The Park City Daily News from Bowling Green, Kentucky • A6

of the people here had just been born or not yet been born for some of these cases, so you are relying on Ward said. are stark differences between evidence collection even 10 years ago to now. people have been put into the fingerprinting system. Back in 1966, they may not have swabbed for blood. They may have taken a blood sample but it may be on a weapon or a piece of he said.

The Warren County Office is investigating four cold case homicides in the deaths of Walter Greg Fowler, 44, missing since 1999 and presumed dead; Jessie Marie Twilight Song Crooks, 15, found slain Sept. 10, 2001, after she walked away from her home late Aug. 28, 2001; and Mark Medaris, 37, and his stepson Jordan Staten, 3, killed Nov. 22, 2010, by a hit-and- run driver at 5:39 p.m. while crossing Veterans Memorial Boulevard at New Bond Way.

Fowler was last seen June 19, 1999, by his wife, Debra Fowler, who reported him missing the following day. She told authorities that he had gone on a fishing trip and had not returned. Debra Fowler found her boat in Barren River under the Ky. 101 bridge. Greg van was found on Osborne Ford Road, about two miles from where the boat was discovered.

His body was never found. Greg wife, who is now Debra Fowler Kessinger, has been convicted in federal court of arson involving her burning of a Dollar General store in Horse Cave. She also pleaded guilty in a bankruptcy fraud case where she hid the proceeds of her life insurance policy. On Aug. 28, 2001, Twilight Crooks took a shower, told her family good night and walked away barefoot from the Larmon Mill Road home she shared with stepmother, Linda, and her father, Bob Crooks.

Thirteen days later, a man walking his dog on Matlock Old Union Church Road found body five miles from her home Sept. 10, 2001, near a dried-up pond in a wooded area. Just two months shy of her 16th birthday, Twilight died at the hands of a killer or killers who have not been found. Her cause of death has never been released. Detectives recently reviewed the evidence in death investigation and continue to investigate the presumed death of Fowler and the deaths of Medaris and Staten.

were multiple pieces of evidence taken in these office spokesman Stephen Harmon said. time the cases are reassigned, the detectives get together, pull every piece of evidence out and recanvass the evidence and other facts of the cases which are now several years old, looking for ways to gain new information or new leads in hopes of increasing the chance of solvability. in forensics is part of the reason to touch every piece of evidence we can. They want to do everything they can to keep the cases current. We want to utilize any and all resources available to the detectives working on those The office cold cases investigators are also included in the review of cold cases.

Just because cases are cold mean they are forgotten. always hoping that we can come across something that will head us in a positive Ward said. this point a majority of these cases are still assigned to a detective so that they can easily review the cases from time to time. We feel confident we have have done everything in our power to solve these, but we need some new information. give up on any of these cases.

always take information whether through someone calling the police or calling Crime Ward said. If you have information on any of these cases, call the BGPD at 270-393-4000 or the office at 270842-1633. Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter at BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com. they did was a bait and Barhorst said. According to a complaint the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association filed July 1 with Kathryn Gabhart, executive director of Executive Branch Ethics Commission, the Kentucky Hemp Industry Council was founded in April 2014, about a month before the Industrial Hemp Commission appears to have stopped meeting.

In addition, Brian Furnish, who was a member of the Industrial Hemp Commission, was named president of the Hemp Industry Council, the complaint said. is the group we think is behind Barhorst said. According to Comer, a Tompkinsville Republican who served as agriculture commissioner from 2012 to January and is currently running for the 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House, the Industrial Hemp Commission was disbanded because its main goal was educating the public on hemp while growing the crop was still illegal, as well as establishing a program to license hemp growers. Therefore, its work was complete, he said.

the Farm Bill passed, it pretty much eliminated the need for a hemp he said. an obsolete Ryan Quarles, when asked if KDA is affiliated with the newer Hemp Industry Council, said: are evaluating the hemp program as a whole and coming up with a series of recommendations for the 2017 crop year, which would include organizations and those who have been interested in the reintroduction of the crop for He would not comment directly on the council or its involvement in the hemp industry. Jonathan Miller, a member of the Industrial Hemp Commission who now serves as legal counsel for the Hemp Industry Council, confirmed that Furnish is the president as well as an Industrial Hemp Commission member. Miller, an attorney with Frost Brown Todd in Lexington, declined to name any of the other members. When active, the Industrial Hemp meetings mainly concerned the of the Miller said, adding that the responsibility of steering the industry now belongs to KDA.

The Hemp Industry Council is a lobbying group whose main focus has been urging Congress to exclude industrial hemp from the Drug Enforcement drug schedule, he said. According to the Kentucky Secretary of State website, Kentucky Hemp Industry Council Inc. is registered as a nonprofit organization with an office at 250 W. Main St. in Lexington the same address as a Frost Brown Todd office.

