The National Quartet Convention Board of Directors announced former Alaska Governor, and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin to be featured at the 2010 National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Ky., set to take place September 12 through 18 at the Kentucky Exposition Center. Governor Palin will serve as the keynote speaker during an hour-long event on Thursday, September 16, beginning at 2 p.m., in Louisville?s Freedom Hall located on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center. Palin will speak for 30-minutes, and then spend 30-minutes conducting a question and answer session with attendees. Admission to the session featuring Palin will be included with the Thursday Showcase ticket package offered by the National Quartet Convention. Complete information regarding the National Quartet Convention, www.natqc.com.
September is Agritourism Month, one of the busiest times of the year for the 350 farm operators registered in the state’s agritourism program. “I invite Kentuckians of all ages to join me in celebrating Agritourism Month,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “Go on an agritourism adventure this fall at a farm destination near you.” Kentucky’s agritourism operators offer clean, affordable family fun close to home. Visitors can enjoy farm experiences, music, corn mazes, u-pick vegetables, hayrides, delicious Kentucky Proud foods and many other attractions for the entire family. Many other family-oriented events are scheduled on farms all over Kentucky. To find a schedule of agritourism events and a directory of Kentucky farm destinations, visit the state agritourism Web site at www.kyfarmsarefun.com.
The Kentucky State Police (KSP) will be conducting traffic safety checkpoints throughout the Post 1 district, to check motorists for compliance with motor vehicle laws including driving under the influence statutes. KSP utilizes traffic safety checkpoints to promote safety for motorists using the public roadways and to provide a deterrent for those who violate laws contained in the Kentucky Revised Statutes. The intent of a traffic safety checkpoint is to provide for a high visibility, public safety service, focusing on vehicular equipment deficiencies, confirming appropriate registration and insurance of vehicles, and the valid licensing of drivers. Violations of law or other public safety issues that arise shall be addressed.
Gov. Steve Beshear broke ground yesturday for the final phase of one of the top transportation projects in western Kentucky – construction of a new bridge to carry US 60 over the Tennessee River between McCracken and Livingston counties. The new bridge – four lanes wide, with a 5-foot shoulder – is at a site a quarter-mile upstream from the two-lane Ledbetter Bridge, which it will replace. The Ledbetter opened in 1931. “The old bridge is still sturdy, but it’s just not wide enough, and doesn’t have adequate clearance to meet the demands of modern commercial and recreational traffic,” said Gov. Beshear. “The new bridge is critically important to the economy of this region. It will be a boon to any number of industries in this area, as well as to farmers and hundreds of daily commuters.” The new bridge amounts to a nearly $95 million project.
Set up your campsite at Piney Campground’s 37th Annual Camper’s Fair, Sept. 15-19, and enjoy a variety of activities including arts, crafts, and evening entertainment. Piney is located in Tennessee on the south end of Land Between The Lakes (LBL) National Recreation Area. Piney is open to the public at no admission fee, Saturday, Sept. 18, from 8am-4pm and Sunday, Sept. 19, from 10am-2pm, for the open house. Displays of camping equipment, RVs, and boats will be provided by area dealers. Piney campers are invited to bring arts and crafts to display at the flea market. Campers wishing to participate in the displays need to notify Piney Campground gatehouse staff upon entering the campground.
"The Camper’s Fair is a great way to celebrate the end of summer,” says Derrick Washington, Piney Campground Manager. “Campers can come out and have a good time with fellow outdoor enthusiasts. If you are considering getting into camping, it’s the perfect event to check out the different types of gear available.” Additional LBL and “Friends of LBL” information is available on lbl.org by calling 1-800-LBL-7077 or 270-924-2000.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Dr. Jon Gassett today issued a Wildlife Disaster Contingency Measure for Lake Cumberland which increases the creel limits and reduces size requirements for striped bass. Because of high water temperatures and low dissolved oxygen levels, striped bass are under severe stress and in some cases, dying. The emergency regulations mean anglers may only catch two striped bass over 22 inches. Anglers must not catch and release striped bass over 22 inches, as these released fish are likely to die. After an angler catches two striped bass over 22 inches, the angler must stop fishing for striped bass. However, a licensed angler may catch two and net or hand grab three additional striped bass over 22 inches that are floating on the surface. Licensed anglers not fishing for striped bass may harvest five striped bass over 22 inches net or hand grab that are floating on the surface. For all other fish species in Lake Cumberland, existing size and creel limits will remain in effect; however, dying fish may be harvested by a licensed angler using a landing net or by hand grabbing. Officials are monitoring the deteriorating water conditions that are causing the fish to die.
The Murray Art Guild announced upcoming workshops for youth include Clay, After School Studio in Painting and Drawing, Messy Friday for Pre-school students and adult partners as well as VSA arts of Kentucky's Side by Side program for students with disabilities. Adult studios include on going sessions in Plein Air Painting, Life Drawing, Weave a Rug in a Day and Oil Painting; with new course offerings in Clay-Hand Building. For additional information and registration contact the Murray Art Guild at www.murrayartguild.org or 753-4059.
