[Local News]

Hearings on lethal injection required
Ruling could have impact on Clay County man

Kentucky must hold public hearings on its execution protocol after changing how a lethal injection is administered, a state judge ruled yesterday. Franklin County Circuit Judge Sam McNamara's ruling could prevent the state from executing any inmates until the issue is resolved. The ruling came a week after the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the state's lethal injection law, saying it did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

Rebecca DiLoreto, post-trial division director for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, said McNamara's ruling simply requires the state to follow its own rules before making administrative changes.

"It isn't too much to ask, particularly in the taking of someone's life, to have the rules and regulations promulgated correctly," DiLoreto said.

Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Corrections, said her agency is studying the ruling. Last week, after the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the use of lethal injection, the governor's office said it was reviewing the cases of Death Row inmates whose appeals were complete. Several other Death Row inmates are challenging Kentucky's method of lethal injection. That federal court case is pending.

Kentucky has 40 Death Row inmates, including 11 who have been there for more than two decades. The state has executed two men since reinstating the death penalty in 1976, and only one by injection: Eddie Lee Harper, in 1999.

Injection is the only method of execution used on inmates who have been condemned since 1998; those sentenced earlier to death can choose electrocution.


Ronnie Lee Bowling

Ronnie Bowling of Clay County was sentenced to death December 9, 1992 in Laurel County for the murder of two gas station attendants in two separate robberies. Bowling shot and killed Ronald Smith, a London, Kentucky service station attendant during the early morning of January 20, 1989. Again, in the early morning of February 22, 1989 Marvin Hensley, a service station manager in London, Kentucky was robbed and killed. Bowling was arrested February 25, 1989.

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[Local News]

Local Students Sending Christmas Greetings To Troops Overseas
Jenna Emenhiser Reports

Many men and women serving overseas in the military won't get the chance to come home for Christmas, but some students at Clay County High School are sending local troops a little message from home for the holidays. Students involved in the SWAT program are sending personalized Christmas cards to soldiers in Iraq. They say they hope their messages will give the soldiers support and motivation.

"I wrote stuff like you're in our prayers and we're praying for your family and we just hope that you have a Merry Christmas," said student Ivan Sawyers.

As of now, the students have more than 170 names of soldiers based out of Fort Campbell, but if you have a loved one who would enjoy receiving a card, contact Tabitha Hacker at Clay County High School at 606-598-3737.

CLICK HERE to read this story at wkyt.com/wymtnews

[Local News]

Officials suspect arson is to blame for blaze
USFS firefighters are also battling forest fires in Clay County

By Fred Petke / Staff Writer
Arson may be to blame for a forest fire that’s burned approximately 75 acres near Cumberland Falls. U.S. Forest Service firefighters spent most of Monday battling the slow-burning fire along Kentucky 90 in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Late Monday afternoon, officials pinpointed the point of origin along an all-terrain vehicle trail.

“Apparently, it was probably arson,” USPS Spokesperson Kim Feltner said. Eighty percent of forest fires in Kentucky and the Daniel Boone National Forest are caused by arson, she said. An exact cause has not been determined.

The Whitley County fire is one of three burning in the region, but is the largest of the three. Firefighters are working to contain the fire within 125 acres using existing or new firelines, Feltner said.

“It’s still burning,” she said. “They’re being a little conservative. They’re going to contain it at about 125 acres. That happens to be an area that was once a mature pine stand.”

An epidemic of pine beetles in 2000 and 2001 through the region killed many of the trees, which are now standing or lying throughout the area, she said. High humidity and moist ground cover are slowing the fire’s growth, Feltner said. About a dozen firefighters and a bulldozer are working in Whitley County, she said.

No private property is in danger from the fire, though there is some near the edges, she said. The Whitley County fire should be contained entirely on federal land, she said. USFS firefighters are also battling forest fires in Clay and Leslie counties. Those fires had burned more than 50 acres Monday afternoon, according to the forest service.

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TheTimesTribune.com

[Local News]

New city officials in Clay County are ready to take office

Manchester Mayor Elect, Carmen Webb Lewis and new city council members were sworn in Sunday afternoon. The former councilmen say she's the first woman elected to the office, and many in the crowd say they are excited to have a new mayor for the first time in 28 years.

