Messenger-Inquirer from Owensboro, Kentucky • 11

Past deadline Bypassing Ky. FT17 rr- 1 4 1 1 discipline rules is common Opportunism to tfeduSfiriicii' overlooked? i mm Editor's Note: This report is the second in a four-part series dealing with the organization and management of police departments in Kentucky and as they relate to Owens-boro. By ART KAUL Messenger and Inquirer Staff A legal procedure recently invoked by the Owensboro Board of Commissioners to bypass requirements established in state law for disciplining policemen appears to be a common practice in the state's second class cities. Policemen can waive their rights to a hearing on charges against them as required by state law and voluntarily accept punishment. 1 The alternative outlined in state law requires a formal public hearing on written charges and, if found guilty, subjects the policeman to punishment determined by the city's legislative body.

Punishment by the city commission may not be known in advance of a hearing or is often more stringent than what a policeman might be offered if he waives his rights. Police chiefs in Ashland, Bowling Green, Frankfort, Lexington and Paducah said that the waiver of rights procedure is used in their cities when a policeman wishes to accept punishment for a rule infraction without going through hearings. 1 Illlllllllllllllll K'n yh only Sunset Carson i i x- i -mm Ui 'r yiiiiiiiiniiiiii The one and uwensDoro usea me waiver proceaure i when it susDended 12 Dolicemen for moon elected under this arrangement. The commissioners were W. G.

Riney in the western division, Walter Wilson in the eastern and W. N. Horn in the city. (The first mayor under the city's new form of government was John C. Calhoun.

The two commissioners were J. H. Hickman and Henry Cline). The county districts have changed gradually, chiefly since 1960 when Owensboro began an annexation program. After annexing 410 acres in 1960, the city covered 6.96 square miles of real estate.

At the end of 1972, the city engulfed 9.28 square miles. Territorially, this means the fiscal court's city district has became larger while the eastern and western districts are shrinking. In round numbers there are 80,000 people in Daviess County, 52,000 of them living in Owensboro. Theoretically, that would leave 14,00 in the eastern district and 14,000 in the western district. Most of the rural population lives in the eastern section.

Commissioner Oldham represents the city district, Keown the eastern district and Riney the western district. Interviewed Friday at the courthouse, the three commissioners said they have no plans The commissioners said the only way they would act on reapportionment would be through a suit forcing them to do it to bring up reapportionment. They agreed that it should have been done by Sept. 1 but were not informed of the new law until Nov. 17.

They said there is not enough time now to complete a job that would take about 60 days. The commissioners, who are expected to run for re-election, observed that the primary is May 29 and the filing deadline is April 4. The commissioners told a reporter the only way they would act on reapportionment now would be through a successful suit filed in circuit court by a citizen forcing them to do it promptly 55 Sfioof-em-up Kentuckians still awaiting western filmed in summer lighting as guards at the Elks Club where alleged gambling was taking place inside. Minutes of the Dec. 18, 1972, special meeting of the city commissioners during which disciplinary alternatives were discussed state that "the officers advised that they would be willing to accept a reasonable suspension without pay." The commissioners "agreed unanimously" that if the policemen would waive their rights and accept a 33-day suspension without pay no formal charges would be filed.

Objecting to the 35-day suspension as "too harsh," the policemen finally agreed to 10-day suspension without pay and the signing of rights waivers. The city was prepared to take stronger action if the policemen refused to accept the suspensions and sign the waiver. "The mayor and commissioners were prepared to immediately file against him formal charges of misconduct and violation of law justifying his suspension or removal from the police department," the waiver states. Kentucky law provides stiff penalties for a peace officer convicted of "knowledge or information" that gambling is taking place and fails to make an arrest. Penalties for the offense include a fine of at least $1,000, six to 12 months imprisonment and removal from office.

The city commission could have imposed a punishment ranging from a reprimand to suspension for up to six months or dismissal. If procedures outlined in state law were used as the commissioners threatened, a punishment stiffer than a 10-day suspension was a possibility since the commission is authorized to determine guilt and fix discipline. A 35-day suspension without pay as originally offered by the board and declined by the policemen is one alternative that would have been available to the city. Commonwealth Attorney William Gant granted immunity from prosecution under state law to 11 of the 12 suspended policemen. One of the policemen, James R.

Yecker-ing was given an indefinite suspension when he signed the waiver of rights. He was not granted protective immunity from prosecution by Gant and was indicted on Jan. 10 by a Daviess County Grand Jury on three counts of operating a game of craps at the Elks Club. Five other persons were indicted. Paducah Police Chief Robert Holt commented about disciplinary procedure that "if a man is off base and he knows it, I can discipline him" without bringing him before the city commission.

