News

By Al Owens

Meeting in regular session this month the Trustee Board of the Helen H. Rayburn Public Library of Lewis County took further steps in the process of having a new library constructed for the benefit of the community.

The board moved to acquire a Fidelity Bond for Board President Lena Fugate and Treasurer Sandra Rouse for $1.1 million with Bertram-Hull Insurance Agency in Vanceburg. The law requires that any person authorized to sign checks or who has access to the bank accounts in such projects be bonded.

Sandy Bivens was nominated and elected to be the new Vice President of the board. She replaces Ron Mays, whose term expired on June 30.

Library Director Marilyn Conway reported that Attorney Lloyd Spear has written a letter to the Fiscal Court in behalf of the Library Board requesting that the county fairly compensate the library for $18,123 of revenue lost due to an error in recording the tax rates last year. The letter asks that fiscal court contact their insurance carrier to see if it has coverage for such errors and omissions.

Due to the resignation of Theresa Rizzo, the board is looking for an accountant to serve as payroll clerk. One person was suggested for the position, and Conway plans to ask if that accountant will take the part time job.

Architect Jeff Pearson explained his responses to a Correction Letter received from the Public Protection Cabinet; Department

of Housing, Buildings and Construction; Division of Building Codes Enforcement. Fourteen items were on the list, and they have all been resolved.

Conway announced the board will enjoy its annual Christmas Dinner during the next meeting on Tuesday, December 14 at the library at 1:00 p.m.

Two important events pertaining to the Library Project have been added to the calendar. On Monday, November 22, at 1:00 p.m. a pre-construction meeting is scheduled to be held at the library. Ground breaking will take place on Friday, December 10, at 11:30 a.m. on the construction site next to the Vanceburg Post Office.

Conway’s monthly director’s report shows that 809 patrons checked out books last month. That total does not include everyone who came to the library for other purposes, only those that checked out books. Many others come to the library to read the newspapers and magazines, or to make copies or send faxes. Some do research in the library or take advantage of the free computer usage without being added to the patron count.

The public checked out 4,639 books from the library and 1,184 from the Bookmobile. Of the 1,450 times patrons signed in for computer usage the Internet was accessed 722 times.

An ongoing effort is underway to begin a “Friends of the Library” group in the county. Anyone interested in fostering the work of the library may call 606-796-2532 for more information.

Officials submit monthly reports to magistrates

By Dennis Brown

Lewis County officials presented their monthly activity reports during the November meeting of Lewis County Fiscal Court.

Sheriff Bill Lewis filed his department’s report for activities from October 11, 2010, to November 8, 2010:

* Subpoenas Served 61

* Domestic Related Calls 104

* Civil Summons Served 29

* Felony Arrests 20

* Misdemeanor Arrests 11

* Accident Investigations 8

* Juvenile Investigations 14

* Criminal Summons 12

* Prisoners Transp. to Secure Facility 410 miles

* Juveniles Transported 637 miles

* DVOs and EPOs 12

* Court Bailiff Hours 450

* Prescription Deliveries 1

* Auto Inspections 70

* Funeral Escorts 8

* Taxes Collected

Property Taxes $1,643,648.26

Franchise Taxes 92,500.04

Total $1,736,148.30

* Stolen Property Recovered

1996 Chevy Suburban $2,000

2010 Honda ATV 8,200

Total $10,200

Lewis County Emergency Management Director Carl Chaney reported the following activities:

* Performed all routine administrative/office tasks as required by KyEM.

* Turned in all monthly reports for KyEM.

* Working with FEMA public assistance.

* Attended a Hazardous Materials meeting in Fleming County.

* Met with a FEMA representative at Morehead.

* Taught Hazardous Materials Class at Maysville for two days.

* Working on FEMA paperwork for May and July flooding.

* Responded to a dump truck accident with possible diesel spill.

* Provided dispatch coverage.

* Working on 911 issues.

* Working of Flood Plain issues.

The Lewis County E-911 Dispatch Center received a total of 336 calls for service for the following agencies:

* Sheriff’s Department 147

* Vanceburg Police Department 68

* Traffic Stops 31

* Injury Accidents 8

* Non-injury Accidents 17

* Complaints 55

Fire Department calls including fires, traffic accidents and EMS assistance:

* Lewis Co. FD 4

* Camp Dix FD 2

* Garrison FD 7

* Vanceburg FD 4

* Firebrick FD 2

* Black Oak FD 1

* Kinniconick FD 2

* Tollesboro FD 15

* Med Corp Ambulance 82

* Coroner 2

* Emergency Medical Assistance 2

* Non-CAD Events 520

Road Supervisor Dane Howard reported that nearly 1,819 tons of gravel and nearly 234 tons of asphalt had been hauled over the previous month.

