[RunItUpTheGut]

Let me explain.

As most of you are aware, EKY relies heavily on coal. With this administrations war on coal not ending for the foreseeable future, many miners and people who work in the coal industry will be moving to find work and a better life.

With that said, a lot of schools could see there population take a nose dive over the next decade or so.

With schools like Perry Central already teetering on the brink of 4A/5A, and seeing how Hazard is a big coal mining town and Perry relies a lot on coal, if these students move away with there families, could Coal cause some major changes in the realignment coming up in a couple years, or will it take longer to come to fruition?

Thoughts on other school in this part of the state?

[PaytoPlay]

It could eventually see Belfry drop to 2a.

[Demarcus ware]

I see Harlan County dropping to 4A sometime if things don't change..

Crap seen my new AV GUT, Nice...

[ataclance]

Lol now that's funny D!

To the topic, this is a very valid point and one I hadn't thought about really. This could really affect the KEY landscape no doubt.

[mightydog]

If this does happen, what schools do you think would benefit by getting these players? In other word where in ky would they move to find work, if they stayed in state.

[The Cross Movement]

Interesting question to think about, several years ago I visited McDowell Co. W.Va. not far from Pike Co. Ky. At one time this place was the leading coal producer in the world, fascinating history, to include a very rich sports heritage, one small school there won something like 11 straight basketball titles a national record at the time- Northfork H.S. (no longer exists) the great Penn St and Seahawk RB Curt Warner from a small town there....today the county is virtually a ghost town, a mere shadow of what it was, very, very sad to see, heartbreaking..Coal miners are hard working people and they instill those values in their children. ...their communities brim with pride for their schools and sports..My prayer is God would perserve these communities and be with the people who depend on this industry to put food on the table and provide a roof over their families head...good, honest hard working Americans! !!!God bless the coal miners of Eastern Ky!!!Let's pray any further negative impact Eastern Ky is feeling would stop!!!

[MCMiner247]

Interesting question to think about, several years ago I visited McDowell Co. W.Va. not far from Pike Co. Ky. At one time this place was the leading coal producer in the world, fascinating history, to include a very rich sports heritage, one small school there won something like 11 straight basketball titles a national record at the time- Northfork H.S. (no longer exists) the great Penn St and Seahawk RB Curt Warner from a small town there....today the county is virtually a ghost town, a mere shadow of what it was, very, very sad to see, heartbreaking..Coal miners are hard working people and they instill those values in their children. ...their communities brim with pride for their schools and sports..My prayer is God would perserve these communities and be with the people who depend on this industry to put food on the table and provide a roof over their families head...good, honest hard working Americans! !!!God bless the coal miners of Eastern Ky!!!Let's pray any further negative impact Eastern Ky is feeling would stop!!!

Northfork was insane. From 1974-1981 the Blue Demons won 47 Class "AA"
State Tournament games and NEVER lost a single one. The team had a 90.0% winning
percentage in 15 years of tournament play. At the time, they set the national record
of 8 Straight State Basketball Titles. The sad thing is, the school consolidated in 1985 forming
Mount View.....since '85 I dont believe Mount View has ever won a regional championship
or reached the state tournament. Additionally, just correcting your post man,
Curt Warner was from Wyoming, WV in neighboring Wyoming County. He played at Pineville
which consolidated in 1998 with Mullens to form Wyoming East High School.

But, to the original topic, the current administration in Washington can and will certainly alter the
current system. Lots of the Eastern KY/Southern WV schools will suffer because of it. Sure do hope
things change soon because we need it....bad. Interestingly though,
our enrollment at Mingo Central has increased every year since the school opened in 2011.

BTW, If you wanna see an awesome video highlighting Northforks final, record setting State Tournament win check out the link below. It also shows the bustling community at the time which is a ghost town now.
[Image: http://ww2.roanoke.com//images/nd/northfork6.jpg]

[The Cross Movement]

Your correct McMiner1247 about Warner and Northfork, I drove through Pineville to get to Welch, I thought Pineville was in McDowell my bad, never the less, there were some great athletes to come out of McDowell, didn't Tom Beasely former Steeler come out of McDowell? Back to the topic if something doesn't change yes it will impact the system greatly....

[RunItUpTheGut]

If this does happen, what schools do you think would benefit by getting these players? In other word where in ky would they move to find work, if they stayed in state.

It may not be in KY.
Thats another issue. The overall population of the state could drop and with consolidations, there may not even be enough teams to have 6 class football in 10-20 years.

