Opinion

By Cecelia White with Cumberland River Behavioral Health My grandmother recently passed away at the age of 101. I attended her funeral earlier this month and it got me thinking about life and death. There are two dates that are important to most people, their date of birth and their date of death. Between those dates there is a dash consisting of many years, hopefully. We spend a lot of time planning for the dates in between the beginning and the end of our lives. We celebrate birthdays, graduations, marriages, retirements, anniversaries and other events that are worthy of celebration. We plan funerals, choosing the words that will be spoken after...

Many people assume they understand what it means to be a teacher simply because everyone has had a teacher in their lives. The reality is, one can only grasp the challenges and responsibilities of teaching by experiencing the job firsthand. When I taught second grade, I experienced students with various learning needs. A teacher’s role is to meet students where they are, and it can be difficult when every single student is different. I had students who were reading chapter books and others who were still learning to read. I had students who were struggling with addition and subtraction, while others were speeding through multiplication and division. Learning is not a one-size-fits-all system....

As the town motto goes, “Williamsburg Feels Like Home.” However, that home feels a bit sadder following last week’s devastating blaze that left a significant swath of businesses along Main Street between Second and Third streets destroyed. It also left several people without housing, who lived in upstairs apartments over those businesses. For those that don’t know, the fire broke on Jan. 20 about 10 p.m. apparently at or above the Law Offices of Croley and Foley. It quickly spread to other incredibly old, but beautiful buildings along Main Street utterly destroying several. Accountant Donna Guilkey and attorney Kim Frost lost their office along with Associates in Eyecare, Shale Oak Wine Tasting...

Ever since Terry Forcht and Don Estep partnered together to launch this publication nearly 40 years ago, the goal has always been for coverage to remain hyper-local. Many talented individuals have helped carry that vision on over the years, all of them from right here in our local community. This past week, our paper was recognized with a first place finish at the 2025 Kentucky Press Association Excellence in Newspapers Awards banquet. It was the ninth time in the past decade that we have received the recognition, which is a testament to the hard work of everyone who has been on staff in that amount of time. Whether it be news...

Late last week, I received an e-mail from Kentucky High School Athletic Association Media Relations Director Brian Milam that included some interesting details from the Association’s latest Board of Control meeting. Among those details was the fact that the board is discussing possibilities for changing the structure of the annual high school football playoffs. Currently, the first two weeks of the playoffs are set in stone. Beginning in round three, pairings are decided based on the most current RPI rankings. The proposed change would have RPI coming into play beginning in round two. The e-mail that I received explained it like this, “One concept to consider is using RPI-based pairings starting...

Like most drunk drivers, Matthew Paul Croley isn’t an evil guy. He doesn’t have a rap sheet a mile long. He would help a friend if he could, and he did not set out to hurt anyone. Thursday, he told jurors in his wanton murder trial that he regrets what he did. The prosecutor doesn’t doubt that he was sincere. I don’t doubt that he was sincere either. This doesn’t change the fact that if not for Croley’s actions and a “litany” of bad decisions, as the prosecutor Ronnie Bowling put it, then young Patrick Flores would likely still be alive today. On Jan. 31, 2024, Croley killed the two-year-old Flores on...

Changes have been made this year when you enter Gilliam Gymnasium at Corbin High School for a basketball game. Originally, an intended entrance to the gymnasium was built on the front of the school facing Synder Street. It was used for a short while, but after finding it insufficient a decision was made to close it years ago. This year the school has reopened it and is using what was deemed a poor way to enter then. During the many years of broadcasting Corbin Redhound basketball and attending the games, I have been in every gym in the 13th Region and many in the 12th Region, plus others throughout the state....

Throughout this week’s edition, readers will find content related to the now underway 2026 legislative session. We aim to continue providing coverage of happenings from the General Assembly on a weekly basis between now and when the session wraps in March, so be sure to follow along for those updates. For now, I’d like to point out a few specific bills that have caught my eye. House Bill 227 – Rep. Matt Lockett (R, 39th District) is the primary sponsor of this bill, which seeks to create new sections of the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) to “establish requirements to protect minors from AI companion platforms and social media platforms using...

Well, we made it. We successfully navigated another hectic holiday season and now we are just days into yet another New Year. This is a time both for reflection on what was, and more importantly, to look ahead to what the coming weeks and months hold in store for us all. I have learned that looking ahead can be tricky. On one hand, I think that you have to stay mindful of certain possibilities and at least try to be prepared for whatever curve balls life may throw your way. With that being said, you also can’t allow yourself to ruminate on what those curve balls might look like, or...

On New Year’s Eve, my wonderful wife, Cecelia, got a phone call from her dad that we had been expecting to get any time. Her 101-year-old grandmother, Mary Updike, had passed away after spending the past two weeks in a nursing home. For most of her life though, she had lived out on her own in rural West Virginia, in the home where she raised her two children. About six or seven years or so ago she went to live with my wife’s parents, George and Ruth, for a short time before going to live with Cecelia’s aunt, Carolyn. Grannie, as many of us in the family called her, was a character....