ANNEXATION PASSES WITH 4-2 VOTE

WE’VE MOVED: The Salyersville Independent is now located at 171 Dixie Avenue.
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Fonda Shepherd Salyer
Thursday, July 23, 2015
VOL. 100, No. 30 Pages 18 UPS 944-240
ANNEXATION PASSES WITH 4-2 VOTE
By HEATHER ONEY
Editor
SALYERSVILLE - Salyersville City Council
met in a regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday, June 20, discussing the budget, annexation and upcoming festival dates.
The City closed the fiscal year on July 1 with
$166,709. The Council held their second reading of the 2015-2016 budget, which includes a
$1 raise for all city employees. The second read-
ing passed unanimously.
The Council also held the second reading of
the ordinance set to annex business properties
along the Mountain Parkway. Council members Tex Holbrook and Mary Ann Ward voted
against the ordinance, however, with four votes
in favor of it, the annexation passed.
City Attorney Jeff Lovely explained to the
public that the ordinance will have to run in
the newspaper and after it runs the property
owners have 60 days to petition the mayor if
opposed. If 50 percent of the property owners sign, the City will turn it over to the county
court clerk, who will put it on the next election
ballot and determine who can vote on the item.
Property owners discussed concerns that the
annexation and subsequent increase in taxes
will be hard to afford, as well as be more dif-
See CITY| Page A2
TOURISM
OVERCOMING DISASTER
State awards
contracts for
final phase of
Dawkins Trail
From Governor Steve Beshear’s
Communications Office
grandson were able to get out, but Cantrell
can’t swim, was stuck inside.
“By this time I was against the ceiling and
had about four inches left of air, so I knocked
holes out of the ceiling and saw daylight.
Then it started to pull apart, so I got up in the
ceiling and sat up there until it hit a tree and
stopped. I tried to figure out how to get out.
It rocked and I had to grab a hold of a tree
limb and pulled myself up and got air. Snakes
were everywhere, swimming all around me.
You almost would have seen the second man
walk on water,” Cantrell remembered.
Having lost one arm in Vietnam during
his term of active combat, with only one arm
and not being able to swim, he pulled himself
up that tree, then transferred over into a big
sycamore tree by somehow grabbing it and
FRANKFORT, Ky.– Governor Steve Beshear
announced last week the awarding of two contracts for the final phases of the Dawkins Line
Rail Trail in eastern Kentucky – soon to be the
longest trail of its kind in the Commonwealth.
One of the contracts awarded by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is for the
third and final phase – construction of 9 miles
of trail from Carver Tunnel in Magoffin County
to a point 1 mile south of Evanston in Breathitt
County. Hinkle Environmental Services LLC
was awarded the contract on a low bid of $1.71
million.
Also awarded was a contract for rehabilitation of the Carver Tunnel, located at the Breathitt-Magoffin county line. The project includes
lighting for the tunnel, which is 0.7 mile in
length. Sak Construction LLC was awarded the
contract on a low bid of $5.96 million.
Both projects are scheduled to be completed
by March 31, 2016. Once complete, the trail will
run for 36 miles through Johnson, Magoffin
and Breathitt counties.
“Jane and I are excited to see this project enter its final stages,” Gov. Beshear said. “We are
also excited about what tourism and economic
opportunities this will bring to the region and
the state. These last two pieces will complete
the 36-mile trail giving cyclists, hikers, horseback riders and nature enthusiasts of all kinds
more to explore on what will become Kentucky’s longest rail trail.”
“I believe the completion of the Dawkins Line
will provide significant opportunities for economic development and tourism in the region,”
said First Lady Jane Beshear. “The restoration
of the Carver Tunnel will help us capitalize on
this opportunity by providing access to the 10th
longest rail-trail tunnel in the country and creating a continuous 36-mile trail accessible to
everyone. The completion of the Carver Tunnel is highly anticipated both by locals and trail
users alike and we look forward to welcoming
visitors from across the country to the Dawkins
Line and Eastern Kentucky.”
State funding for the property was initially
See FLOOD| Page A3
See TRAIL| Page A7
WATER RESCUE:
A volunteer fire
fighter snapped
this photo of
Gordon Cantrell as
crews got him out
of the rescue boat.
Independent Photo ||
CHRIS CASTLE
Couple rescued out of flood waters
By HEATHER ONEY
Editor
G
ordon Cantrell was in his gun
shop, Double E Guns & Ammo,
on Rt. 172 in Johnson County on
July 13 when the severe weather
hit.
“The water was getting up, so we were getting stuff off the floor because we thought
it would be like before,” Cantrell said. “We
weren’t paying attention and look out and it’s
already going up to the door, but we thought
it would go back down in a few minutes. We
opened the door to let it come in and figured
when it finished filling in, we would go out,
but it didn’t finish.”
Cantrell’s son-in-law and grandson were
both in the gun shop with him. His son-inlaw tried to get Cantrell out a few times,
but wasn’t able to. Both his son-in-law and
Friday
20% Isolated Storms
85/61
Saturday
30% Isolated Storms
87/67
Sunday
40% A Few Storms
87/70
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third in Class 3A, District 7
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