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I grew up in Hazard, KY. Tourism would help, but it won't fill the void left by the mining industry. There was a massive amount of money in coal. Every profession in the area ultimately led back to coal. Tourism can help some parts of the area, but honestly, I think some of these towns are just going to cease to exist.

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I have to agree. I grew up in KY as well (closer to Louisville) and you don't have to go far outside of Louisville before it looks like this article. We used to do long bike rides (100/150 miles) and the abandoned towns and poor towns we would pass through was startling. It was really hard to ride out on an expensive bike into areas like that and not feel like you were enjoying the beautiful countryside while also ignoring the huge problems that were right in front of you. That is why tourism does not really work to fix these issues. It brings in a little money but not enough compared to what was there previously. Resource extraction is a dead end...it always is and I tend to agree these towns will simply cease to exist.

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