Don Estep

This Friday night the Corbin Redhound football team will be travelling to Paducah to play Paducah Tilghman. The winner will go on to Lexington to play for the Class 4A state championship at Kroger Field next week. This is not unusual for Corbin football to be progressing toward a state championship, but what is unusual is the distance they will have to travel to play the game. It is a long way to Paducah, about a four-and-a-half-hour drive. I did the play-by-play for the Redhounds for 30 years and we never had to travel that far for a game. When I started broadcasting football and basketball games in 1961 on WCTT...

Last week in my column I announced that I would be stepping down as publisher of this newspaper at the end of the year. Even though I will not be involved in the day-to-day operation, I will continue to be involved as a consultant and write a column. Back in 1987 when I became the publisher of the Whitley Republican, we were fortunate to have a substantial number of subscribers, but to be successful we had to build on those numbers and that is why we started a sister paper in Corbin. We had quick growth that would not be possible today. Some of you may remember the Rev. Jim Rogers....

Over the past 37 years I have written many obituary columns for special people in my life. Today I am writing about the best neighbor my wife Judy and I have ever had. Vickie Bramlett-Killion passed away Monday from a long battle with cancer. With her passing Heaven gained a special person. From her days as a schoolteacher, involvement in the church and community activities, Vickie had many friends. I have known her for many years, mostly because we attended the same church. But it was more recently that we became close friends. She and her husband Al had just moved into the condo across the street from us. We were...

I am exhausted, no doubt you’re exhausted and I think everybody is exhausted with the long run for president. By this time next week it will all be over and our anxiety levels will go down. However, we will probably not know the winner of the election until the votes are counted in the swing states. Here in Kentucky we already know Trump will win and our votes are of little concern because of the electoral college voting system that is only used in this one election. The majority of Americans prefer the popular vote and 17 states have passed bills to move in that direction. But those bills they have...

This week, Oct. 6-12, is National Newspaper Week. In 1940, 84 years ago, the newspaper world started celebrating this week by reflecting on the unique role newspapers play in our communities. I have spent half of my life in the newspaper profession. I didn’t plan it that way, but rather I started with a desire to be in broadcasting. As a young boy I fell in love with those doing play-by-play of football, basketball and baseball games. Also, as a young boy I had my nose in the newspaper every day. My parents subscribed to the Courier-Journal and Corbin Times. Reading the newspaper and listening to the radio then influenced...

My intention this week was to write about National Newspaper Week Oct. 6-12 and all the good things newspapers contribute to our society. I’ll save that for next week, because I want to write about my good friend, Paul Jones, who was inducted into the Corbin Redhound Hall of Fame at Friday night’s game with Hazard. Paul is a graduate of Lynn Camp High School, and he still supports the Wildcats. He was a very good athlete in high school, especially in baseball. Also, Paul has been a big supporter of the Redhounds. I compliment the Varsity Club for their decision to induct Paul. For many years he ran the Hall-Watson Furniture...

Feeling a bit low with all the gloom and doom that surrounds us, like a lone gunman practically shutting down the entire area last week, a bitter presidential election, wars going on and climate change causing havoc, I went to our newspaper morgue and opened the book that contained what was happening 30 years ago. What a difference it was in 1994. In my column at that time, I wrote about this newspaper being the fastest growing newspaper in the state. We had full page ads from Save-A-Lot, Food World, Piggly Wiggly and Kroger. Automobile dealers filled the pages with ads. Two pages from Tincher-Williams, and two from Marine Myers...

Some of you in the Williamsburg area are getting a free News Journal this week. We mass mail every year to encourage you to become a subscriber. Another reason is to spread the word about Old Fashioned Trading Days. Enjoy our newspaper and take advantage of our special subscription offer. We have a big readership in this area. Since my beginning as publisher of the Whitley Republican in 1987, we have concentrated on covering the news in Williamsburg, Corbin, and Whitley County plus items of interest in Knox and Laurel counties. In 1987, my office was on S. 2nd St. in Williamsburg. Three months later, we began publishing a companion newspaper...

One of my favorite pictures is one that was taken in 2004 when Frank Selvy was at the Gilliam Gym in Corbin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his record-setting 100 points scored while playing for Furman University. I had the honor of introducing him to the crowd. I have that picture hanging on my home office wall. Selvy passed away last Tuesday at 91 years of age. I was 14 years of age when Selvy made headlines on every sports page in America. That is when I, along with many others in that generation, started living a dream. It put Corbin on the map. It was the first Furman...

And just like that, downtown Corbin is transformed back to normal over night after the Nibroc Festival. Until late Saturday night the street is filled with thousands of people attending concerts, the carnival and shopping at the many vendor stands. Then on Sunday morning, when people are making their way to church, there is no sign of what has taken place the previous four nights. The carnival is gone, the signs are taken down, the vendors have disappeared and the trash has been picked up. What an effort this takes. Bruce Carpenter, the Chamber of Commerce, city workers, volunteers and all others who take part are to be commended for making this...