| Breathitt Online News Archives Editor (4-23-05) |
| A Brighter Future Close to Home By Jay K. Box – HCTC President/CEO 2-3-05
If you have read our newspaper advertisements, heard our ads on the radio, or seen our promotions on the TV, you most likely realized that our advertisements always close with the statement “Hazard Community and Technical College—A Brighter Future, Close to Home.” The slogan, “a brighter future close to home,” was developed by our Marketing Team almost three years ago. When the team had interviewed current students about why they had chosen HCTC, the group found that students most often responded that the college provided them a quality education at a fair price right here in our community without having to move away from home. The students’ comments did not surprise us. As one of 16 college districts in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), Hazard Community and Technical College is proud of our history of providing access to higher education to the citizens of the Kentucky River Area Development District. Our research shows that 62% of all high school graduates within KRADD who attend college enroll at HCTC. In addition, almost nine percent of all adults ages 18-64 in Breathitt, Knott, Leslie, and Perry counties have taken courses at HCTC during the last four years. That number is far and away better than any other community college in the state. But access to higher education is being threatened. HCTC, as has Kentucky’s other public colleges and universities, has suffered four budget cuts in State appropriations since 2001. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System has been cut $18 million over the last four years. HCTC’s share of that has been over $700,000. Meanwhile costs have continued to rise. And so has tuition. In 2001, Hazard Community and Technical College’s budget reflected that 25% of the public funds used to operate the college was generated by tuition. Today, that figure is 39%. State government’s continuous cuts to higher education have caused a tuition “tax” to be placed on our students. Although at $92 per credit hour, our tuition remains the cheapest of all of the state’s institutions of higher education, the tuition rate has begun to put a squeeze on our students’ budgets. Over 200 students showed up at a recent tuition hearing conducted by the college and KCTCS. Their message was loud and clear, “if you continue to raise our tuition, we won’t be able to afford to go to college.” For our HCTC students, the choice is not whether they go to HCTC or to another Kentucky college or university, it is whether or not they go to college at all. This has been most evident with our part-time students. HCTC now enrolls 300 fewer part-time students than it did four years ago. Part-time students do not traditionally qualify for financial aid and there are no scholarships currently available for them. They are working full-time jobs, taking care of family, and just trying to make ends meet. Access is being restricted. KCTCS and Hazard Community and Technical College are attempting to address the reduction in State funds in several ways. We continue to work with the Governor and our elected state representatives and senators to encourage them to restore the $18 million that has been cut in the last four years. In addition, we are seeking more grants and direct appropriations from the Federal government than ever before. Furthermore, we have begun an ambitious major gifts campaign called “Fulfilling the Promise” that will ask for private donations to supplement our budget and help us reach our educational goals for the next five years. Yes, Hazard Community and Technical College has provided a brighter future close to home for many decades. However, that access to higher education continues to be threatened by under funding by our State government. Governor Fletcher’s proposed budget does include a minimal increase in funding for higher education. But the proposed budget appears to come up short in restoring the millions of dollars that have been cut from higher education budgets over the last four years. As the General Assembly debates the budget and the proposed tax modernization plan in the coming weeks, I would encourage you to call or write our elected state officials and ask them to support additional funding for higher education. Ask them to keep the future bright for Eastern Kentucky. Letter to Editor 12-13-04 Dear Breathitt Online News: There's been a lot of talk in the press lately about how one activist organization, the Parents Television Council, is trying to dictate television standards for the rest of the country by encouraging its members to file complaints with the FCC. It seems that the press believes that the hundreds of thousands of complaints filed by outraged citizens over the rampant raunch on television somehow don't count simply because the complainant belongs to an organized group. If the networks put an FCC complaint