But he said that if the infraction is serious enough to warrant dismissal as punishment, the procedures of state law are followed. Monday, January 15, 1973 illcesengtr INQUIRER Wayne Constant, chief of the Bowling Green Police Department, said that he follows the requirements of state law for police discipline, but "if I can handle it within the department well and good. A policeman in Ashland can be suspended for up to 30 days for rule violations by the police chief if the policeman does not object and demands that state law be followed, Chief Lewis Mutters said. Mutters commented about departmental discipline that "if rules and regulations are legal and fair, police are competent to their department." Chief Douglas True of Frankfort commented that the waiver procedure is used in his department, adding that a policeman "knows what the discipline is before he signs a waiver." James Shaffer, Chief of the Lexington Police Department, told the Messenger and Inquirer he is proposing a disciplinary system giving the department's internal affairs branch powers to investigate complaints against its own policemen. He said he is also proposing that the chief of police be empowered to reprimand and suspend policemen as long as they do not wish to go through state law procedures.

A management study of the Owensboro Police Department by the Jacobs Co. revealed "a serious restriction" relating to administration of discipline. The consultants report states that "while it should seldom be necessary or desirable to invoke punishment for breaches of discipline, there must be an effective and workable system for doing so on those occassions when it is necessary." "Such a system does not exist in the Owensboro Police Department," the consultants state, adding that "discipline for the most part is self-imposed rather than the result of a consciously developed administrative program." "The lack of control procedures and sys- terns make it difficult to control occasional aberrant behavior since discipline cannot be uniformly applied," the Jacobs Co. reported. The consultants noted in their report "a great deal of pride in the department," but also commented that the "rank and file" is "troubled" by the lack of discipline and "lax supervision." "The requirement that any disciplinary action whatsoever must be taken by the Board of Commissioners after a hearing is a serious restriction on the effective administration of the disciplinary process," the consultants state.

Jacobs Co. recommended the following action be taken regarding disciplinary procedures within the department: "Establish a board of supervisory officers to consider cases of rule violations with an appearance before such board of officers whose conduct or performance is not satisfactory and direct such board to make recommendations to the chief for disciplinary action if the situation is not corrected following appearance by the offender before the board." The Bowling Green Police Department established a disciplinary committee to deal with rule infractions by its policemen. Chief Constant said that the committee is comprised of the police chief, assistant chief, chief detective and patrolman selected by his fellow patrolmen to serve on the board. The committee hears a case and decides what disciplinary action should be recommended to the police chief who is bound by the board's decision, Constant said. read part three, a presentation of a management consulting firm's findings about pay rates for Owensboro policemen.

That was the shift that was heavily involved," Bidwell said of the suspensions. When the suspensions began Jan. 2, shifts were reshceuled to compensate for loss of manpower, the chief said. "On Sundays you're short to some extent," Bidwell said, adding fewer men are needed Sundays than on week days when traffic is heavier and court is in session. City Manager Max Rhoads told the Messenger and Inquirer Sunday night he would discuss Sunday's staff shortage with Bidwell today.

The unusually small patrol force Sunday afternoon was unprecedented, Rhoads said. "If they had had any problems before, I was not aware of it," he said. Mayor C. Waitman Taylor was not available for comment. Only the afternoon shift was hit by the acute shortage.

Desk Sgt. Parvin Greer said six cars were patrolling the city streets beginning with the 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. shift. By GEORGE KERLER Messenger and Inquirer Staff Daviess County and several others may have overlooked an opportunity to reapportion their commissioner districts under a last-minute law adopted by the 1972 Kentucky General Assembly.

The new statute, carrying an emergency clause, became effective March 27, 1972 when Gov. Wendell H. Ford signed it. It called for realignment of county commissioner districts as equal in territory and population as possible by Sept. 1, 1972.

Fiscal court was have appointed a three-member commission to make the reappointment map in 20 days, put it on exhibition at the county clerk's office and then have it adopted by the county court within 30 days after it was filed with the clerk. The court could have heard protests and made cartographic adjustments. The measure, House Bill 512, started out Feb. 22 as one related to the election of commissioners in Jefferson County. It was sponsored by six Jefferson County representatives and one from Kenton County.

The bill passed the House untouched, 59 to 23, on March 10 and went to the Senate where it was amended to cover all counties under the commissioner form of government and to require them to reapportion. The amended measure cleared the Senate 37 to 0 and was favored by the House 55 to 21. These votes occurred on the last day of the legislative session, March 17. Apparently nothing but the Legislative Record at Frankfort paid attention to the changes in the original bill. On Nov.

17 Daviess County Attorney Joseph L. Banken wrote a memo to Judge Pat Tanner with copies to Commissioners George F. Keown, John W. Oldham and James L. Riney.

