Hazard Officials Designate 2010 Class as Dukes and Duchesses
Traveling across our great Commonwealth each year brings us to visit many counties and cities. Each of them has a special way of welcoming us to their communities and all of our participants over the years have enjoyed some of those experiences. While visiting Hazard, Mayor Gorman and the City of Hazard bestowed an honorary Duke or Duchess certificate on each member of the class along with a pin of the key to the city. Our journeys are all about learning and expanding our minds on the challenges and opportunities Kentucky has today. Along the way, receiving these small tokens to remind us of this incredible journey is a very special thing indeed.
Our visit to Hazard and the region began with optional activities on Wednesday. Greg Wilson, ’10, arranged the class golf outing for his classmates at the Paintsville Country Club.
Twenty of the class met early Wednesday morning to have the opportunity to go in an underground coal mine. This is the first opportunity that we’ve had since 2004 to visit an underground mine and we are extremely grateful to our Session Chair, Danny Maggard, ’92, Chief Engineer, Kentucky River Properties, LLC for arranging this amazing learning opportunity. Our sincere thanks goes to Paul Jackson, Perry County Coal and Henry Keith, Enterprise Mining Co. #9 Mine for allowing us to disrupt their daily operations in order for our class members to participate in this experience that is extremely limited to those outside of the industry.
Several class members arrived later in the afternoon and toured the Challenger Learning Center, hosted by Tom Cravens, ’01, Director, Challenger Learning Center, for a very different type of learning experience. Later most of the class gathered for dinner at the D&D Ranch, sponsored by Kentucky River Properties, LLC and were treated to a cookout by KRP’s Craig Daniels, at the ranch and an informative talk by Larry Gray, Ranch Manager. D&D Ranch, a beef cattle operation is built on a reclaimed surface mine site near Hazard.
Thursday morning trolleys arrived courtesy of the City of Hazard for the trip to Hazard Community & Technical College for the day’s activities. The session began with Danny Maggard, ’92, Session Chair, welcoming all of the members of the 2010 Class, Betsy Clemons, Executive Director, Hazard/Perry County Chamber of Commerce spoke to the group on behalf of Mayor Bill Gorman and Lee Hillman, from the Perry County Judge-Executive’s Office also welcomed the class on behalf of Judge Noble who was attending a conference.
Dr. Kristin T. Williams, Interim President, Hazard Community & Technical College had been on the job less than a week and we were delighted that she could take the time to welcome the class to the HCTC campus and provide information on the College’s activities and distinct programs.
Ewell Balltrip, President & CEO, National Institute of Hometown Security was the day’s first presenter. Ewell was born in Harlan and his impressive background includes serving as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Appalachian Commission and years in journalism. His insights into the history of Appalachia and the factors involved in affecting its development were top-notch and his presentation was a look into the history of settlement patterns – who settled in these imposing mountains – where did they come from and what were their skills; what were the economic and cultural dynamics of natural resource extraction – timber and coal; the affect of the external perception of the area – the “War on Poverty”; and the influence of responses to developmental challenges. His presentation provided an understanding of the region and its people and set the stage for our day on the topic of Economic Development.
A new addition to the talented speakers Leadership Kentucky brings was Dr. Brian Strow, BB&T Professor, Study of Capitalism/Associate Professor of Economics, Western Kentucky University. In many instances we hear from economists only about the problems we have, and Dr. Strow certainly painted a clear and concise picture of the many structural issues currently threatening federal, state, county, and city governments – perhaps the greatest threat to America’s national security. The class was most appreciative that his presentation concluded with a discussion of actual solutions that we can each find a role in moving forward. Dr. Strow graciously fielded questions from the class and provided insightful answers for them.
Local economic development issues, concerns, and solutions were discussed by a panel of experts representing the economic engines of Hazard and the region. Education, Healthcare and Mining top this region’s list of economic drivers. The class heard from Donnie Fields, Senior Community CEO, Appalachian Regional Hospital, on the economic and cultural impacts provided by the healthcare industry through the facilities, services and programs offered by Appalachian Regional Hospital. He discussed how ARH serves as a “regional” healthcare facility and their future expansion plans to enhance operations. Dr. Jennifer Lindon, Learning Services Dean for Continuing Education, Workforce & Community Development, Hazard Community & Technical College described her work in the area of workforce and community development and the varied course and certificate work offered by HCTC – developed by working with local employers to ensure the region can supply educated individuals to fill all jobs that are created, which promotes the community by allowing natives of the area to remain there to live, work, and contribute to the betterment of their communities.
Benny Hamilton, Assistant Director/Physical Resource Planner, Kentucky River Area Development District, gave the class an overview of the economic development work done by the Area Development Districts. The ADD provides administrative assistance to three Regional Business Parks and Regional Industrial Authorities, as well as local development foundations and Chambers of Commerce in each county represented. KYADD staff works with local officials and organizations to develop industrial sites and recruit industries to existing sites. Assistance is provided to regional authorities and local units of government in writing and administering grants for Local Government Economic Development funds, CDBG-ED funds, Economic Development Administration Funds, and other resources for economic development.
