 August is hot, and so are the savings at Appalachian Wireless, where all smartphones are 50% off. Even the 64, 128, and 256-gig models, two-year agreement required. Better service, bigger savings. That's today's Appalachian Wireless and East Kentucky Network Company. Jenkins, Kentucky. Population 2070. Give or take. Nestled along the Virginia border in Letcher County, a county which boasts an 11.4% unemployment rate. Fourth highest in the state, Jenkins was once a crown jewel of the once-booming, now-busting coal industry. Finding work in Jenkins remains a struggle, but now the city is looking at a Hail Mary for economic development that could create up to a thousand jobs. They could go to Oklahoma. They would build them every day in Oklahoma. But, you know, they want to come here from the home ties that some of them have. Raven Rock Entertainment, LLC is hoping to construct a resort on Pine Mountain in Jenkins that will, among other things, include a casino. The hope is to place the resort above the iconic Raven Rock, overlooking the city. We would like to bring a 300-room lodge with about 150,000 square foot gaming floor to the city of Jenkins. The project that they brought up that they'd been involved in before one of the partners had was a place in Murphy, North Carolina. Murphy was a textile town that lost 2,400 jobs in about four years. Sort of the same situation we were when, you know, the coal took the downturn. Sort of the same situation as Bethlehem pulled out and, you know, far as being focused in the city of Jenkins and having the jobs and support that they had here. The whole area has tanked because of the downturn in coal. And what I see is an opportunity, an opportunity to help Easter in Kentucky maybe move forth past coal onto different things. James Hibbins with Raven Rock Entertainment LLC said he is a Jenkins native who now lives in Wise Virginia. He said the area's changing economy, the need to look beyond coal, inspired him to push Jenkins as a possible location for a casino to his investing partners, some of whom previously worked with gaming firm Harris, as in Harris Cherokee Casino. Job creation estimates vary and will likely be determined by the ultimate size of the proposed resort. But if completed, the resort could create between 500 and 1,000 jobs. To get the project underway, a changing state law would have to be approved by the legislature and the voters. Hibbins and Jenkins Mayor Todd DePriest hope that will happen. We do know it's a long shot, but we also know we are in a different place than we were five years ago. You know, five years ago, six years ago, coal was still king. Coal isn't king anymore. And we as a people are going to have to figure out a way to move forward. We've got an opportunity to do something that's going to make a difference for now. We can wait on coal to come back, and I hope it does. We can wait on industry to come, and I hope they do. But we've got people looking at us now, willing to make the investment, willing to get this done, and put people to work to be able to anchor tourism. And I think people need to look at this real close and see that this is the idea that it's going to work. It's working in Murphy. You know, if I hadn't talked to the mayor of Murphy and understood it myself, it'd be hard for me to understand, well, this could work. They're good neighbors. It's a good program, and we need to try to give this a shot. The resort Raven Rock Entertainment hopes to build remains a long shot. But at this point, long shots are on many places in eastern Kentucky, including Jenkins, have left to take. In Jenkins, Chris Anderson, EKB News.