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You can find similar stats in Texas counties as well, but they don't get stigmatized/defined so much by it. We have a rental property on a fairly decent street in Austin, but I could take you just around the corner and you'd see something that resembles poverty in a third world country. Not something I expected here or even in the poorest of counties.
EKY has poverty, no one is denying that. But, the description the poster provided gives the impression that that's all there is. That's not true, and I have to wonder why it was presented. If people actually went to EKY, I think they'd see very nice homes, neighborhoods and business structures they simply weren't expecting.
67% of the people in Bell County are not below the poverty level according to the chart. Now, just being above the poverty level isn't the goal. A good living is, no doubt. Just like it is everywhere. Bring in industry, but don't do a disservice to the people. Furthering negative images of EKY and denying the positive won't bring business there. It not only hurts people who are below the poverty line - it hurts those who are above it.
Pull out those stupid statistics all you want. Bell County is a nice place overall. It's a rural area, you cannot expect fancy stuff like Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana stores and mansions on every corner in small rural areas. DUH!
Middlesboro is a decent enough little town (they even have a Ryan's steakhouse - good memories eating there growing up) but beyond that along the highway and some of the side roads I've been on, it's getting depressing fast. Why should people leave numerous cars and school buses just to rust out and rot in a field? Why not tear a building down before it just collapses, and if it does, why leave it there?
It's mostly an issue of people being unwilling to clean up their property. I've noticed this a lot in all of Appalachia, with junk cars in the yard, a fridge on the porch, trash piling up, etc. To me, it shows laziness and a lack of pride to not even clean up the garbage.
People who do not live in East Ky but spend a lot of time adding to the stereotyping of us need to put that time into visiting and helping clean up the poverty and drug problems and the residents in their own cities, counties and states. It is like closing one's eyes to their own problems while peeking through their fingers at the same problems in East Ky because of the wide spread stereotyping of a rural, sparsely populated part of the state that everyone wants to see only the problems not the accomplishments in fixing the problems.
East Ky is working on its problems as many of the posters have pointed out here. We are busy taking care of our problems while many who do not live here seem to be busy insulting us. BTW I have a daughter who lives outside Indianapolis, I came from the Cincy, Dayton area and I have family all over this nation who send me nice pictures of the accomplishments and beauty of their area , but also has sent me some of the areas that they would never go to alone because of the drug and underachievers who live there. Those folks sure could use some help at least with cleaning up around their homes. Must be just lazy dopeheads with no education or ambition.
Of course Diane Sawyer would not be interested in filming those parts of anyplace else, because the toothless , trashy uneducated lazy "pillbillies" according to some posters here are already the "famous" as far as ratings go.
Since I have a sort of dual citizenship with Colorado and Kentucky, I drop in on this forum from time to time just to see what the folks "back home" are up to. Some time back I posted here about moving back to the state of my birth and my heart. I got lots of great feedback and many forum members suggested I consider relocating to Berea. I'm still very interested in Berea, but I got to wondering about Williamsburg where I still have family - distant family, but family all the same. Also, I really like being up in the mountains if possible, and as a child I loved it went my Daddy took me up there to visit family. This was a VERY long ago, though. I can remember passing by houses that featured a refrigerator or a washing machine just sitting on the front porch. When I asked my Dad why people wouldn't just put their fridge in the kitchen like everyone else, he told me that everyone didn't have electricity yet and people like to show their neighbors that they could afford to buy modern appliances even if they couldn't actually use them just now! I remember Williamsburg as a nice little town with a river running through it, although my uncle informed me that you could no longer fish in it thanks to pollution from the mines and such.
So what's Williamsburg like now? How about the rivers and hills surrounding it? Is Peabody and the rest still running amok, strip mining the heck out of anything with reclamation never even thought of, be it ever so briefly? Would I have to wait until my Kentucky accent returns before folks would accept me? (my REAL way of speaking always returns within a few weeks when I'm back home in Kentucky) How about housing? What are the rents like? I'd like to get a small home or trailer (clean) with enough land around it to have a veggie garden. I'm NOT interested in a political discussion, just wondering if a Progressive type will still be accepted/make friends in the land of Rand Paul. How about that tiresome race "thing"? When I was growing up, some of my family were really prejudiced, and even as a child that upset me. I would think though that times have changed in Whitley County just like they have everywhere else.
Thoughts?
PS I love bluegrass music - love it! Which is the best town (Berea or Williamsburg) to go hear authentic local bluegrass groups play live?
You give us a web site that can't even correctly spell the name of the largest city in Bell County and you expect someone to believe any of their "so called" facts? Well, after all it was a US Government website, everyone knows you can't believe the Government any more.
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