-News from August 13, 2009 issue

Local News
The Crittenden Press Full Version (PDF)

Hail, wind hammers Crayne area
Ten years ago, the tiny hamlet of Crayne was nearly wiped off the map by a tornado, but some residents say the damage from last week's wind and hail storm was worse.
"I have never been through anything like it," said Rosalee Wallace, who lives on the corner of U.S. 641 and Crayne Cemetery Road.
It was the fourth significant weather event to inflict widespread damage in Crittenden County this year and the 10th in the last two years.
On Monday, Wallace’s mobile home remained riddled with holes like something out of a gangster movie.
"It does look like a machine gun came along through here," she said, keeping her humor even though the insurance adjuster hadn't shown up nearly a week after the storm.
"I have been through tornadoes, high winds and just about everything else but this was something I just can't explain. I thought it was never going to be over," Wallace explained.
The storm lasted about 10 or 15 minutes, residents said, with golf ball sized hail pounding their homes, breaking windows and damaging vehicles. A hole in one window indicated a chunk of ice the size of a baseball came hurling from the sky.
"My house was damaged worse in this storm than in the tornado," said Brenda Underdown, who lives in Marion but maintains her mother's former home in Crayne.
Betty Cannon, who lives just south of Underdown's place, agreed.
"We didn't live here when the tornado came through, but we owned the house and we didn't have anywhere near the damage from the tornado as we did this time."
Cannon's son was gone in her car during the storm. She said that's the only thing that saved it.
"My house needs a whole new roof, new siding and some of the windows were broken out," said Cannon, who's daughter and son-in-law, Sharon and Curt Phelps, live just down the road and had similar damage to their home and vehicles.
Corn and soybeans planted by Parish and Hooks, Van Hunt and Jamie Hunt farms were badly damaged by wind and hail. Van Hunt said if ears weren't made by last week, it probably will not amount to much when harvested because leaves were literally smashed off the stalks by hail.
"That's where corn gets its nutrients, through those blades," Hunt said. "It won't make without them."
"It looks like cane standing in the fields," said Underdown, describing the leafless cornstalks.
A dozen or more homes suffered serious damage. Many had busted windows, siding damage, roof damage, carports were downed and damaged, underpinning was ripped from mobile homes and cars were left cratered by the falling balls of ice. Houston Kirk lost a barn to the wind.
Wallace was home alone during the storm with her small dog. They took refuge in the middle of her mobile home as glass was flying from the windows.
"I laid down in the hall. It was the only place I had to get. When the wind broke out the big window and the wind starting coming in, I thought the roof had blown off. But then I looked up and saw the ceiling was the still there," she said.
Cannon said storms do not generally scare her, but when the hail starting shredding the siding on her home, she was troubled.
"I have never seen it hail like that before," she said. "I was really shocked to see what it had done to the side of the homes."
Crayne is a small community of fewer than 100 residents. It is located about four miles south of Marion. The storm struck from the northeast. Wind damage was widespread but the hail seemed to materialize as the storm passed over Chapel Hill Road, crossed Crayne and headed toward the Farmersville area north of Fredonia in Caldwell County.
"After that, there was some wind damage, but I don't think anyone got the hail," said Hunt.

Board of ed mulls tax increase
Earlier this week, the Board of Education set the table for a property tax increase to deal with a continued financial strain on providing education in Crittenden County. When the five-member board meets later this month, they will decide whether to approve a proposed 1.5-cent tax increase or find another way to deal with increased expenses and decreased funding from Frankfort.
Superintendent Rachel Yarbrough said a public notice approved Monday for advertisement in this week’s edition of The Crittenden Press would allow the board to set a new rate tax on all personal and real property in Crittenden County at 44.2 cents per $100 of assessment. That rate is expected to generate $1.489 million for education, up $189,456 over what the current rate of 42.7 generated.
Of course, the elected board could also choose to keep the rate unchanged or even lower the rate. Though Yarbrough, who has no vote in the matter, advocates the board take the increase unless funds can be freed up elsewhere, she is uncertain what the board will decide when they next meet in two weeks.
“The board has not made a decision on the rate,” she said. “But they want to consider all possible options, and this notice gives them the most flexibility when looking at the future.”
The proposed 3.5-percent increase in tax revenue coupled with last year’s 3.1-percent bump is aimed at offsetting what Yarbrough estimates roughly at an eight-percent decrease in allocations from the state. By state law, as much as a four-percent increase in revenue could be requested by the board without a referendum.
Yarbrough knows a tax increase is never popular, but with school districts across the state faced with dwindling money out of Frankfort, the ground must be made up locally or further cuts to educational resources and programs will be faced.
“I would hope the community would continue to hold education in high priority,” Yarbrough said.
If recent history holds true, opposition to the new rate will be little. At last year’s tax rate hearing, no one was present to object to the 1.3 cent increase approved over the previous year. If once again approved, the rate increase would be the third in as many years.
With the proposed rate, the average homeowner in Crittenden County would have to give up a canned soft drink a month to offset the burden. According to Census data from 2000, the median value of a home in the county is $48,300, meaning the owner would pay only $7.20 per year – or 60 cents a month – in additional property taxes. The holder of $100,000 in property would pay only $15 more annually.
Already, before the school year even started, the board learned that the state’s Support Educational Excellence in Kentucky, or SEEK, funding per pupil would be reduced by $43 per to $3,886. Since May, the district has seen $136,000 in SEEK cuts, according to the district's chief financial officer, Brent Highfil.
On Tuesday, the day after the board approved advertising the revenue proposal and the first day back to school for students, Yarbrough was notified in an e-mail from the Kentucky Department of Education of an additional cut. This one comes in the form of a 2.6 percent cut in flexible focus funds, which provides money for programs such as professional development and extended school services. Based on the announced reduction, what the district can expect in flexible focus money has dropped to $191,791 from $311,021 just two years ago.
Yarbrough said that could 2.6-percent reduction could escalate to as much as a four-percent cut, per the e-mail.
“In all my years in public eduction, I don’t think I have experienced as much uncertainty in state revenues,” Yarbrough said. “It makes it difficult to anticipate a course of action amidst such fiscal change.”
Those funding cuts would effect schools’ flexible focus funds, which go toward textbooks, professional development and extended school services.
Since 1999, the board has asked for a tax increase only six times, with the largest jump a 1.7 cent increase in 2001. The current rate of 54.1 cents for motor vehicles is set by the state and has been fixed since 1991.
The bulk of the extra $189,456 anticipated from the proposed tax increase is planned for instruction, with $168,458 allocated for such. Another $4,693 would go toward the building fund with the balance paying for the cost of collections.
But Highfil said the higher rate would likely result in only a fraction of the anticipated new revenue. That is because a full 100 percent collection of taxes due the district cannot be expected. Last year, the collection rate was only 91 percent.
Crittenden County Board of Education next meets at 6 p.m., Aug. 25.

