I certainly got an education in local politics, grudges and attitudes last week in response to a request for reasons why many people consider Ashland’s downtown business district to be doomed, while others see it as an area of nearly unlimited opportunity.

The variety of responses has been fascinating to say the least.

I’m keeping those communications to myself for the moment, although I want to encourage others to let me know what they think, and why they view the situation the way they do. If you have an opinion, please tap a note to the e-mail at the bottom of this column.

BIG yard sale

Area officials are still working on locations for people and organizations to place tables and tents for the U.S. 23 Country Music Highway yard Sale, May 29 through 31.

The local event is based on the success of similar “highway” yard sales in other places, and could be a tremendous success for local tourism, as well as providing a chance for the area to change the way others view people from our state. One organizer I spoke with expressed a desire for everyone who participates in the massive yard sale to know a little something about local history and to be able to point visitors toward local points of interest.

While there are many things which could go wrong, one of the biggest factors for failure may be the temptation to overprice items for sale to take advantage of any gullible tourists who may stop by. If anything, yard sale vendors should make a point of putting bargain prices on everything. I’m not suggesting anyone sell a Mercedes for $5, but you can count on bad publicity and a lack of second-time customers if you try to sell plastic Chinese toys for $100 a pop.

Nash’s book honored

A few weeks before Christmas I started getting phone calls from across the nation (no kidding) from people seeking copies of the Francis Nash book “Historical Views of Carter County.” The book, which Nash gave away free of charge, was in great demand by people with Carter County roots and I understand the author ran out of copies in a hurry.

Perhaps making the scarcity situation even worse, the Kentucky Historical Society just announced the local history book was selected for an Award of Merit.

If there’s enough interest, Nash said he may consider a second printing of the book, which is his third publication about Kentucky history. The first, “Towers Over Kentucky” is out of print, and sources indicate less than a dozen copies of his second book, “The Hop Brown Lady Comets Story” remain available.

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2651.