Don Estep

In my 34 years at this newspaper I have never been confronted with the problem we are facing now, that is, lack of reporters and delivery personnel. We are not alone with this dilemma. Businesses everywhere are looking for employees. If you or if you know of a person who would like a little extra income delivering our newspaper to outlets on Wednesday call our office and let us know. Also, if you are a journalist, we need a reporter. For the most part our staff has been with us for many years, but all of a sudden we face the loss of two important people and we have those openings....

About a year and a half ago we had an opening for a news reporter. Our staff urged me to call Jennifer Perkins and see if she would be interested in the job. She had done intern work here and the staff liked her and her abilities very much. Fortunately she accepted my offer. The staff was right, she is a very good journalist. So good in fact that she won five first place awards and ten awards overall in the recent Kentucky Press Association’s annual newspaper contest. This helped the News Journal win the General Excellence Award, which is the top honor for large weekly newspapers in Kentucky. Others took...

Last year, as a member of a committee at Central Baptist Church to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church, we started meeting early in the year and set the date for the celebration in October. Covid was a problem then but the vaccines were out and we thought by October we would be free of masks and we could have the celebration. However, at the first of August the Delta variant started and the pandemic was worse than ever. So we had to scale down our plans. We were going to have a full weekend of activities but because of the pandemic our plans changed to only having a Sunday...

Election day is getting close. It will be held on May 17. Several signs are posted and some of the candidates are making the rounds soliciting votes. The candidate’s name on a sign in a yard is okay but it tells you very little about the person running for office. That is why our news department is sending out questionnaires to candidates so you can get to know the candidate a little better. When you don’t know the candidate do you just pick out the yard sign you like best or the one who has the most? I don’t think so. Personally I know very little about the candidates. So, perhaps...

I am not much for surfing the Internet, looking at Facebook, Twitter and all the other Apps there are with input from subscribers which contains inaccuracies, especially with historical facts. But this past week it was brought to my attention that there had been several inquires about the history of Corbin. I checked out the site and found hardly anybody had complete information about Corbin’s history. The moderator of the site even said that, “a few have tried, but none were really any good. Few actual facts, just repeats of rumors and stories.” I took offense to that statement because 20 years ago the staff of this newspaper did months of...

What a weekend for sports. As I said last week, this is my favorite month for sports because of the high school and college basketball tournaments. For the most part the tournament activity didn’t disappoint. The Corbin boys team lost last Thursday night, but after that it was more than anyone could expect. It was a thrill a day from the ladies. The Corbin Lady Redhounds started the thrills off by upsetting team after team and winning the 13th Region on a last second shot by Raegan Walker over South Laurel Saturday. Now Corbin advances to the state tournament and will be playing in Rupp Arena Thursday evening. Then Sunday afternoon the...

It is basketball tournament time. It is one of my favorite times of the year because of the excitement the high school and college basketball tournaments bring. The 13th Regional Tournament is underway this week at the Corbin Arena. This is a great place for the tournament. Of course it is just a few minutes drive from my home, but if the arena was in, say Harlan or Middlesboro, I would still feel the same about holding the tournament at a neutral site and in a location like this. I go way back in following the 13th Region games. My first tournament to attend was about 70 years ago. It was...

About this time every year my anxiety level rises because the Kentucky General assembly is in session. This has been going on with me ever since they started meeting annually. The reason? They keep chipping away with the information you should be entitled to, that is, public notice advertising. For 70 years this information has been published in newspapers. I urge you to read Mark White’s column on this page for examples of what is happening now. He clearly illustrates the pitfalls of not knowing how your tax dollars are being spent and what the consequences could be. Today you know less about the actions by the General Assembly’s public notices...

If you form a team and you have the referee on your team, most likely you will win the game. It is almost laughable that the case of Corbin versus London on annexation of the area at Exit 29 on Interstate 75 was held in Laurel Circuit Court. I’m not saying, I repeat not saying that anything improper was done in the decision that favored London by the Laurel Circuit Court. I do know that some people may think that if a judge gets elected by voters on one side of the argument then it may leave an impression that all was not fair. I know very little about the process that...

And they are off! The official race to finish the Cumberland Run, a new horse track, broke ground in Corbin Monday. By this fall harness racing will be taking place and by January of next year there will be a new restaurant located at the facility. Cumberland Run joins Cumberland Mint in Williamsburg, a satellite racing venue, as big tourist attractions for our area. The two facilities are about an $80 million investment and will offer more than 200 year-around jobs. There were times during the past eight years, from when the race track was first announced as coming to Corbin, that doubts were starting to form as to whether...