EKB News

News from East Kentucky Broadcasting.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-20-'11

• On February 18, 2011 (Friday) the Kentucky State Police Post in Hazard received a 911 call of an injury accident on Kentucky Highway 1087 in the Softshell Community of Knott County.  Upon the arrival of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, the Knott County Sheriff’s Department, the Knott County Transtar Ambulance, and the Ball Creek Fire and Rescue it was determined that the victim James B. Combs was traveling on Kentucky Highway 1087 rounding a curve when he lost control of his vehicle striking an on coming vehicle driven by Audrey Yoder.  Mr. Combs was pronounced deceased on the scene by the Knott County Coroner.  Mrs. Yoder and 3 other occupants were transported to the Hazard Appalachian Regional Hospital for minor injuries.  The case is ongoing by Officer Thomas Gearheart with the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement. 

• Police have arrested a Louisville man and an Elizabethtown man on murder charges in a 2009 shooting death. Louisville police charged 27-year-old Dayshawn Talbert of Elizabethtown and 22-year-old Tyrone Poe Jr. of Louisville in the May 1, 2009 death of 44-year-old David Cantrell of Louisville. Louisville police Lt. Barry Wilkerson said Thursday that the shooting apparently was prompted by a debt from a previous drug deal.

• Optometrists could perform some uncomplicated medical procedures now reserved for ophthalmologists under a bill that has been approved by the state legislature. The House voted 81-14 for final approval of the fast-tracked proposal on Friday after two weeks of contentious debate. It now goes to Gov. Steve Beshear, who hasn't yet said whether he will sign it into law. The Kentucky Medical Association and the Kentucky Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons opposed the measure, saying optometrists aren't qualified to perform even simple eye surgeries. The measure would allow optometrists to perform a variety of procedures but specifically excludes more complicated surgeries such as Lasik, which is used to correct poor vision.

• A suspended Murray State University professor says he will resign from the school following an allegation that he made a racial remark to a black student. Political science professor Mark Wattier is on unpaid suspension stemming from the student's complaint over slave-related remarks attributed to the professor. Wattier says he has submitted a letter of resignation and has begun the retirement process. The student has said Wattier started class early last semester and she questioned him about it when she arrived on time. The student says Wattier responded by saying slaves never showed up on time.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:05 PM

EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...2-20-'11

• An Alpha Natural Resources subsidiary and a Massey Energy contractor have been cited by state inspectors for violations related to a pair of mining deaths. Alpha subsidiary Kingston Mining Inc. was cited in the death of William Roger Dooley, a 56 year old roof bolter killed on October 11, 2010, when a 6-foot-by-3-foot piece of mine roof fell on him at Kingston's Mine No. 1 near Mossy in Fayette County. Inspectors found Kingston was not complying with its state-approved roof control plan which required roof bolts to be spaced no more than 48 inches apart. The company had spaced them up to 59 inches apart. Kingston was taking deeper cuts of coal than allowed by the plan. Massey contractor Medford Trucking was cited in the death of Charles R. Qualls, a 32 year old truck driver killed on December 4, 2010, when his truck ran off a haul road at Massey's Republic Energy Surface Mine along the Kanawha-Fayette County line. Inspectors found three of the six brakes on the trailer attached to Qualls' truck were not working properly, and one of the six brake drums was worn beyond the manufacturers' maximum limits, while two of the six brake chambers were past due to be readjusted.

• West Virginia state employees, members of the West Virginia Public Workers Union UE Local 170,  plan a rally in the Lower Rotunda of the Capitol at 10:00 A.M. Monday to call for pay raises, improved benefits and better working conditions, while also showing support for protesting public workers in Wisconsin. In addition to a pay increase, the  Union is calling for implementation of caseload standards in the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, the repeal of involuntary employee transfers, seniority rights to be extended to state workers and enforcement of the state's occupational safety and health laws for public workers. They will wear red bandanas, a symbol of the West Virginia miners' insurrection of 1921, as a sign of solidarity.

• Speaking from the John Amos Power Plant, Appalachian Power President Charles Patton said the rate increases which have hit customers in the past year will probably continue for some time, and much of the additional cost can be blamed on the EPA and its plans for regulation going forward. Appalachian has officially completed a a six-year, $2 billion investment to upgrade scrubbers to burn coal cleaner and meet federal environmental requirements. The initiative was completed with the startup of the John Amos Plant Unit 1 scrubber in Winfield. The effort is part of a $4.2 billion in environmental retrofits to address plant emissions set in motion in 2004 by its parent company American Electric Power. The state PSC granted one rate hike to the company last year, a second one is pending, and soon the company will seek a third. Patton says there are probably more to come as the EPA hits power companies with more regulation.

• In March 2009, Pocahontas County sheriff's deputy Robert Alkire II pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of brandishing a weapon for firing his pistol in an unsafe manner after originally being charged with one count of wanton endangerment for a November 2007 incident. His certification as a West Virginia police officer was revoked in April 2010 by the state Law Enforcement Training Subcommittee. Alkire appealed the revocation, and administrative law judge John A. Grafton recommended he get his license back. J. Norbert Federspiel, the executive director of the Governor's Committee on Crime Delinquency and Corrections, took the law judge's ruling into account and ordered Alkire to serve a two-year suspension, which runs through April 2012. After that he can be employed as a law enforcement officer under certain conditions.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:59 PM

Friday, February 18, 2011

EKB Capsule News,,,Kentucky...2-19-'11

• U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-05) has called on Florida Governor Rick Scott  to reconsider his proposal to repeal Florida’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. In a letter to Governor Scott, Rogers, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse, noted that Florida is ground zero for black market painkillers that continue to be abused while continuing to lead to overdoses while feeding illegal habits across the country. Rogers told Scott that now is no time to shy away from the immense challenge of shutting down the pill pipeline. Rogers says he awaits the visit from White House Drug Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske, which will provide him the opportunity to bring to the national spotlight the lawlessness and hopelessness that can result from pills diverted along the "Flamingo Road" and to highlight the impressive strides to attack this multi-faceted problem in southern and eastern Kentucky thanks in large part to Operation UNITE. Florida’s program was authorized in 2009, largely in response to national outcry over an outbreak of dangerous pill mills in the state, but to date, it has not been implemented by the Florida Department of Health.

• Karen Cunagin Sypher cried intermittently and gave a short, incoherent statement during Friday's hearing before being sentenced to 87 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III. She was also ordered to pay $600 in fines but does not have to pay restitution. A jury convicted Sypher in August of extortion, lying to the FBI and retaliation against a witness after authorities say she threatened to reveal a sexual tryst with Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino unless he paid her millions in cash, luxury cars and a house. Her attorney, David Nolan of Alexandria, Virginia, says he will file an appeal Monday. Sypher was released on bond after a closed, 2 1/2-hour hearing on a prosecution attempt to have her immediately taken into custody.

• Spurred by consumer complaints about skyrocketing utility bills, the Senate passed legislation introduced by Senator Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, with a 29-5 vote Friday to revamp the Public Service Commission and require that its members be elected instead of appointed. Jones said he introduced the measure for Kentucky residents who were hit with a 17 percent electric rate increase before being walloped by one of the coldest winters in modern history. The Senate's legislation would expand the commission from three members to seven. Elected to staggered four-year terms, commission members would be from each of Kentucky's six congressional districts. The seventh member would represent the state at large. Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford heralded the legislation in a statement Friday afternoon, saying he believes an elected panel will be more responsive to voters.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:14 PM

EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...2-19-'11

• The case of 24 year old Leslie Boggs, a South Charleston woman charged with causing the death of her infant daughter garnered national attention Friday when Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants and South Charleston Police Detective A.R. Gordon were guests on "Swift Justice with Nancy Grace" on CNN Headline News to talk about the case. Police say Boggs originally claimed she left her 3-month-old baby girl, Raynna Rea Boggs, in a room by herself when she went to do some cleaning.  When she returned to the room, Boggs says, her daughter wasn't breathing. Boggs appeared on the Nancy Grace show in September, and, during that interview, admitted to drinking to the point where she blacked out. Recently, Boggs' finance, Thomas Meyers, told police the baby was smothered after Boggs passed out on top of her. Sam Champion of ABC News, who filled in for Grace on Friday's show, asked why Meyers would have come forward with the allegations. Plants told Champion that the coroner's report is in line with what Meyers told police.

• Shelly Smith, the wife of Charles Smith, the man accused of shooting three deputy U.S. Marshals, killing Derek Hotsinpiller, 24, of Bridgeport, could face criminal charges. During a March 2010 interview, Shelly Smith told Marshals her husband, a fugitive from justice since 2006, was in Indiana, but investigators believe Charles Smith had been living with is wife, Shelly, since at least 2010. Further investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service indicates that,starting in April 2010, both Shelly and Charles Smith received monthly food stamps from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources at the Central Street address in Elkins, where the shooting occurred while U.S. Marshals were attempting to serve an arrest warrant last Wednesday.

