[Backwoods]

Why should Harlan County apologize for finally having something nice? Did you pay more in taxes because of it? I didn't.
While other counties had nice facilities built, Harlan County hadn't had a new high school since 1966. If the present trend continues, we may have 1,000 students at HCHS in 20 years, instead of the 1,200 we have now. I doubt the halls will look empty, even with only 1,000 students. Would you prefer everyone being shifted to James A. Cawood so that money could be used for another school in Lexington or another road in Somerset?
Only in Harlan County would we have people questioning why we have something nice in our county. We have one of the nicest schools, one of the nicest gyms and will soon have one of the nicest football facilities in the state. It's about time, and I'm happy we have them.

Nobodies questioning why we have something good in Harlan Co.. But I will question the way things are done in Harlan Co.. I'll tell you a little story about how things are done in Harlan Co.. My stepson went to Harlan Co. last year and he has austism so he was in the special education department there where he was given an IEP (individual education plan) to meet this special needs. We took his IEP to a doctor in Lexington to see if it was going to meet his needs. The doctor took one look at it,wadded it up,threw it in the floor and said it was trash and that we as parents were doing him an injustic by submitting him to such incompetency. He told us to get a lawyer and make the school do what was needed to meet his needs. The school said they didn't have the money to hire the therapist.So one therapist has to take on such a gigantic case load that she can't do it all. Turns out,HDE,that the school was getting $9,000 a year in grant money just to help pay for his therapy where he was getting only 30 minutes a month. I wonder where the rest of that money was going? Cause it sure wasn't going to educate our son with autism. Needless to say we took him to another school in the county where he get's all the therapy and counselling he needs and then some. What made us mad,HDE, is that they can build a $3.5 million dollar football field and at the same time not give the special education kid's what they need to make it in life. It's good to have nice things,HDE,if you can afford them and don't have to get them at the expense of other's. Why not build a $2 million dollar field and kick $1.5 towards educating the kid's with disabilities? Also,how is it that HHS can take care of the S.E.kid's and still be a top 10 acedemic school in the state and a top 100 high school in America according to U.S. News and World Report? I say educate the kids and take care of the needy first,then play football. But that's jmho and may not be your's.