A Community Profile Pikeville · because you look at the banking institu-tions, the number of...

A Community Profile

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Pikevilleand Pike County

PikevillePike County

The new Eastern Kentucky Exposition Centeris an impressive addition to downtown Pikeville.

Photo by Stephanie Stiltner

One of the Bluegrass State’smost enduring – and unique– small cities is tucked intoKentucky’s eastern cornerin the heart of Pike County,

where banking, energy, health care and edu-cation are fueling a local economy with asmuch promise as any comparably-sized com-munity in the nation.

Pikeville, with a population around6,000, has twice been named one of the 100best small towns in America by NormCrampton in his book, “The 100 Best SmallTowns in America,” for its blend of econom-ic prowess and educational excellence. Butas former Gov. Paul Patton noted, don’t befooled by the city’s smallness.

Pikeville, county seat of Kentucky’slargest county, also serves as Eastern Ken-tucky’s cultural and economic epicenter,“and it’s just the downtown section of acommunity of 70,000 or 80,000,” said Pat-ton, a Pikeville native. “It baffles peoplebecause you look at the banking institu-tions, the number of doctors, the medicalschool, the college, and you wonder how allthat can be supported by such a small com-munity. Well, the answer is that Pikevilledraws people for a variety of reasons from allaround Eastern Kentucky and parts of WestVirginia. We’ve had a lot of courageousleaders who have made things happen inPikeville. Pike County is demonstratingthat it has made the transition from a regionthat was depressed to an area with a mod-ern, diverse and thriving economy.”

Long the largest player in Kentucky’scoal industry, Pike County continues to leadthe region and state in overall mine opera-tions and coal production, according to

David Gooch, president of Pikeville-basedCoal Operators and Associates. Data from2002 showed that Pike County outpacedthe 31 other Kentucky counties involved incoal production. Its underground operationsrecovered 20 million tons of coal that year,and its surface mining operations produced12.5 million tons, representing nearly aquarter of the state’s total mining capacityin 2002. The recent pressure on interna-

tional oil production has helped bolsterglobal demand in coal, and over the pastcouple of years, Pike County and EasternKentucky in general have benefited fromhigher coal prices.

The presence of coal naturally attractedbanking partners to the region, with finan-cial institutions and holding companies pos-sessing several billions of dollars in assets,including the prestigious Community TrustBank, Kentucky’s largest bank holding com-pany with nearly $3 billion in assets.

Kitty White, executive director of the PikeCounty Chamber of Commerce, noted thatthe presence of prominent banking institu-tions, a commitment to partnership with coun-ty and city government, an eye toward positiveeconomic development and a genuine concernfor the region’s residents – demonstrated by

2 Pikeville and Pike County

AA GGeemm iinn CCooaall CCoouunnttrryy

Nestled in the Appalachian Mountains,Pikeville is a city with 6,000 residents in acounty with a population of 67,000. Pikevilleis the retail, economic, and cultural center foreastern Kentucky and southwest West Virginiaand Virginia.

Pikeville’s status as a regional hub has brought the town big-city amenities

Pike County Labor Market Area

Civilian Labor Force 23,807 75,705

Employed 22,473 71,154

Unemployed 1,334 4,551

Unemployment Rate (%) 5.6 6.0

Labor Force Characteristics (Aug. 2004)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

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great educational and health care services – allhave combined to make the quality of life inPike County second to none.

“We have our challenges,” she said.Because of the mountainous terrain of thesouthern Appalachian range that dominatesthe skyline, “we lack all the housing we’d liketo have. The answer to that is we are seeingnew developments going on at the north endof Pikeville. We’d like to see more housinggoing in on the south end of the city as well.In some ways, Pike County has been slow tograb onto new developments across the stateand the country. But that has allowed us tomove at a slower pace and measure whatwe’re doing. We think the decisions we aremaking are the right ones for the overall ben-efit of the community.”

