Residents of former coal camp being evicted to make way for Hatfield-McCoy trail development

People living in the small community of Rita in Logan County, W.Va., may be evicted to make way for businesses catering to the all-terrain vehicle trails named for the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Residents were given notice last week by DB Land LLC of Dodge City, Kan., that their rental agreements would be terminated Oct. 1, and they must remove themselves and their property from the area, Martha Sparks of the Logan Banner reports. Most of the residents are elderly, disabled or low-income.

Logan Banner photo: Spears' home

Resident Russell Spears told Sparks before DB Land owned the area, the coal company that mined there allowed them to stay as long as they paid $200 a month rent and completed all maintenance. The company gave residents the option to keep their houses, or have them torn down and replaced with mobile homes, which almost everyone did, Spears said. He said when DB Land bought the area, company representative Mike Cline initially told residents they would be allowed to buy their lots, but the company changed course and decided to build a motel and convenience store that would cater to the ATV trail system, Spears said. (Read more)

The Hatfield and McCoy trails system was created by the state legislature to generate economic development through tourism in nine southern West Virginia counties. There are six trail systems that featured 500 miles of off-road trails in five counties in 2009, one of them connecting sites related to the notorious feud, the subject of a recent cable-TV miniseries. According to the system's website, "community connecting trails" are offered to visitors which allows them to access "'ATV-friendly towns' to experience the charm of southern West Virginia."

Carolinas auto club notes dangerous rural roads

U.S. 129, a favorite of motorcyclists
but one of North Carolina's most
dangerous roads. (Citizen-Times)

In the latest of a long line of reports documenting the carnage on dangerous rural roads, the Asheville Citizen-Times that an annual AAA Carolinas analysis has labeled rural counties the “killing grounds” for traffic in the state. Five of the state's counties combined for 5.4 percent of the state’s fatal crashes, despite having only 2 percent of the state’s vehicle miles traveled.

Nationally, two-thirds of fatal crashes occur along rural roads, as reported here last year. Many AAA chapters issue reports about the phenomenon, which can serve as useful reminders.

“We really do it for heightened awareness, so drivers are aware when they are in these counties that there is an increased chance of being in a crash,” said Angela Vogel Daley of AAA Carolinas. “I think that people are obviously concerned when particular counties are on the list year after year.” Clay County handled less than 0.1 percent of the state’s vehicle miles traveled but had five fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled — nearly five times more than the state average of 1.11 fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled, according to AAA. (Read more)

Small towns in Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico and Florida win Best of the Road contest

What happens when 30 small towns vie for a big prize, taking on tough critics who require winners to have the nation's friendliest people, best scenery, hottest patriotic fervor, most excellent food and endless fun, fun, fun? USA Today's Laura Bly reports many miles were driven, lots of food was eaten, countless smiles were exchanged, and the winners of the "Best of the Road" contest sponsored by the newspaper and map maker Rand McNally will get their own Travel Channel special hosted by Bert Kreischer on July 25 at 8 p.m. ET. And the winners, named Wednesday, are:

Bardstown, Ky., better known for its bourbon, won "Most Beautiful." Judges loved the Outer Bluegrass region, with the Knobs in the distance. "We realized that maybe we're not just here to see mountains and rivers, maybe there's something else," they wrote. "Our hearts are still in this place." (USA Today photo: Old Nelson County courthouse, with historic Talbott Tavern in background.) Gainesville, Tex., took "Most Patriotic" honors. "It's not just the number of flags or monuments, memorials or programs; it's not even just for the people who serve. It's how you care for the people who were fought for," the team of judges wrote.

Murray, Ky., in the southwestern end of the state, wowed judges who dubbed it "Most Friendly." Coloradans Jennifer, Jordan and Robert Schatz remarked, "It feels like home in Murray more than anywhere else." Residents "had a way of bringing you in, and we made friends. This is the only town where we went into people's homes." Santa Fe, N.M., won "Best Food." As one local chef told Best of the Road, the state capital's cuisine is unique because of "the vibrancy of the city" and the tapestry of cultures — Native American, Hispanic and European. Delray Beach, Fla., took the trophy for "Most Fun" for its "Miami meets Manhattan in the '60s"vibe. Think Panama hats and individually owned shops, not flip-flops and chain restaurants. You can be a yogi beach bunny one minute, on a boat crusing the marina the next, then get your taste of great locally-sourced grub decked out in a dress you got at one of the many awesome vintage stores before you hit one of the town's night spots," the team says.  (Read more)

Andy Griffith dies at 86; will always be remembered as sheriff in Mayberry, modeled after his hometown

Andy Griffith, who exemplified rural America for a generation of television viewers, died today at his home in Roanoke Island, N.C. He was 86.

