By Dennis Brown

Thomas Massie has filed a letter of intent with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance to run on the Republican ticket for Lewis County Judge Executive.

"Like many who grow up in Lewis County, my wife and I graduated from LCHS and moved away to pursue our dreams,” Massie said. “And like others who have left, we found that the education, solid values, and common sense we learned in Lewis County put us at a distinct advantage in the 'big world.' As entrepreneurs, we worked hard, we competed, and we succeeded in the global economy. What makes our story unique is that we left the city life and moved back to a farm in Lewis County at a young age... for our kids, for our family, and for our community.”

“We’d like for our children to have the same solid rural upbringing as us, but we also want them to have more opportunity within Lewis County,” Massie stated. “The dilemma we face is that in the 20 years since we graduated from high school, our county has in many ways moved backward, not forward.”

“Seven new brick government office buildings have been built or occupied in Vanceburg in those 20 years, yet at least that many retail businesses have disappeared in the county,” Massie continued. “Farmers and other working people, as well as retirees on fixed incomes, now pay a larger percentage of their hard earned money to the local government, yet there are fewer local jobs available. If there ever were a textbook case that bigger government is not the answer, it would be Lewis County.”

Massie said that’s why he is entering the race. “All of the other candidates for this seat represent the status quo in our county government, and the status quo clearly isn’t working. We need new ideas and candidates with better qualifications,” he said.

Massie says there are several issues listed on his web site, www.thomasmassie.com, for those who want to dig deeper. And he welcomes concerned citizens to leave feedback and ideas there.

“In addition to recruiting jobs, my primary goal is to fix those aspects of our county government that aren’t working instead of blindly spending more money. I will never raise taxes,” he said.

Massie says he feels an information infrastructure, comprised of better internet, cell phone and cable services is more critical than industrial parks for enabling jobs, business, and industry in Lewis County.

“When a CEO visits our county to evaluate our location for his company and finds that his i-phone can’t get a signal, he’ll quietly place his i-phone back in his pocket, thank us for the wonderful lunch at Kenny’s, and drive back to the airport,” Massie said. “We’ll never see him again.”

Massie claims that one key to getting these services in our county is communicating with the service providers such as Verizon, Windstream, and Time-Warner. “Of the candidates in this race, I am most qualified to engage in credible conversation with these companies,” he stated.

Massie graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he majored in Electrical Engineering and concentrated in Economics. He then went on to obtain a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering with elective studies in Computer Science. 

As an undergraduate, he was awarded an Eastman Kodak full scholarship based on merit, and then a National Defense Fellowship from the Air Force for graduate school. While at MIT,

 File Photo

Thomas Massie has field as a candidate for Lewis County Judge Executive

 he was awarded the $30K Lemelson Prize for inventiveness and the $10K Prize for best business plan.

He founded SensAble Technologies, Inc., to commercialize an invention for which he holds 22 patents. While at SensAble, he successfully helped raise three rounds of venture capital and built a company that provided over 70 full time, high wage jobs. His company was named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in the U.S.

Massie also served as Chairman of the Board for EndActive Inc., a medical devices company. He currently presides over the board of the newly formed Center for Appalachian Philanthropy, a private nonprofit organization devoted to improving life in Appalachia.

“I’m asking Lewis Countians to support me in what I hope will be a positive race based on issues and qualifications. I won’t make any outlandish promises but I do promise to work hard and to work smart, to improve our county,” he said.

“I’m seeking this position, not because I need a job, but because I love this county and I think we can make it better. I hope voters will consider my solid record as an active citizen at fiscal court meetings, leading successful efforts to lower or defeat taxes and unnecessary regulations in this county over the past three years,” he added.

Thomas, his wife of 16 years Rhonda (Howard) Massie and their four children live in a solar powered home they designed and built themselves with local lumber and stones on Montgomery Creek at Garrison.

Thomas is the son of Roger and Gayle Massie of Vanceburg and the grandson of the late Thomas Gayle Denham (proprietor of the old locker plant and author of Gayle’s Gripes) and the late Elizabeth (Love) Denham.

By Dennis Brown

A Garrison man has been arrested after deputies received an anonymous tip leading them to his whereabouts.

A sheriff's department spokesman said Samuel Bertram, 38, of Garrison, had an active warrant for his arrest and when he was taken into custody deputies found Oxycodone, appointment cards for pain clinics, directions to pain clinics and a large sum of cash in his clothing.

The spokesman said Bertram was charged with two counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and the probation violation warrant. He was lodged in the Lewis County Detention Center.