many building unoccu-
pied, crumbfing, sidewalks
cracked, weeds growing
up through unused park-
ing lots.
This time of year is the
traditional Celtic New Year
feast of Samhain, the end
of the harvest season and
the onset of winter weath-
er, a time to take stock of
what you had to eat for the
long winter months ahead.
It is also considered a time
when the veil separating
the world of the living and
the world of the dead was
opened, allowing spirits
and ghosts to move freely
amongst us.
The blustery winds
come out of the north,
and the leaves are fallen,
and the trees are gray,
and the sky stays cloudy.
Nights get longer, days get
shorter, and life retreats
from the barrenness of the
earth until the spring wel-
comes it back.
It is a somber time, a
time to count your bless-
ings (Thanksgiving), and
a season to hope for some-
thing better in the days
ahead (Christmas).
I believe that we have en-
tered the autumn times of
our own local community.
Economists across the
country have cautious-
ly optimistic about the
growth of jobs and circula-
tion of money in our coun-
try over the past year or
so, and even at the local
level there are signs of life.
People are taking risks by
opening new businesses,
changing jobs, and voting
new people into office.
Confidence is there, but it
is measured.
While we have some lo-
cal business growth here,
the county is far, far vibrant
from what it used to be.
I recently took a look the
AMONGST GHOSTS
state and county's labor
force data from 1990 to
the present, and the num-
bers are shocking. In the
late1990s, the unemploy-
ment rate in Bath County
was as low as 5.3%, but
then began to steadily in-
crease, reaching a high of
1.5.4 % in 2009, the trough
of the most recent reces-
sion. The rate is now
around 10%.
During that same period
of time (1990 - 2014), the
population of Bath County
grew steadily from 9600
in 1990 to nearly 12,000 in
2013.
Yet again, the number of
people in the work force
has remained roughly the
same during that time,
averaging around 4300
people.
Early this year Census
data revealed that Bath
County was the 5th fast-
est growing county in the
state of Kentucky, below
the places like Scott and
Fayette and other Central
Kentucky counties, where
the jobs are located.
The majority of workers
in Bath County work out-
side of the county, some
commuting more than 100
miles per day for a decent
job.
There are many, many
economic, demographic,
and sociological reasons
why these changes are tak-
ing place. Bath County,
along with Nicholas and
Menifee Counties, are lo-
cated between Mt. Ster-
ling and Morehead, both
of which have been ben-
eficiaries of economic and
business (and population)
growth in the last 20 years.
Both of these cities are
F
also home to various big
box "marc stores, which
have squeezed smaller lo-
cal businesses out of exis-
tence, both there and here.
We have a very mobile
population now that has
no loyalty to local busi-
ness and who are willing to
drive 50 miles one way to
buy flood and clothing aid
entertainment.
Many lifelong local resi-
dents have seen an influx
of many people from either
north of the Ohio River
or from the mountains of
• Eastern Kentucky, either
fleeing economic down-
turns or looking for af-
fordable local real estate
for retirement or vacation
homes.
I look at my sad, bat-
tered home county and see
ghosts.
I lived here during its
most prosperous time,
and I was among many
young people who gradu-
ated from the high school
with many high aspirations
to do well for ourselves
and still be able to live in
our home county and feel
proud about it.
Now I worry about
whether or not people
down the road from me
will try and break into my
home and steal what I have
and pawn what they find to
support a drug habit that
they never considered hav-
ing 20 years ago because of
the demon-spawn named
Oxycontin.
Now I consider empty
storefronts and sidewalks
without pedestrians and
local festivals and parades
and events lightly attended
or non-existent.
Nobody wanted this to
Bath County Senior
Citizens Center Menu
November 10-13
Monday: BBQ Riblet, Macaroni/Tomatoes
Ylixed Greens, Corn Bread, Margarine, Bakec
ples and Milk.
Tuesday: Veterans Day
Wednesday: Hamburger Steak, Mashed Pota-
:oes, Green Beans, Wheat Bread, Margarine, Pine-
lpple Chunks and Milk.
Thursday: Italian Chicken, Potatoes/Carrots,
3uttered Broccoli, Wheat Bread, Margarine, Fruit
:up and Milk.
i
i ...................
happen. Nobody wants it
to stay this way. Lots of
people point the finger as
to why it happened. Yet
some came it progress.
Times do change.
People change.
And sometimes not for
the better.
And we are left with the
'ghosts of what was better.
When an apple a day isn't enough,
call the Physician Referral Line
Matching you to
the right physician
at the right time
is our specialty.
Call today--
the service is free!
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