Bell County has seen this movie before

By: Wayne Knuckles

Outlets: Kentucky Lantern

Published: July 31, 2026

Words: 847

Last Updated: 3 days, 5 hours ago

I grew up in Bell County, which means I grew up hearing two promises.

The first was jobs. The second was that whatever created those jobs would not hurt anybody.

We got pretty good at believing the first one. The second one, not so much.

So when hundreds of people packed the old courthouse in Pineville in late June to argue about a proposed data center, I did not hear a new argument. I …

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