Op-ed: the Hazard homecoming controversy overshadows Appalachian town trying to move past coal

Hazard, county seat of Perry County
(Wikipedia map)

Hazard, Ky., was in the national spotlight last week after photos went viral of a Hazard High School homecoming tradition: the "Man Pageant," in which male students dressed in lingerie gave simulated lap dances to seated school leaders. The "highly problematic incident ... could not have come at a worse time for an Eastern Kentucky town trying to bolster its image and craft a winning post-coal transition narrative," writes Alan Maimon in an opinion piece for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

It's difficult to lure new businesses to Eastern Kentucky, and this incident could make it more so. "Quality of life matters to CEOs. They look at everything that an area has to offer. Schools of course are on that list," Maimon writes. "This is a time of major economic transition for Hazard and the region and there is little margin for error. Unfortunately, any CEO (especially one with school-aged kids) who hears about the Hazard homecoming week story is now going to be even less likely to set up shop in the area."

Maimon recently wrote a book about his time as the Courier Journal's last Eastern Kentucky-based correspondent from 2000 to 2006. "Twilight in Hazard: An Appalachian Reckoning" is about Eastern Kentucky overall, he writes, but because Hazard was in the book's title, locals were upset that he didn't write more about thriving new businesses that had opened up downtown.

"They were also upset that I didn’t interview Hazard Mayor Donald 'Happy' Mobelini for the book. In light of recent events, I’m glad that I didn’t," Maimon writes. "Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I was a bit wary of Mobelini. As we now know, Mobelini is not only mayor, he is also the Hazard High School principal who took part in tawdry homecoming week events."

However, Maimon did give Mobelini a platform to tout his office's accomplishments during the book tour visit. "More impressive than anything he said or showed me was the undeniable can-do spirit I sensed from the highly motivated professionals working to revitalize Hazard," Maimon writes. "This self-inflicted wound can only hurt those efforts."

Many Hazard residents are defending Mobelini and blaming outsiders for the tempest, "but such outspoken support of an event at which scantily clad male students gave Mobelini lap dances and female students dressed up as Hooter’s servers has a lot of people beyond Hazard city limits shaking their heads," Maimon writes. "I would like to think that the people working diligently for Hazard know that the school incident and its aftermath are major blemishes on the town’s reputation. How the situation plays out will say a lot about whether Hazard is ready for the brighter future it says is already here."