Let's face it, without Coal, many EKY communities would dissapear. Miners, mechanics, and sales people who were making the best money around because of coal, would lose there jobs, with most of them having no college education, no other places to work where they could keep there homes they use to afford, and no way to keep it going. Its already happening. Sadly, a lot of times, this could turn into either moving away and giving up, to the ultimate desperation of doing illegal things.

The landscape of this state will change vastly. Nobody is going to come in and try and develop around all these mountains and build things because there isnt enough people there to keep it open.

I think over the next ten years, some counties in EKY will be struggling to even hold a local government together. Thats how important coal jobs are.

[TopCat]

Bell co is getting closer to the 2a mark than 3a. Just depends on what everyone else looses. I don't seem them moving down but population is declining. Really sad times for lots of families that are making sad choices of leaving home for jobs.

Harlan co is also losing population as well.

[SKINNYPIG]

It may not be in KY.
Thats another issue. The overall population of the state could drop and with consolidations, there may not even be enough teams to have 6 class football in 10-20 years.

Let's face it, without Coal, many EKY communities would dissapear. Miners, mechanics, and sales people who were making the best money around because of coal, would lose there jobs, with most of them having no college education, no other places to work where they could keep there homes they use to afford, and no way to keep it going. Its already happening. Sadly, a lot of times, this could turn into either moving away and giving up, to the ultimate desperation of doing illegal things.

The landscape of this state will change vastly. Nobody is going to come in and try and develop around all these mountains and build things because there isnt enough people there to keep it open.

I think over the next ten years, some counties in EKY will be struggling to even hold a local government together. Thats how important coal jobs are.

No worries Gut. The federal government will save the day via the mail carrier. There's no place for all our hard working miners to go, therefore, checks will be sent to all. All we have to do is keep our mouths shut, pay more taxes and vote democrat...just the way Washington wants it.

[64SUR]

No worries Gut. The federal government will save the day via the mail carrier. There's no place for all our hard working miners to go, therefore, checks will be sent to all. All we have to do is keep our mouths shut, pay more taxes and vote democrat...just the way Washington wants it.

Come on SKINNYPIG pay your taxes and don't try to blame this coal market on Democrat I work underground for 5yrs in greasy creek and got laid off thank god for an unemployment check.Hell what has Mitch and Rand Paul done for coal nothing.Why his that GO WILLIAMSBURG eriously:

[Demarcus ware]

Come on SKINNYPIG pay your taxes and don't try to blame this coal market on Democrat I work underground for 5yrs in greasy creek and got laid off thank god for an unemployment check.Hell what has Mitch and Rand Paul done for coal nothing.Why his that GO WILLIAMSBURG eriously:

Only 64sur could go on a political rant and at the end of it say Go Williamsburg nicker:

[64SUR]

Only 64sur could go on a political rant and at the end of it say Go Williamsburg nicker:

It's playoff season Demarcus ware :welcome: Come an watch Williamsburg beat Hazard this Friday night :rockon:

[Demarcus ware]

It's playoff season Demarcus ware :welcome: Come an watch Williamsburg beat Hazard this Friday night :rockon:

Pulling for you guys 64.....

[SKINNYPIG]

Come on SKINNYPIG pay your taxes and don't try to blame this coal market on Democrat I work underground for 5yrs in greasy creek and got laid off thank god for an unemployment check.Hell what has Mitch and Rand Paul done for coal nothing.Why his that GO WILLIAMSBURG eriously:

Eeeaaaasy 64, who said anything about unemployment? The coal business and Eastern Kentucky is exactly in the shape Washington wants it in. My bad, you're right, I should not have just blamed democrats, the only thing I left out of my first post was republicans, they share equal blame.

Our government worries more about illegal aliens, getting control of healthcare, foreign countries and other issues before getting Americans that want to work...back to work.

The only thing that has changed in Southeastern Ky over my lifetime is that less people live here, less people work here and no one wants to move here. We do however, have a whole lot more gas stations, doctors, pharmacies and fast food restaurants that thrive. I don't know the answer for this area but, 99 weeks of unemployment checks for laid off miners ain't it. Agree?

[E's Army]

The coal industry is on life support. It is hard to believe it will ever return to its hey day. Eastern Kentucky is bleeding jobs. The population is fleeing for places where there is some hope of a job. The tax bases in the coal communities is dwindling. It will be very difficult for some of the smaller schools to survive and the larger schools will have less and less enrollment. In recent years we have lost Evarts, Cumberland, Whitesburg and MC Napier to consolidation. It looks bleak in the coal communities.