That tradition of dedicated leadershipseeking proactive solutions goes back a longway in Pike County, including the intriguingproject that was created by Pikeville’s formermayor and noted visionary, Dr. William C.Hambley: the Pikeville cut-through. “Thecut-through, which rerouted the rail line andmade way for the corridor highway that wasenvisioned in the 1960s, was one of thebiggest engineering and earth-moving proj-ects in the world, second only to the buildingof the Panama Canal,” said Phyllis Hunt,executive director of Pike County Tourism.The project, completed in 1987, allowed forthe expansion of Pikeville College and the

Pikeville and Pike County 3

Built in 1889 by the Presbyterian Church as the original home of Pikeville College, the PikevilleCity Hall is featured on the National Registry of Historic places.

Courtesy of C

ity of Pikeville

development of the Pikeville Medical Centerand numerous other initiatives.

The same proactive drive led to the devel-opment of the best health care possible for aregion that heretofore had been struggling to

attract doctors to Eastern Kentucky. In 1997,the Pikeville College School of OsteopathicMedicine was founded, creating the third med-ical school operating in the Bluegrass Stateafter medical schools at the University of Ken-tucky and the University of Louisville, accord-ing to Harold H. Smith, president of the col-lege. Pikeville College, which has provided lib-eral arts post-secondary education to EasternKentucky for more than a century, remains theonly small, liberal arts college in the nationwith a medical school. And, importantly forthe people of Eastern Kentucky, one of the

paramount goals of the medical school is todeliver primary care physicians to the region, aprospect it already has seen come to fruition inits first graduating classes. Putting Doctors ofOsteopathy – a holistic medical disciplinepracticed by fully qualified physicians nation-wide – into new medical practices in EasternKentucky has been at the forefront of theschool’s agenda, according to Dr. John A.Strosnider, Pikeville College vice presidentand dean of the school of medicine.

Medical students in Pikeville have beenable to take advantage of working andlearning in clinical settings in one of themost modern health care facilities in East-ern Kentucky: the Pikeville Medical Center.A towering black building situated againstthe mountainside, the medical center wasbuilt not to be as good as other facilitiesacross the country, “but to be better,” saidWalter May, president of the board of direc-tors of the hospital. “We set pretty highstandards here, and we rank No. 1 in thenation in many ways. We’re trying hard tobe in the center of excellence in Pike Coun-ty, where health care has surpassed coal asthe economic engine.”

Viewed as a whole, Pikeville provides apicture of a diverse area rich in history, fam-ily ties and pride in the region’s progress.That progress was highlighted recently bythe grand opening of the city’s new EasternKentucky Exposition Center, now the pre-


Called “the eighth wonder of the world” byThe New York Times, the Pikeville cut-throughput an end to the city’s perennial floodingproblems. It created a mile and a half-longchannel through a mountain for the Big SandyRiver bypassing downtown.

The Students’ ChoiceVISIT THE CAMPUS NEAREST YOU!

Prestonsburg Campus 606-886-3863Pikeville Campus 606-218-2060Mayo Campus 606-789-5321Hager Hill Campus 606-789-5690

www.bigsandy.kctcs.edu

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mier entertainment and meeting venue inthat part of the commonwealth.

“There’s always been this sense inPikeville that if we wanted to get anythingdone, we’d have to do it ourselves,” said thechamber’s White. “Eastern Kentucky hadbeen isolated for a long time until we got

the MountainParkway. So, up tothat time,Pikeville estab-lished itself as themajor marketplacefor the region. Wehave the hugemining industryhere. We have afederal courthousehere. We haveimportant optionsfor the arts, educa-tion, recreation.So Pikeville alwayshas been a regionalcenter. Add to thatthe cooperationthat exists betweenbusiness and gov-

ernment, the added infrastructure in roadsand (telecommunications), the strongfinancial industry here with our banks, andyou have a truly great place to live and workand raise a family.” n

Former Governor Paul Patton makes his home in Pikeville.Governor Patton wasPike County JudgeExecutive from 1982to 1991 before enter-ing state office.

Built in 1888, the Pike County Courthouse was the scene of the Hatfield clan trials for theMcCoy murders.

