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MAYO MANSIONS AND MUSEUM HISTORY 10-4 John C. C. (Caldwell Calhoun) Mayo (1864-1914), was an American entrepreneur, educator and politician.” He enticed the interest of large corporations in the coal deposits of Eastern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia, which led to commercial coal mining developed in Paintsville and surrounding area. 4. Coal was king and wealth prevailed. Many coal barrens were born or immigrated to East Kentucky.

Mayo was born in Gulnare, Pike County, Kentucky. Mayo’s family moved to Johnson County, Kentucky in 1870. He later attended to Kentucky Wesleyan College, graduated in 1879 and began teaching school in Paintsville at 22 years old. 5. 6. He married Alice (Alka) Jane Meek. “The steamship Thealka (The Alka) was named for Alice Jane Meek, daughter of Captain Green Meek. During the 1890-1910 period, no less than eighty-eight steamboats operated on the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy. They included boats like Miles H., Lena Leota, Mountain Boy, Mountain Girl, Beulah Brown, Ingomar, Ada, Maxie Yost, Fanny Freese, Sonoma, Mary L. Hatcher, Guyandotte, Dewdrop, Sandy Valley, Sea Gull, and Cricket.” 2

Thealka was a batwing boat due to the 2 paddle side wheels positions at the stern and navigated the Big Sandy River from Ashland to Pikeville and back. Thealka set the speed record of traveling roundtrip 240 miles in 24 hours. “During his early years as a school teacher, Mr. Mayo became acquainted with Captain Green Meek's pretty daughter Alka. In early 1895, following a business trip through the region, Mayo developed pneumonia and took to his bed. After returning to Paintsville, his place of residence, he obtained lodging in the Alger House Hotel, which was owned and operated by Captain Meek.” “Mayo convalesced at the Alger House for more than a year. During his stay, his friendship with Alka blossomed into a full-fledged romance. They were married on February 21, 1897 in the parlor of her father's Paintsville home.” 1. Mayo began buying land and mineral rights with his teaching salary. He established a real estate company in 1888 that specialized in acquiring land and mineral rights in Eastern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia, the Paintsville Coal and Mining Company. That within two years owned most of the Elkhorn Creek Coalfield. He profitably sold land or the rights to the land to coal companies up East and convinced them to explore and mine the coal in the region. 7. Both the 3

Minix and Wheeler families and others, from pioneers’ original land patents, retained coal and oil mineral rights. Some were leased for 99 years. Mayo's land value increased in 1893. During the Chicago's World Fair, Mayo exhibited his coal assets and investors helped him increase land and mineral rights owned by the Paintsville Coal and Mining Company. “In 1901 Mayo founded the Northern Coal and Coke Company and transferred his landholdings in Johnson, Floyd, and Lawrence counties in Kentucky into the company. This greatly increased Mayo's wealth. He sold his company, land holdings and mineral rights to Consolidation Coal Company in 1909. He constructed his residence and office, the Mayo Mansion, 405 Third Street in Paintsville, Kentucky which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1974. The mansion currently serves as Our Lady the Mountains School. He constructed the Mayo Memorial United Methodist Church 30 July 2014 assembled by one hundred Italian masons hired by Mayo and the Mayo State Vocational School had its beginnings as the John C. C. Mayo College. 8. The Church pipe organ was donated by his New York friend, Andrew Carnegie. The following background is an excerpt taken from The Missile Launch to Targets, an autobiography by Micheal B. Minix, Sr. M.D. The reader might read the autobiography to augment additional historical facts. *beginning to ** end.

Mayo Mansion I, Paintsville, KY, Wikipedia, Creative Commons] 4

Mayo Memorial United Methodist Church, Paintsville, KY Mayo Mansion to Left, Author J654567 Wikipedia, Creative Commons] *Dr. Minix practiced general medicine for a short time in Prestonsburg, KY prior to his ophthalmology residency. When Dr. Minix completed his residency, Prestonsburg was ruled-out as a practice site, because of the Dr. George Archer murder and other events that impeded the progress, office purchase and management of the Archer Clinic, Dr. George had envisioned. Several doctor friends of Dr. Minix sought offices in Archer Clinic, which they eventually occupied. Because of many happenings, Minix considered other locations. He was recruited seriously and impressively by Doc Layne and the Ashland patient, cured of melanoma, whom Dr. Minix, the residents and teaching staff treated successfully at UK. From the larger Ashland, he surmised he would be able to serve the entire East KY area. Paintsville and Prestonsburg were approximately 1 hour and 1-1/2 hour, respectively, South of Ashland down Highway 23. He had also been seriously recruited with other UK graduate multispecialty residents to begin a multispecialty clinic in 1974 near the Manatee Memorial Hospital, an acute care facility near Bradenton, FL begun in 1954, which became his 2nd choice, but he was dedicated to return to the Eastern Kentucky area to practice. His ophthalmology services were desperately needed there. 5

Kings Daughters Hospital and Dr. Gordon Gussler and Pikeville Methodist and Dr. Charlie Wilson were performing eye surgery, and had the ability to perform whatever procedure they wanted. Kings Daughters and other East Kentucky hospitals had no surgical microscopes Dr. Minix took a few more wide-ranging procedures and equipment to the area, such as retinal detachment and laser surgery, among others, that Gussler and Wilson had no interest in performing, but easily could have, had they wanted. Both senior Doctors were excellent surgeons and taught Mike many varied techniques and aspects in ophthalmology and its practice. They were both Dr. Minix great friends, all 3 were board certified. They encouraged his start-up practice. They needed help, particularly for the great numbers of emergencies and appreciated his emergency coverage of their patients. In those days, once cared-for patients were referred back to their regular ophthalmologist. Additionally, Marcus Stephen Minix, Sr., his younger brother became a trained optician, while Mike finished his ophthalmology residency. Mark was the first Nationally Board Certified Optician in Kentucky, which meant he manufactured, didn’t order, his glasses and fit contact lens. At that time, Mark was the best optician in Kentucky and possibly is today. He developed loyal patients of his own. Following attendance at the University of Kentucky, Mark enrolled in The Durham Technical Optician 2 year program in Durham N.C. At that time it was the best program in the Southeast. Mark was taught how to fill eye glass prescriptions and make lenses, cut them to fit into an eyeglass frame. He learned to adjust finished glasses to fit the customer and surfacing which consists of blocking, finishing, polishing, and inspecting both plastic and glass single-vision and multifocal lenses. He mastered bench work, which included edging, hand beveling, safety beveling, heat treating, chemical tempering, tinting, and mounting lenses and dispensing, which included measuring, adapting, and fitting eyeglasses and contact lenses to the patient. Mark was trained for teaching, manufacturing and retail opticianry. Upon completion of the five-semester sequence of courses Mark received the Associate in Applied Science Degree in Opticianry. Mark was a schooled optician not an apprentice optician; others were apprentice OJT types. Mark knew the entire scope of Opticianry. He was so skilled that he taught at Durham school after graduation, before he moved to Ashland. 6

Mark provided opticianry services in Ashland and other offices with Dr. Minix. Micheal didn’t particularly care about the eye glass prescription part and the “eye business” but it was a necessary pain in the neck. There were no free standing Optical Companies in East KY. Thankfully, Mark took modern opticianry to the area to fill that gap and took excellent care of patients. Until Mark, there were no completely trained Opticians in the state of KY, just ‘bench trained’ opticians. Dr. Minix and his family moved to Ashland, KY, July, 1975. The community was very receptive. The city of Ashland had in the past attempted many recruiting efforts, entertaining prospective Doctors prior to 1975, with no results. Out of the blue, six Doctors began practice in Ashland near that time: Dr. Charles Watson, ENT, Dr. Bruce Stapleton, internal medicine, Dr. Oren Justice, general practice, Dr. Jerry Ford and Bob Tackett, Ob-Gyn and Dr. Micheal B. Minix, Sr., ophthalmology. Doc Layne remodeled an office beside Layne Pharmacy that Dr. Minix leased. Mike also leased a starter home from Doc Layne, who was a wealthy business man. Doc Layne and his melanoma patient friend, who were very generous and considerate, hosted an enormous reception at the Bellefonte Country Club, Bellefonte, KY adjacent to Ashland. Most of the Ashland Oil Inc. executives lived near Bellefonte and Russell, KY. AOI Headquarters were located there. That was the time that AOI was in high gear in East KY. Most of the who’s who in the area, including the doctors attended the reception. Micheal and his family soon after became members of the club. Dr. Minix purchased and had installed very exclusive, modern ophthalmology equipment, in which solo ophthalmologist seldom invest, even to this day i.e. 2 Argon-Green Only-Yag laser combinations from Coherent Radiation in Palo Alto, California, for his offices in Ashland between 1974 and 1976, and eventually in Paintsville, an A and B-mode ophthalmic real time ultrasound, fluorescein angiography, visual field equipment, contrast sensitivity, ERG, surgical and other equipment. No other private practice in Kentucky at that time had such state of the art equipment. He decorated his office at 13th and Blackburn with the expertise and pieces from Hubbuch & Company Lexington and Louisville, KY. Soon his family out-grew the starter home and he purchased a larger home and it, too, was decorated by Hubbuch & Company. Micheal B. Minix, Sr., M.D. ophthalmology practice was booked-out with 25 new patients per day, 5 days a 7 week, for the first 8 weeks, when he arrived in Ashland. He believed that was the number that he could care-for each day in the beginning, based on his clinical experience at UK. His first schedule emphasized the need in the underserved area for his ophthalmology practice. His practice rapidly grew. Ward Beecher Hale, son of Jailer Lawrence Hale, Prestonsburg, KY was the first trained by Dr. Minix and certified in ophthalmic assistance. He was very talented in refraction and ophthalmic testing. Dr. Minix trained several ophthalmic assistants, who studied the text books and passed the standardized certification examinations newly provided by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Mike knew the training would be helpful for their complete understanding and work in his office and provide them future job opportunities. Dr. Minix had a teaching bone in his body to which he often referred. Several moved-on later to excellent jobs assisting other ophthalmologists. Beecher became the optician chief at the Lexington Kentucky VA and remained there several years. Kings Daughters Medical Center (KDMC), Ashland and Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, in neighboring Russell, KY were excellent hospitals with superb OR, ER and hospital staff. Both surgical departments were superior and ahead of their time and provided up to date equipment, that Dr. Minix and others required, including surgical ophthalmology microscopes and other up to date equipment. An example of the excellent cooperation was the kind attention that the KDMC kitchen provided for an elderly woman who had malignant melanoma that necessitated urgent right eye enucleation (eye removal) by Dr. Minix. The diagnosis was confirmed with post mortem eye exam by Dr. Kielar, UK eye pathology laboratory. The 80 year old woman failed to thrive post operatively, even though her surgery was without complications and her laboratory analyses were within normal limits. Dr. Minix devoted considerable time trying to determine her eating problem. Her aged, loving sister spent an entire week before and following surgery in the hospital room, never leaving her sister’s side. Dr. Minix finally concluded that questioning the sister might be the appropriate detection method. When in doubt ask further patient history he had been taught. Dr. Minix learned that the patient literally survived on homemade corn bread and milk. He went to the kitchen, talked to the cooks and requested cornbread for every meal. Miraculously, in just a few days the patient was ready for discharge 8 and survived many years following her surgery. Humans have different necessities and ‘comfort foods’ which should be ascertained when they fail to thrive on hospital food. Dr. Minix learned at some point in his training that “a physician should be caring, compassionate, question and listen and care more for the person, who suffers an illness, than care more for the disease that is tormenting the patient." 1. Dr. Minix practiced from his heart and not his billfold, close friends said. Micheal never sought-after money. An elderly, amusing gentleman was examined by Dr. Minix, who had a fabulous answer while he was taking his medical history. He asked, “Jimmy, how are your eyes bothering you today?” Jimmy replied, “Doc, I have cataracts.” Dr. Minix first accessed his ability to see, otherwise known as visual acuity. Dr. Minix, said, “How far can you see, Jimmy?” He replied, “I can see the moon, Doc. How far is that?” Mike nearly fell off his examination stool with laughter. Jimmy’s cataracts were not severe enough for eye surgery at that time and never became severe enough during Dr. Minix ophthalmology practice, but he was on guard for Jimmy’s humor and jokes every time he returned for follow-up exam. Jimmy and several other patients provided him with countless humorous and heartbreaking encounters throughout the years. Mike was very surgically conservative and only performed surgery, when absolutely necessary, when patients had disease or couldn’t see. Demographically, the population that Dr. Minix served extended from Lexington, KY in the West, Portsmouth, OH in the North, Ironton OH and Charleston, WVA in the East and Williamson, WVA, Pikeville, KY and Kingsport TN in the South. Patients, referred by family, came from many other states and some from foreign countries. Patients realized that he was very conservative, only operated on people, who were injured, diseased, could not see or whose vision was jeopardized and that his practice was well equipped and staffed to handle eye pathology. Even though he was associated with Minix Optical, he did not prescribe eye glasses unless necessary. He greatly respected his patients. They trusted him to do what was right and best for their care. Dr. Minix appreciated Doc Layne’s kindness, but after his first 4 years practice, he was bursting out the Layne office building and parking lot seams. Patients had to inconveniently and awkwardly walk up to the second floor for specialized testing. 9

The parking lot was so small that patients were wrecking into his office building and the pharmacy next door. Mike was concerned for patient safety. After all, most of his patients were visually impaired. In 1978 Dr. Micheal B. Minix purchased the Mayo Mansion II, 1516 Bath Avenue, Ashland, KY from the Bruce Stapleton Estate, which had become an unoccupied, neglected, mostly vacant eye sore, with one exception. Mrs. Bruce Stapleton resided on the 3rd floor. In poor health, she was the widow of Bruce Stapleton, the estate title holder, and he granted her gratis 3rd floor residence until her death.** The Mayo Mansion II, 1516 Bath Avenue, now in the Historic District, Ashland, KY, was constructed by John C. C. Mayo’s widow, Alice Jane “Alka” Mayo. Following the death of her husband, John C. C. Mayo, Alice Jane (Alka) Mayo married Dr. Samuel P. Fetter of Portsmouth, Ohio. Alka wanted to buy Ashland Central Park and build another Manson. The city would not allow the purchase. However, during the World War I rationing period, construction of new homes was prohibited in Ashland. Instead, the Fetters purchased the Victorian Gartrell- Hager House in Ashland, Kentucky, 1516 Bath Avenue, which was constructed in 1864. Dr. Fetter died following an extended illness. Alka received permission to remodel the Gartrell-Hager home. The “remodeling” was in reality new construction, which required 2 years. The Gartrell-Hager home was not demolished, but the 2nd Mayo Mansion was built around the home. The G-H home remained within the Mansion walls and remains until this day. Using the wealth amassed from the Mayo Companies, Alka ‘remodeled’ the Gartrell-Hager home and transformed it into a 17,000 sq. ft. Italian villa a ‘la French Beaux Arts Mansion. Some of the materials, including the tile and marble were taken from the Mayo Mansion I in Paintsville, Kentucky. A 3 story marble staircase with curved mahogany rail, that connected the main, second and third floors, was the largest stairwell in Kentucky following construction. Micheal hired a master mahogany carpenter to refinish and refurbish the rail. Mahogany reigned in the old mansion. The doors were 12 feet tall. Every detail was lavish and enormous. 10

