ASHLAND —
While his age and declining health kept him out of the public spotlight in recent years, there was a time when Clarence E. Jackson was one of the top leaders of the Democratic Party in Boyd County. Jackson died Monday at 83. He was buried Friday.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jackson represented the 100th District in the Kentucky House of Representatives, and he used that position to be an advocate in Frankfort for Ashland and northeast Kentucky. He worked with other area legislators such as Rep. Rocky Adkins and the late Sen. Nelson Robert Allen to help bring funding for the A-A Highway and the Simeon Willis Bridge.
We didn’t always agree with Jackson while he was in the General Assembly. For example, we were disappointed when he voted against the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, one of the most important pieces of legislation in the last half century. However, even though we sometimes disagreed, we never questioned Jackson always did what he thought was best for his district and for Kentucky,
When he lost his seat in the House of Representatives to the late Don Farley, Jackson did not retire from public life. Instead, he served several terms on the Boyd County Fiscal Court, and at one time, he was considered one of the favorites to be elected Boyd County judge-executive. However, that was one goal he never attained.
When not busy in politics, Jackson was a steelmaker, serving 44 years as a steel pourer at Armco Steel’s Ashland Works. His career as a hard-working laborer at the local mill endeared him to his fellow Steelworkers, and Jackson could always depend on the support of United Steelworkers 1865 and other labor unions when he ran for office.
Clarence Jackson was a common man who was not well-educated or particularly articulate. But he had a love for public service and spent most of his adult life trying to help this community. He served Ashland and Boyd County well.
Editorials
Clarence Jackson
He served the area well in legislature, on fiscal court
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On the increase
It’s certainly good news that a new report by Kentucky’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet has found the economic impact of tourism grew by 5.2 percent in eastern Kentucky in 2012, outpacing the overall statewide growth rate. However, we would be more excited bout the report if we had more confidence in how tourism spending is calculated by state government.
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After the crash
Like thousands of other Kentuckians, we remember well May 14, 1988, when a drunken driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton struck a church bus returning home to Radcliff after day at King’s Island, causing one of he most deadly vehicle accidents in this nation’s history. The horrific crash killed 27, many of them teenagers, and injured 34 others.
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High price tage
Much has been said and written about the rapid and dramatic decline of air passenger service at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. Much less has been said and written about the tremendous economic impact the loss of air service has had on the entire region.
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Return of pencils
It is a question asked by all of us whose lives and jobs are dependent on computers with email and Internet access, fax machines, cellphones and other other electronic essentials of this modern age: What do you do when the electronic devices fail?
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Banned
If you live in Boyd and Lawrence counties and are thinking of burning trash, wood, leaves or other debris outdoors, here’s a word of advice: Don’t even think about lighting that match. If you do, it could cost you dearly.
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Few citations
When the 2011 Kentucky General Assembly approved a bill banning texting while driving and cellphone use for drivers younger than 18, there was widespread public support for both restrictions.
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Booming times
Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergran Grimes has launched a statewide tour to gauge public support for allowing more voters to cast their ballots before Election Day. While other states have enacted laws to allow early voting, the biggest obstacle to the proposal in Kentucky is the state’s history of widespread voter fraud.
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Step backward
We agree with Larry Brown, the lone member of the Ashland Board of City Commissioners to oppose a motion requesting City Attorney Richard “Sonny” Martin to draft an ordinance changing the time for all commission meetings to noon
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Booming times
While coal mining in eastern Kentucky has declined sharply in the last year, not all the economic news in the state is bleak.
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Chance to speak
It is unlikely public meetings the Kentucky Public Service Commission has scheduled for May 14 in Louisa and May 15 in Whitesburg and Hazard will have any impact on Kentucky Power Co.’s plans to retire at least one of the two generators at the Big Sandy Power Plant near Louisa in 2013. But it may be the last chance for this region’s elected leasers, civic and economic development leaders and ordinary citizens to express their concerns about the tremendous economic impact the closing or downsizing of the coal-fired plant will have on the economy, not just of Louisa and Lawrence County, but of the entire region.
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On the increase
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