Interview with Ronald Wright, March 20, 2007

Partial Transcript: Today is March twentieth, two thousand seven.

Segment Synopsis: Wright talks about his background, including when and where he was born. He talks about briefly about his education and describes his childhood home, which lacked indoor plumbing and running water. Wright also discusses how trash was handled during his childhood.

Keywords: Casey County High School; Court houses; Dumps; Judge executives; Landfills; Liberty (Ky.); Outhouses; Plumbing, indoor; Ridge School; Sewer systems; Sewers; Trash; Wells

Subjects: Casey County (Ky.); Childhood; Electricity; Environmentalism--History.; Environmentalism--United States--History.; Environmentalism--United States.; Environmentalism.; Environmentalists.; High schools; Houses and homes; Judges; Plumbing; Plumbing.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Schools; Sewerage; Waste disposal; Water; Wells

Partial Transcript: It was pretty common, in those days, if anybody had, uh, an old couch or an old bed or an old chair, most of the time they would give to somebody or just throw it into the hollow somewhere and that's the way our dumps started.

Segment Synopsis: Wright discusses the problem of illegal dumping in Casey County (Ky.), a problem made worse by changes in lifestyles that created a great deal of refuse. He also talks about the importance of education about environmental causes. He also returns to the topic of his background and discusses his father’s occupation.

Keywords: Dumps; Dumps, illegal; Environment; Garbage collection; Trash; Trash collection

Subjects: Education; Environmentalism--History.; Environmentalism--United States--History.; Environmentalism--United States.; Environmentalism.; Environmentalists.; Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Schools; Waste disposal; Waste disposal sites

Partial Transcript: Well, um, I should have asked you this a little earlier. How, how did your family make a living? Did you grow up on a farm or?

Segment Synopsis: Wright returns to the topic of his background and discusses his father’s occupation. He then talks about the supermarket and tire center that he and his wife ran. Wright also talks about his pastimes as a child.

Keywords: A & D Supermarket; Case Equipment; Children; Churches; Commonwealth attorneys; Construction equipment; Farming; Grandchildren; Hunting; Leadership; Logging; Marriage; Mothers; Pauline Wright; Ronald Brian Wright; Rural; Salespeople; Saw mills; Tracy Joe Wright; Walking; Wives; Wright Implement; Wright Tires; Wright, Pauline; Wright, Ronald Brian; Wright, Tracy Joe

Subjects: Adair County (Ky.); Casey County (Ky.); Childhood; Environmentalism--History.; Environmentalism--United States--History.; Environmentalism--United States.; Environmentalism.; Environmentalists.; High schools; Recreation; Supermarkets

Partial Transcript: Well, I guess that gives us kind of an idea of what you've been doing over the years and what you remember about, um, the, the environment when you were growing up and things.

Segment Synopsis: Wright recalls when he first became aware of Eastern Kentucky Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE). He also remembers the first major clean up effort of which he was a part. Wright then talks about the current clean up efforts in Casey County (Ky.).

Keywords: Children; Death; Dumps, illegal; Eastern Kentucky Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Funding; Jeffrey Thomas; Karen Reynold; Metals; Recycling centers; Reynold, Karen; Solid waste coordinators; Students; Thomas, Jeffrey; Training; Waste disposal

Subjects: Casey County (Ky.); Center for Rural Development; Environmentalism--History.; Environmentalism--United States--History.; Environmentalism--United States.; Environmentalism.; Environmentalists.; Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Teaching; Waste disposal

Partial Transcript: Um, let me see. We've talked mainly about solid waste, but of course, um, you probably know PRIDE works on three, uh, environmental issues: water quality, solid waste, and education.

Segment Synopsis: Wright talks about efforts to improve water quality and sewage systems in Casey County (Ky.).

Keywords: Dunnville (Ky.); Eastern Kentucky Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Liberty (Ky.); Sewers; Solid waste; Straight pipes; Waste water

Subjects: Casey County (Ky.); Children; Education; Environmentalism--History.; Environmentalism--United States--History.; Environmentalism--United States.; Environmentalism.; Environmentalists.; Grants; Middle schools; Plumbing.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Sewerage.; Waste disposal; Water quality.; Water treatment plants

Partial Transcript: Um, now you've talked about different groups: the officials, the schools, and volunteers, too. Has one, one group been very active in particular with PRIDE, you know, volunteering or education-wise?

Segment Synopsis: Wright talks about the organizations that help to keep Casey County (Ky.) clean. He also recalls when his clean up crew was joined by two Congresspeople.

Keywords: Bickford, James; Butchertown (Ky.); Communities; Eastern Kentucky Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Education; Edward Whitfield; Hal Rogers; James Bickford; Lewis, Ron; Rogers, Howard Dallas “Hal”; Ron Lewis; Volunteers; Whitfield, Edward

Subjects: Casey County (Ky.); Communities; Education; Environmentalism--History.; Environmentalism--United States--History.; Environmentalism--United States.; Environmentalism.; Environmentalists.; Rogers, Hal; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: And I think you, you've said this, but I'll go ahead and ask you just to make sure.

Segment Synopsis: Wright talks about the impact of Eastern Kentucky Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE) on environmental clean up efforts in Casey County (Ky.). He also talks about efforts to prosecute people found to be illegally dumping.

Keywords: Children; Courts, district; Dumps, illegal; Eastern Kentucky Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment (PRIDE); Funding; Money; Redumping; Streams

Subjects: Casey County (Ky.); Environmental protection; Environmentalism--History.; Environmentalism--United States--History.; Environmentalism--United States.; Environmentalism.; Environmentalists.; Litter (Trash); Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Waste disposal; Waste disposal sites