Community concerned about future of Homeplace Center, pleads for contact with the board of directors | New

After weeks of insensitivity from the EO Robinson Mountain Fund Board regarding the future of the Homeplace Community Center, several concerned members of the community began holding meetings to discuss ways to contact the Board and voice their concerns.

Like many areas of Perry and surrounding counties, several buildings at the Homeplace Community Center in Ary, as well as many homes and businesses near the center, suffered damage during July flooding. As a result, the EO Robinson Mountain Fund, which operates the Homeplace Community Center, released a statement in August advising community members that the council is cleaning up and restoring some of the buildings on the property and preparing to demolish. and to rebuild. some buildings on higher ground to preserve this facility for future generations. Upon learning that some buildings were to be demolished, many community members began to worry about the historic buildings and what this means for the community as a whole.

Two local people, Greta Combs and Ray Turner, said the community surrounding the Homeplace had started hearing rumors of building demolitions and were concerned about them, so they started holding independent meetings at the center to talk about contacting the advice and to obtain more information.

“There was a rumor circulating in the neighborhood that they were planning to demolish some of the buildings. It was pure rumour, I don’t know where it started, we didn’t know the accuracy of it but it concerned us enough that we started meeting with a group of local people to see if we could learn more,” Combs said.

After learning of the release of the council’s statement, the community began to come together even more and individuals began trying to contact the council to no avail, Turner said.

“Our informal group of people are meeting to try to figure out how we can meet the council. On the one hand, it was difficult to get up with them, they all live in Lexington,” Turner said, stating that the council has been completely unresponsive to anyone who has tried to contact them. “It’s been frustrating in the way of reaching out.”

“We had no idea and we still really have no idea, and our main focus so far is just to meet with them so we can make our case,” Combs said. “We just can’t progress.

“If you’re an entity like them, you need to be reachable,” Combs said. “We are their voters. We are their constituents here and they are completely insensitive.

In addition to not attending any of the meetings or responding to any contact made, Turner and Combs said no board member or representative came to Homeplace to offer condolences or comfort the community. So far, Combs said, their group has met about four or five times, with between 15 and 20 people attending the meetings each time.

The lack of communication between the council and the community it is meant to serve, Turner said, is disheartening and concerning.

“There’s no local input and they don’t really know what’s going on day to day,” Turner said. “What has us a little on edge is that they have already surprised everyone,” he said, explaining that the board had made big decisions about Homeplace in the past. without first communicating with the locals.

“We woke up one morning and people saw smoke. They had done a controlled burn of the dairy barn,” Combs said. “Nobody knew anything,” she said. Later, Combs said, the council came and demolished Homeplace Hospital which had hand-hewn stones, again without warning to the community.

Both times, Combs and Turner said, nothing was wrong with the buildings and no contributions were solicited from the community.

“As far as anyone knows, he was in good shape,” Combs said. “They felt it was a liability and that’s what they’re going to say about these other buildings.”

Combs said she had spent the majority of her life in or around the Homeplace Center and the thought of losing more historic buildings and their contents was painful and alarming.

“I think part of what the board is – I’m just guessing – going to say is they’re going to build us nice new buildings, but we don’t want nice new buildings. Well, it’s not that we don’t want to – I have no problem with them putting up new buildings, but I don’t think it’s necessary to demolish historic buildings to do that,” Combs said. “It’s part of the fabric of our lives and it would be like having a blood relative knocked down, that’s what it would feel like.”

Turner, who also spent several years of his life on the center field, agreed.

“It’s like you say ‘We want your family album. We would like to burn it, we would like to destroy it. The only thing you will have left is what you can remember and sometimes it’s not always so accurate as you would like,” Turner said.

Another concerned citizen, Chad Allen, said he also believed the lack of communication between the council and the community was problematic.

“Communication is the key to everything and there has been no communication over the years. That’s been the pattern,” Allen said.

Through board meetings and outreach, he said, it shows that the community cares about its future.

“I’m proud of our community,” Allen said. “It goes to show what I’ve always said, which is that the people who live along Highway 476 are the most resilient group of people you’ll ever find. What we see, we meet and come together to try to find a solution to it. It’s frustrating because it seems like we’re the only ones trying,” he said.

The council, Allen said, has neglected the buildings and community of the center for years and he believes the council is using the flooding as an opportunity to get rid of unwanted facilities and items.

“We are a month away from a flood estimate and there are a lot of artifacts – historical pieces – that I and the community know are still in these buildings. If we’re interested in preserving history, you would think that at some point someone would have come in and retrieved these things,” Allen said. “It’s disappointing that no one saved these things.”

Equally concerning as the loss of historic buildings and artifacts, Allen said, is the board’s misuse of scholarships and grants established by EO Robinson before his death, and the shift in its view of region.

“When did the EO Robinson Board decide to unilaterally change Mr. Robinson’s vision when expanding scholarship and grant opportunities to 32 counties? We see that in eastern Kentucky — there’s always been someone on the outside who wants to come in, take our resources and take them somewhere else,” Allen said. “Why would we take the limited resources we have and want to send them to 32 counties instead of giving the opportunities to the people the trust was created for?”

The scholarship and grant funds, Allen said, were meant to benefit local people in four counties. By expanding it and giving it to other areas, he said, the council is taking away opportunities from local people.

“The people here in this region, the children, our future, deserve better than what the council of EO Robinson and the decisions they have made in the past (have to offer). We deserve better, our kids deserve better,” Allen said. “We shouldn’t take opportunities away from here. It could be the difference in a trade that a young person could learn, it could be the difference in an education that some young people can obtain. Opportunities in Eastern Kentucky don’t happen as much as they do in other places around the world. We have to enjoy what we get.

Turner and Combs agreed.

“They are supposed to be in charge of this fund set up by EO Robinson which was to benefit the community, but since he passed away and been in their care all these years, they are a standalone group in Lexington” , said Turner. .

“If they have $18 million, we could use some of it because that’s what EO Robinson started for. He started it only for the benefit of the people of those counties,” Combs said.

“If you look at it from our end and you look at the decisions the EO Robinson board has made in the past, you don’t have a lot of confidence that they’re going to do what’s in our best interests as than community,” says Allen.

Allen said the Homeplace has so much potential to help tourism in Perry County, and it’s important to preserve it as much as possible and use every opportunity possible.

“Through this disaster, we can rise above if the restoration of Homeplace is handled properly. We’re going to be three or four miles from a trailhead for the ATV trails that go to Rowdy. Homeplace can be a hub for tourism. People say ‘Why?’ and I say ‘Why not? Why not us?” Allen said. Through this, he said, community members could create bed and breakfast opportunities, allow campers to rent land And much more.

“We have the legacy, we have the history, and we have the most resilient people on planet Earth,” Allen said. “We ask that EO Robinson’s advice not be a wedge between us and the opportunities we have.”

Currently, Combs said, meetings are on hold until the community is able to get a response from the board. Once contact is made, she says, the group hopes to continue meeting and hopes the council will be there and address community concerns.