[Mister D]

I agree with you strongly on one point Bob and disagree on another.

1) I agree that it is going to be extremely difficult moving forward to get any type of industry to invest money and move jobs to EKY. It’s just not efficient or good economics to move to an area where the roads aren’t great, internet is spotty and the overall infrastructure is lacking.

2) I disagree with some of the comments about Carl D Perkins. He was in Congress before my time so I can’t have a full discussion about what he did rightly or wrongly. But I will say a lot of his programs have really helped my family and others in the region and it’s not always been “entitlements”. My mother who was an English teacher at Johnson County Middle School
had a stroke leaving one side paralyzed when she was 29 years old. She was able to have speech, physical, and occupational therapy all at one place that was less than 5 minutes from our house because of the Carl D Perkins Rehab/Vocational Center in Thelma. My dad was able to get a job at that same center which was a big help to our family considering my mom’s condition and his previous job being in Ashland. Two of my uncles worked for decades at the Carl Perkins Job Corp. A lot of my friends were only able to go to college because of Perkins loans and Pell grants. Many of them have good paying jobs now.

So, I’m not saying that Carl Perkins didn’t hurt the area in some ways but at least on a personal level some of his programs have really helped people in our area.