This month's regular session of the Lewis County Board of Education began in an impressive manner. The Lewis County High School ROTC Honor Guard presented the colors and led the audience in the Pledge to the American Flag.

Immediately thereafter, Superintendent Maurice Reeder Jr. presented Wilburn Applegate with a diploma from Tollesboro High School.

Applegate was called out of high school to serve his country in World War II and was not graduated at that time.

Lewis County High School Superintendent Maurice Reeder Jr. presented Wilburn Applegate with a diploma from Tollesboro High School at the May 12 session of the local Board of Education. Applegate was not graduated during his youth because he was called to active military duty in World War II.

The ceremony took place at the new auditorium at the high school. The board's May session was conducted at that location rather than at the Central Office in order to make that presentation and also to accommodate the number of folks invited to the meeting.

Lewis County High School Superintendent Maurice Reeder Jr. and Belinda Forman presented awards to Lisa Zornes' fourth grade class at Laurel Elementary for achieving the proficient rating on their portfolios. It is the only time in the district's history that all members of one class earned that ranking.

The class was called to the stage and each of the students was awarded a certificate for the unusual achievement. Eleven of the 19 class members were on hand for the presentation. Laurel Elementary Principal Jerry Bloomfield attended the meeting with the class.

Continuing with the success story theme, Reeder called Belinda Forman to stand and give a report about the trip she and high school principal Jendra Enix made to Frankfort to present the reading program in the school's district to educators there.

The invitation to Forman and Enix came as the result of a visit to LCHS on April 16 by State Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit.

The commissioner was so impressed with what he saw in the Lewis County Schools that he invited the ladies to Frankfort to make the presentation.

A tornado that swept through Lewis and Mason Counties May 10, leveling homes and sending at least 17 people to the hospital, was classified last week by the National Weather Service as an F3 in the Fujita Scale.

A spokesman with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, said officials did a "flyover" Tuesday to rate the storm.

That information, along with information gathered by a team on the ground, confirmed what most people here already knew.

The spokesman said the worst damage appeared to be in the Herron Hill area with winds ranging from 158 mph to 206 mph. The maximum width of the tornado was about 200 yards, which was in the Herron Hill area.

Herron Hill was among the hardest his and 17 people were taken to Meadowview Regional Medical Center in Maysville. Geneva Reed, house supervisor at the hospital, said the two most seriously injured were leased late last week.

The NWS spokesman said the tornado touched down in Mason County, about two miles southeast of Maysville, and moved east-southeast across Mason County into Lewis County.

This mobile home, owned by Arthur "Big Boy" Applegate, was demolished  by the tornado on May 10. The trailer was located at Herron Hill.

Governor Paul Patton declared a State of Emergency in 16 counties, including Lewis County, as a result of the storms, which produced tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, flash flooding and flooding.

Patton said he felt confident there is enough damage to justify a federal disaster declaration and had requested assessment teams from Kentucky Emergency Management to compile the figures to accompany the request for the federal declaration.

Meeting in special session last week, the Electric Plant Board of the City of Vanceburg learned that the utility company has applied for and been approved for $551,000 from FEMA for damages incurred during the February ice storm.

Superintendent Phil Kennedy said that the amount of that funding came from documented claims filed by the company.

Kennedy also reported that all of the material for the rebuilding of the tower structure in Flat Hollow damaged during the ice storm is now on hand. The next step is to bid out the labor for that job.

Kennedy added that change orders on the project are being prepared to lay some water lines on selected side roads where getting water to the customers is feasible. Those orders should be completed within a month.

The additional water lines were made possible when the bids for the project came in lower than anticipated, leaving the company with funds sufficient for installing extra lines.