A state trooper reportedly hit a child on a bicycle with his patrol car last night in Murfreesboro. The eleven-year-old boy was hit around 4 p.m. on Lee Lane and Crossfield Drive. Police said Trooper Joseph Carmouche was on his way home from work when the boy sped through a stop sign on a mini bike. The resulting collision sent both the boy and his bike flipping through the air. However, the child was not seriously injured and was treated and released.
WEDNSDAY NEWS
Larry Barton, Western Baptist president and CEO, accepted a check for $300,000 from Jeff Holland, Western Baptist Foundation board member, and Don Walker, chairman of the Foundation Board of Directors, at the recent announcement of the hospital opening the area’s first Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinic. The funds will purchase new equipment for the already-licensed six-bed Level II NICU.
First District Congressman Ed Whitfield will be in Western Kentucky today. At 10am, he was at the Smithland Hydroelectric Project Ground Breaking Ceremony and then make brief remarks at the Ledbetter Bridge Construction Kick-Off at 11:15. At 12:20, Whitfield spoke to the Paducah Rotary Club, and at 3pm he will be in Murray for the Teaching American History Grant Award Press Conference and Kick-Off Celebration.
Republican Party of Kentucky (RPK) Chairman Steve Robertson called on Attorney General and Democrat Senate hopeful Jack Conway to return his taxpayer-funded salary while he embarks on a fundraising boondoggle outside of the state of Kentucky for a large part of the month of September. Robertson highlighted Conway’s lengthy out-of-state fundraising schedule, which leaves the state’s Attorney General little time to tend to his taxpayer-funded day job, during a press conference today at RPK headquarters. Over the next month, Conway will attend over 20 fundraising events outside of the state.
William “Bud” Foshee of Birmingham, Ala. will now have a chance to land a 50-inch muskellunge, a 10-pound largemouth bass, hand-sized bluegill, 2-foot-long hybrid striped bass and shellcrackers as long as a tackle box. Foshee will fish one 13-acre lake owned and managed by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, where the trophies swimming in it have not once seen a lure. Fisheries biologists select the fish in this lake for their superior genetics and ability to produce trophy offspring.The Trolling for Trophies drawing benefits the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Funds collected through the Trolling for Trophies drawing supports youth conservation education at the Salato Wildlife Education Center and the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Conservation Camps. The winner of the Trolling for Trophies drawing will be guided by Tim Farmer, host of the “Kentucky Afield” television show. A future “Kentucky Afield” show will document their day fishing this tremendous lake together later this fall.
griculture Commissioner Richie Farmer today congratulated Kentucky farmers on surpassing the $4 billion mark in farm cash receipts in 2009. It was the fourth year in a row and the fifth time in the past six years that Kentucky’s agricultural producers achieved the feat. “I am constantly amazed but never surprised by Kentucky’s resourceful and determined farmers,” Commissioner Farmer said. Kentucky farm cash receipts in 2009 totaled $4.26 billion, down 9.6 percent from the adjusted record 2008 total of $4.71 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. The 2009 total was the third-highest on record. Poultry and eggs were Kentucky’s leading farm commodity in 2009 with cash receipts of $911.6 million, ending the equine industry’s 10-year reign at the top of the list. Equine were responsible for $780 million. Soybeans were the leading crop with cash receipts of $527 million on the strength of a 51 percent increase from 2008, edging out corn at $524 million. Crops accounted for 43 percent of total Kentucky receipts at nearly $1.83 billion, 43.4 percent higher than crop receipts for 2005, the first year after the federal tobacco quota and price support system ended.
As part of the NFL campaign, “Know Your Stats: Prostate Defense Begins at 40,” Western Baptist offers a free breakfast seminar for men on prostate health and a demonstration of the da Vinci robot from 7 to 8 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, in the Baptist Heart Center auditorium. Men of all ages are invited to the seminar. Reservations are required: (270) 575-2895 or lora.croley@bhsi.com. The first 40 registrants also may sign up for a free baseline prostate screening, if they are 40 to 70 years old, are not under a urologist’s care and have not been screened before. The seminar speaker is Western Baptist urologist Donald Spicer, M.D. Dr. Spicer said patients with prostate cancer benefit from the da Vinci robotic system. The hospital is partnering with the National Football League and the American Urological Foundation on the awareness campaign. Seminar attendees will be eligible for a NFL tickets drawing. One in every six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. A physical exam and simple blood test to establish a baseline (prostate-specific antigen) score today could help save a life later, Dr. Spicer said.
The bloody toll of the Afghan war continues. The Department of Defense reports that seven Fort Campbell soldiers were killed in three separate incidents over the past several days. A memorial service for the fallen will be held in Afghanistan, while Fort Campbell will hold its monthly Eagle Remembrance Ceremony on September 8th. More than two-thousand foreign troops have been killed since the war began in October of 2001, with about 60-percent of those being Americans.
