The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 9

THE COURIER-JOURNAL KENTUCKY" SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1997 alachian town going boom instead of best tWi5 1 1" Si -Wttt. ST-. ill, Continued from Page 1 owner of the Compton Inn. "We're going out and trying to catch our luck." Joy Cline of nearby Hanover opened an embroidery and craft shop on Gilbert's main street in the spring and has already expanded it. She knows she could make more money if she set up shop in a mall.

"But here needs something, too," she said. BONNIE LESTER bought 117 acres at the edge of town to build the Hatfield-McCoy Speedway, an investment of more than five months and nearly $500,000. "We've moved two mountains to create this track. Literally. We took the hills out," she said.

Some outside bankers were skeptical of the Lesters' proposal. "They told me, if this was such a good thing, there would be one on every street corner," she said. The couple eventually secured financing and began weekly street stock, superstock and modified car races in August. Lines for the 3,000 seats are long, with fans from around the state and from Eastern Kentucky, which is about 20 miles away. "People here are hungry for something to do," Bonnie Lester said.

Gilbert's night life consists of a bowling alley and a few places to eat, but the track is having a noticeable effect. The SuperAmerica gas station, for example, now stays open late on Saturdays for the crowds. New racing-related businesses are in the works, and at least a half-dozen people have decided to build their own cars, Lester said. "It's bringing money into town. One place generates another," she said.

MAYOR TIM RUTLEDGE, who owns the Foodland supermarket, said the town is now reaping the benefit of plans made in the late 1980s. "The mining industry is becoming tnore efficient, so the jobs just aren't jhere now. If you hitch your wagon to horse, you're going to be in trouble down the road. Communities that can see that should plan for the future," he said. Gilbert did, participating a commu-fiity-development project bankrolled J)y Matewan Bank.

A consultant from ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS Mack and Bonnie Lester invested nearly $500,000 to start up an auto-racing track in Gilbert. "We've moved two mountains to create this track. Literally. We took the hills out," Bonnie Lester said. l-V visible as part of the foundation Center in Gilbert, W.

Va. dream big. "I'm sure people look at him and think, 'He's made it; maybe I can she said "He started this business with $500." Harless, 75, grew up in Gilbert and has no plans to leave. But he is quick to credit others, including Rutledge, for the town's success. "He's done a lot to promote this community and see that we have good police protection, a good fire department, all those things that a town's supposed to get," he said.

"Our merchants also promote their businesses well, and there are several younger people who are leaders. "They're not sitting on their haunches waiting for something to happen. They're making it happen," he said. PRIDE IS what makes Gilbert different, he said. "That's something that some of us in southern West Virginia have been lacking.

You can tell we have it here," Harless said. "It's evidenced by the lack of trash along the highways and that kind of thing. People have pride in their community, their homes and their businesses, and that naturally leads to effective goes the other way. There's a tradeoff. What that trade-off will eventually be, we don't know yet." A new Wal-Mart superstore under construction in Logan, 20 miles to the north, is expected to create 400 jobs.

But Hatfield thinks those jobs will hurt "the little guy," who gradually will be forced out of business. Hatfield thinks his generation will be the last to remain in Gilbert for life. "We know we've probably got 20 to 30 years of coal left. That gets me to retirement age, but then what?" he said. "That's what concerns me.

"We're trying to grow. We have a mayor who's trying but no matter how hard we work and what kind of deals we offer, we can't force people to come here if they don't want to." Rutledge acknowledges Gilbert is not perfect. "It's no picnic. There are attitudes in other areas." Not everyone thinks the town is thriving, though. Ken Hatfield, 42, owner of Ward Hardware Furniture said Gilbert's success is relative.

"We're probably one of the more prosperous small towns in southern West Virginia, but we're not really growing," he said. "There are big jobs in town, but the employees are from elsewhere, so the money is leaving town with them." Hatfield has lost customers for three straight years, six to out-of-state relocations since January. Roads have brought Gilbert closer to cities like Charleston and Huntington, but roads go in two directions, he said. "You have to have good roads to get business in, but business also Trimble pair sees future in old plantation's past still people experiencing tough times. But you've got to do what you can," he said.

