Word: breathitt
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Turner family of Eastern Kentucky's Breathitt County, politics comes as naturally as breathing. Ervine Turner, who died last year after a 40-year career as state senator, school superintendent and circuit judge, first became a power in the mountainous area when he brought Breathitt the benefits of the New Deal. His death did nothing to weaken his family's Snopesian hold on the county. His wife Marie served as county school superintendent for 38 years until her retirement last June, and still remains president of the Citizens Bank of Jackson, the county seat. Their son John...
...however, the family's dominance of Breathitt County's affairs is being challenged by the state's Republican administration. Alarmed at what he considers partisan abuse of the poverty program, Governor Louie B. Nunn has vetoed a $177,000 Office of Economic Opportunity grant to the Middle Kentucky River Area Development Council (MKRADC). The organization, headquartered in Jackson and run by Mrs. Howell, is responsible for administering sorely needed poverty projects worth $2,000,000 a year in Breathitt and three neighboring counties. Two-thirds of the region's families have incomes of less than...
...riposte does little to blunt the thrust of Nunn's original accusation, for her family's seignorial attitude toward the people in its domain is evidence enough of its political power. "These are my folks around here," says Mrs. Howell. "They need help." The people of Breathitt repaid such sentiments last month by flocking to Mrs. Howell's side at a public hearing held by OEO to investigate Nunn's charges against her. Howell supporters turned out in such force that Lynn Frazer, the state economic-opportunity director, walked out, claiming anti-Howell witnesses were being...
...Howell's victory at the hearing has set back Nunn's campaign to get her out of the poverty program. It has embarrassed Breathitt County's Congressman, Carl D. Perkins, who, as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, is responsible for all poverty legislation. Pushing for a two-year extension of the OEO authorization act, Perkins fears loss of badly needed Republican support if Nunn's veto is overridden. At the same time, he finds it politically necessary to back Mrs. Howell, whose support is an important ingredient to his own reelection...
...chief, Donald Rumsfeld, who must now decide whether to sustain or overturn the Governor's veto. A decision in favor of Mrs. Howell may cost him the support of Republicans already anxious to minimize federal interference in state affairs. While he deliberates, the poor of Breathitt County, dependent upon interim OEO grants for their sustenance, remain out of pocket...