Interview with Ronnie Callahan, August 17, 2006

Partial Transcript: This is Dale Johnson, working for the PRIDE--Eastern Kentucky PRIDE program.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses his childhood in Owsley County, his move to Lexington, and his return to Booneville.

Keywords: Administrators; Booneville (Ky.); City clerks; Lexington (Ky.); Owsley County (Ky.); PRIDE coordinators; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE)

Subjects: Childhood; Youth

Partial Transcript: But that was in, um, I guess '92, and I really--you know, there, there was a lot to learn and I didn't really get out of the office for the first few years a big lot.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses his job as city clerk and later taking on more responsibility as a PRIDE coordinator.

Keywords: City clerks; Extension service; Jobs; Louise Moore; Moore, Louise; PRIDE coordinators; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE)

Subjects: Careers; Meetings; Note-taking.; Occupations; Roadside litter

Partial Transcript: So, that first year I went up to the schools too and I talked to the, to some of the clubs and everything, trying to get them involved and see if they could come out and uh, pick up the roadsides, and uh, we offered, uh, prizes.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses PRIDE cleanups in Owsley County including the sources of funding for prizes.

Keywords: Banks; Cleanups; Fall cleanups; Owsley County (Ky.); Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Prizes; Spring cleanups

Subjects: Awards; Banks and banking.; Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: They gave me--PRIDE sent me this thing that's kind of a summary of PRIDE in Owsley County.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses a project for sewer expansion in Owsley County that was funded by the EPA.

Keywords: Citations; Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Funding; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Sewer expansion; Sewers; Straight pipes

Subjects: Owsley County (Ky.); Plumbing.; Sewerage; United States. Environmental Protection Agency.

Partial Transcript: But we, you know, even though we have, uh, been in the schools, I don't know that our school has a PRIDE club yet, so that's one area I think we, we need to get on and, and, uh, get somebody there in the school that would--

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses the lack of PRIDE clubs in Owsley County and his hopes that there will be one in the future.

Keywords: Children; PRIDE clubs; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Schools; Teachers

Subjects: Education; Environmental education.; Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Owsley County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: But now this is the reason that we have had success.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses the reasons behind Owsley County's success with PRIDE. Callahan discusses using inmates for cleanups, having supportive people in the county, and celebrating cleanups with picnics.

Keywords: Burroughs, Lucy; Celebrations; Inmates; Jails; Ken Lewis; Lewis, Ken; Lucy Burroughs; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Picnics

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Inmates of institutions; Owsley County (Ky.); Voluntarism; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: Like, um, I was gonna tell you about the appliance buybacks, um--

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses the success of the white goods buybacks and how they helped with finding illegal dumps.

Keywords: Appliance buybacks; Illegal dumps; Landfills; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Sandy Gay; White goods buybacks

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Household appliances; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Waste disposal sites

Partial Transcript: Well, uh, obviously you're city, but how are they doing on the county dumps?

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses dump cleanups in Owsley County and large item pickups. Callahan also discusses how often after dumps are cleaned up, people will go back and dump there again, and how they enforce dumping laws.

Keywords: Dump cleanups; Garbage collection; Illegal dumps; Mandatory garbage collection; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Solid waste coordinators; Surveillance cameras

Subjects: Environmental law.; Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Law enforcement; Owsley County (Ky.); Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal; Waste disposal sites

Partial Transcript: One thing I--now we've ta--what have we left out?

Segment Synopsis: Callahan talks more about the sewer expansion project and the many sources of funding for the project.

Keywords: Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC); Community Development Block Grant (CDBG); Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Funding; Income surveys; Septic systems; Sewer expansion; Sewers

Subjects: Appalachian Regional Commission.; Community Development Block Grant Program (U.S.); Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Income; Plumbing.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Rural development; Sewerage; Soils; United States. Environmental Protection Agency.

Partial Transcript: I can't see a downside to anything that PRIDE does 'cause what they're doing is giving people money to clean up their environment.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses the need for PRIDE to do more with PRIDE clubs and septic tanks. Callahan also discusses some possible reasons that people haven't taken advantage of the septic tank program.