form on their websites or if they flashed the FCC's phone number across the screen between shows there would be a flood of complaints. Parentstv.org is currently the only website that provides this useful tool. But the number of complaints filed, and where they're coming from shouldn't matter. Whether we're talking about one complaint or one million, it all boils down to one issue: Are networks breaking the law by showing indecent content and will the FCC do its job to enforce the indecency laws? Sincerely, William & Patty Couch Letter to Editor, 12-8-04 I am writing in to perhaps encourage some well minded citizens to take a closer look at where they shop for their gifts this Christmas. I would encourage you to take a look at a few points about the store that gives us the cheapest prices because they are scamming the globe -- Wal-Mart. 1. Only 38% of Wal-Mart employees have company provided health insurance--compared to a national average that shows 60% of employees are covered by company plans. 2. An internal audit performed on 25,000 Wal Mart workers in July of 2000 showed thousands of labor violations. Child labor laws were broken because school age teens were given too many hours to work and had to work past hours state laws prohibit in the United States. 3. In the United States, Walmart seeks multi-million-dollar state, county and city subsidies as a condition for locating its stores, i.e. the move across town to get even more tax breaks out of Florence. But there is another indirect subsidy further sweetening the deal: one-half of Walmart's 720,000 employees, or "associates" as the company calls them, qualify for federal assistance under the food stamp program. Our local econonmy suffers because of this store, they provide us nothing but cheap, imported junk that however cheap you get it on sale for is a rip-off from start to finish. Wal-Mart is the largest user of Chinese labor on the planet, and if you haven't heard -- China has a very poor record of worker conditions and and a long list of human rights violations. Wal-Mart and others look the other way because we Americans also look the other way because we need that new toy for Tommy or Susie. 4. On Oct. 23, 2003 federal agents arrested about 250 allegedly illegal workers in a 21-state sweep of Wal-Mart stores. The raids focused on floor cleaners employed by companies Wal-Mart hired for the work. Ten of those arrested were Wal-Mart employees hired as the company continued a move to bring its floor cleaning in house. Reason enough to join the boycott of Wal-Mart this Christmas and perhaps beyond? Buy USA and Local! Nathan Brown Florence, KY Dear Editor, 11-17-04 This past election was wrought with fraud. In more than 100 counties in Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, the number of votes grossly outnumbers the amount of voters. The amount is by far enough to change the outcome of the election. Since Republicans control almost everything, and everyone else is afraid of retribution by Bush if things don'1t end up changing, America is stuck with a President we did not elect for a SECOND TIME. In 2002 the same thing happened, that is how the Republicans took power of the House and Senate. Now the job is almost done, and the Democrats have little or no say in Government anymore. Bush is now finishing the job in the CIA by cleaning house of any dissenting voices. We have lost our right to vote, Congress has lost it's backbone, the Supreme Court is under the spell of the Evangelicals, and Bush is giving what is left of America to the Corporations that placed him in DC and the 1% of the filthy rich. My family has decided that unless a true independent investigation of the election fraud is not completed before the electoral college meets, we are leaving America. I refuse to live under a corrupt, arrogant, fascist dictator. Where or where did my dear country go? Cary Brief Delaware, NJ 07833 Dear Editor: If U.S. Senator Mitch "Ketle Head" McConnell, And His Host Of Cowboy Cronies Would Spend More Time Working For Those Who Elected Them, And Less, Forming A Kentucky Political Dictatorship, Those In Need Of Medical Assistance, Would have A Load Taken Off Their Shoulders. Governor Fletcher's Preformance Demonstrates His Lack Of Presuasion. Is He Filling The Seat Of Kentucky Governor, Wtih Hopes Of Replacing One Of Our Retiring U.S. Sentators? Wake Up! When A Member Of The U.S. Senate, Campaigns On Clout Developed, By Years Of Service, They Fail to Express Their Loss Of Drive. By Concentrating On, And Spending Millions, Keeping Better Politicians Out Of Office, They Forget Kentuckian's Needs. Voters Of Kentucky, Are Too Smart To Cast Their Vote, For Those Who Make Better Commercials. Sincerely, Danny Pigman 510 West Third Street Lexington, Kentucky 40508 Dear Editor: From a Retired Marines perspective, Kerry clearly won the Presidential debate. At times Bush seemed bamboozled, annoyed, and confused. Kerry effectively articulated a vision for