• Chad "Pock" Williams, 35, was in Logan County Circuit Court Friday for a preliminary hearing in the January  30th shooting death of Jason Horne. Williams has been bound to the grand jury for a hearing that could happen in May or as late as September. Horne, 28, died after he was shot in the head. Darren Keith Midkiff, 21, of Chapmanville, was arrested February 6th on charges of obstructing an officer and being an accessory to murder after the fact. State Police said Midkiff withheld information about Williams.

• Breazeale Norris, an Indianapolis, Indiana, truck driver, pleaded guilty Friday morning to DUI causing death and and two counts of misdemeanor DUI causing bodily injury, while eight counts were dismissed as part of a plea deal.  Police say, in November 2009, Norris was driving a tractor-trailer near the Teays Valley exit when it struck a vehicle carrying 18 year old James Roberts, shoving it through an intersection to the eastbound entrance ramp of Interstate 64. Three others were injured in the crash. Norris faces up to 12 years in prison when sentenced April 14th.

• Sherry D. Harrison, 59, of Holden, in Logan County, was sentenced to five years of probation Friday for the theft of government funds after she admitted to falsifying documents in July 2003, which led to payments of more than $46,500 in Social Security benefits to her while she was acting as a representative payee on behalf of her stepdaughter whom she admitted was not in her custody. Investigations showed she falsified documents during a 7-year period and received more than $500 a month in federal benefits, while she and her husband used the federal funds to pay the child’s mother $100 each month for child care and $54 in child support. Harrison was ordered to pay the entire $46,543 to the Social Security Administration. She already has paid back a portion, but $45,392 remains.

• A Jackson County judge declared a mistrial Friday in a case against former Ripley police officer Buddy Thomas who's accused of touching a teenage girl inappropriately. Another trial has been set for August 9th. Thomas denies the charges.

• A 44 year old Catholic priest who once worked in West Virginia received a suspended sentence Friday in a Virginia courtroom. Fr. Felix C. Owino, a native of Kenya, was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison after previously pleading guilty to aggravated sexual battery involving an 11-year-old girl. The judge suspended five years of the sentence and ordered Owino to jail for nine months, giving him credit for the seven months he has already been in custody. Owino, at one time, was the pastor at St. Paul's Parish in Weirton and also worked at Wheeling Jesuit University. The group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, expressed disappointment with Friday's sentencing.

• Huntington Police have charged Mark Cole, 30, of Huntington, with malicious wounding in the June 2010 shooting of Walter Agee which occurred at Euclid Place  Police had already arrested 24 year old Terry Chaney for his role in the shooting. Huntington Police also say 24-year-old Terry Chaney and two other people were involved in a home invasion.

• By a 2-1 majority, members of Teamsters Union Local 175 rejected a contract proposal offered by Armstrong Hardwood Flooring Co. at a meeting held in Elkins Thursday. The contract was set to end Friday night. The union has agreed to continue working in hopes that a fair settlement can be reached. The company has an a operation in Beverly, and is one of Randolph County's largest employers. Armstrong is seeking to increase its premiums and make benefit cuts on the 550 teamsters working at their Beverly facility.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:41 PM

Thursday, February 17, 2011

EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-18-'11

• Leslie County Deputies responded to a shots fired call at a home on Glady Branch Road in the Stinnet community Thursday morning, where they found a meth lab. Paige Murphy faces manufacturing methamphetamine and possession charges. Ronnie Smith faces a list of drug charges, along with charges of fleeing and evading police, operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and theft by unlawful taking.

• Operation UNITE officials say, in October 2009, they raided the home of former Magoffin County Elementary School principal Darrell Patrick. where they found drugs and more than 100 guns. Patrick has been indicted on federal drug charges. The indictment says, from August to October, 2009, Patrick distributed OxyCodone. Patrick has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a trial is scheduled for April. Patrick is not allowed to travel outside of eastern Kentucky.

• David A. McHenry 56, of Massillon Ohio died following an accident on Interstate 75 in Whitley County after his semi ran off the interstate, hit some trees, and overturned near Williamsburg just after 4:00 A.M. Thursday morning. The tractor trailer was owned by LoriMar Materials Management of Massillon Ohio. Whitley County coroner Andy Croley pronounced McHenry dead at the scene.

• State lawmakers criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday as two legislative panels approved different measures to shield Kentucky coal mining from federal pollution rules. Representative Keith Hall, D-Phelps, who is in the coal-mining business and owns 1,200 acres, says he hopes the issue goes to the Supreme Court. House Natural Resources and Environment Chairman Jim Gooch, D-Providence, says lawmakers are trying to say to the EPA that we don't want them having ultimate say or control. Gooch's committee unanimously approved his House Bill 421, which would exempt coal mining from the federal Clean Water Act and other EPA regulation if the coal is used inside Kentucky and does not cross state lines. The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee later unanimously approved Senate Joint Resolution 99, which declares that Kentucky should be a "sanctuary state" for the coal industry, free from "the overreaching regulatory power" of the EPA. The state Energy and Environment Cabinet would be authorized to regulate mining on their own.

• The House Health and Welfare Committee unanimously passed a bill Thursday that would create a panel to review deaths and near-deaths of children who are neglected or abused while under the supervision of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The bill, however, would exempt the panel from disclosing its conversations and documents regarding neglected and abused children. Representative Tom Burch, D-Louisville, who sponsored the bill, said the panel would increase transparency of child deaths and provide more oversight of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

• Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour spoke privately to a group of Kentucky coal executives meeting in Lexington Thursday. Barbour criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for being "out of hand" in its approach to regulating coal, saying the EPA under the Obama administration is imposing strict environmental standards that mining companies can't possibly meet. He says it's a deliberate way to try to halt coal mining, which would be catastrophic for Appalachian America. Barbour was the first candidate pondering a run in next year's presidential race to reach out to Kentucky's coal operators who have the financial resources to help bankroll politicians friendly to their industry.

• Three eastern Kentucky residents have been indicted on charges of vote buying stemming from last November's election in Magoffin County. Fifty-four year old Randall E. Salyer, 43 year old Patricia L. Trusty and 43 year old Donald Trusty, all from Salyersville, were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Ashland. They are accused of paying several people for votes in November. Salyer is charged with four counts of vote buying, Donald Trusty with two counts and Patricia Trusty with one count.

• Legislation sailed through the Kentucky House on a 97-2 vote Thursday that's aimed at reversing the rapid growth in the state’s prison population by steering more offenders into drug treatment and alternative sentences. The bill proposes some of the biggest changes to Kentucky’s penal code in decades, and its supporters say it will ease the state’s escalating corrections costs. They say the measure could reap $422 million in savings over a decade. About half that amount would be put into boosting treatment programs and strengthening probation and parole. Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton and Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown hailed the House vote and congratulated Democratic Representative John Tilley, who shepherded the bill through the House.

• The Kentucky House has advanced legislation aimed at protecting older people and vulnerable adults by creating an adult abuse registry. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Representative Ruth Ann Palumbo of Lexington, is one of several being considered to boost protections for some of Kentucky's most vulnerable citizens. The measure that won 98-0 House passage on Thursday would create a tracking system for people found to have abused or neglected the elderly or disabled. Personal care employers would have access to the information, as would families seeking to hire home care workers.

• A controversial bill that would require random drug testing of those who receive Medicaid and other forms of public assistance, including food stamps, was debated Thursday by the House Health and Welfare Committee, which did not vote on House Bill 208 despite motions to do so. Committee Chairman Tom Burch, D-Louisville, said the bill would not be voted on because there was no money to pay for drug testing or the rehabilitation of addicts. Burch said, if the bill was approved, it would be a fraud on the people of Kentucky. Republican Representative Lonnie Napier of Lancaster, the sponsor of the bill, said the cabinet estimates it could cost about $1.5 million a year to implement the random drug testing. But Napier said getting people to stop using drugs would probably result in those people getting jobs and getting off the welfare rolls. People who test positive for drugs would be given 60 days to go to rehabilitation or seek treatment. During that period, their public assistance would not be terminated. Only after repeated positive drug tests would public assistance be terminated.

• Four measures that would strengthen the state's abortion laws died in the House Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday, while  Democrats voted against the bills and Republicans voted in favor of them. Anti-abortion advocates say the Democratic-controlled House is not giving the abortion bills, which traditionally pass the Republican-controlled Senate and die in the House, a fair hearing. House Bill 374 would have required a person seeking an abortion to have a face-to-face meeting with a doctor. House Bill 243 would have stopped a minor from another state from petitioning a court to receive an abortion if they do not have the permission of a parent.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:28 PM

EKB Capsuke News...West Virginia...2-18-'11

• Judge Harry L. Kirkpatrick III, has ruled that a medical monitoring lawsuit claiming hundreds of children were exposed to coal dust from a Massey Energy Co. coal silo can go to trial March 14th. Williamson attorney Kevin Thompson is suing Massey and its Goals Coal Co. subsidiary over long-term exposure from a silo located about 235 feet from Marsh Fork Elementary School near Sundial. Thompson alleges the exposure put children at risk for asthma and other lung ailments. Massey attorneys Jon Anderson and Dan Stickler argued Thompson has failed to present evidence to justify the demand for a medical monitoring program, and no one has been sick at the school. They argue Thompson is trying to create a problem using "scientific mumbo-jumbo.'' Thompson says he's seeking monitoring of diseases that have yet to develop.

• Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin issued a proclamation Thursday ordering that all U.S. and state flags be lowered half-staff in honor of Deputy U.S. Marshal Derek Hotsinpiller, 24, of Bridgeport, who was killed in the line of duty while he and others were attempting to serve an arrest warrant at the home of Charles Smith in Elkins on Wednesday. Smith was armed with both a .45-caliber handgun and a shotgun, began shooting when they entered his home, causing them to return fire, killing Smith. Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal, 42 year old Alex Neville, was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, but he is expected to recover. Deputy Marshal Fred Frederick was treated at Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins and released.

• The case against 58 year old Robert Norris, Jr., a North Carolina man indicted in Putnam County for having two wives, is setto go to trial on February 28th. He is charged with bigamy. Prosecutors made a plea offer in a hearing Thursday morning but Norris declined. If convicted, Norris could spend up to five years in prison.

• Emergency crews located Charles Hamm and John Wendell Thursday morning after they wrecked their ATV Wednesday evening and were unable to find their way out of the woods. The two were lost in the woods between Hospital Hill and Paint Creek Road just outside of Crown Hill of eastern Kanawha County.

• More than 100 people appeared in the House chamber Thursday asking lawmakers for tougher regulations on Marcellus shale drilling by the oil and gas industries. Some landowners want stronger environmental regulations to protect water supplies, while others want assurances that road damage by trucks hauling gas away from drill sites would be repaired using the companies' money. Others wanted their property rights preserved if drillers exercised their mineral rights to drill for gas through their land. And there were complaints of not enough inspectors to make sure drilling companies were playing by the rules. Proponents  warned that too much regulation could stifle what could be a huge economic boon for West Virginia.

• Saint Albans got a new police chief Thursday as Harry "Brent" Coates was sworn in by Mayor Dick Callaway. Coates, a West Virginia native, began his law enforcement career in South Charleston in 1980. Coates left the department in 1983 and began a 27 year career with the Florida Highway Patrol, where he rose to the rank of major and was Director of the Florida Highway Patrol Academy before he retired in January to take the Saint Albans job. He plans to meet with each officer individually to address their concerns, needs and ideas for the future of the department, and he's planning to meet with civic and city leaders as well as citizens to hear what they have to say.

• The 10th juvenile drug court in West Virginia has officially opened in Putnam County. The court will start with five candidates who, for up to 18 months, will receive counseling, drug testing and treatment that also involve the candidate's family. Candidates will meet with the judge every week for so many months. Then they meet with the court every two weeks, while they earn incentives and rewards. They also incur punishment if they don't comply with the term of the drug court.

• The  office of Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced Thursday that it has heard reports of random phone calls from someone claiming to be an employee of Charleston Area Medical Center, looking for personal  information. CAMC had already notified the patients whose information was made public because of an Internet security breach. McGraw's office is asking anyone who receives a suspicious call to call his office at 1-800-368-8808.

• The Senate Health and Human Resources Committee passed legislation Thursday that would raise tobacco taxes from $0.55 per pack of cigarettes to $1.55 per pack and raise taxes on other tobacco products from 7 percent of the wholesale price to 50 percent. Lawmakers amended the bill so tax proceeds would be distributed to a number of programs, including Medicaid, West Virginia University and health benefits for retired state employees. Additional revenues would be split up, with 30 percent going to oral health improvement programs, 30 percent to substance abuse and prevention, 24 percent to in-home elderly care and 16 percent for early childhood development programming. One senator the amendment didn't win over was Senator Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, who said it punishes working people and would drive customers in border counties to other states.

• By a vote of 92-5, the West Virginia House of Delegates approved legislation Thursday that would outlaw texting while driving, but without the ability by law enforcement officers to pull over drivers for violating the ban. Drivers would be penalized $50 the first time they broke the law, $100 the second time and $200 for any violations after that. The proposed law is a secondary offense, meaning drivers would only be cited if an officer pulled them over for another offense, such as speeding. And no points would be added to their drivers' records.

• The Charleston office of GAI Consultants, an archeological consulting firm, has been hired to monitor the disturbance and removal of earth from the construction site of a new consolidated state office building in downtown Logan, where a Native American burial was found January 31st. The five-story, 54,000 square foot building is expected to be complete early next year and provide office space for the state Department of Revenue, Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Rehabilitative Services, Department of Veterans Affairs and Workforce West Virginia.

• Cardiovascular disease effects an estimated 81 million adults a year nationally. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of four deaths in West Virginia are due to heart disease. West Virginia Health Right has received a three-year grant worth $556,957 to fund a healthy heart program for its 34-county coverage area. The grant, from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation’s Connections for Cardiovascular Health, will provide $186,907 during the first year for Health Right’s Pathways to Cardiovascular Health. The Connections program was launched last year with the mission of improving cardiovascular health,

# posted by Homer Owens @ 9:43 PM

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-17-'11

• In an effort to prevent a possible $400,000 end-of-the-year budget shortfall, the Pike County Fiscal Court voted unanimously Tuesday to freeze $600,000 in coal severance funds. Pike County Judge Executive Wayne Rutherford presented two options to the court, saying last years floods and an extremely tough winter leaves them a choice to freeze the funds used for district-by-district infrastructure projects or furlough  county employees. Rutherford says, as part of a 13 percent match on more than than $5.6 million FEMA contributed to flood recovery, the county must pay about $400,000 this year and again next year. Assistant Pike County Attorney Roland Case told magistrates another $100,000 earmarked for shortline water extensions for Mountain Water District can also be frozen.

• Mike Lyons, Pike County Solid Waste Commissioner, says now is the time for Pike County residents to take advantage of the Pike County Government’s Tire Amnesty Program. Lyons says people and businesses with old tires can take them to the Pike County Landfill or, depending on the amount of tires, can make arrangements with their local magistrate’s office to have the tires picked up by Pike County Solid Waste. Belfry, Belcher and Robinson Creek solid waste lots will not accept tires. The Belfry lot has never accepted tires and the Belcher and Robinson Creek lots are not accepting this year. The Pike County Tire Amnesty Program will last until Saturday, March 19th. The program saves the county between $75,000 and $100,000 because the cost to dispose of the tires is waived by the state during the amnesty period.

• Two pain clinics in Paintsville, in Johnson County, were raided and more than 30 people were arrested Wednesday morning. Dr. Richard Albert was not charged with any crime as agents from the DEA, attorney general's office, Paintsville Police, Johnson County Sheriff and KSP seized medical files and computers from his Route 321 offices. Less than a mile away, Dr. Rano Bofill's Care More Medical Management Center on Tays Branch Road was raided, and officers made about 30 parking lot arrests. Earlier this week, the county Judge-Executive Tucker Daniel was handed more than 2,000 names on petitions demanding a local law banning unethical pain clinics. The doctors at these locations have not been arrested or charged. Albert, who on February 2nd took out an advertisement in the Paintsville Herald saying he would retire on February 28th and patients had 30 days to pick up their records, surrendered his Kentucky medical license Wednesday. Albert was reprimanded last year by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure for illegally advertising prescriptions for Suboxone.

• April Williams, 34, of Baxter, in Harlan County, died early Wednesday in a three-vehicle crash in the Putney community. KSP say Williams was stopped in the northbound lane of U.S. 119, waiting to turn left to a side road, when a truck driven by Michael Southerland, 19, of Wallins, hit her from the rear. knocking her car into the path of a vehicle driven by Kim Simpson, 34, of Totz. Simpson's vehicle hit Williams' in the passenger side and knocked it into a guardrail. Williams died at the scene. Southerland and a passenger, Steven Coots, 18, of Cumberland, and Simpson and her passenger, Bradley Simpson, 16, were all taken to the Harlan Appalachian Regional Hospital for treatment.

• The Beshear administration and the Kentucky Coal Association filed suit last year in U.S. District Court in Pikeville challenging the EPA's decision to block 11 new mines in five eastern Kentucky counties. Lawmakers in Kentucky are now threatening to give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the boot. Senate Energy and Environment Committee Chairman Brandon Smith, a Republican from Hazard, said Wednesday the EPA has put Kentucky's economic security and thousands of jobs at risk. Smith is sponsoring a resolution that would declare Kentucky a "sanctuary state" out of reach of the EPA. He said the intent is to send a clear message to the Obama administration that the EPA needs to stop penalizing an industry that employs some 18,000 Kentuckians. The initial vote on what appears to be a popular but unenforceable resolution is set for Thursday morning. Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., has proposed a sweeping $1.9 billion cut, about 18 percent, to the amount of money requested for EPA this year by President Barack Obama. Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett says the mining industry hopes EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson won't ignore the state resolution as a blank threat but will instead listen to what is a serious concern in the state. Demonstrators staged a sit-in at Governor Steve Beshear's Capitol office over the weekend in protest of his support for the mining industry. And about 1,000 protesters gathered for a mass outdoor rally at the Capitol on Monday calling for an end to mountaintop removal mining.