Bill Bissett, President, Kentucky Coal Association, was the final panel presenter. Bill is new to his position and Kentucky and joined the class for dinner Wednesday evening and for the earlier presentations from Ewell Balltrip and Dr. Brian Strow. We were delighted to have Bill join us for those portions of the program and to hear his remarks about the coal industry. He provided the class with enlightening information on the coal industry and its economic impacts on the community of Hazard and the entire southern Appalachian region. He spoke of the need to make coal a cleaner burning fuel and research being done in that area by several universities and the need to look at all forms of energy production as we chart the Commonwealth’s energy future.
Following an excellent question and answer session with the four Economic Development panelists, the class broke into seven discussion groups to discuss, debate, and provide their opinions and recommendations about future actions for economic development activities in Kentucky. Class members serving as discussion leaders for the July session were: Jonathan Brown, Tammie Cole, Diana Doggett, Arthur Green, Jeremy Hardin, Kristen Hill, and Bob Shurtleff.
To experience aspects of the local culture, 2010 class member Jeanne Marie Hibberd hosted the class at her place of employment, the Hindman Settlement School. Mike Mullins, ’86, Executive Director of the School could not join us as he has on past visits by Leadership Kentucky. Jeanne Marie welcomed her classmates to the campus and filled them with an excellent meal sponsored by Bank of Hindman and Whitaker Bank of Kentucky. She presented information about the 100+ year history and current programs the Hindman Settlement School offers. She presented her classmates with a book entitled Crossing Troublesome. She also planned an excellent evening of entertainment by a local group of highly gifted musicians who had the group tapping their feet and clapping hands to their “old-time mountain music”. Next, Randy Wilson, had the group off their feet and on the dance floor as he taught them a circle dance, square dance and a waltz. Although quite an aerobic experience, all of our adventurous group who were there actually got up and joined in the fun.
Friday morning seemed to arrive quickly and greeted us with clouds and drizzle most of the day – a bit of a relief from the stiffeling heat we’ve recently experienced. Along with Danny, his staff members, Chuck Mullins, Craig Daniels, and Willie Adams were with us for most of our visit and did an outstanding job of keeping us on time, track and moving forward. The day was spent visiting several sites created on reclaimed surface mines to provide the class with an idea of economic development uses of those sites.
In vans, our day was a bit of a bumpy ride, but we had the opportunity to see so much. Our first stop was the Frasure Surface Mine where Mike Eversole, Little Elk Mining joined Danny and talked with the group about that particular mine site, provided a view of the large dump trucks and dozers working near the mine’s pit and talked about current reclamation requirements and how those have evolved and improved since the 1970’s due to enhanced regulation and changes in best-practices.
Our next two stops took us a bit farther in our understanding of habitat created by surface mining. Doug Hensley, 7th District Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife met us at Starfire Mine’s “Goose Pond” to talk about the restoration of Elk to the hills of eastern Kentucky. Elk was reintroduced to Kentucky from 1997-2002. In 2009 the herd reached the project goal of a herd of 10,000. Elk quota hunts are now conducted each year to maintain the herd. According to Doug one of the main reasons for the success of the elk restoration project is the habitat produced. Even though it was late morning and we did not really expect to see elk as Doug talked with the group we could see a few slowly meandering down the hillside above the large pond. The pond serves as habitat for Canada geese and other species of birds and a source of water for a wide number of animals in addition to elk. Next up, were two gentlemen whose research on reclamation practices has lead to a change in the accepted reclamation practice for surface mined areas reclaiming to a post-mining land use which requires the establishment of deep rooted woody species. Dr. Don Graves, Extension Professor – Emeritus, University of Kentucky Department of Forestry, and, Paul Rothman, Environmental Advisor, Kentucky Department of Natural Resources, provided detailed information on their research and guided us through one of their 13-year old test plots, after we had seen an area reclaimed only to grasses. The difference was truly astounding.
Our last stop included lunch at the Knott County Sportsplex, another economic driver in the region built on a reclaimed surface mine. The complex serves as not only a place for the local community members to enjoy physical activities, but brings many into the area for baseball tournaments on its four large fields and indoor space for announcers. A guided tour by Manager, Rhett Gibson revealed that the complex offers a wide array of classes, and activities, indoor fitness center and walking track, basketball/volleyball courts, gift shop and much more.
Richer for the experience, we left the majestic mountains of eastern Kentucky to return to our communities and homes and to share our newly acquired knowledge and inspirations with others.
Thank You July Session Sponsors:
Bank of Hindman, Jed & Lois Weinberg
City of Hazard
Challenger Learning Center
D&D Ranch
Enterprise Mining Co. #9 Mine
Frasure Surface Mine
Hazard Community & Technical College
Hazard Community College Foundation Board
Hindman Settlement School
Kentucky River Properties, LLC
Knott County Sportsplex
Alois Moore
Denny Ray Noble
Perry County Coal/TECO Energy
Whitaker Bank of Kentucky