"It has been brought to my attention that a new section of KRS 67 requires that all counties having three county have their districts nearly equal in territory and population as possible." Banken noted reapportionment should occur within 60 days of June 30, 1972. The attorney general's office at Frankfort has interpreted this as meaning by Sept. 1. Banken continued, "I believe our tardiness is of little consequence but it does appear that the fiscal court should act soon in order that the apportionment will be taken care of long before the May 29 primary." Daviess County has been electing commissioners from districts laid out in 1917. In 1916, there were two questions involving a change of government in Owensboro and Daviess County.

The city voted 1,259 to 444 in favor of changing its form of government from a mayor and 12 councilmen to a mayor and two commissioners. The county was governed by the judge and eight magistrates. The ballot proposition was to change to a judge and three county commissioners. The city favored the judge-three commissioners type of government by 964 to 360 'Apparently nothing but the Legislative paid attention to changes in the original while the county precincts resisted it, 883 to 809. Thus, the voters of Owensboro changed the county's form of government.

Early in 1917, complying with the referendum, County Judge R.L. Lancaster created the three county commissioner districts. He made District No. 1 the city of Owensboro. District No.

2 was the western district and No. 3 the eastern district. Judge Lancaster started the dividing line between east and west at the south city limits on the Livermore Road. The hand written description in the 1917 fiscal court order book continues: "Thence south with said road to Panther Creek; thence up said creek and the south fork thereof to the mouth of Two Mile Creek; thence up Two Mile Creek and following the meanderings of same to where it forks; thence southward to the Harmon's Ferry Road and the line dividing Daviess and McLean Counties." C.W. Wells was the first county judge The Federal-State Market News Service reported a sharp decline in volume on the eight-state burley belt last week as 31 more markets closed for the season.

With only 20 of the 60 markets still open at week's end, grade prices remained strong, pushing the weekly average to the highest level of the season. Gross sales totaled 43,376,828 pounds last week and averaged $79.94 per hundred-31 cents higher than the previous week and 24 cents above the previous high set during the opening week. Season sales, including 37.6 million pounds of resales, reached 589,258,122 pounds averaging $79.27. During the same period last season, 482,232,014 pounds were sold at an average of $80.86 per hundred. By DAVE CALLAHAN Messenger and Inquirer Staff The Windy Hollow Country Store, this summer the stage for fight scenes of a wild west shoot-em-up movie, is quiet these days.

5 Crowded in July by actors, stand-ins, lights and props, the store now is generally 1 populated by a few shoppers and a salesman who huddles close to a pot-bellied stove when not helping customers. "No tellin' when they'll bust that thing out," the salesman said, tilting his chair on its two back legs and cleaning his fingernails with a pocket knife. He was speaking of the release date for "Marshall of Windy Hollow," a low- budget western movie promised to spark a comeback for the Super rated horse operas of two decades ago. The film was photographed at the store and in an abandoned strip mine located near the recreation area. "We get people in here all the time asking when they're going to release it," the salesman added.

"Wild Bill Cody has been up here a half dozen times himself to see if the thing's (the movie) out yet. "There's just no tellin'." Cody, who now lives in Tennessee, was one of several cowboy actors of the 1930s and 40s who came to Owensboro to appear in the film. Most notably was Sunset Carson, one of the top cowboy actors in the 1940s at the age of 16. Carson served as the producer-director-star of the film and handled most of the promotion work. Hal Miller, who with his brother Tom operates the recreation area, predicts the movie will be released in about two months.

"I talked to Sunset Carson on the telephone yesterday," Miller said Thursday. "He's negotiating with a Mr. William H. Cobb down in New Orleans. He (Cobb) owns over 100 theaters and he's making arrangements to distribute the movie to his theaters." Miller said the film is now being edited by Jerry Whittington at High Point, 1 N.C., and 50 minutes of the hour-and-a-half film are ready for viewing.

"Mr. Cobb is going to fly up here in two weeks to look at the finished product," Miller said. "After he sees how it shapes up, we'll probably blow it up to 35 mm" The movie was photographed on 16mm film. "And he says he'll bring along another man from Memphis who owns about 300 theaters," Miller added enthusiastically. "Mr.

Cobb has a lot of contacts like that 1 so there's a possibility the film might be distributed to 1,500 theaters." The one showing of "Marshall" several Daviess Countians are concerned about is the expected premiere of the movie in Owensboro. The movie cast consists largely of western Kentuckians. In fact, the leading lady is Miller's 14-year-old daughter, Kathy, and Carson's sidekick in the film is Owensboro Catholic High School's head basketball coach, Bruce Embry. "The way I understand it, the movie will be premiered in Owensboro," Miller said. "Exactly how, I don't know.