Graded roads included Elk Lick, Black Lick, Paint Lick, Burnt Cabin, Stamper Branch, Golden Ridge, Emerson area, Camp Dix area, Straight Fork and Blankenship Cemetery Road.

Howard reported that pipe had been installed or repaired at Garden Branch, Rose Mountain Road, Holly Road and Cabin Creek. Ditching/road widening was performed on Esham Fork.

Potholes were repaired at Buck Lick, Toller Hollow, Meadowbrook, Bradford Lane, River View, Fannin Lane, Sand Branch, Tar Fork, Beechy Road, Little Sulphur Road and Evans Lane approach.

Brush cutting/mowing/tree and debris removal projects were completed for Waring Cemetery, Amish House Lane and Firebrick Indian Run.

Embankment and other road repairs were made on Old Trace Ridge, Toller Hollow, Elk Lick, Holly Road, Fingerboard Road, Evans Lane entrance, Rock Run Road and Heddleston Church Road.

Bridge redecking/repairs were made on Aills Road.

Lewis County Jailer Tim Underwood filed the following activity report for September 1– 30, 2010:

Inmate Population:

* State Inmates CC/CD/CI 24

* Traded 0

* Served Out 0

* Paroled 1

* County Inmates 52

* Inmates Booked In 61

* Average Daily Jail Population 68

Fees/Payments Collected:

* Booking, Housing, Medical, Damaged Property $984.26

* Telephone Commission $N/A

* Class D/CC/CI Pay for April $11,658.48

Food

* Somerset Food in October $7,580.52

* GPS System $985.00

Traveled 300 Miles during the month to Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center and Larue County Detention Center.

Underwood reported that 18 Class D inmates participated in the work program totaling 1,280 man hours. The agencies they assisted included The Lewis County Courthouse, Justice Center, Sheriff’s Department, City of Vanceburg, Solid Waste Program, Clean Highways Program, Garrison Little League, Garrison Boat Docks, Tollesboro Little League, Lewis County Historical Society, Lewis County Board of Education, Corps of Engineers, Helen Rayburn Library, and the Black Oak, Tollesboro and Camp Dix Fire Departments.

He said 162 bags of waste were picked up in various locations for the Clean Highways Program.

Underwood reported the commissary account at the jail totaled $15,285.40 and the inmate account had a balance of $2,264.56.

The Lewis County Animal Shelter reported 11 total animals picked-up and 28 dropped off; 7 adopted; 22 put down or died; and 56 calls received. Donations amounted to $140 for the month.

County Treasurer Kathy Dillow reported the total of all county funds for the month of October had a beginning balance of $653,405.877 and an ending balance of $536,565.25. Receipts for the month totaled $433.892.74 while disbursements totaled $550,733.36.

The next regular meeting of Lewis County Fiscal Court will be at 9:30 a.m. December 13, 2010, in the third floor courtroom of the Lewis County Courthouse.

Meth lab discoveries at an all time high

By Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader

Kentucky is on track to record more than 1,000 illegal methamphetamine labs in 2010, despite years of escalating efforts to control production and abuse of the highly addictive drug.

That would be the most labs ever found in the state.

That record is certain to help drive debate in the 2011 legislative session about a proposal to require a prescription for the cold and allergy drug that addicts and traffickers use to make meth.

"That's going to probably be a very controversial bill if the pharmaceutical companies are not happy with it," said the sponsor, state Rep. Linda Belcher, a Democrat from Bullitt County.

That's probably a given, Belcher said.

Police found 111 meth labs in October, the most ever in any single month, Kentucky State Police reported Wednesday.

As of November 23, police had found 919 meth labs in the state.

That's already more than the 741 found last year — which was a record — and this year's final number will likely top 1,000, state police said.

The number of labs is up because people have found ways to evade restrictions on purchases of an ingredient needed to make meth, and because they have found simpler ways to convert that ingredient to meth in small, homemade labs, police say.

The ingredient at issue is pseudoephedrine, a decongestant found in some over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines.

Meth "cookers" amass piles of pills that contain the drug, then use a chemical process that involves toxic substances such as drain cleaner to convert the pseudoephedrine to meth in labs often fashioned from plastic bottles.