• Payday lenders won't be facing a new cap on interest rates in Kentucky after a proposal that would have capped the interest rates at 36 percent failed to pass in the House Banking and Insurance Committee which voted 10-13. Democratic state Representative Darryl Owens of Louisville said Wednesday he wouldn't try to revive the legislation in this year's legislative session. If the legislation had passed, Kentucky would have joined the District of Columbia and at least 17 other states that have already imposed caps.

• The federal government says MSHA mine inspectors issued 141 citations at seven coal mines in Kentucky in January. Manalapan Mining Co. Inc.'s RB No. 12 Mine in Harlan County was issued 24 citations and three orders. The Labor Department said inspectors found some defective handheld multi-gas detectors at the mine, which it said increases the risk of undetected explosive mixtures of methane or low oxygen. The inspections involve mines that have poor compliance history or other concerns, including high numbers of violations and accidents.

• Two members of the Kentucky Parole Board did not come to a decision Wednesday about parole for Elizabeth Zehnder Turpin, a woman incarcerated for nearly 25 years for her role in the murder of 22 year old Michael Turpin of Lexington. Turpin is considered the mastermind behind the slaying of Michael Turpin, to whom she had been married for less than six months when he was killed February 3, 1986. Authorities say the motive was $60,000 in life insurance Elizabeth Turpin wanted to collect. Keith Bouchard was convicted of fatally stabbing Michael Turpin, with assistance from Karen Brown. Turpin's body, with 19 stab wounds, was recovered from a pond at Lexington's Lakeside Golf Course. Elizabeth Turpin was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility for parole after 25 years. The slaying is considered among the most sensational murders in state history. The full nine-member parole board will meet again Monday in Frankfort to make a decision.

• Kentucky State Police say a total of 1,100 meth labs were found in the state last year. A bill that would require a prescription for current over-the-counter cold medicines that contain the drug pseudoephedrine has sat in the Senate for 10 days awaiting a vote. Supporters saythe bill would curb the scourge of meth in Kentucky, making it more difficult for manufacturers to get what they need to make the toxic and highly addictive meth. Senator Tom Jensen, R-London, who sponsored the Senate bill, says they're going to leave it up a little bit longer, but time is running out, and he doesn't think there are enough supporters to get the bill passed, leaving the real tragedy on the horizon. Only two states have passed similar laws, Oregon and Mississippi.

• Under a bill backed by Republican senators, all Kentucky schools would have to set aside time each day for students to face the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Senate Bill 15, which sponsors call the Kentucky School Patriot Act, was filed last week and is scheduled for a vote Thursday in the Senate Education Committee. Students who don't want to participate in the pledge may quietly stand or remain seated but shall respect the rights of those pupils electing to participate.

• A proposal that would extend Nashville city government's anti-discrimination ordinance to contractors on city projects has passed a second reading. If adopted again at a March 15 meeting, the proposal would extend workplace protections to employees of city contractors, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposal passed second reading on a 21-16 vote, reported The Tennessean. Measure co-sponsor Mike Jameson said 181 U.S. cities and counties have similar laws. Nick Wilkerson of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance said after Louisville, Ky., adopted such an ordinance, the local governments in Lexington, Ky., and Covington, Ky., followed suit.

• Workers have begun the task of repairing miles of railroad track in Kentucky, starting in Frankfort. Officials from R.J. Corman Railroad Group and Gov. Steve Beshear kicked off the first of the improvements this week in Frankfort, replacing the switch in front of the city's Old Depot. Company Vice President Noel Rush says the project will assist industrial customers who ship sand and aluminum ingots and could one day benefit a proposed passenger rail service. Improvements that began this week will cost $16.2 million, with $13 million covered by stimulus funds, $3 million from the company and $200,000 from the state. The improvements in Kentucky will be made to rails in Bullitt, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, Logan, Nelson, Shelby, Scott, Todd, Warren and Woodford counties.

• Alpha Natural Resources says it has started the process of planning how to blend its operations with those of rival Massey Energy Co. Alpha Chief Executive Kevin Crutchfield and President Kurt Kost wrote to Alpha employees this week saying the company has started the first step of its planned takeover of Richmond-based Massey. The letter was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The two say Alpha and Massey officials met last week in West Virginia to begin the process of becoming better acquainted. The talks are to ensure Alpha's business practices are in place at Massey operations when the purchase is expected to be completed later this year. The Abingdon, Va., mining company has proposed purchasing Massey for $7.1 billion.

• Crews in Bullitt County have dismantled a mobile meth lab that was brought to law enforcement officials at the county courthouse. Director Danny Thompson of the county Drug Task Force says a man found the materials inside a cloth suitcase Tuesday and carried it to law enforcement authorities at the courthouse. When officers realized what it was, they escorted the man outside and emptied out the front half of the first floor while the lab was dismantled. Thompson says people who find such materials should leave it alone and call police to come to them because the materials are dangerous.

• Nonviolent prisoners in Kentucky would serve shorter sentences under fast-tracked legislation. The House Judiciary Committee passed the measure late Tuesday evening. It now goes to the full House for consideration with the support of some key players, including Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton and Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown. Democratic Rep. John Tilley and Republican Sen. Tom Jensen are pushing companion bills in both chambers. The House version was the first to receive a committee vote. Jensen said he's hopeful the Senate can begin deliberations on the legislation next week. The governor's budget office estimated the savings at $422 million over 10 years.

• A northern Kentucky man who stabbed to death two cats has been denied parole for at least two more years. The Kentucky Parole Board on Tuesday said it will reconsider the case of 32-year-old Russell Andrew Swigart of Highland Heights in 2013. Swigart has served about two years and five months of a 12-year sentence. A jury convicted Swigart of torturing animals and burglary. The owner of the cats, Bridgett Wright, submitted 15,700 signatures from an online petition to the parole board on Monday in an effort to keep Swigart in prison. The animals were killed in 2008. After the hearing Tuesday, Wright told the Kentucky Enquirer she was relieved by the decision. Swigart's attorney, Ashley Bellamy, says her client has taken responsibility for his actions and has been a model prisoner.

• Sen. Ken Winters has gotten legislation through the Senate that would allow some high school students to graduate early so that they can enter college. The Murray Republican, a former college president, said only students with high ACT scores and a 3.2 grade point average would be eligible. About $2,500 in state funding that would have gone to their school district would instead go to the college where they enroll for tuition. Winters said the proposal, which passed 35-1, also requires participating students to have high achievement test scores and to have 18 credits, including two advanced placement or international baccalaureate classes.

• On Monday, February 21, at about 7 a.m. the traffic pattern on US 23 south of Pikeville at Sookey’s Creek will change, reducing the four-lane highway to a two-lane, one lane in each direction, north and south. These lane reductions are necessary to build the interchange that will connect US 23 with new US 460. From Monday through Wednesday next week the passing lanes will be closed so  the contractor, Bizzack, can work on installation of a median barrier wall that will remain in place for the duration of the project. Davis said the lane closures will be in effect and enforced for at least two years, the estimated time it will take to build the huge interchange. Bizzack President Lester Wimpy said that two million yards of material (rock and earth) will be hauled across US 23 to fill sites during the term of the project.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:24 PM

EKB Capsuke News...West Virginia...2-17-'11

• Alpha Natural Resources has filed a letter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, outlining step of its planned takeover of Massey Energy Co. Alpha Chief Executive Kevin Crutchfield and President Kurt Kost say Alpha and Massey officials met last week in West Virginia to begin the process of becoming better acquainted in an effort to ensure Alpha's business practices are in place at Massey operations when the purchase is expected to be completed later this year. Alpha has proposed purchasing Massey for $7.1 billion.

• About 8:30 A.M. Wednesday, Deputy U.S. Marshals were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on 50 year old Charles Smith at his house on Central Street in Elkins when Smith shot U.S. Deputy Marshal 24 year old Derek Hotsinpiller in the neck after they entered the home. A second deputy was shot in the shoulder with a shotgun, while a third deputy received facial injuries from shrapnel from the shotgun. A deputy marshal and a state trooper returned fire, killing Smith. Hotsinpiller and one of the deputies were taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, where they underwent surgery. Hotsinpiller died at the hospital. The third deputy was taken to Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins, where he was treated and released. Hotsinpiller was a 2005 graduate of Bridgeport High School and attended Fairmont State University.

• Police say 69 year old Jerry Lee Smith died Wednesday morning when he lost control of his vehicle and drove into a creek in Wyoming County. A neighbor found Smith and was able to get him out of the car before police arrived. Smith died at the scene.

• Authorities say 24 year old Matthew Pack, formerly from Charleston, was rock climbing on Friday evening at Mildred Falls in the Cleveland National Forest near San Diego, California when he got tangled in his climbing equipment, and, by the time rescue crews made it on the scene Saturday morning, Pack was motionless. Pack graduated from Charleston Catholic High School in 2005.

