The local supporters for Barak Obama are hosting a DEBATE NIGHT EVENT

DATE: Friday, 26 September 2008 

LOCATION:  VT's PLACE - 1800 WALNUT STREET

TIME:  7:30 p.m. (Debate starts at 8:00 p.m.)

We invite everyone to come out and  watch the debate, network on politcal issues and support this historic election. 

Refreshments will be served.

By Julia Hunter, New Era Staff Writer

ELKTON, Ky. — Three weeks before the scheduled start of a 27-year-old cold case murder trial, the discovery of a single cardboard box may alter the trial for everyone involved.

During a status hearing Thursday in Todd Circuit Court, Logan Circuit Clerk Sherry Wilkins brought a shabby, brown cardboard box into the courtroom.

The box, carried to the witness stand, had the attention of Commonwealth’s Attorney Charles Orange, defendant Norman Graham and defense attorney Carol Johnson.

Its contents have the potential to change the upcoming trial for all of them. It contains the court stenographers’ notes from Graham’s first trial in 1981, which ended in a mistrial. Previously, court officials believed the case file was lost.

Graham, 61, a former Guthrie resident who now lives in Danville, Va.,was indicted in January and charged with capital murder and rape in the death of Janice Kaye Williams, 21, of Guthrie on June 30, 1980.

The grand jury returned the indictment after a Kentucky State Police detective presented new DNA evidence in the case.

William’s body was found in her Guthrie trailer, stabbed 27 times, her throat cut and her hands tied. Evidence showed that she had been sexually assaulted, according to police reports.

Graham was tried shortly after Williams’ death, but it ended in a mistrial. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning charges could be brought again.

The transcripts of that trial had disappeared until Friday afternoon, when Wilkins ventured back into the attic of the Logan County Courthouse to search for them one more time after being contacted by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.

Wilkins had hunted for the documents nearly a year ago but couldn’t find them. She said during this trip to the attic she located the box, which was hidden behind others. Graham’s name had almost completely faded from a label on the box.

Since Williams’ death, many of the key witnesses have either died or cannot be located, Judge William Harris said in court Thursday. The transcripts have the potential to provide testimony of unavailable witnesses to be submitted into evidence during the new trial.

“It changes how the game is played,” Johnson said.

But as Wilkins pulled the materials from the box Thursday afternoon, it was clear the condition of the contents might make some of the records inadmissible.

Numerous steno pads, written in shorthand by a court stenographer, who died in 1985, several cassette tapes and other reports, such as lab reports and polygraph results, have been stored for more than 20 years in the attic of the courthouse, which is prone to extreme heat during the summer, said Wilkins. This could have warped the cassette tapes. It was also questionable whether the stenographer’s handwritten notes would be easily understood, Harris said.

“For all we know this stuff may be undecipherable, as far as the stenographer’s notes are concerned” Harris said. “And it is anybody’s guess what condition the tapes are in.”

Popping one of the tapes in a cassette player, Harris decided to determine whether the tapes would be usable, after getting the OK from both prosecution and defense.

A Kentucky State Police detective showed concern about playing the tapes, because according to his lab, if the tapes were in poor condition they may only be able to be played once, which would then destroy them.

However, shortly after Harris pressed play on a tape player, a squeaky, muffled, but audible testimony echoed throughout the courtroom. A recognizable voice — that of Johnson, who represented Graham in 1981 — came over the speaker.

Since the tapes were not apparently destroyed, Harris granted a motion requested by both prosecution and defense to postpone the trial date, which was originally set for Oct. 22.

“If you are going to try to reproduce evidence where it can be used in a trial, it’s going to take so long,” Johnson said.

A court stenographer in Christian County who is familiar with shorthand has agreed to attempt to transcribe the handwritten documents, Orange said. She will likely use the tapes to assist her.

“From what I understand, it is difficult to (transcribe) a steno book without listening to the tape,” Orange said. “Taken together (she) may be able to provide a good transcript.”

Graham remains out on bond.

A pretrial conference has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 7. The trial is set for Feb. 4, 2008 and is expected to last two weeks.

Harris was appointed as a special judge in the case after Circuit Judge Tyler Gill recused himself. His father had been the county attorney when the case was heard in the first time and he was concerned it could create a conflict of interest.

JULIA HUNTER can be reached at 887-3262 or by e-mail at jhunter@kentuckynewera.com.

BY JULIA HUNTER, NEW ERA STAFF WRITER

Graffiti paintings throughout the city have many local business owners convinced that Hopkinsville has a gang problem.

