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| McHargue's Mill at Levi Jackson State Park - photo by Jessica Bray |
Recently, a young lady, Leslie Smith,
wrote some rather
harsh things about my hometown of London, Kentucky. I'm honestly not sure what her reasoning
behind the article, but it was full of a fairy tale fantasy of the real life of
London, without any solutions to what she portrayed as issues.
Years ago, I left London to attend college at Berea
College. Upon graduating with a
Bachelor's Degree in hand, I had a job opportunity in the larger city of
Lexington. I would soon move to
Versailles and lived there for 5 years.
However, my heartstrings pulled me back home to London because that is
where my family called home. In fact,
whenever someone asked me where I was from, I always said London,
Kentucky. No matter where I roamed,
London was always home.
Let's explore Ms. Smith's "factoids" that she
presented with the truth:
#1: "London
was a small town, definitely not the smallest of course, but was indeed one of
the poorest." According to the
American Community Survey from Census.gov, in 2014 28.6% of the population
within the city limits of London was below poverty level in the past 12 months.
Out of 540 cities listed by the Census, 140 cities were even higher
percentage. So, really, London is not
one of the poorest. Laurel County as a
whole had 23.3% of the population below poverty level in the past 12 months in
2014. Laurel County ranked 75 out of 120
counties in Kentucky. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010-2014 American Community
Survey 5-Year Estimates
#2: "smaller
glimmer of hope to escape the small mile radius of those city limits."
Do they not teach geography and geometry with measure of
units in high school? London city limits
stretches quite a bit. Looking at the
maps on the Kentucky Cabinet Transportation
website, starting with Hal Rogers Parkway
(KY-80) from the intersection with KY-192 (about milepoint 4.021) to Ridings
Mitchell Creek Road near Exit 41 (milepoint 9.975 ), that makes the city limits
to be 5.954 miles. Then let's go from
KY-192 where it intersects at I-75 (milepoint 18.19) to where it ends at KY-80
(milepoint 21.821), making the city limits to be 3.631 miles. I could add more
streets, but I think you get the point that we have more than 1 mile radius of
the city limits.
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| London City Limits - from Kentucky Transportation Cabinet |
#3: "Growing
up in a small, Eastern Kentucky town meant nobody grew up in neighborhoods, we
all grew up in hollers and everybody had an uncle that was in jail for making
meth."
You cannot drive along a stretch of road without seeing
subdivisions, from Cross Keys to Crooked Creek to Sunshine Hills. Over the years, many farms that use to raise
tobacco, hay, corn, cattle, and more were sold off to build into small
communities. East Bernstadt has its own
Independent School system with houses surrounding it. Sublimity area is full of houses
surrounded. What about Keavy, Hazel
Green, Lily, and so much more? Those areas had their own high school until
everything grew fast to form Laurel County High School and eventually North
Laurel and South Laurel. By the way,
please name one holler in London. I'm
sitting here looking at a map of all of the little map dots in Laurel
County. I have yet to see
"holler" behind any of them.
However, I can tell you that Butcher Holler is over in eastern Kentucky
and was home of Loretta Lynn. As far as
everybody had an uncle in jail for meth, I have quite a few uncles and not one
of them has spent time in jail, nor made meth.
#4: "…education
was simply not a priority in London, Kentucky.."
One look at the Laurel County Schools website, you will
see the following headlines:
* McDaniel Learning Center Named in State Top Programs
* South Laurel FCCLA "Environmental
Ambassadors" win State--Headed to Nationals!
* North Laurel Environthon Team Wins State--Going to
Nationals!
* SLMS Band to Perform at KMEA State Conference
* SLHS Teacher Wendell Worley named to Kentucky Teacher
Hall of Fame
* SLMS Academic Team Advances to State
* Three Laurel County Teachers Receive Campbellsville
Excellence in Teaching Award
Also, 74.3% of those that were of school age graduated
with a high school diploma or higher from the 2010-2014 American Community
Survey 5-year estimates. If education
was not a priority, would we have award winning teachers, students, and a high
percentage of those graduating from high school? Also, students now have the opportunity to receive college credits for free while in high school thanks to partnerships with Somerset Community College, as well as our newly built Center for Innovation.
