http://www.kentucky.com/211/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Local 60 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:54:59 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/461303.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/461303.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:37 EDT
I remember skillfully hula-hooping on various parts of my body in my youth. I could do two around my waist and one around each arm.

Of course there is a distinct possibility that my memory has blurred with the expansion of my waistline and the passage of time.

But I do know I could hula hoop and hula hoop well. That's why I bought one a couple of years ago and abandoned it two days later when I couldn't get the thing to twirl anywhere near my midsection.

When my boss strongly .suggested I attend a hula-hoop class and write about my .experience, I knew whatever dignity I have been clinging to would fall as quickly as that hoop. Please note, however, there are no photos of me with this column. I was able to keep a smidgen of my dignity intact. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/459819.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/459819.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:32 EDT
Lucille Holman, 69, is dying of cancer.

It's her second bout with .ovarian cancer, which had been in remission, but now has spread to her lungs.

She endured a couple of .chemotherapy treatments earlier this year, but decided in April to take a pass on any more.

Holman had accepted her fate, but she wasn't truly at ease with it until she made a trip to Florida recently. Now, all is well. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464523.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464523.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:46 EDT
A city task force negotiating a tax increment financing proposal with the developers of CentrePointe has decided to hire a consultant who has experience with Kentucky TIF projects.

The city does not have any experience with TIF projects and needs some expert advice on this, said Vice Mayor Jim Gray, who proposed hiring a consultant. .We need to do everything we can to ensure that, if we make a deal on a TIF, any TIF, that it's in the best interests of the taxpayers..

Tax increment financing is a way of borrowing against future tax revenues to help pay for infrastructure improvements on redevelopment projects.

Besides deciding to hire a consultant, the Tax Increment Financing Task Force established a meeting schedule, including one session to solicit public input. The members also discussed potential public improvements that could be part of the development of CentrePointe, a proposed $250 million, 35-story hotel, condominium, retail and office complex slated to be built by developers Dudley and Woodford Webb on a full downtown block. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464521.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464521.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:46 EDT
Families who haven't settled lawsuits over a Lexington plane crash that killed 49 people were ordered Thursday to meet with Comair officials in a last-ditch effort to avoid trial.

U.S. District Judge Karl Forester scheduled most of the settlement conferences for the next two weeks and said family members representing the estate of each victim and top airline decision-makers should attend.

.We're not doing this just as an exercise,. Forester said during a pretrial hearing. .We're doing it to try to get the cases settled..

David Royse, an attorney who serves as a liaison with other lawyers representing families suing the airline over the 2006 crash, said he doesn't know whether a trial can be avoided altogether. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464327.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464327.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:46 EDT
It was a defense that drew snickers from lawyers around Lexington.

Melbourne Mills Jr., his lawyers argued in his high-profile trial, was too drunk to know what was going on when two other lawyers allegedly pilfered millions of dollars from their clients in a diet-drug lawsuit settlement.

Yet Mills ultimately had the last laugh when a jury acquitted him on July 1 on conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges.

This week, another defendant in a high-profile Kentucky case had (partial) success with an intoxication defense. James H. .Jamie. Barnett avoided the death penalty Wednesday when jurors found that he murdered Clay City Police Chief Randy Lacy .wantonly. rather than .intentionally.. Barnett was drunk and high at the time of the shooting. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464329.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464329.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:46 EDT
Looking for a slightly used dump truck, giant leaf vacuum, Ford Taurus or Ford F-150 pickup?

Well, Lexington has a deal for you.

The city is auctioning off more than 80 surplus pool vehicles over the Internet to generate an estimated $300,000.

So far, 12 vehicles have been sold for about $53,000, said Kimra Cole, the city's commissioner of general services. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/462574.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/462574.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:36 EDT
FRANKFORT . A Jessamine County woman must serve 120 days in jail after a judge ruled that she has continued to sell securities related to the 1901 Spindletop oil strike in Texas despite an order to stop.