America that does not isolate us from our international allies. The occupation and mismanagement of Iraq could prove to be Bush's downfall. Its interesting that Bush kept repeating, "the wrong war, at the wrong place at the wrong time," trying to score points against Kerry. I feel that Iraq was the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time proving Kerry is the more logical of the two choices. We cannot count on the most incompetent Commander in Chief that has ever graced the oval office to restore America's credibility abroad. My mind was made up tonight to vote for John Kerry, Americas only hope. Joseph Moreno USMC Retired 4154 Louisiana Street #1 San Diego CA 92104 Matt Alley 1673 Foxhaven Drive Richmond, KY 40475 September 30, 2004 Breathitt Online News: In 1946 a promise was made by Congress to the coal miners, as a direct result of the sweat and blood of generations of coal miners whose toil carried this Nation through war and peace, through the Industrial and the Technological Revolutions. A promise of cradle to grave health care that manifested itself into the 1992 Coal Act. And a promise made in 1977 to coalfield citizens and communities as a result of the ravages of past abuses, and on the souls of the 118 individuals who perished in 1972 at Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia. A promise to reclaim their devastated landscapes, to return their land to productive uses, and to protect their health and safety that is part and parcel of the landmark Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program has been a success. Unlike the Superfund, this program has a track record of real, on-the-ground progress in restoring lands and eliminating health and safety threats. And since 1992, through the transfer of just the interest which accrues to the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to the Combined Benefit Fund, it has provided health care for tens of thousands of elderly retired coal miners whose former employers can no longer be identified. The nexus is there. The welfare of abandoned miners and of reclaiming abandoned mines, you see, go hand in hand. To date, the promise has been kept. Yet, at the end of this year the fees assessed on the coal industry which finances this effort expire. If HR 3796, a co-sponsored bill by Rep. Barbara Cubin (WY) and Rep. Rahall (WV), is passed it will keep the promise to some 50,000 retired coal miners that their health care will continue uninterrupted. Recently the passage of HR 3796 has shown dire importance, especially in the states of Kentucky, West Virginia and Illinois where On Aug. 31, 2004 in Lexington, KY, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William Howard finalized the decision allowing Horizon Natural Resources to file bankruptcy, thus voiding union contracts providing health care coverage for nearly 3,000 employees, including 2,300 retirees -- many of whom suffer from black lung as a result of their working years at Horizon. For many of these miners their only hope for health care coverage will be the passage of HR 3796. Readers should contact their elected officials and demand passage of HR 3796 so the promise can be kept to the coal miners. Sincerely, Matt Alley Letter to the Editor and to Readers of This Newspaper submitted by Maria Bellamy September 21, 2004 As I write this, people all over the state are discussing the possibility of a school cancellation next Monday as teachers protest the governor's plan to destroy state employees' health insurance. KEA has already polled school employees all over Kentucky: not just teachers, not just KEA members, but all employees. Overwhelmingly, the same response has come back: we do not want to strike, we do not want to protest, but we will if we have to. We cannot be silent while our livelihoods and our families' welfare are under this kind of threat. Under Fletcher's proposed plan, we will be paying higher premiums, higher deductibles, and higher co-payments. Prescription costs won't count toward our out-of-pocket totals. We will get less service, and we won't even get to choose our insurance carrier. Kentucky teachers already have very bad insurance coverage. Out of all 50 states, we are ranked LAST in health insurance benefits and in employer contributions to health insurance. Under Fletcher's plan, we will be paying out more and more money, while receiving fewer and fewer benefits. This affects not only working teachers, but other state employees and retirees as well. There are those who say that a teacher protest will hurt our students. I believe that we will hurt our students more if we don't protest. There is no way that Kentucky can attract the best and brightest people to be teachers if they can't make a decent living and have affordable health insurance. Instead, those people will teach in Kentucky's border states where they can make more money; or they won't become teachers at all. If we don't have good teachers every year, our