By Dennis Brown

The Lewis County Lions made their first trip to play in the final game of the 16 Region Tournament last week to take on one of the top ranked teams in Kentucky. The last Lewis County team to play in a final regional game was the Vanceburg Lions in 1953.

Lewis County fought hard but lost to the Lions of Elliott County, who have lost only twice this season, 81-63.

Lewis County came out fighting and was ahead at the end of the first quarter after scoring 24 points to Elliott County’s 19. That soon changed as Elliott County put 22 points on the scoreboard in the second quarter while Lewis County put in seven, bringing the score at the half to 41-31 in Elliott County’s favor.

The Sandy Hook team led after three at 70-42 and, although Lewis County outpaced Elliott County 24-13 in the final quarter, at the end of regulation came out on top with a final 83-61 showing on the scorecard.

Coach Joe Hampton praised the team for their work and tenacity throughout district and region play. “Our kids fought hard,” he said. “They didn’t quit. I’m just very proud of those guys,” he said after the game at Johnson Arena on the campus of Morehead State University.

“They’re a great ball club,” Hampton said. “They’re like men playing out there. They are so smart and the play so well together.”

Hampton said the Lions had a window of opportunity just before the half to even up the score. “We didn’t handle the pressure. Didn’t get it inside like we wanted to,” he said. “I give Elliott County credit for their defense on that.”

Lewis County also lost to Elliott County early in the season when the Elliot Lions defeated Lewis County 109-60 in December. Elliott County has lost only twice this season, once to Cedar Hill, Texas, in the Beach Ball Classic at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, by a 63-53 score and again to Shelby Valley with a 52-55 final tally.

Lewis County ends their season with an 18-16 record while Elliott County goes to the Sweet 16, for the third straight year, with a record of 30-2.

Elliott County, under Coach Rick Mays, will take on 8^th Region Tournament Champion Anderson County Thursday in the first round of the Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

Chris Thompson was the leading scorer for Lewis County Tuesday with 28 points and 18 rebounds. Koty Riley had 15 points and three rebounds while Terrence Smith contributed 11 points and had five rebounds for the Lions, and Frankie Witten put seven points on the board and came down with four rebounds.

Three starters will be returning next season for Lewis County while five seniors wrapped up their high school career last week; Thompson, Witten, Ryan Calvert, Andy Downing and Nick Colvin.

“We need to get back and work and make sure we have this opportunity next year,” Hampton said. “We want to make sure it doesn’t take us that long (56 years) to get back.”

“They’re one of the best teams ever in the 16^th Region,” Hampton said of the Elliott County Lions. “Our kids have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Lewis County defeated the Bath County Wildcats in the semi-final game last Monday by a score of 62-59.

The Wildcats led at the end of the first quarter by two when the score stood at 14-12 but Lewis County kept a narrow lead at each remain quarter stop with 32-29 showing at the half and 42-41 after three.

Smith and Riley each contributed 21 points for the Lions during the semi-final game while Riley had 12 rebounds and Smith had two. Others scoring against Bath County were Witten with nine points and two rebounds, Thompson, who fouled out, scored four points and one rebound, Jared Pruitt had three points and Kilgore and Cropper each added two.

In 1953 the Vanceburg Lions advanced to 16^th Region Tournament by defeating Laurel 66-40 in the District Championship game at Grayson and won their first regional victory in the school’s 43 year history by winning over Salt Lick at Winchester 75-56.

The Vanceburg Lions squeaked by Mt. Sterling in the Regional semi-final 71-68 then lost to Ashland in the final game 112-49. Players named in The Lewis County Herald game recap were Orville Beair, Tracy Shumway, Ross Ruckel, Karl Chapman and Johnny Lykins. The coach was Bob Wright.

The Cabin Creek Covered Bridge is getting some emergency assistance to keep the structure from further deteriorating until final funding comes through for an approved restoration project.

Bridgewrights were on hand last week assembling a 200 foot long metal skeleton which will be placed inside the historic structure to hold things in place and ensure against further damage.