"It makes you feel good and it kind of motivates you, and I think it's motivated our council members to see you many supporters we have here today," Lewis said.

The new city council will officially take office on January first.

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[Local News]

Manchester officials face state scrutiny
By John Stamper And Bill Estep, HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS

Manchester officials have misused taxpayer dollars by inappropriately paving 34 private driveways, paying for personal travel expenses of city workers and making undocumented loans to employees and private companies, state Auditor Crit Luallen alleged yesterday in an audit of the city's finances. Release of the audit comes less than two months after the FBI raided city hall on Oct. 31 and seized a variety of documents, said Mayor-elect Carmen Lewis. City employees and council members, Lewis included, have since been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury, she said.

Lewis said questions from investigators indicate the federal inquiry focuses on city finances. She could not tell from the questions exactly what issues are under investigation, but it's clear that the inquiry is serious. "They're spending a lot of time in Manchester," she said of the FBI. State auditors have also been routinely visiting the Clay County town since spring. It is unclear whether the two investigations are related, but Luallen's spokesman, Jeff DeRouen, confirmed yesterday that the auditor's office has forwarded a copy of its findings to the FBI.

The driveway pavings in question were authorized by the city council in late 2005 as part of a contract to pave certain city streets, the state audit found. When a question was raised, outgoing Mayor Daugh White told city council members in November 2005 that owners of the driveways had agreed to pay the city before the blacktop was laid. White did not respond yesterday to messages seeking comment.

In interviews with White, a city councilman and the city road supervisor, auditors were told that "six or seven" driveways had been paved, but later documentation showed the actual number to be 34. An April 13 on-site visit by auditors found no documents authorizing the paving of private driveways or attempts to collect from property owners. The city later provided auditors with 11 invoices sent to property owners for more than $4,000. Although the paving was completed in November 2005, the first invoice was dated April 21, 2006, according to the audit.

The first payment by a property owner was made April 17, a week after auditors made their second visit to Manchester in southeastern Kentucky. As of Aug. 15, the city had collected $2,834.50.

"The state Constitution, Kentucky courts and simple common sense indicate that governments should not provide services such as private paving to select private citizens," Luallen said in a news release. "Taxpayers deserve that all governments follow the law and protect their money."

Luallen's office is also investigating allegations of improper paving of private driveways in Knott County, DeRouen said.

Although the state auditor reviews the finances of all 120 counties on an annual basis, it audits city governments only when a complaint arises, DeRouen said. In a one-page response to the audit's findings submitted to Luallen on Dec. 15, White maintained that only 11 private driveways were paved by the city. "The city has no documentation of an additional 23 private driveways being paved or patched because we did not pay to have an additional 23 private driveways paved or patched," White wrote.

The 28-year incumbent was defeated in November after Lewis ran an aggressive campaign that accused White of hiring his son, handling city affairs improperly and acting as if he were a law unto himself. Although many people knew of allegations that the city blacktopped private driveways before the audit came out, many weren't aware of other problems outlined in the 23-page document, Lewis said. Information about the audit findings started circulating in town recently when the city got a draft of the document in order to prepare responses.

"They've been pretty upset about a lot of things that came out in the audit," Lewis said of local people. Lewis said she plans to "revamp all that funny business."

"We hope that that never happens again."

The audit also concluded that:

• City funds were used to pay for personal travel expenses incurred by two employees. One city management worker billed the city for $133 of alcohol, among other things, while attending a May 2005 conference in Owensboro. In April 2004, a management employee in the city's police department was reimbursed for $15.90 of telephone calls made to other hotels, a limousine service and a "dating escort and introduction service" while attending a conference in Indianapolis.

• City officials provided undocumented loans worth $1,175 to four employees during 2005. The loans, made as pay advances, seem to have been repaid, but documents did not exist to confirm the payments. The city also inappropriately lent $6,600 to a local business that sits on property owned and leased by White and his brother. The loan, which was repaid within a week, allowed the company to meet payroll, officials said.

• The city may have violated its own ethics code by purchasing equipment and services from city workers. For example, the city purchased $22,159 of police equipment in 2005 from a business incorporated by a member of the police department.

• City officials failed to provide state officials with audits for fiscal years 2004 and 2005, which caused the Governor's Office for Local Development to suspend road payments to the city.