children will pay the consequences. I am not willing to sit quietly and let that happen. That is why I am speaking up now. KEA has asked the governor for this: keep teachers' insurance the way it was last year, and work with us to improve insurance for next year. This is a reasonable request that so far Fletcher has ignored. I really hope that the protests and marches on Frankfort will help us fix this situation before it goes as far as a statewide teacher strike. We do not want to have to go that far. Dear Editor, 9-28-04 FACT: George Bush's failed health care policies have taken our country in the wrong direction. Since Bush took office, families are paying a record 64 percent more on health insurance premiums. Deductibles have increased by nearly two-thirds and prescription drug co-pays have increased by more than 50 percent. STRAW POLL RESULTS: Ecological protections aside, BUSH HAS failed small business, catered to pharmaceuticals and petro interests! PUBLIC CONCERNS: Where are the education agenda's of past campaigns? Where has the war taken us in Afghanistan? Who feels safer in the USA due to Homeland Security? BOTTOM LINE: (We have an enthusiastic kid sailing an oceanliner with no helmsman aboard!) Don Hall Bear Creek Research 325 Shoreside Drive Lexington, KY Dear Editor: 9-24-04 John Kerry's negative emphasis and denigrating of our allies and friends in Iraq is causing American lives. Kerry's line encourages the terrorists and prolongs the war. It is hard to back off, I realize, but he must do it which will cause rapid conclusion to the fighting. We must unite in our resolve, and stop "Vietnamizing" this war. Sincerely, Richard Barker 106 Phillips Ct Wilmore, KY 403901221 Dear Editor: 9-24-04 The world is a much more dangerous place today because the president was wrong in the way he prepared for and waged war in Iraq. The number of Americans dying in Iraq is continually increasing; forty-two Americans in Iraq died in June, fifty-four died in July, 66 died in August, and 54 soldiers have already died in September. These may not seem like large numbers to some, but even one death becomes too many when it is someone who you love. American soldiers are fighting a growing insurgency in a continuously expanding war zone. In March, insurgents attacked American forces in 700 separate assaults. In August, they initiated 2,700 attacks - that is a 400% increase. This war is not only wounding and losing Americans, but it is costing the Iraqi people as well. The unemployment rate in Iraq is now more than 50 percent. Living conditions are worsening. Residents of Baghdad are enduring electricity blackouts that last up to 14 hours a day, while raw sewage fills the str! eets. Something needs to change. Remember that during the presidential elections. Sincerely, Sarah Haire 419 S. May St. Joliet, IL 60436 Dear Editor: George W. Bush must be held accountable for his reckless decisions when it comes to his choices on crime. His reckless decisions have made America's streets much more dangerous. Between 2000 & 2003 the number of murders per year rose by 5.3%. The number of gang-related murders have increased by 40% under Bush as well. Knowing all of this George Bush still wants to cut funding of the COPS program by more than 80%. Now Bush is also allowing assault weapons to be put back on our streets. With these increased crime rates, this decision could be catastrophic, not to mention the threat of terrorists getting possesion of these deadly assault weapons. We need a President that will support our police officers instead of making it harder for them to do their jobs. We need a President who will make America safer instead of making it easier for criminals and terrorists to kill our citizens. We need a change in this country. That is why the police are backing John Kerry &! amp; that is why I am voting for John Kerry. Sincerely, Billy Neace 2548 Knightsbridge Lane Lexington, KY 40509 Dear Editor: As a woman, it concerns me as to which Presidential candidate will best protect women from violence. I have studied the facts and the answer has become clear to me. John Kerry will best protect women from violence. George Bush cut funding for the Violence Against Women Act by $16.2 million in his 2004 fiscal year budget. John Kerry, on the other hand, cosponsored the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, which has provided more than $1 billion for battered women's shelters, hot lines, and other resources in the last 10 years. When presented with these facts, I think that the choice is clear. John Kerry is the best choice for women. That is why I am going to go to the polls on November 2nd and vote for John Kerry. Sincerely, Randi Burdick 2548 Knightsbridge Lane Lexington, KY 40509 Dear Editor: The 'W' in George W. Bush must stand for wreckless when it comes to his choices on crime. His wreckless decisions have made America's streets much more dangerous. Between 2000 & 2003 the number of murders per year rose