From 1960 to 1968, Griffith was Sheriff Andy Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show," set in Mayberry, N.C., which he as show co-owner modeled after his home town of Mount Airy, just south of the Virginia border in the shadow of the Blue Ridge and Pilot Mountain (also the name of a tiny town that became the larger town of Mount Pilot on TV). After the show went into reruns, which still continue, it was succeeded by a spinoff, "Mayberry R.F.D," and the town's name became a metaphor for small-town America, sometimes favorable, sometimes not.

The first show "gave rise to other small town, Main Street USA shows," Joanne Ostrow writes for The Denver Post. Until then, TV "was centered in New York duplexes . . . urban police stations and hospitals, and suburban ranches and Colonials." Doug Martin of The New York Times notes that "The Real McCoys" debuted in 1957 (and offers several other tidbits, such as Griffith's endorsement of President Obama's health-care reforms). The Times' Neil Genzlinger says the McCoy show was "unflattering," but the Griffith show countered a rural and especially Southern "stereotype defined by ignorance and bigotry" and confirmed "the notion that the moral center of the country lives somewhere in a small town." Griffith "made rural values universal," The Boston Globe said in an editorial.

Mount Airy, population 10,000, gradually adopted a Mayberry image, particularly after the decline of the region's main industries: textiles, tobacco and furniture. "Tourism has really saved us," Tanya Jones, executive director of the Surry County Arts Council, told CNN. Griffith originally resisted helping the town promote itself as Mayberry, perhaps remembering prejudice he felt growing up on the wrong side of the town's railroad tracks, but in recent years participated in those efforts, including establishment of the Andy Griffith Museum. He won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

As Lonesome Rhodes, with Patricia Neal

Griffith's first big star turn was as "a country singer and egomaniacal psychopath named Lonesome Rhodes in the gut-wrenching drama 'A Face in the Crowd.' It is the story of a wildly popular entertainer who becomes too big too fast and is corrupted beyond salvation. His fall from grace is even faster than his sudden rise from anonymity," Dennis Rodgers writes for the Raleigh News & Observer. "Griffith nailed it. He was dead-on brilliant. His demonic anger and barely controlled energy were difficult to watch, however, and the public stayed away in droves. Today, film buffs consider it a classic. But when it was released, only critics seemed to approve."

As lawyer "Matlock"

Griffith's last big role was as fictional Wilmington, N.C., lawyer Ben Matlock, in an eponymous series that ran "off and on from 1986 to 1995," Rodgers writes. "Griffith’s Matlock was wise, cranky, stubborn, funny and 100 percent Andy. Those who knew the actor said he was much closer to Matlock’s persona than he ever was to TV’s beloved sheriff. It was also a favorite of fans of the old show who tuned in to catch the sly Mayberry-related asides Griffith would slip into the dialogue."

Rodgers concludes, "Andy Griffith never won an Oscar, an Emmy or a Tony for his acting. But then, around here we never thought of him as an actor. He was just our friend and neighbor and we were so proud of him we couldn’t hardly stand it. And if the rest of the world happened to tune in to his popular shows and just happened to assume folks in North Carolina were anywhere near as good-hearted as Andy Taylor, Ben Matlock or the good people of Mayberry, well, that was OK with us, too." (Read more)

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/03/3688509/andy-griffith-he-was-just-our.html#storylink=cpy

For coverage from the Mount Airy News, click here. For an obituary from Inside TV, go here. TV Week has reaction, including President Obama's, and some video clips, including a "Face in the Crowd" trailer and a segment from another movie, "No Time for Sergeants," which followed TV and Broadway versions that starred Griffith.