Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 26

C2 LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER LEXINGTON KY SATURDAY JUNE 5 1993 CityState Letcher prosecutor pleads not guilty News in State James Craft secretary arraigned in Frankfort on theft-related charges Judge William Graham No trial dates were set Craft was accompanied by Gene Smallwood Jr of Whitesburg who told Graham he and law partner Ronald Pblley would be attorneys But Deputy Attorney General Brent Caldwell and Assistant Attorney General Pbul Richwalsky filed motions to force Smallwood and Folley off the case Both men testified to the grand jury that indicted Craft and will be witnesses for the prosecution at trial the motions said Gra attorney for Letcher County allegedly paid as much as $35000 in state money to Patsy Stallard a secretary for his law firm He was indicted on 103 counts of complicity to theft Stallard who allegedly did no work for Craft in his role as prosecutor was charged with 103 counts of theft by unlawful taking Both pleaded not guilty at an arraignment before Franklin Circuit By Charles Wolfe Associated Prsss FRANKFORT A prosecutor accused of paying a private employee with state money pleaded not guilty to theft-related chaiges yesterday At the same time the attorney office tried to get his attorneys disqualified James Wiley Craft who has been suspended as Attendance pays off for pupils Breckinridge Elementary pupil Crystal Purdue a third grader got an award for perfect attendance Pizza and parties took the place of pencils and papers in many of Fayette County's schools yesterday as the 1992-93 school year ended School is out until Aug 23 Among the festivities celebrating summer were a pizza ice cream and soda pop party for 36 students at Breckinridge Elementary who had perfect attendance for the whole school year Kindergartner Randall Maas won one of two bikes given away in a drawing for students with perfect attendance ham deferred a ruling Craft and Stallard were indicted in Franklin County because it is the site of the state treasury from which attorneys are paid The job is not full time in most counties and most of the officeholders also have a private law practice The indictments were part of a state investigation of alleged corruption in Letcher government Stallard also was indicted for perjury in Letcher for allegedly lying to a grand jury about her employment Hart family sues schools over prayer at graduation Associated Prsss BOWLING GREEN The Hart County school district violated the US Constitution by including a prayer in a high school commencement ceremony last year a graduate and her father contend in a lawsuit The suit filed in U5 District Court in Bowling Green said a Methodist minister gave an invocation and benediction at the May 30 1992 ceremony The Rev Randall Jones who is part Cherokee said the prayers he offered were secular and based on Indian themes made a generic prayer" said Jones who was not named in the suit didn't even use the name of An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky filed the suit The plaintiffs referred to in the lawsuit only as and are seeking unspecified damages plus costs and attorney's fees The suit said the plaintiffs were "deeply offended by the inclusion of religious exercises in the commencement ceremonies and viewed their inclusion as a message of endorsement by the defendants (school officials) "As a result Lee and Jan Doe's enjoyment of commencement was significantly diminished and their memory of the event has been greatly The suit specifically names as defendants the school district former superintendent Wandell Strange (who has since retired) Hart County High School Principal Charles Wuertzer and five people who were school board members at the time Three of the five are no longer on the school board Robert Nash Hart County's superintendent last year said the school did nothing wrong The ceremony took place before the much-publicized Supreme Court ruling last year in whidi the court said a Rhode Island middle school had acted unconstitutionally by having a prayer at graduation Since that ruling Nash said the school district has changed its practice This year's graduation at Hart County High School featured an in whidi a student read a poem and a in which a student sang a song he said But David Friedman general counsel for the Kentucky ACLU argued that the Supreme Court ruling "did not make law it just ratified 30 years of existing a conoem when you start using the pipes that have been contaminated for residential uses where you would have prolonged exposure That is something Tm not sure the state is aware of right now and all the more reason for them to move he said Former oil and gas wells in the Martha field in Lawrence and Johnson counties are tainted with radium silt Radiation readings at same wells are 600 times the level deemed acceptable by die US Environmental Protection Agency The problem in the Martha oil field was discovered in 1968 Ashland Petroleum has proposed a plan for cleaning up the radiation contamination at the field Schnim said He said Kentucky has no regulations in place for such a cleanup and that has caused a delay Schrum estimated the cleanup would take several months once die plan is approved cancer hot line Kentucky Tennessee Man convicted in murders in Carrollton denied parole a win raporte BUCKNER The