• The accountant selected to conduct city audits might not be independent of government officials, as required by audit standards. The city's outside auditor is a relative of a city official and provides water billing and collection services for the city.

The audit's findings have been referred to the attorney general's office, the Manchester city attorney, the governor's Office for Local Development, the Manchester Board of Ethics and the Transportation Cabinet, DeRouen said.

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[Local News]

Hospital learns about needs of Mennonites

Staff members at Kentucky Children's Hospital are learning about the special needs of Amish and Mennonite patients. Teresa Phillips of Lawrenceburg, a former registered nurse and former Amish and Mennonite convert, recently told some pediatric nurses at the hospital, part of the University of Kentucky, about steps they could take to make Amish and Mennonite families more comfortable.

Phillips said a deadly Oct. 2 school shooting at an Amish school in Lancaster County, Pa., prompted her to suggest the training idea to UK staff. Five Amish girls were killed and five were injured. Phillips, 37, once taught at an Amish school in Lancaster County. She went there for about a week after the shootings to offer help.

Phillips said Amish and Mennonite children generally play with simple toys and dolls without faces. The children love to make crafts, such as handmade cards or crocheted items, Phillips said. Also, Amish and Mennonite families are more likely to visit in large groups rather than individually, she said.

Phillips also told the staff about Amish and Mennonite customs that might affect patient care. Many of the children are not immunized, and most families don't carry health insurance. The male head of household, usually the father, generally makes all the medical decisions. Children often don't begin speaking English until they are school age; at home, families speak a German dialect.

In Central and Eastern Kentucky, Amish and Mennonites live in a number of areas, including Liberty, Harrodsburg, Crab Orchard and Manchester.

Sherry Holmes, a registered nurse who is director of children's services at UK, said access to health insurance is changing a little. At least one group of Amish or Mennonites in the region has entered into a managed-care contract with UK, she said. Holmes said Kentucky Children's Hospital treats an Amish or Mennonite child at least once a month.

"It's very common to see them," Holmes said. "We have to be flexible with people when it comes to their culture."

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[Local News]

Clay County inmate pleas not guilty

Slade Cansler, 23, pleaded not guilty to third-degree burglary and being a persistent felony offender in Harlan Circuit court. Cansler was previously sentenced to seven years in April for three indictments and probated for five years. Shock probation was revoked in a September hearing after Cansler failed to report for several appointments with his probation officer.

Cansler is currently incarcerated in Clay County for the charges stemming from the April sentencing. In addition, charges are still pending in circuit court for fleeing from a law enforcement officer, operating a motor vehicle on a suspended license and no insurance.

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[Local News]

Woman tries to steal almost $3,000 worth of electronics
By Dean Manning, Staff Writer

A woman leaving the London Wal-mart had to be physically restrained after she was confronted by the store’s loss prevention. London Police Officer Mike Holliday said Tina L. Stidham, 27, of Manchester, was stopped by loss prevention after she allegedly tried to leave the store with almost $3,000 worth of electronics that she had not paid for. When she attempted to leave, Holliday said loss prevention detained her until police arrived.

“She had put the items, which included TVs, DVRs and a computer into the buggy,” Holliday said. “Some of them were in boxes and others were part of the display and had been taken off the shelves.”

Stidham was charged with three counts of theft by unlawful taking over $300, which are felony charges. She was also arrested on unrelated charges which were warrants issued for failing to appear in court. Holliday said Stidham offered no reason for taking the items other than she was trying to provide for her family. She did not tell police what she intended to do with the items.

The investigation is continuing and Holliday said Stidham could be facing additional theft charges. Holliday said Stidham may be facing additional charges as she admitted to taking two LCD television on previous occasions.

“Wal-mart has video and an open investigation on these other items,” Holliday said in the arrest report.

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Sentinel-Echo.com

[Local News]

Clay County Begins Drug Discount Card Program
Offering a prescription discount card

Health officials in Clay County are saying the new cards are available at the county health department. They say the card offer a 20 percent discount on many common prescriptions. State officials say most Kentucky counties are enrolled in the program and you can find out if your county is participating by calling the county health department.

