Saturday, August 22, 2009
Public Hearing On Widening Of Parkway
After many years of anticipation, the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway may soon be widened to accomodate an ever-increasing volume of traffic. A public hearing to discuss making the parkway a four-lane highway will take place on Thursday, August 27th., from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. at the Lakefront Church of God on KY 134 in Magoffin County. Following the public hearing, there will be a fifteen day period for public comment.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 2:07 PM
Pikeville College Anniversary Set
Pikeville College will celebrate its 121st. year of existence on Tuesday, August 25th. The scheduled speaker for this historic event is William Baird III, a Pikeville lawyer and civic leader. Baird is Vice-Chairman of the Pikeville College Board of Trustees and has a long and honored history with the college.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 1:54 PM
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Pike County Accident Results In Death
Seventy year old Floyd Chaney of Red Creek (Pike County) died Wednesday after being involved in a vehicle accident on U.S. 23 in front of Shelby Valley High School. Kentucky State Police say Chaney was pulling onto U.S. 23 from Douglas Drive when he drove into the path of a vehicle driven by Margio Werner of Pikeville. Madonna Chaney, Werner and an infant passenger were injured in the accident.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 9:00 PM
Morehead Police Investigate Murder
Kentucky State Police in Morehead are investigating the death of 39 year old Elson Banks of Upper Gilmore Road as a murder case. His brother, who lives nearby, found his body around 9:55 Tuesday morning. Police say he had been shot multiple times.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:22 PM
Elkhorn City Boy Returns Home
On Tuesday, August 18th., after months of receiving treatment for Acute Myeloid Monocytic Leukemia at U.K. and Cincinnati Children's Hospitals, 10 year old Kyle Smith returned to his home in Elkhorn City. For several months the search for a bone marrow donor was an ongoing battle, and, although Kyle may never know who saved his life, his mother, Shelly Smith, says, "If it wasn't for the donor, Kyle wouldn't be here. He wouldn't be home." Smith is now in the care of U.K. Children's Hospital as an outpatient, where he will go for clinic visits for another year and a half.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:37 PM
Missing Rape Suspect Arrested
Forty-three year old Johnny Eugene Fairchild of Paintsville was arrested at his home early Wednesday morning. Fairchild, who's accused of raping a 13 year old girl, disappeared July 6th., the day his rape trial was to begin. Police are attempting to determine where he has been and if anyone helped him while he was missing.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:31 PM
Alcohol Flows In Paintsville
For more than 60 years, numerous attempts to legalize the sale of alcohol within the city limits of Paintsville were met with no success. In June, by a margin of 56 votes, voters in a special wet-dry election agreed the Johnson County seat would be wet for the first time since 1944. Tuesday, the Fast Lane on Mayo Trail became the first location in many years where a patron could purchase alcohol. While 15 Paintsville businesses have applied for their license, the Speedway gas station hopes to begin selling alcohol Monday.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:21 PM
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Corrections Corp. Hiring Female Guards
In the wake of an investigation into sexual assault allegations at Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright (Floyd County), Hawaii is removing its 165 prisoners from the facility, while 40 have already been returned to Hawaii, and the rest will be returned or moved to another prison on the mainland. Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America is attempting to increase its number of female guards at the prison by offering sign-up bonuses and holding job fairs. CCA held a job fair in Hazard Tuesday, recruited in Pikeville on Wednesday and will be in Prestonsburg on Thursday.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:29 PM
Crash Kills Two In Perry County
Fifty-nine year old Lorene Dollarhide of Whitesburg and 52 year old Billie Combs of Happy were pronounced dead at the scene following a vehicle accident Tuesday in the Glomawr community of Perry County. Authorities say Dollarhide was driving north on KY 15 toward Hazard when she lost control of her vehicle and crossed into the southbound lane, colliding head-on with the vehicle driven by Combs, while hitting the vehicle driven by State Police Detective Tim Engle, who was not seriously injured.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:21 PM
Campton Man Drowns
Fifty-five year old Clifford M. Lykins of Campton (Wolfe County) was pronounced dead Tuesday evening after a small boat occupied by him and another man capsized on a farm pond off Clifty School Road, resulting in Lykins' drowning.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:16 PM
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Mini-Drug- Roundup
Johnson and Magoffin authorities have participated in a recent mini-drug-roundup. Following a year-long undercover investigation, 12 people in Magoffin and Johnson counties had been charged, as of Monday, after a variety of prescription narcotics were purchased by Operation UNITE detectives and marijuana plants were found at some homes. The Magoffin County residents were arrested August 11th. and 12th., while the Johnson County arrests were conducted Monday.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:53 PM
Groundbreaking For Military Cemetery
A groundbreaking ceremony is set for 10:00 A.M. September 18th. in Greenup County for a 75 acre, $7.3 million regional military cemetery. The section of Industrial Parkway land in East Park, just off I-64, will serve as a cemetery for veterans from Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, while allowing room for 25,000 gravesites. The funding came from a federal government grant.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:43 PM
PMC To Offer Weight Loss Surgeries
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 4 Americans are considered to be obese. Pikeville Medical Center has announced it plans to start offering a Bariatric Weight Loss service which will include a number of surgeries that will assist in weight loss while also decreasing cases of diseases related to obesity, which include diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea and osteoarthritis.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:17 PM
Monday, August 17, 2009
Cap And Trade Forum Set
During an upcoming Membership Breakfast scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st., the Pike County Chamber of Commerce will give its members a forum in which to discuss "Cap and Trade" legislation. East Kentucky Broadcasting's Vice-President Cindy May Johnson will serve as master-of-ceremonies and moderator for the event which will begin at 8:00 A.M. at the Bob Evans Restaurant in the Weddington Plaza, North Mayo Trail in Pikeville. Admission is $10.
