Hammonds should be remembered

During the Fourth of July holiday I thought of all the blessings we have as Americans. I also remembered a man who in our small town enjoyed the Fourth of July as his favorite holiday. Charlie Hammonds was a man who devoted his life to his church, his family and his town.

As I look around our town today, there has been no one to step up and fill Charlie’s shoes in bringing jobs to our county and having the pride this one man had for our community.

Why am I bringing this community leader up? He has been gone almost five years now, and not one thing in our town reminds us of the man who thought Hazard and Perry County was the best place in the world to live and raise our families. We have buildings and bridges named after almost every prominent person known in the community, with the exception of Charlie.

Now, don’t get me wrong, that is the way Charlie would have wanted it. All the things he did for our town and for the people who live here was not for self-gratification, but because he loved Hazard. There will never be another Charlie Hammonds in our town, but we should at least have a permanent reminder that Hazard at one time did have one. God Bless Charlie Hammonds.

Mike Collins

Hazard, Ky.

Objecting to school’s name change

In a recent editorial, your newspaper expressed, rightfully, concern over the possibility of one of Hazard’s founder’s graves being forgotten. Remembering the ones before us is part of our culture and shows respect for those that went before us.

Yet another example of attempting to remove the past or maybe ignoring it is occurring in the local school system. The Hazard school board has chosen to rename Walkertown School as part of the restructuring of the system. The memories of the Walker family will be diminished and eventually forgotten as time passes.

The Walkertown School was created as a result of a land deed from the Walker family in 1919 to the Hazard board. As a result of that, generations of children received an education from that location. Many of us have fond memories of the friendships that started there, and the respect we have for the teaching, administrative and janitorial staff is still present in our hearts.

We object to the proposed name change. The only proposed name change is for this facility. The other schools in the system are keeping the original names. Our family deserves the same respect.

Sincerely,

Gerry Walker Phillips

Hazard, Ky.