News from July
7, 2005 issue
City says brown water is safe
City officials say that despite the brown or yellow tint to Marion's
drinking water, it's safe.
City Administrator Garry Barber said his office is receiving many
phone calls about the discoloration of the water, but he insists
it's harmless.
Barber said the water is turning color because of a chemical reaction
with a natural occurring coating in the distribution lines. The
city has been adding potassium permanganate to the water to help
it meet new Safe Drinking Water standards imposed by the State
of Kentucky in January. The potassium, Barber said, is being used
to kill harmful organic materials in the water instead of using
high levels of chlorine. Chlorine, commonly used as a purifier,
is known to cause higher levels of trihalomethanes in the water.
New state regulations require water distributors to reduce the
level of trihalomethanes, which are a by-product of chlorine activity
in water. Drinking large volumes of water with high levels of
trihalomethanes over an extended period of time can cause low
health risks.
Barber said the new chemical treatment of the water may continue
to cause discoloration for a while, but he thinks it's clearing
up. The city is meeting with its independent water consultant
Gary Russ of Greenville, Ky., today (Thursday).
"Until we finish tweaking the system, we're going to continue
seeing things happen to the water, but it's nothing to be concerned
about," Barber continued. "The only issue is that it
will stain white clothes in the wash."
Barber said some parts of the city are already seeing clearer
water after some adjustments were made in the treatment process
last week.
"It's an isolated problem," he said. "Some areas
are not experiencing discoloration."
Mayor Mickey Alexander said the water at his home on South Main
Street cleared up before the weekend, but his office on East Bellville
is still experiencing discolored water.
The mayor acknowledged that in the past, during the hot periods
of summer, the city's water exhibited a foul odor. Now, he said,
thanks to new treatment processes, that has been virtually eliminated.
The odor was largely caused by turnover in local raw water reservoirs
and algae in the lakes.
The city draws its raw water from Lake George and Old City Lake.
Barber said the discoloration of the city's drinking water is
not exclusive to Marion.
"This is something that's happening in other places too because
of the changes necessitated by the new state regulations,"
he said.
Hospital
adding sleep lab
If you have trouble sleeping, your diagnosis will soon be as close
as Crittenden Hospital.
Crittenden Health Systems is adding a sleep lab to its list of
general and specialized services.
There are 84 types of sleep disorders, all resulting in disruptions
in slumber and wakefulness affecting an estimated 40 million American
adults, many of whom could be misdiagnosed as heart conditions.
The healthcare organization's plans are to create a two-bed sleep
lab outfitted similarly to hotel rooms. Conversion of the two
rooms currently used for obstetrics will begin this month with
the target date for the first sleep lab appointment set for Aug.
2. Patients will enter the hospital in the evening or in
the morning if the patient works third shift and be
monitored by staff trained in sleep medicine.
The hospital has contracted with Burke, Mayes and Associates of
Nashville, which supplies a physician to read and interpret data
faxed to Nashville from Crittenden Hospital.
While at Crittenden Hospital's sleep lab, patients will be monitored
visually and by telemetry.
"The next day the technician will score those results and
send them to the physician who scores them to determine whether
there is a problem," said Hospital CEO Claudia Eisenmann.
Common sleep disturbances include nighttime awakening, feeling
tired even after a long rest, emotional or anxiety problems, memory
loss, difficulty concentrating, excessive daytime fatigue, snoring
or choking while asleep and the need for frequent daytime naps.
The root of these problems can be determined through a sleep lab.
Patients must be referred to the sleep lab by a physician who
will treat problems diagnosed by the sleep medicine-trained physician
in Nashville.
"This will be the first time people can be treated locally,"
Eisenmann said. "We're excited, because there is no reason
they should have to go somewhere else for this."
"This is something that can significantly improve a patient's
quality of life," said Doug Florkowski, director of ancillary
care.
Caldwell County Hospital and Lourdes Hospital both have sleep
labs.
Eisenmann said a facility she worked for in Texas started its
sleep lab with four beds, and within two months appointments required
a six-week wait. Since then, two additional beds have been added
to the lab.
Plans at Crittenden are to operate the lab three days a week for
a total of six patients a week.
War flags
2 local families find renewed meaning on Fourth of July
Hughes headed to Afghanistan;
Croft still in Iraq with Marines
Two Marion families waved the Stars and Stripes with greater personal
significance this Independence Day. Over the holiday weekend,
one family kept abreast of their son's involvement in Iraq through
embedded Fox News reporter and former Marine Oliver North while
another held a festive Fourth of July sendoff for a National Guardsman
headed to Afghanistan.
First Lt. Barkley Hughes is one of 96 Kentucky National Guardsman
who will spend one year in Afghanistan training members of the
Afghan army. The Kentuckians, who received two-month mobilization
training at Fort Shelby, Miss., will be divided into 16-man teams
of Embedded Technical Trainers (ETTs). They are under the leadership
of Col. Edwards of Kentucky who is the southern regional commander
in Afghanistan.
Hughes, 33, is a graduate of Crittenden County High School and
Murray State University and served in the U.S. Marines from 1991-1995
as an air crewman. He completed tours in Somalia and Rwanda, where
as a helicopter crewmen, he participated in search and rescue
and reconnaissance missions. He has been in the National Guard
since 1995.
The Kentucky guardsmen will spend one year on the ground with
500-800 Afghan soldiers, serving as advisory teams, training soldiers
alongside other Coalition forces.
"They are very well respected," Hughes said of the Afghanistan
army. "Where they go, the Taliban leaves."
Hughes is a platoon tank commander in Marion's Company B, 2nd
Battalion, 123rd Armor; however, absent of tanks for this deployment,
he is going strictly as an infantryman. Hughes is a software engineer
for DevSource in Murray.
"This is a good mission. It's a chance for us to help people
in Afghanistan," Hughes said last week before heading out
Monday for Camp Shelby. "They've fought for 30 years and
they're tired of the war, so I'm glad to help."
Crittenden County native Cpl. Michael Croft is halfway through
a seven-month deployment in Iraq his second since U.S. involvement
began in 2002. His mother, Deborah Croft, is keeping abreast of
her son's movement through Iraq with Fox News correspondent Oliver
North. Through news reports, Croft has seen that her son was involved
in some deadly operations near the Syrian border. While some of
the missions have been deadly, others have been successful. Croft's
unit, the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines from Camp Lejeune, has recovered
large weapons cashes and destroyed contents of a factory where
detonating devices were being made for car bombs.
"A lot of good has been done and things are improving (in
Iraq), but there are still certain insurgent groups who will do
everything they can to keep the violence going," Deborah
Croft said.
On one hand, she said, it's nice to see Oliver North's reports
on Fox and know more specifics of the Marine activity; but on
the other hand, it's harder when she sees the dangers they face.
"Michael said that while some embedded reporters would be
taking video or reporting a story, Oliver North gets in there
and gives them directions and helped pull out some Marines who
were hurt when their Humvee was attacked by a suicide bomber,"
Croft said. "Michael has been so impressed once a Marine,
always a Marine, he says."
Croft's tour will end in mid-September. He has one year left of
a four-year enlistment but plans to re-enlist, his mother says.