Keywords: Grants; Land ownership; PRIDE clubs; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE)

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Grants and funding; Loans; Septic tanks

Partial Transcript: I'm, I'm voting for Hal Rogers.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses Hal Rogers and Secretary Bickford and their contributions to PRIDE.

Keywords: Bickford, James; Congressman Rogers; General Bickford; Hal Rogers; Informational videos; James Bickford; KET; Rogers, Hal; Secretary Bickford; Videos

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Kentucky Educational Television; Rogers, Harold, 1937-; Video recordings.

Partial Transcript: Um, one thing I noticed here that we haven't talked about was, um, money from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses getting funding from the Army Corps of Engineers for sewer projects.

Keywords: Army Corps of Engineers; Sewers

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Military; Plumbing.; Sewerage; United States. Army. Corps of Engineers.

Partial Transcript: One thing I was trying to get people's opinions on is, um, you know, at one time, uh, sixty years ago or whenever, and beyond that, there wasn't this big a problem because people reused everything they had.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses how people used to reuse things more. Callahan also discusses his efforts to reuse and recycle more.

Keywords: Garbage collection; Plastic; Recycling; Reusing

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Glass; Recycling (Waste, etc.); Refuse and refuse disposal

Partial Transcript: But y--it seems like you've done everything the smart way so far. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses how he ended up with the PRIDE organization. Callahan also discusses the action team.

Keywords: Action teams; Burroughs, Lucy; Lucy Burroughs; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Solid waste coordinators

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Offices; Shopping centers

Partial Transcript: My problem is I work for the--I used to work for the Kentucky Arts Council--

Segment Synopsis: Johnson and Callahan discuss tourism and how it is affected by the environment.

Keywords: Businesses; Country Music Highway; Industry; Trash

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Monuments; Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Roadside litter; Tourism

Partial Transcript: What, what does Owsley County--what is the economy here? Is it--

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses Owsley County's economy and what people do for work.

Keywords: Careers; Data entry; Economy; Falcon Coal; Farming; Industries.; Industry; Jobs; Occupations; Work

Subjects: Agriculture.; Coal mines and mining; Employment--Kentucky; Owsley County (Ky.); Schools; Tobacco farms

Partial Transcript: What about any kind of tourism?

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses tourism in Owsley County, including an interesting statue of Abraham Lincoln.

Keywords: Abraham Lincoln; Bed and breakfast; Chamber of commerce; Lodging; Mining

Subjects: Bed and breakfast accommodations.; Golf courses; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.; Owsley County (Ky.); Rivers; Statues; Tourism

Partial Transcript: Th, this all hooks in together because, you know, that's why I was asking about the economy 'cause, you know, it affects people's attitudes.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses the importance of children in fighting pollution. Johnson encourages Callahan to push to start PRIDE clubs in Owsley County.

Keywords: Attitudes; Grants; PRIDE clubs; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE)

Subjects: Children; Education; Environmental education; Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Grants and funding; Parents; Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Schools

Partial Transcript: Before we do anything like, wrap up the interview, um, what would you, um--what do you see for the future, then? You were talking about recycling as one thing.

Segment Synopsis: Callahan discusses what PRIDE needs to focus on in the future and the dumps that still need to be cleaned up in his county.

Keywords: Burroughs, Lucy; Dump cleanups; Dumps; Future; Lucy Burroughs; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Richard Thomas; Sugar Camp Branch; Thomas, Richard

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Owsley County (Ky.); Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Snakes; Waste disposal sites

Partial Transcript: It's interesting what the different counties come up with to try and, um--I was over, way over in Cumberland County and, I don't know if it's all year long or during the summer or something, every couple weeks they put out some big...

Segment Synopsis: Callahan and Johnson discuss how different counties try to prevent litter.

Keywords: Church groups; Garbage collection; Litter (Trash)

Subjects: Cumberland County (Ky.); Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Jackson County (Ky.); Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal; Refuse collection