Courtesy of C

ity of Pikeville


Acornerstone of the progress inPike County has been its cen-ter of higher education:Pikeville College.Founded more

than a century ago, the collegeis a result of a PresbyterianChurch outreach project thatwas ultimately the catalyst forlaunching nearly 300 small col-leges throughout the Midwestand western United States.

Harold H. Smith, presidentof Pikeville College, noted thatthe institution was created in1889 to give mountain youthsin Eastern Kentucky and partsof West Virginia the opportuni-ty to earn a college degree andstudy the liberal arts.

“Our students get a broadfoundation or base” in class-work, he said. “From that broadbase they can go further in the long run,which is what kids need as they are graduat-ing from colleges today.”

Pikeville College has a renownedteacher education program, an importantmeans for the school to have its studentsgiving back to the community by helping

educate other youths in the region. Nursingstudents also have fared well at the college.In recent years, all graduates of the school’stwo-year nursing program passed their statenursing boards, Smith said.

But the most exciting development atPikeville College began to take shape in themid-1990s with the establishment of thePikeville College School of OsteopathicMedicine.

“There has been a trend inmedicine that has been prob-lematic,” said Dr. John Stros-nider, vice president and deanof the medical school. “Lessthan 20 percent of (medicalschool graduates) now do pri-mary care work, and there is atremendous need for them,especially in Eastern Kentucky.My feeling is that if we get kidsfrom the hills, train them inthe hills then they’ll stay in thehills and set up their practiceshere.”

Former Gov. Paul E. Patton,who is on the faculty at PikevilleCollege, noted that theAppalachian Regional Council,which helped fund the creation

of the medical school, “regards the medicalschool as the best investment it’s ever made.”Priority for enrollment at PCSOM is given tostudents from Eastern Kentucky and theAppalachian region.

Pikeville College remains the only smallliberal arts college with a medical school,

Hal Smith is Presidentof Pikeville College. Agraduate and formeradministrator of CentreCollege in Danville,President Smithassumed office in 1997.

GoingFurtherGoing

FurtherPikeville College and itsmedical school are pushingthe region ahead

Big Sandy Tech

One of the great educationalboosts to Pikeville and PikeCounty came with the estab-

lishment of a Pikeville campus of theBig Sandy Community and TechnicalCollege.

“It has been an outstanding addi-tion to the educational opportunitiesthat you can now find in Pikeville,” for-mer Gov. Paul E. Patton said.

Part of the statewide Kentucky Com-munity and Technical College system,BSCTC not only provides excellent jobtraining for youths in the region seekingthe technical skills that will help themland new jobs, but the center providesan important incentive to attract newbusinesses to the region, according toKitty White, executive director of thePike County Chamber of Commerce.Offering a plethora of programs thatrange from community enhancement –like first-aid training – to job develop-ment for the coal and gas industries inEastern Kentucky, BSCTC fills animportant role for the ongoing educa-tional programming in Pikeville.

The fabled “99 Steps” leading up the hill toPikeville College has been a stairway to a bet-ter life through higher education for thou-sands of Appalachia youth.


“but it’s a model that educators across thecountry are looking at closely,” Smith said.

Students are enrolled in a four-year aca-demic program, then serve one-year rotatinginternships and complete residency programs.Core rotation sites include the Pikeville Med-

ical Center, and medical facilities in Prestons-burg, Paintsville, Williamson and Martin, aswell as sites in the Appalachian regions of Vir-ginia and West Virginia.

“My hope in the long term is that wehave 80 percent of our doctors working inprimary care in Kentucky, and especially inEastern Kentucky,” Strosnider said. n

What is a Doctor of Osteopathy?

Doctors of osteopathic medicinepractice a discipline of treating thewhole person instead of just treat-

ing specific symptoms, according to Dr.John Strosnider, vice president and dean ofthe Pikeville College School of Osteopath-ic Medicine. Strosnider, who is president

elect of the AmericanOsteopathic Associa-tion – a mirror organi-zation for D.O.s to theAmerican MedicalAssociation –explained that osteo-pathic doctors arecomplete physicians,and like medical doc-tors, they are fullytrained and licensed toprescribe medicationand perform surgery.