Mayo Mansion II (aka Fetter Mansion) 1516 Bath Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky. The flooring was a mixture of Italian mosaic tile, terracotta and hardwood. The 3rd floor housed a ball room covered with Stained Glass, an entertainment kitchen and servant quarters. The 2nd floor included one small maid quarters apartment with sitting area, bedroom and kitchen and a second floor larger living quarters with kitchen, den, living room, 2 bedrooms, tiled steam bath and sauna and outside concrete balcony. The main floor had multiple rooms and 2 guest half bath rooms separated by a Stain Glass rendering of the Breaks of the Big Sandy. The entrance doors were 2 mahogany 20 feet tall doors. The hallway was covered by stained Glass over Italian mosaic tile. It contained decorative crown molding. A hallway connected the front and back portions of the building. An elevator in the rear hallway conveyed people and deliveries to the basement, 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors. It was serviced regularly and even though it was ancient, it worked extremely well. Dr. Minix never had the stained glass examined professionally for Tiffany quality, which is glass developed and produced from 1878 to 1933 at the Tiffany Studios in New York. 51. 11

The original heat was very clean steam heat generated by a huge steam heat pump in the basement and conveyed by radiators throughout the mansion. The heat system was amazingly efficient and clean. The parking lot was extensive. Additional street parking provided ample safe patient parking and privacy for Dr Minix’s patients. Minix Optical occupied the rear section of the main floor. In the course of remodeling, Dr. Minix insisted that an opening be preserved in the inner wall of the enclosed solarium, which had a beautiful tile floor, so the exterior wall of the Gartrell-Hager House could be visualized by curious visitors and tourists and for preservation of history. The Gartrell-Hager House represented a place in Ashland, KY history of its own. It was an historical structure of interest, as well, underneath an historic mansion. A hole in the wall of the main floor office, the enclosed solarium, was preserved and covered by a surround-sound speaker, popular at that time which could easily be removed, so the Gartrell-Hager House could be visualized by the curious. The Mayo Mansion II was within the Bath Avenue Historic District of Ashland, KY, which was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, facilitated by the persistent dedication of Dr. Minix. When Ashland was thriving, Bath Avenue mansion ownership and living were stylish and snobbish. Mike, however, was not a snob. He primarily needed more room to practice ophthalmology, but he appreciated buildings with exquisite architecture and structure. “Since the inception of the Kentucky Iron, Coal and Manufacturing Company's plan for Ashland, Bath Avenue had been considered to be the city's most prestigious residential neighborhood. However, there was strong opposition to establishment of the Bath Avenue Historic District creation.” Although the neighborhood previously extended for 6 blocks along Bath Avenue, a large-scale commercial development in the 1200 block severed the northwestern end of the street, and reduced the length of the coherent neighborhood to only 4 blocks. The commercial development was completed by businessman, X, who was married to Dr. Minix’s cousin, daughter of his mother’s sister. X was Dr. Minix’s CPA, when his practice began. X and Dr. Minix parted ways because of failed contract negotiations, conflicts of obligations, responsibilities and family connections. 35. 12

On the northwest end of Bath Avenue, that high rise business building was constructed, which housed many businesses, including dentist Dr. PE, friend of X and the family, who later was on the Board of the Kentucky Highlands Museum Society and who later moved the Board to approve a suit for ownership of the Mayo Mansion, which the Board unanimously approved, precipitating the Ashland ‘trial of the century’. This will later be described in more detail in this report. Furthermore, a large pool house attached to the original mansion, was constructed at the same time as the mansion. The pool and house were very lavish. Very ornate imported tiles decorated the large pool house and were attributed to the Mosaic Tile Company of Zanesville, OH. Even today, some of the tiles are offered for sale on ebay. 25. The entire Mayo Mansion II construction required approximately 2 years, 1918 -1919.

Mayo Mansion II Pool House Art Deco tile panel, metallic highlights, 42" x 58" 27. The city block, where the mansion was located, was divided into 4 properties. When Dr. Minix purchased the property, Dr. Rex Duff’s mansion occupied the northeast corner of the block, Bath and 15th Street. The Mayo Mansion complex lived on the southeast corner, Bath and 16th. The northwest and southwest corners were occupied by apartment complexes. The southwest corner was the previous location of the pool house, which had been demolished because of maintenance concerns. Later X (and/or possibly X – Æ Real Estate Co} had 13 investment interest in the apartment complexes, according to X, some of which constructed in 1949 on that half city block. Ashland, KY in Boyd County, located on the Ohio River, is an atypical small town. The population was 31,283 in 1960, largest in the town’s history. When Dr. Minix began his ophthalmology practice, the population in 1974 had diminished about 7% was 28,000 approximately, but continued to have one of the largest per capita incomes in the state, because of the central office of Ashland Oil, Inc. in adjacent Russell, Ky, Allied Chemical South Point and Amco Steel near adjacent Catlettsburg, KY and other industrial entities. In 2010 the population sunk to an all-time modern history low, 21,684. Many residents said the town was dead. The metropolitan population of Ashland, KY, Ironton and South Point, Ohio and Ceredo and Huntington, WVA. was much larger than nowadays. Many of the fine restaurants and businesses (and there were many) in the tristate area closed and people moved away because of the economic slowdown. Dr. Minix’s Wheeler family lived in and around Ashland and Paintsville. Ashland, KY was near his hometown and region deprived of ophthalmology services. In addition, Ashland continued its highly ranked KY per capita income.

Mayo Mansion II Pool House 27. 14

The following Whitesburg, KY newspaper account described some of Micheal’s family: “To The Public We wish to Announce That In Line with our usual policy we will sell Groceries and Feed to Merchants Only.” The Sandy Valley Grocery Inc. sold to small country groceries. The Letcher Wholesale Grocery Co was acquired by SVG Inc. “The Letcher Grocery Company, successors to Whitesburg Wholesale as the result of a business transaction announced last week, opened its doors Monday under the local management of Harrison Wheeler (Dr. Minix’s uncle, mother’s brother) a young but experienced executive who has for many years been associated with Sandy Valley Grocery Company and affiliated Corporations.

Mayo Mansion II Pool House 27. “The organization with which the new local house is affiliated was founded and incorporated as Sandy Valley Grocery Company (SVG Inc.) at Paintsville, Ky., in 1921. The company has developed until it now operates seventeen modern wholesale houses serving an area of 65,000 square miles which embraces sections of six states. “Charles Wesley Wheeler (Dr. Minix’s grandfather) founded and headed SVG Inc. until 1925, at which time a son, H. H. Wheeler was elected to the presidency. 15

Upon the death of C. W. Wheeler, his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Jayne Wheeler, was elected to succeed her husband. H. H. Wheeler retained his post as president, and a brother, Sherman continued as Secretary-Treasure completing the top administrative set-up which still exists. In order to be nearer the geographical center of its wide spread operations, the organization's general offices were (Continued from page 1) in Ashland, KY. SVG Inc. made its entrance into the manufacturing field with the purchase of the Winchester Milling Company, Winchester, Ky., and four years later acquired another manufacturing plant, the Golden Dream Food Corporation of Ashland.”

Charles Wesley Wheeler and Elizabeth Jayne Wheeler, Dr. Minix Grandparents “In addition to Letcher Grocery Company here and its two manufacturing affiliates, the Sandy Valley organization operates the following wholesale houses, Sandy Valley Grocery Company, Ashland, Ky, and home office, Louisa Grocery Company, Louisa, Ky., Sandy Valley Grocery Company, Paintsville Ky., Merchants Grocery Company, Pikeville, Ky., Union Grocery Company, Morehead, Ky.,( Winchester Grocery Co., Winchester, Ky., Lexington Grocery Company, Lexington, Ky., Somerset Grocery Company, Somerset, Ky., Jefferson Grocery Company, 16

Louisville, Ky., Portsmouth Grocery Company, Portsmouth, Ohio, Huntington Grocery Co., Huntington, W. Va., Charleston Grocery Company, Charleston. W. Va., Wheeler Grocery Company, Williamson, W. Va., Ripley Grocery Company, Ripley, W. Va., Kenova Grocery Company, Kenova, "W. Va., Hagen-Ratliff Company, Huntington, W. Va. “Under the leadership of H. H. Wheeler, president, the Sandy Valley organization has developed a modern plan of merchandising based upon a now famous pledge to its customers which commits the company "to make available to independent retail grocers the widest possible variety of quality merchandise at prices that will enable them profit. 30. Ironically, the Mayo Mansion II, during the 1940’s and 1950’s, was the Ashland central office for the Sandy Valley Grocery. Inc. Amazingly, the SVG Inc. sustained remarkable success and growth thru the ‘Great Depression’, World War II and in some instances, 3 family generations. In 1934 The Sandy Valley Grocery Co, Inc. paid for about 400 employees and their families to attend the 1934 World’s Fair in Chicago. The railroad coach cars began the excursion in Pikeville, KY and picked up employees and families at several depot locations in Eastern KY on its way to Cincinnati OH. The trip was uninterrupted until it stopped in Kankakee, Ill and changed train engines. Then the train travelled on to Chicago and arrived about 10:30 PM. They were greeted by the Chicago Mayor, because it was the largest contingency attending the fair that year. Mike’s Uncle Harrison Wheeler rented most of the rooms in the Knickerbocker Hotel for the group. The picture in this section shows the East KY crowd feasting in the hotel’s Grand Ball Room. His uncle Harrison, Chicago mayor and other dignitaries were seated at the large VIP table on left of the ball room. 17

John M. Salyer and his 2 sons Grover and Glen from Magoffin County, KY were invited by the SVG Co to entertain. John played the fiddle, Grover the guitar and Glen the mandolin. They played traditional “old music of eastern Kentucky.” They began playing when they boarded the train in Paintsville and didn’t stop until they returned to Paintsville a few days later. It rumored to be a tremendous party trip. They played for a dance in the Grand Ballroom. Many people attended. The Salyers didn’t play waltz, fox trot, Virginia reel or any other popular Chicago music requested by attendees. When asked in his East KY dialect, John Said, “We’ll play our kind of music and you folks dance any kind of dance you can!” 9. In 1945, the Sandy Valley Grocery Co, Inc., with central offices in both Ashland and Paintsville, helped change the Miss America Pageant. Prior to 1945, the Miss America was awarded furs, movie contracts and other luxuries. In 1945 Miss America was changed into a scholarships pageant offering funds for college. The original scholarship patrons, who sponsored and changed the pageant, were Joseph Bancroft, Sons, Catalina Swimwear, F.W. Fitch Company and The Sandy Valley Grocery Co., Inc. Ashland, KY. The SVG Co then employed 3 Miss Americas to help market SV labels for soap, perfume, other beauty products, Golden Dream Coffee, SV Flour and Meal, peanuts and other products. The company also sponsored its own beauty contests in Chicago. 18

In the photo, left to right, were Marilyn Meseke 1938 Miss America, from Marion, Ohio, who won the title of Miss Ohio. Venus Ramey was 1944 Miss America born in 1924, in Ashland, KY. She worked for the war effort in Washington, DC and won the Miss D.C. pageant. Bess Myerson, right, was 1945 Miss America. The 3 Miss America’s, cooking instructors, other trades people, celebrities and notables frequently visited the SVG Inc. central office, the Mayo Mansion II, for instruction, advertising and promotional SVG Inc. product endorsement and marketing. Salesmen were known to wait hours downstairs to negotiate upstairs with Harrison Wheeler, a busy man. Venus Ramey, from Ashland, KY, was the first red-haired contestant to win and first Miss America to be photographed in color. Bess Myerson was 1945 Miss America and the first Jewish Miss America from Brooklyn NY. Myerson was the first winner of the scholarship program. Later, for more floor space, the SVG Inc. central office was moved from the Mayo Mansion II to the Second National Bank Building in Ashland. In the ‘Highlander’ an add stated “Merchants Grocery Co. Pikeville, KY a Branch of the Sandy Valley Grocery Company, Ashland, KY, The Largest Wholesale Grocery Distributors in the South.” 52. The family, uncles and aunts were successful. 3rd generation cousins played together merrily during family reunions, holidays, and listened wide-eyed when uncles promised them riding ponies of their own if the behaved. Micheal said family gatherings were good times during his youth. 19

Cousin Arville Wheeler (yes, Arville) was born May 8, 1900. and graduated in 1920 from Paintsville High School, same school as Dr. Minix in 1961 graduated, then Arville became an English major in Centre College in 1926, July of 1934 superintendent of Schools for Paintsville City Schools, 1939 he received his masters in School Administration and Supervision University of Chicago, Assistant Director of Research at Cornell University, Associate Professor of Education at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado 1938-40, Superintendent of Schools Ashland to 1940-46, George Peabody College for Teachers 1947 to 1965, Eastern Kentucky University Professor of Education. 1965 to 1972. He authored several tests and many professional books and still found time to write the ever classic, ‘White Squaw’ the life of Jenny Wiley. 31. “Arville Wheeler resigned as Superintendent of Ashland, KY schools to become employed by the Sandy Valley Grocery Company, in charge of operation and personnel and will direct the firm's research work in the field of nutrition and foods.” He was a trusted advisor in a strategic position. “His publication, The Legend of Sandy Valley by Arville Wheeler, 78 pages, printed Nashville, TN c. (19??) described in detail The Rise and Fall of the Sandy Valley Grocery Company.” Information from this hard to find book is included in this report. Dr. Minix had a couple copies. 45. Arville Wheeler reported the civil suit by β, SVC, Inc. employee, against The Sandy Valley Grocery Co, Inc. during the SVG Inc. descent from a powerful wholesale grocery. β was married to the sister of X’s wife. He claimed overtime pay owed by the SVC, Inc. to him several thousand dollars, a large amount of money at that time. His advisor and attorney, possibly not of record, was X, who had dual degrees in law and CPA, and was the nephew-in-law of Harrison Wheeler and brother-in-law of β. X and β married daughters of Dr. Minix aunt, his mother’s sister. Family members said X had applied for employment at the SVG Inc. when he finished his education, but reliable family sources said that Harrison Wheeler and the SVG Inc., at the time, could not accommodate X, because the SVG Inc. had a long established internal bookkeeping department with faithful employees dating back to the 1920’s and, for legal advice and services, Former Governor Simeon S. Willis (1879-1965), an attorney and Ashland native, was on retainer. 20

