Gov. Breathitt focused on environment, progressive causes

I always enjoy columnist Larry Webster, a Pikeville lawyer who does a good job of writing about Eastern Kentucky's attributes and problems — sometimes funny, sometimes more pointed.

But I take issue with his recent column in which he rated former Gov. Edward T. Breathitt as a so-called “progressive” governor, but not progressive enough.

Webster says all Breathitt did was make strip mining legal with his strip-mine legislation passed in the 1966 session.

Ask the coal operators, Tennessee Valley Authority and owners of the coal land in Western Kentucky where they were required by the 1966 law to replace the earth as it was prior to stripping, putting the topsoil in last, filling large water-filled lakes, requiring greenery to be grown everywhere.

Or ask the Kentucky legislators who were flown to Pennsylvania and other states to observe how they were handling the strip mine problem.

Or ask the late Widow Combs of near Hazard who begged for mercy when strippers turned over the coffins in her family cemetery, sending them tumbling down the hillside. Cemeteries aside, you even see greenery being grown on old strip mine sites in Pike County.

It is true that a tough strip-mine law is only as strong as the governor. The late Robert Bell, then the enforcer, was fired by Gov. Julian Carroll, as was my nephew, Ron Mills, fired by Gov. Steve Beshear. Campaign money from the strippers always seems to play a big role.

Perhaps the 1966 law could have been tougher, but it was better than no law or allowing the strippers to do as they pleased under the old weak legislation prior to 1966.

As press secretary to Breathitt, I know the 1966 legislature also passed tough laws in regard to air and water pollution.

Put on top of that the 1966 civil rights law which enabled a six-year-old African-American to buy an ice cream cone at a Central Kentucky drive-in restaurant, a black war veteran to swim in a public pool or a black couple to stay and eat in a motel in Pikeville.

After the 1966 legislative session, newspapers all over the world, including the Times of London, praised Breathitt, contrasting him to then-Gov. George Wallace of Alabama, saying what a progressive U.S. state can do when it matters.