Local News

Wearing purple shirts that proudly proclaim “I Am Hope,” they say their name, what type they battled and how long it’s been.

One after another, the cancer survivors receive a medal to honor their journey.

Taylor Countians gathered on Friday night at Taylor County High School for Relay for Life.

The goal was to raise $50,000 to go toward cancer research. As of the start of the night’s events, they were almost there.

For more photos, see Thursday’s issue and a slideshow on the homepage at www.cknj.com.

It's what he loves to do. It's also what his father and grandfather loved.

Barry Smith and his family have a 300-acre farm on Owl Creek Road. About 100 beef cattle graze the land.

"Just like to farm," Smith said. "Got that from my dad, I guess."

Smith's grandfather built the farm in 1929. After someone else owned the property for a while, Smith purchased the farm in 2002. He lives there with his wife, Kim, and two children, Rylen, 14, and Dwight, 18.

Although some Kentucky churches are severing ties with the Boy Scouts of America in wake of the organization's recent decision to allow openly gay members to join, churches in Taylor County are continuing to support local Boy Scout troops and won't be closing their doors to them anytime soon.

"We're here to give these boys some good leadership skills and teach them valuable life lessons, and that's what it's all about," Mark Sanford, leader of local Boy Scout Troop 616, said.

About 200 children signed up on Saturday to participate in the Taylor County Public Library's annual summer reading program.

The program is themed "Dig into Reading."

Library staff said that amount is on track to beat last year's record of nearly 600 who participated.

This is the first year the library has hosted a kickoff for its program. There were games, bubbles, face painting, snow cones and hot dogs, and the first 100 children who signed up received a free book.