Simeon S. Willis was a close friend of Harrison H. Wheeler. Willis established his Ashland reputable law practice in 1902, served on the Kentucky Court of Appeals 1928 to 1932. He was the 46th Governor of Kentucky 1943-1947 and the only Republican Governor from 1927-1967 and only governor from Ashland. 41. 42. “The Ashland home of Governor Willis was 1612 Bath Avenue, which had been constructed in 1891, and remodeled by Willis in 1954.” The home was purchased by Paul G. Blazer after the death of Willis. Located a few doors South of the Mayo Mansion II, it became part of the Bath Avenue Historic district, described later in this report. 2. Micheal said his father greatly respected Governor Willis, who was a man of integrity. When Dr. Minix owned the Mayo Mansion II, Paul Blazer often walked out his back door down the alley behind the Willis mansion and entered the optical department in the rear door of Mayo Mansion II and had Mark Minix or one of Mark’s lovely assistants adjust his glasses. His glasses were forever misaligned. Blazer’s wife, Nancy, said he often fell asleep reading and then slept in his glasses. SVG Inc. President Henry Harrison Wheeler claimed β, his nephew-in–law, and niece on numerous occasions had visited socially at Wheeler’s home, enjoying evening dinner with ‘H.H.’ and Kathryn, Dr. Minix’s uncle and aunt. The SVG Inc employed numerous family members in every department in numerous towns. Harrison was tender-hearted, loved his family, employed them and frequently shared sumptuous meals with relatives. He was always caring and concerned for his kin folk, as family members voiced and Arville Wheeler reported in The Legend of Sandy Valley. Frequent family dinners at H.H.’s mansion home atop Dysard Hill in Ashland were family socials The Legend reported. Harrison’s dinners were like Thanksgiving most every evening; full monty. It was a treat for Dr. Minix, when a youth, and family to visit and dine with his ‘Uncle Harrison’ who entertained and dined with exquisite taste, detail and decorum. His wife, Kathryn, was bubbly, fun, extremely pleasant, very hospitable and made each and every guest the center of attention. Kathryn had a smile for everyone. Harrison’s family was like royalty to Mike. 45. β prevailed in the civil case. As a result, the SVG. Inc. was affected financially with the total cost of the suit, legal fees and psychologically with the proceedings. The Wheeler brothers, majority stock holders, became disheartened following the loss 21 of a suit to the plaintiffs, who were close family members, who had been invited and treated to splendid dinners, the family considered goodness, not business. Concurrently, the SVG Inc. could not overcome, the introduction of large grocery chains, like Kroger, that supplied their company’s own retailors from their company’s own wholesale grocery outlets, resulting in the subsequent loss of the ‘small independent county grocery store’ that the SVG Inc. primarily supplied. Thirdly, the SVG Inc. could not survive internal family jealously, disloyalty and sabotage, which were negative characteristics, but typical traits of family heritage. The following research is for better understanding family business dynamics and dynamics effect on Mayo Mansion II and Kentucky Highland Museum histories. “According to The Family Firm Institute, only about 30% of family businesses survive into the 2nd generation, 12% into the 3rd generation, and only about 3% into the 4th generation or beyond. Research indicates that failures can be traced to one factor: an unfortunate lack of family business succession planning.” 59. Charles Wesley Wheeler in 1920 founded and managed the SVG Inc. He died at an early age, 56 in 1931. He and his wife Elizabeth Ellington Jayne had 8 children. All the family and many spouses and relatives worked in the SVG Inc. Research reveals, “competition for parents’ love and attention generates sibling rivalry. Whether siblings develop rivalry depends largely on how and how much more parents’ respond to one sibling over another during this competition. Adult brothers and sisters in family firms are organizationally subordinated to their parents. Siblings face unique challenges in overcoming sibling rivalry's harmful effects.” Siblings in business must successfully cope with the potentially harmful emotions, not be negatively affected and react appropriately with family business succession planning. Research found that coping-with and not over-reacting, with negative emotions to harmful parental favoritism, harmful sibling rivalries and the additional layer of harmful sibling-spouse rivalries’ is precisely the challenge confronting parents and siblings “if they are to sustain family management of their business through successive generations.” As for the Wheeler family, members revealed they didn’t successfully cope with parental favoritisms and sibling rivalries and certainly weren’t schooled with a family succession game plan. 58. 22

Cousins joked that the 3rd generation didn’t get the riding ponies they were promised by uncles and aunts after SVG Inc. descended from the peak of success. According to further psychiatric research, multiple physical symptoms, signs, illnesses and depression are strongly associated with family disagreements. The Wheeler family was not immune to the family illness-disagreement complex. Research found and reported, like the Wheeler family and other large families, typical disagreements included disagreements about friends, relatives, politics, money, sex, drugs, alcohol, cigarette smoking, discipline and money management. Research found, like the Wheeler family and other large families, factors of older adults, women, individuals with less education and individuals with more medical conditions were predictive variables and they tended to manifest the complex of depression, physical complaints, illnesses associated with family disagreements. During the research, like the Wheeler family and others, some of the medical conditions assessed in the complex and associated with family disagreements and depression were asthma, arthritis or rheumatism, bronchitis, cancer, chronic liver trouble, diabetes, serious back trouble, heart trouble, high blood pressure, kidney trouble, stroke, tuberculosis, or ulcer. Both Charles Wesley and the youngest son Johnnie (died in 1935 age 24) died prematurely from illnesses. Mother Elizabeth was ill for many years and a few others suffered with TB, alcoholism and every other disagreement, factor and medical condition above listed. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the large, close knit, fundamentally religious, competitive Wheeler family, who worked closely in the SVG Inc. would typically erupt with certain degrees of internal family jealously, disloyalty and sabotage.56. Well known dictums are: “Blood and business don’t mix.”…. “Blood is thicker than water, except when it comes to money and business.” 57. Most of the brothers and family relinquished their SVG Inc. stock and resigned their employment positions. Some became real estate brokers and others business owners, successful in their own right and talents. The Louisville courier Journal reported that Harrison’s younger brother, “Dona W. Wheeler, 54, Ashland, died unexpectantly Oct 5, 1962 at an early age. He was president and founder of Wheeler-Williams Hardware Company, Ashland.” 23

Some of the family remained in Ashland. Dona W. Wheeler founded and operated his own successful business after his period in the SVG Inc. His son Charles D. Wheeler, also a KY state Representative, Dr. Minix’s cousin, once resided at 1317 Bath Avenue, the West end of the Historic District, diagonal to X - Æ office building. His family operated the hardware business several years following Dona W. Wheeler death. Charles later lived on Tangelwood Dr., in a subdivision off Boy Scout Road, in parts developed with the original owner, Dola E. Wheeler. Brothers, Melvin and Sherman, of Lexington, and Dola E. Wheeler of Ashland, KY were successful real estate brokers and entrepreneurs after their time at SVG Inc.. There remained some unresolved family differences of opinion, as frequently occurs in large families. Micheal’s Uncle Sherman Wheeler, an ordained Baptist minister, moved and founded a United Baptist Church in Phoenix, AZ. The SVG, Inc. was closed, wholesale warehouses liquidated and remarkable entrepeuneual history ended. The SVG Inc. was a very prosperous business concern in Kentucky and part of the history of the Mayo Mansion II, lawsuit by the museum society for the clear title to the Mayo Mansion described later, as well as the history of Minix and Wheeler families. What do these demographics, family and business histories “have to do with the price of tea in China?” Well, the Ashland, KY business community, which dealt at that time in foreign oil, local coal production, oil and coal shipping, oil refinement, asphalt production, steel and chemical manufacturing, and many other commercial businesses like the SVG Inc., was a breeding ground for business intrigue, conspiracy, ruthlessness and potential for a corrupt circuit court judicial system. When the money is followed in every U.S. prosperous region, one finds that businessmen compete for power and Forbes billionaire rankings. Yes, even in such remote corners of the world as Ashland, they do. “The 1979 oil shock occurred in the United States due to decreased oil output in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. The price of crude oil more than doubled to $39.50 per barrel over the next 12 months, and long lines once again appeared at gas stations, as they had in the 1973 oil crisis.” “In 1980, following the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War, oil production in Iran nearly stopped, and Iraq's oil production was severely cut as well. Economic 24 recessions were triggered in the US and other countries. Oil prices did not subside to pre-crisis levels until the mid-1980s.” 23. Before AOI, Inc. pulled out of the industrial tristate region, “Ashland Oil Inc. made payments totaling $17 million in 1980 and 1981 to a former Abu Dhabi official in an unsuccessful attempt to retain a crude oil contract with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, during the Iran Oil Embargo, according to current and former Ashland officials.” “Dan Lacy, an Ashland spokesman, confirmed in a series of interviews details of the payments provided by other Ashland officials. He said the payments were lawful and were made because Ashland was ''desperate'' for oil at the time as a result of an embargo and other conditions in the international oil market that had tightened the supply.” Dr. Minix’s friend and patient. Ashland’s CEO, Orin E. Atkins, resigned in September 1981, according to Mr. Lacy. Ashland sources say Mr. Atkins's departure was linked, in part, to questions about some of the company's consulting arrangements.” 24. Drs. Minix, Jerry Ford, Bob Tackett, Bruce Stapleton, Orin Justice and Charles Watson were recruited by businessmen in Ashland and Ashland Oil. In 1974 Dr. Minix began his practice as did the others about the same time. In the previous 20 years, no new, young doctor had decided to practice there in spite of annual recruiting parties. Some said the ‘old doctors’ during recruitments were quick to point out the down-sides of Ashland, rather than the pluses. Dr. Minix practice of ophthalmology consisted of most of the ‘upper crust’ in Ashland and surrounding area, who made appointments well in advance, and kept them. When he first began his Ashland practice, his appointments were ‘booked out’ 2 months with mostly ‘routine eye examinations’ and refractions; not surgical and medical pathology patients, the practice Dr. Minix had sought. Dr. Minix, from his Ashland office, had mailed eyeglasses and replacement contact lens to executives on numerus occasions, while they resided and conducted international business at the Hotel Pierre in Manhattan, New York City. Many of the AOI families were his patients and often travelled to distant places. 25

One of the downsides, during recruitment, was mentioned the terrible air pollution. Ashland-Ironton-Huntington Ohio River Valley was and still is, but less so than the year Dr. Minix graduated Medical School 1968, a ‘heavy industry’, oil refinement, metallurgical and chemical manufacturing region, with very significant poor air quality with particles and soot in the air as measured then. 25. Ashland does not enjoy the same elite position today (as in the past for a small town with heavy industry and significantly large per capita income), because of the demise of coal and other big businesses. But air pollution did not deter the eager, newly trained physicians. For Dr. Minix, Ashland represented a thriving community within his beloved Eastern Kentucky. He anticipated eye pathology referrals from all the physicians he knew in the South East Kentucky region. All this history and background had a major impact on the underbelly of the Mayo Mansion’s history. So let us continue. Family rumor continued that businessman X, who had investment interest in the apartment complexes at that time behind the Mayo Mansion II, and a faction of his colleagues had expressed an interest in demolishing the mansion and constructing another apartment complex, leaving the Duff Mansion the only single residence on the city block. Unsuccessful offers had been made to Dr. Duff in vain for its purchase, years before. With destruction of the entire block’s residential history, the beginnings of the historic district would have been for naught, having yielded to commercialism. Thus, the National Register boundary was not extended beyond 13th Street on the northwest end, but was extended beyond the Mayo Mansion’s southeast end, because the community was split into several opposing national registry groups. The Bath Avenue Historic District, therefore, included the 24 properties in the four blocks of Bath Avenue between, 13th and 17th Streets.” “The Bath Avenue Historic District includes four blocks of Bath Avenue between 13th and 17th Streets. The district is bounded by Central Park on the east, neighborhoods whose character has been recently altered by commercial development on the north and west, and by a residential neighborhood characterized by less distinctive and cohesive architectural fabric on the south. 26

Houses within the district date from the mid-nineteenth century to mid twentieth century, and are built in an extensive variety of styles. “Despite their variation, the buildings form a visually cohesive group as a result of a relatively standard setback from the street and a nearly-universal two-story height. Stone sidewalk paving, brick-paved alleys, a fine small collection of cast iron fences, and large shade trees lining the streets contribute to the unity and beauty of the neighborhood. Houses in the 1300 to 1500 blocks of Bath Avenue are large in scale, and are primarily located on lots that are a third or half of a block in length, while most of the houses on the 1600 block of Bath Avenue and adjoining 16th Street are slightly smaller and more closely spaced. The three earliest houses, at 1304, 1420 and 1504 Bath Avenue are symmetrical three-bay double-pile center-passage structures. The 1856 John Means House (118) at 1420 Bath is a particularly distinguished example of this form. It is embellished with brick pilasters on the front and left side walls, a single-story Doric front porch, and a cast iron Corinthian aedicule side porch. “The Abraham Campbell House (108) and the Hugh Means House (115) both have Italianate details and later two-story porches. Later picturesque styles are exhibited in the board and batten Gothic T-plan Robert Peebles House (117) and the large Stick Style W. B. Seaton House (112). A simpler interpretation of the T- plan form is represented by the Robert Russell House (134). With proportions and a side-passage plan resembling contemporary row houses elsewhere in the country, the 1892 Sarah Calvin House (136) has rich Eastlake details on both the exterior and interior. “The Rufus Van Sant House (151) is a late nineteenth century Georgian Revival structure with heavy square massing and a two-tiered stone-columned porch. A later and more academic interpretation of Georgian Revival is the Hugh Russell House (131). The largest bulling in (continued) the district, locally called Mayo Mansion (129), was built in a Renaissance palace mode by Mrs. John C. C. Mayo about 1917. Most of the buildings date from the second half of the nineteenth or early twentieth century. Later houses, such as the Governor Simeon Willis House (116) preserve the scale and complexity of design that is representative of the neighborhood. The district is well-maintained by its residents, and there are no disruptive intrusions within the National Register boundaries. A single major 27 building has been recently demolished, in the 1400 block. The site of this structure is now vacant. 29. Eufas Van Sant House, 1301 Bath Avenue was owned at the time by Æ and X, X - Æ Real Estate Co., G Bid. on the west end, 1200, Bath Ave., Ashland, Ky.

