Don’t scare away tourists

My family’s goal this year is to hike Kentucky and enjoy on foot some its natural beauty. We have a book, we have boots, we have walking sticks. Our first outing was planned for late April with visits to Cumberland Falls and Jenny Wiley state parks.

I was horrified to read the April 14 Herald-Leader article about the neo-Nazi rally planned for the area around Jenny Wiley on the same days as our visit.

We are an international family, and the thought of hiking alone on a trail and encountering a group of white supremacists is absolutely terrifying. Would we even be safe in our room at the park lodge or in the dining room? Would be we accosted if we stopped for gas or shopped in town? I immediately cancelled our reservations.

Most voters in that part of the state drank the Republican campaign Kool-Aid about coal jobs returning to the area. Once elected, the Republicans admitted that simply was not economically feasible. Those looking for ways to boost the economy of Eastern Kentucky, including increasing tourism, need to understand that racist groups such as the Traditionalist Worker Party will only keep tourists and our dollars out of the area.

This story was originally published April 21, 2017 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Don’t scare away tourists."