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.
Opinion
Clarence Jackson
He served the area well in legislature, on fiscal court
- Opinion
-
-
In Your View
Letters to the editor
-
Resentencing
The U.S. District Court of Appeals has rightly ruled that even those sentenced for crack cocaine violations before the approval of a 2010 law that restored a bit of sanity and fairness to federal sentencing laws can be resentenced under the 2010 law.
-
It's the law
On Jan. 22, Greenup County voters — or at least those who took time to cast ballots in the special referendum — rejected a proposal that would have allowed the legal sale of alcohol in the county by a rather convincing margin of 4,872-3,830.
-
In Your View
Letters to the editor
-
Retiring
As members of the Ashland Board of City Commissioners look for a replacement for retiring City Manager Stephen W. Corbitt, they should seek someone just like Corbitt.
-
In Your View
Letters to the editor
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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?
- More Opinion Headlines
-
In Your View
Obama Offers Drone Strike Defense
Raw: Heckler Interrupts Obama on Guantanamo
A Slice of Apple History Up for Grabs
Johnson: Don't Blame Islam or UK Policy
Raw: 80-Year-Old Climbs Mount Everest
Wash. State Man Arrested Following Ricin Scare
Chain-Reaction School Bus Crash Injures About 50
Raw: Scuffles in London After Hacking Death
Texas Students Coach Teachers on Fitness
New Forecasting Tool Eyed for Hurricane Season
Meet MJ, the Bike Riding Tabby Cat
Britain Attack Believed Linked to Radical Islam
Raw: Kevin Durant Tours Moore After $1M Pledge
Man Shot While Questioned in Boston Probe
Weiner Launches Bid to Become NYC Mayor
School Storm Protection Spotty in Tornado Zones
Moore Native Toby Keith Tours Tornado Damage