Stained glass panel titled “Breaks of the Big Sandy”. Between 2 first floor guest restrooms beneath the 3 floor staircase. The National Historical Registry listed the Bath Avenue properties in their booklet: “Mayo Mansion (#129 on National Register) was within the Bath Avenue Historic District of Ashland, KY. Owner: Michael B. Minix, M.D., 1516 Bath Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky.” 2. Note that it was the Mayo Mansion, as described by the Registry, to its owners and other knowledgeable persons. Additionally, Michael was spelled incorrectly on the applications, rather than Micheal, his great aunt Maud Arnett Bach’s christening. After residing in other smaller residencies and practicing in a smaller ‘starter office’, Dr. Minix decided on a very pragmatic game plan. After purchase of the 28

Mayo Mansion, in the beginning, he resided in the Mansion on the second floor and practiced Ophthalmology in the front section of the mansion on the main floor, while Minix Optical, managed by his brother, Marcus Minix, occupied the first floor’s back section. Both the practice and the optical business exploded and even more successful in the larger facility than Dr. Layne’s building on 13th Street. The increased space proved as he imagined. Dr. Minix treated many patients, eye emergencies and performed many surgeries in the larger Mayo Mansion office and Kings Daughters Hospital, conveniently located, a quick drive down the street. Dr. Minix family resided on the 2nd floor for a brief time, which was very handy and timesaving for him, while he and his first ex-wife remodeled the mansion and the practice expanded and he transitioned his practice to include branch offices further south in East KY. Michael loved and enjoyed surgery. Many of his surgical patients were referred to him to the mansion office from Louisa, Inez, Paintsville, Prestonsburg and Pikeville areas; secondly from the Ironton OH, Sandy Hook and Grayson KY areas and thirdly from Greenup County and Portsmouth OH area; then from more distant areas. Satisfied patients brought their family members from great distances and patients came from other countries. Dr. Minix had the most up to date ophthalmology equipment at the time and every staff member became an ophthalmology assistant, certified by the American Academy of Ophthalmology following training and written examination.

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John C. C, Mayo, 1912, 2 years before his death. Anne and Harry M. Caudill photographic collection, University of Kentucky, Public domain. His ophthalmology practice was regarded as one of the largest and most successful in the U.S., conveyed by ophthalmology equipment company salesmen, who canvassed the country. Many curious ophthalmologists visited his office. In 1978, just 4 years into his practice, as his practice grew, he opened a branch office on Starfire Hill, U.S. 23 Paintsville, KY. On Saturday clinic days in Paintsville a traffic officer was required to manage the traffic to and from the clinic. Patients jammed the tiny office. Doctors were pleased to have qualified care for their patients with eye pathology. These patients, unlike the routine examinations and refractions for eye glasses in Ashland, were the patients he had been trained to treat, because they desperately needed medical and surgical eye care. As his friend Bill Salyer said, “a chance to cut is a chance to cure.” The branch office location was curious. The branch office, leased from colleague, Dr. Frank Belhasen, was near the Kentucky Highway Historic Civil War Marker number 200, Starfire Hill, US 23 South, Paintsville, Johnson County, entitled “Morgan’s Last Raid.” At this exact same location the 14th Kentucky, Mike’s ancestors, 2nd GF Noah Minix and 3rd GF Rueben Patrick, fought, defeated and drove John Hunt Morgan and his Raiders out of Kentucky and into Southwest Virginia. His 3rd Great Grandmother, Amanda Burns Hager Patrick, Captain Ruben Patrick’s wife (1862-1914) called them thieves, not Raiders. Morgan’s Raiders slipped behind the battle lines and robbed the women and families, whose husbands were away fighting against the Confederates on the front lines. The Civil War was a war in which the Union emancipated the slaves and preserved the Union. Amanda Patrick sewed the families’ house money and gold coins in the hems of her dresses to prevent theft by Morgan. That was their attitude toward Morgan and his Robbers. 3. In the course of Dr. Minix practice of ophthalmology, standing on the second floor of the Mayo Mansion, he received very bad news. His brother, Maurice McKinley Minix, III (Mo), who was 18 months older than Mike, died December 2, 1981 from a self-inflicted GSW. Mo was born February 18, 1941 and became a very successful pharmacist. He graduated UK pharmacy school with honors and he owned his pharmacy. There were few pharmacy chains in those days. Three 30 events affected his life that contributed to his death, Mike believed. He underwent thyroidectomy in middle school for thyroid goiter. The surgery damaged his recurrent laryngeal nerve and his voice as a result was hoarse and gravelly, for years afterwards. The damaged nerve pointed toward extensive thyroid surgical dissection. Apparently, he underwent a total thyroidectomy or at least extensive subtotal. Mike believed Mo never received enough supplemental thyroid replacement hormone. Slow progressive myxedema and depression were common after thyroid surgery, when thyroid hormone was not replenished satisfactorily. Little was known about endocrinology in those days. Secondly, in 1956 when a sophomore, while playing football, he sustained a severe concussion. He was hospitalized for 3 days, obtunded; he was in and out of consciousness. The family was extremely concerned for his safe recovery. Mo’s personality changed in some respects, thereafter. Thirdly, Maurice accidently aspirated in his sleep from Gerd, was comatose and nearly died for oxygen deprivation in adulthood. Mo was hospitalized first in Highlands Regional Hospital and was transferred to UK Medical Center under the care of neurosurgeon, Dr. Byron Young. Dr. Minix and the primary care doctor traveled in the ambulance administering life support and medicine along the way. Mike believed Mo’s depression later in life was secondary to these 2 events during his adolescence, maybe 2 to 3 years apart, and 1 event in his adulthood. All 3 were later known to become causes of depression. They were probably cumulative. He was called by the Highlands ER and received the bad news. His brother could not be recognized. Mike gave the nurse description details and his identity was learned. He then travelled from Ashland to Paintsville to the morgue in the funeral home. Once there he examined Mo’s body to confirm the self-infliction claim. Mo was right handed and the entrance wound to the head was on the right. Mike hugged, kissed him and said goodbye. Then began a sad journey. During his funeral, Mike grieved terribly. His extreme substernal chest pain and shortness of breath from his sorrow were nearly more than he could endure. He never realized that grief could hurt so intensely and physically. Mo’s loss was a severe blow. Mike had difficulty recovering from his death. Months passed before he could discuss Mo’s death without tears and deep emotion. They were very close brothers in sports activities, conduct and age, only 18 months difference. 31

During the shadow of Mo’s tragedy, Dr. Minix cast his sights, concurrently with all life’s commotion, on a free standing ophthalmology surgery center and on a museum for the procurement, protection, storage, of historical, scientific, artistic, and cultural relics and artifacts form Eastern Kentucky, an area rich in history, to be displayed and exhibited. Civil War history was only one of the many examples. Micheal’s mother was a serious religious and cultural history student and genealogist, who instructed others on the research of their family histories. Many lady friends, interested in DAR membership, were indebted to her for her genealogy instruction. Dr. Minix envisioned a genealogy section in the museum. Both the ophthalmology-only surgery center and Eastern KY museum dreams were in concert moving forward in his mind. Dr. Minix mental wheels were always in constant motion. Interestingly, a committee was formed in the Spring, 1982 for the founding of a museum. Aficionados would expect the purposes of a regional museum, by good intentioned people, would be similar to those intentions Dr. Minix had envisioned. The early museum committee meeting minutes, that Mike researched and read, indicated that the committee concerned themselves primarily with a location for the museum. The first minutes of record for a museum formation were recorded during the Oct 7, 1982 meeting of the committee, which met at McClure’s Restaurant, an Ashland landmark. McClure’s was a restaurant and lounge that many locals frequented. The Kentucky Highlands Museum Society Inc. (KHMS Inc.) was subsequently incorporated February 17, 1983. The committee met every month. Dr. Minix future second wife attended the meetings and was a committee member and was listed with her previous surname. She attended meetings prior to his introduction. Micheal had no idea she was instrumental in the formation of a museum, at that time. They were married in what appeared to be a ‘whirlwind’ May 14, 1983, four years following divorce. The minutes of the May 19, 1983 revealed, that the Mayo Mansion was mentioned as a potential site for the museum. His wife attended the meeting listed with her new surname, Minix. Concurrently, Dr. Minix envisioned that Paintsville would be a perfect site for an ophthalmology-only surgery center. He adjusted his ophthalmology practice by 32 transforming his Paintsville Office into his central location and his Ashland office as a branch office. Mike was focused on eye pathology, medical-surgical eye care. Once the transformation occurred, he hired an ophthalmologist to help care-for the gigantic patient volume and ‘take practice and emergency room call’. The new Doctor was married to a house-husband, who appeared to make her professional life manageable. They were from Chicago but, after just a few months of practice, they returned home, leaving Micheal again over worked, overwhelmed and as usual on call 24-7. Eastern Kentucky was not a location, in which everyone could embrace, live and thrive. Therein was a significant component of the underserved health care problem. Highly educated, out-of-towners, did not want to live and educate their children in Eastern Kentucky. Illegal and doctor prescribed drug infestation and addiction had just begun. Times and the economy were changing for the worse. The Mayo Mansion II was an historic landmark, but too large for his branch office. Dr. Minix sincerely wanted it preserved and protected. His heart was aimed at conservation of history and the mansion. A self-sustaining museum was the perfect solution for its safeguard and his practice realignment. Dr. Minix and his first wife completed the first major refurbishment of the Mayo Mansion II from 1978 through 1979 and transformed the eye sore into the impressive, magnanimous mansion it was meant to be. During the May 19, 1983 KHMS Inc. meeting the minutes showed that Dr. Minix offered the Mayo Mansion as a potential museum site, for a given purchase price with stipulations. He began with a purchase-offer with several encumbrances. (1.) The KHMS Inc. would pay-off the remaining half of the mortgage, which amounted to 5 years of the 10 year mortgage. (2) He would donate his equity in the Museum which had accumulated from the first 5 years of mortgage performance. Mike mortgaged the Mayo Mansion for only 10 year pay-off. This was a purchase + gift offer, not just a gift of the mansion title alone. (3.) The usual protocol for required stipulations and encumbrances were that the IRS would have to approve his equity donation as meritorious in advance of the donation or when IRS taxes were filled on a separate donor form (4.) the KHMS Inc. had to pay the utilities and (5.) 33 maintain the mansion structure in its restored condition. (6.) the museum purpose must be organized and operated for the procurement, protection, storage of historical, scientific, artistic, and cultural relics, artifacts and genealogy from Eastern Kentucky, an area rich in history, to be displayed and exhibited. Stipulations for use of the Mayo Mansion were always required by Dr. Minix, his business advisors, attorneys and his father. The KHMS Inc. president originally believed the KHMS Inc. could accomplish the purchase goal following generous donations, but after the entire enthusiastic board’s consideration of the purchase-offer, the president officially answered saying it was not feasible for the KHMS Inc. to pay off the remaining half mortgage, because of the significant lack of potential funding and inability to comply with the stipulations and encumbrances. KHMS Inc. could not manage it. That was the original deal and the only ownership deal on the table, the donation of his equity and the KHMS Inc. purchase of the remainder. That deal was dead in the water. The property for purchase-donation transaction by the KHMS Inc. was over. Because of its bleak future, Mike should have disassociated himself and the Mansion from the KHMS Inc., but the Board was determined and persistent and he was too generous. It seemed, at that point in time the conniving began. Apparently, unbeknown to Dr. Minix, someone or group of someones pestered his CPA for a letter of intent, authored by an unknown and mailed to Micheal for signature. Then, according to the Ashland Daily Independent (ADI), followed a letter #1 from account Y, Dr. Minix’s CPA at that time, mailed to Dr. Minix, dated June 6, 1983, which had incorrectly spelled words, inaccurate punctuations and capitalizations. An excerpt exactly stated as follows: “I have enclosed a ‘letter of intent’ to be signed by you stating your intentions to give the Mayo mansion to the Highlands Regional Museum society. This letter will only be used to obtain some state money. If no state money is available, the letter of intent signed by you will not be shown to anyone.” Somehow during the interim the purchase-donation first offer became a complete, unencumbered property donation, which would satisfy a grant application for mansion operations and repairs in the minds of the doers and/or whomever authored the letter #1. 34

Stained glass ceiling, floor tile, ‘Breaks of the Big Sandy ‘end of hallway, hot water heat registers, marble columns on either side. At this juncture the reader should bear in mind there are 2 letters of intent and 2 grants described in this report. Both will be numbered accordingly #1 and #2. Dr. Minix was insulted by the 1983 letter of intent #1, after the board had declined the one and only ownership deal on the table and insulted by ‘whoever’ instigated, conspired and composed letter #1 without his authorization concerning the mansion property donation and intention to transfer ownership in exchange for state grant money and had the audacity to ask Micheal B. Minix, M.D. to sign such an illiterate, falsified letter. Dr. Minix’s position was perfectly clear with his first offer for the KHMS Inc. purchase and his equity donation. Dr. Minix neither authored approved, nor signed letter #1. Further, Dr. Minix refused to participate in a deception to misinform the Heritage Council for “some state money” for maintenance or any other trumped-up claim. The applied-for grant #1 at that time was for $150,000 according to Ashland Daily Independent 35