[big blu 2 u]

tva is shutting down 8 coal burning facilities in ky,tn,and alabama.they are replacing them with natural gas.the direction is clear,whos to blame isnt.counties in east ky need leaders with vision and fortitude to push forward with or without coal.chances are population will diminish.

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
I heard that at work Friday.

[E's Army]

I have many friends in the coal industry. This will set the teams in east of 75 back 20 years. I hope we can find something to replace coal jobs but there is nothing on the immediate horizon.

[WillBurg93]

Good discussion Gut. The natural gas industry is growing in eastern kentucky. The jobs that they have provided are about the same pay as coal jobs, but not as many jobs. MCMiners post was great, it made me think of Lynch East Main. I think we will see larger schools going down in class.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Good discussion Gut. The natural gas industry is growing in eastern kentucky. The jobs that they have provided are about the same pay as coal jobs, but not as many jobs. MCMiners post was great, it made me think of Lynch East Main. I think we will see larger schools going down in class.

Natural gas jobs are good only as long as there needed.
I think the problem with natural gas is it doesnt help the local communities the same way coal does. Coal companies around here buy parts, buy equipment, and deal with other local companies (reclamation) and natural gas just doesnt offer the same type of market that coal did.
I think we'll soon find out just how high natural gas will rise once mining really starts shutting down.

Being in my field, Ive researched it time and time again, talked to people who have worked in coal for 40+ years and they all agree that its never been this bad to be in the coal market. I was in Pikeville last year and Hazard a couple of weeks ago, and its amazing how much business has dwindled in those areas. I started working in this field a little over a decade ago in 2002 and the numbers are, quite frankly, scary. Its almost to the point that even a lot of businesses have finally concluded there is no going back to a coal boom. I think (and hope) there will be a coal boom toward the middle to end of the summer next year with the current conditions, but if it doenst happen the way i think it will, you can offcially count coal out.

I think Natural Gas is good for Coal to help competetion, as well as supplement the pricing, but I dont think its an Alternative to coal like this administration wants it to be.

[Kayaker]

I for one know this effect all to well. I will be relocating the first of the year to Wheeling, WV to continue to provide for my family. As a father you must do what is necessary to insure that your children are provided for and are provided a better life than you were. If a person hopes to remain in the coal industry the only choice is to relocate. My guess is in the next 2-5 years you will see a mass exodus of people leaving the coalfields of eastern Kentucky to seek work. It's just the Obama world we live in.

[MCMiner247]

Your correct McMiner1247 about Warner and Northfork, I drove through Pineville to get to Welch, I thought Pineville was in McDowell my bad, never the less, there were some great athletes to come out of McDowell, didn't Tom Beasely former Steeler come out of McDowell? Back to the topic if something doesn't change yes it will impact the system greatly....

Oh ok! No worries...that's very true though, they had quite a few!
I think Tom actually was from Bluefield (Mercer Co.) but I could be wrong.
He went to VT, right?

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
I wonder how this can be reversed and what new businesses we can see come in if the Repubs get the WH back in 2016 and end this EPA nonsense.

Were already seeing a lot of Russian, Japanese, and especially Australian companies buying coal companies around here.

[panther nation]

Working for Csx I've seen the coal movement really falling off over the past several years. With so many people having to relocate. I just don't see how the schools will be able to keep the numbers. I believe that this has played a major part in football in eastern KY being down as it was and could get even worst as time goes along if something isn't done in Washington soon.
Cause with out coal there just isn't a lot of good paying jobs around here. And most of the job around here do depend on coal.

Just remember for all the past 100 years Coal Keeps The Lights On!

[Daddycat27]

BUT, Even with the coal market decrease, Harlan County Schools has seen a SLIGHT increase in enrollment. 20-30 kids this school year (district wide). Again BUT, with TVA going to all natural gas, times will get even worse in EKY!!!!

[MonsterMan]

This is an unusual, but timely thread. The Obama administration has been hard on coal, but what is killing EKY coal is the free market place. EKY coal has not only lost out to natural gas, but also to coal in other regions. Our reserves are to expensive to mine and transport.

The coal areas will decline because our local leaders rode the coal severence money train and used the money for political gain and not for non coal growth.

I think the schools in some areas have seen this already happen and have weathered the storm somewhat. They are in Johnson, Lawrence, Floyd and Haraln Counties. I think the areas that will get hammered will be Pike and Perry Counties, but no county will be exempt.

There will be a mass migration out of the hills and schools will suffer. I see more consolidation and less money to run schools. This will effect sports programs. Fewer smaller teams with less money is not a good thing, but I think one that will happen.