Jewell Robbins, 75, of Nicholasville was ordered into custody by Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate.

But shortly after the judge's Wednesday ruling, Robbins complained of illness and was wheeled on a gurney from the Franklin County courthouse to a waiting ambulance.

Her condition was not immediately known, and as of 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, Robbins was not booked in the Franklin County jail. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/462719.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/462719.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:44 EDT
The Lexington police officer who shot a man raising an assault rifle in his direction early Monday properly followed department policy and training, police Chief Ronnie Bastin said.

But that news didn't appease one of the victim's relatives, who unexpectedly showed up at a police news conference Wednesday and asked Bastin why the man was shot multiple times.

.Why would it take that much to put him down?. asked George Hopper, who said he is the former father-in-law of Warren Douglas Rayburn.

Lexington police Officer Matthew Jordan shot Rayburn, 44, about 4 a.m. Monday after responding to a domestic violence call at 1788 Arbor Station Way. Rayburn was armed with a Bushmaster XM15 semi-automatic assault rifle and pointed the weapon, which was loaded with a 30-round magazine, at Jordan and Lexington police Officer J. Michael Smith, according to a police report. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463322.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463322.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
The assault rifle a man pointed at two Lexington police officers early Monday on Arbor Station Way was more than dangerous, gun experts say.

In a matter of seconds, .he could have taken them both out,. said Timothy Dimoff, a former Akron, Ohio police officer and national security consultant.

The Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle police say Warren Douglas Rayburn, 44, pointed at officers J. Michael Smith and Matthew Jordan, who were responding to a domestic situation at 1788 Arbor Station Way, looks intimidating, and it's powerful, Dimoff said.

.It's very threatening and scary for an officer to have any weapon pointed at them, no matter what kind of weapon it is,. Dimoff said. .To have an assault rifle pointed at you is going to make you more nervous.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463298.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463298.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
A face lift for Blue Grass Airport's front entrance is a step closer to becoming a reality, thanks to a large federal grant.

Gov. Steve Beshear and other state officials were on hand at the airport Wednesday for the presentation of a $586,233 ceremonial check representing the federal money.

.Folks, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and we intend to make a great impression and a lasting impression,. said the governor, referring to the thousands of people who will be going through the airport on their way to and from the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010.

The front entrance makeover, initially expected to cost between $750,000 and $1 million, is now estimated to cost a little under $1.2 million, according to airport officials. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/462490.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/462490.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:32 EDT
A dead bat found near downtown Lexington last week tested positive for rabies, and Lexington health department officials urge residents to vaccinate their pets.

A dog killed the bat outside a home on Central Avenue, near Woodland Park, on July 9, according to the Lexington-Fayette Health Department.

The bat was taken to the University of Kentucky's diagnostic lab the next day, and rabies was confirmed on Friday.

The dog's owner had left the dog unattended in the Central Avenue yard, health department spokesman Kevin Hall said. When she went to check on her dog, she found it chewing on the bat. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463135.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463135.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:04 EDT
The Fayette County school board has chosen two downtown Lexington schools to receive $1.2 million to hire more teachers and offer chess, violin, foreign language and art instruction.

The extra funds will go to Harrison and the newly built William Wells Brown elementaries to improve test scores at two schools that have struggled.

.I'm extremely excited because for once I think we can truly truly get done what we need to get done with our kids,. said William Wells Brown's principal, Yvonne Peace. .You just need more help, you just need more people, that's what it boils down to..

Schools in Kentucky face dual mandates that require academic goals to be met by 2014. Under the state accountability system, known as the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS, all schools are expected to achieve a total score of 100 out of 140 that year. The federal No Child Left Behind law requires all students to have reached proficiency on state reading and math tests by 2014. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464817.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464817.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:38 EDT
Jackson County Deputy Coroner Lonnie Hacker told The Lexington Herald-Leader the victims were 77-year-old Ricie Gobel and his 79-year-old wife, Geraldine Lunsford.

Hacker said Lunford did not get out of the house in Sand Gap after it caught fire early Thursday.

