Council puts firehouse on back burner
Council members voted unanimously Monday to surrender a $5,000 option on a corner lot held by Martha Kurtz-Williams, opting to postpone indefinitely any further talk of building a new home for the city’s fire department.
The council could have accepted Williams’ offer to extend the option on the property which expired Feb. 1 for a nonrefundable penalty of $100 per day. As of Monday, the city would have owed Williams an additional $1,600 on top of the $5,000 in order to hold the asking price at $90,000.
In the wake of the devastating ice storm that hit the city and county on Jan. 27, the council didn’t appear to have the resolve to move ahead with plans for a new city project.
“When you consider what we’ve been through the last few weeks, we need to wait and see what the finances look like,” Councilman Mike Byford said. “We don’t even know what the last three weeks is going to cost us.”
City Administrator Mark Bryant was still waiting on an environmental assessment of the property at the corner of Main and Bellville streets, though he had received U.S. Army Corps of Engineer clearance just before Monday’s meeting. He anticipated the environmental study to be clean, but until confirmation, the council would not make a decision on purchasing the lot.
Until that time, the penalty tacked onto the option for the lot would have continued to grow by $100 per day. By voting Monday to neither purchase the land nor extend the option, the council lost $5,000 with nothing to show for weeks of discussion related to the new firehouse. However, it also cut its losses tied to a property that had become a point of contention among the council and community.
“If we walk away right now, it’s only $5,000,” Bryant said.
He explained that expenses related to the ice storm will likely spill over into the city’s next spending plan that begins July 1 and advised against purchasing the lot at this time.
Councilman Darrin Tabor took that a step farther, advising against any new projects in the near future.
“We don’t need to look at purchasing any property right now,” he said.

Deals for Kimball property completed
The sale of Kimball International's 11,759 acres in Crittenden and Union counties was closed the first week of this month and the deeds were recorded at clerks offices in the two counties early last week.
Three buyers completed deals for the property – Forestland Group, LLC, doing business as Heartwood Forestland Fund VI Limited Partnership of Chapel Hill, N.C.; Don Hines of Caseyville, Ky.; and M&K Woodlands, LLC of Sturgis, operated by Martin R. Smith and Kathryn L. Smith.
The land was auctioned in November by Woltz & Schrader Auctions for a reported $24.5 million. It was broken into 70 tracts so that it might appeal to numerous buyers; however, Forestland Group – a timber management company – was initially the high bidder for the entire property.
The two other buyers apparently entered the equation after Forestland secured its successful bid.
Kentucky legislators have said that the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources will have a hand in managing the property purchased by Forestland Group; and eventually will buy it from the North Carolina company.
Those close to the deal said last fall that the state's fish and wildlife department had no interest in the entire piece, just a large part of it. That piece, which comes to nearly 10,000 acres, is apparently the large section purchased by Forestland Group.
Deals were apparently struck to sell off the two other smaller tracts before the transaction was closed between Forestland and Kimball. The two other buyers got about 2,100 acres of the former Kimball property.
Heartwood Forestland paid just over $8.8 million for its Union County tracts and just over $11.3 million for its Crittenden section for a total of $20.1 million. Heartland ended up with about 9,594 acres.
Hines, a Caseyville area farmer, purchased a Union County parcel for $1.4 million, which appears to be around 359 acres and includes a great deal of farmland.
M&K Woodlands paid $3 million for a section in Crittenden County that is largely forestland. The limited liability corporation was formed Jan. 12, 2009, and uses an address just across the Crittenden County line on McGraw Hill Road near Sullivan. M&K Woodlands appears to have purchased around 1,806 acres on the east side of Ky. 365, including the former Phoenix Coal Company area.
PVA offices in the two counties have not plotted the deeds on maps in order to provide exact acreage totals.
M&K Woodlands has also leased from Forestland Group a lodge and facilities off Ky. 365 formerly used by hunting outfitter Game Trails, according to state Sen. Dorsey Ridley (D-Henderson), who has been closely watching the land deal.
Ridley, like other area leaders, hopes Kentucky can create an attractive recreation area on a large portion of the land bought by Forestland Group. Ridley said the buyer has agreed to let the state manage the land until the fish and wildlife department buys it.
The two counties took in a good bit of revenue from the deed transactions last week. Crittenden County received $15,028 in taxes and recording fees and Union County took in $10,928.