Osteopathic doc-tors practice in allbranches of medicineand surgery, fromobstetrics to emer-

gency medicine or geriatrics. But, Stros-nider noted, D.O.s are trained to be gener-alists first and specialists second. He saidmost osteopathic doctors work in primarycare, a critical need in Eastern Kentucky.

D.O.s are trained to understand howall the body’s systems are interconnectedand how they affect the other parts, pay-ing special attention to the muscu-loskeletal system and preventive healthcare. Those are important ingredients inthe mountains, where diet, smoking andother lifestyle concerns often compoundcommon medical problems.

Harold H. Smith, president ofPikeville College, said the approachestaken by doctors of osteopathy – whoemphasize primary care and education –will help bolster lifestyles to a region ofKentucky that often has been near thebottom in terms of health and longevity.

Dr. John Strodsnider isDean of the PikevilleCollege MedicalSchool. Dr. Strodsnideris president-elect ofthe America Osteo-pathic Association.

Pikeville College boasts only one of three medical schools in Kentucky.

Photos courtesy of P

ikeville College


Nationwide, tourism is bigbusiness, pumping billionsof dollars into localeconomies. In Pike County,the economic impact of

tourism is taken very seriously by public-and private-sector planners.

“We have beautiful mountains with allkinds of outdoor activities, arts and craftsand plenty of recreational activities. And

with our new civiccenter, we have thecapability to bringin all kinds ofmeetings and con-ventions,” saidKitty White, exec-utive director ofthe Pike CountyChamber of Com-merce. “Tourism isdefinitely beingviewed in terms ofeconomic develop-ment for the cityand the county.”

“There’s noquestion thattourism is going to

be extremely important for economic devel-opment in years to come,” said Bill Deskins,

Pike County Judge Executive. “The coalprices are good now, but you can’t rely oncoal to stay at the level it’s at now. Tourism,given the beauty of our county, is a naturalfor us.”

But perhaps because of an outdated viewof Pikeville and its surrounding countryside

– images of backwoods communities scrap-ing by at the mercy of coal prices – potentialguests often eschew the great beauty andhistory that serve as the backdrop for PikeCounty and its seat of government.

Phyllis Hunt, director of Pike CountyTourism, noted that plenty of energy is beingexpended in getting the word out aboutPikeville and the county as a great destinationfor visitors. Its attractions include:

The Breaks Interstate Park at the south-eastern edge of the district, a 4,600-acrereservation at the largest canyon east of theMississippi River, where Daniel Boone tookhis first steps into the Bluegrass State.

The U.S. 23 Country Music Highway,with five stops along the way like the Dils

‘A Natural for Us’Touting tourism is a priority for Pike County

Thousands fill the streets of downtown Pikevilleevery April for “Hillbilly Days”. Founded in 1976,the festival celebrates Appalachian culture whileraising money for the Shriner’s Hospital for Chil-dren in Lexington.

No Joke, HillbillyDays Is Huge

The single largest tourist draw inPikeville and Pike County is theannual Hillbilly Days, held every

April to poke a little fun at a worn-outstereotype of Eastern Kentuckians. Found-ed by Shriners Grady Kinney and HowardStratton in 1976, the three-day event hasserved as an important fundraiser forShriners Children’s Hospital in Lexingtonfor nearly 30 years. In that time, HillbillyDays has raised more than$250,000 for the hospital whilegaining national attention for theevent.

During the third weekend inApril, “mountain folk” dressed inbib overalls, floppy hats and theaccoutrements of hill life gatherwith country music, dancing,crafts and home-cooking at centerstage.

A joint effort of the city ofPikeville, the Pike County FiscalCourt, the Shriners Hillbilly Clanand the Pike County Chamber ofCommerce, the festival is ratedone of the top 10 annual eventsheld in the South. It packs everyhotel for miles around, accordingto Phyllis Hunt, director of PikeCounty Tourism. To accommo-date visitors arriving in recreation-al vehicles, numerous sitesthroughout the city and surround-ing area are converted into ad hoccampgrounds.

