FCCLA students are pictured with performers from the February 8 assembly

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

The Powell County Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Chapter recently partnered with the Powell County Youth Center, the Fraternal Order of Police and Whitaker Bank to present an anti-bullying assembly at the high school on February 8.

The assembly was presented by Seven Hills Church from Northern Kentucky.

“We had seen the program previously at another FCCLA event. We saw that it was geared towards high school students and that it was fun and interactive so we thought high school could enjoy and benefit from it,” Kaylee Lane said.

“It’s called Stop the Violence named after the national program catering towards stopping peer to peer violence verbally, emotionally and physically,” Noah Perry said. “People were having fun when it was time to have fun but whenever we got towards the middle of the program and started talking about serious stuff it was dead silent and it clearly had the audience captivated.”

FCCLA students say they thought the program would be response to the results of recent safety survey completed by those attending the high school.

“We had a safety survey in school that recently came up. We don’t think that bullying would be a issue but the survey reflected of the vast majority of people that go here had either been bullied or thought there was areas where people where bullying more often,” Perry said. “So we thought it would be good to take on some sort of activity to mitigate that.”

“There wasn’t enough reporting of bullying so we were thinking that this might be one way of encouraging people to increase reports of bullying so that it can get handled in our schools,” Lane said.

FCCLA students say the program was FCCLA Student Taking Action with Recognition (STAR) event which are competitive events in which members are recognized for proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual project, leadership skills and career preparation.   

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

CSEPP Director Kevin Babcock, Powell County Judge Executive James Anderson, Magistrate Chad Patton, Magistrate Timmy Tipton, Laura Young with Powell County Schools and Powell County Ambulance Service Director Nathan Hall.

The Powell County Fiscal Court announced the purchase of TraumaMan training system on February 1

The TraumaMan training system was purchased for $30,000 with funds from provided by the CSEPP and will allow for continued education of Emergency Medical Services personnel and improve d readiness to respond to cases of an emergency in Powell County.

Powell County CSEPP will be working alongside with Kentucky Emergency Management and FEMA  to collaborate with the Powell County Ambulance Service and Powell County High School’s HOSA Club to provide training.

“We are looking at spending somewhere around $100,000 this fiscal year on collaborative efforts between the Ambulance Service and the school system, this will help our paramedics here locally to enhance their skills,” Babcock said. “It’s an expensive but useful tool to bring us to the next level a lot of people around us don’t have access to this kind of equipment or expertise.”

“This will ensure that we deliver the best medical treatment for our citizens today and prepare the next generation,” CSEPP Director Kevin Babcock said. “As the CSEPP program replaces medical equipment, the partnership will allow outdated but still usable items to be used for training at the high school.”

“We are going to continue partner with the schools so interested students are prepared for a future in the medical field, they’ll gain access to real world equipment and assist in the annual CSEPP exercise,” Babcock said. “This will give them a better understanding of the need for preparation and training purposes, ensuring the safety of our community.”

Powell County Fiscal Court members says they are dedicated to providing opportunities that better the emergency response in Powell County and will continue to work to seek the funding to maintain highly trained and equipped personnel to respond and assist its citizens.

“The key is that we are making the county better and safer,” Babcock said.  “The fiscal court has done a wonderful job of backing the Ambulance Service and CSEPP program to make sure that we are both meeting our needs.

Teresa Stidham is pictured receiving a check from her brother-in law, Stacy Stidham, who informed the organization about the TransCanada-ColumbiaGulf Community Investment Program. Also pictured is Stidham’s foster dog, Darci, who is available for adoption by contacting Friends of Powell County’s Pets.

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

The Friends of Powell County Pets was recently awarded a $7,000 donation by TransCanada-ColumbiaGulf on January 26.

“They have a huge company in the United States and Canada and the company is always looking to make what they call community investments. The local station here in Stanton made it known to people that the company had a grant available and that they were willing to invest in the community,” Stidham said. “It just took somebody to apply letting them know that we are a non-profit in need of help and to ask for the money. We were very fortunate to be able to take advantage of what they were willing to offer.”

The organization plans to give the funding to the Powell County Animal Shelter to improve the shelter’s facilities.

“It is a challenge to house the amount of strays and abandoned dogs in this county because there is no more room in the building we want to expand the outside lot,” Teresa Stidham said. “The dogs have no room for exercise without someone to physically take them for a walk. We want to fence the area that is available which is still just a small spot. We want to provide another carport to cover the kennels outdoors and to provide extra kennels outside with concrete.”

Stidham says that the Friends of Powell County Pets and the Animal Shelter both are grateful to be chosen for the donation.

