Interview with George "Lisle" Cheatham, August 23, 2006

Partial Transcript: This is Dale Johnson with Eastern Kentucky PRIDE, talking to Mayor Lisle Cheatham, Che, Cheatham? Cheatham? Um, he's the mayor of the city of Greensburg in Green County and today is August 23rd, 2006.

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses a bit of his background. Cheatham also explains the difficulties of trying to get sewers to people in Green County.

Keywords: Doctors; Green County (Ky.); Greensburg (Ky.); Hal Rogers; Lexington (Ky.); Personal Responsibility In a Desirable Environment; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Rogers, Hal; Septic systems

Subjects: Childhood; Fathers; Parents; Physicians; Plumbing.; Rogers, Harold, 1937-; Rural; Sewerage.; Water; Youth

Partial Transcript: I've been hearing about--I, I just heard about it but I've got excited and I gotta find out more. Um, a solid waste manager in one of the eastern counties was talking about peat tanks or peat systems?

Segment Synopsis: Johnson explains the peat wastewater system to Cheatham. Cheatham discusses the problems that straight pipes create and how dealing with wastewater makes dealing with water easier.

Keywords: Creeks; Peat tanks; Straight pipes; Streams; Water lines

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Health; Peat; Plumbing.; Rivers; Septic tanks; Sewerage.; Water; Water quality.

Partial Transcript: So, um, uh, you've got these sixteen new homes. Uh, do you think you have many more straight pipes left in the city limits?

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses the homes that are not yet connected to the sewer system and how they plan to get them connected.

Keywords: Greensburg (Ky.); Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Sewers; Straight pipes

Subjects: Grants and funding; Plumbing.; Sewerage.; Water

Partial Transcript: Um that's, that's actually, um, a pretty great idea, just get pe--to annex homes into the city limits cause that increases your tax base, right?

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham explains why increased tax revenue for the city isn't really a benefit of annexing new areas. Instead, Cheatham explains that the benefits come from the environment and the health of citizens.

Keywords: Environment; Sewers; Tax revenue; Taxes

Subjects: Annexation (County government); Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Health; Homeowners insurance; Plumbing.; Sewerage.; Taxation; Water; Water quality.

Partial Transcript: Yeah, I was excited when, uh, when, uh, Mr. Milby over there told me that after this year there'll just be one big dump to go--

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses the last big dump left in the county. Cheatham also discusses projects that they need funding for in the future.

Keywords: Dump cleanups; Dumps; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Sewer lines; Straight pipes; Water lines

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Grants and funding; Green River (Ky.); Plumbing.; Refuse and refuse disposal; Sewerage.; Waste disposal sites; Water

Partial Transcript: Well, I'll, I'll tell ya, Hal is really interested in talking to--in, in getting the story directly from people instead of, um, instead of through newspaper articles and things like that.

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses the issue of roadside litter and the need for education to prevent it. Cheatham also discusses the need for education and involvement of young people in the county. Cheatham talks about a large mural in the county.

Keywords: Barbara Flair; Inmates; Murals; PRIDE clubs; Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Roadside cleanups; Young people

Subjects: Art; Children; Education; Environmental education; Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Inmates of institutions; Mural painting and decoration.; Pollution.; Public art; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Roadside litter; Youth

Partial Transcript: Yeah, I was--when I saw the, um, the canoe facility and saw that you could canoe all the way to Mammoth Cave, I thought, 'now that, that's nice.'

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses some tourism projects that the city has undertaken, including renting canoes and cabins to tourists.

Keywords: Cabins; Copper creek cabins; Mammoth Cave (Ky.)

Subjects: Canoes and canoeing; Mammoth Cave National Park (Ky.).; Tourism; Vacation homes

Partial Transcript: I, I, I was folklorist in residence at Mammoth Cave for a while.

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses some important people who work with the environment in Green County.

Keywords: Anne Sonderman; Kentucky Waterways Alliance; Kessler, Richard; Nature conservancy; Richard Kessler; Richie Kessler; Sonderman, Anne

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Environmentalists; Green River (Ky.); Mammoth Cave (Ky.); Mammoth Cave National Park (Ky.).

Partial Transcript: Now how long have you been in office?

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses the need for funding to replace old sewer lines.

Keywords: Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Sewer lines; Sewers; Straight pipes; Wastewater; Water lines

Subjects: Grants and funding; Plumbing.; Sewerage.

Partial Transcript: And it sounds like you're getting great volunteer groups, too.

Segment Synopsis: Cheatham discusses the good turnout they have for volunteers during spring cleanups.

Keywords: City cleanups; River cleanups; Spring cleanups; Volunteering; Waste management

Subjects: Environmental protection; Environmentalism; Voluntarism; Volunteers