Page 16 Clinton County News Thursday, May 3, 2012 U.S. 127 funding cut prompts another look, and another, and another Hey Beshear - here’s a geography lesson for you By Al Gibson with one spiteful swat of an ink pen, see line - instead it stopped in northern sue in the U.S. 127 rebuilding effort. County isn’t even his home county. Editor/Publisher funding for the project went away - thus Russell County. Senator Williams’ attempt to get our Clinton County News killing any hopes of seeing U.S. 127 fin- Then, a quarter-century later, it final- The most important issue - safety. U.S. 127 project funded wasn’t selfish ished, at least in this current 2012-2014 ly looked as if we might in fact - thanks It was only a couple of years ago on his part - he was only doing what any I reported last week on the develop- plan. to our State Senator - get our U.S. 127 that I covered an accident on that very good Senator is supposed to do - take ment concerning the Kentucky Road After mulling the issue for the past rebuild project in the works. stretch of U.S. 127 in northern Clinton care of the people who live in his district. Plan for 2012-2014 that was finally week, it occurred to me that perhaps our Nope - not this time, either - thanks County that involved a school bus carry- We need that road, and Sen- passed by the Kentucky General Assem- Governor, , simply needs to your snatching of our road project ing 12 kindergarten and pre-school aged ator Williams knows that. bly. a refresher course in Kentucky geogra- funds. students early on the morning of March Bully from Burkesville? - No, we For a brief stretch a couple of weeks phy. Granted, we don’t mine coal like 29, 2010. tend to think of Senator Williams ago, it looked as if after decades and Yes, Governor, it seems you went to your large pocketed Democrat friends in The school bus they were riding in as our “Buddy from Burkesville.” decades of excuses and delays, Clin- the same school as one of your prede- eastern Kentucky, and we don’t ride the was sideswiped by an oncoming pickup Governor Beshear, you are now into ton County was going to realize a long cessors, Governor . kind of horses your snobby thorough- truck. your fifth year as awaited rebuilding of U.S. 127 in the Both of you were apparently taught bred friends ride, but we do matter. Luckily, the article had a happy - have you ever even been to Clinton northern portion of our county - all the that this great Commonwealth is com- We work hard - mostly in the agricul- ending. There were no injuries, and County? I can’t remember it. way to a similar project in southern Rus- prised of 119 counties, and that lowly ture and service industries. Yes, Gov- the system the Clinton County School If you do decide to come see us sell County that would include a new Clinton County simply doesn’t matter. ernor, that steak you are going to enjoy Transportation Director had put in place - don’t drive down here on U.S. 127 - span across the Cumberland River. I covered an appearance by Wallace tonight, might have been raised right worked perfectly. those last 20 miles are far too treacher- Construction has just concluded on Wilkinson when he stood across the here - in Clinton County. Within minutes, the students had ous for a Governor to travel on. the “center section” of the U.S. 127 re- street from the Clinton County Court- We also depend heavily on tourism. been off loaded onto another bus, and As you have said, you delivered Sen- build in Clinton County, referred to as a house on October 26, 1987 - and vowed We’re the only county in the world that were safely on their way to school. ator Williams a sound “whooping” in portion of the Albany Bypass, and now that if he was elected Governor, he was can boast of having shorelines of not Guess why that accident happened, last fall’s general election, but your ac- crews are busy at work moving dirt and going to rebuild U.S. 127 to the Tennes- one, but two of the most attractive lakes Governor Beshear. It’s simple, that tions last week were entirely overboard. rock on the section of the road that will see line. in the nation - Lake Cumberland to the stretch of highway is just too narrow and Your vetoing of our road fund- head south, across a new bridge that Apparently, we Clinton Countians north and Dale Hollow to the south. too winding for our children to safely ing might have been aimed at your spans Spring Creek and on to the Ten- believed him - although we are a 3-1 A good road through Clinton County ride a school bus on. arch enemy Senator Williams - but nessee border. Republican county, we gave Wilkinson could only help boost our tourism trade Yes, that instance turned out okay, it didn’t turn out exactly like that. Thanks to the efforts of our State a rare