• Twenty-one year old Joshua Douglas Hatten of Huntington faces up to 20 years in prison  and a $250,000  fine after being indicted on federal counterfeiting charges. Hatten is accused of making fake one hundred and twenty dollar bills in late October and early November of last year.

• Trial continued as former Ripley police officer Denver "Buddy" Thomas was in Jackson County Circuit Court Wednesday after being indicted in February 2010 on a felony charge of sexual abuse by a person of trust after being accused of sexually abusing a minor. The case claims Thomas raped a confidential informant at his house in 2008. Opening arguments started with the plaintiff stating Thomas provided alcohol nearly 10 times to his son and his friends at their house in Kenna. Thomas pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in March 2010. If found guilty, he faces 10 to 20 years in prison.

• In May 2010, South Charleston police responded to a call of a baby in cardiac arrest. The mother, Leslie Boggs, told police she was cleaning her house when she went to check on her 3-month-old daughter and found her unresponsive. The infant, Raynna Rea Boggs, was pronounced dead at Thomas Memorial Hospital. Boggs was arraigned in Kanawha County Magistrate Court Wednesday on charges of child neglect causing death. Police say she got drunk, passed out and rolled over her three month old baby girl, while in bed, resulting in the child's death. Thomas Myers, who was dating Boggs at the time, told police she had been drinking and doing drugs the same day the baby died. Boggs is being held in the South Central Regional jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.

• Eighteen year old Telisa Renee McCauley has entered a guilty plea to first-degree robbery in connection with the beating and robbery of Robert Jeff Moore, a former statehouse employee. Moore was attacked and robbed at knifepoint on May 27th as he walked on Brawley Walkway in Charleston. Moore was kicked in the face and left lying in a pool of blood. His jaw and both eye sockets were broken and he was in a coma for 56 days. He spent several months in a brain trauma center and is currently living in an out-of-state assisted living facility. McCauley was sent to Anthony Correctional Center for an evaluation before being sentenced. Prosecutors say they will recommend 10 years in prison. McCauley has agreed to testify against Earl Moore, 42, of South Charleston and Whitney Sue Avery, 20, of Charleston, who are scheduled for trial March 14th.

• The West Virginia Attorney General's Office is dealing with a security breach of sensitive information of more than 3,600 patients at Charleston Area Medical Center who were part of a research group through CAMC's Health Education Research Institute. On February 8th, the Attorney General's Office got a call from Lorrie Lane, who works for People's Federal Credit Union in Nitro, giving them the heads up that information like names, addresses, social security numbers and dates of birth were available online without any password protection, making it possible for their identities to be stolen. CAMC has bought a premium credit monitoring service that, if consumers wish to have, will pay the cost of that service that will monitor their credit reports 24/7. It will also provide them 1 million dollars of identity theft protection.

• Mercer County Sheriff's deputies and U.S. Marshals are teaming up in their search for Ruby Velecia Davis, 40, and Nathan Thompson, 20, both of Brushfork. Both have multiple warrants for forging stolen credit cards. U.S. Marshals say Davis also failed to appear for a hearing in Mercer County circuit court after being indicted for distribution of narcotics and embezzlement. If you have any information on the whereabouts of Davis or Thompson, you are urged to contact the U.S. Marshals Service at 304-553-4718.

• Opponents and proponents of raising West Virginia's tobacco taxes squared off during a public hearing in the state House chamber Wednesday as public health advocates told state lawmakers that raising the state’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack would lead to more West Virginians giving up smoking. The proposed bill now before the state House of Delegates would raise taxes to $1.55 per pack and taxes on all other tobacco products from 7 percent of their wholesale price to 50 percent. Half of the money raised, up to $60 million, would be used for tobacco prevention while the other half would be used as lawmakers see fit. Speakers representing the tobacco and retail industries pointed out tobacco already is one of the most regulated products on the market, and the proposed increase would amount to a 100 percent increase on the cigarette tax and a 600 percent increase on smokeless tobacco, failing to create a level playing field for businesses.

• A proposed reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration approved by a U.S. House committee Monday could eliminate federal subsidies and commercial flights at four West Virginia airports and 110 airports nationwide. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted 34-25 Wednesday to end the subsidies at airports in, among other places, Parkersburg, Clarksburg, Beckley and Morgantown. The proposal would still have to be passed by the full House of Representatives, reconciled with a Senate version and signed by President Obama.
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• The Friends of Blair Mountain and others are planning a five-day march to draw attention to both the site of a historic labor battle and the practice of mountaintop-removal mining. The event is set to begin in Marmet June 6th. The group plans to march 10 miles a day, arriving in Blair on June 11th and making the final push to the mountain's crest. Blair Mountain was briefly added to the National Register of Historic Places, then removed when landowners complained. The event commemorates the 90th anniversary of the 1921 uprising by organizing coal miners. In 1921, 90 years ago, Blair Mountain was the site of a bloody struggle to unionize the state's southern coalfields.

• Kanawha County Commissioners are expressing concerns over pay raises Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants handed out to employees in his office in recent months. The issue prompted Commission President Kent Carper to call for a change in policy that would affect the budgeting process for all county-level elected officials. County Manager Jennifer Sayre says raises in the prosecutor's office have topped $70,000 since the beginning of the current fiscal year. Plants recently submitted a budget proposal for fiscal year 2011-2012 that calls for a reduction in spending of about 5 percent over the current fiscal year. He says his current budget reflects no increases over last year's. Commissioners have asked Circuit Clerk Cathy Gatson, Assessor Phyllis Gatson, Sheriff Mike Rutherford and County Clerk Vera McCormick all to do the same.

• The House of Delegates voted 97-3 Wednesday to pass a measure that would allow West Virginia seniors to claim a break on their property taxes. The measure aims to simplify four separate tax-credit programs by creating a single program. One credit in that program would help low-income residents when their property-tax bills exceed 4 percent of their gross household income. The current version helps an estimated 43,000 West Virginia taxpayers save $8.2 million annually. The new program would also include a second credit that provides an additional break of up to $1,000 for low-income seniors. Three Republicans opposed the bill. Supporters include AARP.

• The state Senate unanimously approved a measure Wednesday that would allow the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund  to borrow from the state’s emergency reserves. The bill provides an alternative to raising taxes on employers or having to take out federal loans as 34 other states have done during the economic downturn. Proposed by acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, the measure would allow West Virginia’s program to borrow from the state’s rainy-day fund whenever its balance dips below $20 million. The program would have 180 days to repay the loan. Russell Fry, acting executive director of WorkForce West Virginia which oversees the program, says benefits were provided to nearly 24,000 job seekers at the end of last month. He said its fund began this week with a $65.2 million balance. Agency officials forecast it could run dry briefly in March before scheduled revenues arrive to restore it to the black.  

• Senators Robert Beach, Larry Edgell, Orphy Klempa and Acting Senate President Jeff Kessler have introduced a bill allowing free liquor samplings at approved locations. Under the new legislation, customers would be limited to one sample serving, on any day except Sundays. The bill states some liquor retail outlets will have the "ability to conduct responsible liquor sampling events." Violators would face criminal and civil penalties if they do not obey the rules set forth in the bill.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 9:23 PM

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-16-'11

• The Kentucky Division of Water has lifted a consumer advisory for 1,300 customers in Whitesburg in Letcher County. The advisory was put into place Saturday when a diesel fuel leak was discovered at an oil storage site located one-half mile upstream from the plant. Samples taken immediately after the spill revealed unacceptable amounts of diesel fuel. The spill was contained by Monday. Water plant operations were shut down as a precaution and bottled water was made available to residents and businesses. Laboratory results indicate nondetectable amounts of diesel fuel in the treated water on two consecutive days of analyzed water samples. Whitesburg Water Works will continue to monitor the water intakes and maintain the activated carbon units to effectively treat the source water. The source of the leak has been identified at the Childers Oil Bulk Facility, where a remote underground pipeline associated with an above-ground storage tank leaked due to equipment malfunction.

•  Don Reed, a Magoffin County man convicted of murder in 2007, was in court Tuesday seeking a new trial after being found guilty of killing Brandy Rowe. Police say she was shot multiple times and her body was dumped in a creek. Reed claims he has new evidence that shows someone else did it. Dozens of others testified in favor of Reed. The judge will take 60 days to decide whether Reed should have a new trial.

• A Perry County Grand Jury handed down the indictment against Michael and Alisha Akers of Hazard. The indictment charges the couple stole $12,500 from the WYMT Mountain Classic Scholarship Fund while Alisha Akers was an employee of WYMT-TV in 2010. The two are charged with theft by unlawful taking over $10,000. If convicted, the couple faces five to ten years in prison. Bond is set at $20,000 cash. They're scheduled to appear in court on March 24th.

• Latrina Rogers, of Sacramento, California, is lodged in the Pulaski County Detention Center after police say she misused computer information to cash checks from Core Trans trucking company in Somerset in the amount of $8,000. Detectives say Rogers is part of a nationwide crime ring which has been cashing cheks from numerous trucking companies across the United States. Rogers claims she only ended up with $1,200,  and that someone else ended up with the rest of the money. Detectives say they've identified 7 out of 10 possible suspects in the case and they expect one of them to be extradited to Pulaski County. 