CUMBERLAND VALLEY DISTRICT HEALTH DEPARTMENT
CENTRAL OFFICE
P.O. Box 158
Manchester Square Shopping Center
Manchester, KY 40962
606/598-5564
FAX [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

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[Local News]

Can you tell the difference between a Hillbilly and and redneck?
Clay County writer Anne Shelby: both terms can be forms of hate speech

By Cheryl Truman, HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Miss USA Tara Conner was labeled a redneck and a hillbilly after her recent difficulties with big-city life. In the firestorm of media froth that surrounded an engineered "scandal" during a slow news season, Conner found herself unflatteringly tagged as both throughout Internet blogdom as well as the gossip columns.

New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser sourly opined about Conner's time spent a-twisting prettily in the wind and wondering about the prospect of "being shipped back to the miserable Kentucky hollow from whence she came."

Apparently all of Kentucky can be considered a miserable hollow -- literally, "a small valley between mountains" -- if your primary experience of the state is flying over it. To the airborne sophisticate, Kentucky is chock-full of earnest teetotaling Jethros and wizened vittle-slinging hags tending to the critters up the holler.

However, this is not a story about the perceptions of snotty columnists. This is a story about redneck versus hillbilly, and which one we are. We'll write down Peyser as one who favors "hillbilly." Hillbillies are a subset of rednecks

Clay County writer Anne Shelby, author of Can a Democrat Get Into Heaven?, argues that both terms may be considered a form of hate speech "used interchangeably by 'sophisticates' and wannabe sophisticates who need somebody to feel superior to. It seems particularly cruel that Miss USA's troubles should be blamed on where she's from, a pretty typical American small town."

Anne Shelby

But then Shelby gets down to some figuring on the matter of who's a hillbilly and who's just a redneck.

"To the people who use these dismissive and dehumanizing terms, we hillbillies are a subset of rednecks," she said. "In this fictional scheme of things, you can live in the South and therefore be a redneck but not a hillbilly, but you can't be a hillbilly without being a redneck, too."

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[Local News]

Corbin Police Department arrest three from Manchester

The Corbin Police Department announced the arrests of three Manchester residents. They are:

William Jackson, 40, Manchester, bench warrant

Earl S. Stevens, 33, Manchester, disorderly conduct, theft by unlawful taking under $300 (shoplifting)

Carlos B. Abner, 21, Manchester, theft by unlawful taking under $300 (shoplifting)

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TheTimesTribune.com

[Local News]

Manchester murder suspect pleads not guilty
By Fred Petke, Staff Writer - TheTimesTribune

Murder suspect Edward Brian Whitaker pleaded not guilty to his charges Friday morning during his first circuit court appearance in the case. Whitaker, 32, of Manchester, was indicted last month for the Nov. 14, 2006 killing of his cousin, 28-year-old Benjamin Gilbert. Friday, Whitaker entered his first plea in Laurel Circuit Court.

His attorney Bob Cato requested another pretrial hearing in February, since they are still awaiting a report from Whitaker’s evaluation at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center. Whitaker was arrested the afternoon of the shooting for assault, but charges were increased after Gilbert’s death.

Police said the two cousins were on friendly terms and had spent the day of the murder together hanging out. Gilbert, though, was shot once in the chest at a residence on Sally’s Branch Road. The weapon was a 20-gauge shotgun, allegedly wielded by Whitaker. Gilbert died nearly three hours later at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington.

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TheTimesTribune.com

[Local News]

Former 911 center head expected to plead guilty to drug charges
By Bill Estep, SOUTH-CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

The former head of the 911 dispatch system in Clay County plans to admit he conspired with an assistant police chief and a drug dealer to distribute cocaine and pain pills. The attorney representing Vernon C. Hacker filed a motion Wednesday in federal court to rearraign Hacker, meaning he will plead guilty. The motion said Hacker will plead guilty on two conspiracy charges that also name Todd Roberts, former assistant police chief in Manchester, and Bobby Joe Curry, a longtime drug dealer.

Hacker’s plea is a significant development, giving prosecutors a potential key witness in the second recent high-profile federal case alleging drug trafficking and corruption among public figures in Clay County. Hacker’s attorney declined comment on the motion Wednesday, but plea deals ordinarily include a requirement to cooperate with authorities and testify against others. Curry pleaded guilty earlier, leaving Roberts as the only current defendant.