Crittenden grand jury issues indicts for 10
A Crittenden County Grand Jury met last week, indicting 10 individuals on felony charges and three on misdemeanor charges. The grand jury does not determine guilt or innocence, instead it decides whether enough evidence exists to continue a case in court.
Indicted on Aug. 3 were:
Lawrence A. Davidson, 32, of 126 Carr St., in Marion, was indicted on felony charges of rape and sodomy. According to court records, Davidson faces two counts third-degree sodomy with a juvenile under the age of 16, stemming from incidents on Oct. 31, 2007 and March 23, 2008. Davidson is also charged with two counts of third-degree rape of a juvenile under 16, stemming from incidents on Sept. 22, 2007 and April 22, 2008.
Ryan Earl Knight, 20, of Fredonia was indicted on a charge of second-degree escape for leaving a Crittenden County Detention Work Release program near Crayne on June 9. Knight pleaded guilty and will be sentenced today (Thursday). The charge carries a five-year sentence, but the commonwealth's attorney, Zac Greenwell, has recommended a one-year sentence in exchange for the guilty plea. The prosecutor will oppose probation.
Sarah C. Sorrells, 18, of Saratoga Heights in Eddyville was indicted on a misdemeanor charge of second-degree escape by facilitation for her role in Ryan Earl Knight's escape from a Crittenden County Detention Work Release detail in June (see above case). Sorrells' case was remanded to District Court.
Frederick Eugene McConnell, 49, of Dover Road in Grand Rivers was indicted on two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition (over $300) and for being a first-degree persistent felony offender. McConnell allegedly received payment in December 2007 in the amount of $498.24 from Betty Yoder of Marion for solar electrical equipment which was never delivered. Court records also indicate that Richard Cruce of Marion paid McConnell $1,050 back in January of 2008 for an air conditioner unit which was never delivered. McConnell is currently serving time at another area jail for an unrelated offense.
Dystin Lyle, 23, of Hopkinsville was indicted on a felony charge of flagrant non-support. According to court records, Lyle is behind in child support payments in the amount of $1,710.97.
Jodie McVickers, 23, of Walnut Court in Eddyville was indicted on a charge of second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance. She allegedly sold Lortabs to an undercover informant on Nov. 5, 2008. The Pennyrile Area Narcotics Task Force brought the charge.
Stacy Nyugen, 54, of Kelsey Street in Sturgis was indicted on eight counts of attempting to obtain controlled substances by fraud, otherwise known as "doctor shopping." According to court records, Nyugen allegedly received 420 Hydrocodone 500 mg tablets from prescriptions written by doctors Anthony Starkey and Amy Ratley of Marion between July 15, 2008 and Nov. 8, 2008. At the same time, Nyugen is alleged to have been filling prescriptions from another doctor in Morganfield.
Timmy J. Phillips, 29, of 97 Broadway in Tolu was indicted on charges of use/possession of drug paraphernalia, second offense; and possession of marijuana. Court records say Phillips was a passenger in a vehicle during a traffic stop on June 22. In addition to being arrested for outstanding warrants, State Trooper Matt Foster charged Phillips for having a small amount of pot and rolling papers.
Tammy Ann Reed, 33, of 131 Harris Circle in Salem was indicted on charges of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and for being a second-degree persistent felony offender. Police records indicate that Marion Police Officer Bobby West charged Reed on July 9 after she allegedly sold two Percocets to a cooperating confidential informant.
Pauline M. Wright, 36, of Levias Road in Marion was indicted on misdemeanor charges and her case was remanded to district court. She is charged with two counts of second-degree possession of a controlled substance; having a prescription controlled substance (Lortab) not in its original container, second offense; and possession of a legend drug.
Karl Dempsey York, 44, of 115 Pigeon Dr., Lot 19 in Marion was indicted on a single count each of third-degree sodomy and third-degree rape. Court records say York had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old juvenile on March 28. Marion Police Officer George Foster initiated the charges.
Willie J. Young, 30, of Walker, La., was indicted on charges of tampering with physical evidence; second-degree possession of a controlled substance (Lortab); and third-degree possession of a controlled substance (Alprazolam). The charges stem from a traffic stop at McDonald's parking lot on June 4 by State Trooper Darron Holliman following an anonymous complaint called in to Marion Police Department about the vehicle in which Young was in.
Michael D. Bean, 18, of 120 S. Walker St., in Marion was indicted on a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault for hitting another person with his fist. The case was remanded to district court. A charge of wanton endangerment against Bean was dismissed.