Today, Sara Dolezal, manager of the Holiday BP on Fort Campbell Boulevard, painted over the graffiti that defaced much of the convenience store and its dumpster. “MS-13” and an unknown Spanish phrase were painted on the building, Dolezal said.

“It’s funny, because you always hear people say that there are no gangs in Hopkinsville,” she said. “(The graffiti) pretty much tells you there is. I think it’s something we need to worry about.”

Police arrested a 17-year-old male around 3 a.m. Tuesday on the lot of First United Methodist Church, after he was seen running from police with a can of spray paint in his hand, according to a report from the Hopkinsville Police Department.

Authorities are still looking for others who could have assisted the suspect in allegedly painting the graffiti, according to Paul Ray, the department’s public information officer. Early Tuesday morning, more than 15 businesses and several other structures were tagged with graffiti that referenced the Hispanic gang, MS-13.

“Because it’s so early (in the investigation), we don’t want to rule anyone else out,” Ray said.

Billy Poteet, the general manager of Zaxby’s on Fort Campbell Boulevard, said after viewing a surveillance video from that morning, he believes there could be more than one person involved in the vandalism.

Although the camera only caught one person spray painting the building, as that person was walking away he did something that made Poteet believe there were others present that the camera may not have caught.

“(As the suspect walked away), he threw his arms up in celebration,” Poteet said. “In my opinion, he was gesturing to someone.”

Poteet said the graffiti, which he found when work began Tuesday morning, was painted over this morning. Although the cost was not much of an issue, he said, the inconvenience of having to clean it up was.

“They tag these buildings and act like it’s a sign of bravery or whatever, but it costs me $3,” Poteet said. “They act like it’s a right of manhood, but it’s just a childhood prank.”

Poteet said he would not be surprised if something like this incident was to happen again.

“It just goes to show that there’s definitely some gang activity in town,” he said. “It’s just like any other social problem. If it’s not looked into in the start, it just escalates and escalates.”

Calvin Givens, of Givens Group, LLC, knows all too well about the gang problem in Hopkinsville, he said.

Tuesday morning was not the first time Givens, who owns and maintains many buildings in the area, has dealt with gang-related graffiti defacing his property.

“We’ve had some other incidents on other properties,” he said. “They’ve tagged them with their spray paint. Gangs seem to be a growing problem in our area.”

Givens is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of all the buildings he owns and leases in the area. Tuesday morning, he painted over graffiti on his building at 1222 Skyline Dr., which houses Orthopedics Physical Therapy, Express Check Advance and People’s Security Finance, and a portable storage building that he owns located off of Skyline Drive. He also assisted his parents, who own Skyline Enterprises, in painting over graffiti at Holiday Inn on Fort Campbell Boulevard.

“Obviously, (the graffiti) was gang related,” Givens said. “A lot of young people these days don’t have any respect for other people’s property. They don’t realize how much work goes into keeping something looking nice.”

Graffiti was also painted on Set Free Ministries on South Virginia Street, Southern States on 14th Street, a garage at 1406 S. Campbell St., Walnut Street Center, Wal-Mart on Fort Campbell Boulevard, Shoney’s on Fort Campbell Boulevard, Kmart on Fort Campbell Boulevard, Bradford Square Mall and Shopping Center, Rex TV and Appliance on the mall property, a white Ford pickup truck that was in the parking lot of Knight Electric Motor Service, BellSouth on East 13th Street and a stop sign at Skyline Drive and Industrial Drive.

Officials have estimated the damages will cost more than $7,500.

The suspect was held at the Hopkinsville Police Department, until he appeared in juvenile court at 1 p.m. Tuesday. He was then taken to the McCracken County Juvenile Detention Facility in Paducah, where he remains.

JULIA HUNTER can be reached at 887-3262 or by e-mail at jhunter@kentuckynewera.com.

By Chris Harris, New Era Staff Writer

Tuesday night’s storm left Hopkinsville with damaged roofs, downed power lines and at least one man with a wrecked truck.

Joe Parrino | Kentucky New Era A storm-toppled tree at 405 Country Club Lane crushed the truck’s cab and trailer Tuesday night.

Building developer Chad Parmley got a phone call at 6:30 this morning and learned that a tree had fallen on his utility truck parked on a construction site at 405 Country Club Lane.

The tree pierced the cab of the truck and damaged the trailer. The custom-built trailer held tools and construction equipment for a house Parmley is remodeling on the lot.

Parmley estimated a new trailer of the same type would cost about $25,000. He sent workers to other sites this morning to check for damage and found no other problems.

Christian County was under a tornado warning Tuesday night, and a severe storm passed through the area. The National Weather Service reported winds of 10 to 14 mph with gusts of 24 mph shortly after midnight.