Attorney Gary Crabtree of London, who represents Roberts, said the accused officer maintains his innocence. Hacker’s move to plead guilty doesn’t change plans for Roberts’ defense, Crabtree said.

“He’s a very nice young man who has served in police work for many years, combating drugs, and we’re going to do our very best to defend him against these allegations,” Crabtree said of Roberts.

Hacker, 53, was indicted last August with Roberts and Curry on charges that they conspired to sell a million dollars worth of cocaine, pain pills and methadone between July 1999 and May 2005. When they were indicted, Hacker was head of the city-county 911 system and a Manchester City Council member. He had been a deputy sheriff. Roberts had been a police officer for 10 years and was assistant chief in Manchester. A later indictment also charged that Roberts, who is in his mid-30s, stole more than $5,000 that police had seized in criminal cases.

Curry, who said he experienced a religious conversion and stopped selling drugs before he was arrested, said in his plea deal that Hacker and Roberts took part in the drug conspiracy by tipping him off about police activity. The two also bought stolen guns from him that he’d taken as payment for drugs, Curry said, and Roberts supplied him with prescription pills that police had seized from other dealers.

Curry, 56, said Roberts and Hacker started helping him after he helped them burn down an old vacant house in Manchester in 1999. The house was on the spot where the city wanted to build a new police station and 911 center. The owner had refused to sell and was holding up the project, so he helped burn it, Curry said in his plea agreement. The city later built an attractive building on the site to house the 911 office and police department, naming it for longtime Mayor Daugh White.

Roberts has been free on bond since being charged. He is still assistant police chief, but is suspended with pay, said Manchester Mayor Carmen Lewis. Hacker, however, has been jailed since last fall because he allegedly offered to bribe people to provide false testimony for him and discussed having Curry hurt “bad enough to keep him making it to court,” as police said in one document. The 911 board fired Hacker several months after he was charged.

Hacker faces up to 20 years in prison, though his agreement will likely include a shorter sentence. The case is the second significant public corruption inquiry in Clay County in the last two years. In the earlier case, Kenneth Day, a former county election commissioner, pleaded guilty to running a multimillion-dollar marijuana and cocaine ring from his pawn shop.

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[Local News]

Welcome to the City Of Hope
Danielle Morgan, wymtnews.com

They have a new mayor, a new sheriff, a new judge executive and nearly an entire new city council. Clay County and the city of Manchester had a big shake up in the November election and as a sign that things are changing to passers by, the city is being renamed. 62 churches and hundreds of community members hit the streets in 2004 to march against drugs and violence. Since then, several public leaders have pleaded guilty to federal drug charges and corruption in office. Pastors say drug addicts are filling the churches in search of sobriety and visitors say they sense a change. An unprecedented crowd of nearly one hundred people went to the first city council meeting.

"We named our city the City of Hope because of all the things that have been happening since our drug march and forward, we just thought that was very fitting for our community,' said Manchester Mayor Carmen Lewis.

That statement alone is something many people never thought they'd hear.

"We could have easily put the city of hopelessness on the signs before," said Doug Abner, Community Church Pastor.

Even inmates from the regional jail, serving time for drug convictions, are surprised.

"It's been real bad for drugs. I used to come up here quite often," said Clay County Inmate Glennis Nantz.

"I never imagined it, the City of Hope," said Clay County Inmate Conley Cotton.

U.S. Attorney Amul Thapar says whether it's Clay County, or elsewhere, he's committed to keeping hope where it belongs.

"Public officials should know they're put in a position of significant trust by citizens and we intend to protect those citizens and ensure that they don't abuse that position of trust," Thapar said.

Next week, the signs will be unveiled on every highway leading into the city reading "Manchester, the City of Hope."

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[Local News]

Teen killed in ATV crash
The Courier-Journal

A 16-year-old boy was killed when he lost control of the all-terrain vehicle he was driving Saturday in the Clay County community of Gray Fork, according to Kentucky State Police. Clay County Coroner Jim Trosper identified the victim as Shawn Barrett, of Manchester. He died at Manchester Memorial Hospital shortly after the accident.

State police, in a press release, said Barrett was going south on Ky. 3476 when he left the highway and struck two trees. He was wearing a helmet, according to state police.

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