Governor Phil Bredesen has signed an executive order that will establish a council benefiting members of the military. Bredesen signed Executive Order Number 71 yesterday, creating the Governor's Council on Service Members, Veterans and Their Families. The panel is tasked with collaborating with the current system of care to effectively address and meet the health needs of service members, including mental health and substance abuse disorders. According to the governor, it should be the "collective responsibility of the entire state" to assist the estimated 500-thousand Tennessee veterans.
Tickets go on sale today for the 13th annual Music City Bowl. The game is scheduled for December 30th at LP Field and pits teams from the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference. Tickets cost between 17 and 80-dollars, depending on section. The sale will begin at 10 a.m., online at Ticketmaster.com/MusicCityBowl.
MONDAY NEWS
BENTON MAN DROWNS IN KY LAKE
Rescuers recovered the body of a man who drowned in Kentucky Lake early Sunday morning. Calloway County Coroner Rick Harris identified the victim as 36-year old Gordon Ray Towner of Benton. Towner was pronounced dead Sunday morning. Investigators said Towner had been camping with a group of friends at a site that had once served as a Girl Scouts of America summer camp at Snipe Creek Point. Friends reported Towner went swimming in the lake and did not surface after entering the water. They called rescuers around 12:47 a.m. Rescuers found Towner’s body around 7:10 a.m. Investigators do not suspect foul play in the drowning. Towner’s body was been transported to the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office in Madisonville for an autopsy.
TWO INJURED IN GRAVES ACCIDENT
Two Graves County men were injured Saturday night the their car went out of control at the 3 mile Marker of highway 849 in Graves County. According to State Police, 19-year old Terry McKinney of Mayfield was travelling east when he failed to negotiate a curve and exited the roadway, striking a telephone pole. Both McKinney and a passenger, 20-year old Nathaniel Cordevant were transported to the Jackson Purchase Medical Center where they were treated for their injuries.
BRIDGE INSPECTIONS THIS WEEK
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 1 Bridge Inspection Team plans to continue a series of detailed inspections of various area bridges beginning in McCracken County today and then moving to other counties after that. These inspections will require lane restrictions in various counties. Motorists are asked to use appropriate caution when they approach these work zones where equipment, flaggers, and inspection personnel will be on the roadway in close proximity to traffic flow. The inspection team plans to work Tuesday on KY 464 in Calloway County at mile point 13. This is the Clarks River Bridge in the Almo community between First Street and Elm Grove Road. The inspection team moves to US 45/Fulton Road in Graves County at mile point 16 on Wednesday. This is the I. C. Railroad Overpass between South 12 Street/Beech Street and South 16th Street on the southwestern edge of Mayfield. Inspections will be completed when the crew moves to Livingston County on Thursday.
TRAFFIC RELIEF AT EGGNERS FERRY BRIDGE
To help accommodate Labor Day holiday traffic, a load width restriction for deck work on the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge at Aurora in Marshall County will be removed at the end of work on Wednesday. The contractor is expediting work to allow the bridge to reopen to normal traffic flow for the busy holiday weekend. The travel width restriction has hampered motorists with vehicles and trailers over 7.5 ft. wide since the work zone went up on July 26th. With the width restriction removed starting Wednesday afternoon, Eggner’s Ferry Bridge will return to the normal 11 ft. travel lane. A geotechnical crew and a bridge inspection team will remain on the bridge through Thursday afternoon with flaggers controlling traffic. While that work will require lane restrictions it will not require a load width restriction. Once those crews complete their work Thursday afternoon the bridge will return to normal two-way traffic flow and 11 ft. lane widths through the holiday weekend. Approximately 3,000 vehicles cross Kentucky Lake on the Eggner's Ferry Bridge in an average day.
DIGNITARIES NOT COMING TO PADUCAH NEXT WEEK
The two candidates for the U.S. Senate do not plan to attend Paducah’s Sept. 6 Labor Day parade and political speaking. Democrat Jack Conway will send a someone to speak on his behalf. A Labor Day visit to Paducah isn’t on Paul’s schedule either. Gov. Steve Beshear and other state officials also report prior commitments, but State Labor Secretary J.R. Gray is expected to speak on behalf of the governor. Paducah’s Labor Day celebration is the largest in Kentucky.
CONWAY BEGINS TV ADS
Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway's first statewide ad of the general campaign features endorsements from police officers and sheriffs. The ad, which began airing early Monday, specifically touts Conway's record during his first term as attorney general targeting the illegal prescription drug trade, child pornography via the Internet, and elder abuse. Conway has been pounding Republican Rand Paul, a tea party favorite, since Paul suggested drug abuse in Kentucky isn't "a real pressing issue" in the Senate race. The two are vying to replace Republican Sen. Jim Bunning, who is retiring after two terms.
High School Coaches Show