(ADI) reports. This was a letter of deception, not a letter of intent #1 and at best, extremely unethical. Following additional discussions, the Board’s persistence and Dr. Minix generous nature, the first signed document and agreement was a lease, which called for Dr. Minix to lease a designated square footage space, in the mansion, not the entire building, for $1500.00 per month to the KHMS Inc. There was No building donation or purchase on the table; only a straight-up, unequivocal property lease. However, there was one problem. KHMS Inc. had no revenue or income. Dr. Minix, because of his charitable nature, donated enough monies each month to defray the lease, $1500.00, plus utilities and expenses until the KHMS Inc. was in financial position to pay their lease and overhead expenses out of their own pockets. Micheal was convinced by the board sufficient donations would ‘sky rocket’ when the museum began operation. Dr. Minix was extremely interested in facilitating the beginning of a museum for the entire Eastern Kentucky region, protection of the historic Mansion’s integrity, and procurement and preservation of historical artifacts, while he shifted his office arrangements. He could have sold it then, but wanted to facilitate the museum plan. He anticipated that the museum would prolong the life of Mayo Mansion II. Again, Dr. Minix was informed by family that X wanted to demolish the mansion and build another apartment building, an ongoing business consideration of his. The KHMS, Inc. Board and everyone concerned were euphoric, when the museum project began unscathed. But amidst the excitement, its financial instability was apparent and soon finances faltered. Mike remained the only Kentucky Highland Museum’s benefactor. As James Carville said, campaigning for Bill Clinton, "It's the economy, stupid." August 26, 1984, the Sunday “articles in the Ashland Daily Independent (ADI) in the past year have heralded the creation of the Kentucky Highland Museum with its plan for establishing a museum in the Mayo Mansion. Yet, there are people who are not aware of the great event taking place among us. In one short year and a half, the dreams have materialized into an incorporated society with trustees, bylaws and elected officers and an attractive publication, ‘Highland Highlights’, edited by officer, M. J. Vogt. The first floor of the Mayo ‘Manor’ on 15th Street (sic) will be available as a museum. The Minixes have greatly enhanced 36 the society’s potential for success. September the 16th will be the festive occasion of the museum’s public opening.” September 1984 the ADI reported “the board must raise $100,000 to assume a mortgage on the Mayo ‘Manor’. The Board estimates that it would require $50,000per year to upkeep the mansion and hire a full-time director and caretaker. The group has applied to the Kentucky Heritage Commission for a $150,000 grant #1 but are depending on private funds and membership drives to support the project.” “Substantial cash gifts will be needed to set the regional museum project in motion.” This September, 1984 ADI report was contrary to the June 6, 1983 account in the Y letter #1, which said, ““I have enclosed a ‘letter of intent’ to be signed by you stating your intentions to give the Mayo mansion to the Highlands Regional Museum society.” The ADI report conveyed the museum status at the time was to assume the existing half of the mortgage, Micheal to donate his equity, but not donate a free unencumbered title to the museum property. On October 4, 1984, at the Chimney Corner Restaurant, another Ashland landmark, a new lease was discussed, not a property title donation. The museum requested many more square feet. Reflecting on the often told ‘watermelon story’: When two ‘entrepreneurs’ purchased a truck-load of watermelons in Georgia for $1.00 each and in turn sold them for $1.00 each back in KY and didn’t turn any profit, they concluded they needed a bigger truck! Generously, Dr. Minix agreed and the terms of the new lease were, therefore, changed. The KHMS Inc. agreed to pay $3,000.00 per month for the larger space in the 17,000 square foot mansion. Dr. Minix was assured that the KHMS Inc. would then acquire significant donations, enough to pay its own way, because the board stated that a new fund raising program was about to begin and more well- to-do patrons were going to “step-up” to the plate and donate. The Board had verbal commitments, Dr. Minix was reassured. Thus he continued to donate enough monies per month to cover the increased lease $3.000.00 per month and utilities, until funding arrived. He held out hopes for autonomous success. According to the new lease, the museum purpose as discussed in the first 37 lease was to continue. Unfortunately, none of those conditions were properly met by the KHMS Inc. and lease compliance and finances didn’t materialize. When placing the donations in perspective, the museum project evolved into multiple types of pure donation of property title discussions by self-proclaimed authorities, the KHMS Inc. and multiple groups of interested people outside the domain, without required performances on the museum’s part. None of the discussions included Dr. Minix. Rather than concentrate on their contract rental obligations, they were mesmerized by free, unencumbered property donation and ownership conversations, in which Dr. Minix took no part. When 3 or more parties, becomes captivated, self-appointed spokespersons for one-sided property title donation negotiations, which don’t include the property owner, crap was bound break loose. “Nuff said,” as Tim Bostic, Salyersville Independent News put it. Thus it did. The self-proclaimed parties, similar to a gaggle of piranha, were jockeying for ambitious position for want of something for nothing. Again, the entranced board mentioned his donation of the building, free and clear of stipulations and encumbrances, which was never initiated or intended by Dr. Minix, who was only interested in both parties lease performances. The KHMS Inc. wanted it “lock, stock and barrel like the Highlander gun,” all in a hurry-up, all in one place without much effort paid to self-reliance or performance of the existing lease. 37. Dr. Minix disclosed that he had no intention of signing a letter of intent #2, much less a donation “lock, stock and barrel” which he never voluntarily offered and which had never been a consideration when the KHMS Inc. suggested, as he continued his generous money donations for lease, utilities and overhead. Once again, Dr. Minix generously donated enough money each month for the KHMS Inc. to pay their expenses. The board solicited donations for operational expenses from other sources. As it turned out, their solicitations proceeded with little success. The Board appeared professional enough, but their rental responsibility ineptitude overshadowed by ownership fascination prevailed, while the community’s economy plummeted. Much was the talk and little the action advancing museum management and operations. 38

Most importantly, the KHMS Inc. was to demonstrate that they were financially solvent and able to pay all the museum’s financial obligations, timely and have operating capital left over for the lease to continue, in addition to the objectives of the museum. Financial debt and poor credit rating were not to be a problem for KHMS Inc. It soon became apparent that the Board wanted to use the 3rd floor. Mike had a regional Kentucky Fire Marshal, David Wheeler, who was directly unrelated, to investigate the potential fire hazard. The marshal determined that the 3rd floor was extremely dangerous for visitors, particularly the elderly. A fire escape had to be installed prior 3rd floor public occupancy. The Board stubbornly decided to use the 3rd floor even though it had been deemed hazardous and contrary to the agreement with Dr. Minix and the fire marshal’s advice about the liability of the 3rd floor. The fire hazard became immediately problematic. Mike was aggravated. The KHMS Inc. board should have had more respect for fire hazards since recently an Ashland tour bus had transported touring citizens to the Beverly Hills Supper Club, Covington, KY that ended in disaster. That tragedy was still keen on everyone’s memory. A gigantic fire engulfed the club and many Ashlanders perished. Fire was keen on Dr. Minix mind. He treated eye burns of several of the Ashland victims, who survived and were able to return home. Sadly, his UK football teammate, Clarkie (sic Clark) Mayfield, tragically succumbed as he heroically rescued many victims, but lost himself, when he returned for a final victim. 26. The KHMS Inc. president described an addendum to lease the 3rd floor, an addendum Dr. Minix had not approved, that provided for the Paramount Women’s Association’s Festival of the Trees, a Christmas Tree Gala. Incompetent museum administration and failed execution ran rampant. Examples of the mishandling of his objectives and purpose for the museum and the agreement were: a Masquerade party, YWCA fashion show, antique auction, sub- lease of the gift shop, wedding receptions, wedding rehearsal dinners, 3rd floor apartment rented to a board member’s brother, 2nd floor apartment rented to a renter who never paid his rent and had to be evicted, and theft of gift shop money, a fur fantasia with fur auction and show, High Tech Vocational School banquet and state garden club meeting. Others wanted to develop a restaurant 39 on the main floor for parties. There were too many quarterbacks calling signals and not enough wide receivers and linemen with ‘hands in the dirt’. All hell had broken loose. Functions were scheduled for socializing, not history, education and preservation. A nightmare had possessed the Museum. Ashland enjoyed an economic boom in 1974, when Dr. Minix decided to locate his ophthalmology practice in Ashland, KY. Historically, Ashland Oil and Refining Company expanded in 1963 and Armco Steel was growing. 5. Soon, the Ashland area economy began to fail after the strong beginning. A regional economic depression ensued. It began with an oil deal that went afoul. As stated before, “Ashland Oil Inc. made payments totaling $17 million in 1980 and 1981 to a former Abu Dhabi official in an unsuccessful attempt to retain a crude oil contract with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., according to current and former Ashland Oil officials.” 6. Investigations and law suits followed that severely damaged AOI Inc. Museum donations, grants and funding were jeopardized. In fact, they were soon non-existent. Economic matters became worse. “Battered by the recession and slumping prices for petroleum products, Ashland Oil Inc. yesterday reported a record quarterly loss of $14.5 million for the three-month period that ended March 31.” 7. Then, out of the Ashland smog, Ashland Oil moved to Lexington, KY. It seemed like overnight. The move caught most citizens off guard. “Executives of Ashland Oil Inc. must be in a hurry to get into their $25 million office complex in Lexington. Bulldozers were already at work on the 57-acre property the company owns on Richmond Road when formal groundbreaking ceremonies began yesterday morning. 8. Then Coal mining production declined in Eastern Kentucky, about the same time. Production gradually worsened from deep and surface mining and the average number of U.S. coal mining employees dropped from 74,286 in 1979 to 55,365 in 1988. The greatest numbers unemployed were in Kentucky. The economy in East KY suffered a severe slump, worse than other U.S. regions from the government’s early war on coal in the 1980’s. The roots began with President Regan’s administration. Funding a museum was not large on the minds of Ashlanders. 9. 40

Expectations for donations, funding and grants for the museum were shattered. An upstart museum was not a community priority at that time in Ashland history, during an economic recession or possibly a pending depression.

Three floor marble staircase with mahogany hand rail. The KHMS Inc. talked about and applied for the $5,000 grant #2 from the Kentucky Heritage Council primarily for roof repairs, which in monies amounted to a mere pittance, compared to the extravagant obligations concerning mansion use required by the Heritage Council. Yet again, the Kentucky Heritage Council wanted a letter of intent #2 verifying that the Mayo Mansion would ultimately be owned by KHMS Inc. The Kentucky Heritage Council (KHC) appeared to take the scheming lead for KHMS Inc. ownership. They continually talked about a commitment from Dr. Minix to donate the Mayo Mansion property, not just the money for operation to the corporation. The KHC appeared to take the lead. The property donation 41 commitment Letter of intent #2 was supposed to meet the February 1, 1987 deadline by KHC. The full court press was on by the KHC and KHMS Inc., but Dr. Minix had no intention to convey the Mayo Mansion property free and unencumbered to the disproven KHMS Inc. Furthermore, Dr. Minix had serious questions about the museum’s operations, KHC intentions and ability to survive. The KHMS Inc. president in 1983, declined the purchase-donation offer, because of the significant lack of potential funding. The KHMS Inc., therefore, declined compliance with the conditions and encumbrances, aforementioned. No letter #2 had been authored by Dr. Minix or anyone else whom he had knowledge and no letter #2 had been presented to Dr. Minix at that time to sign. The one and only letter to his knowledge, which was ever presented to him and known to exist was the June 6, 1983 letter of intent #1, delivered by ground mail to him from account Y, authored and delivered without authorization of Dr. Minix, which Dr. Minix declined to sign, mentioned before on page 33 above, according to the ADI. In a communication to the KHMS Inc., dated January 7, 1986, David L. Morgan, Director of the Kentucky Heritage Council and State Historic Preservation Officer stated, “It has been some time since we last heard from your organization regarding the Kentucky Heritage Council’s State Grant Award to the Mayo Manor….The funds will have to be expended prior to June 30, 1987….I want you to know that I recognize the difficulties encountered in trying to get this grant project underway.” The reason for the difficulties was Dr. Minix lack of intent. Dr. Minix refused to even consider signing any commitment to donate the property without conditions, free and unencumbered. However, all along as an alternative, he agreed to donate money, not property, for rent and utilities holding out hope for a KHMS Inc. performance miracle. He refused the trapping press by the KHMS Inc., and others and the rush by the KY Heritage Council to place strings on his property without conditions, free and unencumbered. They, too, were a divisive group seeking to tie up historic properties around Kentucky for “the price of a song”. Once tied up there was no opportunity for controlling one’s own property completely, Dr. Minix learned, an ongoing neighborhood concern. The Heritage Council controlled many decisions regarding the property, once tied-up. They, too, were devious instigators many said. 42

Then, the museum project received a fatal blow. The Institute of Museum Services entered the fray. On May 20, 1987 the fate of the museum project was sealed. The board announced that the Institute of Museum Services (IMS) had turned down their grant application. Four reviewers from the IMS had reviewed the Mayo Mansion Museum and KHMS Inc. and turned-down the grant. The IMS gave the KHMS Inc. a poor score on the 9 scored criteria. The review revealed that the lowest score was on administration and financial management, low on people knowledge about history and museum services and low on educational programs. The IMS was critical and gave a low score because no one was assigned to educational programs direction. The score was also low on convenience and management administration. They were critical of board members doing staff functions; critical of low tourist and visitor numbers. Very few visitors visited the museum, not even school children on field trips. The festival of Christmas trees was responsible for 50% of the museum’s visitors. There were few other real visitors and tourists. The exhibits were described as “static and old fashioned and hastily prepared” by the IMS. The IMS report was a miserable account and confirmed Dr. Minix’s conclusions about KHMS Inc. accomplishment deficiency. Dr. Minix had his own special criticisms. The KHMS Inc. had failed to incorporate the Big Sandy Region, his home region, among histories, artifacts, genealogy research and violated innumerable lease contract agreements. One astute observer stated, “The direction of the Mayo Mansion building was diverted from a museum to a central party house for a select few.” It was a museum management nightmare. Dr. Minix gave up on the Museum’s prospects. The IMS report revealed the importance of conditions and encumbrances on which Micheal had insisted. The KHMS Inc. Museum misdirection should have ended there. But it didn’t. In the meantime, because of his generosity and dedication Dr. Minix continued to donate money, while holding our hope, with no discussion about property title donation, to the KHMS Inc. beyond their final contractual date for occupancy, while he had business to attend. The development of the Paintsville Eye Institute (PEI), a free standing ophthalmology-only surgery center was moving forward. Dr. Minix acquired the difficult to acquire Kentucky Certificate of Need for PEI issued by the state of KY to only a select few. Micheal became excited. PEI was a 43 once in a lifetime opportunity. He paid off the 10 year Mayo Mansion mortgage in 1988. Since the KHMS Inc. had failed to properly develop the Museum and were discredited by the IMS, he sold the property August 8, 1988 to his 1st ex-wife, who also was entrepreneurial. She had plans for the museum, the mansion’s development and wanted to co-operate with the KHMS Inc. But they didn’t want to reciprocate and refused to entertain the thought that she was the owner. They ignored the deed of conveyance. His first ex-wife had become extremely successful in her own business ventures. Mike was very proud of her accomplishments. She appeared to have the means to develop the Mansion and not afraid to dream big. She was a great mother, good to their children, grandchildren and excellent caretaker of paternal living family. Dr. Minix continued moving forward with the PEI. The KHMS Inc. lease of the Mansion expired, but the KHMS Inc. failed to negotiate their occupancy of the Mayo Mansion II with the new owner, as he had advised and notified them to do. August 17, 1988 the KHMS Executive committee, wasted no time. They must have had a conceived a plan, because little time had lapsed for discussion and debate. Following the motion by Dr. PE, an Ashland dentist and ‘old family friend’ and business associate of the Bath Avenue businessman X, who was married to Dr. Minix cousin, the board voted to consult an attorney about Dr. Minix conveyance of the Mayo Mansion to his legally entitled ex-wife rather than donate it to the KHMS Inc. After legal consultation, the KHMS Inc. decided to file a lawsuit for the clear title to the Mayo Mansion, unencumbered by any KHMS Inc. performance obligations. The suit was based upon the falsified letter of intent #2 to donate the mansion, which was precipitated by the KHC requirement in exchange for a $5000 mansion roof repair grant. Dr. Minix had never seen, authored or signed the letter #2 in question. He had seen, but did not execute the aforementioned 1983 letter #1 on page 31 above. Sadly, his money donations and generosity were discounted by the KHMS Inc. Dr. Minix’s money donations for the Museum’s rent and utilities were the only donations on which both parties had ever agreed verbally and on paper contract. Dr. Minix described the museum disappointments in his autobiography because it became a huge malevolent event in his life’s journey and many, who might read his autobiography, might become donors and he believed potential donors 44 needed precautionary words before they begin similar charities. A donation was at the heart of mansion matter, so to speak. His friends, others in the Eastern KY and other areas, he claimed, needed to know about good deed donation pitfalls. The psychology of donations and the law of gifting were important, because “large gifts are beneficial and a large portion of U.S. and local economies.” This betrayal and disaster took his emotional toll. Dr. Minix was extremely saddened and shocked by the turn of events and didn’t want other donors to suffer the same disappointing emotions. He was haunted the remainder of his life by the KHMS Inc. and others’ disrespect and disregard for his generosity and kindness. He was devastated. Mike replied, “No good deed ever goes unpunished.” Ashland Dentist Dr. P E had tossed the first stone. This was the part of the Missile’s journey, where he learned 2 big lessons: “Bunglers with wonders never cease and there’s a sucker born every minute” 19. For the readers’ information: “The ‘first great question of contract law’ is why some agreements are enforced and others are not. 20. Professor Posner claimed that economic reasoning (money changing hands) provides the best approach for analyzing such questions, and cognitive and emotional considerations, which lie near the heart of Behavioral Law & Economics (BLE) should be discarded. 21. This research article evaluated both the traditional analysis of this great question, which predated Law & Economics (LNE), and subsequent economic analyses.” “Although the gift economy is an important part of the modern economy as well as of modern society more generally, enforcement of gift promises is not an integral part of the gift economy. Citizens who do business with one another in the commercial economy (i.e. money changes hands), bargained-for promises must be enforced by a reasonably efficient contract law.” Mike believed that readers should understand for their own good that many wealthy and non-wealthy people have donated to charities and other worthy causes and legal authorities agreed donations were important to our economy but there are donor jeopardies. “Donative psychology indicates that most gifts are given as surprises; no promise precedes them. Not only are relatively few gift promises made, but most gifts are given to close friends and relatives pursuant to social norms that would not be strengthened by legal enforcement of donative promises. Letters of intent were not enforceable.” Micheal said, “Imagine 45 enforcing promised, quasi-promised, discussions of promised tithes or tithable propositions that fall through.” “Regardless of whether the law enforces gratuitous promises, the social science literature indicates strongly that family members and friends continue to give gifts, thereby advancing the economy and, more importantly, fortifying societal ties.” “The psychology literature bolsters the traditionalist argument that enforcing gratuitous promises destroys the “giftness” of the transactions and thereby extinguishes the primary benefits of gift-giving activity. The predominant value of most gift-giving activity is that it binds family and friends together socially. Introducing legal enforcement into that setting would not just be inefficient (as economists point out), it would actually destroy value. It has been said that jokes are like frogs i.e. frogs die if you try to dissect them. Just as dissection kills a joke, enforcement of a gift promise kills the gift. Very few of the most important benefits of a gift can survive legal enforcement. A potential donor doesn’t respond to “strong arming” them for a gift. If letters, comments, and communications of intent to donate were enforceable, fewer benevolent citizens would contribute to charities, foundations and other organizations. Dr. Minix had not made a commitment to donate the property, but he committed only to operational funding, seed money, rent, utilities donations, that were dishonored. Back to the trial for conveyance of the Mayo Mansion II: The evidence concerned a phony letter of intent #2 which was produced at the trial. It was a phony gratuitous promise, to donate a free, condition unrestricted, unencumbered, clear title conveyance of the Mayo Mansion II to the KHMS Inc. The preposterous details of their swindle and letter of intent #2 were shocking. The KHMS Inc. tried, unsuccessfully, to kill the frog. 16. Later in life Dr. Minix kindness was alive and well with giftness. He continued donating to several worthy organizations, because of his compassion and charity. Donative recipients usually expressed appreciation, which was not necessary, but usually they didn’t file suit for more. Then the trial ensued. The most frequent names mentioned in the following accounts of the trial are directly proportional to the amount of testimony by those witnesses during deposition and on the witness stand. The following erroneous facts were the center of the trial and terribly upsetting to Micheal. 46

