What’s Up? with Merlene

The subject line of the e-mail simply said “Mayor of Lynch.”
Since it was in my personal account, I assumed, correctly, that it was for my husband, a Lynch native. Like any dutiful wife, I read it.
I was amazed.
My husband has always told me Lynch is no ordinary town and the residents aren’t ordinary folk. The e-mail backed him up.
The Rev. Ronnie “Deke” Hampton, pastor of Greater Mount Sinai Baptist Church in Lynch and mayor of that small coal town, was asking for help.
In the e-mail sent on June 24, Hampton said the city owed more than $100,000 to the IRS and more than $100,000 more to other vendors the city dealt with.
“As a young man growing up in Lynch I got to observe how people came to the aid of those who were in need,” Hampton wrote. “I watched men work other men’s fields and gardens who were disabled. I watched women put their homes on hold to take care of a sick neighbor’s home. I watched families who didn’t have anything sacrifice to give to other families who had even less.”
Hampton was asking anyone who had any ties to Lynch to send money to help the city recover from financial woes stemming from a bad economy, an aging population and allegations of criminal misconduct.
“I hesitated coming to you in this way, but Lynch, after giving so much to so many, is in need of your help,” he wrote. “Our citizens have responded with sacrifices and donations but this project is beyond our capabilities. I have pledged and given the first $500. I thank those of you who have given even before this request. No amount is too small and certainly no amount is too large!… As a native son and child of God, I promise you that these funds will not be misappropriated and will be used entirely for the rescuing and restoring of our city…”
From a small town of about 800 people, which sends out some 300 water bills each month, hundreds of people got that e-mail. Addresses were culled together from social groups, business affiliations, friends and relatives.
Many of those people responded quickly with checks that amounted to $2,602 in less than a day, Hampton said.
The $2 came from an anonymous donor who included a letter, written with an unsure hand, that simply said the writer had been touched by the city’s plight. A $2 bill was included.
“That is the widow’s mite,” Hampton said. “I knew it would be enough to get us over.”
Maybe, but there appears to be a few more dollars coming soon. Cheryl Blanton Feigel, 5th District Urban County Council member, said she’s going to contribute.
A native of Lynch, Feigel left there to attend the University of Kentucky in 1967 and has served as the mayor of a small town in Texas. She sees the plea from both sides.
The e-mail was a sign of the mayor’s “desperation,” Feigel said. “He feels total responsibility now. He is the man in charge.”
Lynch, she said, has struggled for a while, with its population aging and subsisting on disability or Social Security, and because of the slowed economy.
“I was so impressed with his letter, the way he handled it and spoke about our connection to Lynch,” she said. The people “were all so close, I remember that. That is something we don’t have any more. Now you may not know your neighbor.”
Porter G. Peeples, executive director and CEO of the Lexington Fayette County Urban League, said he was going to send money, too.
“Lynch is where I was born and raised,” he said. “Anything that I might think I am today, Lynch and the people of Lynch contributed to that. My devotion to that community says I want to give back and help Lynch get back on its feet.”
That sentiment will be shared by a lot of former residents, Peeples said, and the e-mail will gain traction.
“We cannot let it totally collapse around the elderly who are left there. It is an obligation, a commitment, a must-do. It is not optional.”
What is the draw, though? What is it about that little community at the base of Black Mountain that sticks with former residents no matter how far they have traveled?
“Our roots are strong,” said Meg Stewart-Cranfill of Lexington, whose father was once mayor of Lynch. “I’ve been away since 1980 and I still call that home. If I say I’m going home this weekend, I mean Lynch.”
Stewart-Cranfill, said she matched Hampton’s personal gift of $500 a couple of weeks ago and she said her sister sent a check last week.
Rena Vicini, retired from UK Athletics, said Lynch’s closeness grew out of its geographical location.
“We were tucked at the foot of that beautiful mountain,” she said. “We were our own little entity there.”
Everyone’s father worked for the same coal company and everyone shared in the glory days of the Lynch High School football teams.
“If you are under the age of 30 or 40, you probably don’t have that sense,” Vicini said. “It is a phenomena.”
Vicini said she wants to learn more about the problems Lynch is having before contributing. She wants to know what future plans are and how things will be handled from here. “I’m not going to give money that I need in these economic times as a token gesture,” Vicini said. When she gets more details, she’ll decide then.
“I will never turn my back on that town,” she said.
Hampton, who took office on May 24, said the state police and other agencies are investigating where the money went and why few bills had been paid for several months.
Kelly Maggard, the former city clerk, has been suspended indefinitely without pay, and an independent accountant has conducted a forensic audit.
Hampton said the city owes the IRS $109,000 in back taxes and the city has discovered another $118,000 in unpaid bills. For example, he said, Kentucky Utilities hasn’t been paid since November and is owed $36,000.
Money that had been paid toward child support never reach its destination, and vendors never received payment for their services. There was no diesel fuel for police cars and city vehicles. Weed-eaters, he said, were broken but there was no money for repairs.
“Things had been let go for so long,” Hampton said. “Now do you see why I’m begging?”
Hampton said the state police investigation is nearing an end and indictments are expected soon.
Slowly, though, he said, the city is trying to recover.
The city takes in about $28,000 a month, $24,000 of which is budgeted.
A city work truck has been repaired, as well as a chain saw and some of those weed-eaters.
“We are not going down the drain,” Hampton said. “We are down to the solid rock, now, but we are building up from here.”
“This is Lynch,” Hampton said. “This is not a birth place. This is home.”