Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 1

WWWKENTUCKYCOM Report on economy shows 2004 a good year BUSINESS Cl Up on the rooftops of New York City INSIDE I OUT El Hayes protects broken nose with mask SPORTS D1 JANUARY 29 2005 SATURDAY I BLUEGRASS EDITION 1 Fen-phen settlement is back in the courtroom 36 PLAINTIFFS SEEK ANSWERS ABOUT LAWYERS' HANDLING OF PAYOUT AND $18 MILLION LEFT OVER Mark Modlin relationship with Boone Circuit Court Judge Joseph Bamberger who presided over the fen-phen case and oversaw the creation of the nonprofit corporation has been questioned in the past Cincinnati lawyer Stanley Chesley another lawyer in the 1998 case is also named in the lawsuit but according to Secretary of State records he is not See SUIT A8 But the fen-phen case is far from over Now Parker and others are raising questions about the settlement that was reached in Boone Circuit Court Thirty-six plaintiffs in the original fen-phen class action filed a lawsuit against their lawyers in Fayette Circuit Court last month demanding an accounting of how the $200 million in settlement fends were disbursed The key questions in the complaint surround the Kentucky Fund for Healthy Living a nonprofit charitable corporation created and controlled by Parker's former lawyers which allegedly holds up to $18 million left over from the fen-phen settlement according to court documents The fend is managed by some prominent Lexington attorneys Melbourne Mills Jr Shirley Allen Cunningham and William Gallion and a Northern Kentucky trial consultant The Ashland man joined a classec-tion lawsuit against fen-phen manufacturer American Home Products in 1998 The case was eventually settled in 2001 and Parker received two separate settlement checks for undisclosed amounts By Bath Musgrave and Jim Warm HERALD-LEADER SWF WRITERS Hi heart weakened by the diet drug combination fen-phen and multiple heart attacks Ray Parker was forced to quit his job in 1997 He was only 55 drag sfemfi Oii'gxqfs Voting begins around the world WLEX passes WKYT in ratings CHANNEL 27 HAD N01 NEWSCAST FOR 28 YEARS MARX CORNEUSON STAFF FILE PHOTO Jeannie Newsome tossed her daughter Alexis out a window to Trooper Rick Conn after a pipeline exploded Trooper who caught child denies a hero STU RECOVERING FROM BLAST IN FLOYD COUNTY SUBDIVISION By Rich Copley HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER WLEX has ended WKYTs quarter century reign as the top-rated newscast in the Lexington market The latest ratings book from Nielsen Media Research shows that in key news times in the early morning and at 6 and 11 pm Channel 18 is the most-watched news broadcast in the six-county Lexington metro area and it has pulled even or ahead of Channel 27 in tiie 40-county Designated Market Area (DMA) "1th nice to be on the winning side for a said Nancy Cox anchor of 6 and 11 pm newscasts since 2000 Michael Castengera a former news director at WTVQ who is now a lecturer at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism said: "This is without a doubt a great book for LEX They didn't just knock (WKYT) off the hill they kicked them off" According to the Program Averages section of the book which gives the average performance of a show from Nov 4 to Disc 1 WLEX had a 15 rating and 35 share to WKYTs 10 rating and 24 share at 6 pm in the metro survey area The newscasts posted similar numbers at 11 pm In the DMA the race is a bit tighter but WLEX has still See NEWS A9 ADAM eunn I ASSOCIATED PRESS Shukira Abdul Kadir 83 voted in London yesterday the first time she has participated in an Iraqi election Turnout was low around the globe with only about a quarter of known expatriates registering Voting continues today MUM LEADERS MAY BE HEDGING BETS FOR LOW TURNOUT ployed 27-yea wild following Friday prayen at the A1 Muhsin mosque in Sadr City "Our religious leaden have not told us to vote" Al-Saedy is an acolyte of Muqtada atSadr the rebel Shiite cleric and his sermon yesterday seemed to settle for good the question of aFSadrk place in the country Is new democratic order Ai-Sadr who led a series of uprisings against US forces last year See VOTE A8 word about the vote Al-Saedy spoke of faith humility and the power of God But about elections the first here in more than 30 yean nothing For the throngs of Iraqis who had come to the A1 Muhsin mosque to listen al-Saedy's silence came through loud and clear And it foreshadowed a less-than-over-whelming voter turnout in many parts of Iraq willing I will not be voting" said Ziad Qadam an unem By Dorter FDkfns NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE BAGHDAD Iraq Less than 48 hours before nationwide elections here Nasir al-Saedy one of the most popular Shiite clerics stood before a crowd of 20000 Iraqis and uttered not a single By Lee Mueller EASTERN KENTUCKY BUREAU PKEVELE When vapors from a leaking pipeline beneath an Eastern Kentucky subdivision exploded last fell Rick Conn emerged from the flames a hero An off-duty Kentucky State Police trooper Conn escaped from his burning vehicle and with his hands badly burned caught a neighbor little girl when her mother tossed her about 4 feet through a blown-out window in her burning home "I couldn't really hold her I did this way with my Conn said yesterday crossing them on his chest his burned fingers stiff in skin-toned compression gloves Conn 42 was seared emotionally and physically by the Nov 8 blast which destroyed five homes and injured nine people in an upscale subdivision in Ivd in Floyd County But he shrugged off any hero label yesterday in interviews with reporters at the Pikeville Fire Department training center "Anybody there would have done the same he said "One of the biggest heroes in my See TROOPER A7 3 top aides to terrorist Zarqawi arrested 5 ILS SOLDIERS ARE KILLED HELICOPTER CRASHES leged operatives could be a turning point in the campaign against Zarqawi reducing the number of attacks and leading to capture That would put a serious dent in the insurgency though it wouldn't solve the problem of Baathist loyalists domestic ji-hadists and criminal gangs Qassim Dawoud the interim See IRAQ A8 an apparent effort to calm Iraqis rattled by violence two days before national elections Five American soldiers were killed in Baghdad yesterday and a small US helicopter crashed though probably not because of enemy fire as Iraqi security forces worked to secure polling sites for Sundayh vote If others don't quickly take their places the arrests of the al MATTSONS BylbmLassetar KNIGHT ROGER NEWS SERVICE BAGHDAD Iraq The Iraqi government said it has captured three top operatives of Abu Musab terrorist network announcing the arrests yesterday in WLEX news anchor Nancy Cox said of the ratings nice to be on the winning side for a change" -S- Cf-f IHf'yyV is HOW TO REACH US Delivery: 1-800-999-8881 Classified: 233-7878 or 1-800-933-7355 INDEX Business Section Crossword E7 F9 Obituaries B4 City Region Section Dear Abby E5 Opinions A10 W23 No26 Classifieds Section Horoscope E6 Sports Section 2005 Comics E6-7 Movies E4 TV E5 WINTER MIX Chance of precipitation about 60 Wsathsr D12 33 1 27 HIGH LOW I.