WEBSTER COUNTY, KY (12/5/12) – When you go into the Webster County Clerk’s office, and most of the other county clerk offices in the state, you might notice birdhouses constructed partially out of license plates.

Those aren’t just a craft someone is making; they are a labor of love for US Veterans. Lee Watson is the man behind the birdhouses. He is a Letcher County resident in his seventies.

“He is not a veteran, but he has five brothers who were,” said Webster County Clerk Valerie Franklin Newell. “He donates all of his time and all of his materials.” When people turn in personalized license plates, she ships them to the Letcher County Clerk, Watson’s son-in-law.

The birdhouses sell for $20 each, and every bit of that money goes to the closest veterans’ home. In this case it is the Veteran’s Center in Hanson. “In June, Watson sent $13,000 from the sale of birdhouses to the Western Kentucky Veterans home in Hanson,” said Newell. “100 percent of what we sell here goes to Hanson.” Newell said that demand has gotten so high that Watson can barely keep up. He mailed two hundred birdhouses this week. Of the eight sent to Dixon, four have already sold. “If someone has a personal plate and wants a birdhouse made out of that specific plate we can have that done as well,” she said. “They just have to bring it into our office.”

Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor

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