Ancestry Library Edition is the largest family history site online with over 5 billion names in worldwide historical records and genealogy. With approximately 5,000 mini-databases including key collections such as U.S. Federal Census images and indexes from 1790 to 1930, and a thousand of other resources, the premiere genealogy web resources are at your fingertips.  It has unparalleled coverage of the United States and the United Kingdom, including census records, vital records, church, court, and immigration records, as well as record collections from Canada and other areas. This collection of more than 5,000 databases and four billion names is essential to having a broad genealogy collection and is a valuable tool for every genealogy researcher.

“We are very pleased to offer this premium service to family researcher from around the area,” Library Director Stephen D. Bowling said.  “We invite the experienced researcher, the new family history searcher, or anyone that might be curious about their family’s past to stop by and try these new research tools.”

The Breathitt County Public Library is located at 1024 College Avenue and is open six days a week to serve the information need of the people of the City of Jackson and all of the people of Breathitt County.  Contact the Breathitt County Library at (606) 666-5541 to learn more about this important community resource.

Rogers Scholars Explorers (Click image to enlarge)

The 120 students are members of the 2010 classes of the Rogers Scholars and Rogers Explorers, which are youth programs of The Center for Rural Development, known as The Center. They picked up trash in downtown Williamsburg, at Green River Lake and at Lake Cumberland.

“I appreciate these students for volunteering with PRIDE this summer, and I hope they are now motivated to continue caring for the environment and serving others,” said PRIDE’s Karen Engle. “They were selected for these youth programs because they have shown great potential to make our region an even better place to call home. We are pleased to partner with The Center to arrange service projects that encourage their long-term commitment to their communities.”

The Center’s youth programs nurture skills in leadership, technology, entrepreneurship and community service. Through competitive processes, participants are selected from 42 counties in southern and eastern Kentucky. The Rogers Scholars, who will be seniors this fall, spend one week at The Center in Somerset. The Rogers Explorers will be ninth-graders this fall, and they spend three days and two nights at The University of the Cumberlands, Lindsey Wilson College or Eastern Kentucky University.

The PRIDE Volunteer of the Month program recognizes hard work and dedication to the PRIDE initiative. With corporate sponsorship from TECO Coal, WYMT-TV airs commercials about each PRIDE Volunteer of the Month. The 12 Volunteers of the Month are considered for PRIDE’s annual Tony Turner Volunteer of the Year Award.

“Volunteers are the backbone of PRIDE,” said Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-5). “We wouldn’t be where we are without our volunteers. More than 260,000 volunteers have helped with PRIDE cleanup and education projects. We want to thank TECO Coal for helping PRIDE give these generous people the recognition they deserve.”

June 30, 2010, Rogers Scholars volunteering near Conley Bottom Marina on Lake Cumberland – In Photo:

Kendra Taylor, Bell County High School

Merry  Osborne, Breathitt County High

Kayla  Atwood, Casey County High School

Baylee Shofner, Green County High School

Faith VanMeter, Green County High School

LaNeika Baker, Jackson County High School

Noelle Banks, Knott County High School

Destini  Engle, Corbin High School

Lauren Rose, Knox Central High School

Lakean Duff, Sheldon Clark High School

Cara Bell Preece, Sheldon Clark High School

Keisha Taylor, McCreary County High School

Meredith Thompson, Monroe County High School

Layla McKenzie, Morgan County High School

Ciara Christian, Owsley County High School

Divya Desai, Hazard High School

Emily Cox, Somerset Christian School

Kayla  Janbakhsh, Southwestern High School

Allison Hicks, Wayne County High School

Emily  Rose, Whitley County High School

Kyle Mann, Adair County High School

Joseph Hamblin, Breathitt County High

Conor Childers, Estill County High School

Josh  Akers, South Floyd High School

Hunter  Middleton, Harlan County High School

Donavon McClure, South Laurel High School

Logan Finley, Lawrence County High School

Josh Marcum, Lawrence County High School

Austin Adams, Somerset High School

Derek Puerto, Southwestern High School

Cameron Merrick, Southwestern High School

Ben Lake, Rockcastle County High School

Will Bradley, Rowan County Senior High

Colby  Allen, Russell County High School

Hunter  Pelly, Taylor County High School

Dillon Staples, Wayne County High School

The Center and PRIDE were created by Congressman Rogers to encourage and assist communities with creating long-term opportunities for their young people. PRIDE’s role is to promote personal responsibility for the environment. The Center addresses several facets of community development, including encouraging Kentucky’s next generation of community and business leaders.   For more information about The Center’s youth programs, please visit www.centertech.com. The PRIDE web site is www.kypride.org.

