Local News
KCEOC office helps people find work
By Becky Manley / Staff Writer
After being laid off from his factory job for a year, John Brock, 51, is worried about paying his heating bills this winter.
Despite concerns about immediate expenses, Brock believes his future job prospects are bright.
As a result of educational assistance funds secured through the KCEOC Community Action Partnership Workforce Investment Act office in Barbourville, Brock is now pursuing a degree as a registered nurse at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro.
Tuition and training assistance are among the services offered by the KCEOC Workforce Investment Act office, according to Rebecca Napier, who is a case manager for dislocated workers.
Napier said her office also helps people craft resumes and can provide job listings gathered from various sources.
All services provided by her office are free and funded by federal grants, Napier said.
“Basically, I’m a tool that they can utilize to become more marketable,” Napier said.
The only challenge Napier faces is spreading word about those services.
“I feel like this is almost one of the best kept secrets,” Napier said about her office.
To help inform the public, Napier organized a Career Development Open House held at her office Wednesday.
Since Napier’s office serves only Knox County residents, representatives from Corbin’s Office of Employment and Training, which serves residents in Whitley and Laurel counties, also were available at the open house.
Napier said while many of the clients she helps have high school or college degrees, they need to update their training to qualify for today’s technologically savvy careers.
Brock, who received his bachelor’s in biology from Union College in 1988, is among those clients who needs updated training.
After earning a 4.0 grade point average midterm this semester at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, Brock said he’s optimistic about gaining admission to nursing school next fall.
“I should have a little bit of an edge there, I think,” Brock said. “I will make it someway, somehow.”
FOR ASSISTANCE
Displaced workers who live in Knox County should contact the KCEOC Community Action Partnership Workforce Investment Act office, 464 Court Square, Barbourville, or call 546-2639. Job
seekers who live in Whitley and Laurel counties should visit the Office of Employment and Training, 310 Roy Kidd Ave., Corbin, or call
528-3460.
- Local News
-
-
Adopt-a-Highway week begins Sunday
Volunteers will be out in force next week to spring clean Kentucky highways. The Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) announced that the Adopt-a-Highway Spring Clean Week will be held March 21-27.
-
Audit: Co. Clerk overpaid worker
Knox County Clerk Mike Corey admits he overpaid an employee by more than $8,000 in wages in 2008, but says, “I did what I had to do” for a long-time employee who faced an emergency medical situation.
-
Survey Says? Laurel Meth Watch making a mark
Work by Laurel County’s Agency for Substance Abuse Policy (ASAP) seems to be making its mark.
-
How many actually work for the state?
Jeff Hoover has a simple question for Gov. Steve Beshear: just how many people work for state government? But he’s found it’s not such a simple answer.
-
Senate alters, then passes Amanda’s Bill
The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a significantly altered domestic violence bill from the version passed earlier by the House as the mother of the woman for whom it is named watched from the overhead balcony.
-
Woman cut from car after wreck on Fifth St.
A 63-year-old woman was trapped in her SUV following a two-car crash Tuesday along Fifth Street Road east of its intersection with KY 1259.
-
Truck with satellite dishes tumbles on Tobacco Road
A tractor-trailer loaded with 40,000 pounds of satellite dishes turned over in east London Tuesday morning.
-
Dogs removed from home put down
Three dogs removed from a Highland Park home on March 11 were in such poor health that the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter had to put the dogs down, according to police.
-
Man knocked out by falling tree
A North Corbin man was flown to University of Kentucky Medical Center Wednesday night after being struck by the snapping trunk of a falling tree.
-
Nighbert again advising Republicans on road plan
By Ronnie Ellis
CNHI News Writer
Bill Nighbert, the former secretary of the Transportation Cabinet (and former Williamsburg mayor) who was tried — and acquitted — on charges of bid-rigging, is again advising Senate Republicans on transportation matters. - More Local News Headlines
-
Adopt-a-Highway week begins Sunday