He indicated Gobel escaped, but died at the University of Kentucky Hospital after being severely burned.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464944.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464944.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:46 EDT
Jonathan Levy is an associate professor of environmental health and risk assessment. The Asheville Citizen-Times reports he testified Friday in the lawsuit brought by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

U.S. District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg is hearing the case without a jury.

Cooper wants the TVA to cut pollution from its 11 coal-fired power plants in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama. The state argues that emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury drift from nearby states into North Carolina, hurting air quality and the economy.

Levy says if scrubbers and other pollution control technology were in place, North Carolina would see 99 fewer premature deaths annually from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. He also testified there would be 19,000 fewer asthma attacks, 60 fewer hospital admissions, 55 fewer emergency room visits related to asthma and 2,300 fewer lost school days.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/465122.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/465122.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:34 EDT
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Friday that VA officials are offering "disingenuous double talk and bureaucratic gobbledygook" in response to concerns voiced earlier this month by his office and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.

Blumenthal said the state is sending a letter to the VA threatening potential legal action if the agency does not meet its demands by Aug. 1.

Connecticut is among several states pushing the VA to reverse a policy that blocks nonpartisan groups from holding voter registration drives in veterans homes, hospitals and other VA facilities.

Veterans Affairs Secretary James P. Peake issued the directive May 5, saying the registration drives are not permitted "to avoid disruptions to facility operations." He also cited the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities with government resources or on government time.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/465331.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/465331.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:39 EDT
The Gleaner said the plea means Luttrell, 24, of Henderson, would face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole, avoiding the death penalty.

Frederick, 67, of Morganfield, was fatally beaten and stabbed in Henderson when she took an infant for what was to be a final home visit with the infant's mother, Renee Terrell.

Prosecutors say Terrell and Luttrell stole jewelry off of Frederick's body, kidnapped the baby and stole the woman's car. They were found three days later after a nationwide manhunt.

Luttrell also pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, kidnapping, theft over $300 and three counts of being a second-degree persistent felony offender.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464650.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464650.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:09 EDT
The Park Place Children's Home should be ready for its first residents by the end of the year, said Jim Bosley, president and chief executive of the nonprofit New Hope Services, which serves nine southern Indiana counties.

New Hope received word of the grant Tuesday came from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis.

"It's definitely needed," said Brenda Combs of Charlestown, who drives each weekend to Indianapolis to visit her adopted 13-year old daughter, who has severe emotional disabilities.

The Silvercrest Children's Development Center was a residential school serving children with autism and other disabilities from across the state, helping them adjust to returning to their homes and schools.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/464519.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/464519.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:46 EDT
FRANKFORT . A state legislative panel is asking Gov. Steve Beshear to sign an order to allow three-wheeled electric vehicles on most state roads though he said last week that it would be best to study the issue for consideration in the 2009 General Assembly.

Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington, said the unanimous voice vote Thursday by the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism for Beshear to act now was not designed to politically embarrass the Democratic governor.

.No, not at all,. Kerr said.

She said the committee made the request because .more interest is being stimulated. in the cars, especially an effort by Integrity Manufacturing, a manufacturing plant in Bullitt County, to build ZAP electric cars. The cars now are built in China. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/463534.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/463534.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:46 EDT
Jackson County residents Ricie Gobel, 77, and his wife, Geraldine Lunsford, 79, died in a house fire early Thursday that might have been caused by a gas heater, authorities say.

Lunsford lived at 339 Lodge Hall Road in Sand Gap with Gobel who was taken to University of Kentucky Hospital with severe burns before he died, Jackson County Deputy Coroner Lonnie Hacker said.

Hacker said that he arrived at the house about 2:55 a.m., and that the structure had already burned down.

The woman never made it outside her home. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/464334.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/464334.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:46 EDT
Family members of a mother and son killed in an apartment fire in Pike County have filed a lawsuit against the building's owner.

