Archive for February, 2011

According to a report from the Lexington Herald-Leader, State Auditor Crit Luallen found that $19,961 went missing during 2009 and 2010. Elizabeth Lane, a former employee who was charged in October with knowingly entering false information into the vehicle registration system, isn’t mentioned by name in the report, but the audit details how an employee inappropriately voided all or part of vehicle registrations, according to the Herald-Leader article.

I’m getting my hands on the audit and I’ll talk with Court Clerk Stacy May tomorrow morning, then I’ll have more on this.

A bill co-sponsored by Lonnie Napier and worked on by Solid Waste Coordinator Chris Thomason passed the state house unanimously today.

House Bill 433 aims to reduce some of the negative environmental effects waste tires have in Kentucky by keeping better track of where waste tires go and educating the public about the dangers posed by waste tires and how to properly dispose of them. When thrown in illegal dumps or left by the side of the road, waste tires become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and not just any mosquitoes, a very dangerous breed of mosquito that carries West Nile and other human and horse diseases, Chris said. Tires also pose a fire hazard and can be very difficult to extinguish if they catch on fire.

The bill is a small step in a much larger plan to reform how the state handles waste tires, Chris told me. During next year’s longer legislative session, proponents expect to introduce further bills that could turn Kentucky’s waste tire handling process into a national model, he said.

Full story is upcoming in the Advocate, including info from Mary Dickey, the chairwoman of Solid Waste Coordinators of Kentucky.

I toured the new judicial center in Lancaster today, and got quite a few photos. I’ll have a story in tomorrow’s Thursday’s paper about the progress, but for now here are some shots I got while I walked around with John Wilson, Dana Hensley and the site supervisor, Todd Sadler.

I got the full results from Garrard’s district spelling bee typed up, in case anyone is interested or wants to see how well they might have done in the bee. Click the image below to enlarge.

Mine Shields will begin tests to get its mine refuge chambers certified by the Mine Safety and Health Administration on March 21, CEO Connie Hendren told me today.

The tests will take about four weeks to complete (April 18 is exactly four weeks from the starting date). When Mine Shields first came to Garrard County back in April 2010, it announced it would employ about 35 people initially, but that as many as 200 could be employed and a second Garrard location opened if the company was able to get its refuge chambers MSHA-certified.

No company had received MSHA certification yet when Mineshields announced its plans, and as far as I know, that’s still the case. I couldn’t find any news articles online saying otherwise.

If Mine Shields becomes the first certified mine refuge chamber producer, it means the company would have a national market and something of a monopoly until someone else is able to pass MSHA-certification muster as well. The potential market opened by certification is what Mine Shields based its estimate of at least 200 jobs in Garrard County on.

UPDATED: This boil water advisory has ended.

From the Herald-Leader:

The Garrard County Water Association in Lancaster has issued a boil-water advisory for all customers living along and off of High Bridge Road in northern Garrard County.

The advisory is due to a water-line leak, which is being repaired.

Customers are advised that water for human consumption must be boiled at a rolling boil for three minutes to be safe for drinking or food preparation.

The advisory is in effect until further notice.

Garrard Countian Lori Rice has a book called “The Everything Guide to Food Remedies: An A-Z Guide to Healing With Food” that’s been published and is going to be available for sale nationally soon. It’s already available for pre-orders at Amazon.com, and you can read some of the beginning through Google Books here.

Byron Teater with the Battle of Lancaster folks has proposed that Lancaster and Garrard County allow a reenactment of a confederate takeover of the courthouse, Judge-Exec John Wilson told me today. Details from Teater are still to come, but apparently the reenactors would enter the courthouse and stage taking the tax roll — the list of all the taxpayers. This was a strategy of confederate soldiers during the civil war to make it harder for local union governments to collect taxes.

The reenactors would then raise a flag representing the confederacy on the flagpole outside the courthouse, underneath the American flag. The fiscal court basically tabled any motion on the suggestion today, telling Teater it wanted a month to think about it.

It also told him he needed to confer with the Lancaster City Council concerning additional outdoor events on the square, since most of the responsibility for allowing those events would rest on its shoulders, John told me.

Stay tuned for details when I get them.
UPDATE: I just got some details from Byron on what he hopes will be an extra preliminary event before the main Battle of Lancaster event.

Battle of Lancaster folks would put together a leather journal with fake names and records that would represent the county’s tax roll. By stealing this from a courthouse, confederate soldiers made it difficult for union forces to know who had and had not already paid their taxes.

Four or five confederate reenactors would come into the courthouse with guns and powder but no ammunition and “demand the tax roll,” which would be located in John Wilson’s office. That would be about it.

There would also hopefully be a reenactment of a skirmish on the town square, similar to several battles but not modeled after any particular one, and a flag-raising ceremony, where reenactors would raise the “Confederate First National” flag, which was the real confederate flag for the first two years of the war, Byron told me.

Congratulations to the Garrard County boys’ basketball team, which had a record 13 3-pointers in their 102-51 win over Lynn Camp on seniors night tonight.

Nathan Mick in Garrard County’s economic development office has taken on Tyler Lane, a January 2011 graduate of Centre College from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Tyler will work with Nathan on economic development for at least 20 hours a week until May 6. Some of the things Tyler will be doing with Nathan include:

Mr. Lane will be assisting with continued efforts to recruit businesses to Garrard County; updating and improving the GrowingGarrard.com website; marketing Garrard County events and updates through social media and the Garrard County online community calendar; conducting business research; volunteering for projects and events in partnership with the Garrard County Chamber of Commerce; and helping to represent the Garrard County Economic Development Office at meetings and events in Garrard County and throughout Central Kentucky.