I haven't traded with the local theater owners yet but I hope it can be shown here," he said. Illirilf IllIMIIIlJlllllIlllllIJIIIIIIIllIItllf I1IMII1 1111 1 lilllllllt Illlll I11IIII11I1III1II11I1I1I11IM llllltlllllllllllllll Political watchdogs aware ot this new statute believe that if the county commissioner districts were redrawn to satisfy the equal population requirement, the districts would look like three pieces of pie with the tip of each piece containing about 17,300 Owensboroans with the rest of each piece flavored by about 9,300 rural Daviess Countians. 'The politicos grin at such a redistrictng. They quickly envision three Owensboro men, one in each of the commissioner districts, running for seats on the fiscal curt. If they won, city citizens would be in control of the fiscal court.

The politicos philosophize that Judge Lancaster, in creating the original three districts, decided that Owensboro would never have control of the fiscal court. So he made one district entirely urban and two districts entirely rural. Lancaster himself lived on the Hardinsburg Road (now U.S. 60) several miles from Owensboro at that time. Oldham of Owensboro, Keown of Philpot and Riney of West Louisville also assert that equal population of districts is not an overwhelming factor because all the voters in the city and county have the right to vote for a commissioner from each district.

Only two other counties in western Kentucky, McCracken and Graves, have the commissioner style of government. At Paducah, Samuel Carlick, county attorney of McCracken County, said he had never heard of the new law. After finding it in the new statute book, he said over the telephone he would advise his new fiscal court of the matter. At Mayfield, Benjamin J. Lookofsky, county attorney of Graves County, said the law was news to him.

"It must have been passed by the legislature that reduced drug abuse from a felony to a misdemeanor," Lookofsky sneered. However, he said Graves County came under the commissioner form of government about eight years ago, that careful attention was paid to equal population and the Graves districts probably would withstand any court test. He saw no need of a Graves reapportienment now. The sales for this week Kentucky Burley Sales For Week of Jan. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Markets Pounds Sold Average Bloomfield 315,721 79.74 Bowling Green 282,588 77.98 Carrollton 3,881,398 718,813 1,918,256 925,458 37,054 180,185 22,714 664,451 6,982 160,554 213,566 191,648 10,319,245 324,342 783,168 26,468 2,098,142 1,294,883 80.62 78.87 80.64 80.15 79.05 80.50 80.73 80.49 71.96 78.82 79.44 79.44 80.90 80.44 79.74 76.91 79.88 78.64 Covington Cynthiana Danville Franklin Glasgow Greensburg Harrodsburg Henderson Hopkinsville Horse Cave Lebanon Lexington London Louisville Mayfield Maysville Owensboro Suspensions, illness cut city patrol to 3 men Burley volume drops, prices continue high The sales for this season Kentucky Burley Sales For Season Through Jan.

11, 1973 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Markets Pounds Sold Average Bloomfield 7,415,119 79.34 Bowling Green 11,912,732 79.01 79.93 78.25 79.50 79.45 79.19 79.87 80.09 79.44 74.45 78.32 79.65 80.14 79.88 78.62 79.26 78.26 79.22 78.51 Carrollton 25,094,350 5,128,638 13,102,228 14,172,088 3,123,738 18,054,497 10,895,058 11,509,387 437,310 7,430,732 16,348,470 10,357,392 71,844,576 8,900,611 10,388,915 1,541,532 28,350,211 13,273,150 Covington Cynthia na Danville Franklin Glasgow Greensburg Harrodsburg Henderson Hopkinsville Horse Cave Lebanon Lexington London Louisville Mayfield Maysville Owensboro The suspension of 12 Owensboro city policemen combined with sickness Sunday afternoon to shrink the city patrol force from its customary nine or ten to only three. Department records revealed five patrolmen, a major and a detective were scheduled for the 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. shift. Two patrolmen cal)ed in sick, dispatchers said.

Of the 12 policemen suspended Dec. 18 for allegedly guarding gambling at the local Elks Club, six would have worked Sunday, according to record clerks. The men's suspension began Jan. 2. Most suspended officers are to return to work today.

Neither Police Chief Vernie Bidwell nor Major Stuart Lambert, who headed the afternoon shift would say how many men are regularly scheduled for Sunday. But records clerks said the regular shift is nine patrolmen, wagon driver, a major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant and a detective. Bidwell said the Sunday afternoon shift is usually 10 to 12 men. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Prices continued high on Kentucky burley markets last week as volume dropped off sharply.

The week's average of $80.40 per hundredweight compares to $79.48 for the season in the state. However, volume tailed off to a total of 2,924,646 pounds on Thursday, by far the lowest of the season. Fifteen of Kentucky's markets closed during the week and more closings are expected this week. The week's total was 34,152,613 pounds sold during four sales davs. Lexington, the world's largest burley market, had both the highest average and i the highest volume.

The figures there were 10,319,245 pounds sold for an average of $80.90 per hundredweight. Twelve other markets recorded average higher than $80 per hundredweight. The lowest average was Henderson's $71.95..