Thursday, June 23, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...6-24-'11
- Former Pike County Detention Center inmate Ray D. Hamilton has filed a lawsuit against the county, Jailer Rodney Scott, Southern Health Partners Inc., Dr. Waldridge and other unnamed defendants, alleging that he almost died due to negligence on behalf of the jail and its employees. Court documents show that, during his incarceration on or around September 7, 2010, Hamilton was not given medical attention despite requests from him, his family, and even fellow inmates. Hamilton was transported to Pikeville Medical Center where he was hospitalized in intensive care for several days. According to a copy of Pikeville Medical Center’s records included in the lawsuit, “The patient is a 56-year-old gentleman brought in by the local jailers with a week of declining health and being minimally responsive. He complained of diffuse pain, however, when he arrived he was essentially unresponsive and not breathing.” He was diagnosed with kidney failure, sepsis, and deep venous thrombosis in his right leg, among other maladies. Hamilton was transported to another hospital for further treatment and has since been released. He is asking for a trial by jury as well as actual and punitive damages.
- Four men have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Floyd and Pike counties. A trial is set for August 15th for Robert Darrell Bryant, Charles McCauley, Nick Short, and Morris Hall, four men indicted on drug charges. The four men were arraigned in federal court in Pikeville Tuesday morning. Police say they worked together to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine between January 2008 and May 2011 in both counties, and other unspecified locations in the region. If convicted, each could face a life sentence in federal prison and a fine of twenty million dollars.
- Governor Steve Beshear says Kentucky has received an intercontinental donation of $20,000 from the government of Taiwan. The donation will go to the American Red Cross to assist in relief efforts from spring storms that caused widespread damage and flooding. Beshear welcomed representatives from Taiwan's economic and cultural office in Atlanta. The office's director general, Anna Kao, said the donation shows the esteem Taiwan has for Kentucky. The two are trade partners, and Taiwan is a longtime U.S. ally. Beshear says federal emergency officials have distributed more than $13 million in assistance to Kentucky households hurt by the spring storms. So far, 21 counties are approved for individual assistance and 75 counties for public aid.
- Homes in and around Middlesboro suffered extensive damage as a result of Monday's flash flooding. The American Red Cross has set up shop in Bell County. The American Red Cross Relief Center is located at Faith Temple Church in Bell County, right off Highway 25E. Meals are available there at any time. They can also provide those affected with financial support if they meet the required criteria. You can reach them at 606-878-6333.
- Police say Christopher Ryan York and Emanual Jones got into an argument outside the Brown Derby Bar in Hazard, and after the argument, York got into his truck and ran over Jones two times. Jones suffered minor injuries but has since been released from the hospital. York is charged with attempted murder.
- A congressional hearing has been scheduled for July 13th to investigate lapses in homeland security that allowed Ramadan Alwan, 30, and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 23, two Iraqi refugees recently arrested in Bowling Green on terrorism-related charges, to live freely in the United States. U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., pushed for the hearing in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which will focus on how the federal government tracks and prevents terrorists' travel. Alwan and Hammadi were indicted for plotting to send sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, explosives and money to their home country to be used in attacks on U.S. troops. The men pleaded not guilty. The Patriot Act and other laws bar refugees and asylum seekers from living and working in the U.S. if they supported or were members of an armed group in their homelands. Paul, a critic of the Patriot Act, says, "The fact that two Iraqi refugees, one who was previously held for attempting to bomb American troops, were allowed into our country raises many questions about federal immigration policies and their role in protecting our citizens."
- The State Medical Examiner says the body found in the Licking River on May 9th is that of 26 year old Jerry Rowe Jr., a Magoffin County man who was reported missing on February 5, 2011. Rowe was last seen alive on January 28th. Kentucky State Police and the Magoffin County Coroner’s office are still investigating the cause of Rowe's death.
- The Morehead Post of the Kentucky State Police is investigating an accident which put a murder-for-hire trial on hold. The trial of 62 year old Gary Robinson of Ashland taking place in Lewis County Circuit Court in Vanceburg was put on hold Thursday after a 2-vehicle accident involving Robinson and two relatives of the defendant, 47 year old John Jamison. All three people were taken to a hospital in Portsmouth, Ohio. Prosecutors say Robinson plotted to kill Jamison, by hiring 46 year old Wesley Allen to shoot him. Jamison remains unresponsive in a nursing home after being shot multiple times at his home in Lewis County in January 2010. In February, Allen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and first degree assault and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Part of his plea deal required him to testify against Robinson. After the lunch break, jurors were issued a gag order in the case and sent home.
- Police say a death investigation is being conducted at the University of Kentucky. UK Police Chief Joe Monroe says officers received a 911 call Thursday morning to report a man lying on the first floor of the campus parking structure. The Fayette County coroner's office says 38 year old Jonathan McIntyre was pronounced dead at UK Medical Center from head trauma. Monroe says it appears McIntyre fell in the stairwell from the 5th floor, and there is no indication of foul play. McIntyre, a geologist, had worked at UK since November 2005.
- Robin Mapel was convicted in April of kidnapping his estranged girlfriend, Melissa Patrick, from a home in Morgan County before shooting her to death with a 9mm pistol in November 2008 after he had escaped custody from the Montgomery County jail, where he was being held on charges he kidnapped the couple's son, Billy Wyatt Mapel. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Mapel was in a Harrison County courtroom Thursday morning set to plead guilty to other charges, but instead he coped an attitude, expressing that he was angry over being in segregation from other inmates. So, he refused to enter a plea.
- More than 3,100 nonprofits in Kentucky are targeted to lose tax-exempt status after not filing the proper paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service for three consecutive years. Until 2006, tax-exempt nonprofits with gross receipts of less than $25,000 didn't have to file with the IRS. Congress changed the law to require annual filing and to revoke nonprofit status for any organization that didn't file for three years. The first three-year period ended in May. Losing federal tax-exempt status will mean that any state tax exemption a nonprofit received may also now be revoked at the state level. For donors, it could mean that what was thought to be a charitable donation isn't tax-deductible.
- Fifty-eight year old Javier Arce, an Elizabethtown, Kentucky cardiologist, and his ex-wife, 55 year old Cristina Mier Arce, pleaded not guilty Thursday after being indicted on charges of conspiracy and harboring an undocumented immigrant from Bolivia and having her work as a domestic servant without paying her. According to an indictment, the couple recruited a woman from Bolivia to work as a full-time domestic servant from 1994 through 2006. The two are charged with taking the woman's passport, then threatening her with arrest and deportation if she left. Javier Arce is also charged with harboring the woman for financial gain from 2006 through 2009. Both were released on $100,000 bond. An August 30th trial date has been set.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:40 PM 