The site lists Furnish as president, Dan Caudill as vice president, Steve Bevan as secretary and Josh Hendrix as treasurer. Furnish did not return phone messages seeking comment. Bevan, chief operating officer of GenCanna Global, a Winchester-based company originally from Canada partnered with six local farms to grow hemp, according to Newsweek, directed all questions about the council to Miller. Hendrix, who works with Las Vegas- based pharmaceutical company CV Sciences, said the council has no connection to the Industrial Hemp Commission. Caudill, co-owner of Caudill Seed, did not return messages seeking comment.

But Carl Gering, the safety and security director, reached out to the Daily News, saying Comer invited Caudill to be part of the Hemp Industry Council. Gering said the council has been involved with promoting the industry and making sure people know the difference between industrial hemp and recreational marijuana. The group has no involvement with MOUs, Gering said. Hemp KentucK In 2011, when Comer was running for agriculture commissioner, his campaign was built partly on reviving industrial hemp, which was once widely grown in Kentucky, he said. Liberals and conservatives alike met this idea with enthusiasm, he said.

During his campaign, Comer educated the public on hemp, making sure people knew the difference between hemp and marijuana. genetic relationship to marijuana has been largely responsible for the illegality of hemp, Comer said. Cannabis including both hemp and marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, according to a DEA website. Schedule I also includes heroin, ecstasy and LSD and is a tier reserved for with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for the website said. According to the KDA website, hemp contains low volumes of tetrahydrocan- nabinol, primary psychoactive chemical.

The website also said hemp can be used in the production of numerous goods, including textiles, carpeting, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The Kentucky General Assembly passed SB 50 in 2013 but had to wait a year for the passage of the Agricultural Act of 2014 also known as the Farm Bill, which allows states to implement hemp research programs to begin the Industrial Hemp Program. The Farm section governing hemp is brief, saying that institution of higher education or a state department of is authorized to grow and cultivate industrial hemp for research purposes an agricultural pilot program or other agricultural or academic and if state law allows it. The application period for would-be hemp growers comes once a year. The first application cycle during Ryan tenure will open in the fall, according to the KDA website, though no specific date is given.

Roger Ford, CEO of Patriot Bioenergy was also denied an MOU during term as commissioner. said we have enough growing experience even though we have several people who have farming experience and farming he said. Ford said he thinks the fact that Patriot operates out of a Democratic-leaning district was a factor in the denial of the application. Patriot is located in Pikeville, a part of state House District 94, represented by Leslie Combs, D-Pikeville. Kathe Andrews, a horticulture scientist whose application for a hemp MOU was denied, said people with far less experience than her have received MOUs from KDA.

had everything all set up and they just give us any reason why they turned us she said. was kind of a shock to me. It seemed like it was already Because of practices, many skilled growers could be forced to leave the state in order to do hemp research, she said. Andrews and Ford are both members of KHGCA. According to the ethics complaint, Comer awarded MOUs to registered Republicans and political supporters and excluded or restricted the issuance of MOUs to people or groups who were registered Democrats, were not allied with Comer or were in districts controlled by officials politically opposed to him.

The complaint also argues that hemp industry violates the Farm Bill, which gives permission to grow hemp to state departments of agriculture and universities, not individual producers or unaffiliated companies. Miller, the Hemp Industry legal counsel, who described himself as a Democrat, rejected the notion that Comer or any group inside KDA has denied applications based purely on political reasons. Commissioner Comer and Commissioner Ryan Quarles are running this in a very nonpartisan he said. Comer also denied the accusations. had no say in who got applications and who he said.

Those who claim denials are politically based are probably upset their own applications up to snuff, Comer said, adding that there are numerous reasons an MOU might be denied. Because the hemp industry is a pilot program, potential hemp-growing operations must be allied in some way with a university for research purposes, he said. no university wants to fool with you, not much the Department of Agriculture can Comer said. Numerous individuals and companies have partnered with universities, potentially leaving some schools overburdened and unwilling to take on more partnerships for hemp research, he said. Neither the Farm Bill nor SB 50 nor any application available on website includes language requiring growers to be aligned with a university.

David Williams, director of the University of Robinson Center for Appalachian Resource Sustainability, which is conducting hemp research under program, said the school is not working with any outside hemp growers. Williams also said program does not ask would-be growers to partner with any university. not required at he said. Comer said limiting the number of people growing hemp is detrimental to the progress of hemp pilot program. He said been exciting to watch hemp industry grow.

come a long way in two years and what proving is that not a drug and economically Comer said. Hemp has the potential to greatly diversify the agricultural economy and has already proven lucrative for a number of the farmers involved with its production, Comer said. will never be what tobacco was for Kentucky, but it will be another tool in the he said. goal on day one and my goal today is for Congress to pass a bill that deregulates Ryan Quarles said the crop, though still in an experimental stage, can provide a great deal of economic development in the state. intense interest in the crop.