He believed readers should learn about his distress, because it was another important part of his journey. Mike was quoted in the Ashland Daily Independent Newspaper, which covered the trial daily, mostly front page with pictures, when he first saw the exhibit, the phony letter of intent #2, “I didn’t sign this paper to donate the mansion.” The letter #2, offered into evidence at trial and presented to Dr. Minix on the witness stand, was a phony letter of Intent #2 produced in its entirety on a photocopied paper, not an original, and had no original inked signatures, but his signature photocopy, dated January 20, 1987. The only letter similar to this was the letter #1 from Dr. Minix’s CPA, mailed to him June 6, 1983, mentioned on page 31 above. An original letter of intent #2 with original wet ink signatures was never presented into evidence during the trial, not verified by witness testimony. Only the photocopied letter #2 and photocopied signature, obviously, because no original letter of intent #2 existed. Dr. Minix testified an original did not exist. The letter #2, that Micheal was shown, was on the Doctor’s outdated stationary. His supply of that particular stationary had been exhausted and nonexistent years before the supposed date of the written letter of intent #2. Dr. Minix most recent stationary, unlike the older on which the letter was written, was in use on the date and at the time the letter was supposedly composed. The letter’s photocopied doctor’s signature was not acknowledged or notarized. The body of the letter itself had misspellings, mislabeling and poor grammar. Dr. Minix used excellent grammar, spell checks, and compulsive editing, when writing letters. No longer his CPA, account Y, testified he had witnessed Dr. Minix’s signature, which Micheal denied, when he testified according to the ADI. His previous CPAs, including Y and X customarily insisted that signatures be notarized on such important documents. Account Y, at that time, was the son-in-law of X, the other CPA, no longer with Dr. Minix because of disagreements, failed contract negotiations, obligation conflicts, responsibilities and family connections, concerning both these CPAs. 35. Dr. Minix name was misspelled Michael on the letter, rather than the correct Swiss-European spelling, Micheal, -e- before –a-, with which his great aunt Maude Arnett Bach, wife of Breathitt County Judge Chester Bach, elocution instructor at 47

Lees College, had labeled him. Micheal Minix Sr., M.D. was always very compulsive and careful about his correct name spelling. It distinguished him from the other Michael Minix / Minnix in the U.S. There are surprisingly many. All bank checks, stationary and documents in his office had the correct name spelling. Even the Ashland Dailey Independent Newspaper was careful, spelling Micheal correctly in their reports after testimony. It seemed, in jest, the ADI publically acknowledged to their readers the spelling difference which the ADI staff perceived, but the jury, plaintiffs and judge had not recognized and the letter #1 mailed by account Y to Dr. Minix, June 6, 1983, which was carelessly and incompetently authored. One would expect, whoever the author was, should be able to spell the name, Dr. Micheal B. Minix correctly. Dr. Minix never authored this illiterate letter document #2 nor signed his signature over his misspelled name. Signing over his misspelled name was preposterous, he testified. The self-proclaimed witness to the letter of intent #2 to donate the Mayo Mansion II free and unencumbered, account Y, according to the ADI, testified that Dr. Minix secretary had typed the letter on the Dr.’s typewriter, which had the designated old font in question. Dr. Minix Nurse Kathy Ratliff testified on behalf of Dr. Minix, that suspected office typewriter with font that matched the suspect letter #2, stopped working because “pizza had fallen onto the keys underneath the carriage” and could not be removed or repaired (a comical moment during testimony, fitting a kangaroo trial a reporter stated). The typewriter was “junked” she stated. The only office typewriter, being used in the office at the time of the letter #2 was authored, was a typewriter with a different font than the font in the letter #2 in evidence. Nurse Kathy went on to say, the letter in evidence must have been typed on someone else’s typewriter that used the old font. An academic digression follows: There are well known problems with eye witness and other forms of testimony which require witness’s memory. “Courts, lawyers and police officers are now aware of the ability of 3rd parties to introduce false memories to witnesses. For this reason, lawyers closely question 48 witnesses regarding the accuracy of their memories and about any possible "assistance" from others in the formation of their present memories.” “However, psychologists have long recognized that ‘gap filling’ and reliance on assumptions are necessary to function in our society. For example, if we did not assume that mail will be delivered, or that the supermarkets will continue to stock bread, we would behave quite differently than we do. We are constantly filling in the gaps in our recollection and interpreting things we hear.” “So what is an "original memory?" The process of interpretation occurs at the very formation of memory; thus introducing distortion from the beginning. Furthermore, witnesses can distort their own memories without the help of examiners, police officers or lawyers. “Rarely do we tell a story or recount events without a purpose. Every act of telling and retelling is tailored to a particular listener; we would not expect someone to listen to every detail of our morning commute, so we edit out extraneous material. The act of telling a story adds another layer of distortion, which in turn affects the underlying memory of the event. This is why a fish story, which grows with each retelling, can eventually lead the teller to believe it.” “Once witnesses state facts in a particular way or identify a particular person as the perpetrator, they are unwilling or even unable, due to the reconstruction of their memory, to reconsider their initial understanding. When a witness identifies a person in a line-up, he is likely to identify that same person in later line-ups, even when the person identified is not the perpetrator. Although juries and decision- makers place great reliance on eyewitness identification, they are often unaware of the danger of false memories.” “Experiments conducted by Stanford’s Tversky and Marsh corroborate the vulnerability of human memory to bias. There are innumerable problems with eye witness testimony and ‘memory fallibility’ into the context of police investigations and jury verdicts and problems on the relevance of such evidence research on our system of justice has revealed.” 63. “People retell events for different reasons. Sometimes they try to be accurate, other times entertaining. So what characterizes retellings from different perspectives? How does retelling perspective affect later recall of events?” 49

“In the current research, participants retold a story either three times or not at all. By instruction, retellings were either entertaining or accurate. Compared to accurate retellings, entertaining retellings contained more affect, but fewer sensory references. “On a subsequent memory test, participants who retold with an accuracy goal recalled the greatest number of story events, and their recall protocols were the most accurate and detailed, and least exaggerated. However, recognition memory did not differ across groups, suggesting that differences in retrieval structures (necessary for recall but not recognition) were key to understanding later differences in memory. Compared to telling it straight, the creative process of telling a story leads to qualitative and quantitative changes in later recall.” 64. – academic digression end. The name of the property in the body of the letter #2 was described as the Mayo Maner, a term not used by Dr. Minix and used only by the KHMS Inc. board, account Y and the Kentucky Heritage Council, according to records, testimony and the ADI. The National Historical Registry listed the Bath Avenue properties correctly in their booklet as Dr. Minix did: “The Mayo Mansion.” After the trial began, contrary to Rules of Civil Procedure, copies of Dr. Minix signatures were ordered by the Judge to be extracted from Dr. Minix files stored in records, housed in CPA account Y’s office, according to the ADI. These signature files should have been subpoenaed for discovery for all to examine during the depositions phase of the suit. The rule of evidence states a party has to provide a copy of the evidence to other parties at the time they asked for it to be introduced into evidence at deposition. The signature from account Y’s office was not properly introduced and not properly admitted into evidence. Account Y was not a party in the suit. There was no testimonial foundation during the trial for the admission of the Dr. Minix signatures, which were in account Y office, which were compared with the photocopied signatures on the phony photocopied letter of intent #2. Nor was the signature of Micheal B. Minix, Sr. M.D. subpoenaed from him or his professional records. The ADI confirmed that the judge had ordered Dr. Minix business records opened in Y office, for copies of Dr. Minix usual and customary signature. It was to be 50 compared by the writing expert, who the Judge called to examine and testify, to the photocopied signature on letter #2 for authenticity. The judge had the bailiff hand the retrieved Dr. Minix signatures from the account Y office files and the letter #2 with photocopied signature to the signature expert for comparison. The thought occurred to many who were fascinated by the trial, that the retrieved signature copies would most accurately match the signature photocopies, if both signatures originated from the same source. The ADI hinted at that comparison. The expert affirmed they matched. A photocopy of a signature on a document is an exact replica of the same signature when it originates from the same source and is selected a second time to be compared. That was a no brainer. No wet ink original signature was on the letter of intent #2 exhibit at trial. Minix and his ex-wife’s attorneys objected to opening his files for evidence, which were not introduced at discovery or as exhibits by a witnesses as part of the case. Those objections were to no avail. However, the signature expert qualified her testimony stating signature on the letter of intent #2 submitted as evidence was not original, but a photocopy. That was an important testimonial fact. Property owners, who have conveyed property know that parties, who engage in property conveyance, must have signed and had witnessed and notarized the transfer documents, in deed form signed, sealed and delivered. Rules of Evidence stated to prove the content of a writing, recording, or photograph, the original writing, recording, or photograph is required. Every state adopted a version to the Rules of Evidence. 22. Dr. Minix testified he did not sign, author, create or ever have the original letter of intent #2. His office staff and secretary said they did not author, type, create witness or sign the letter, as alleged by the CPA’s testimony. No one maintained an original existed; not even the CPA. He denied that he had the original created letter #2. “If the party is able to provide an acceptable reason for the absence of the original document, that it was once in their possession but it was lost or destroyed then "secondary evidence" or copies of the content in the original document, can be admitted as evidence. 51

But if there is no evidence an original letter of intent #2 ever existed, no one ever had or revealed an original letter of intent #2, nor witnessed its production, nor notarized or witnessed its signature, a photocopy should not have been be admissible, because a copy would not verify an accurate copy of an authentic original, because there was never evidence that it existed. The best evidence rule is only applied in situations in which a party attempts to substantiate a non-original document submitted as evidence during a trial. 50. In most cases, this means the original of a document or object (or a verifiably accurate copy) must be the one used in court, unless it has been lost or destroyed, after the original’s existence was attested. In the Mayo Mansion II case photocopied signature justification was not relevant, because no original document was proved to have ever existed. The letter of intent #2, at the center of the ‘egregious’ trial, was in the beginning for the acquisition of a mere $5,000 roofing grant #2 for the Mayo Mansion II from the Kentucky Heritage Council. Micheal had donated over $200,000 in more than 6 years. Another $5,000 donation by Dr. Minix was not out of the question. The letter evolved into a potential real estate transfer of ownership. Meanwhile the following conditions and rumors prevailed in the mill: the IMS had turned down KHMS Inc. grant monies. The community had not supported the museum with donations. Dr. Minix would surely not continue to donate after he had been sued. So the only explanation that made sense followed: If the court granted the KHMS Inc. title to the Mayo Mansion, a building they could not acquire according to the KY Heritage Council, maintain and administer according to the IMS, the conspiracy rumor was very possibly correct, observers close to the discussions stated. The KHMS Inc. was rumored by a family member to have cut a deal underneath the table to sell the Mayo Mansion II, once conveyed to KHMS Inc. by the court, to X, businessman associate of dentist Dr. P E., because X already had invested interest in half of the city block, where the mansion was located. Since he already had investments in half of that city block, acquisition of the mansion property on the other end of the block would boost his holding, all or in part, to three-fourths of that Ashland city block. That’s ‘business’. 52