Democratic win in the general with even increased numbers of boat- but the accident was only six inches shy Instead, your actions were a slap in the Senator - David Williams - the rebuild- election the very next week. In fact, it ers, fishing enthusiasts and vacationers from having a disastrous ending. face of the 10,000 or so people who live ing project that would have included was the first time Clinton County had fa- who want to spend their time - and their The statewide media has la- here in Clinton County - one of the 120 joining the road at the Ky. 90 intersec- vored a Democratic candidate in a gen- money - in our county. beled our Senator with the moni- counties in this great Commonwealth. tion and heading north to the Russell eral election over a Republican nominee We have a hard time getting sup- ker of the “Bully from Burkesville” Bully from Burkesville - No, County line near Wolf Creek Dam, had in a Governor’s race. plies in, our products out, and our visi- but here in Clinton County, we think from where I’m seeing it, the big- been included in the new road plan and Governor Wilkinson’s Kentucky ge- tors convinced that traveling down that differently of Senator Williams. gest bully in state government right at least we would see continued prog- ography was flawed also - he did in fact winding, narrow U.S. 127 is worth the Shucks, often when he runs un- now, is a man from Hopkins County, ress. embark on a major rebuilding project of extra effort just to get to Clinton County. opposed, he ends up being the top who just happens to live in Frank- Then, along came our Governor, and U.S. 127, but it didn’t reach the Tennes- But that’s not the most important is- vote getter on the ballot - and Clinton fort - in the Governor’s mansion. Politics is king of Kentucky road funding The last crooked road By Al Cross $27 million for the U.S. 127 project, and tried to force Beshear to Director, sign it before the Senate would approve the transportation budget, by David Cross Institute for Rural Journalism prompting the standoff that caused a special session. And it was no (Reprinted with permission by the author and Community Issues surprise when Beshear took out the money with a line-item that from the Kentucky Gazette) is legally questionable because the plan isn’t technically an appro- MANNTOWN, Ky. — To fully understand the latest blow-up priation bill. But even if it was so ruled, Beshear could slow-walk or US 127 enters Kentucky from the River at and in the legislature, and the evolution of politics in Kentucky road- even ignore the project. takes a rural course through the Ohio Valley, the Bluegrass, and on building, let’s start at Manntown in southern Russell County, which Williams wasn’t the only legislative leader with big money in the into what is generally considered the Pennyrile until it passes through was never really a town (many Manns lived there) but is where state plan. House ’s Floyd County is getting $79 Kentucky’s western most gap of the Appalachian Plateau and pro- Senate President David Williams wants to build a road and a bridge, million for a road to cross the mountainous ridges that separate Right ceeds on to the commercial village of Static, on the line at so those points are the beginning and end of our story. Beaver and Left Beaver creeks and the Big Sandy River. The project the junction of TENN 111 and KY 1076. will provide a modest shortcut between Pikeville and Hazard, but at a Here for several years most traffic has taken the right-hand fork Sometime around 1930, my father forded the Cumberland River high per-mile cost. It may be done in conjunction with mountaintop- at the state line, an area dotted with package stores and bars on the near here on a business trip northwest from Albany to Louisville, a removal mining to limit its cost, but that’s a crapshoot. Tennessee side and which once proclaimed discount cigarettes and trip that included a meeting of a committee that wanted to extend lottery tickets on the Kentucky side, both enterprises now being Tennessee’s Alvin York Highway — named for the sergeant from the The worthiness of these projects can be debated, but there is no things of the past by reason of higher Kentucky cigarette taxes and next county south who was the leading hero of World War I — north- doubt that politics often trumps fairness in the building of Kentucky the advent of the Tennessee Lottery. Clinton County remains legally ward as a route to connect and . roads. There is no way to remove politics from the system, but we “dry,” however, and the beer (only) business remains good in adja- That would have been a more direct route than those in general should look for ways to make it less political. cent Pickett County. use today, but