• Under a bill that cleared the Kentucky House by a vote of 61-35 Tuesday, advertising could be placed on the sides of school buses. The bill would prohibit political advertising or ads for tobacco or alcohol products. Democratic Representative Terry Mills of Lebanon says his bill is a creative way to help cash-strapped school districts generate more money.

• Gwendela Hurst, 24, of Williamsburg, died in a Whitley County single vehicle crash on Monday. Police say she was traveling west on Wolf Creek Road when she lost control, went off the road and slammed into several trees, flipping the car. Coroner Andy Croley pronounced Hunt dead at the scene, while passenger in the car was flown to UT Medical Center.

• Environmental groups are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to limit the emission of greenhouse gases from power plants and oil refineries. Regulators invited comment from those groups Tuesday during a meeting in Atlanta. Seandra Rawls of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said she hoped the rules would prompt the closure of older coal-fired power plants in the Southeast. Other activists said they oppose cap-and-trade systems, which they said would create pockets of pollution. President Barack Obama's administration turned to regulation as a way of curbing emissions blamed for global warming after legislation failed last year in Congress.

• Under a bill sponsored by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, whistle-blowers would be encouraged to report government fraud. The measure was approved by the House on Monday by a vote of  98-0. Stumbo says the federal government and 28 other states already have similar measures in place. The proposal, dubbed the False Claims Act, is aimed at encouraging whistle-blowers by giving them up to 30 percent of damages won in lawsuits against companies found to have defrauded the state. Stumbo says the federal government and the participating states have brought in about $25 billion over the last 25 years. The Senate is pushing a proposal that would encourage whistle-blowers to report fraud within the Medicaid program. Stumbo said he's hopeful the General Assembly decides to extend the whistle-blower incentives to all government programs and agencies.

• Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett confirmed Tuesday that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, will be in Kentucky Thursday morning to meet with up to 50 mining executives who have a history of digging deep to help bankroll politicians friendly to the mining industry. Barbour would be the first potential presidential candidate pondering a run next year to reach out to Kentucky's coal operators. Because Kentucky holds its primary in May, party nominations are all but determined before voters go to the polls. Financially, however, coal operators in the state could have a say in the primary race.

• Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels have announced $22 million in funding to turn a rusty, unused Ohio River bridge into a pedestrian walkway and bicycle path linking Louisville and Jeffersonville, Indiana. The agreement to refurbish the Big Four Bridge calls for Kentucky to put up $12 million to replace the deck while Indiana and the city of Jeffersonville put up $8 million and $2 million respectively to build a ramp to the bridge. The Big Four Bridge could reopen to pedestrians and cyclists in early 2013. The historic bridge, which was built for railroad traffic in 1895, was closed and its approaches removed in 1969.

• Four dozen job openings at a General Electric plant in western Kentucky has drawn more than 2,000 applicants. State workforce development spokesman Stan Hill says more than 2,200 people applied for the 48 jobs at the Madisonville GE plant. He says most applicants lived locally, but about 700 came from other areas, including central and eastern Kentucky. The jobs have a starting pay of $18.25 per hour, with progressive raises over two years that can push pay to $26 per hour. Testing will be administered at Madisonville Community College. The plant in Madisonville manufactures parts for military and commercial jet engines and employs about 600 people.

• Faced with growing complaints from students, proprietary colleges have been under review by lawmakers in recent months. Under a bill that cleared the House Education Committee Tuesday, for-profit colleges would face heightened regulation. The proposal, sponsored by Democratic Representative Reginald Meeks of Louisville, calls for giving the Council on Postsecondary Education oversight of such colleges that offer associate degrees or higher. They now are overseen by the State Board for Proprietary Education. Faced with growing complaints from students, proprietary colleges have been under review by lawmakers in recent months. All of the state's public universities operate under the umbrella of the Council on Postsecondary Education. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:14 PM

EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...2-16-'11

• Jessica Rose Burgess, 23, of South Charleston, a former Teays Valley Christian School part-time teacher aide, has been charged with possession with the intent to deliver cocaine. A South Charleston Police officer set up a cocaine buy after finding a text message which said, "I got some flame pow wow if you want any," which the officer noted is slang for cocaine. The officer set up a meeting at the South Charleston Rite Aid where he met with Burgess and Joel Archer and found a bag that contained 3.2 grams of cocaine in their car. Her bail is set at $50,000 and her preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 22nd.

• MSHA Secretary Joe Main says one MSHA district in Southern West Virginia will become two MSHA districts within a matter of months. The proposal will split District 4 into what will be District 4 in Mount Hope and District 12 which will operate out of Pineville in Wyoming County. Money for the cost of creating another MSHA district is included in the proposed budget for MSHA from the Obama Administration. The budget proposal reflects a roughly 5% increase for the federal agency.

• Huntington Police say 21 year old Larry Webb and his wife, Courtney Webb, also 21, were taken to  Cabell Huntington Hospital after being stabbed Tuesday afternoon during a fight that ended up outside their home on Seventh Avenue. Larry Webb was stabbed in the upper arm, and his wife was stabbed in the back. Police arrested Larry Webb's brother, 29 year old Jermon Webb.

• Police say Kristin Nibert, 26, of Point Pleasant, was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center where she was listed in critical condition after losing contol of her car and hitting a tree on Third Avenue in Huntington around 2:30 A.M. Tuesday morning.

• Casey Morris, 31, of Scott Depot, has pleaded guilty to stealing several guns from her father-in-law's residence, also in Scott Depot, at various times between October 2009 and March 17, 2010. Morris faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when sentenced May 31st. 

• Changes to postal delivery services in Charleston will begin this Saturday as carriers working out of the Stonewall Station at 303 Ohio Avenue and the Venable Avenue Post Office will begin working out of the Charleston main office located at 1002 Lee Street East. The Stonewall Jackson and Kanawha City locations will still be available to customers. This is not expected to cause noticeable change in home or business delivery service.

• At Huntington’s State of the City Address Monday, Huntington Mayor Kim Wolfe announced the city is going back to the five day work week, but it could come at the expense of six jobs. City Council Chairman Mark Bates said he agrees with the five day work week, but City Council will try it’s best to come up with money to save those jobs. Wolfe also took time out to sing the praises of the Huntington Police Department, which has help decrease crime by 6.8 percent in the last year and to say he sees a bright future for Huntington.

• Kim Crose, the mother of Shawn Shumbera, a developmentally disabled man, says he was raped last month at Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital, even though a judge ordered him into a treatment program and out of the hospital 15 months ago. Crose says, just days prior to the assault, hospital officials at Bateman had placed a forensic mental patient who was institutionalized following an attempted murder in the same room as her son. Crose says she learned of the assault after a Bateman employee called her and said her son was being transferred to Cabell Huntington Hospital, but did not say why. A few hours later, someone from Cabell Huntington called and asked for permission to perform a rape test on him. Shumbera, 31, has been in Bateman Hospital since 2001.

• Huntington City Council met for it's regularly scheduled meeting Monday, after Mayor Kim Wolfe gave his State of the City Address. The  Council considered a resolution that would allow the mayor to apply for a federal grant to hire ten firefighters for two years, but they ultimately voted against it. There were also not enough votes to overturn a veto by the mayor to stop a reduction in his spending limit from $15,000 to $7,500.

• Leaders and law enforcement in Charleston are asking lawmakers for help as they try to control the the increasing problems associated with meth in West Virginia. The Committee on Health and Human Resources has passed House Bill 2946 which would require prescription for any drugs that contain pseudoephedrine. Mayor Danny Jones says this is an opportunity for the legislature to shut down all meth labs with the stroke of a pen. Berkeley County Delegate Jonathan Miller says, if meth users are buying pseudoephedrine in large numbers, there is probably a significant amount of sales tax revenue that comes in from that, but Committee Chairman Don Perdue told Miller stopping the drug use is more important than tax revenues. West Virginia is joined by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Kansas which are also considering similar bills.

• State lawmakers are working through a bill that would require those convicted of a felony crime to submit a DNA sample that would be placed in the State Police DNA database, but it would be deleted from the data base if the person's conviction is one day overturned. Members of the House Judiciary Committee questioned State Police Lt. Brent Myers, the state's DNA database administrator, about another section of the bill that would allow State Police to use some of the DNA information that at some previous point had been illegally obtained by them. Myers says the sample would be removed because they're not supposed to have it, but they follow through on a match that has already occurred. Kanawha County Delrgate Meshea Poore says that provision of the bill raises some potential questions as to whether any person's constitutional rights were violated.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:13 PM

Monday, February 14, 2011

EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-15-'11

• Bizzack Construction moved onto the Sookey’s Creek site Monday to begin construction on the mega-interchange that will connect new US 460 to US 23 after being awarded the $28.8-million project, which is estimated to take two years, on December 28th. More than two million yards of dirt and rock will be hauled across US 23 to clear the way for the interchange. A crossing will be established on either end of a cut in the mountain near the new US 460 bridge at Sookey’s Creek. When blasting starts in the area, it will be confined between the hours of 6:30 -8:30 a.m., 2:30-5:30 p.m., and after dark. At the time of each pre-scheduled blasting operation, there will be brief road closures. The longest ones should last no more than 20 minutes. A lowered speed limit with enforced double fines will govern traffic, which will be reduced from four lanes to two. For a short period time, traffic will be routed to the slow/outside lanes while a median barrier wall is installed. Once the wall is finished, traffic will be moved to the passing/inside lanes, although there will be no passing allowed until the interchange work is completed. Bush & Burchett serves as a subcontractor for bridge work on the project.

