EKB News

A 62 year old man, accused of sexually abusing a 9 year old, was indicted this week by the Pike County Grand Jury. Rudy Owens of Stopover was indicted on two counts of sexual abuse 1st degree for allegedly subjecting two different children to sexual contact, according to court documentation. Today Pike Circuit Judge Eddy Coleman’s office scheduled Owens. and the rest of those indicted this week, for arraignment on November 20th. Owens remains lodged in the Pike County Detention Center on a 10,000 dollar full cash bond.

Williamson Fire Chief Jerry Mounts now has an opportunity to see charges against him dismissed after a pretrial conference was held today in Pike Circuit Court. 50 year old Jerry Mounts and 41 year old Roger Maynard had both pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of tampering with evidence in connection with a March 3rd wreck on U.S. 119 in South Williamson. The two-car collision involved 24 year old Allen Urps, of Williamson, the son of a volunteer fireman for the WFD. Mounts allegedly gathered a pipe, a bottle of pills and cash into a baseball cap and ordered Maynard to remove the items from the scene. The incident was allegedly witnessed by other WFD members and members of the Belfry Volunteer Fire Department. Today Mounts accepted an offer from the Commonwealth's attorneys office that will grant him a 6 month diversion. According to Commonwealths Attorney Rick Bartley, if Mounts completes 200 hours of community service and has no violation of the law for the six month period, then the charge will be dismissed. Bartley cited the fact that Mounts eventually turned over the evidence to the Kentucky State Police which had not affected the Commonwealths ability to prosecute in connection with the crash. Bartley also stated that Mounts had been with the Fire Department for over 30 years and would’ve lost his job and pension as a result of a conviction, which the Commonwealth felt wasn’t a fitting punishment. Roger Maynard was also offered the same deal which he declined. Maynard’s case was set for trial in February and he remains free on a $5,000 surety bond.

A Matewan woman found herself in the Pike County Detention Center after trying to pass multiple cold checks. 32 year old Ida M. Davis was served an arrest warrant earlier this week, after a criminal complaint was filled stating that she had in her possession checks that had her name on them, but from an account that was not hers. According to the warrant Davis passed the checks off to several businesses in the South Williamson area resulting in 11 charges of Forgery 2nd degree, 10 charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument and 2 counts of theft by deception. She remains lodged at the Pike County Detention Center on a $5,000 full cash bond and is scheduled to appear again in court on November 9.

State Senator Johnny Ray Turner says that Floyd County is prepared should a church group from Kansas decide to protest the funeral of a Floyd County soldier scheduled to take place on Friday. The Westboro Baptist Church is known for disrupting military funerals all over the country but Senator Turner says that, should the church come to Floyd County to protest the funeral of Lance Corporal Jonathan Thornsberry, they will be met with police from several agencies. Thornsberry died last week from combat related injuries suffered in Iraq. Services for Lance Corporal Thornsberry are scheduled for Friday morning at the little Rosa Old Regular Baptist church at McDowell.

An Eastern Kentucky man who had eluded Operation UNITE detectives for more than two years was arrested Wednesday during a round-up of drug suspects in Floyd County. 21 year old Anthony R. Conn, who currently lives on Jackson Drive in Johnson County, was apprehended while working at a strip mine in Allen. Conn, who was listed as one of UNITE's "Most Wanted" fugitives, had eluded detectives since being indicted on October 2, 2004. He is charged with one count of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance. In addition to Conn, seven of 13 suspects sought in Wednesday's round-up had been located by noon and lodged at the Floyd County Detention Center according to officials with UNITE.

A Tennessee man is behind bars after an off duty deputy spotted him driving northbound in the southbound lane of US 23. 33 year old Kevin J. Miller of Knoxville was apprehended just after 1 o’clock this morning after several complaints of an erratic driver on US 23 near the Buckley’s Creek intersection. According to the arrest citation, Miller allegedly almost ran head on into another vehicle which prompted the officer with the Sheriffs Department to call in the complaint. Miller was arraigned this morning in Pike District court entering a plea of not guilty to charges of DUI, Wanton Endangerment 2nd degree, reckless driving and operating a vehicle without a license. Miller was lodged in the Pike County detention center on a $500 dollar full cash bond and is set for a pretrial conference on February 22.

A private group watching the conduct of judicial candidates says a TV ad from Court of Appeals Judge David Barber misrepresented two opinions challenger Janet Stumbo issued when she was on the state Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the non-partisan, unofficial campaign group also said Stumbo kept outdated information on her Web site that might have given voters the mistaken impression that Barber had not paid his delinquent taxes. But the Kentucky Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee said Barber's TV ad was more serious and is the kind of advertising it was created to discourage and prevent. Barber, of Prestonsburg, and Stumbo, of Van Lear, are running for the Court of Appeals 2nd Division seat in Eastern Kentucky's 7th District in next Tuesday's election.

State mine safety officials announced Wednesday that they are delaying the release of a report on the investigation of a fire that killed two miners at a Massey Energy Co. mine amid charges the release date was chosen to influence the upcoming general election. The Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training originally planned to release the report Thursday, five days before the election. The release was set to occur during a meeting of the Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety, but the agency failed to file proper notice of the meeting as required by state law. Massey's ownership of the mine has added political overtones to the meeting and the report that addresses the Jan. 19 fire that killed miners Don I. Bragg, and Ellery Elvis Hatfield. The pair perished after they were separated from their crew in the smoke-filled mine and could not escape. Massey Chief Executive Don Blankenship told The Associated Press the scheduling was an abuse of state power and done to influence voters.