“We are extremely grateful because we are such a rural shelter that not a lot of people know about us even in our own county. People don’t even know were we are located so it’s hard to get attention and to get traffic from good adoptive owners who are looking for a pet,” Stidham said. “We are extremely grateful to be able to make these improvements and for people to know that we are here and that we do need help so it’s a big deal for both our organization and the shelter.”

The Friends of Powell County’s Pets is an official not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, as defined and approved by the Internal Revenue Service.

One hundred percent of donations and grant monies received by Friends of Powell County’s Pets are used to directly support the care of homeless cats and dogs in Powell County and to facilitate their transportation to no-kill facilities in the United States and Canada.

Care includes emergency and acute veterinarian care, vaccinations, heart-worm treatment and prevention, internal and external parasite treatment and prevention, spay or neutering, and treatment of communicable infectious illnesses among cats and dogs.

The organization also strives to educate the community about the importance of spaying and neutering while providing low-cost spay and neuter clinics.

If you would like additional information you contact Friends of Powell County’s Pets by calling  606-481-9430 or by emailing fopcpky@gmail.com.

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

The Powell County Fiscal Court held a special meeting on January 18 at the Powell County Courthouse.

Residents living on and around Virden Ridge spoke to the court about their opposition a proposed construction-demolition debris landfill to the area.

“I lived there (Virden Ridge) my whole life as my kids and my grandkids have. I don’t want any of them to be breathing asbestos or any of the things that will be blowing in the air,” David Hawkins said.

“It would be in my front door. We would share the entryway to that property so it’s personal to me and I don’t want to have to look at anything like that,” Bridget Sebastian said. “The biggest concerns that I think the majority of us have is that mention of a landfill when you look at our property values if I was buying a piece of property and there was a landfill close by I wouldn’t want that property and I don’t want my property value to go down as I believe many of my neighbors that have lived around Virden Ridge for a longtime would feel the same way.”

Sebastian told the court she also had reservations about dump trucks along with large equipment traveling on a road the size of Virden Ridge.

“I hope that if you all have any decision making power that we will not have this in our community. I would like to see my property value go up and not down,” Beckie Woods said. “For the people who have been there their whole lives they don’t want to lose their investments and it’s not just a money issue it’s also a health issue.”

“I just don’t want to start to see my community to decline its a beautiful area and we need to start showcasing that,” Woods said.

You all are preaching to the choir when it comes to me I highly opposed to that proposal at that location and you all have my sympathy,” Powell County Judge Executive James Anderson said. “I’ve been a proponent of planning and zoning and it’s people such as you all that I have desire to try to protect your property values and it doesn’t devalue because of something your neighbor is doing.”

“This is a prime example of without planning and zoning that if we don’t step up locally and do some of things that we need to do that we are stuck with old statues,” Anderson said. “As we are currently sitting we are vulnerable to a lost of these planning and zoning issues and passing this ordinance will give us the ability to hopefully to have a local say,”

“I’m with you guys and this is why we are putting this ordinance in place so that we can have some sort of control,” Magistrate Mike Lockard said.

The court approved the second reading of site ordinance #18-29-07 regulating the siting of waste management facilities in Powell County.

The ordinance prohibits constructing or operating a solid wast management facility including construction/demolition sites until approval has been obtained by the Powell County Fiscal Court.

Powell County Emergency Medical Services Director Nathan Hall spoke to the court about updates about the ambulance service. Hall told the court the department recently had a vehicle that was damaged in a hit-and-run accident while transporting a patient in Lexington. The county’s insurance had covered the claim and issued the county a check.

The court voted to pass a motion to accept a check in the amount of $4,044 and to spend an estimated $3,800 making the necessary repairs to get the vehicle back in operation.

“If at all possible I would like for the Lexington Police if they can just send us a clip if nothing else just so we can send it to the insurance company,” Anderson said. “We can say that it’s a hit-and-run but all those intersections are under video surveillance so I would rather have that just to prove that we’re not trying to pull something or anything like that.”

The court also took the following action:

The court passed a motion to appoint Rodney Barnes Jr. to the Beechfork Water Commission.

The court passed a motion to appoint John Barker to the Beechfork Water Commission.

The court approved paying the bills submitted for payment as they were presented to the court.

The next regular scheduled meeting of the Powell County Fiscal Court will be held on February 18 at 6 p.m. in the Powell County Courthouse.

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

The Powell County Board of Education held a regular scheduled meeting on January 14 at the Powell County Middle School Library.

