NOVEMBER 7, 2015
Former Gov, Lawrence native Paul Patton speaks to Louisa Rotary…
Louisa, KY — Louisa Rotary Club President, Steve Montgomery called the Thursday, November 5th meeting to order at the First Baptist Church, after the opening prayer was said as well as the Pledge of Allegiance and Four Way Test.
Announcements included the upcoming annual turkey distribution, and remembrance of Veterans Day on Nov. 11. Lindsey Case announced there will be a Veterans dinner at LCHS next Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6pm.
Special guest speaker was Lawrence County native, and former Governor, Paul Patton. who was raised in Fallsburg, thanked the people of Lawrence County for the values that he has today. Referring to his school days, he said, “I had some great teachers,” mentioning Mrs. Jordan, Mrs.Lackey, Mrs. Wright, and Bascom Boyd.
“We had 73 in our graduating class, and only seven went directly to college.” Patton, who planned on attending the University of Kentucky, said he was told by someone that he would never survive UK. He was determined to prove them wrong and said “The first semester I didn’t date, didn’t go to any ball games, didn’t do anything but study, and I had a 3.71 GPA. That’s the best GPA I ever had, because I then started dating, going to ball games…”
Patton said he credits his success with being raised in Lawrence County and having good people around him, even though times were hard. “We didn’t have a car until I was 12 years old. My dad worked away on the railroad and was only home on the weekends.”
He talked about the loss of coal jobs, and how the impact in Lawrence County is a little less severe than in Pike, Martin, Letcher, Knott, and some of the more coal producing counties. He talked about economic development of the eastern Kentucky region and said “you have to sell yourself.” Patton served as Secretary of the Economic Development Cabinet under Governor Brereton Jones for about a year and a half.
“You can’t wait for something to come here,” explaining that counties must have a team or department to concentrate on economic development. He also said we must think regionally. “If a company goes in one county in eastern KY, it is going to benefit the surrounding counties as well. One town can’t be an island of prosperity.”
Patton spoke about the election, saying the results and the polls did not match up at all. He said people with little or no experience are running for office and coming out ahead. “This shows that people are disappointed with government, and they are voting for anyone who appears to be non-government. Government is complicated,” he said. “It’s different than a business.”
He asked if people are expecting too much out of government. “You get the government you vote for, but then you are dissatisfied with it.”
Patton, who has served for the past year as President of the University of Pikeville said a new leader for the university was just hired last week, so he, Patton, will now serve as the school’s chancellor. “That means I can do what I want, when I want, if I want; a pretty good job to have,” he said jokingly.
He talked about how our region which for so long consisted of farming, timber, and mining, people just did not see the need for education. “That is how we ended up with so much poverty,” he said. He stressed the importance of post secondary education.
“Whether it is UPike, Morehead, a community or other college, higher education is a necessity now. Each person has to find the right college for themselves.
Other Rotary News….
Tim Ellis, Director of the Lawrence County Adult Education Center recently visited the rotary club and talked about opportunities for completing GED’s and continuing education. He also talked about the recent distinguished status earned by LCHS as well as the journalism class in which students have the opportunity to proud uncle, anchor, and broadcast their own news station. “They are doing a fantastic job and the experience they are acquiring is invaluable.” “We have some extremely talented students here in Lawrence County” he said.
Ashley Litteral, Marketing Director for Appalachian Wireless, also was a guest speaker at rotary recently. He talked about the changes in cellular phone service over the years. The first car or bag phones which were analog were powerful, but large and cumbersome. Next came digital phones which were more convenient, but less powerful because batteries were smaller and had to be charged more often. Next came CDMA, Code Division Multiple Access, with text messaging.
“In 2004, nobody was using text.”
When Internet became available for cell phones, it was a problem because they weren’t designed for it, “there was too much traffic” he said. Now, we have LTE, Long Term Evolution, which is fast and can handle multiple users such as Twitter, Facebook, Instant Messaging, etc.
Technology has changed so much in the past ten years. “We used to leave home to get away from the phone, now we can imagine leaving home without it.”
When asked about landline vs cell, Litteral said “Service is not available everywhere, so landlines are not going away anytime soon.” He also explained that cell towers are either owned or shared by networks. Appalachian Wireless shares Verizon towers. AT&T is completely different, they have their own. “We don’t offer an unlimited package, it is just too expensive” he said.
Rotary members celebrating birthdays recently were Debbie Miller and Adrienne Lewis. The next Rotary meeting will be Thursday, November 12.
