Paul Wellstone: The Only Senator from Letcher County
In 1997, Senator Paul Wellstone retraced the steps of his hero, Robert
Kennedy, through Appalachia, focusing in particular on eastern Kentucky.
With him was his wife Sheila, daughter of Letcher/Harlan County natives
Delmer and Ellen Ison, and a frequent summer visitor to Kingdom Come Creek
when she was growing up. Also accompanying the Wellstones was senior aide
Tom Lapic. All three were tragically killed in a plane crash on October 25.

(segment 1)
During the 1997 tour, Paul, Sheila and Tom spent several days visiting a
Head Start classroom, touring a housing rehabilitation site, and hearing the
concerns of working and disabled coal miners, their wives and widows. On
August 30, Senator Wellstone held a Town Meeting at Appalshop where he
listened for several hours as folks from all over central Appalachia
expressed their concerns about the economy, community development, health
care, education, poverty, workers' rights, and social and environmental
justice. Here are the Senator's closing remarks.

(segment 2)
Sheila Wellstone was a longtime advocate for victims of domestic violence.
After the forum she talked about her concerns about welfare reform, which
was just going into effect at the time.

(segment 3)
Paul Wellstone describes national domestic policies that should be
implemented to help families raise their children successfully and securely.