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KY chief justice warns drug, mental health courts would be wiped out by budget proposals
by Sarah Ladd Kentucky Lantern March 26, 2026 FRANKFORT — Kentucky judges and advocates issued a warning Thursday that, without more funding in the judicial branch budget, the state’s specialty courts could be closed. Kentucky’s Administrative Office of the Courts said the General Assembly’s two-year budget, as it now stands, would underfund court system operations…
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Williamson fire chief arrested on wanton endangerment charges
BY ANNIE HOLLER MOUNTAIN CITIZEN WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — Williamson Fire Chief Joey Michael Carey was arrested Friday night after a roughly three-month investigation into allegations that he fired two handgun rounds into a neighboring apartment in the downtown Williamson building where he lives. West Virginia State Police took Carey, 49, into custody at about 9…
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Frontier Housing fails to deliver jobs, says EDA chair
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — Nine months after Frontier Housing leased the speculative building at the Eastern Kentucky Business Park in Debord, Martin County Economic Development Authority Chairman James Ayers said the project has produced neither the jobs nor the activity the board was led to expect. Speaking at the EDA’s March 11…
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Murder trial set May 4 in killing of West Virginia trooper
BY ANNIE HOLLER MOUNTAIN CITIZEN WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — A Matewan man accused in the 2023 killing of a West Virginia State Police sergeant is scheduled to stand trial May 4 in Mingo County Circuit Court after a case marked by delays, a failed venue-change effort and a mistrial last year. Timothy Kennedy Jr., 32, has…
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Tomahawk man gets two-year prison sentence in stolen ATV case
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — A Tomahawk man was sentenced March 19 in Martin Circuit Court to two years in prison for his role in a stolen ATV case dating back to 2023. Rush Fraley, 49, pleaded guilty Feb. 5 to receiving stolen property valued at $1,000 to $10,000/complicity, a Class D felony.…
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Lovely man draws six-year prison sentence in fentanyl case
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — A Martin County man drew a six-year prison sentence March 19 in Martin Circuit Court after pleading guilty to a fentanyl trafficking charge. Henry Butcher, 27, of Lovely, received the sentence after pleading guilty Feb. 5, 2026, to first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (over 2 grams of…
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Martin County arrest report
CITIZEN STAFF REPORT INEZ — Martin County Sheriff John Kirk’s Office reported the following arrests: Erin A. Kugel, 23, was arrested March 21 on Long Branch Road in Lovely on a bench warrant from Magoffin District Court. Deputy JC Kirk served the warrant at 6:50 p.m. Ashley R. Salmons, 34, of Tomahawk, was arrested March…
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Coal truck spills load in Inez
Traffic control underway Monday at the KY-645 ramp near Coldwater in Inez after a coal truck lost some of its load on the roadway. (Citizen photo by Roger Smith)
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Family still seeks answers in unsolved homicide of Melissa Wolford
BY ANNIE HOLLER MOUNTAIN CITIZEN PHELPS — More than two years after a hunter found 42-year-old Melissa Wolford slain near her burned pickup truck in a Pike County hollow, her family is still searching for answers. In the quiet, close-knit community of Phelps, where homes in the hills can sit a mile apart and generations…
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State awards replacement of Mollett Branch bridge
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN TOMAHAWK — A narrow one-lane bridge over Rockhouse Fork in Tomahawk that officials say is unsafe for emergency vehicles is slated for replacement at no cost to Martin County. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet notified Martin County Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty in a letter that the Mollett Branch bridge “has been awarded…