If passed, the legislation would create a limit on how much carbon dioxide companies would be allowed to emit, while companies not complying would be fined for pollution. The coal industry would be directly impacted, and legislators fear the bill would result in increased electric rates and major layoffs. Proponents say it would provide sources for alternative energy.
If passed, the legislation would create a limit on how much carbon dioxide companies would be allowed to emit, while companies not complying would be fined for pollution. The coal industry would be directly impacted, and legislators fear the bill would result in increased electric rates and major layoffs. Proponents say it would provide sources for alternative energy.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:55 PM
Nonviolent Offenders Could Get Jail Pass
The Kentucky Supreme Court has approved a proposal to test an initiative that would consider jail passes for nonviolent offenders. Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott says the move to allow people arrested on any of more than 700 mostly obscure charges, including marijuana possession, prostitution and hundreds of other nonviolent crimes to avoid going to jail, would save the state more than $400,000 a day in jail costs. The initiative will be tested in a handfull of counties before the Kentucky Supreme Court decides whether to expand it statewide. Prosecutors favor testing the initiative, saying it makes sense financially and poses no risk to public safety, although people convicted of crimes could still face jail time.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:44 PM
Early Prison Release Goes To State Court
Wednesday, the Kentucky Supreme Court will hear oral arguments related to a controversial parole credit program which has allowed murderers and sex offenders to leave prison early. As a part of the state budget, Kentucky lawmakers approved the measure during the 2008 legislative session as a way to cut down costs on state prisons. Since the program began, prison officials have released 3,127 inmates from prison and 3,874 on parole. Kentucky lawmakers have changed the law and put the program into the state statute. Governor Beshear's administration argues prison officials simply followed the law and applied it as the legislature wished, but Attorney General Jack Conway says the legislatively approved plan was unconstutional and improperly enforced.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:29 PM
Over The Limit...Under Arrest ! ! !
"Over The Limit...Under Arrest !" That's the message from Kentucky law enforcement. Ashland Police, Morehead Police and the Kentucky Division of Highways held a news conference Monday (today) in Ashland to announce the annual "Drunk Driving, Over The Limit, Under Arrest" campaign which begins Friday and runs through Labor Day. Officials say more than 13,000 people are killed in the U.S. each year due to DUI-related crashes, making drunken driving one of America's most often committed and deadliest crimes. Last year, approximately 6,000 alcohol-related crashes occurred in Kentucky.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:10 PM
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Mother And Son Found Dead
Kentucky State Police report 26 year old Heather Smith and her 7 week-old son, Ethan, were found dead around 4:48 A.M. Saturday morning inside their burned home on Farley Bottom in McCarr in Pike County.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:57 PM
Fleeing Man Drowns
A police chase turned deadly Friday afternoon when 37 year old Walter C. Holbrooks jumped into the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River and drowned. Kentucky State Police received a call regarding a burglary in Elkhorn City. A KVE Officer was dispatched to the scene. While en route, the officer spotted a white van matching the description of the getaway vehicle in the area of Yellow Hill. When the vehicle was stopped, Holbrooks exited it, running on foot, and jumped into the river, dropped below the surface of the water and failed to resurface.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:43 PM
Letcher County Killer To Be Eligible For Parole
The Kentucky Parole Board has announced that confessed murderer, 51 year old Donald Terry Bartley, one of Letcher County's most notorious killers will become eligible for parole in October. Bartley, who once lived in Evarts in Harlan County was 29 years old when he was sentenced after pleading guilty to taking part in the August 1985 murder of 23 year old Tammy Dee Acker and the robbery and attempted murder of her physician father, 79 year old Roscoe J. Acker of Fleming-Neon.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:35 PM
Floyd County Woman Gets Settlement
Twenty-five year old Mary A. Ward of Harold was recently awarded a $2.5 million settlement after being involved three years ago in a wreck which left her with catastrophic injuries which require constant care. While traveling along Route 321 near Paintsville, Ward's vehicle was struck by a tractor trailer owned by a South Carolina trucking company, putting her in intensive care for eleven weeks.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:27 PM
Miners' Memorial Unveiled
United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, Representative Charles Siler and Stella Morris, widow of Bud Morris, spoke Friday as a crowd gathered on KY 2006, just off U.S. 119 near the Cumberland Community College. Coal trucks rumbled by as a black stone memorial, engraved with names and mounted with pictures of Harlan County miners who have died in accidents or of black lung disease in the last 35 years, was unveiled. Morris' husband died in a mine explosion December 30, 2005, and, since then, she has lobbied for mine safety. U.M.W. President Cecil Roberts told the crowd that the miners had been better to their country than their country had been to them, and the nation owes the coal miner an unbelievable debt.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:14 PM
Former Mayor Sentenced
Former Pineville Mayor, 75 year old Robert Madon, who served for 18 years, has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison, two years supervised release and ordered to pay a $4,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove ordered Madon to report to prison September 28th., but he said he would recommend Madon be assigned to a medical facility. Madon pleaded guilty to vote buying, admitting he gave his son, Brent Madon, money to buy absentee votes in the November 2006 election. Brent Madon was sentenced to one year in prison and three years supervised release, with the first six months on home incarceration.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:02 PM