The bridge was damaged by high water on June 4, 2008, and emergency procurement action was taken by the Kentucky Department of Parks in August to secure $223,000 to provide remedial repairs to the bridge.

Don Walker, a foreman with Arnold M. Graton and Associates in Ashland, New Hampshire, said the company received the contract to install supportive steel trusses, steel upper needle beams and steel supports to prevent any further degradation to the delicate structure. He said the company will be bidding on the restoration project, which is separate from the immediate actions being taken.

The steel skeleton structure was relocated to Cabin Creek from the nearly completed Johnson Creek Covered Bridge restoration project near Blue Licks State Park in Robertson County.

Graton and Associates specializes in covered bridge restoration, said Walker, who is himself enamored with the historic structures and emphasizes restoration and preservation over replacement.

Walker said only 13 covered bridges remain in Kentucky, which just over a century ago had more than 700 of the structures. He noted there is a large percentage of the nation’s remaining covered bridges in the northeast and said 37 states are home to at least one historic crossing.

Iowa, he recalled, has 725 and Indiana, like Kentucky, has 13 of the architectural spans still remaining.

Records indicate the Cabin Creek Bridge was built in 1867 (or 1873, depending on the source) and spans 114 feet. Some documents indicate the bridge features a Burr truss while others note that it has a multiple kingpost truss. The bridge received extensive repairs around 1912 when the arches and iron tension rods were added. The braces, which were washed out last year, were put into place in 1978.

The bridge was closed to auto traffic in 1983 then, last year, was closed to pedestrians.

The bridge has been known, according to various documents, as the Rectorville Covered Bridge and the Mackey-Hughes Bridge. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The state received $503,904 from the 2007 National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program for the Cabin

 Creek Bridge restoration project.

Judge Executive Steve Applegate visited the site last week and said he is pleased that the steel framework is being put into place before the structure completely collapses. “They’ve moved these sections in on three tractor-trailers,” he said. “I’m glad to see this taking place and helping to preserve some of our history.”

Vandals have also left their marks on the bridge and adjacent guardrails with various shades of spray paint, in addition to the many names and initials carved inside the bridge over the past 140 years or so.

Applegate said the Cabin Creek Bridge is next in line for restoration and noted that Kentucky has now adopted the principles of the Burlington Charter for the preservation of historic covered bridges as the primary design document for restoration.

He said the approach emphasizes restoration as opposed to replacement of bridge components. Historians have been vocal on their opposition to efforts taken on earlier projects in which they argued the projects amounted to razing the old structure and building a new one in its place.

The Burlington Charter states, in part, that “. . . covered bridges are vitally important cultural, economic, educational, aesthetic, and historic resources.” The first goal, according to the charter, is to preserve the historic structural and material integrity of covered bridges to the maximum extent possible, consistent with public safety.

Other Kentucky covered bridges slated for restoration include Ringo’s Mill and Hillsboro, both in Fleming County, and Beech Fork in Washington County.

Meanwhile Bridgewright Don Walker and Ron Gallagher, who is helping with the Johnson Creek Bridge project, will be working to assemble and place a temporary steel backbone in the Cabin Creek Bridge. “We enjoy ourselves,” Walker said in his New England dialect. “We like visiting with people who stop by and are curious about what we are doing.”

Walker explained that assembling the steel structure seems to onlookers like slow work, but it is very exacting and something that is worth taking time on. He said all of the steel must be bolted together very tightly and is a precise fit. “People may pass through here and for a few days it seems like we aren’t doing much. Then, all of a sudden, they say, ‘Wow, they must have hired 14 extra guys to work on it,’” he said in explaining the preparatory work and then the placement.

Walker said when the structure is pulled through the bridge and nearing placement that there may be some delays on the roadway near the bridge’s east entrance. He said signs will be posted to advise motorists of the delay or any detour.

Some examples of restoration and new work done by the company can be found on the Internet at www.arnoldmgraton.com.