state has denied parole to a man convicted of the 1985 slayings of a Carrollton couple Kevin Lawrence Fitzgerald 29 of Carroll County was convicted of two counts of first-degree manslaughter for beating Roy Bickers 70 and Ruby Bickers 55 with a hammerhead hatchet Fitzgerald admitted killing the Bidders during an argument about a loan he had not repaid them He was sentenced to 20 years Prison records show that Fitzgerald has acquired good while in custody and has had no discipline problems He has received counseling for narcotics addiction is a member of a counseling group for violent offenders and works in the outreach program at the youth center Fitzgerald recounted the night of the murders to the parole board and then said he hoped to work with victims of substance abuse upon his release The parole board however denied request Thursday Board member Larry Ball told Fitzgerald are two of the most heinous crimes this board has ever heard" Covington receives apology for remarks COVINGTON The state has apologized to the city of Covington for remarks a state official made about die safety of the streets Gary Taylor district manager of the state Department for Family Services made die statement in an April memo opposing a move by state social workers from their current office in Covington to the former YMCA building He called the area for prostitution drugs and He asked his superiors to seek new bids for office space In a letter faxed Thursday to Covington Mayor Denny Bowman and city commissioners Department for Social Services Commissioner Peggy Wallace said she was apologizing on behalf of the Cabinet for Human Resources and the department Japanese Language School Joins NKU HIGHLAND HEIGHTS The Japanese Language School of Greater Cincinnati will move to Northern Kentucky University on July 1 The school in Cincinnati the last few years was founded in 1975 to teach Japanese children about their culture language and mathematics Bchool is specifically designed for children of Japanese parents who are assigned to this area for several said Dr Michael Klembara director of Office of International Programs school will help the Japanese children retain familiarity with Japanese language customs and culture so when their families return to Japan the students can more readily The school has about 250 students from as far north at Dayton Ohio It has all-day sessions on 45 Saturdays a year Bartlett named to Kenton Circuit Court FRANKFORT Gregory Bartlett a lawyer in Edgewood was appointed a Kenton Circuit Court judge by Gov Rereton Jones on Friday Bartlett 46 succeeded Daniel Goodenough who retired April 1 Bartlett would have to run in the November election to fill the remaining six years of term Bartlett is to be sworn in Monday as one of four judges of the court in Covington He said the appointment was realization of a lifelong dream" Bartlett has practiced law 20 years mainly as a litigator He graduated from Thomas More College received a master's degree from Xavier University and a law degree from the University of Kentucky Graves sheriff election outcome verified MAYFIELD A check of voting machine totals in Graves County change the outcome of the sheriffs race between incumbent Bob Morgan and three challengers Candidate Ronnie Lear requested the check after returns showed he lost to Morgan in the May 25 Democratic primary by 181 votes A spokesman in the Graves County court office said the check on Thursday showed that election night totals were correct Morgan had 5030 votes and Lear had 4849 Military police reassigned after shooting FORT CAMPBELL Two military police officers who fired shots in a fatal confrontation with a Fort Campbell soldier last week have been reassigned to administrative duties The two MBs who were not identified are not carrying weapons in their new duties said Fort Campbell spokesman Maj Ed Gribbins No charges have been filed in the incident The two were involved in the May 25 fatal shooting of Spc Richard Thomsen 22 who was shot once in the chest The Fort Campbell Public Affairs Office issued a statement Thursday saying Thomsen threatened and attempted to assault soldiers in his unit with a knife during an inspection May 25 Thomsen brandishing a sword above his head was shot after refusing to drop die weapon the Army statement said Health-care task force meeting changed FRANKFORT The date has been changed for the first meeting of die Task Force on Health Care Reform The task force made up of lawmakers and Gov Brereton Jones' appointees will meet Thursday at 9 ajn in room 149 of the Capitol Annex The meeting had been tentatively scheduled for June 14 The three subcommittees of the task force will meet at 10 am Thursday in the Capitol Annex They will meet in the following rooms: Subcommittee on Access room 149 Subcommittee on Cost Containment room 129 Subcommittee on Finance and Medicaid Review room 131 Ex-UK football player Betz hospitalized Former University of Kentucky football player Damon Betz was in good condition at the UK Hospital last night after police found him wandering around in a daze on a street near campus Betz 21 was supposed to be the starting defensive tackle for the Wildcats this season but decided to give up football after being diagnosed with a congenital fceart condition About 11:45 am yesterday UK police received a call from a Gazette Avenue resident about a person