• Construction has begun at Pikeville's Bob Amos Park to install $80,000 worth of playground equipment. The chairman of Hillbilly Christmas in July says it will take about 30 days to complete eastern Kentucky's first completely universal playground. Once the playground is finished, a handicap accessible surface must be installed before anyone can use it.

• The Pike County Animal Shelter is in desperate need of volunteers to help with the undertaking involved with caring for the animals brought in by animal control or surrendered to the shelter. Kristin Handshoe, Pike County Animal Shelter Acting Director, says volunteers are a very important aspect to the shelter’s operation, and she's hopeful members of the Pike County Youth Leadership Council will volunteer. Dr. Joey Collins, D.V.M., spayed and neutered 337 animals from the shelter last year at less than half price. Pike County Deputy Judge-Executive John Doug Hays says they were hopeful that the newly established ASPCA would volunteer at the shelter, which has only four full-time employees and an operating budget of $300,000, but the only volunteers they have been getting are from the work release program at the Pike County jail. To volunteer, call the shelter at 606-432-6293. Hours of operation are 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.Tuesday through Saturday. 

• After being invited by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Gil Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama's chief adviser on drug issues, plans to tour areas of Kentucky that have been ravaged by drug abuse and overdose deaths. Kerlikowske is coming to Kentucky for what is expected to be a four-day tour that will include meetings with recovering addicts, law enforcement, drug treatment staffers, business leaders and elected officials. Kerlikowske, who calls Kentucky the "epicenter" of the nation's prescription drug problems, says he especially wants to raise awareness of the magnitude of the problem that states like Kentucky face from drugs that often can be found in the family medicine cabinet.

• Clay County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a home in the Burning Springs community Sunday night where they arrested 26 year old Kermit Hunter and 33 year old Crystal Sizemore after finding an active meth lab, finished methamphetamine and an h-c-o generator. Two children in the residence, a 4 year old and a 7 year old, were taken to Manchester Memorial Hospital for precautionary measures and then turned over to social services.

• Saturday, Whitley County sheriff deputies arrested Melissa Knight, Heather Stephenson, and Lawrence Stephenson after police found 10 meth labs in their room at the Mountain View Lodge right off the interstate in Corbin. Police say Clarence Egner ran from deputies. Clean up could cost close to $10,000.

• Through Feb. 13, preliminary statistics indicate that sixty-one people have lost their lives on Kentucky roadways during 2011.  This is thirteen less fatalities than reported for the same time period in 2010. There were fifty-two motor vehicle fatalities and thirty-four of those victims were not wearing seat belts.  Nine of those crashes involved a commercial motor vehicle.  Nine crashes involved pedestrians.  A total of eleven fatalities have resulted from crashes involving the suspected use of alcohol.

• Dairy farmers across the Southeast hope to prove what they claim is a conspiracy to drive down the price they're paid for milk. The lawsuit against Dean Foods and others is scheduled to be tried in U.S. District Court in Greeneville, Tenn., in June. Shelbyville, Ky., dairy farmer John Kalmey  says there is no competition for milk in the Southeast. Kalmey said production prices keep climbing and many farmers are barely breaking even. Dean spokesman Jamaison Schuler said farmers have many outlets for raw milk at competitive prices and competition flourishes in the dairy industry.

• A federal sentencing hearing has been rescheduled in the case of a Florida man convicted in Mississippi for his role in a multistate cigarette smuggling operation. Mitchell Sivina, of Doral, Fla., pleaded guilty in May in U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss., to money laundering and transporting stolen cigarettes. Court records show Sivina's sentencing has been delayed from March until April 4 due to a scheduling conflict. Prosecutors said Sivina acted as a broker between people who stole about $2 million worth of cigarettes from a Kentucky parking lot in 2006 and wholesalers who bought them in Mississippi and Kentucky. Prosecutors say Sivina was once paid with a box containing $350,000 cash that was tossed over the fence of a northern Mississippi airport.

• A dispute over the use of bluegrass music great Bill Monroe's name is headed for a bench trial in western Kentucky. The issue is whether the Ohio County Industrial Foundation transferred rights to use Monroe's name and likeness to the Jerusalem Ridge Foundation. The foundation produces the annual Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Music Celebration at Monroe's homestead in Rosine. Jerusalem Ridge Foundation executive director Campbell Mercer says he anticipates the trial, which begins Tuesday, and is expected to take one or two days. The foundation filed the lawsuit over issues that have simmered since 2007, including whether about $162,000 the Industrial Foundation provided as a down payment on Monroe's mandolin was a loan.

# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:14 PM

EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...2-15-'11

•  A public hearing is scheduled for 2:30 Tuesday afternoon in the House chamber to discuss a bill to bring back the death penalty to West Virginia. The idea is gaining support  in the House after Sidney Devonshire, an eastern panhandle resident, woke up on June 6th to a fire that killed his 22 year old daughter and 3 year old grandson. Antonio Prophet, 34, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The bill would allow the state to execute some convicted murderers using lethal injection. Critics have called capital punishment cruel, but some say it's an important element of a legal system. 

• A bill was introduced in the House Monday that would give gun owners more rights by reducing the number of places where guns are prohibited. The new law would set higher penalties for criminal misuse of firearms and other weapons. Another issue the bill targets is being able to carry a concealed weapon over state lines. There are currently 21 states where a West Virginia concealed weapons license is not honored.

• Philip F. White Jr., 52, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi was arrested Sunday afternoon and charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, bringing stolen property into West Virginia from outside the state, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, fleeing on foot and carrying a concealed firearm without a license. West Virginia State Police stopped White in South Charleston after a license plate check showed no record with the DMV. As the officer began to check the truck, White took off toward Route 60. After a short foot chase, he was caught and arrested.

• Greg Conley,39, of Milton was arrested Sunday after Cabell County Sheriff's Deputies say they found drugs in his possession while investigating possible drug activity in the parking lot of the Dollar General in Ona. Deputies say they found Conley sitting in the driver side of a silver Camaro in front of the store, along with about a gram of heroin, a gram of methamphetamine, about 100 Oxycontin pills, and $2,200 in cash. Conley, a convicted felon from Milton who was just released from home confinement Friday for operating a meth lab, blamed his quick return to crime on nobody wanting to hire a felon. Bond was set at $100,000.

• Construction of a state office building in downtown Logan has been delayed for at least another three weeks after the recent discovery of Native American bones at the site. A fire at the nearby Aracoma Hotel held up work on the project for 52 days. Construction was halted again after the bones were found earlier this month. The state plans to send an archaeologist to monitor digging at the site until excavation work is completed.

• The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has suspended Joseph P. Albright, Jr. from practicing law for one year.  Albright, the son of the late West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Joseph P. Albright, was admitted to practice law in 1988. In 2007, he was found to be in contempt for violating the court's previous order of publicly reprimanding him for conduct violations following seven counts from clients were brought against Albright, including complaints that he failed to communicate with clients, failed to provide itemized accounts and failed to respond to requests for information. Albright defended himself with testimony from satisfied clients. Albright will be required to petition for reinstatement and must pay $1,800 in restitution to two clients named in the counts against him. His practice must be supervised for two years and he must complete 18 hours of continuing education in ethics and meet with a licensed psychologist. 

• Philippi Police are continuing to investigate after being called to Philippi Middle School last Thursday after someone found a handwritten note with a bomb threat in the school. Police evacuated the school and called in a bomb dog which swept the school, but didn't find anything. Police are investigating a possible link with a note found on a Barbour County school bus that was written by the bus driver.  

• Huntington attorney Paul T. Farrell was sworn in at 3:00 P.M. Monday afternoon as West Virginia's newest circuit judge, replacing retired Cabell County Circuit Judge Dan O'Hanlon. Farrell, who graduated from Xavier University and West Virginia University law school, has specialized in civil and criminal defense during his career. He's also a former assistant attorney general and counsel for the state Senate, among other things.

• Mayor Larry Conley of Belle died Sunday after having a heart attack while driving from Man back to Belle with his wife Barbara. Conley served as mayor of Belle since 1994 after retiring from the police department. The town's recorder, Kim Holmes, is now acting mayor. Town officials are reviewing state code and the town charter to choose a course of action.

• Charleston Police say 19 year old Deenia Burno was crossing 7th Avenue in North Charleston around 11:30 A.M. Monday when she was hit by a vehicle. Investigators say Burno suffered head, neck and hip injuries.

