Monday, February 07, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-8-'11
- There are three certified rescue squads in Pike County and all have received their order of affiliation with the Pike County Government and the Pike County Office of Emergency Management. In all declared states of emergency, the squads will fall under the direction and control of the Pike County Office of Emergency Management and/or the Pike County Judge-Executive. Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford says affiliation also qualifies rescue squads for assistance from the state, and only in the event of a declared emergency do the standard operating procedures of the squads change. “By being affiliated with the county, members of the squads are covered by Kentucky Emergency Management insurance,” says Doug Tackett, Director of the Pike County Office of Emergency Services.
- Kentucky State Police say 47 year old Anthony D. Sayers of Belcher, in Pike County, died in an accident Sunday when he lost control of his vehicle, crossed the centerline and hit a guardrail, before overturning and going down an embankment on Ferrel's Creek Road on U.S. 460. Sayers was pronounced dead at the scene by Pike County Deputy Coroner Denver Bailey.
- Kentucky State Police Post 9 in Pikeville say Larry Ratliff, 62, of Banner, was traveling north on US 23 in front of the Harold Double Kwik gas station in Floyd County about 5:30 P.M. Sunday afternoon, and, while attempting to turn left into the gas station, his vehicle was struck by a car driven by Douglas Williamson, 45, of Kimper. A passenger in Ratliff’s SUV, Tabatha Bentley, 42, of Dwale, was pronounced dead at the scene. Both Williamson and Ratliff were transported to Pikeville Medical Center. At 1:30 A.M. Monday morning, Ratliff died at Holston Valley Hospital in Kingsport, Tennessee.
- The Boyd County Sheriff's Department has identified the man killed in a head-on crash Monday morning on Route 60 West near Manning Furniture as 30 year old Christopher Cumpston of Catlettsburg. Investigators say Cumpston was trying to pass five vehicles at a high rate of speed when he crashed into an oncoming dump truck. The driver of the dump truck received minor injuries.
- Attorney General Jack Conway's office has concluded that the Knott County Fiscal Court violated the state's Open Meetings Act by holding a meeting via telephone. An opinion released publicly Monday says Judge-Executive Randy Thompson and magistrates also violated the law by failing to response to a complaint about a December 22, 2010, meeting within three days. Knott County resident Emma Lois Pigman complained that the telephonic meeting excluded the public. In response, Knott County officials said they "will no long continue the practice if possible."
- First Lady Jane Beshear said Monday that the "Shop and Share Day" held Saturday at Kroger stores across the state netted $341,000 in goods and monetary gifts. The initiative, which has generated nearly $750,000 since it began three years ago, benefits domestic violence shelters across the state.
- U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson has ruled that Karen Cunagin Sypher’s attorneys have had enough time to prepare for the February 18th sentencing and Sypher will not get a hearing on a motion for a new trial. Sypher was convicted in August of attempting to extort Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, lying to the FBI and retaliation against a witness. Her attorney, David Nolan, filed a motion in January, asking that the sentencing be delayed. In January, Simpson delayed Sypher’s sentencing 30 days to accommodate Nolan’s entrance into the case.
- Operation UNITE confiscated more than $10,000 in cash, 14 guns and approximately 50 assorted pills, including Roxycodone, Xanax and Opana, in an unmarked bottle during the search of the home on Bill Stepp Bottom in Inez, in Martin County, Saturday, February 5th. No arrests were made at the time of the search, but the case will be presented to a grand jury next month. Stacy was home with his wife and 13 year old granddaughter when detectives, Martin County Sheriff Garmon Preece and three deputies executed the search warrant.
- The old Jenkins High School was built in 1912, and, while three of the back rooms are used as a senior citizens center, the rest of the building has gone unused for decades. Judge-Executive Jim Ward and many others are hoping to transform it into an assisted living center for seniors. Ward says since the county took over the building, officials have invested about $1.5 million. The county has talked to a firm in Lexington about renovating the building.
- Consumer groups are hoping to add Kentucky to the growing list of states that have set caps on the interest rates that can be charged on payday loans. State Representative Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, said Monday that the House Banking and Insurance Committee has agreed to vote on legislation next week that would cap interest rates at 36 percent. Owens says lawmakers can no longer ignore mounting evidence that "predatory lenders" are preying on Kentucky's poor, including the elderly. If the legislation passes this year, Kentucky would join at least 17 other states and the District of Columbia that have already established caps.
- Kentucky law requires that kids be in school 177 days or 1,062 hours and that teachers work 185 days. Leslie County students have already missed 22 days, while Knox County has missed 20 and Estill County has missed 17. Most agree that kids shouldn’t be going to school past June 21st. Education Commissioner Terry Holliday says education commissioner would like to see some changes in the ways districts plan their calendars.
- The Kentucky Parole Board opted Monday to keep 46 year old Karen Brown in prison for at least five more years on her conviction in a murder case that included lesbian lovers and a hit man. Brown, her lover Elizabeth Turpin and Keith Bouchard were convicted in the killing of 22 year old Michael Turpin on February 3, 1986. Police say the women hoped to get $60,000 from insurance. Turpin's body was pulled from a pond near the entrance to Lakeside Golf Course in Lexington after he had been stabbed 19 times with two paring knives. Elizabeth Turpin, 44, who was married to Michael Turpin, faces the parole board February 16th at Western Kentucky Correctional Complex in Fredonia, where she is being held. Six members of the board cited the seriousness of the crime and the fact that a life was taken.
- Last week President Obama created a task force to look for cleaner coal alternatives and said he wants to pass an energy and climate bill. Congressman Hal Rogers says President Obama's latest proposal to protect streams from coal mining would hurt Appalachia and could eliminate more than seven thousand coal jobs, but he will use his position to make sure coal jobs stay in Kentucky. Rogers says EPA's rigid stance against mountaintop removal is something that is unwarranted.
- Only about 34 percent of students graduating from Kentucky public high schools last year were ready for college or careers. State Education Commissioner Terry Holliday sent emails to the superintendents and board chairs on Friday, asking them to sign a new pledge, called the "Commonwealth Commitment to College and Career Readiness." Holliday wants every public school superintendent and school board chair to pledge to raise college and career readiness in their high schools by 50 percent over the next four years. He wants signatures by April 1st.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:56 PM 