We have people contact our office every week, wanting to invest in he said. very excited to see people from across the nation look towards Kentucky as the leader with industrial Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter or visit bgdailynews.com. Local Saturday, July 16, 2016 6A Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky Call the Law Office of 1-877-388-8184 Personal Injury Social Security Disability Backruptcy www.debrabrozlaw.com We are a Debt Relief Agency Under Federal Law and We Provide Legal Asisstance to Customers Seeking Relief Under the Bankruuptcy Code. THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT DARREN K. MEXIC CARRIE JOLLY LINK DEBRA L.

BROZ 1705 Ashley Circle Bowling Green, KY 42104 PHONE 270-782-8184 FAX 270-782-8637 a 2 7 0 3 9 2 1 1 7 0 a A i a a a i From Page 1A HEMP From Page 1A UNSOLVED The program is for low-income families and no down payment is required, Kennedy said. Kentucky statistics show as of July 11, the state has approved 2,783 guaranteed rural housing loans for 187 direct housing (USDA section 502) loans for and 364 home repair loans and grants (USDA section 504) for $2,113,282, Kennedy said Tuesday in an email. By the end of April, the USDA Rural Development fiscal year 2016 housing program obligated 81,327 loans, loan guarantees and grants totaling about $10.76 billion, according to the Housing Assistance Council, a national nonprofit organization. Acurero said it took a while to find a property that would qualify under the USDA program. has to be in a rural area.

It was not something that we did She praised the program. program has been a God blessing to she said. Kennedy said a guaranteed rural housing loan has a 30-year term and an applicant must have an income of up to 115 percent of the median income for the area. Families must be without adequate housing and be able to afford the mortgage payments, including taxes and insurance. Credit histories are also evaluated.

Under the section 502 program, housing must be modest in size, design and cost. Approved lenders under the 502 program are any state housing agency and lenders approved by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development for submission of applications for Federal Housing Mortgage Insurance, or as an issuer of Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities. Also approved are the U.S. Veterans Administration as a qualified mort- gagee; Fannie Mae for participation in family mortgage loans; any Farm Credit System institution with direct lending authority; and any lender participating in other USDA Rural Service Agency guaranteed loan programs, a USDA brochure noted.

A direct housing loan helps low- income people purchase a home in a rural area. Funds can be used to build, repair, renovate or relocate a home or to purchase and prepare sites, including providing water and sewerage facilities, a USDA brochure noted. Those applicants for direct loans must have very-low or low incomes. A very-low income is 50 percent of the area median income, while a low income is between 50 to 80 percent of area median income. A moderate income is 80 to 100 percent of area median income.

The direct loans are up to 33 years, 38 years for applicants with incomes below 60 percent of area median income or those who afford a 33-year term. Kennedy said another worthwhile USDA loan program provides loans and grants to very-low income homeowners to repair, improve or modernize their homes or remove safety hazards. The loans are up to $20,000 and grants for up to $7,500. Grants are only available to homeowners who are at least 62 and who cannot repay a loan, the brochure noted. is a program I am very proud to be part Kennedy said of the USDA Rural Development loans and grants.

help people live the American dream something to call their he said. Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews. com. From Page 1A PROGRAM Bowling Green Housing Authority and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to formulate a plan that greatly improves safety for residents of the Ky.

185 corridor between U.S. 68 and Double Springs Hampton said in a news release. appreciate working with Mr. Williams, KYTC officials and members of the community towards this important goal, and I am proud to serve in an administration that works hard every day to respond to the needs of the citizens of Originally, the state only had plans to convert Gordon Avenue from Veterans Memorial Lane to Double Springs Road from four lanes to three with a center turn lane. At the Scott Way intersection crossing, Gordon Avenue would be narrowed to only two lanes, with pedestrian crossing signs and a raised pedestrian area in the middle so that walkers only have to cross one lane at a time.

The state in June released its plan for the road but declined to signalize the intersection, much to the dismay of residents in the area. Williams at the time renewed his call for a traffic light. Wes Watt, a spokesman for the Department of Highways in Bowling Green, said details and costs regarding the new signal and road work are still to be worked out. Gordon Avenue, which sees more than 9,000 vehicles a day, will be narrowed from four to three lanes as part of the work. appreciate Lt.

Gov. Hampton taking the lead on this important safety issue to unite the Bowling Green Transportation Secretary Greg Thomas said in a news release. Gov. Hampton is a proven leader who believes in our mission in providing a safe and reliable transportation system for all From Page 1A LIGHT.