by 5.3%. The number of gang-related murders have increased by 40% under Bush as well. Knowing all of this George Bush still wants to cut funding of the COPS program by more than 80%. Now Bush is also allowing assault weapons to be put back on our streets. With these increased crime rates, this decision could be catastrophic, not to mention the threat of terrorists getting possesion of these deadly assault weapons. We need a President that will support our police officers instead of making it harder for them to do their jobs. We need a President who will make America safer instead of making it easier for criminals and terrorists to kill our citizens. We need a change in this country. That is why the police are backing John Kerry & that is why I am voti! ng for John Kerry. Sincerely, Billy Neace 2548 Knightsbridge Lane Lexington, KY 40509 Letter to the Editor: In respectful disagreement with a previous letter to the editor: 1.8 million jobs lost? Maybe so, but unemployment has been steadily decreasing for the past year. It is now only a half a point from where it was before Sept. 11th 2001. Yes, health insurance premiums are up, and that is why GW is trying to block frivelous lawsuits. Everyone knows the reason car insurance is so high is because of people who are not really hurt, suing for millions pretending to be hurt. The same goes for health insurance and malpractice. No weapons of mass distruction in Iraq? What about the fuselage of the jetliner used to train terrorists to highjack and fly planes? "The Bush Administration skimped on body armor"? What? This is what John Kerry voted against. He voted against the body armor after voting to send them to Iraq. If he really cared about the troops and opposed the war he would have voted against going and for the armor. Is this the type of man we want in control of our sons and daughters in the military? Someone who will send them but not fund them? College tuition has been going up steadily for a long long time in case you haven't noticed. "Bush wants AMERICA to be paralyzed with fear about terrorists"? Going to Afghanistan and Iraq is that what you call paralyzed? Yes there were many people warning about terrorists using airplanes during the Clinton Administration as well. Clinton, wait, he bombed the crap out of Iraq because they possessed the possibility of a nuclear and biological threat to America. And wait, Clinton was offered Osama Bin Laden not once, not twice, but 4 times by foreign governments during his administration ,but Clinton refused because he thought we didn't have means to legally keep him here. See, George Bush takes these threats seriously, Clinton and Kerry see them as matters for our legal system. I don't see Osama Bin Laden, or the future Bin Ladens, possibly Saddamn, to be a legal issue. Bush's record will suffice for me. He has came out against partial birth abortion and gay marriage. Let's talk about Kerry's voting record. Besides the war vote. Let's take a quote from Democtrat senator from Georgia Zell Miller: "Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside" he said noting Kerry has voted against the b-1 & b-2 bombers, F-14A, F-14D, Apache Choppers, F-15, Patriot missile, Aegis air-defence cruiser, Strategic Defense Initiative, Trident missile.... "This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our US Armed Forces? US forces armed with what? Spitballs? Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric." Speaking of great democrats in history that fought oppression and threw down partisanship when national security was at risk he said: "Where are such statesmen today? Where is the bipartisanship in this country when we need it most? Now, while young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrat's manic obsession to bring down our Commander in Chief." "What has happened to the party I've spent my life working in?" I don't know Zell. But there are fantastic democrats out there. There are plenty CONSERVATIVE democrats here where I live. But there aren't many in Washington. And John Kerry does not qualify. Did I mention that he voted against the death penalty for terrorists that kill Americans in foreign countries? I could hardly believe it either. Biff Marcy Manning 200 East Poplar Road Sterling, va 20164 September 3, 2004 Breathitt Online News: It's a time-honored trick of magicians to distract their audience’s attention so that the viewers won't notice the hocus-pocus. President Bush and his cohorts at the convention did an excellent job of trying to distract the American people from his accomplishments of the past few years and his plans for the next few years. But Americans are intelligent enough to know that it takes more than flag-waving and fears of terrorism to run a country. Looking at the record would certainly not get him re-elected! Just a sampling: 1.8 million jobs were lost, the average family is down $1500 a year in income, and jobs are disappearing overseas. Health insurance premiums