bigger places got the big roads. In 1938, when Con- The road construction signs are finally up at Static, where the new gress authorized a dam to create Lake Cumberland, prospects im- The above editorial appeared in the Sunday, April 29 edition of US 127 will merge into TENN 111 for a direct route to Cookeville proved; Wolf Creek Dam would provide a river crossing and put an the Courier-Journal newspaper. It is reprinted here, with permission and places beyond. US 127, as the Alvin C. York Trail, will continue end to the fording and ferries. The Army Corps of Engineers built of the author, Al Cross, who is a Clinton County native. to take circuitous course toward the old sergeant’s home place at the tortuously winding access roads to the dam site in the 1940s, and Cross, a former Courier-Journal political writer, is director of the Pall Mall, Tennessee, which is just beyond the Forbus General Store it became Ky. 35, but that’s the last time any real road-building has Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and an associ- where the World Championship Pig Tournament is held, at least an- been done in northern Clinton or southern Russell counties — de- ate professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications nually. (It’s a card game.) spite promises over the last 65 years. at the University of Kentucky. His opinions are his own, not those of The dozers are working on 127 up as far as Albany, and there are the university. actually four miles of new road open from Albany north to KY 90, In the late 1950s, when the road became U.S. 127, which ran where you can turn east and head toward Monticello, or west and south to Chattanooga, folks thought the federal label would make im- head toward Burkesville--or go north, for 20 miles of scenic and ser- provements more likely. But when Henry Ward was highway com- pentine driving, through the hamlets of Aaron and Desda, into Rus- missioner and the Democratic nominee for governor in 1967, a lead- sell County where you cross the massive Wolf Creek Dam and its ing Democrat in Clinton County said Ward told him that he couldn’t massive rehabilitation project; then on through the transplanted ham- rebuild the road because the Eastern Pennyroyal region didn’t have let of Rowena, which was once a river port but gained several years enough Democrats. Ward, a former newspaper editor from Paducah, of added life when the post office was moved there when Lake Cum- was known more for his frankness than his political skill, but he berland was impounded. From Rowena you pass by the entrance of knew well the politics of road-building. Lake Cumberland State Resort Park, one of the gems of the state Ward lost to Republican , whose political base was in park system. You then pass the intersection of KY 55 at Freedom (the the Eastern Pennyroyal, but Nunn concentrated on building roads to locals still call it Joe Feese’s as he ran the now-closed service station and through his hometown of Glasgow, mainly the initially toll Cum- there for years) and go on past the Dr. Lawrence mansion before you berland Parkway to Somerset that now bears his name. He proposed hit the Jamestown Bypass and the first decent looking zone you’ve a toll road from Elizabethtown to Albany, along the envisioned Alvin seen for some 20 miles. York route, but his protégé, of Edmonton, lost the This was the route referred to as the Wolf Creek Dam Access Road 1971 election to Democrat , who nixed the road. in 1941 when the Federal government bought right-of-way through the rugged hills north and south of the dam site. Later it became KY In 1987, Wallace Wilkinson came to Albany and promised that if 35 (and also KY 55 for a portion of the way), and about 1960 civic elected governor, he would rebuild U.S. 127 all the way to the border leaders up and down 35 persuaded the Federal government to place a of Tennessee, which was already building a new route to Chattanoo- Federal number on KY 35, and it became US 127. It should help with ga. Wilkinson was a Democrat, but he was a native of Casey County, improvements and tourism, they thought. the next one north from Russell, and in the election he carried that There hadn’t been much improvement to the road until Casey county and Clinton, both strongly Republican. But he did not keep County’s Wallace Wilkinson, a Democrat who was raised along the his promise; his 127 rebuilding went no farther south than Russell route, was elected Governor in 1987. He promised the rebuilding Springs. of the route from the state line to state line--and carried the heavily It was during Wilkinson’s administration that the General Assem- Republican counties of Clinton and Russell, primarily as a result of bly started taking a bigger role in roads. After