“It’s a wonderful three daysof music, clogging, a music con-test, good food. You name it,” Huntsaid. “Everybody just has a great time.”

Vendors line the streets of Pikeville’scentral business district, selling hand-made crafts and souvenir trinkets, andvirtually all forms of dancing that havebeen done in the mountains, includingsquare dancing, “flat dancing” and clog-ging, are demonstrated at the courthousesquare and Pikeville City Park.

“This is the kind of event that has ahuge impact on the community,” saidKitty White, executive director of thePike County Chamber of Commerce.“People start coming into town a weekin advance of the festival” to make surethey can get situated and find accom-modations.

“I don’t think anybody can overstatehow big a deal Hillbilly Days has turnedout to be,” said Pike County Judge Exec-utive Bill Deskins. “It is a great three-dayevent that does an awful lot of good forkids at the Shriner hospital.”

Bill Deskins is in his first term as Pike County JudgeExecutive. JudgeDeskins previouslyserved two terms asPike County sheriff.

Photos courtesy of P

ike County Tourism

Cemetery, a landmark from the Hatfieldand McCoy feud of Civil War-era fame.The highway also offers hunting, fishing,hiking and camping at Fishtrap Lake StatePark, and plenty of unique places to stopsuch as Stopover, Huddy, Coal Run Villageand Majestic.

Civil engineers and history buffs may beimpressed with the Pikeville cut-throughproject that transformed the town from itsnarrow horseshoe-shape, creating new


Whitewater kayaking is a popular outdoor sport on the Russell Fork River in Pike County.

Life on the Hatfield-McCoy Trail

It’s almost inconceivable that it all started over the ownership of a pig. But one ofthe most infamous feuds of all time – the 19th-century spat between the Hatfieldsand the McCoys – has captured the imagination of the nation and, indeed, the

world, fostering an image of two clans taking pot shots at each other from the moun-taintops of Pike County.

Bad blood between the clans had its roots in the Civil War, when Devil Anse Hatfield,leader of a group known as the Logan Wildcats, had a wounded Union soldier named AsaHarmon McCoy shot for his betrayal of the southern cause. The dispute over the ownershipof a prized hog eventually led to an all-out war between the families between 1880 and 1882,culminating in the shooting of three McCoys returned to Kentucky from West Virginia byDevil Anse Hatfield in revenge for the death of Ellison Hatfield.

“It all happened here, in Pike County,” said Phyllis Hunt, director of Pike CountyTourism. “Traditionally, the Hatfields were mostly from West Virginia and the McCoyswere in Pike County. But today you will see both names all over the region.” Andbesides the family names, they left a legacy that has been for many years a fascinationfor visitors coming to the region.

“We do have an audio tape for a driving tour people can take,” Hunt said. “Visi-tors can see Courthouse Square, where the Hatfield and McCoy trial was held. Theycan see the site of the last hanging in Pike County, over the killing of a McCoy. Wehave the old cemetery where five of the McCoy family members are buried, as are vet-erans from the French and Indian War and the Civil War.”

Visitors taking the driving tour get a sense of the remote nature of the days whenthe feud was at its height, and at the same time they can enjoy the scenic drivethrough the winding byways of the eastern stretches of Pike County that make up themajority of the area where the feud took place.

Hunt noted that in the feud’s waning days, Randolph McCoy and his wife, Sarah,moved away from the Tug River valley to Pikeville to get away from the Hatfields alto-gether. The McCoy house, at the corner of Main Street and Scott Ave., is one of about10 prominent stops on the Hatfield-McCoy Feud tour.

highway access and leveling land that hasbeen used for commercial and public pur-poses.

One fascinating stop about 15 minutesoutside Pikeville off U.S. 119 is the old vil-lage of Stone, a planned coal-companytown that at one time wasowned by automobile magnateHenry Ford. Ford, concernedabout his assembly plants’access to reliable energysources, decided that his besthedge against supply problemswas to go right to the source: hepurchased the town of Stone in1924 from Pond Creek MiningCompany, renamed the firmthe Fordson Coal Companyand added three headquartersbuildings to the communitythat housed the companyoffices, a theater, YMCA, andcompany store.

