Heat is back on today with temperatures in the 90’s as we get set for the 4th
The Wolfe County Search and Rescue Team (WCSRT) responded to a 911 call about a camper who was not breathing around 11:30 a.m. Sunday. The caller was not able to provide an accurate location because they were driving around to maintain cell service. WCSRT was able to find the camper’s body along Highway 715 near the Suspension Bridge parking area. The camper was identified as a man after being found unresponsive in his tent. He was pronounced dead by the Menifee County Coroner.
A young Mingo County man is in jail following a shooting that left one-person dead Friday night in Huntington. Deonte Joplin, 25, of Matewan, turned himself in to the West Virginia State Police Williamson detachment Saturday afternoon. Huntington Police detectives had obtained an arrest warrant for first-degree murder for Joplin. The male victim was shot at around 9:45 p.m. in the 2000 block of Buffington Avenue not far from The Village on Sixth housing complex. The 40-year-old male, whose name was not immediately released, was shot outside the apartment complex and died at the scene. According to reports from 911, the incident escalated after a disturbance broke out between two people. The suspect is a former football and basketball player at Mingo Central High School. He awaits arraignment in the Southwestern Regional Jail.
Amazon Hub Delivery was formally welcomed to Pike County as a ribbon-cutting for the new Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce member was conducted June 25. While the Amazon Hub Delivery is going to have a significant presence in Pike County, as well as in neighboring Mingo County, West Virginia, the actual delivery warehouse will be located in Bristol, Tennessee, with “last mile” delivery stations being established throughout the region, according to Russell Reed, a representative for Amazon Hub Delivery.
The Pike County Fiscal Court reached a consensus during its June 17 meeting to take no specific actions regarding the sale of medical cannabis and to allow the county to fall under guidelines set by the state. Pike County Judge-Executive Ray S. Jones said the state passed legislation last year allowing the sale of medical cannabis. Local governments have the option to prohibit the sales, to allow the sales with local restrictions, to place it as a question on the upcoming election ballot or to do nothing which would automatically place the sales under state guidelines.
A former Paintsville doctor has entered a guilty plea in a federal drug trafficking case in U.S. District Court. According to court documents, Don C. Bryson, who previously surrendered his medical license as a result of investigations into his controlled substance prescribing practices, was working as a medical consultant for Appalachian Family Medicine. The business was raided in January of 2022. On June 20, Bryson pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute schedule II-controlled substances and will be officially sentenced on Sept. 23. At that time, according to court documents, Bryson may be sentenced to no more than 20 years imprisonment, a fine of no more than $1,000,000 and a supervised release of at least three years, as well as a $100 mandatory special assessment and the forfeiture of his property at 509 10th Street, Paintsville — the former location of Appalachian Family Medicine.
