Mark White

Nobody goes to the grocery store expecting to be given free food. No one goes to the doctor for an infection, and isn’t expecting to be charged. Nobody runs their air-conditioner and charges their cell phone without expecting to get an electric bill. No one goes to the movie theater expecting not to be charged to see a movie. These are all things that I daresay everybody is pretty much OK paying for. After all, none of these places would stay in business very long if they didn’t charge for their products or services. Yet, according to some on social media, newspapers are bad guys for having the audacity to expect people to...

When I think about Ted Forcht, I can’t help but smile. The guy was just funny and made you laugh. If you spent any time at all around him, then you probably had a smile on your face before you left Ted’s company. Given the health problems he had during his life, which included using a wheelchair in his later years, that says a lot. When I first started working at the News Journal about 25 years ago, I had the good fortune for a few years of working next door to Ted, who had an office at what was then Key Insurance in Williamsburg. There was a connecting door between...

You just can’t fit all the news from a year into a top 12 list, like the one running on our front page in this week’s edition of the News Journal. Sure, we get the big news events in there, but that doesn’t mean there still weren’t quite a few other interesting and memorable news stories in 2018, such as crime, a road closure, and the WWE coming to Corbin not once, but twice just to name a few. Here are a few of some of the other interesting headlines from 2018 that didn’t quite make the top 12 list this year. On Jan. 15, Jeffery Cole, who a week earlier...

The Christmas spirit seems to be plentiful this year in Williamsburg. Let’s look at a few examples. Williamsburg Main Street Manager Nannie Hays informed me after the parade Saturday night that judges were going back to look at homes and businesses again in an attempt to break a tie in some of the categories for the annual “Williamsburg Feels Like Home Christmas Decorating Contest.” Wow. In the 14 year history of the decorating contest, this is the first time I have ever heard of that happening. I thought Saturday’s “2018 Feels Like Home Christmas in a Small Town” Parade went great. It was a little colder than I would have liked, but...

The Whitley County Fair returned last week after a one-year absence with a new fair board and some new events. Considering that this was pretty much a rebuilding year for the fair, I thought it went really well. Friday night’s mud bog probably drew hundreds of people for some clean, yet muddy fun. For those that don’t know, a mud bog is where a four-wheeler or some other four-wheel drive vehicle drives through a mud filled pit with the fastest driver winning. In the case of some mud bogs, this actually turns into who can make it the furthest without getting stuck in the pit and having to be pulled out, which from...

Suicide. The recent deaths of famous chef Anthony Bourdain and famed fashion designer Kate Spade certainly has people talking about issue. Netflix recently came out with season two of its hit series “13 Reasons Why,” which revolves around the death of a teenage girl, her reasons for killing her self, and the aftermath on those around her. It doesn’t just happen in Hollywood, on television or in the movies. Suicide is a very real problem whether it is teenagers, celebrities, veterans or every day people. Many of us have been affected by the suicide of someone we know. Several years ago, I bumped into a friend of mine, who I hadn’t talked with in...

Last week marked an interesting milestone for me professionally speaking. I have now been working as a professional journalist for 25 consecutive years. It has been a wild and crazy ride. To say the least, it has not been an ordinary life. I have met and interviewed every Kentucky governor since Brereton Jones. There have also been United States senators, congressmen and a few celebrities too, such as Academy Award winning actress Julianne Moore. My favorite interview that I ever did was probably with then Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Stephens, which took place a few years after he wrote the famous decision declaring Kentucky’s funding system for public education as...

After a historical marker dedication, an ice cream social, a tour of historic homes, a parade and concerts among other events, Williamsburg’s month long bicentennial celebration is over. Whitley County was founded in January 1818, and Williamsburg was selected as the county seat in April 1818, which is what prompted the recent month-long bicentennial celebration. Organizers took this celebration of the town’s history seriously, and put together a series of great events that culminated last week. A pioneer historical encampment and an American Revolutionary War encampment were set up Thursday evening, and offered tours for school children throughout the day Friday and to the public on Saturday to teach them a little...

Dear Gov. Matt Bevin, let me tell you a little something about my dad, who is a retired teacher. You’d like him if you knew him. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. My dad, Mike White, was definitely the breadwinner in our household. He was a high school social studies teacher, which is a job he did faithfully for 28 years. He was one of those teachers, who always got there early, and he often stayed late. He tried to make learning interesting by incorporating things like movies and documentaries that were relevant to the topics being covered in class, such as the movie “Glory” about the first African American regiment...

Back when I was in high school in the 1980s, lots of students had rifles and shotguns in their trucks. I’m sure there were a few pistols in glove boxes too. Several of the guys and maybe a few of the girls at Lynn Camp carried pocket knives. One day I remember my biology teacher asking the class if anyone had a pocket knife. She wasn’t searching for weapons. She just needed to cut something. Strange thing was that despite the presence of weapons relatively close by, we never had a shooting or stabbing at school. Even the biggest redneck outlaw in school wouldn’t have done that. We knew there were some...