wandering around in the rain Two officers responded and found Betz wearing a T-shirt and shorts in die downpour was very disoriented" UK spokesman Ralph Derickson said is no indication as to what made him disoriented He was taken to the med center where he is being evaluated" After the 1991 season Betz was found to have episodes of fast and irregular heartbeats because of an extra impulse pathway in his heart He underwent a medical procedure to correct the ailment in February 1992 He was occasionally bothered by the ailment again last season and he decided to concentrate solely on his journalism studies The 6-fbot-4 275-pound junior has applied to the Southeastern Conference for a medical scholarship He is originally from Wilmington DeL By Jim Warren Harald-Laadar medical writer If you dial 1 -8004-CANCER anywhere in Kentucky Tennessee or Arkansas an expert at the University of Kentucky will answer Markey Cancer Center announced yesterday that it has been selected to operate the national Cancer Information Service hot line number for die three-state region Callers can dial the toll-free number for cancer information including symptoms of the disease and where to go for diagnosis treatment or support Doctors and other health professionals also can call for advice on handling cancer cases The hot line is open from 9 am to 7 pm Monday through Friday Previously the National Cancer Institute contracted with an agency in each state to operate the 1 -8004-CANCER line within that state UK has run the service for Kentucky for several years Now in an efficiency move the cancer institute is dividing the na- People can call for information including symptoms and where to go for diagnosis treatment or support tion into 19 regions each with a designated central hot-line answering point UK which beat out several other bidders will receive a $33 million contract to be the answering point for the Kentucky-Arkansas-Tennessee region for the next five years The money will be spent to expand the answering system from two lines to four to boost staff from eight to 17 people and to operate the system UK officials said Dir Gilbert Friedell director of cancer control at the Markey Center said the new regional arrangement will offer a better way of providing cancer information to patients their families and doctors throughout the region Friedell noted that UK has de Herald-LeaderCharlea Bertram to serve Arkansas veloped a cancer information booklet for Kentuckians with data tailored to each of the state's 15 area development districts Hot-line callers can obtain the booklets and UK hopes to develop similar materials tailored to callers from Arkansas and Tennessee he said Officials also hope to use the system to promote cancer detection and prevention by providing information on those topics to callers Part of the effort also will emphasize services to high-risk underserved groups including blacks Appalachian residents Hispanics and older people Friedell said UK officials said they already have acquired the data needed so they can tailor information customized to the needs of callers from each of the three states Kentucky has been averaging about 6000 calls a year on its hot line Tennessee averaged 7000 calls and Arkansas 3000 Officials plan to develop a follow-up system to gauge how callers use the information Friedell said ty within the Martha oil field have been policing this very closely" he said Ferguson however said he knows of people who bought pipe like his and used it for monkey has for children and housing supports He said Ashland Oil initially denied having sold him the pipe until confronted by The Daily Independent newspaper in Ashland Ton FitzGerald directa of the Kentucky Resources Council an environmental group based in Frankfort said people using the pipe around their homes could be putting themselves at risk He said Ashland Petroleum should be required to track down all the used pipe so it can be disposed of properly Ashland unit might have sold tainted pipes Vic Ferguson said he bought the used pipe before state officials discovered that it was contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive silt from oil wells Martha farmer says company ignored risk Associated Prsss MARTHA Hundreds of Eastern Kentucky residents might have bought contaminated pipes from Ashland Petroleum Co and used them for everything from fences for livestock to monkey bars for children a fanner says "People from far and wide bought die said Vic Ferguson of Martha sold it from an office down here They had price lists for the different sizes Hundreds of people used it They have no idea where all this stuff Ferguson a pipe fitter and welder used the pipe he bought to make a stronger corral for the cattle on his farm He had bought the used pipe before state officials discovered that it was contaminated with naturally occurring radioactive silt from deep inside the oil wells Roger Schrum a spokesman for Ashland Petroleum said yesterday that company representatives have checked into Ferguson's complaints about the corral did sell him sane Schrum said was before naturally occurring radioactive material was discovered We have offered to replace the corral at his convenience We're having discussions with him Schrum said he thought that all the contaminated pipes were accounted for and were in fenced-in areas on Ashland Petroleum proper 1 i 1 4.