Powell County Judge Executive James Anderson presented the board with a Proclamation recognizing the month of January as School Board Recognition Month in Powell County.

Powell County Superintendent

“We certainly appreciate everything that you do for our students and I would like to add my thanks for the time and effort that you all put into this part of our community,” Powell County Schools Superintendent Anthony Orr said.

Representatives from

CCE and PCMS were identified as TSI schools based off of performance of students with disabilities during state testing.

Stanton was identified as a TSI school because of the performance of students receiving free or reduced lunch during state testing.

Clay City Elementary Teacher Kim Hearne told the board the school was making necessary changes to meet it’s goal of reducing the percentage of students testing at the novice level in reading from 65 percent to 35 percent. She told the board the school also had a goal of reducing the number of students testing at the novice in the subject of math from 63 percent to 35 percent.

Hearne told the board CCE would be implementing co-teaching models with other schools in the district who performed at a higher level as well as using evidence based research to find ways to reach the students.

Stanton Elementary School Principal James Crase told the board that school was also using co-teaching models, interim assessments and a focus on professional learning communities to develop lesson plans for students with free or reduced lunch to raise those students test scores.

Powell County Middle School Principal Ashley Randall told the board that the middle school was likewise using professional learning communities to collaborate with administrators district wide and using evidence based interventions to update the schools co-teaching models with other schools  and data analysis to monitor students individual progress.

“Our staff works really hard and at the middle school it’s really difficult because your going from a smaller number of kids in elementary schools and pushing everybody in there together and it’s huge numbers,” Special Education Director Debbi Rose said. The staff have really adapted and very open to sit down as a group and to take part in all the planning involved to implement new programs and they’ve done a really good job they’ve got a pretty big uphill climb but I believe they’re on the right track and really proud of them.”

“The work that we are focused on is evidence based and it’s something that we’ve started a long time ago and we are still on those plans because it’s slow moving and it’s the only way that we can get the work done,” Orr said. “We got to make sure that this work gets moved from the principals brain down to the brains of teachers and then into brains and hearts of all our students and in some ways that’s the hard part so we are going to keep pushing and talking about these same things over and over.”

“We are making progress and I am very excited about that,” Orr said.

The board took the following actions:

The board selected John Brewer as the board Chairperson for 2019.

The board selected John Barker as the board Vice-Chairperson for 2019.

The board selected A.J. Wells as the board Treasurer for 2019.

The board selected Julie Clark as board Secretary for 2019.

The board approved the 2019-2020 school calendar.

The board approved to keep the same staffing allocations formula’s from the previous year.

The board approved December 10 regular meeting minutes.

The board gave it’s approval of payment of claims, monthly financial report, orders of the Treasurer, personnel action and medical leave.

The board approved the superintendent’s travel expense for December.

The board approved an updated job description for gifted and talented teacher.

The board approved for the PCHS football team to apply for a grant.

The board approved emergency certification for a PCHS teacher.

The board approved non-resident contracts for 2019-2020 school year.

The board approvedApproval of overnight trip request for PCHS students after prom.

The next regular scheduled meeting of the Powell County Board of Education will be held on February 18 at the Powell County Middle School Library at 7 p.m.

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

On Monday Miranda King was sworn in as Commonwealth Attorney for Breathitt, Powell and Wolfe counties.

King along with her staff were sworn in by District Judge Kenny Profitt as his last official act before his official retirement.

Miranda King’s staff will include Steve Thomas, Bridget Morton and Jarrett Rose.

Steve Thomas will be working with the office as Commonwealth’s Detective.

Thomas is retired from Kentucky State Police and is a Breathitt County native.

Bridget Morton will be serving as Victim’s Advocate. She brings 18 years of criminal justice experience to the position. Morton is a native of Wolfe County and a resident of Powell County.

Jarrett Rose will be working as an Assistant Commonwealth Attorney. Rose is in private practice in Powell County and is a Powell County native.

Each member of office says they look forward to serving the citizens of Breathitt, Powell and Wolfe counties.

For more information you can visit the 39th Commonwealth Attorney’s Office – 39th Judicial Circuit Facebook page.

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

Hundreds of families came out on December 22 to wait in line to get presents during the annual Christmas with a Smile event held by the Am Vets Post 67 in Clay City.

Christmas with a Smile is an event held each year by members of the Am Vets Post in Clay City to make sure each and every child in Powell County has a wonderful Christmas.

The yearly event is made possible through donations from local businesses and people in the community throughout the year.

Christmas with a Smile benefited approximately 300 children this year. Those in attendance received wrapped presents and were entered for a chance to win a brand new bicycle. Children also had the opportunity to get new and gently used clothing such as coats or additional articles of clothing as they needed.