Also from Laurel County Schools
website, "U.S. News and World Report annually selects the highest achieving U.S. schools. Using the 2014-2015 completion data they began by evaluating 28,561 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia according to a comprehensive ranking methodology. Among those ranked, North Laurel High School qualified to receive the Silver Ribbon which made them eligible for a state ranking. Of the 92 Kentucky schools selected, NLHS ranked number 27." (But then again, Ms. Smith says that education is not a priority.)
#5: "A mere 250-something students, including myself, managed to walk across the makeshift stage in our gymnasium to receive our diplomas..."
I honestly don't know if she tried to make it as though we put up a flatbed trailer and have graduates walk across. From the photos below, you can see that the stages at the 2016 North Laurel High School and 2016 South Laurel High School graduation ceremonies were very tastefully done. Did she expect pyro fireworks as each student's name was called out? You might also note that students did NOT receive their diplomas on the stage. Instead, they received them in front of the stage.
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| North Laurel High School 2016 Graduation |
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| South Laurel High School 2016 Graduation |
Ms. Smith also mentions that there were over 200 to drop out of her class upon graduation. If that was the case, then why does the US Census show that the enrollment from 2010 to 2014 increased from 2083 to 3023 for those enrolled in high school? That is 940 students in 10 years added.
Why did I move
back to London?
For those of us that moved away and came back, there are
many reasons as to why. Not only was my
family here, but you had the best sense of community. When someone's family passes away, you can
bet there will be a crowd to pay their respects, to call and check on the
spouse and children, and offer to help in any way. My family experienced that with the loss of
several loved ones over the years. Your
neighbors stop by and mow the lawn or offer to watch the children because they
care.
Our town of London hosts a lot of free events for
everyone to enjoy. We have a strong
London Downtown group, as well as Chamber of Commerce. From 5k walks, car shows, parades, live
concerts, and well even the World Chicken Festival, we form a community to
spend time with each other. We just
celebrated our 80th Laurel County Homecoming last year.
Thanks to the Restaurant Sales Tax, our community was able to rebuild the Rotary Park to include children with disabilities. There are plans for a dog park, as well as more walking paths. We also have a Wellness Park that has a skate park, splash pad, swings, walking paths and more. Levi Jackson State Park will also have a new Treetop Aerial Adventure Park coming soon.
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| Car Show in London, Kentucky - photo by Jessica Bray |
Any time a family is in need or has a hardship, strangers
will stop what they are doing and lend a hand or donate. When several students were afflicted with cancer
over the last few years, our community came together with cookouts, car washes,
t-shirt sales, and more to help the financial burden of medical bills.
In my community, when a hearse carrying someone's loved
one passes on any road, you can bet that every car stops to pay their
respects. In the years I lived in
Lexington, no one did that because they were too busy living their own life.
I love the quirkiness of London and telling people where
I'm from. I always make sure to let them
know that we are the Cycling Capital of Kentucky and host the Redbud Ride to
over 1000 bicyclists worldwide. The
honeybun was invented here. Singer songwriter, Darrell Scott is from
here. He wrote "You'll Never Leave
Harlan Alive," that fellow Kentuckian, Patty Loveless made famous. London is the hometown of several athletes, doctors, musicians, politicians, writers, and much more.
London is very historic with Levi Jackson State Park, as well many historic trails that run through the town, including the Boone Trace and Wilderness Road. Russell Dyche was instrumental of a lot of improvements in Laurel County.
Our job force is pretty strong as many business have relocated to London. We have AISIN Automotive, London Cookie Factory, Wal-mart Distribution Center, and so many other industry. London is also a great place to start a small family owned business. Several long serving restaurants include Weaver's Hot Dogs, Dairy Dart, and the BP Auto Truck Stop (definitely stop by there for some good home cooking if you are coming down I-75.)
Furthermore, how can one not forget about the beautiful
views of London and Laurel County? It is
always fun to take a drive down to Laurel Lake or any of the back roads to see
the pure beauty that nature has given us.
The sounds of birds chirping away as you sit on your front porch are
more peaceful than the hustle and bustle of a larger city.
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| Laurel County barn - photo by Jessica Bray |
Hopefully Ms. Smith will learn that it doesn’t pay to
write such fiction of a hometown that many of us have grown to love, and come
back to even when we moved away. While yes, we do have some that are afflicted with drugs, domestic violence, and other crimes, London is a good community to live in. Our people are passionate and are willing to lend an extra hand no matter how big or small the need.
If you are from London, what are your favorite things about our community?
