Thanks for the link to that article....I really enjoyed reading that as I have been interested in this since I moved here.
I moved to lex in January of 1996 from Orlando, Florida. I have lived in a lot of places in my life and was amazed, shocked, intrigued, saddened and upset (still) on this situation in Eastern Ky. My work takes me to schools, hospitals, churches and just about any building requiring a systems integration person like myself. When I first started installing fire alarm, intercom and cable distribution systems in a Warsaw Ky school all seemed normal while on the job site but man the surrounding area was sad and poor. Same goes for areas in Whitesburg, hazard, Harlan and Louisa Kentucky. I spent a lot of time in Pike County and became friends with several of the folks who lived there and like that article said there really isn't that many choices to make a decent living. The guys that worked construction were fortunate because of the prevailing wage laws but in reality it became another form of welfare because everyone knew that if you slowed down a little you could drag the job out for overtime. I'm talking serious cash! Straight time pay of $38-$52 an hour and then toss overtime on that!!! I watched it happen time and time again...a huge waste of tax payer money but these folks did it because the path to instant cash was laid out right in front of them. Do the math....40 hours a week at $52 an hour and you get paid 2080 hours a year. 52 X 2080= $108,160 a year! Sure that the high side but that's also straight time.
What upsets me is this notion across the country that to help poor, weak, dis-functional, unfortunate people we have to think inter city black youth or third world countries. My participation with my church in helping build a food bank in McKee Kentucky was the beginning to the end for me with my personal approval of churches spending thousands to send people to Guatemala and Honduras on mission trips when we have people hours away who need help as well. Hollywood will portray a little black kid as poor and a victim of long ago slavery, racism and class warfare but portray a little white kid from Appalachia as a dumb hick with a few teeth and a dirty face. Talk about class warfare and racism but it's accepted and it's wrong.
Yes many churches do good over in eastern Kentucky and other places but my complaint is consistent on this state level as it is on a federal level. Help our people first and then help others elsewhere. Welfare in never the permanent answer we all know that but man there has to be an answer. I think attacking coal was a huge slap in the face by Obama to the folks who worked in that field. Green jobs, climate change, carbon credits and all the other catchy phrases actually equate to killing a large portion of income to those folks.
I don't have the answers but totally agree with the link you posted and hope to see some improvement in that portion of the state. It's a beautiful area with some great people.