Tuesday, June 07, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...6-8-'11
- A preliminary accident report released this week from the National Transportation Safety Board says the plane that crashed May 25th in the North Carolina mountains of Cherokee County while flying from Atlanta to Hazard plunged several hundred feet after the pilot, Matthew Shuey, declared an emergency and disappeared from the controllers' radar screens. Shuey reported a fire on board and then never responded to questions from air traffic controllers. The four people killed in the crash were identified as 27 year old Matthew Shuey of Nicholasville, 23 year old Tiffany Maggard, 22 year old Kassie Robinson and 20 year old Miranda Morgan. The three friends from Knott County, spent a week in Alabama and were flying back to Hazard. Three witnesses told investigators the plane's engines started revving just before it crashed.
- After a nearly 24 hour manhunt, police found and arrested convicted rapist, 40 year old Clayton Clouse Jr. Tuesday evening on the river bank at the Johnson-Floyd county line, near ThunderRidge. Police say Clouse assaulted two 12 year old girls Monday night in the area of Hanging Rock in Paintsville.
- Governor Steve Beshear announced Tuesday that Kentucky will receive a $4,276,514 National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor that will create about 317 temporary jobs for eligible dislocated workers to assist with clean-up and recovery efforts as a result of the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that struck Kentucky in April.
- A preliminary hearing will be held Thursday in Letcher District Court for 58 year old Bruce C. Lebrun, a man charged May 18th with intimidating a witness in the drug-trafficking case of 39 year old Joseph Jay "J.J." Wright, a suspended umpire for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. Wright has been suspended as a KHSAA umpire for softball and baseball since he was charged with trafficking in the painkiller Oxycodone in late April. A criminal complaint in Letcher District Court says that, on May 14th, using hand gestures, Lebrun imitated the action of pointing and firing a handgun at the cooperating witness. Lebrun was released from the Letcher County jail on May 18th on a $5,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty.
- The attorney for 23 year old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, one of two Iraqi nationals charged in Kentucky with trying to send weapons and money to al-Qaida operatives in their home country, filed notice Tuesday to forgo arguments for release from custody. The detention hearing was scheduled for Wednesday in Bowling Green. Hammadi is charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists and knowingly transferring, possessing or exporting a device designed or intended to launch or guide a rocket or missile. His co-defendant, 30 year old Waad Ramadan Alwan, is charged with conspiracy to kill a United States national, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.
- Governor Steve Beshear signed about 100 bills into law earlier this year, most of which will take effect Wednesday, including the corrections reform bill. In an effort aimed at reducing the over-crowded jail population in Kentucky and save the state $400 million in 10 years, non-violent offenders will be cited by law enforcement rather than being placed under arrest. Among the new laws is one that will allow optometrists to perform some medical procedures that previously had been reserved for ophthalmologists. Ophthalmologists had bitterly opposed its passage, but lawmakers overwhelmingly supported the move, insisting it was crucial to some of the state's medically underserved rural communities. One will allow pharmacists to give flu shots to children ages 9 to 13. Another will require high schools to provide seniors with information about registering to vote. Another will increase the maximum political contribution to school board candidates from $200 to $1,000. A change in judicial law will allow people to recoup more money in small claims courts. The new law allows people to collect up to $2,500 for successful small claims, up from the previous $1,500.
- Operation UNITE announced Tuesday that six more arrests have been made in a yearlong investigation of drug trafficking in the area of Harlan County, most from the area of Cumberland, Benham and Lynch. A total of 52 people were indicted in the case. Tuesday's action brings the total arrests to 36.
- Former Scott County High School basketball star Jonathan "Bud" Mackey of Georgetown was sentenced to 15½ years in prison Monday for felony theft, escape and trafficking in a controlled substance, along with a probation violation. Mackey received 10½ years for the theft, escape and drug trafficking charges. His probation on a previous possession of cocaine charge was revoked, adding 5 more years. He will be eligible for parole in a little more than three years. Mackey pleaded guilty in April to the theft, escape and drug trafficking charges as part of a plea agreement. He was charged in September 2007 after police said he had 1.6 grams of rock cocaine in his shoe. According to an arrest warrant issued last year, he and three co-defendants intentionally struck a woman numerous times and stole $520 from the victim. Police say Mackey had a small black pistol in his pants and told the victim she was lucky he did not shoot her.