Today, the Fordson build-ings are being restored by agroup that also offers tours.Many of the houses for workers and man-agers in the village’s “camps” still are stand-ing, and the magnificent two-story homewhere Ford stayed while visiting his coalcompany – complete with servants quarters– sits prominently at one end of the village.

Pikeville College, with its intercollegiatesports programs and an inherent draw forstudents and parents from outside theimmediate surroundings, also serves as atourism magnet, pumping money into localcoffers as people dine, travel, shop and

browse the area.To meet the demands of an

expected influx of visitors inthe near future, particularly inlight of the October grandopening of the Eastern Ken-tucky Expo Center, city andcounty planners have had theirsleeves rolled up and are work-ing to add more hotel rooms tothe city, including a newHampton Inn and Holiday InnExpress.

“There is plenty of collabora-tion on tourism,” White noted,adding that joint projects cur-rently under way include ananticipated recreational vehiclepark that will take advantage ofvisitors traveling into town on

one of three major highways that intersect inthe heart of Pike County. “I think that thingsare falling into place with tourism. We’re justnow beginning to see a lot of the benefits ofthe planning that’s been going on throughoutthe community.” n


The beautiful and rugged Breaks InterstatePark is a popular destination for tourists fromall across the southeast.

Franklin D. Justice, II isMayor of Pikeville.Schooled as a veteri-narian, Mayor Justicehas business interestsin coal, restaurants andretail in Pike County.


The notices read like a who’s whoof entertainment: First it wasLarry the Cable Guy, then PaulShafer Motorsports MonsterTruck Fest, followed by the

Broncs and Bulls World Challenge Rodeo.And that’s all within a month of the grandopening of the Eastern Kentucky Expo

Center, a 126,000-square-feet entertain-ment and convention facility that iscapped with a nearly 25,000-square-feetfloor and concert seating for 7,000. Thefacility has been touted as the premierentertainment venue for Eastern Kentuckyand this corner of a tristate market thatincludes Virginia and West Virginia.

The Expo Center is going to attract “sou-venir shops, antique dealers, things that gearto our heritage,” said Pikeville city managerDonovan Black-burn. “This is thekind of thing that isgoing to bring moreand more peopledowntown, andthat in turn is goingto get more restau-rants in and addi-tional service-typefacilities.”

With access intoPikeville made eveneasier with the com-pletion of road proj-ects such as the U.S.119 four-lane high-way to Charleston, W.V., the Expo Center willbenefit even further from its reach to a muchlarger population base to support the eventsthere, said Kitty White, Executive Director ofthe Pike County Chamber of Commerce.

“The overall effect of the Expo Center isgoing to be very, very good,” she said. n

TThhee BBeesstt ooff WWhhaatt’’ss AArroouunnddPikeville’s expo center is positioned as Eastern Kentucky’s premier venue

Crowds stream into the Eastern KentuckyExpo Center on October 16th to see the pop-ular comedian “Larry the Cable Guy”, the firstpublic performance held in the new building.

Donovan Blackburn isCity Manager, a posi-tion that has signifi-cant administrativeauthority in Pikeville.

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The Hollywood image of black-faced coal miners emerging fromdingy underground mines withmetal lunch buckets in hand is asoutdated as the Edsel, especially

in Pike County. There, modern coal recov-ery methods and near-record prices haverenewed demand for Eastern Kentucky’smost valuable asset.

“The effects of coal mining in Pike Countyhave changed from what it was 40 years ago,”said David Gooch, president of Pikeville-basedCoal Operators and Associates. “A much larg-er segment of the population was employed inmining, surface mining was just in its infancy,

and coal was the single-largest employer inPike County.” Mining is still a major employ-er in the county.

A historical comparison of statewidecoal production provides a glimpse of howproductivity has increased over the years.Kentucky produced just over 60 milliontons of bituminous coal in 1960, with near-ly 46 million tons coming from EasternKentucky, according to Kentucky CoalAssociation data. In 2002, overall produc-tion rose to almost 132 million tonsstatewide, and almost 33 million tons comefrom Pike County’s underground and sur-face mining operations.

