Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Police Searching For Pike County Woman
{Kentucky}...Kentucky State Police are searching for 33 year old Brandi Fields, a Pike County woman who has been missing since around 9:00 P.M. Friday when she left her mother’s home in Ransom, Kentucky. Her mother says she saw Brandi get into a purple Jeep Cherokee with a person she believed had recently stolen from her, but the driver of the Jeep denies having her in his car that night. Family members say it is very out of character for Brandi to go missing. There is a $3,000 reward being offered. Brandi weighs about 115 pounds and has brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt.
Pike County Senior Citizens' Center Wins Grant
- {Kentucky}...Toyota will aid the Pike County Senior Citizens Program in regard to its meal services, but the support has nothing to do with a car. Pike County Community Services Director and senior citizens program supervisor Carol Napier submitted a grant application to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) in May requesting funds to help with the direct costs of the program’s meal services. “For fiscal year 2012 we have a projected operating budget of $268,279 for eight centers,” Napier wrote in the grant application. “We plan to serve 88,000 meals to 1,335 eligible senior citizens.” According to the application, direct operating cost include, but are not limited to, raw food and paper products such as meal trays, utensils and napkins. Napier wrote in the application that although utilities and wages are part of the meal services’ costs, the donation will not be used to cover these costs. Nila Wells, TMMK Contributions Program Administrator, notified Napier on June 23 the contributions committee had approved the application and was donating $5,000 to the senior citizens program for meal services. “I am pleased with this large Kentucky manufacturing corporation,” Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said. “I drive a hybrid Toyota built in Georgetown, Ky. This is a very community-minded corporation.”
FEMA Hotline Available
{Kentucky}...At the close of the registration period July 18 for Individual Assistance, more than 2,000 Kentuckians had registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for possible assistance in recovering from the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that struck the Commonwealth between April 12 and May 20. And even though the registration deadline has come and gone with 2,014 registrations recorded in 22 designated Commonwealth counties, Kentuckians can still turn to FEMA for advice on disaster-related recovery or to have questions answered about their applications. FEMA's toll free Helpline allows Kentucky residents to talk one-to-one with knowledgeable recovery specialists about disaster-related needs, inquire about the status of their application or get help understanding correspondence they receive from FEMA. Kentuckians can call FEMA at 800-621-FEMA (3362) to check the status of their application or to ask questions. In addition to the Helpline, survivors also can go online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov. Those with speech or hearing disabilities can call (TTY) 800-462-7585. Help is available in most languages. No matter what option one chooses to use to keep in touch, officials from FEMA and the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management stress recovery is a long-term process both for individuals and for communities and staying informed is an important part of that process.
Triple Shooting In Knox County
{Kentucky}...Kentucky State Police continue to investigate a triple shooting in Knox County that left two people in the hospital and one person dead. Police say shots were fired late Monday night at a home off Houston Broughton Road in the Stinking Creek community. Forty-six year old Christine Engle was pronounced dead at the scene, while 56 year old Alice Taylor and 68 year old Gillis Smith were flown to University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. Family members say the two women were sisters and say the shooting could have been out of jealousy. Engle’s body was sent to Frankfort for an autopsy.
Telephone Scam From Jamaica
{Kentucky}...A telephone scam promising prize money prompted warnings Tuesday from Kentucky State Police in London. Police say a victim received a call originating from the 876 area code, which is in Jamaica. The caller identified himself as Bill Johnson and said the victim had won a large sum of money or a prize. The caller told the victim to send money via Western Union to Phillip Samuels in Brooklyn, New York, and a prize would be delivered in exchange for the money. No loss of money has been reported. Police want to remind people to disregard such calls and never send money to obtain a prize.
Whitley County Man Faces Attempted Murder
- {Kentucky}...Whitley County Deputies have arrested 40 year old James Fields on several charges, including two counts of attempted murder. Police say he attacked two people with a machete. Fields says it was an accident. He says he jokingly threatened his brother, his brother's girlfriend, and his own girlfriend with the machete during a drunken argument over the weekend, but his brother, Adam Anderson, says he wasn't laughing. Adam Anderson, says he went towards his brother, trying to take the machete away from him, but suffered a cut to his nose, before falling to his knees and blacking out. Anderson's girlfriend Sandra Shelton was also cut in the arm when she tried to take the machete from Fields. Whitley County Sheriff Colan Harrell says, "When someone injures two people with a machete, that's not an accident." Fields, remains in the Whitley County Jail without bond. He's scheduled to be in court next week.
Mingo County Man Arraigned
{West Virginia}...James Harrison, the Mingo County man accused of fatally shooting his brother on July 15th in Matewan, was in court Tuesday where he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. James Harrison remains in jail without bond after being arraigned for shooting his brother, Matthew Harrison, at a home on Rutherford Brand Road. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, and the Mingo County prosecutor plans to present the case to the grand jury in September.