The family rumor mill continued and, thereafter, by board members, who appeared to know. The board of the KHMS Inc. was rumored to have plans to sell or trade the Mayo Mansion II, a larger, more expensive to-maintain building, and buy or trade for the Eufas Van Sant House, 1301 Bath Avenue, which was owned by X - Æ Real Estate Co., noted above page 16, and, thereafter, the KHMS, Inc. could continue a more economical and quasi museum operation and X could demolish the Mayo Mansion II for an apartment building. Tycoon trade and swap and difficult business was common. X expressed to family and DEW, another of Micheal’s uncles, his continued desire to own the mansion, advance his Bath Avenue business monopoly and block extension of the Historic District. He was opposed to historic properties some of our family revealed, which prohibited community progress in his opinion. X had constructed modern buildings on 1200 block of Bath Avenue terminating the historic district on the Northwest end of the street in years past. What many did not understand and don’t currently know is in 1978 Dr. Minix’s attorneys had acquired a difficult to acquire zoning variance for the Mayo Mansion II, from the Ashland, KY City Council, which rezoned and authorized the residential property to be transformed to professional office property, making the property much more valuable, than residential. Now it can be utilized as an office building, because the zoning variance has not been nullified. X was just doing the business that businessmen do. He contemplated many business investments. Dr. Minix and family knew that was his job, doing business, which all capitalist are free to do. X was also influential in naming Z the replacement for the vacant Circuit Judgeship. Z was a very close friend of his and the presiding judge in the Mayo Mansion II trial. Z was an honorary pallbearer with other close friends at X’s funeral 27 Dec 2005. His obituary stated that “X died Saturday in the UK Medical Center in Lexington, Ky., following a one-car accident on I-64 east of Morehead.” He was traveling to a doctor’s office for an appointment, family said, when his Rolls Royce ran off the road. The obituary continued that “in his professional capacity, he guided and helped administer the estates of clients whose fortunes were also directed at community uplift.” 36. 53

The rumors appeared to clarify the hard-hearted deception by the KHMS Inc. board since they and the Heritage Council had dissociated their potential funding relationship with Dr. Minix by suing him. Micheal heard many rumors about the Mayo Mansion II and its board he could not comprehend. But he was reminded that Albert Einstein said, “Reality is merely an illusion, unless it’s a very persistent one. Then its very real.” The trial lasted about 4 weeks and the phony letter of intent #2 remained central to the testimony. Dr. Minix ophthalmology practice was disrupted for 8 weeks. His practice was nil and void because of testimony research, discovery, preparation and the actual trial itself. Naturally, his office overhead, equipment and mortgage payments, salaries, health insurance and malpractice insurance premiums continued on pace, uninterrupted. The frivolous, egregious trial was a fiasco. The exact testimony would require more extensive reporting for completeness. It was headline high profile daily news, documented in the Ashland Daily Independent. John Leathers, Esquire, former UK Law Professor, then in private practice, represented Mike’s first ex-wife, who claimed total ownership following his legal sale of the Mayo Mansion to her. The Minix were married when the Mayo Mansion was purchased in 1978 and for the following 2 years of the 10 year mortgage. Leathers anticipated a verdict for the KHMS Inc. based on his experience with rural Kentucky courts, he stated. Leathers asked very few questions, as he silently sat in court and prepared his appeal. His paralegal calmly and humorously repeated, “and the beat goes on” and it did, day after trying day. Leathers knew an appeal was forthcoming, based on the circuit court history. The testimony varied from hilarious to impolite and every possible in-between, including the testimony of his second ex-wife on behalf of the museum against Dr. Minix, his and their children’s estate. Pillow talk was ruled admissible. There’s “no rage like love to hatred turned,” a family member said, when you bite off your nose in spite of your face with self-destructive reactions. 39. During cross examination of his first ex-wife, she was asked to read a document. From the witness box, she replied that the print was too small. From his defendant table, Dr. Minix ‘out of order’ loudly asked if she wanted to borrow his reading glasses, as he held them high in the air. Needless to say, the audience, jury and most everyone in the court room, and probably the judge, too, who 54 remained snugly hidden out of sight behind the bench the entire trial and many of the Dr.’s patients and others, who knew he was associated with Minix Optical, laughed rowdily. The trial was such a high profile frivolous, egregious law suit. Even the Atlanta Constitution called Dr. Minix for interviews mainly for the amusement it seemed to garner, it appeared. He refused the interviews, because the request was during the appeal. Leather’s prediction was correct. The case would require an appeal of the ‘egregious’ Court’s verdict. On May 10, 1990 the ADI reported that the trial commenced for title to the property and after 4 weeks of testimony, the headline read, “Jury Awards Manor Title To The Museum.” 10. Mike was flabbergasted. Calmly and confidently, Leathers submitted his appeal. Unlike the Circuit Court, the Kentucky Appeals Court applied the facts and law of the case and reversed the 1990 Circuit Court verdict, but the verdict was too late for recovery of Dr. Minix business loses. His patients remained loyal and his practice continued to thrive after the trial, which amounted to an absence of 2 months away from his practice and negation of greater than 25% of that year’s annual income. An hiatus in routine medical office billing, collections and operations, is a reimbursement “black hole’ hallucination, which proceeds and spins disagreeably on its own, which Doctors regularly ‘stew-over’. Mr. John R. Leathers, former Law professor at Columbia Law School, University of Houston, University of Oklahoma and University of Kentucky, during the trial in Lexington, KY private practice, had filed the appeal of behalf of Dr. Minix’s first ex- wife. Dr. Minix’s attorney explained only one of the defendants appeal was necessary and yielded to Attorney Leathers, an expert in court appeals. “Judge Sara W. Combs was the first woman and first judge form the Eastern Kentucky counties of the 7th Appellate District to serve as the Chief Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. When the appeal court’s decisions were returned, Dr. Minix was first pleased, but then became very angry, when he reflected back on the events surrounding his mistreatment and injustice. During the Appeals Court hearing, Judge Combs was reported, by the legalists who attended, to have severely scolded the KHMS Inc. 55 attorney David O. Welch for the frivolousness of the case he brought before the court. The decisions handed down by the Court of Appeals continued in quotes:  “the Judges proclaimed that the procedures, presidents and violations of due process were extremely ‘egregious’  “and failure to uphold Kentucky property law were extremely ‘egregious’.  “The Appeals Judges approved the sale of the Mayo Mansion from Dr. Minx to his first ex-wife  “and awarded her title to The Mayo Mansion II  “and awarded her back rent” that the KHMS Inc. had ignored and irresponsibly failed to negotiate as recommended they do by Dr. Minix. Dr. Minix first ex-wife, who tried in vain to continue leasing Mayo Mansion II to KHMS Inc., after negotiations failed with KHMS Inc., sold the mansion to another entrepreneur, who afterwards sold it to its present owner. The Mayo Mansion II is in excellent structural state and is being appropriately preserved and cared-for by the current 2017 entrepreneur owners, which is very pleasing to Dr. Minix. The KHMS Inc. attorney, “David O. Welch, a former Ashland mayor and lifelong civil-rights activist, died Saturday Oct. 30, 2016 in Ashland. He was 82. Welch, a Berea College and Harvard Law School alumnus, was an Ashland Human Rights Commission member for more than 20 years, serving as chairman and vice chairman for some of that time. Welch was a respected trial attorney. Interestingly, Welch and Dr. Minix were cordial friends for several years prior to the trial and had many interesting conversations. During the trail they spoke to each other, pleasantly and respectfully. Dr. Minix believed that Welch was forced into a trial, for unspecified reasons, in which he didn’t want to participate. As the 2 departed in the lobby of the courthouse, they shook hands. Micheal said, we’ll continue this later. And they did. “And the beat went on.” 56

16th Street side view of Mayo Mansion II. Decisions handed down by the Kentucky Court of Appeals continued in quotes:  “The Appeals Court Judges agreed that the Letter of Intent #2 introduced into evidence was not valid  “and the Appeals Judges declared that the Letter of Intent #2 was “set aside, null and void and held for naught.”  They further decided that “the August 8, 1988 deed and mortgage to Mrs. Minix become valid and binding instruments  “Deed should be recorded in the Boyd County record books.”  The Appeals Court held “The Letter of Intent #2 was not a deed  and the January 20, 1987 note clearly ran afoul of KRS 382.010.”  The Appeals Court went on to say, “a written promise, authentic or invalid, is clearly not a deed or will.  There are only two methods that property can be transferred and they are by deed or will.” 33. 57

The most important statement about the law of the case for citizens to remember is that property conveyance can only be accomplished by deed or will in Kentucky and other states. A judge and a jury of grownups should have known, been instructed and followed the facts of the case and the rule of law in good conscious. Both the facts of the case and law of the case were ignored. The KHMS Inc. County Circuit Court conveyance for title was ‘egregious’. David O. Welch and Judge Z most likely knew better, but they didn’t do better. The trial was a shameful waste of time and tax payers’ money. Dr. Minix had donated enough money, over $200,000 sufficient to pay the KHMS Inc. rent and overhead for more than 6 years, to facilitate the museum’s beginning. He said what he meant and meant what he said. He was a man of his word. The KHMS Inc. gratitude was expressed with a frivolous, egregious lawsuit, which in addition to the citizens loss, cost him significant time and money. KHMS Inc. confirmed that “No good deed ever goes unpunished” which, up to that point, was the KHMS Inc. real contribution to Ashland history. According to FBI handwriting experts, “No one person writes exactly the same way, even within several repetitions of writings. This is known as natural variation, or intra-writer variation, and represents the second principle of handwriting analysis.” 53. Seldom will signatures be exactly the same. With that in mind, the handwriting expert was assigned the duty and compared the photocopied signature on the so called ‘letter of intent’ #2 and a photocopied signature from Dr. Minix’s files kept in CPA account Y’s office records. The expert concluded the signatures were identical. Since their identicality was ‘spot on’ and the signature on the so called letter of intent #2, not a wet ink original but a photocopy, legal ‘expert spectators’ of the trial speculated that both signatures must have been derived from the very same source, which eliminated any doubt by the expert when compared. They source was not ‘discovered’. The ‘expert spectators’ queried, how many persons, other than Dr. Minix had Dr. Minix’s signature readily available to photocopy and how many persons not parties in the suit were known, not by discovery deposition, but by Judge Z to have his signatures? 58

Judge Z was a pallbearer at the funeral of X. Y was the son-in-law of X at the time of trial. X was married to Dr. Minix 1st cousin. Y was married to Dr. Minix 2nd cousin, who was the daughter of X and Micheal’s 1st cousin. Dr. Minix never gave anyone his approval to use electronic, photocopied, representative-party, accommodation-party or any other types of his signature on his behalf. Approval must be granted by the signer for substitutes if the signer is alive or an authenticated representative party if signer is deceased. 62. Every tax return and document prepared by all CPAs, including X and account Y, for Dr. Minix were mailed or hand delivered to Dr. Minix for his wet ink signed signature, which he signed and Dr. Minix himself mailed to the IRS or whomever was the recipient. A tax return is not considered valid and refunds are not issued, unless the return is signed. 55. Every previous property transfer contract of Micheal had been notarized or acknowledged before recorded in accordance with KRS 382.270. 54. Those were standard operating procedures for CPAs and Minix. Readers must take into account that a handwriting analysis expert not only compares signatures to determine if a person legally signed a document, but conversely, a handwriting analysis expert also compares signatures to determine the likelihood of a forgery and/or conspiracy to defraud by false representation on a contract . There are degrees of culpability, when offenders are in a group. Handwriting analyses are commonplace in the court of law. Signature misrepresentations on contracts are commonplace in business and life. Hence, signatures are defined in Kentucky Law by KRS 355.1-355.20 and in all states. Signatures by a representative must be an "authorized signature of the represented person" KRS 355.3-402. Dr. Minix did not authorize anyone to use his signature, reproduce his signature or sign his signature to the so-called letter of intent #2. 49. Forgery in the second degree, KRS 516.030, is when (1) A person when, with intent to defraud, deceive or injure another, falsely makes, completes or alters a written instrument, and which is or purports to be or which is calculated to become or to represent when completed: 59

(a) A deed, will, codicil, contract, assignment, commercial instrument, credit card or other instrument which does or may evidence, create, transfer, terminate or otherwise affect a legal right, interest, obligation or status; or (b) A public record or an instrument filed or required or authorized by law to be filed in or with a public office or public employee; (2) Forgery in the second degree is a Class D felony. Effective: June 25, 2013 History: Amended 2013 Ky. Acts ch. 25, sec. 26, effective June 25, 2013. -- 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 406, sec. 134, effective January 1, 1975 Following the appeal court decision to reverse the Kentucky Circuit Court decision, the possibility of forgery charge and judicial misconduct were discussed by Dr. Minix’s advisors and other attorneys, since he had not granted permission to anyone to compose a letter #2 and not granted permission to photocopy his signature to the letter #2 in question, which had been submitted at trial and because of the ‘egregious’ judicial “procedures, presidents and violations of due process” which were verified by the Appeals Court. Potential offenders were not definitively named. A second court case for fraudulent behavior and judicial misconduct were instantly quashed. Too much time and money had been wasted on the nonsensical case all decided. Dr. Minix was concerned about the welfare of his patients, first and foremost, and hastened back to the practice of ophthalmology and medicine, soon as humanly possible. His patients were patiently waiting and practice coverage had be overextended. The museum found another site, the Paramount Arts Center and currently describes its history today in 2017 in the following manner: “The Kentucky Highlands Museum was organized in 1984 as a historical and cultural center for the Ashland, Kentucky, area. The Museum was housed in the historical Mayo Mansion until taking up residency in downtown Ashland’s Main Street District in the first floor, basement, and mezzanine levels of the former C. H. Parsons Department Store in 1994. In 1997, the museum, following a strategic planning process, changed its name to the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center with the above mission statement.” 60