All that coal translates into a lot of money.In Pike County alone, more than 4,100 peoplewere employed directly in the mining industryin 2002, generating $190 million in miningwages. The Kentucky Coal Associationreported that mining and related industriesrepresented almost 28 percent of wages gener-ated in the county for that year. In addition,coal severance taxes – the taxes charged oncoal that is mined and sold – generated nearly$142 million in tax revenue for Kentucky in2002, almost $42 million from Pike CountyCoal. Coal taxes returned to Pike County forfiscal year 2002 totaled more than $2.5 millionfrom the $121 million worth of coal processed.

Gooch noted that the ebb and flow ofcoal prices have been reflected in theregion’s industry, where until about three

years ago, prices were low enough that coalproduction had been declining for decades.

“With the price of coal staying steady atabout $23 per ton for all those years, youhad companies that still had to deal withrising insurance costs, workers’ comp, andgoods and materials. Everything went upwhile the price remained flat.”

With coal selling at $60 per ton today,mining is back on track. But Gooch notedthat the biggest challenge to the industry isfinding trainable employees.

“If you look at one of these mines today,you’ll discover that this isn’t your daddy’scoal mine,” Gooch said. “With the safetyand technological advancements in place,the reclamation practices in Pike Countywhere (the landscapes surrounding) surfacemines are beautifully restored, you’ll see thisis an industry that really has changed.”

Current wages for miners in Kentuckyaverage $45,000 a year. n

Pike County Employmentby Major Industry (2004)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

4.7%Public

AdministrationOther

Trade,Transportation, Utilities

52.8%11.2%

21.5%

Mining

4.1%Construction

3.1%Manufacturing

2.6%FinancialActivities

Coal’s ComebackNew mining methods and demand are refueling the coal industry

Natural Gas IsBooming,Too

Where there’s coal, there’snatural gas. That factmakes Eastern Kentucky,

especially Pike County, one of the lead-ing natural gas producers in the state.

A series of events – including thedestruction in the Gulf Coast from hur-ricanes Katrina and Rita – pushed theprice of natural gas to all-time recordsin 2005. That has bolstered an alreadyprofitable segment of the energy indus-try in Pike County, according to JerryKanney, general partner with InterstateNatural Gas Company, one of theregion’s leading natural gas operators.

Kanney said that, as with coal com-panies, natural gas producers havepumped millions of dollars back intothe local economy. He estimated that$4 million in severance taxes was paidto Pike County last year. With the sig-nificant royalties paid out to land own-ers – Kanney estimated that to beabout $10 million per year in PikeCounty alone – natural gas companiesplay important roles in maintainingthe region’s economic health.

“I’m supportive of clean coal tech-nology,” Kanney said. “But natural gasis inherently a clean-burning fuel, andI feel that natural gas worldwide willcontinue to meet a growing demand.”

Pike County is the leading coal producingcounty in Kentucky, with over 33 million tonsmined annually.

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Coal Operators & Associates Inc.

“Providing leadership for East Kentucky’scoal mining industry”

P.O. Box 3158Pikeville, Kentucky 41502

Phone: 606-432-2161 • Fax: 606-432-2162

Visit our website atwww.miningusa.com/coa/

David A. GoochPresident

Julie M. WilsonExecutive Assistant

Charles J. BairdChairman

Interstate Natural Gas Company has experienced tremendous growth in the past 16 years. The company hasdrilled and purchased over 300 wells in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, and look forward to drillingbetween 30 and 50 wells this year alone.

Interstate Natural Gas Company is very involved in community organizations such as the Pikeville Area Fami-ly YMCA, Rotary Club, Pike, Floyd, and Tug Valley Chambers of Commerce, Special Olympics, Habitat forHumanity, Pikeville College, Big Sandy Community and Technical College Foundation, Kentucky Oil & Gas Asso-ciation, and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

The owners have won numerous awards for their business acumen and community involvement, including theExcellence in Entrepreneurship Award from Eastern Kentucky University in 2004, Pike County Chamber ofCommerce Business of the Year in 2004, and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2005 for Con-struction in Kentucky and South Central Ohio.

