Making Connections News Making Connections News

Harm Reduction specialists, law enforcement, business people, faith leaders and directly impacted Kentuckians relayed personal experiences and offered policy advice during Dream.org‘s first event in their Public Health Is Public Safety campaign. The event took place April 19, 2023 at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park in eastern Kentucky. The campaign goals are to bring together communities across Kentucky to work for more effective drug policies, substance abuse recovery programs and harm reduction efforts. About 75 people attended this kickoff meeting. It was organized by John Bowman, who lives in eastern Kentucky and is Dream.org’s Kentucky Campaign Coordinator. Dream.org is a national organization working for criminal justice reform, climate solutions, and job opportunities for people in places that are often overlooked.

Substance abuse continues as a serious public health crisis in Kentucky. In fact, 2021 saw a 14.5% rise in drug overdose deaths. Harsh penalties for drug-related felony offenses enacted during the War on Drugs are a major reason Kentucky has very high rates of incarceration Research clearly shows that criminal drug laws neither prevent substance use nor address substance use disorder and overdoses. Advocates hope that members of the Kentucky Legislature will take steps to reduce incarceration and increase recovery opportunities in the 2024 General Assemly

A Production of Appalshop Community Media Initiative and WMMT.org.

Feb. 26, 2023 was the 51rst anniversary of the Buffalo Creek Flood, a coal mining disaster that killed 125 people and left 4000 homeless in this Logan County, WV community. This episode features audio from "Buffalo Creek Revisited," a 1985 documentary film produced by Mimi Pickering that looks at the impact of the disaster ten years after the flood, a story that is particularly relevant as many are questioning how, or if, Eastern Kentucky will recover after the devastating floods of July 2022. That is followed by a powerful remembrance of the disaster by survivor Billy Jack Dickerson from the 50th anniversary event held at Man High School on Feb 26, 2022.

In Sept. 2022, the Bureau of Prisons announced that it was reviving a plan to build and operate a federal correctional institution and prison camp in Letcher County, KY, an area that was devastated by flooding on July 28, 2022. This episode shares the comments, both pro and con, that members of the public delivered to Bureau of Prisons representatives regarding bringing this facility to the county.

Plans for a prison originated in 2006 when Congress authorized a study for a high security facility which was eventually approved for a site in Roxanna, KY, in 2018. However, that plan was withdrawn in 2019. Now the Bureau of Prisons is proposing a medium security prison and work camp and began the process of creating a Draft Environmental Impact Statement with a public meeting on November 17 at Letcher County Central High School. One hundred-fifty people signed in at the high school and another 54 were attending by way of the internet.

While some supporters said they thought the prison would bring jobs and economic revitalization to the area, others commented that $500 million, the cost of building the prison, would be better used in other ways especially rebuilding housing and infrastructure destroyed in the flood. According to FEMA data, 27% of Letcher County homes suffered damage, with 20% uninhabitable without repairs.

Comments from the meeting have been lightly edited. All speakers received applause from the audience but that has been edited out for time’s sake.

Information about the proposed prison is available at https://www.proposed-fci-letchercountyky.com/.  There will be additional public comment periods as Draft Impact Statements are developed.

November is National Diabetes Month and our Making Connections News show at 6 pm tonight is sharing stories of eastern Kentuckians who are making lifestyle changes to prevent or slow down type 2 diabetes. Many are participating in Diabetes Prevention Programs that are supporting their efforts, even during COVID! One in seven Kentuckians have been diagnosed with diabetes. It is estimated that 1 in 3 have elevated blood sugar levels that could lead to diabetes and may not know it! Listen up and find more stories and information at www.preventdiabeteseky.org, a project of Appalshop CMI and the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

This episode is looking to the future with interviews with Diane Wilson about her book “The Seed Keeper,” and Brian Anderson, the leader of the Biden Administration effort to make sure coal communities are not left behind in the transition to cleaner energy. Thanks to Everywhere Radio from the Rural Assembly and AppalachAmerica for sharing these interviews.

Diane Wilson (Dakota) sat down with Rural Assembly Program Associate Tyler Owens during Rural Women Everywhere to talk about Wilson’s most recent book "The Seed Keeper," which follows a Dakota family's struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. During this conversation Wilson and Owens explore where Wilson finds her inspiration, the importance of continuing a tradition of storytelling, and the importance of connection to the earth. Diane Wilson is a writer, speaker, and editor, who has published two award-winning books, as well as essays in numerous publications.

Next AppalachAmerica host Jeff Young asks what Appalachia without coal might become and talks with two individuals who are leading efforts to support a transition to cleaner energy that also rebuilds the region’s green economy. These interviews took place in the spring of 2021 not long after the Biden Administration took office.

Brian Anderson comes from a family that has a generations-long connection to West Virginia coal and fossil fuel development. Jeff Young talks with Anderson about the multi-agency federal working group he’s leading to support a sustainable transition to clean energy, and about his role as director of the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. Also, what might a Green New Deal look like in Appalachia? Jeff talks with design professor Billy Fleming about a project to give form to Appalachian people’s ideas about a more sustainable future.

A potpourri of topics on this episode, beginning with a look at the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program which has the potential to increase broadband access for millions of Americans. From there environmental reporter James Brugger talks with Tom Martin, from WEKU's Eastern Standard, about his research on lagging strip mine reclamation, and Diabetes Prevention Educator Mary Beth Castle shares her own journey towards better health. The program ends with an interview with Kentucky musician Naomi Judd originally broadcast on KET.