Each small lab doesn't produce much meth, so cookers create more labs, said Tommy Loving, director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force.

There are limits on how much pseudoephedrine a person can buy in a month, and Kentucky has an electronic tracking system that pharmacists have used to block thousands of attempts to buy more than the legal limit.

However, that system has not driven down the number of meth labs in the state.

Meth makers are increasingly circumventing the limits with a tactic called "smurfing" — getting a number of people to buy their limit of pills containing pseudoephedrine and turn them over to the cooker.

The smurfers get paid in cash or meth.

The National Methamphetamine and Pharmaceuticals Initiative, made up of police and prosecutors, says smurfing is at "epidemic proportions" across the country.

The tactic is helping drive the spike in meth labs in Kentucky, Loving said.

"That's not going to stop until we eliminate smurfing," Loving said.

The best way to do that is to require a prescription for medication containing pseudoephedrine, Loving said.

He and other supporters of that move point to Oregon as an example.

Oregon was the first state to require a prescription for pseudoephedrine, beginning in 2006.

This year, Mississippi became the second state with a similar requirement.

Oregon had far more meth labs than Kentucky at one point — 587 to 175 in 2001, for instance.

But the rule requiring a prescription for products containing pseudoephedrine has wiped out meth labs in Oregon, said Rob Bovett, a prosecutor there who wrote the state's law.

Only five small meth labs have been found in Oregon this year, Bovett said.

There has been a corresponding, significant drop in abuse of meth and in crime, he said.

"We're seeing meth driven down, down, down," Bovett said.

Police would like to cut the number of meth labs in Kentucky not only because they feed drug abuse, but because the labs can blow up or expose children, cookers and police to noxious fumes, and because used-up labs are hazardous waste, costly to clean up.

A prescription was required for pseudoephedrine before 1976, when Congress changed the law.

However, the Consumer Products Healthcare Association, which represents makers of over-the-counter medications, opposes requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine.

Among other things, the industry group argues that requiring prescriptions would mean inconvenience and higher costs because people would have to get prescriptions from doctors for common cold and allergy medicines such as Sudafed.

The association spent $307,777 on lobbying in the 2010 legislative session in Kentucky against bills that would have placed additional restrictions on obtaining pseudoephedrine.

That was more than any other group spent during the session.

Belcher, who sponsored a bill the association lobbied against, said she got calls from people who said they'd been told she was trying to get rid of all cold and allergy medicine. That was not correct, she said.

In reality, the bill she has pre-filed for the 2011 session would require a prescription for pills containing the drug. A prescription would not be needed for gel caps, because those can't be converted to meth, Belcher said.

Belcher said she doesn't think requiring a prescription for the pills would cause a big problem for consumers.

The Oregon Alliance for Drug Endangered Children says Oregon's law did not cause major inconvenience for consumers or drive up state Medicaid costs. Many people simply switched to cold and allergy medicine without pseudoephedrine, according to the alliance.

Even if there is some inconvenience, however, it would be worth it to combat the harm meth does to addicts and families and the costs it imposes on taxpayers, Belcher said.

"I think we may have to deal with a small amount of inconvenience to get rid of this problem," Belcher said. "It's a horrible drug."

Home heating fires a leading cause of deaths

Staff Report

As temperatures drop, home heating systems will fast kick into gear. However, some of the heat sources that make us feel warm and toasty also represent a leading cause of U.S. home fires and fire fatalities.

According to the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)’s latest U.S. home heating fires report, heating equipment - primarily space heaters and fireplaces - caused an estimated 66,100 home structure fires resulting in 480 civilian deaths, 1,660 injuries and $1.1 billion in direct property damage in 2008. The estimated home heating fire total declined 0.5% from 2007.

Lorraine Carli, NFPA’s vice president of communications, says the latest home heating fire statistics signal that while we’re seeing a downward trend, there’s still much room for improvement.

“We’ve certainly witnessed some declines in home heating fire rates over the short- and long-term, which is encouraging,” says Carli. “But in spite of those gains, the actual number of home heating fires and their devastating impact on people and property each year is simply way too high. There’s still much more we can do become safer from these types of fires.”

Space heaters result in far more fires and losses than central heating devices. On average, between 2004 and 2008, fixed (stationary) and portable space heaters (excluding fireplaces, chimneys, and chimney connectors, but including wood stoves) annually accounted for one-third (32%) of reported U.S. home heating fires, four out of five (82%) associated civilian deaths, nearly two-thirds (64%) of associated civilian injuries, and half (51%) of associated direct property damage.