"A lot of what you do, you're not going to benefit from personally. Planning for four lanes on Route 52 is probably not going to benefit me," he said. "But there's a proverb that says a man who provides for his children and grandchildren does so by planting a tree under which he knows he will never sit." Motel owner Compton, who is 32, agrees that the town has a future. "Coal keeps the town going, but it seems like we have more businesses that open up every year," she said. Still, she hopes the pace of life remains slow.

"We're just an old-fashioned town. Some people may complain, but I love it," she said. "For my little piece of pie, I'll just come back here." S-T'T nbw mm ro ws Recessed hot tub and pool areas are for the Larry Joe Harless Community the University of Georgia "opened our eyes to what we had," Rutledge said. "She really tuned us in and turned us on," he said. "If you want anything to get done, you've got to do it yourself.

We don't wait for Charleston or the federal government to do something. "Doing anything is better than doing nothing," he said. THE COMMUNITY center embodies that concept. Harless, a well-known philanthropist, is contributing $4 for every $1 the community raises for the project, to be named after his late son, Larry Joe. Eventually it will house a pool, movie theaters, tennis, racquetball and basketball courts, a cafeteria, computer rooms and meeting areas.

"It's going to be great. Anybody's children and grandchildren would want this in their community," Shirley May said. May, 43, is a secretary at Gilbert Lumber one of Harless' businesses. She gives her boss credit for inspiring Gilbert to work hard and "All we have to do is keep it the same and re-create things as we go without a great amount of government money," Paul Venard explained. "Hopefully, whoever gets involved here will want to be here because they want to live in the 19th century potters or weavers, broom makers, cabinetmakers, blacksmiths.

It would be kind of like Shakertown, only not a religious sect." So far, the Venards have been unable to interest major investors, but they are not giving up their letter-writing campaign aimed at enlisting support. They also continue to collect old maps, photos and other documentation that could help recreate the plantation's roads and buildings if their dream should ever come true. "We have all kinds of potential here if we can just get someone to realize it," said Paul Venard. "We've got to save it, or it'll all be gone with the wind." Byron Crawford's column appears on the Kentucky page Sundays. Wednesdays and Fridays.

To contact him, call (502) 582-4791. and grandmother while his parents vacationed in Virginia Beach, Va. Neal said it appeared that the Jenkinses and Petty were sleeping when the fire started. He said he suspected that all four died of smoke inhalation. Autopsies were being conducted in Frankfort.

A seventh resident, Phylena Ber-esh, 24, escaped the blaze. She suffered foot and back injuries when she jumped from her window. She was in fair condition yesterday at King's Daughters' Medical Center in Ashland. The funeral for DeBoard, Petty and Courtney will be at 1 a.m. Tuesday at Kilgore and Collier Funeral Home in Catlettsburg.

Lazear Funeral Home in Ashland is handling the Jenkinses' funerals. JContinued from Page 1 farms and sold in 1902, much of its Eersonality is still imprinted in the luffs and bottoms along a two-mile JStretch of the river. The Venards hope that a sizable section of the plantation might one jday be reunited under a community pf owners who would reclaim the plantation as a working history museum. "We need to find a group of people jpr a corporation to purchase the land and put it under historic-conservation basement," Venard explained. "They could either take a 100 per-pent tax write-off, or keep the property and develop it, or sell off various areas if they want.

It's just getting it under easement that's important." THE VENARDS believe that about 775 acres of former plantation ftiight be available including the 13-room home place and more than 450 acres that now are owned by Bedford businessman Darrell Wheeler. With private agreements among the landowners, they say, many of the features and much of the folklife of the plantation might be re-created in a large, privately owned educational park. Arts Leisure Cable Guide Wea'the 5 jfl Garden Here's some good news when it comes to your daily news and entertainment information, The Courier-Journal is one of the best values in town. It's full of news you can use every day. News you can save with.

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"He begged and he prayed for it," he said. Coleman said DeBoard had little money, and Coleman was concerned over how his funeral expenses would be paid. A man who said he was a close friend of the Jenkins family, but who didn't want to be identified, told the Ashland newspaper that Mark Jenkins, whose home was in nearby Ashland, was staying with his uncle TP1 TjTT A A I I BtiUum Puvo Organ Co. supp lies pianos to Umihw Scliool of Music Tie Louisville Ballet. As pan of KiLlwms Imitutkml Pribram, YOU kwc opportunity to select from tnese rLvws.

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