In truth, the KHMS, Inc. was named by Dr. Minix and organized by the first board and Dr. Minix for the entire ‘Eastern Kentucky Highlands Region’ which now includes the following counties: Bath, Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Floyd, Greenup, Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike and Rowan, not just the “Ashland, Kentucky area” as described above. 32. “The ADI September 1984 reported that Dr. Michael (sic) Minix and wife offered the Mayo Manor (sic) to the Kentucky Highlands Museum Society as a regional repository and cultural center for Eastern Kentucky.” The most disgraceful omission by the Highlands Museum & Discovery Center in the Paramount Arts Center was and is the omission of Dr. Minix imagination, dedication and generosity to the society’s beginning by contact from 1983 until 1989 and even beyond their contract agreement before the suit. Without his ingenuity The Highlands Museum & Discovery Center would not exist today. Most of the original KHMS Inc. board resigned soon after the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the which denied Dr. Minix Due Process. The board members were probably ashamed, as they should have been. The benefit of Mike’s monetary gifts to the Museum didn’t survive the attempted enforcement of a bogus, deceptive Mayo Mansion II seizure by the KHMS Inc. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. The term Kangaroo Court is still used by defendants, writers and scholars critical of a court or a trial. Even the U.S. Supreme Court used the term in Re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S. Ct. 1428, 18L. Ed. 2d 527 (1967), a case that established that children in juvenile court have the right to Due Process. The Kentucky Court of Appeals verified the term in its description of the frivolous, egregious Mayo Mansion II suit which violated Dr. Minix’s right for Due Process, an extremely serious breach. “When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due process violation, which offends the rule of law. The 5th and 14thh Amendments to the United States Constitution each contain a Due Process Clause. Due process deals with the administration of justice and thus the Due Process Clause acts as a safeguard from arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the Government outside the sanction of law.[16] The Supreme Court of the United States interprets the Clauses as providing four protections: procedural due process (in civil and criminal 61 proceedings), substantive due process, a prohibition against vague laws, and as the vehicle for the incorporation of the Bill of Rights. 65. Alleged harms by possibly multiple persons upon the rights of Dr. Minix, the victim in this case of violation of due process of law, perhaps “sets forth a conspiracy within the domain of the 14th Amendment, when an appeal alleges that multiple persons acted "under color of law" and “that the conspiracy included action by the State through its judicial system and punished the alleged victim without due process of law in violation of the 14th Amendment's direct admonition (warning) to States.” 66. The term Kangaroo court is applied to “an unfair, biased, or hasty judicial proceeding that ends in a harsh punishment; an unauthorized trial conducted by individuals who have taken the law into their own hands; a proceeding and its leaders who are considered a sham, corrupt and without regard for the law.” “The concept of kangaroo court dates to the early 19th century when the practice of itinerant judges on the U.S. frontier and from the image of these judges ‘hopping’ from place to place, guided less by concern for justice than by the desire to wrap up as many trials aa the day allowed.” “It is the right of the accused to be tried by a legally constituted court, not by a kangaroo court" (Williams v. United States, 341 U.S. 97, 71 S. Ct. 576, 95 L. Ed. 77 4 [1951]). 40. 60. The frivolous trial events were analogous to the scripture, John 10:32: “Jesus answered them, many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?” Micheal, of course wasn’t in the same ‘weight division’ as Jesus and far from it, but he had read the entire Bible and had the right to pontificate, quote scriptures and reiterate, “No good deed ever goes unpunished.” PHS football Coach Walter Brugh taught Dr. “Mike The Missile” Minix life’s lessons i.e. to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Coach said, “It’s not how you fall down, but how you dust-off your pants and how and when you get back up that counts.” “The Missile” followed Coach Brugh’s sagacious instructions throughout his life’s journey, playing thru injuries, doing life and proceeding on 62 his journey living and loving life, focused on his faith, family, patients and targets; not money and his or others’ failures. The Paintsville Eye Institute (PEI), free standing ophthalmology surgery center, was a courageous experiment. Dr. McPeak proved in Glasgow, KY that an ophthalmology-only surgery center offered effectiveness, efficiency and value to both eye surgeons and patients. Patient and third party monies saved were astronomical. Dr. Minix was locked-on his number 1 target, improved ophthalmology eye care to Eastern Kentucky. 28. The frivolous Mayo Mansion II suit litigation cost Dr. Minix valuable time and considerable money. Frivolous suits have always been ongoing problems and have increased the cost of medical care and doing life in general. “You can’t make this stuff up.” This report is similar to an M and M, a Morbidity and Mortality Medical Conference, which has “the goal to discuss unexpected patient Morbidity, Mortality and Suspected Medical Error,” because this tragic trial represented a dreadful Miscarriage of Justice and the Death of The Primary Benefit of Dr. Minix’s Gift-Giving Donations. 37. 38. Medical errors have been punished with malpractice and licensure discipline. The Kentucky Court of Appeals was careful to use the term ‘egregious’. A bystander asked, “what does ‘egregious’ imply?” An authority stated, “Although legal error is not typically grounds for discipline, legal error that is ‘egregious’, made in bad faith, or part of a pattern or practice of legal error has the capacity to detrimentally affect public confidence in the judicial process. Indeed, either a pattern of incompetent or willful legal error or a sufficiently ‘egregious’ instance of such error can undermine public confidence in the judiciary.” “If the error in following the law were willful, it could fall into either the ‘egregious’ or bad faith categories, particularly if it impacted fundamental rights clearly and unmistakably known to every competent jurist such that their violation brings the judicial process into public disrepute.” 47. The Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission operates under the rules established by Kentucky Supreme Court. Following complaints about alleged judicial misconduct, when warranted can conduct hearings and can impose sanctions that 63 range from confidential reprimand, public discipline, involuntarily retirement to removal from the bench. 48. The just-minded had no fun watching and reading the benefactor’s battering and offensive questioning that transpired during the trial. Every brutal inch of this tragedy and each party’s culpability was self-enacted, self-inflicted, articulated and then recorded and reported in the public domain by the various sources listed, once the case was brought to trial. 38. “The courts are in place to act on behalf of ordinary people, so it is important that they carry out their business in public, for all to see. It is a vital principle that ‘Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done’. In other words, courts have to do the right thing, and the public have to see and understand that they do so.”

“For that reason, any member of the public and all reporters may attend any court case. Readers or listeners, whom reporters represent have the right to read and hear reports about the case. Reporters therefore have the right to attend court cases, and a duty to be there on behalf of their readers and listeners who cannot be there.”

“There are 3 main reasons to report court cases: 1. Encourage public confidence in the law 2. Help the law deter future crimes and injustices 3. Inform readers and listeners who could not attend the trial” 61. For the record, the tragedy herein re-counted and narrated was fair, accurate, thought-provoking and without harm and malice intended.

For accuracy, this tragedy was documented, verified and substantiated by reports of the Institute of Museum Services, Kentucky Heritage Council and Kentucky State Historic Preservation officer, minutes and records of the Kentucky Highlands Museum Society, Ashland Daily Independent Newspaper daily accounts of court proceeding and definitions and judgements handed down by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, family conversations, The Legend of Sandy Valley by Arville Wheeler and other investigated records and documents preserved by Dr. Micheal B. Minix, Sr., M.D.

64

In summary, this free report, The Mayo Mansions and Museum, is an honest communication of this reporter’s findings of the facts and law of the case for legal review, analysis, deterrence of future injustice, public news and understanding, broad-spectrum teaching, scholarship, research, and non-commercial and nonprofit education. It is a ‘Fair Report Privilege’. 34. 38.

------References: 1. [Steam Navigation on the Levisa Fork by Russell Lee Whitlock

2. [Form No. 10-300a (Rev. 10-74) U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Inventory – Nomination Form. Historic Resources of Ashland] 3. [Roadside History: A Guide Top Kentucky Highway Markers] 4. [The Black Diamond. Black Diamond Company. 1914. p. 412] 5. [Ashland Oil and Refining Company selects site for a big terminal here--to cost $2.5 to $3 million, Record 595581, Local History Index, BETA, 06/04/1963] 6. [Record 588387, Local History Index, BETA, 07/12/1983] 7. [“Ashland Oil reports record $14.5 million quarterly loss", Local History Index, BETA, Record 595823, 04/26/1983] 8. [“Ashland Oil Co. Begins Move to Lexington With Ceremony," Local History Index, BETA, Record 595672, 07/15/1980] 9. [Hard Coal Facts, under-main.com] 10. [Jury Awards Manor Title To Museum by Jim Todd, Ashland Dailey Independent, May 10, 1990.] 11. [Bath Avenue Historic District overview Retrieved on 2014-06-17.] 12. [Powers, James C. (1992). John E. Kleber, ed. The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. p. 503. ISBN 0-8131-1772- 0. Retrieved 2014-06-14.] 65

13. [She donated her mansion to the church but then sued to get it back Appalachian History. Retrieved 2014-06-17] 14. ["Eyesore of a Mansion Restored to Grandeur". The Daily News. 1995-07-30. Retrieved 2014-06-17.] 15. [A Brief History Highlands Museum and Discovery Center. 2014-06-14] 16. [Didn’t Sign Paper To Donate Mansion, Ophthalmologist Says, by Jim Todd Ashland Daily Independent, April 25, 1990] 17. [volume 1. Number 5, September 1990 Healthline, HRMC] 18. [American Society of Notaries, Definitions] 19. [Brooks, Andree (October 3, 1982). "Debunking the Myth of P. T. Barnum". The New York Times. Retrieved April 27, 2014] 20. [Melvin Aron Eisenberg, Donative Promises, 47 U. CHI. L. REV. 1, 1 (1979)]

21. [ERIC A. POSNER, LAW AND SOCIAL NORMS 46 (2000) (claiming “that rational choice theory can shed light on social norms by focusing on the reputational source of behavioral regularities to the exclusion of their cognitive and emotional sources”). Because another Posner, Richard A., has many important things to say about the topics addressed in this article, I intend to refer to Eric Posner as “Professor Posner” and Richard Posner as “Judge Posner.”] 22.[Colin Miller, Evidence: Best Evidence Rule, Published by CALI eLangdell Press. Available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 License, The Best Evidence Rule, contained in Articles of the Federal Rules of Evidence (XRules 1001-1008) and state counterparts, is a Rule that requires a party seeking to prove the contents of a writing, recording, or photograph to produce the original (or a duplicate, with no objection) or account for its nonproduction. Through a series of cases and hypotheticals drawn from actual cases, this chapter gives readers a roadmap for how to address any Best Evidence Rule issue in practice.] 23. ["Oil Squeeze". Time Magazine 1979-02-05. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008] 24. [Ashland Payments On Oil Questioned by Jeff Gerth, NY Times, July, 1983] 66

25. [Ironton, Ohio - Ashland, Kentucky - Huntington, West Virginia, Air pollution Abatement Activity: Pre-Conference Investigations, National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP)] 26. [“The Thin Thirty” by Shannon Ragland, 2007.] 27. [Images were scanned by Grady Walter, who is writing a book about architecture in the Ashland area, which were taken from an undated book (probably originally pubished in the 1920s), Illustrated Ashland, Kentucky, reprinted by the Home Federal Savings and Loan Company on their 100th Anniversary. Submitted by and Year: Michael Padwee (tileback101"at"collector.org), October 2010. Other information supplied by Grady Walter in March 2012] [Historic U.S. Tile Installations, A-M 28. [Missile Launch to Targets, autobiography, Dr. Micheal B. Minix, Sr. M.D. 29. [NOMINATION FORM No 10-300a(Hev 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - Historic Resources of Ashland 30. [THE MOUNTAIN EAGLE NEWSPAPER, WHITESBURG, KENTUCKY THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1944 31, [The Paintsville Herald 32. [East Highlands South Tourism Region http://visiteasternky.com/index.html 33. [Ashland Daily Independent Newspaper 34. [17 U.S. Code § 107 35. [Conflict of Interest in Four Professions: A Comparative Analysis by Michael Davis and Josephine Johnston, Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice, Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice; Lo B, Field MJ, editors. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2009] 36. [Time For Memory, Steen Funeral Homes, Ashland Kentucky 41102 37. [Michael Quinion, World Wide Words, The Word Detective] 38. [Fair Report Privilege, http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/fair-report-privilege 67

39. [The Mourning Bride (1697), William Congreve 40. [U.S. Supreme Court In Re Gault,387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct.1428,18L.Ed.2d 527 (1967) 41. [Klotter, James C. (2004). "Simeon Willis". In Lowell Hayes Harrison. Kentucky's Governors. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. 42. [Powell, Robert A. (1976). Kentucky Governors. Danville, Kentucky: Bluegrass Printing Company. OCLC 2690774. 43. [Orlander, Jay D, and B Graeme Fincke. “Morbidity and Mortality Conference: A Survey of Academic Internal Medicine Departments.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 18.8 (2003): 656–658. PMC. Web. 2 May 2017. 44. [Orlander, J. D., & Fincke, B. G. (2003). Morbidity and Mortality Conference: A Survey of Academic Internal Medicine Departments. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18(8), 656–658. 45. [The Legend of Sandy Valley by Arville Wheeler, 78 pages, printed Nashville, TN c. (19??) 46. [Gawande,Atul (2002). Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. Macmillan. pp. 47–74. ISBN 0-8050-6319-6. 47. [Law Lessons, Paul Kostro, Jan 28, 2014, 216 N.J. 449(2014) Sept Term 2012, Jan 27, 2014 48. [Judicial Conduct Commission, Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts 49. [Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS Chapter 355 50. ["Best Evidence Rule". Cornell University Law School 51. [Taylor, Kate (February 13, 2007). "Tiffany's Secret Is Over". New York Sun. Retrieved 2009-11-16. 52. [The Highlander, by Students of Pikeville College; Jack Dupuy, Editor-in-Chief Published 1938 53. [FBI Forensic Science Communications, Harrison, Burkes, Sieger, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Website, October 2009 - Volume 11 - Number 4 68

54. [KRS 382.270 “Instruments not valid against purchasers or creditors unless acknowledged or proved. No deed or deed of trust or mortgage conveying a legal or equitable title to real property shall be lodged for record and, thus, valid against a purchaser for a valuable consideration, without notice thereof, or against creditors, until such deed or mortgage is acknowledged or proved according to law.” 55. [Lesson, Signing Form 1040, Internal Revenue Service Instructions, A tax return is not considered to be valid, and refunds are not issued, unless the return is signed. 56. [Longitudinal changes in somatic symptoms and family disagreements among depression and community groups: a 23-year study, Xiaoyu Bi, Jessica Y. Breland, Rudolf H. Moos, BMC Psychiatry, 2015, Volume 15, Number 1, Page 1 57. [Blood and Business Don’t Mix by George Cloutier, Author of Profits Aren’t Everything, 16 Nov 2009, CNBC. 58. [Sibling Relationships and Intergenerational Succession in Family Firms, Stewart D. Friedman, Family Business Review Vol 4, Issue 1, pp. 3 – 20, July-21- 2016 59. [Family business Institute, Raleigh, NC 27609. 60. [Free Legal Dictionary 61. [The Rules of Court Reporting, News Manual 20 vol 203 vol 3-64 [http://thenewsmanual.net/Manuals%20Volume%203/volume3_64.htm#defama tion 62. [A Notary’s Role In Preventing Elder Financial Exploitation by Lori Hamm on July 30, 2015 in Notary News 63. [The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony Commentary, a talk by George Fisher and Barbara Tversky, Stanford Journal of Legal Studies 25, Laura Engelhard 64. [The Effects of Entertaining Versus Accurate Retellings on Memory, Telling a Story or Telling it Straight, Dudukovic, Marsh, Tversky, Stanford University, Washington University, Appl. Cognit. Psychol. 18: 125–143 (2004) Published online in Wiley Inter Science (www.interscience.wiley.com) 69

65. [Madison, P. A. (2 August 2010). "Historical Analysis of the Meaning of the 14th Amendment's First Section". The Federalist Blog. Retrieved 19 January 2013. 66. [383 U.S. 787 United Stated v. Price et al. Supreme Court of the United States, 383 U.S. 787; 86 S. Ct. 1152; 1966 U.S. LEXIS 1963, November 9, 1965, Argued, March 28, 1966, Decided