- Kentucky State Police Officer Bradley Gillock, 32, was responding to a complaint at Rowan County High School in Morehead Monday morning when a deer jumped in front of his cruiser on Flemingsburg Road. Gillock swerved attempting to miss the deer, but instead hit it, lost control, hit a sign, traveled up an embankment and flipped several times before hitting a building and a parked car. Gillock had to be cut out of his cruiser by crews from the Morehead Fire Department. He was transported to Saint Claire Medical Center where he was treated and released.
- Lexington attorney Jennifer C. Philpot, who practices part-time and teaches at Eastern Kentucky University, has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in London in which she alleges that, while she was in Clay County last June to visit her mother, she was arrested on a charge of alcohol intoxication, which was later dismissed, and strip-searched without justification by two eastern Kentucky jail employees who made racial slurs after she went to a public pool with a biracial child. Philpot says a body cavity search was not justified. Named as defendants are the two guards, whose names weren't known, and Jailer Kenny Price, as well as several other officials.
- A judge in Grayson has sentenced Robin Maple to life in prison, without parole or probation, for the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend, Melissa Patrick. Police say, in October 2008, Maple escaped from jail in Montgomery County where he was being held after his arrest on charges that he kidnapped Billy Mapel, an infant son he and Patrick had together. Authorities say Maple kidnapped Patrick and fatally shot her in Morgan County.
- With a new law in effect, July Fourth fireworks in Kentucky may be a little taller and brighter this year. The new law allows people to buy and use fireworks that shoot into the air. Kentucky Fire Marshal William Swope says state law now allows people to buy what is known as "1.4 consumer fireworks," or items such as Roman candles, firecrackers and bottle rockets, as long as local ordinance allows it. The statute also includes some safety features. Swope says people younger than 18 aren't allowed to buy or sell fireworks,. The fireworks can't be used within 200 feet of a structure, vehicle or other person and can't be sold to anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- .The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) has announced that Donnie Wilkerson, a teacher at Jamestown Elementary in Jamestown, Ky., has been named the 2011 Kentucky History Teacher of the Year. The award is co-sponsored by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, HISTORY® (History Channel) and Preserve America. Wilkerson has been teaching at Jamestown Elementary for seven years, after a diverse career which included owning several businesses and serving as the mayor of
Jamestown from 1993-98. As a fifth-grade American history teacher, Wilkerson quickly became a leader with both students and colleagues. He has presented workshops to other teachers and has brought the past to life for his students through exciting in-class lessons, as well as out-of-class field trips to places such as Locust Grove and Constitution Square—extracurricular options he provides for students on Saturdays called “Kentucky Adventures.” Wilkerson, aJamestown resident, will receive a $1,000 honorarium and will be in the running to be named the National History Teacher of the Year this fall.
- Kentucky State Police Post 13 in Hazard recently participated in the Click It or Ticket Campaign which ran from May 23rd through June 5, 2011. State Police along with other law enforcement agencies conducted 41 traffic safety checkpoints during the campaign.
- The following is a summary of totals from this campaign:
SEAT BELT CITATIONS: 120
CHILD RESTRAINT CITATIONS: 9
FELONY ARRESTS: 39
STOLEN VEHICLES RECOVERED: 2
FUGITIVES APPREHENDED: 170
SUSPENDED LICENSES: 28
NO INSURANCE: 194
SPEEDING: 167
RECKLESS DRIVING: 11
DRUG ARRESTS: 39
OTHER TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS: 703
This campaign is designed to target seatbelt usage and impaired drivers
throughout the Commonwealth. KSP would like to emphasize the importance
of highway safety during the upcoming summer months.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:44 PM 
