Before Johnson County Schools return to classes next week, administrators are working with law enforcement to ensure faculty and staff are prepared for anything.

Hoping the worst never happens, or denying that it could happen in a small town like ours, is not an option. Reality has proven time and time again that hope and denial are not viable strategies.

Being proactive and opening the discussion about what to do is the only way to head off or mitigate a mass shooting tragedy. 

If you remember middle school and high school, you probably have one of two opinions about it: Either it was some of the best years of your life, or some of the worst.

A story on the City of Paintsville and the Paintsville Tourism Commission, comparing the last fiscal year’s actual revenues and expenses with those of the year’s budget, is not exactly exciting stuff. We know that. 

But it’s important, because with a new fiscal year already started, we have budgets on the books for these agencies, and as taxpayers, we need to know how close they came to hitting their marks, because it helps us know if the new budget is realistic. 

In a world of dwindling coal severance funds and austere county budgets, every dollar counts. 

When there’s a way to save taxpayer dollars without cutting important services, that’s the holy grail. Sometimes, those decisions are made somewhere other than a county fiscal court.