Grand Jury indicts five on various charges
A Crittenden County Grand Jury indicted five individuals last Thursday on a variety of charges. A grand jury does not determine innocence or guilty, it simply decides whether evidence in a case warrants further prosecution in Crittenden Circuit Court.
Indicted last week were:
- Jackie Lee Beasley, 18, of Frances Road in Marion on two counts of theft by unlawful taking, over $300. Beasley was indicted for his role in the alleged theft of two vehicles last July. Police records charge that Beasley stole a 1998 Ford Expedition from Kara Hatfield's home and a 1994 Ford Ranger belonging to William Sanders from the Conrad's Food Store parking lot.
- Anthony J. Crawford, 47, of Lewis Street in Marion was indicted on operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, first offense, with an aggravator; possession of marijuana; possession of an open alcoholic beverage container in a motor vehicle; resisting arrest; tampering with physical evidence; and for being a persistent felony offender.
The case against Crawford was brought by Marion police officers George Foster and Bobby West. According to court records, a complaint was called in to central dispatching on Nov. 28, 2008, about a possible DUI at McDonald's parking lot. Officers responded to the scene and stopped Crawford, who reports said was weaving his car on Main Street across the yellow line.
When Crawford stopped his vehicle on Lewis Street, he allegedly began to verbally abuse officers and had to be forcibly arrested. The complaint also says that Crawford swallowed some potential evidence. The report did not say what that evidence might have been. It also says that he refused to submit a blood alcohol test.
- Janice Nesbitt, 37, of Jacob Drive in Princeton was indicted on one count of flagrant non-support. Court documents allege that she is in arrears by the amount of $7,459 on child support payments. She was also indicted for being a persistent felony offender.
- Roberta Marshall Parish, 54, of Ky. 297 in Marion was indicted on one count of theft of a controlled substance for allegedly stealing 60 Lortabs from an individual in Crittenden County on Oct. 13, 2008.
- Zack Anthony Woodall, 34, of Hickory Hills Avenue in Marion was indicted on a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana and a felony count of possession of drug paraphernalia, second offense.
According to court documents, policeman Bobby West went to Woodall's home at 11:19 p.m., on Dec. 5, 2008, regarding a complaint of loud noise and the smell of marijuana. There, West's report said a strong odor of burnt marijuana was emitting from the home when Woodall answered the door. Inside, officers allegedly found a marijuana "roach," a bag of loose marijuana, rolling papers, a marijuana grinder, pipe and a brass container.

Six sentenced in circuit court
Crittenden Circuit Judge Rene Williams sentenced six people on a variety of charges last Thursday.
-Billy W. Holland, 50, of Old Salem Road was sentenced to four years in prison on eight counts of possession of matter portraying a sex performance by a minor.
Holland pleaded guilty to the charges and received a sentence of four years on each of the eight counts. The sentences run concurrently and Commonwealth Attorney Zac Greenwell opposed probation for Holland, who was facing a possible sentence up to 20 years if convicted at trial.
The charges stem from incidents in February 2008 at his home. Holland was accused of convincing juvenile girls to pose for photographs depicting actual sexual acts, court records say. Marion Police Officer George Foster was the lead investigator in the case.
Holland was indicted on the eight felony counts by a Crittenden County Grand Jury last June.
- Leonard Tolley 33, of Keeling Street in Marion pleaded guilty to owing more than $16,000 in child support. He was indicted in May of 2008 on one count of flagrant non support and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
Tolley was located in Marion in December and arrested. He was sentenced to five years in prison and given credit for 75 days served.
- Jimmy Dale Rose Jr., 19, of 114 Lewis Street in Marion pleaded guilty to stealing copper wire valued at more than $400 from property owned by Mike Perryman.
Rose was sentenced to five years probation and given credit for 19 days served. He was also ordered to pay restitution.
- Morgan T. Crayne, 33, of Ky. 902 East in Fredonia pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second degree criminal mischief for causing damage to a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe with a key during an altercation at a home on Brookcliff Street in Marion last year.
Crayne was sentenced to 12 months in jail with 45 days to serve. He was given credit for 19 days served and the balance was probated for two years. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,363 to the vehicle's owner.
- Glenda Barnes, 52, of View Road in Marion pleaded guilty to an amended charge of facilitation to second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, three counts; and trafficking in a legend drug by complicity. The charges stemmed from an incident in June of 2008 and the case was brought by the Pennyrile Area Narcotics Task Force.
Barnes was sentenced to 12 months with 30 days to serve on weekends. The balance of the sentence will be probated for two years. Part of her plea agreement calls for Barnes to truthfully testify against co-defendant Mark Hanor.
- Jeffery D. Vinson, 45, of Flynn Ferry Road in Marion pleaded guilty to a charge of driving on license suspended for DUI, third offense. The charge stemmed from his arrest last year and a December indictment. He was ordered to serve one year in prison.