In addition, an estimated 15,200 reported creosote fires (23% of all home heating fires) resulted in four civilian deaths, 17 civilian injuries, and $33 million in direct property damage, on average, each year from 2004-2008. Creosote is a sticky, oily, combustible substance created when wood does not burn completely. It rises into the chimney as a liquid and deposits on the chimney wall. It’s suspected that most creosote fires combine “failure-to-clean” fires that were confined to a chimney or flue, or involved solid-fueled space heaters, fireplaces, chimneys and chimney connectors.

Half (49%) of all home heating fires occurred in December, January and February, with most heating equipment fires starting due to a failure to clean equipment (25%), placing a heat source too close to combustibles (14%), and unclassified mechanical failures or malfunctions (13%). The leading cause of home heating fire deaths (52%) was heating equipment being placed too close to things that can burn, such as upholstered furniture, clothing, mattress, or bedding.

“Because home heating fires are largely the result of human error, the majority of them are preventable,” says Carli. “By following basic safety precautions and making some simple modifications and adjustments, people can greatly reduce their risk.”

As everyone prepares for the upcoming heating season, NFPA offers the following advice to stay warm and fire-safe:

All heaters need space. Keep things that can burn, such as paper, bedding or furniture, at least 3 feet away from heating equipment.

Use heating equipment that has the label of a recognized testing laboratory.

Install stationary space heating equipment, water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturer’s instruction. Have a qualified professional install the equipment.

Make sure all fuel-burning equipment is vented to the outside to avoid carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. CO is created when fuels burn incompletely. CO poisoning can cause illness and even death.

Make sure the venting for exhaust is kept clear and unobstructed. This includes removal of snow around the outlet to the outside.

Install and maintain carbon monoxide alarms inside your home to provide early warning of carbon monoxide.

Maintain heating equipment and chimneys by having them cleaned and inspected annually by a qualified professional.

Turn space heaters off when you leave a room or go to sleep.

In an effort to reduce winter fires, NFPA is partnering with the U.S. Fire Administration on a special campaign – Put a Freeze on Winter Fires. For more information, visit NFPA’s website at http://www.nfpa.org/winter.

Three hurt, one dead following Rowan County crash

By Dennis Brown

An accident on Ky. Rt. 377 near Morehead involving three vehicles resulted in the death of an Olive Hill woman and injuries to three others. Two of those injured are Vanceburg residents

A spokesman with the Morehead Post of the Kentucky State Police said the accident happened about 7:10 p.m. Sunday.

The spokesman said KSP received the report of a multi-vehicle fatality accident from Morehead Police Department Dispatch. Trooper David Zimmerman, Trooper Jason brown and Sgt. Rob Conn responded to the scene along with Det. Toby Gardner, an accident reconstruction specialist.

The spokesman said Justin A. Robinson, 25, of Olive Hill was northbound on Ky. Rt. 377 in a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu when he crossed the center line and struck a southbound 2002 Chrysler sedan operated by Lance O’Cull, 24, of Vanceburg.

The spokesman said after striking O’Cull’s vehicle, the Malibu came to rest in the northbound lane facing southbound.

He said a 1998 Oldsmobile sedan, operated by Anna M. Richmond, 18, of Vanceburg, was traveling north and collided with the Malibu causing the vehicle to turn back northbound and come to rest on the northbound shoulder. The Richmond vehicle continued traveling northbound across the southbound lane, coming to rest in a culvert.

The spokesman said a passenger in the Malibu, Karie L. Hyunh, 21, of Olive Hill suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at St. Claire Medical Center in Morehead by Rowan County Coroner John Northcutt.

Robinson and O’Cull were airlifted from the scene and flown to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington where they are both listed in serious condition, according to the spokesman.

Richmond was taken to St. Claire Medical Center where she was treated and later released, he added.

Detective Toby Gardner is continuing the investigation into the accident.

Questions or comments? E-mail Us:
Lewis County Herald ( heraldadvertising@yahoo.com )

Hit Counter

The Lewis County Herald is hosted by:

http://www.totlcomputing.com/

This site developed and maintained by D.K. Brown.

© Copyright 2000-2010, Lewis County Herald Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. The content of these pages is for the information of our visitors and may not be reproduced without written permission. To request permission, contact Dennis Brown at 606-796-2331.