Ham Project - 1 (Click image to enlarge)

Project Ham - 2 (Click image to enlarge)

As the snow was flying these past few weeks not everyone was home taking a snow day.  Eight students from Breathitt County High School and the Breathitt County 4-H and FFA programs began the process of curing country hams.  Students met at the newly renovated Breathitt County Extension Office where they enjoyed a country ham breakfast.  Once everyone had got enough to eat, Ty Back, Breathitt County 4-H Youth Development Agent went over the history of the Country Ham.   Country hams are as much a part of the heritage and history of Kentucky and the southeastern United States as horse racing and the Civil War.  The climates of these states are ideal for the production of country hams and for that reason this area is now known as the Ham Belt of the US.  The climate in the Deep South is too warm and hams will spoil before they are cured.  Climates in the Northern States are too cold and the hams freeze before the cure can penetrate them.  Kentucky being in the middle allows us to produce some of the best cured hams in the nation. 

Last year at the Kentucky State Fair, the prize winning 15 lb. 6 oz. ham sold for a record breaking total of $1.3 Million dollars.  That equals $83,333 per pound!  These students won’t be competing for the big prize money, but their hams will be in competition at the Kentucky State Fair along with other 4-H’ers from all over the state.  The students will be graded on the ham itself, as well as their presentation of a speech.  The topic for the speech is always given so that the students will be on a level playing field for the speech portion.  This year’s speech topic is “How to Market and Sell a Country Ham”.   Students from Breathitt County will be getting hands on experience in this topic with the new Farmer’s Market that is set to open in the summer near Quicksand.  Students who participated in the Country Ham program and choose to do so will be able to sell their country hams at the Farmer’s Market at no cost to them.  With all this experience maybe someday one of the million dollar hams will be sold by someone who began curing hams during a 4-H Project right here in Breathitt County. 

Those participating this year are Josh Collins, Jonathan Collins, Darryl Cole, Mac Miller, Darren Campbell, Angela Deaton, and Kim Barnett and Blue Ribbon and Category Champion winner from the 2009 KY State Fair 4-H Country Ham Contest – Hanna Stewart.   The Breathitt County 4-H and FFA programs are proud of these individuals and look forward to supporting them throughout the project.

Nancy K. Allen

NKA: The same five kids are back as in the original book. In this sequel, James is the main character and is telling the story. Dead fish are floating in Troublesome Creek. Stinnnnky! The kids don’t want to swim with dead fish so they swing across the creek and land on the opposite bank. One landing triggers a rockslide. The mountain looks like it’s yawning as the kids stare into a cave. Naturally, they’re curious so with flashlight in hand they journey into the dark underground. 

LS: I smell trouble brewing. 

NKA: Nancy laughs. Lots of trouble brewing, from getting lost, to fluttering, flapping bats, to finding strange rock made of metal. The kids carry their loot to the Troublesome Creek Museum where they discover the rocks are actually Minnie balls, bullets used by Civil War soldiers, about 150 years ago. 

Happy Birthday (Click image to enlarge)

Troublesome Creek (Click image to enlarge)

Truth About Princesses (Click image to enlarge)

LS: When you imagined the story, Trouble in Troublesome Creek, do you start writing immediately or did you let it simmer into development?

NKA: My editor called saying she wanted to publish another Troublesome Creek Kids story and would like to have a “green” book, an environmental story. She suggested something dealing with water pollution. So many books are available on trash as the source of pollution, I wanted to go a different direction and, in addition, include a sense of mystery to the story. I played around with different ideas but nothing clicked. I mentioned a few ideas to my husband, Larry. He suggested the plot, which was a story his grandmother told him about Civil War soldiers hiding out in caves in eastern Kentucky.   

As soon as I had the basic plot, I began to outline the story and developed a beginning and ending. The middle of the book always comes last in the outline stage. If I can’t figure out a plausible ending, I don’t need to waste my time on developing a middle. I know it seems strange that the outline doesn’t go from the beginning to the middle to the end. Mysteries are written the same way—figure out the ending first.