Are you interested in leasing your property for the development of Oil and Natural Gas?

Please Call (606) 437-6147 Pikeville, Kentucky

DennisRohrer

JerryKanney


One of the most importantdevelopments in Pikevillehas been the continuedgrowth in health care, ledby the Pikeville Medical

Center. Founded in 1924 as a 50-bed insti-tution, the hospital grew through acquisi-tion and expansion.

The first major expansion consisted ofan impressive eight-story tower. The newfacility opened its doors to its first patienton Christmas Eve, 1971. In time, the build-ing was dedicated to a former president ofthe hospital’s board of directors, WilliamErnest Elliott, Sr. The hospital continued tobe known for its commitment to providingexcellent health care in a comfortable,friendly and professional environment.

In 1996, Pikeville Medical Centeropened the Leonard Lawson Cancer Centerto provide cancer patients with top-notchcare in an environment that caters to thecancer patient’s special needs locally,instead of making patients trek to otherregional care facilities. The Lawson CancerCenter remains the only comprehensivecancer center in Eastern Kentucky.

In 1998, the hospital broke ground for anew 11-story, $75 million expansion proj-

ect. The new May Tower – named forPikeville Medical Center former CEO andcurrent president of the board Walter May –was the largest construction project in East-ern Kentucky and was dedicated on Dec. 18,2000.

“We set out to build this hospital not tobe just as good as any other hospital around,but to be better,” May explained about themost recent expansion process. “We trav-eled to San Antonio, Dallas, New Orleansand Las Vegas before we set-tled on an architect andhow we wanted to build”the wing.

With 1,400 dedicatedemployees, “our employeesand medical staff havebought into this concept ofa regional medical center inPikeville,” May said.“Health care has becomethe most important eco-nomic engine in PikeCounty, and we will contin-ue to see that grow.”

An important factor forthe growth of the healthcare sector in Pikeville is

the recent arrival of the Pikeville CollegeSchool of Osteopathic Medicine. PikevilleMedical Center has become the single mostimportant clinical teaching center for themedical school, creating a collaborativee n v i r o n m e n twhere patient, stu-dent and staff allbenefit. The addi-tion of the newwing and the addi-tion of the medicalschool in townhave helped drawthe best andbrightest in medi-cine to Pikeville.

“All we have todo is get these doc-tors to come visithere,” May said ofrecruitment visitsby physicians.“Once they see thehospital and howbeautiful it is herein Pikeville, theylove the place andthey move here.”

May saidPikeville MedicalCenter continues to work hard to be at thecenter of excellence in the medical field,adding the best in new technologies as theybecome available and insuring the latest indiagnostic equipment is continuallyinstalled.

Serving a population in a region thatincludes Pike County, Eastern Kentuckyand parts of Virginia and West Virginia,May said Pikeville Medical Center will con-tinue to grow and new services will contin-ue to be added.

“There seems to be no limit to what wecan do here,” May said. “Technology isgoing to change things, but in medicine,people will be sick, and somebody has tocare for them. That’s why we are here andwhy we will continue to be the health careleader in the region for years to come.” n

Walter May is presi-dent of the board ofdirectors of thePikeville Medical Cen-ter. A business leaderand former mayor ofPikeville, Mr. May hasserved on the hospitalboard for over 40years and is consideredby many to be thedriving force behindthe Pikeville MedicalCenter’s growth.

Founded in 1924, the Pikeville Medical Center has become the preeminent medical facility ineastern Kentucky and southwest West Virginia and Virginia.

Life in a Medical HubThe Pikeville Medical Center has becomean economic engine of growing importance

Built in 1996, the Leonard Lawson Cancer Center at PikevilleMedical Center offers the latest technology in diagnostic pro-cedures, treatment, clinical trials, and patient and family sup-port services.

Courtesy of P

ikeville Medical C

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