EKB News

Paintsville City Council has passed a resolution to apply for a grant to purchase the historic Sipp Theatre.

The City says that they need $150,000 to offset the purchase price. Mayor Bob Porter says that the theatre would host community plays.

A Prestonsburg man whom was arrested and charged with first – degree wanton endangerment and attempted murder has had his case turned over to a grand jury.


35 year – old, Christian M. Clark, is accused of shooting at a man with a shotgun after a confrontation in front of the Floyd County Library on the morning of August 17th.

Clark remains in jail on a $ 50,000 full cash bond.

A Floyd County died in an ATV accident early Wednesday morning while he was attempting to avoid a safety checkpoint set up by the Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement

The victim was identified as 34 year-old Douglas Allen. Allen’s ATV overturned as he crossed a set of railroad tracks on Mill Branch Road.

Pike County Judge – Executive, Wayne T. Rutherford has signed an executive order to ban all outdoor burning in Pike County. The ban will take effect Thursday at noon. Rutherford says that he urges all county residents to comply with the outdoor burning ban. Rutherford added that the ban is being implemented to protect the health of residents, the timber resources and the mountains.

Pike County joins Laurel County in being the only counties in eastern Kentucky to place such a ban on outdoor burning.

2007 will go down as one of the driest in several decades. Eastern Kentucky is currently in a D-3 extreme drought. Pike County currently has a rainfall deficit of 14.75 inches since last November. The region would have to average five inches of precipitation of per month through November to wipe out the drought.
The risk of forest fires are high especially with the leaves already falling from the trees.

The CSX crossing at Lykins Creek and Coal Run Hill will be closed to vehicular traffic on Monday., Sept 10th from 8 am till 7pm. No detour will be made available.

John Fortune, CSX Roadmaster at Shelbiana, said that they are going to replace the railroad crossing.

City and county officials will assist with the project. Since Lykins Creek is a county road and Thompson Road is on the city system, the city will provide law enforcement officers, and through its public works contractor, UMG, will erect signage for traffic control. The county will provide flaggers to stop any vehicles that may not be aware of the closing. The work is expected to last only one day.

A Delbarton teenager that was missing for six days has been found and returned home. The 16 year-old sophomore at Burch High was found at the home of a Williamson man.

The Mingo County Sheriff’s Department apprehended 28 year-old Donnie Stacey . Stacey is being held at the Southwestern Regional Jail on a $65,000 cash bond.

Stacey, an employee of the courtesy patrol is charged with three counts of 3rd degree sexual assault, three counts contributing to the delinquency of a minor and three counts of obstructing.

Police told us that they are expecting to make another arrest.

The teen had been missing since last Tuesday night. The teen allegedly talked to Stacey on the phone before disappearing. Authorities say that they went to Stacey’s home and searched the home. Stacey told police he knew nothing about the girls’ whereabouts. Authorities then went to the home a second time and found her.

Authorities have released the name of the victim that perished in a mining accident Monday evening in Mingo County.

35 year-old Brent Reynolds of Virgie was killed from an apparent roof collapse at the Consol of Kentucky Bronzite Mine located at Millers Creek. The facility is located seven miles north of Williamson.

911 officials received the emergency call at approximately 4:55pm.

MSHA is investigating the mishap.

This is the second mining fatality that has occurred in Mingo County in less than a month and the third within the past year.

A coal miner was killed Monday evening in a Mingo County mine. According to Mingo Co 911, a mining accident occurred at the Consol of Kentucky Bronzite Mine at Millers Creek. The emergency call came in at 4:55 pm Monday evening. No other details are available. Authorities have not released the victims name.

The unemployment figures are out for the month of July. There is good news . Less people are reported to be out of work across the commonwealth. Figures show that the jobless rate has dropped in 77 of Kentucky’s 120 counties.

Less people are out of work in Pike and surrounding counties.


Pike Co saw a decrease of half of a percent to 6.5. Johnson County down to 6.5, Floyd Co 7.0, Magoffin 10.3, Martin 8.3 and Letcher 7.7

Jackson has the highest unemployment rate at 12.9. The lowest Woodford 4.1