A two vehicle collision in the early morning hours Tuesday resulted in the death of a Kimper resident. 44 year old Jody McCoy was traveling eastbound on Kentucky Route 194 just past the Kellogg’s Factory when his vehicle crossed the center line and struck a west bound Mack Coal Truck. McCoy was pronounced dead on the scene by the Pike County Coroner and the accident remains under investigation by the Kentucky State Police.

Members of the Regina community are mourning the loss of a resident after an overnight fire trapped him inside his residence. 36 year old Chris Coleman was pronounced dead on the scene by the Pike County Coroners office after emergency responders received a call of a residential fire in the Yellow Hill Road community of Regina. The cause of the fire has not been determined, though state police say that foul play is not suspected. The fire remains under investigation by the Kentucky State Police.

The current Governor saluted a former Governor on Monday October 30, as the State Transportation cabinet, Department of Highways held the official ceremony, naming new US 119, the Paul E. Patton Highway.
Governor Ernie Fletcher joined with Transportation Cabinet Secretary Bill Neighbert and several local officials for the dedication, which took place close to dusk on Monday evening.
“We’re here today to recognize Governor Paul Patton’s work!” stated Governor Fletcher shortly before introducing the former Governor to speak.
“The naming of this highway in his honor is well deserved” Fletcher stated, “He was instrumental…in accelerating infrastructure improvements across Eastern Kentucky.”
“Thank you Governor Fletcher and thank you all so much.” Patton said as he looked out among the sea of people gathered to whiteness the tribute being paid to an Eastern Kentucky native who did his home town proud during his two terms as Governor.
“I am truly thankful for this honor as well as the great many honors you’ve given me over the years and the friendship that you’ve shown.”
The Paul E. Patton Highway runs almost 20 miles, from the intersection of US 119 and US 23 at Buckley’s Creek to the West Virginia state line.
Officials are optimistic that four of the five sections of highway will be open by the end of this year and are hoping that the $400 million dollar re-construction will be finished by the spring of 2008.

Congressman Hal Rogers granted an exclusive interview to East Kentucky Broadcasting last week, speaking candidly on a number of topics dealing with this year’s tight congressional race. As political pundits are calling for an almost total overhaul of congress with Democrats taking control, a senior member of the US House of representatives is saying don’t count the grand ole’ party out yet.
“The national wave whatever it may or may not be I think has little effect on local congressional races and I feel good about Republicans chances for that reason.” Rogers said after being asked how he thinks his party will fair in less than a week.
“It’s more like running for sheriff than it is president, there local, you go to the factories the bus stations the groceries, you go where people are and these elections are based upon what local people think about you by and large, whether your accessible to them.”
Democrats, who need to pick up just fifteen seats to regain control of Congress, are banking on the tidal wave of scandals out of Washington, which has resulted in several republicans having to resign. However Rogers feels the American people aren’t getting the whole story out of Washington, just the part that is damaging to the GOP.
“Some of the national media is so biased so that’s all you hear about (Republican scandals) never the democrats.” Rogers Stated.

The Associated Press has gotten Frankfort riled up after filing a request to see how much public money has been spent on the First Family's dog. The Fletcher's dogs name is Abby, a West Highland Terrier, that has her own stationery, complete with stamped signature. Abby has cards and photos for every season; in bunny ears for Easter, in a pumpkin cap for Thanksgiving and surrounded by poinsettias for Christmas. According to the report by the AP, Kentucky's first family says the costs are minimal and the smiles and good will are priceless. David Fleenor, one of the Governor's attorneys, said all the Abby materials are produced by the first lady's staff, and there are no documents that would reflect the actual cost. The first lady says "There's virtually no cost," but spending public money on the governor's dog is a bad idea, according to Jim Waters, a policy analyst for the Bowling Green-based government watchdog group Bluegrass Institute. Waters said he is especially troubled that the governor's office can't quantify the cost of the promotions.

Visitors to courthouses across the state experienced headaches today after a power outage in Frankfort knocked out state computers. Visitors to County Courthouses were unable to renew their vehicle registrations or have their pictures taken for new drivers licenses. The computer systems went down early this morning when a power transformer failed at the state Data Center in Frankfort, according to Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the Finance and Administration Cabinet. Midkill went on to state that the outage affected pretty much everything electronic in state government . Officials say they are not sure why the electrical transformer failed but were hopeful that all systems would be back up and functional by the end of the day.

Officials are still investigating the stabbing death of an inmate in the Big Sandy Prison in Inez. The FBI was called in last week after inmate Calvin Lamont Speight was stabbed inside the federal prison. Speight was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for a rape charge and two counts of burglary. Speight had earned the nickname "The Nude Rapist", for crimes he had committed in the Washington DC area. Speight was transferred to the Eastern Kentucky prison in January of 2004. Speight is believed to be the first inmate killed at the prison since it opened.

A gas line break yesterday afternoon had crews working late into the night to contain a crude oil spill. According to Pike County Emergency Management, a call came in Sunday afternoon concerning a gas well blowing crude oil into Elkhorn Creek on the right fork of Mill Branch in the Ashcamp community. The Sycamore Volunteer Fire Department assisted Emergency Management officials in containing the spill, which officials believe will not affect any water supplies or result in the death of any aquatic life in the area. Cleanup crews from Equitable Natural Gas were on the scene working to clean up the spill, which officials tell EKB news, could take up to 3 days to complete. The Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Department of Fish and Wildlife were notified and will be assessing the situation. According to officials, a handful of residents chose to evacuate the area because of odors associated with the spill.