TEXTBOOKS

Willis Bond, Bert Greene, Phillip Kiser, Carolyn Thomas and I worked for quite awhile getting these books boxed up and ready to ship "somewhere". When we first started boxing them up, we weren't quite sure what to do with them, but we all agreed that it would be a shame to see all these books destroyed or just thrown away.  Most of them were in good shape, although somewhat old and outdated.

Then one day I read an editorial in the Daily Independent praising the Russell Kentucky Board of Education for shipping several boxes of books that were no longer being used to Jacksonville, Florida.

Richard Roberts, a Locomotive engineer with CSX, as well as a member of the Russell Board of Education had contacted Rodney Harris, Director of CSX Crew Management in Jacksonville, concerning these surplus books.  Mr. Harris works with a program in Jacksonville to supply books to inner-city schools.

After I read this article I contacted Mr. Harris to see if they could use more books.  He said there was always a need for more books, and they would take them even though some were outdated.

I asked him about the cost of getting the books shipped from Kentucky to Florida. He informed me that Ron Fields, CSX Division Storekeeper at Russell, KY and the crew at the Russell Storeroom had taken care of shipping the books for the Russell Board of Education.

I then called Ron and asked if he would do the same for the Olive Hill Historical Society.  He told me it was no problem and to just let him know when we could have the books at the Russell Storeroom.

On Wednesday, March 13th, 2002 I met with Willis Bond, Bert Greene, and Phillip Kiser at the Dairy Queen in Olive Hill for breakfast. Bert and Willis had agreed to use their trucks to deliver the books from Olive Hill to Russell, unfortunately, Bert had been stricken with an illness and it was decided that it would be in his best interest not to lift on these boxes of books, although he was ready and willing to help.

Willis, Phillip, and I went up to "school" and loaded fifty boxes of books on Willis' truck.  Willis and I then took them to Russell where they were unloaded and prepared for shipment to Jacksonville.  A couple of days later the books were sent to Florida by the crew at the Russell Storeroom.

Rodney Harris had an interesting comment about the arrival of the books in Jacksonville.  He said, " Their faces really lit up when they saw the books...and that was just the teachers."

Hopefully, we've accomplished something worthwhile and the children will make good use of these books. If it helps just one child to learn to read or to understand math or science,  or any of the other subjects, then all the hours and all the work we've put into this project will be worth the effort.

I would like to thank all those who have helped in any way with this project. Some were members of the Historical Society and some were not. I don't like to start naming names because I'm afraid I'll leave some one out, but here goes, a special thank you to:  Willis Bond for using his truck to deliver the books, Phillip Kiser and Bert Greene for all their help, Carolyn Thomas for taking some of the books for her grandchildren and helping to box up the others for shipping, Ron Fields and the crew at the Russell Storeroom for all they did, Rodney Harris for all his assistance in this project.

I hope I haven't missed anyone, but if I have, I apologize.

Lonnie "Sonny" Tackett

Olive Hill Historical Society