News

Council and Plant Board each meet in closed sessions

By Dennis Brown

Special meetings and closed sessions dominated sessions of Vanceburg City Council and the Vanceburg Electric Plant Board last week.

A special meeting of the Electric Plant Board was conducted Tuesday evening to address personnel matters.

Members went into closed session to discuss personnel issues, and after returning to open session took no action on what was discussed in the closed session.

Vanceburg City Council met on Friday afternoon and went into closed session to discuss proposed or pending litigation.

After returning to open session, council members voted to hire Yunker and Park PLC, a law firm based in Lexington, as additional counsel for possible litigation.

The firm’s website notes they concentrate in litigation and represent clients and consult to law firms in areas of antitrust, complex civil litigation, consumer law, intellectual property and utility regulation.

Weather monitoring station installed at Charters

By Dennis Brown

The Kentucky Mesonet has expanded its weather and climate monitoring network to Lewis County.

Workers installed a Mesonet station just off the AA Highway near the Charters community. The station is on Spence Road near the location of the old Valley Schoolhouse on property owned by Twin Valley Farms.

A station in Nicholas County was installed a week earlier near the Nicholas-Bourbon County line on the farm owned by Bob and Carolyn Berrisford.

“We are extremely pleased to have a new stations installed in two more counties as part of the Kentucky Mesonet,” said Dr. Stuart Foster, director of the Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center at Western Kentucky University.

“These sites will provide valuable data to assist National Weather Service meteorologists in producing forecasts and severe weather warnings, and will also provide benefits to a wide range of interests in the local area,” he added.

During a meeting of Lewis County Fiscal Court last April, magistrates agreed to provide services in clearing the area the site is located on and maintaining the site with regular brush removal and trimming.

Since the Mesonet’s first station at the WKU farm in Warren County became operational in May 2007, 49 stations have now been installed toward a goal of 100 stations statewide.

The Mesonet stations collect real-time weather and climate data on temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed and direction.

Data is packaged into observations and transmitted to the Kentucky Climate Center at WKU every five minutes, 24 hours per day, throughout the year and is available online at www.kymesonet.org.

Foster said the statewide automated environmental monitoring network supports a variety of needs across Kentucky in agriculture, education, emergency management, energy, engineering and construction, recreation, transportation, water supply management and weather forecasting.

Stations are located in Adair, Allen, Barren, Boone, Breathitt, Breckinridge Bullitt, Caldwell, Calloway, Campbell, Carroll, Casey, Christian, Clark, Clinton, Crittenden, Cumberland, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hardin, Harrison, Henderson, Hopkins, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Madison, Marshall, Mason, McLean, Mercer, Metcalfe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Owen, Owsley, Rowan, Taylor, Trigg, Union and Warren counties.

Site license agreements have been reached in Marion and Muhlenberg counties with preferred sites identified in Boyd, Nelson and Shelby counties.

Mesonet officials are actively pursuing sites in about 20 other counties, including Bath, Bell, Harlan, Lawrence, McCreary, Pendleton, Pike and Todd.

Foster, a State Climatologist, is director of the Kentucky Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center. Dr. Rezaul Mahmood, associate professor of Geography and Geology, is associate director of the Kentucky Mesonet and the Kentucky Climate Center.

The Kentucky Mesonet staff includes meteorologists and staff with expertise in instrumentation, information technology, quality assurance, and education outreach. The Kentucky Mesonet also provides opportunities for WKU student employees and interns to work side-by-side with professional staff.

Initial funding for the project was secured by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell through a $2.9 million federal appropriation for the Kentucky Climate Center, part of WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program in the Ogden College of Science and Engineering.

New transmitter is installed for WKKS

Staff Report

Listeners to WKKS-FM likely noticed a difference over the weekend after the local radio station installed some important new equipment on Friday.

WKKS General Manager Dennis Brown said a new transmitter was switched on the air Friday afternoon following installation at the station’s transmitter site near Vanceburg.

Brown said the equipment is an Armstrong FM-2500B solid state transmitter and replaces equipment which was manufactured in 1982.