Tammy Lockhart, 41, and her son Justin, 17, died from smoke inhalation in the blaze that broke out on July 8, destroying all nine apartments in the two-story building on Hibbard Street, Pike County Deputy Coroner Zeb Hampton said.

State fire officials have said the fire, which began in the Lockharts' living room, was accidental and appears to have been caused by an electrical problem.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Tammy Lockhart's father, Rex Lockhart, was first reported by the Appalachian News-Express. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/463681.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/463681.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:17 EDT
HARRODSBURG . A Mercer County grand jury will consider charges of sexual abuse and rape against Terry Wallingford, the administrator of a Burgin provider of care to mentally disabled people.

Wallingford, 45, is accused of rape and sexual abuse against four former employees of New Hope Agency in Burgin.

A preliminary hearing in Wallingford's criminal case was scheduled for Thursday morning in Mercer District Court. But Wallingford and his attorney, Jim Lowry of Lexington, chose to waive the matter to a grand jury without a hearing.

According to sworn statements, one woman says she was raped at Wallingford's farm and was repeatedly subjected to groping and fondling. Three other women also say in affidavits that they were subjected to fondling. The Herald-Leader does not generally identify people who allege sexual abuse. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/464526.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/464526.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:46 EDT
VIRGIE . Gov. Steve Beshear said Thursday that legalizing casinos remains a possibility in Kentucky even though lawmakers rejected the idea earlier this year.

.I don't think that issue is dead,. Beshear told about 400 people gathered in a small school auditorium in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields. .I think we will be talking about it a lot more..

Beshear began a series of 13 town hall meetings Thursday that will take him to communities across the state during the next five weeks.

The governor said he is especially interested in suggestions on how state government can continue to provide services under tight budget constraints. The state faces a $900 million revenue shortfall over the next two years. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/459864.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/459864.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:32 EDT
HOUSTON . Dr. Michael DeBakey, the world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered such now-common procedures as bypass surgery and invented a host of devices to help heart patients, has died. He was 99.

Dr. DeBakey died Friday night at The Methodist Hospital in Houston of natural causes, according to a statement issued early Saturday by Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital.

Dr. DeBakey counted world leaders among his patients and helped turn Baylor from a provincial school into one of the nation's great medical institutions.

.Dr. DeBakey's reputation brought many people into this institution, and he treated them all: heads of state, entertainers, businessmen and presidents, as well as people with no titles and no means,. said Ron Girotto, president of The Methodist Hospital System. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/456116.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/456116.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:13 EDT
NASSAU, Bahamas . John Templeton, an investor and mutual-fund pioneer who dedicated much of his fortune to promoting religion and reconciling it with science, has died. He was 95.

Mr. Templeton died Tuesday from pneumonia at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, said his spokesman Donald Lehr.

Mr. Templeton created the $1.4 million Templeton Prize . billed as the world's richest annual prize . to honor advancement in knowledge of spiritual matters. Winners have included Mother Teresa, the Rev. Billy Graham and Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Mr. Templeton was born in Tennessee and later moved to Nassau and became a naturalized British citizen. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/452944.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/452944.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:23 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/451889.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/451889.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:38 EDT
Lawrence Kendrick spent many years doing charitable acts in his native Boyle County, according to those who knew him.

He helped with a church project to send shoe boxes filled with toys and necessities for poor children overseas at Christmas time. For years, he donated a bicycle to be used as a prize for the children of Junction City Elementary School at the school's annual fall festival.

He served on the board of Boyle County Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for people with low incomes. And he provided support, financial and otherwise, in the adoptions of four of his grandchildren from overseas.

Mr. Kendrick was seriously injured June 6 in a traffic accident in Russia, where he was involved in another kind act . working on a church youth camp. A taxi in which he was riding in the town of Bryansk was struck by a dump truck, said his son, Larry Kendrick of Danville. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/785/story/462201.html http://www.kentucky.com/785/story/462201.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:45 EDT
Nothing makes you feel old like watching a time capsule being opened . and remembering the day it was sealed.

