Senator Robert Kennedy toured Appalachia’s eastern Kentucky’s coal mining area in 1968. His two-day, eight-stop tour started in Vortex and ended in Prestonsburg.
Along the way, he toured a strip mine, met with local leaders, stopped the car, held impromptu conversations with local “common folk” and held public meetings in the form of one-man Senate hearings. His ostensible purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of President Johnson’s War on Poverty Office of Economic Opportunity programs.
The reality was that he was considering a run for the White House to unseat President Johnson, whose popularity was diminishing rapidly due to the Vietnam War and the recently enacted Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.
Why does this long-forgotten piece of history mean enough to me to justify a column? Two reasons.
My experience as a young Community Development Representative for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development took me to eastern Kentucky in 1971-73. My travels retraced the Kennedy tour and I met with Representative Carl Perkins, who accompanied Bobby on the earlier tour. We were there to help those communities create and implement a citizen-based prioritization of available funds sufficient to win the War on Poverty.
The second reason is to present a challenge to all the stakeholders in Graham County to capitalize on the next four years of progressive leadership in both Raleigh and Washington. The past year has been a health and economic tragedy. At least President Trump had the decency to sign the $900 billion economic relief bill, avoiding a government shutdown and providing some relief to most citizens who are unemployed or about to be evicted. Biden/Harris, Congress and our state and local leaders can build on that with economic development, infrastructure and health related programs.
There is no need for further studies. We know that our Internet needs upgrade. We know that Corridor K – in its diminished form – needs to be completed. We know that the people of Robbinsville will have the right to vote on limited beer and wine sales next November, with the potential for ending our restaurant desert and bringing more tourists. We also know that our real estate and construction boom can be enhanced if we provide a better mix of services to potential buyers.
What do we want our environment to look like five years from now? What should our retention rate be for high school graduates? Can we clean up and restart an industrial park at the old Stanley plant? These and many other challenges should be codified into measurable, doable deeds with an appropriate county-staff person, assigned responsibility.
A public hearing should be held by the County Commission to adopt and prioritize those doable deeds with a monthly progress report placed on the agenda by the County Manager. We have the capable staff to do the work. They need the priorities adopted by the County Commission.
The next four years present the best potential for lifting ourselves out of poverty with some help from Washington and Raleigh and a good, locally-developed plan. We should put the negativism and partisanship of the recent past behind us and make the next 10 years a “Decade of Progress,” one not seen since Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Roger Carlton is a columnist for The Graham Star. He is a council member for the Town of Lake Santeetlah.