James Best

You probably know James Best as the man who played Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard, or perhaps as Jim Lindsey on The Andy Griffith Show , but he's actually had a long and checkered career in the world of film - he was in The Caine Mutiny with Humphrey Bogart (1954), Seven Angry Men (1955), Forbidden Planet with Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen (1956), Cole Younger, Gunfighter (1958), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Ride Lonesome with Randolph Scott and Lee Van Cleef (1959), Three on a Couch (1966), Firecreek with Jimmy Stewart (1968), Ode to Billy Joe (1976) and Hooper with Burt Reynolds and Adam West (1978).

(But me, archivist of moldy old b-movies that I am, I know him best as the star of 1959's The Killer Shrews with Ken Curtis!)


He's also made over 280 TV show appearances including The DuPont Show with June Allyson, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Frontier, Sheriff of Cochise, Pony Express, Stories of the Century, Behind Closed Doors, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel,Trackdown, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Tombstone Territory, Whispering Smith, The Twilight Zone, Overland Trail, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Man and the Challenge, Combat, The Mod Squad, I Spy, Perry Mason, The Incredible Hulk, The Fugitive, Stagecoach West, and In the Heat of the Night.

And, as you've probably figured out if you've read this far, Mr. Best is a good Kentucky boy! He was born and raised in Powderly, a small town in Muhlenberg County, and his uncle was none other than Ike Everly, the country music bandleader who spawned the Everly Brothers. An even more surprising branch in the family tree, Best is the father-in-law of Michael Damian.


James Best will be back in his native Kentucky TODAY, March 5th, at the >Dale Hollow Lake Hunting and Fishing Expo. It starts at 9am and runs till 8pm, admission is FREE, and special lodge room rates for the weekend are only 50 smackers. Call 1-800-325-2282 for more information, and tell 'em I sent you by!

Thousands Turn Out For Mennonite Funeral

Last week, eleven Mennonites on their way to a wedding in Iowa were killed when a tractor-trailer crossed over the median and crashed into their van on I-65 in Munfordville, KY. Two children survived the crash.

Yesterday, funerals were held in Cumberland County for nine of the victims and there was an unprecedented outpouring of support from the public - thousands of citizens descended on the tiny town of Marrowbone to honor the Esh family in their time of tremendous loss. At least 4000 people attended the services, and some drove more than 1000 miles to get there.

Kenneth Laymon, the truck driver killed in the crash, will be laid to rest Wednesday morning in his home state of Alabama. Authorities, who still dont know why Laymon's truck crossed the median into opposing traffic, are still analyzing the results of the autopsy to determine if drugs or alcohol played a part.

Alpine Motel / America's 1st Oil Well

The Alpine Motel sits on Big Hill Mountain (this is Cumberland County, not the Big Hill Mountain in Madison County) looking down on Burkesville.

The motel itself is an interesting sight, with its vaguely neo-Swiss architecture and design, and part of its view is also historic: it overlooks the site of the first-ever oil well in America. Funnily enough, the oil was struck by accident in 1829 - they were actually drilling for salt and were disappointed to get oil instead. Eventually they started to collect the gushing oil, but they still weren't getting the point - they botted it and sold it as a medicine-show elixir called "American Medicinal Rock Oil", claiming it to be a cure-all.