I was 7 years old on that Sunday . Jan. 9, 1966 . and Southern Hills Methodist Church was dedicating its new sanctuary on Harrodsburg Road at what was then the edge of town.

We all gathered near the main door and watched as a copper box was cemented behind a cornerstone engraved .1965.. (Construction always takes longer than planned.) My parents told me the box was a .time capsule. that would be opened someday in the future, and people would look at the things inside and see who we were.

A few years earlier, as a wave of growth and development swept across the farmland south of Lexington, Methodist leaders decided they needed a church there. Southern Hills was started in 1959 by a few dozen families, including mine, and a dynamic young minister, Don Herren. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/463348.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/463348.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:02 EDT
Most of us are blissfully unaware of the trouble some families have in maintaining parental contact with children.

Not all parents are modeled after June and Ward Cleaver of Leave It to Beaver fame or like Dr. Cliff and Clair Huxtable of The Cosby Show.

Some real-life parents have violent histories.

Yet most children want contact with both parents, even if there is risk to themselves or a parent because of acrimony between adults. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463598.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/463598.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:42 EDT
People used shirt collars as shields from smoke, wiped away sweat and tried not to breathe the filthy air.

Heavy smoke poured into the sky while a store near Jefferson and West Second streets burned Thursday. The dark smoke was visible for miles, and the news about the blaze quickly spread throughout the city.

Hundreds of people left their homes after Mayor Jim Newberry issued an evacuation order about 10:45 a.m., about an hour after reports of the fire at Star Light & Magic, an online theater and stage special-effects supply store.

All that was left of the building after the fire was extinguished were its brick walls. The inside was in ruins. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464219.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/464219.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:38 EDT
It's 10 p.m. at the Regal Hamburg Cinema, and six notices flash the words SOLD OUT. That's not a problem for Andy Noort, first in line for Batman: The Dark Knight .

He's not who you'd expect to be first in line.

Wearing cargo shorts, a black and white polo, 6-foot-9, not a comic book reader, there's nothing about him that screams fan-boy.

]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464766.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/464766.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:23 EDT
Jeremy Brooks, 27, accepted the plea deal Thursday in Wright County District Court.

Brooks is expected to get a life sentence without parole for the death of 58-year-old Ruth Ouverson August 3, 2007, near Montrose.

Before serving his Minnesota sentence, Brooks will go to Kentucky where he's expected to plead guilty in the deaths of 69-year-old Hugh O'Dea and 50-year-old Robert Eugene Elliott.

Brooks' alleged accomplice in the slayings, Coty Martinez, has not entered a plea.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/212/story/386597.html http://www.kentucky.com/212/story/386597.html Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:06 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/215/story/459820.html http://www.kentucky.com/215/story/459820.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:32 EDT
Reservation information was incorrect in a story on Page C1 Saturday about designer Vern Yip's appearance at a Woodford Humane Society event. Tickets remain for Yip's breakfast appearance Friday. Call the Humane Society at 873-5491 for more information. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/463679.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/463679.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:44 EDT
“I'm going to take a life sentence,” he whispered to the folks who know him better as Jamie.

After an emotional morning of testimony during the sentencing phase of his trial, Barnett took his fate into his own hands, rather than allowing the jury to decide it.

Barnett, who on Wednesday was found guilty of wanton murder for shooting Clay City police chief Randy Lacy, accepted a deal for life in prison.

The jury could have sentenced him to anywhere from 20 years to 50 years or life in prison. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/459863.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/459863.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:32 EDT
WASHINGTON . Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as President Bush's press secretary, died Saturday of colon cancer. He was 53.

.America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character,. President Bush said in a statement from Camp David, where he was spending the weekend. .It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace and a great love of country to his work..

Born in Berea on June 1, 1955, Robert Anthony Snow spent his childhood in the Cincinnati area.

Mr. Snow was the first host of the television news program Fox News Sunday from 1996 to 2003 and later said that in the Bush administration he was enjoying .the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I'm ever going to have.. ]]>