are up 50% and seniors can't buy cheaper drugs in Canada. About 1000 Americans have been killed in Iraq, and every day there are more, not to mention all the injured. Remember that we were told there were Weapons of Mass Destruction and that the Iraqis would embrace us as heroes. Remember that banner proclaiming victory? Most people killed have lost their lives AFTER Bush proclaimed that victory. Of course our superior military was going to prevail over Saddam Hussein! But there was no plan for the aftermath, only the mistaken belief that everyone would hug and love us to pieces. Bush's administration skimped on body armor for our troops but gave billions to Halliburton (Cheney's former company) for rebuilding Iraq in a no-bid contract. No one else was allowed to apply! Some families and communities have actually had to resort to buying and sending needed gear to the troops, but Halliburton’s stockholders are sitting pretty! Misguided? You betcha. College tuition is up 35% at public colleges. "No child left behind" has not received adequate resources to carry out the prescriptions it dictates. Tax cuts have benefited the wealthy and big business, not the average American, who is worse off than ever. Even Bush’s conservative base has complained that, with a war on, the tax cuts are irresponsible and unaffordable. Who will pay? Our children and grandchildren. What kind of a president leaves such debt to those who come later? Answer: an extremely irresponsible one. No wonder Bush is trying to play with smoke and mirrors and get the public to focus only on Sept. 11. And please don't forget: on Sept. 11, Bush sat paralyzed for 7 minutes after being told a second plane had hit the Twin Towers. Bush wants AMERICA to be paralyzed with fear about terrorists. Yes, terrorists are scary, and yes, we have to deal with them, but Bush's record here is not good either. He let Osama bin Laden escape and instead of pursuing him, went after Iraq, which has been shown to have absolutely NO ties to Al Qaeda. It can be argued that Bush has increased the hatred others feel toward America, not made us safer, as he likes to claim. And remember, there were many people warning about terrorists using an airplane to strike the US, and credible people in the Bush administration have said they couldn't get Bush interested in Al Qaeda prior to 9-11. Perhaps if we'd had a president who was more on-task, we'd have averted the attack that killed so many.No, Bush can't run on the record, because the record is abysmal. So he HAS to resort to hoping that Americans can be distracted by a performance. Sincerely, Marcy Manning Dear Editor: This letter is about why I support the HON. John Kerry for our next president of the United States of America. The Bible says you will know if they are telling the truth by thier works, and not words. Words can be false promises. Actions speak louder than hollow words. President George Bushes actions should speak for itself. Since he has taken office, he has taken us to war for which we can not find evidence for justification, lost 1.8 million jobs, supported job outsourcing to other countries, family income down 1,462.00 a year. turned surpluses into record deficits, and has put the interests of doctors, hmo"s and drug companys first over patients and thier familys. In short the actions of the President is bad for the middle class and working familys. And if these truths do not convince America to support and vote for KERRY AND EDWARDS this coming November than I do not know what will cause America to support Democratic principles once again in this country. Sincere! ly, Gary Napier. Sincerely, GARY NAPIER P.O. BOX 113 HAZARD, KY 41702 *************************************** This is a letter I sent to News Week To the Editor, Newsweek Magazine: After reading the internal data from Newsweek's most recent poll, it is blatantly clear that you questioned a much larger group of republicans versus democrats and independents. Then, you completely failed to take this oversampling of republicans into account in your final percentages. According to your own data, Newsweek interviewed 374 republicans, but only 303 democrats and 300 independents. Moreover, 42% of the households you interviewed were "military households." Clearly, the percentage of military households in America is not this high. As of September 5, the more reliable polling firms of Rasmussen, ARG, and Zogby show how close the presidential race really is. Perhaps you should study them and learn how to get it right. In sum, like Time Magazine, you have trumpeted a bogus poll that distorts reality and lays bare your conservative political bias. Newsweek is more interested in creating a false perception of a large republican lead as a means of suppressing democratic turnout in November. Finally, why are you creating this false perception? In my estimation, Newsweek is doing nothing more than supporting t |
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