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Local hotel owner Sudhir Patel, who has also served on the Corbin Tourism Commission for 28 years, was honored for his service to the city by being named a “Corbin Colonel” and given the key to the city. “I was glad to do that,” said Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney who presented Patel with the key and the certificate naming him a Corbin Colonel at a ceremony last Wednesday. “I think we really owed Sudhir that,” McBurney added. Patel said receiving the recognition made him very proud, adding he considers Corbin his hometown. Patel, who was born in India and later moved to Kenya to work in the automobile industry, moved to Corbin in...

To say the new Worship Pastor at Grace on the Hill United Methodist Church in Corbin has had an interesting life is an understatement. He’s overcome a hearing disability to excel as a professional musician. He’s a second cousin to country music legends Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle. He toured for seven years as a stage musician for the likes of Percy Sledge and Stella Parton, among others. “I think that I’m here now at Grace on the Hill … it’s just a God thing,” Michael Hall said only days after starting his new position at the church two weeks ago. Hall met Grace on the Hill Pastor Weyman McGuire in Paintsville. Hall...

Jesus notes in the biblical parable that the mustard seed is the smallest of those planted in the field, but when it grows it becomes “the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” From the smallest things often grow things of enormous grandeur. First Baptist Church of Corbin held a special dedication ceremony Sunday for what members are calling it’s “Mustard Seed” community garden — a series of 12 raised beds located on an empty lot across from the church next to the Corbin Creekwalk. “Like in the parable, we wanted to see something that starts very small...

There is an old adage that when you are not feeling good mentally, the best thing to do is take a walk. Chris West of Newport, North Carolina, is taking that advice a million steps further as he is in on a journey to walk across the United States. As part of that journey, West spent Monday night camped on an embankment behind Corbin City Hall near the CSX train yard. “It has been a really humbling, yet exciting journey,” West said Tuesday morning as he prepared to continue his journey north on U.S. 25. West said he began looking into the idea of walking across the country as he searched for ways...

The Whitley County Sheriff’s Department now officially has a new chief deputy. Sheriff Colan Harrell announced Friday the promotion of Lt. Tim Baker to the rank of Chief Deputy. Baker has worked at the sheriff’s department since Harrell first took office in 2011. Prior to that he was a member of the Corbin Police Department. During his time at the Whitley County Sheriff's Department, Baker has worked at the rank of detective assigned to drug investigations. “Please join us in thanking Chief Deputy Baker for his continued service to the community,” Harrell said in a release. Baker had served as the acting chief deputy since early March following the departure of former Chief Deputy...

One local church dedicated a playground Sunday to the memory of a child that lived only three months and 23 days, but inspired countless people with his indomitable will to live. “Ozzy’s Play Place” is located at New Hope Ministries, located on KY Hwy. 1232 just outside of Corbin, and it was constructed in honor of Oscar “Ozzy” Falkowski following a successful fundraising effort to build the playground. Over 100 people attended Sunday’s ceremony honoring Ozzy and the opening of the new playground. New Hope Pastor Mike Addison said the playground’s construction is a testament to Ozzy’s unifying power over everyone who knew him. “This playground is about unity and what people...

The 2016 event season in Corbin will kick off March 18 with the third annual Corbin Gallery Hop. Tourism Director Maggy Kriebel announced the event during the regular meeting of the Corbin Tourism Commission Tuesday night. Kriebel, who has overseen the event since its inception in 2014, said it has been moved from its August date in an effort to take advantage of people’s desire to get out and about after the cold winter. “The August date has us competing with vacations and other festivals and with the kids back in school,” Kriebel said. “By moving it to March, we hope we can entice people to drop in, check out the band...

The Corbin Primary School Parent Teacher Organization is on a mission to expand the school playground and it received a boost Thursday from a group of “Rugged Redhounds.” Corbin Primary students solicited pledges from family, friends and neighbors to be paid in return for them completing the obstacle course. The students crawled, jumped, balanced, and hopped their way through the Rugged Redhound course set up in the school gymnasium, raising $3,000. In addition, Corbin Pediatrics donated $10,000 that it raised through the sale of t-shirts and other donations toward the project. The PTO is asking for the public’s help to reach its $35,000 goal. Sponsorships are available in amounts of $100, $300, $500...

In the summer of 1993, Kentucky poet George Ella Lyon started working on the piece that would become her award-winning and internationally acclaimed poem “Where I’m From.” It has since become one of the foremost poetry writing models in the world. Lyon, Kentucky poet laureate for 2015-16, is using “Where I’m From” as the central theme of a project that will touch all 120 of Kentucky’s counties. Corbin Public Library has agreed to be the “Where I’m From” organizer for Whitley County, and will be collecting submissions of “Where I’m From” poems to be included on the Kentucky Arts Council’s “Where I’m From” Web page. Poems may be submitted as Microsoft...

Dr. Travis Freeman says the idea about the upcoming “Lights Out Dinner in the Dark” March 14 is to give people a greater appreciation for the kinds of challenges people with disabilities face every day. Freeman, an ordained minister and adjunct professor of religion at the University of the Cumberlands, lost his sight in middle school. His fight to overcome the hurdles that naturally came with sudden blindness were the subject of the feature-length film “23 Blast” and his autobiography “Lights Out: Living in a Sightless World.” He is also president and CEO of The Freeman Foundation — an organization he created to promote the needs and potential of people with...