(Click image to enlarge)

(Click image to enlarge)

Xadrian Rollan Todd Fugate was born on October 20, 2009. He weighed in at 7lbs 3.5oz and was 19inches long. He is the son of P.J. Fugate and Jonneatha Boggs. His maternal grandparents are John and Martha Boggs and his paternal grandparents are the late Robert “Bob” Fugate and Jack and Diane Fugate.

The Jr. Red Cross has been busy during December and January. We started off with a toy drive on Dec. 5^th at Wal-Mart.  We also participated in the Downtown Christmas Parade.  On December 11^th and 12^th, we helped the First Church of God with their Christmas give away for families in need.   We helped families gather furniture, food, clothing, toys, household items, etc. that they needed.  We also helped work the Santa Land making sure that each child received a gift from Santa. On December 21^st through 23^rd, we worked on our own Christmas project at the National Guard Armory.  We helped families find furniture, food, clothing, toys, household items they needed.  We also had presents for each child.  On December 29^th, we held a New Year’s Party for the Senior Citizens.  We played games and winners took home prizes.  Each person received a lap blanket from the Junior Red Cross.  We had a count down to noon. Everyone had party hats and beads to wear.  As we did the countdown to noon, everyone blew their party horns.  We also had a New Year’s cake for everyone to enjoy. We would like thank the Senior Citizens for a fun day.  We hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.
Right now, we are selling Krispy Kreme donuts to raise money so we can continue to help our community.  If you have not bought any yet, please contact any Junior Red Cross member to place your order.

March 18, 1937 – January 25, 2000

Ten years have gone by since you left us.  We will never stop missing you and your caring, helpful ways.  Many people still speak of how you touched their lives.

All your family

Autism is not the final word (Click image to enlarge)

According to the latest statistic, 1 in 150 children in America have autism. In the Seventy’s the number of children with Autism was 1 in10,000. There is no consensus in the scientific community for what causes Autism or why there has been such a huge increase from the Seventy’s to now.   One thing is for sure though, the parents of autistic children are not content with waiting twenty years for a consensus. 

            If the national statistic is correct, it is quite possible that there are 100 children in Breathitt county with autism.  I am the parent of one of those children.  My son’s name is Jonathon.  Jonathon seemed like a normal baby until after about 2 years old.  At this point he regressed until he had no language and was totally withdrawn from everyone around him.  One time, our family decided to go play at a local park.  Jonathon loves the park.  There were two other children playing as well.  Jonathon followed them around and did his best  to play with them.  But they could not understand him and left him behind.  Jonathon began to cry in desperation.  It broke my heart.  This was one of the last times that Jonathon would attempt to play with another child his age.  

Autism is not the final word (Click image to enlarge)

          Five years have passed.  Painful memories still exist.  Question of why still loom.  Jonathon is still autistic.  But something has changed.  My wife and I have progressed from shock to blame to focusing on recovery.  Surprisingly, we have discovered that recovery is not something that needs to occur only in Jonathon, but in us as well. After much research and attempting different kinds of therapy, we discovered the Son-rise Program at Autism Treatment Center of America. (the website is autismtreatmentcenter.org)  This program is unique in so many ways.  The Autism Treatment Center’s strategy is to first deal with the attitude the parents have toward their autistic children and then to provide the tools necessary for the parents to direct their child’s Son-rise Program.

            The Son-Rise program is a home based therapy that utilizes what is called a “play room.”  There is only two people in the play room, the autistic child and whoever is working with that child.  The therapy is “child-centered” and based on play.  We have been doing our program for a little over a year.  Jonathon has made so many changes. His eye contact has improved dramatically.  He interacts with us much more.  Jonathon was at one time completely nonverbal, but now he is beginning to tell us what he wants.  We are learning to love Jonathon because he is our son.  We live for the moment with Jonathon and not for the future. Every small step is a giant victory.

            However, there is one thing of which we are in great need. Volunteers!  In order for our program to be highly effective, it depends on the efforts of an entire team of caring adults.  If you are interested in volunteering your time or would like more information about this type of therapy, please call Jason smith at 606-653-3830 or email jsmith@kmbc.edu.