The Park City Daily News from Bowling Green, Kentucky • A1

WKU FOOTBALL: GROWTH HIGHLIGHTS SPRING SESSION 1B MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015 1854 Bowling $1 Newsstand Daily Home Delivery Classified 4B Crossword 5B Deaths 5A Sports 1B Sudoku 6B TV 7A 68 47 No. 110, 16 Pages, 2 sectioNsiNseRts VaRY BY aRea FIND US ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER sunny KentucK Lotter DA Pick 3 3-6-5 Pick 4 4-9-3-9 LAST online poll question: Can you name the four Republican candidates for governor in Kentucky? (They are Matt Bevin, James Comer, Hal Heiner and Will T. Scott.) THIS online poll question: Do you agree with Western Kentucky decision to suspend its swimming and diving program for five years? Results will be published April 27. DN POLL TALK OF THE TOWN: with Ken Merideth The Bowling Green Police Department will deliver a presentation to City Commission on Tuesday regarding the widespread use of body cameras, but the department declined through its spokesman to discuss the issue with the media before the meeting. would be glad to talk to you after the meeting but not prior city police spokesman Officer Ronnie Ward said.

would like to allow the City Commission first opportunity at questions regarding the Body cameras are worn on police uniforms to record what each officer encounters during a shift. is so much interest from the police, public and court standpoint, we just feel it is a prudent to see if this is something feasible for this Ward said. Franklin and Russellville police are using the cameras. Franklin Police Chief Roger Solomon said body cameras have great evidentiary value in courtrooms, cutting down on bogus citizen complaints and potentially reducing civil litigation. Franklin officers have welcomed their use, and some have noticed citizens are more mindful of how they conduct themselves, knowing their interactions with police are recorded.

Citizen complaints against Russellville police dropped by more than 50 percent after the department began requiring all patrol officers to wear body cameras and record every interaction with the public. The department started using them in the winter of 2012 and fully implemented body camera use departmentwide in 2013. A department can buy four body cameras for the price of one cruiser dashboard camera, Russellville Police Chief Victor Shifflett said in February. Bowling Green police use body cameras on a limited basis. Motorcycle officers have body cameras because they have dashboard cameras.

City police K-9 handlers wear body cameras. BGPD looking at cams By DEBORAH HIGHLAND Commission will hear presentation Tuesday See BGPD, 6A By PE ER HER ANN The Washington Post The debate across the country over whether police should wear body cameras has quickly evolved into a new and perhaps more difficult question: Who gets to see the video? Officials in more than a dozen states have proposed restricting access or completely withholding footage from the public, citing concerns over privacy and the time and cost of blurring images that identify victims, witnesses or bystanders caught in front of the lens. In the wake of fatal shootings by police in Ferguson, and elsewhere, government watchdog groups, journalists and protesters say keeping the videos secret undercuts the point of an initiative designed to improve trust between citizens and law enforcement. In Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, tucked a proposal in a bill that would exempt videos from the Freedom of Information Act, effectively barring access to the general public. That came weeks after she announced a new era of open government and a police force held accountable through the widespread use of body cameras to allay fears of misconduct that is roiling other American cities.

Limiting access to police videos sparks debate See VIDEOS, 6A Ken Merideth is public transit coordinator at Community Action of Southern Kentucky, which oversees GO bg Transit Authority. He attended Bowling Green High School, Western Kentucky University and Eastern Kentucky University. He farms and operated The Greenwood Skate Center for 28 years. While he owned the rink, he operated buses transporting skaters and providing transportation for civic, business and community groups. He was active in civic organizations and served as a road runner with the Shriners, transporting disabled children to care centers in Lexington, Cincinnati, St.

Louis and Chicago for several years. How did you develop such a passion for dealing with public transportation? My passion for public transportation began as a child riding public transportation in Indianapolis when visiting family who lived there. I grew up the youngest of eight children and watched my mother walk to work at the Derby Manufacturing Plant on Church Street. I thought then how great it would be if we had buses to ride like other cities did. Using my bus to provide transportation for groups to vacation Bible schools, Girl Scout and Boy Scout Camps, Jaycee events, chamber and other community events, I became aware of the many transportation needs in our community.

Transporting children and their families to care facilities and my own family members who could not drive due to illness really impressed upon me the KEN MERIDETH See MERIDETH, 6A Miranda Lambert gets four prizes at the academy of country Music awards; Luke Bryan wins top award. IN NATION 7A Federal prosecutors want a woman imprisoned for the fire that destroyed the Horse Cave Dollar General store to pay more than $1 million for damage caused to the building. Debra Fowler Kessinger, 58, of Smiths Grove, is serving a six-year sentence after being found guilty of arson in connection with the 2011 fire at the store she managed. At her sentencing hearing last month in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, a dispute over how much money Kessinger owed in res- titution was not resolved.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Malloy filed a motion Thursday asking a judge to set restitution at $1,085,144.12. The amount Malloy argues that Kessinger should pay is the sum of the inventory lost in the blaze and the money that Owners Insurance which insured the structure, paid to property owner Paul Sanderford. The June 27, 2011, fire occurred shortly before the store was to open for the day. The building was a total loss.

Phil Bramlett, loss prevention investigator with Dollar General, tes- tified at last sentencing that $519,667 worth of inventory and materials used to display the inventory were inside when the fire occurred. also testified that the store was missing $2,289 in deposits on the day of the Malloy said in her motion. Federal prosecutors made the case that Kessinger set the store on fire two days ahead of a scheduled audit that would have revealed mismanagement at the store, including rolling Arsonist asked to pay $1M restitution By JUS IN ORY See ARSONIST, 6A Above: Wilson Blakeman (left), 16, and emily summar, 16, both of Bowling Green, perform sunday as and the characters during a Derby Tea Party benefitting the kelly autism Program at Brickyard Cafe. Right: Beth lanham and her daughter Chloe lanham, 5, both of Bowling Green, look at silent auction items. elow left: amanda Walden watches as her daughters sophia Walden (left), 4, and stella Walden, 3, all of Bowling Green, have cupcakes and snacks.

elow right: Children and parents enjoy snacks. Photos bA totRong Fundraiser benefits Kelly Autism Program.