Transportation Sec- that promise. A lot of work did get started along the route, but from retary Milo Bryant issued a brutally honest road plan that showed Jamestown south all they got were new guardrails (they put up a lot many projects with no source of funding, and Wilkinson crossed of guardrails in the Wilkinson Administration.) swords with legislators on that and other issues, the General Assem- Republicans got every gubernatorial candidate to promise the bly took ultimate control of the plan. road (well, not Peppy Martin--she wasn’t asked) as a plank of their platform. Larry Hopkins even went to Static to announce his support. Legislators had required a plan since the early 1980s, when When took office in 2003, the road was taken off the they gained much independence from the governor, but that hadn’t back burner and the Jamestown Bypass was finally built; after much changed the old game of political back-scratching, favor-trading and argument about which side of Albany the new road would go, and patronage that had gotten roads built for 60 years. With the new pow- with some help from Federal officials regarding funding, the Static er to approve and change the plan, lawmakers had more leverage. to KY 90 project in Clinton County began. After Paul Patton became governor in 1995, he negotiated an un- Now, at this juncture, it appears that the last 20 miles of crooked derstanding with legislators that was intended to give due weight to road will remain just that for many years to come. The recent effort the technical experts in the Transportation Cabinet, who based road by Senate President David Williams, who represents Clinton and has decisions mainly on traffic counts, congestion, safety and cost. a home in Russell, to advance the project was met with a veto by Theirs is not a perfect formula; it gives little weight to the poten- Governor Beshear. It really didn’t surprise folks down there, though, tial for economic development, which is admittedly hard to quantify as the general consensus is that Frankfort thinks that Clinton County but in some cases isn’t hard to presume generally. For example, U.S. is more a part of Tennessee than Kentucky. But Right Beaver (or is 127 is a major, federally numbered north-south route with a 21-mile it Left Beaver) in Floyd County gets a new $77 million road from bottleneck at a huge tourist attraction that is the largest lake by vol- Minnie to Harold. ume in the eastern U.S. It’s a security risk to have a highway running It brought to mind the 1967 conversation between Albany attorney across it. Hile Pritchard, a Democrat, who is said to have met with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Henry Ward at Lake Cumberland State Park Enter Williams, who became Senate president in 2000. In the in an effort to promote improvement of 127. Ward, known for his road-building binge that Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher launched to honesty and candor, reportedly told Pritchard that he couldn’t build fuel a futile re-election bid in 2007, Williams scored a huge project to the road because there were so few Democrats in Clinton County. rebuild the two main highways in his home Cumberland County, and Lyle Scott, owner of Scott’s Towing Service, attached rig- Pritchard came home and endorsed Republican Louie Nunn, intro- in the final days of Fletcher’s term won an $11 million change order gings from his wrecker to a school bus that had been hit by ducing him to a capacity courthouse crowds. (After being elected, that made the contract even bigger. an oncoming pickup truck early in the morning of March 29, Louie didn’t turn a shovel on the road either.) Fletcher left the Road Fund with little money at about the time 2010. A dozen pre-school to kindergarten students were on the So when you travel US 127 for the “World’s Largest Yard Sale,” its fuel-tax revenue was slipping, giving new Gov. Steve Beshear a bus when the accident occurred in northern Clinton County, on or head down to Lake Cumberland for recreation, enjoy the road. But reason to cancel the change order, and that was the beginning of bad a narrow, winding and dangerous section of U.S. 127. Ken- think about those of us who have to deal with it while we are not on blood between him and Williams, whom he defeated for a second tucky Governor Steve Beshear removed the funding from the vacation. This road, which has not seen major improvement since the term last fall. 2012-14 road plan that would have set into motion a recon- 1940s, continues to hold back progress and economic development So, it was no real surprise when Williams added to the plan almost struction project for that very section of highway. in Clinton and Russell counties. And its always been about politics.