Don Estep

Don’t score Houston, don’t score! That is what I was saying to myself at1:30 in the morning during the 5th game of the World Series. I wanted this game, which I had been watching for over five hours, to continue. It was baseball at its best. Like Gary West in his column below, I grew up loving the Brooklyn Dodgers. I started being a fan at a very young age, when Louisville’s Pee Wee Reese played for the Dodgers. Reese played from 1940 to 1958. He was a 10-time all-star and is in the Hall of Fame. From my Little League playing days through high school I was a huge fan...

Last week in this column I touched on the National Quartet Convention in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This week I will share my experience of attending it. The convention was very good, good and not so good. The very good came with the afternoon session we attended which was a Gaither sing-along. It has gotta be good when Bill Gaither leads thousands singing familiar hymns. I also rate as very good the hymn singing in a morning session and some of my favorite groups. Topping the list are the Hoppers. Kim Hopper was voted by Singing News fans as their favorite soprano and Connie Hopper was voted as the favorite alto. The quartets...

I think I know the key to getting people involved in city government. GARBAGE! It affects everybody and everybody has an opinion on how it should be handled. Judging from comments on Facebook and calls to this newspaper I believe we have enough information to build a camel. (I’m sure you’ve heard the story of a camel is a horse designed by committee.) Some people are reluctant to let and trust the commissioners and mayor do their job of selecting the best way to handle an obvious garbage dilemma in Corbin. I say, calm down. These people are studying the problem and researching the best way to clean up a nasty situation. Trust...

The way Rodger Bird punished  opponents in football could lead one to believe that he would display that boastful rough guy image. Not so. As his wife Sally stated in the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame (KAHF) program, “He’s always been humble about his accomplishments.” “I remember when our son Paul was a little boy, he came home from school and asked, “Did daddy use to play football?” Yes he did, he really did in a way that made his family and those of us from Corbin proud. Rodger loves to talk about football, but he does not boast or brag. I learned more about Rodger during the two years we recently...

This is a week of celebrations for me. This Thursday my wife Judy and I will celebrate our 53rd wedding anniversary. Also this Thursday I will celebrate the completion of 30 years at this newspaper. And finally, my wife and I will attend the induction of Rodger Bird into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in Louisville, also on Thursday. It has been 53 wonderful years of marriage. We have three daughters and four grandchildren. We couldn’t have been blessed more. I had no idea when Judy and I went to lawyer Terry Forcht some 50 years ago to have our first Will drawn up that I would later meet with...

First, praises to the individuals who are responsible for picking up the litter along the highway on both the Whitley and Laurel County sides of the 312 bridge north of Corbin. This is a heavily traveled scenic area that will benefit from your efforts. About three weeks ago I wrote about the litter problem in this area which now seems to be getting attention. Whether this column had any effect on it is irrelevant. The important thing is that people are reacting to the litter problem. I have had zero effect from my appeal to pave the section of Highway 312 from Barton Mill Road to the bridge. I started writing about...

The year was 2002. A committee consisting of about 40 volunteers were meeting at City Hall to plan for the 50th anniversary celebration of Corbin’s Nibroc Festival. Everybody was excited, wanting the festival to be the best ever. The committee wanted the festival for the first time, to be placed on Main Street. For years the planning committee had been told that the state would not allow the festival to be held on Main Street because it is a major highway. Prior to attending the meeting in 2002 I called the state highway department and asked why we could not hold the festival on Main Street. The man in charge told me,...

Last week in this space I commented on a 1935 football program that was found under a desk at Corbin High School and shown to me by Athletic Director Andrew Roark. One reader commented, “I sure wish it had been a 1936 program.” The reason for his comment was explained by Coach Nick Denes who coached both the football and basketball teams. He wrote an article in the program that let them know better times were coming. ”During the last two seasons Corbin basketball teams have been below par, but this year with the addition of the two Cluggish boys, the Redhounds should swing back into championship class.” And indeed they did...

On this date 75 years ago, just before 8 a.m., hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died in the attack. The attack signaled the entry of the United States into World War II. For years my friend, the late Tom Elliott, would always remind me that we should publish a story about the attack on this date. And for several years in this newspaper we featured a survivor of the attack, the late Ed Moses. As President Roosevelt proclaimed it is a “Date Which...

I think we would be better off without the Internet. Grant you, I have not made any study of this, it is just an opinion based on several factors. To start with the Internet is a cesspool for social interaction. Certainly there are many excellent exchanges on it, but it also is a chief weapon for spreading hate and misinformation. I wonder if terrorists groups such as ISIS could be organized so effectively without the Internet. I don’t believe they could. It is a powerful weapon for recruiting followers and spreading harmful information. I’m sure an argument could be made for the many great developments that have been made because of the...