• The Higher Education Policy Commission has withdrawn its preliminary approval for Tri-State Pharmacy School, saying Tri-State Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences needs to go back to the drawing board. Among other things, it said the school must renovate its Huntington facility and seek accreditation. Marshall University plans to open its school in fall 2012 despite objections from West Virginia University and the University of Charleston.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee gave overwhelming approval during Monday's floor session to a bill changing violation of the state's seatbelt law from a secondary to a primary offense. It's the third straight year the bill  has passed the Senate, but it hasn't gotten out of the House. The bill says motorists not wearing seatbelts would be fined $15, but charged no court costs and would lose no points on their driver's license. Currently motorists can only be cited for not wearing seatbelts if they are pulled over for something else first. Committee Chair Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha, says statistics show seatbelt usage has gone down in West Virginia since 2007, and, by changing the current code, an estimated 21 lives could be saved a year.

• Since July, Frontier Communications has spent $59 million on equipment and facilities to improve its telephone landline network in West Virginia, along with an additional $8.3 million to expand high-speed Internet across the state from October through December. According to a quarterly report filed with the state Public Service Commission last week, the investment made broadband available to an additional 28,233 homes. When Frontier purchased Verizon's telephone landline business in West Virginia and 13 other states as part of an $8.6 billion deal on July 1st, Frontier promised to spend $30 million on network improvement projects by the end of the year, but wound up investing $29.3 million more than expected. 

# posted by Homer Owens @ 9:03 PM

Sunday, February 13, 2011

EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-14-'11

• The Kentucky Tobacco Quit Line will now offer counseling services to younger Kentuckians to improve services available to youth interested in giving up cigarettes or other tobacco products. The Quit Line is now offering counseling services to Kentucky youth ages 15 to 17 years old. Prior to this change, services were available to people 18 and older.  “We’re excited to offer Quit Line services to more Kentuckians and to increase the number of options available for young people who want to quit tobacco use,” said William Hacker, M.D., commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH). “Studies show that people have more success quitting smoking when they have access to resources like counseling and peer support. We hope this change will encourage young people who are interested in quitting to take action and start leading healthier, tobacco-free lives.” Data from the Kentucky Youth Tobacco Survey 2010 shows that almost 25 percent of high school students are cigarette smokers and almost 70 percent of teenage smokers want to quit. Nationwide, approximately 30 percent of high school students and 10 percent of middle school students are cigarette smokers.

• A contamination problem has officials in an Eastern Kentucky community warning people not to drink their water. Letcher county officials say some kind of diesel fuel has gotten into the water supply.  The water has been shut off until officials can figure out the source and just how many lines have been affected.  Officials say if you are not sure whether your water was affected, it's best to not drink it.

• U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, introduced a Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) to fund the federal government for the last seven months of the fiscal year while cutting spending by over $100 billion from the President’s fiscal year 2011 request. This legislation represents the largest single discretionary spending reduction in the history of Congress.

• Pikeville College officials say they have received 250 suggestions for a new name for the university. The school is taking suggestions from the public through its school website. The board of trustees is expected to choose the new name in May.

• Despite weather-related difficulties and a few equipment issues, work on the Warfield Curve Project in Martin County should be finished sometime this week. Part of the Kentucky Highway Safety Improvement Program, the project is located on KY 40 between milepoint 19.1 and 19.3. The rock face at the protruding hillside is being chipped, or shaved, to make passing at the curve safer for all vehicles as well as to give motorists better sight distance. Previous projects have included guardrail installation and tree cutting on KY 292 and rock chipping on KY 40.   For the duration of the work, motorists can detour through KY 2032 from KY 40 or use KY 1714 from KY 292 to avoid delays.

• More than a dozen people spent the weekend outside Governor Steve Beshear's office. They met with Beshear on Friday to talk about mountaintop removal and asked him to protect the land, water, and people, not the polluters.  They plan to stay in the office until there is an acceptable solution in their eyes, or they are physically removed. The annual I LOVE MOUNTAINS rally will be on Valentine's Day in Frankfort. People from all over Kentucky will be walking from the river to the Capitol steps.

• The acts keep coming to Louisville, filling the seats at the newly built KFC Yum! Center. Kid Rock performed to a nearly sold out crowd on Friday and the big acts continue to perform downtown.   "Right now we're the hotbed for the concert market. We've brought the Eagles, sold out. Justin Bieber sold out.  Lady Gaga sold out," Dennis Petrullo with AEG Facilities said. It's the success of the ticket sales and the new building that attracts promoters to bring more headliners to the KFC Yum! Center with the help of AEG Facilities, a well-known entertainment company.  "For a promoter it's who is willing to pay the guarantees that the acts are asking for. As long as we're selling and we're selling high priced tickets such as the Eagles at $175 and Gaga at $175, the promoters feel comfortable that we can sell tickets in this market," Petrullo said. He said it is also about staying ahead of the game.

• Kentucky educators are split about allowing advertising on school buses. The Bill passed out of the House Education Committee earlier this week. However, there will be certain restrictions, as ads for alcohol or tobacco products would not be allowed on buses. Advocates for the Bill say it will bring revenue to the school system, while others feel the ads will be a distraction, and possibly even dangerous. Among those against the Bill is Hopkins County Deputy Superintendent Linda Zellich, who believes the effectiveness of the safety features on buses may be hindered by advertising, putting not only students but also bus drivers in danger.

• A search has been issued for a driver that left the scene of a crash on an Interstate 24 bridge in western Kentucky on Thursday. Kentucky State Police said 64-year-old Roy Hastings Junior left the site of the wreck before officers arrived. Witnesses told police they saw Hastings get out of his van, which crashed near Eddyville.  Hastings did not stay long before he left the scene of the accident. The wreck that Hastings was involved in led to a chain reaction crash involving six semis and other vehicles. Amazingly, no injuries were reported. 

# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:59 PM

EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...2-14-'11

• U.S. Marshals arrested Ronnie Long Saturday evening in Morgantown. Long led police from several Marion County departments on a high-speed chase about a week ago after allegedly stealing a Corvette belonging to Senator Joe Manchin's brother, Rock Manchin of Farmington. Long wrecked the car when he smashed into a tow truck in Fairmont, sending him to a Morgantown hospital. Before police could charge him, Long detached his IV tubes and fled.

• West Virginia has the nation's highest rate of drug overdose deaths. More than 90 percent of those deaths involve prescription drugs. West Virginia officials say they're disappointed that Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican who took office in January, didn't include funding for a planned prescription drug monitoring program in the proposed budget he unveiled last week. Florida's prescription drug regulations are notoriously lax. In 2009, lawmakers there approved plans for a monitoring program, which would electronically track all prescriptions filled in the state to cut down on "doctor shopping." Police in West Virginia say it's so common for people to travel to Florida to load up on prescriptions at pain clinics that flights from Huntington to Florida have been nicknamed "the Oxy Express." Federal and state officials are planning a one-day summit to discuss prescription-drug abuse in West Virginia. The summit is set for February 25th at the University of Charleston.

• An Ohio woman is dead after a ski accident Saturday at Snowshoe Resort in Pocahontas County. Officials say the accident happened as the victim traveled off a marked trail with a group of friends and suffered a head injury. A spokeswoman for Snowshoe Mountain Resort declined to identify the woman by name, but the Akron Beacon Journal reported she was 22 year old Andrea Teodosio, whose parents are judges in Ohio's Summit County.

• Nitro Police say 39 year old Roger Hayes Jr. was traveling Westbound on I-64 at the Nitro exit shortly after 3:00 A.M. Sunday morning when his vehicle struck a street sign and then a tree before rolling on its top, partially ejecting him. Hayes was pronounced dead at the scene.

• Huntington-based St. Mary’s Medical Center is building a freestanding emergency department about 20 miles down the Ohio River in Ironton, Ohio. Ironton, which has about 11,000 people, lost its hospital 10 years ago. Lawrence County, Ohio, which has about 63,000 people, has not had a hospital or an emergency department since River Valley Hospital closed in 2001. The two-story, $13 million project is being built in partnership with the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization and should open in March or April 2012.

• Special Metals has laid off 62 hourly employees at the Huntington plant and eight hourly employees at the Burnaugh, Kentucky plant. Precision Castparts Corp., which owns the Huntington plant, says the layoffs, which take effect Monday, are due to the slower than expected recovery in the industrial sector.

• The ballot for West Virginia's next governor is final. Secretary of State Natalie Tennant's office conducted the drawing late Sunday afternoon. Officially 14 are in the race to become the next governor.

          Republicans will be listed as followed:

          Bill Maloney
          Ralph William Clark
          Larry V. Faircloth
          Mark A.Sorsaia
          Clark Barnes
          Cliff Ellis
          Betty Ireland
          Mitch B.Carmichael

          Democrats will be listed as followed:

          Earl Ray Tomblin
          Jeffrey V. Kessler
          John D.Perdue
          Rick Thompson
          Arne Moltis
          Natalie E. Tennant

# posted by Homer Owens @ 8:52 PM

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