The older transmitter, he said, was having increasing problems due to the age of the components and required extensive maintenance to keep it in proper operating condition. He added the equipment manufacturer had announced they would no longer be supporting that line of equipment and new replacement parts would no longer be available from them.

Replacement parts, if they could be located, would be from used equipment.

Brown said the new transmitter is much more compact than the older one and is controlled with a computer microprocessor which will continuously monitor the equipment and keep it operating at optimum levels.

The equipment manufacturer notes the transmitter design has been field proven in the world’s worst environments by the US Military.

Brown added the new solid state transmitter doesn’t require tubes for its operation. The tubes in the older transmitter would weaken and required regular replacement to operate at the required level.

He said the new transmitter is also more energy efficient, meaning cooler operation and less consumption of electricity for its operation.

Brown said the new FM transmitter is similar in design to the AM transmitter which was installed a few years ago and has operated reliable since it was put on the air.

He said the installation was completed by Tyrone Hemry of Hemry Engineering in Chillicothe, Ohio. Hemry also installed new power surge and grounding protection for the new transmitter.

“Tyrone has been an engineer for the station for many years,” Brown said Friday, adding that Hemry has also

Dennis Brown/Lewis County Herald

Tyrone Hemry makes adjustments to a new transmitter installed last week for WKKS-FM.

connected remote control and monitoring equipment at the site to provide operating data and help keep the site secure.

Brown and Hemry began the installation Friday morning and switched from the old equipment to the new transmitter at 1:00 p.m. “The change-over took place without a hitch,” Brown said. “The station was only off the air a few minutes to allow transmission lines to be changed from the old transmitter to the new one.”

He said the installation process went smoothly and engineers at the equipment manufacturer were standing by to provide assistance if needed. They were contacted after the installation was complete and confirmed the readings when the equipment was placed at full power.

Brown said the old transmitter will be retained and utilized as a back-up.

He said an emergency back-up electric generator at the site also received some attention on Friday to make sure the transmitter site remains on the air during power outages.

“The listeners will notice a difference,” Brown said, “Especially those who live in fringe areas and had difficulty receiving a reliable signal before.”

Brown, who has been the station manager for the past 25 years, said additional improvements for the station are planned and invites listeners to let him know their recommendations.

Lions Club will host Candidate Forum

By Dennis Brown

The Vanceburg Lions Club will be hosting a Meet the Candidates night to allow residents an opportunity to hear from those running for Lewis County offices.

Lion Lloyd Spear said the event is planned for April 22 at the Lewis County High School Auditorium and is tentatively scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Spear said that with so many on the ballot for the May Primary, most of the candidates will be given an opportunity to make a statement to those in attendance.

A short intermission will allow organizers to prepare for a debate between candidates running for the offices of sheriff and judge executive starting at about 8:00 p.m.

Spear said tables will be available for candidates to set up and talk with those attending the event, much like previous Meet the Candidate events.

He said the LCHS Junior Class will host a chili supper, set to begin at 5:00 p.m.

Candidates interested in participating in the event may contact any member of the committee.

Lions Club committee members include Spear, Rob Kennard, Buddy Lykins, Ben Harrison and Sam Howard.

Spear said more information concerning the event will be made available after the committee meets again.

Former Representative LE "Gene" Cline dies

By Dennis Brown

A former state representative for Lewis and Carter Counties died last week following an extended illness.

Lowell Eugene “Gene” Cline, a resident of Olive Hill, served as 96^th District State Representative from 1982 to 1990.

He had also served as Carter County Clerk and Carter County Judge Executive. He was previous owner of Stucky Back Cline Funeral Home in Carter County and owner/operator of Shoes Unlimited in Olive Hill.

Cline, 74, also served as a Deacon of the Olive Hill First Baptist Church. He died last Tuesday at The Episcopal Church Home in Louisville.

Services were at 1:00 p.m. Saturday at the Olive Hill First Baptist Church. Arrangements were under the direction of Globe Funeral Chapel in Olive Hill.

He was honored by the General Assembly last week by a house resolution.

File Photo

LE "Gene" Cline was a former State Representative for Lewis and Carter Counties..

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