The event is also made possible by the members of the Ladies Auxiliary and members of the Sons of AmVets.

Operation Christmas with a Smile was first started as a way to meet what most members described as a need in the community during Christmas time and the Am Vets continues to meet that need. As we begin the new year please make sure to give these great men and women thanks for having such big hearts and making it possible for the youth of Powell County to have happy memories of this holiday season.

Powell County Clubs such has FBLA and DECA helped to ditribute over 300 Christmas meals to families on December 21 in Stanton

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

On December 20 over 30 volunteers helped to hand out over 300 meals at the Powell County Emergency Food Bank in hopes of giving everyone a merrier Christmas this holiday season.

Rose Hall who operates the weekly food bank says she keeps a record of families who used the food bank throughout the year and sent out vouchers to all the families.

“We bought over 300 hams and have enough food to feed 300 families,” Hall said. “We want it to very festive we have Christmas carolers, Santa Clause and refreshments we wanted to make it like a Christmas party sorts for people.”

“We have some of the people in line step over and sing Christmas carols with us or they’ll stop and and listen to caroling,” Hall said. “That’s good and what we want for people to be involved and enjoy being a part of the program.”

Hall says that the Christmas distribution program is all made possible because of a donation from someone originally from Powell County that moved away but still sends money every Christmas to make the event possible.     

Volunteers consisted of local elected officials, clubs from the Powell County High School such as FBLA and DECA; and even inmates out of work release.

“We have groups from the high school volunteer, a business in Lexington sent four workers to help distribute, community leaders, people from churches, inmates on work release and all of weekly volunteers,” Hall said. “It’s so wonderful to see everyone come out, to get to see it all come together and to see everyone be so happy to give back to the community.”

Kailey Ansell and Devon Ansell

By CECIL PERGRAM

Times Editor

The Powell County 4-H held its awards banquet on December 14 at Powell County High School.

The event is held each year to not only honor the hard work and dedication of Powell County 4-H members, but to also thank the individual leaders, volunteers, and sponsors that all help to make the 4-H program possible.

4-Her of the Year Awards are given to model 4-H members. Youth who go the extra mile, who take pride in their 4-H work and involvement, and who are using the Powell County 4-H Program to help them grow and develop into extraordinary adults.

The Powell County 4-H Council chooses four members who are divided into two separate groups; Juniors and Seniors. The junior group selects from one person who will receive the award. The Senior 4H’er of the year is awarded to one male and one female.

For the Junior group Nevaeh Bridgeman were chosen as 4-H’er of the Year.

In the Senior group, Devon Ansell and Kailey Ansell and Devon Ansell and were chosen as the respective male and female 4-H’er of the Year.

The Powell County 4-H Council raised more than $20,000 in grants, donations and fundraisers during 2018.

Powell County 4-H Council Members are Amy Ashley, Roberta Frazier, Robert Mason, Ann Smith, Christie Poe, Dana Stone, Michaela Moreland and Pamela Napier. If you see any of the 4-H Council members out in the community be sure to give them a special thanks for providing a wonderful experience for our county’s youth.

If anyone would be interested in joining 4-H or knows someone that may be interested in joining 4-H you can contact the Powell County Extension Office at 606-663-6405 or by e-mailing Valerie Stewart at vstewart@uky.edu

The Powell County High School Lady Pirate Soccer Banquet was held on Friday, December 7 in the PCHS cafeteria.

They finished the season eight wins and six losses. During the past the season the Lady Pirates won a District Championship under new coach William Mynk and assistant coach Terry Mynk.

William Mynk was voted 2018 Coach of the year.

Other awards given to Pirate athletes were the Pirate Pride Coaches Award given to Sam Watkins, Emily Branham was awarded Most Valuable Player, Ashley King was awarded Best Teammate, Most Improved was given to Haylee Crabtree, Sam Watkins was named Top Defensive Player, Hope Rankin was awarded Top Offensive Player, Emma Gina was a named as Newcomer of the Year, Jessica Bentley and Ashley King were named as 110 percent Award recipients, Super Sub Award was given to Ashley Schirmer, Top Goal Scorer was Emily Branham, Assist Leader was Lauren Payne, the Student-Athlete award went to Hannah Barnett.

Captain Awards went to Kinley Miller, Emily Branham and Sam Watkins.

Bri Colwell and Ashley King were named to the All-Region Second Team.

Emily Branham, Lauren Payne, Hope Rankin and Sam Watkins were named to the All-Region First Team.