Kanawha County Man Faces Sexual Abuse
- {West Virginia}...Robert Smith, a Kanawha County man, is facing 37 charges, ranging from sexual abuse by a parent to incest for allegedly sexually abusing his daughter and getting her pregnant. Prosecutors say the abuse started in 2002 when his daughter was just 9 years old, and he got his daughter pregnant when she was 14. Smith pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors say they have DNA evidence to prove Smith is the father of a 4 year old boy. His bond is set at half a million dollars. Smith faced similar charges in 2004, but prosecutors say a psychologist interviewed the girl and the doctor determined she was in fear and pressured to recant her story.
Daugherty Retires From Social Security Administration
{West Virginia}...Administrative law Judge David B. Daugherty retired from the Huntington office of the Social Security Administration on July 13th after being placed on indefinite administrative leave in late May. A federal investigation was launched in May looking into a questionable number of social security cases he approved. In the last fiscal year, Judge Daugherty heard more social security cases than any other of the 1500 administrative law judges nationwide.
Mingo County Man's Appeal Rejected
{West Virginia}...In a July 13th ruling, the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of George Lecco, a police misconduct as well. His appeal also said the jury should have heard evidence that he helped out in his community. County man serving life in prison after a Charleston jury convicted him of ordering the murder of police informant Carla Collins. The jury found Lecco had suggested Collins become a drug informant, but then turned on her when he resumed dealing cocaine out of his Red Jacket pizza parlor. The appeal argued the jury wrongly heard from an unreliable witness and a co-defendant who pleaded guilty, police misconduct, and the jury should have heard evidence that he helped out in his community.
Raleigh County Sheriff's Deputies Cleared
- {West Virginia}...A federal jury says Cpl. Gregory Kade and former deputy John Hajash, two Raleigh County Sheriff's Deputies involved in the fatal shooting of a Cabell Heights man, didn't do anything wrong. Kade and Hajash say they shot Robert Webb after he pointed a loaded, semi-automatic rifle at them in his driveway of his home on July 4, 2006. A lawsuit filed by Mary Webb, the widow of Robert Webb, claimed the officers were negligent and denied Webb medical treatment as he lay dying. Hajash suggested he and his onetime partner were put in a position where they had no choice but to fire on Webb after they were called to his home in the wee hours of the morning to investigate a neighbor’s complaint he had been firing a weapon toward his house.
Beckley Trooper Arrests Sex Offenders
- {West Virginia}...Trooper 1st Class R.A. Daniel of the West Virginia State Police in Beckley arrested Michael Fernandez, 48, of Beckley, and Greg Lilly, 36, of Crab Orchard, Monday for failure to register as a sex offender. Fernandez is registered in Raleigh County following convictions of first-degree attempted sexual battery and lewd/lascivious acts on a child from 2006 in Sarasota, Florida. The convictions require Fernandez to register for life due to both victims being minors. Lilly is registered in Raleigh County after convictions of first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual abuse of an adult female in Raleigh County in 2006. Both convictions require Lilly to register for life due to the violent offense and multiple convictions. Each felony arrest maintains a possible one- to five-year sentence.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Permanent Injunction Issued Against CAM Mining
{Kentucky}...Friday, U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar issued a permanent injunction against CAM Mining's No. 28 mine in Pike County ordering the company not to warn underground workers in advance of safety inspections. The U.S. Department of Labor had requested the action after attempting an inspection at the mine in mid-June after federal inspectors had received reports that miners were smoking in the mine, which has a history of methane gas leaks. Inspectors said underground workers were tipped off to their presence when they arrived. Thapar's order says workers at the mine must be trained on the requirements of the order within 30 days.
KSP Investigating Floyd County Robberies
{Kentucky}...Kentucky State Police in Floyd County are trying to determine if three recent robberies are connected. Police say the first happened late Wednesday night at the Tiger Mart in Prestonsburg, and there were robberies at stores in Minnie and Grethel not long after that. Police say the suspect in the Tiger Mart robbery is in his 20's or 30's, has tattoos on both arms, and was wearing a camouflaged cap with a breast cancer awareness symbol on it.
Man Drowns In Cumberland River
- {Kentucky}...Whitley County Sheriff Colan Harrell and Coroner Andy Croley have confirmed the body found in the Cumberland River near Maiden Bend Road just east of Williamsburg Thursday morning is 47 year old Bruce Carl Childress, originally from Dayton, Ohio. Harrell said Childress came to Whitley County during the first week of July, and had been staying at his brother's house, about four to five miles from where Childress' remains were discovered. Childress had been missing since July 7th. Dr. Christen Roth autopsied Childress' body Friday morning at the state medical examiner's office in Frankfort and ruled the cause of death as drowning.