The heavy winds also tore part of the roof off of the Sandy’s Corner Family Resource Center at Indian Hills Elementary School. Employees were setting up shop this morning in a classroom that was being used for storage and small instructional groups.

“Right now, they’re kind of displaced,” Joan Drury, curriculum specialist at Indian Hills, said. “But they’re working in the building.”

Drury said no classes were affected and “It’s business as usual.”

The storm also took down a power line on Donna Drive, a dispatcher at the Emergency Operations Center said.

Chris Harris can be reached at 887-3262 or charris@kentuckynewera.com.

By Blair Dedrick, New Era Staff Writer

Actions by Hopkinsville City Council Tuesday night smooth the way for a new cable television company and allocate more money for the Boys and Girls Club addition.

In back-to-back actions, council members voted to approve the cable television franchise transfer from Charter Communications to NewWave Communications, authorized NewWave’s provider franchise and accepted the franchise bid from NewWave.

After Charter Cable moved some channels to the more-expensive digital tier and customers began having problems with the system being down, the Cable Television Oversight Authority began to look for a solution, said Councilman Larry Radford, who is also a member of the authority.

“We finally found a way to get results,” he said, referring to the provider switch, which should be complete in mid- to late May.

In addition to talking with live people when he has called the customer service line, Radford said he is happy thus far with NewWave’s willingness to work with Hopkinsville. The company has already done some work locally with extending the cable service to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School without receiving any revenue from the service.

“I think it’s going to be a good thing for Hopkinsville,” Radford said. “It’s a small company that’s growing fast, and they’ve really been trying to work with us.”

Hopkinsville will be the biggest market for NewWave, which serves much of western Kentucky. The provider intends to return Style, Hallmark and ESPN Classic to the expanded basic tier, while adding Women’s Entertainment, the Outdoor Channel and the Game Show Network. Prices should remain the same, officials said.

The council also approved transferring more than $18,500 for the addition at the Boys and Girls Club at the Walnut Street Center. The money will go to finish a 900-square-foot program room that was originally funded by Community Development Block grants a year ago, said Boys and Girls Club Director Jim Wille.

Since the block fund grants are state money, the project has had to be built to state standards, including adding a fire wall that was not in the original plans.

“Without this money, the project will grind to a screeching halt,” said Mayor Dan Kemp.

In other action, the council approved the stormwater utility credit policy for entities that manage their own water run-off at standards that meet or are better than the city’s and authorized funds for the Tie Breaker Park sign.

Blair Dedrick can be reached at 887-3240 or at bdedrick@kentuckynewera.com.

By Blair Dedrick, New Era Staff Writer

The city-mandated Stormwater Utility fee brought displeasure to Christian County officials Monday at the first of three days of budget request hearings.

While not on the agenda, the fee was brought up during the meeting with the Hopkinsville-Christian County Planning Commission.

“People out in rural Christian County don’t pay city taxes, but when those people pay their county taxes, they are indirectly paying this,” said Judge-Executive Steve Tribble after the meeting. He added that since schools also have to pay the tax, residents may also be affected if the school board decided to raise the school tax.

Officials have not come up with a final estimate of what the new fee will cost the county, but the bill is expected to be less than $20,000.

For the average homeowner, the fees add $3 to the monthly water bill. For an entity such as Christian County, which owns multiple buildings, parks and parking lots throughout the city, the fees add up quickly.

Tribble estimates that fees for Ruff Park alone will be around $250 per month.

While these fees are not directly in the Planning Commission’s proposed budget, $160,000 of all the monies collected by the City of Hopkinsville from this fee go to the commission for wastewater projects.

The Planning Commission works for both the city and the county, making it difficult, said Magistrate Bill Bruce, to know exactly what money goes toward each entity in the form of projects. Bourne’s budget, however, does not ask the county for any increase in basic funding, and the commission plans to use $12,000 out of their reserve funds to balance the budget, up from $10,000 last year.

“This may be one of the last times we come to ya’ll without (asking for) an increase in funding,” Bourne said to the committee.

The Planning Commission budget does ask for an additional $5,000 from the county to go toward the Pennyrile Solid Waste Management Plan, which must be updated every five years to meet state mandates.

In contrast to the Planning Commission’s flat budget request, the road department’s requested budget went up more than $1.46 million. The increase was expected by the budget committee as the April 2 tornado last year put the department behind in paving work, making an aggressive approach this year appropriate, said County magistrate Tom Jones.

The most substantial increase was for asphalt to overlay existing paved roads and for patchwork.

“It’s hard to tell you how much I’m going to need for asphalt patches,” said public works director Chuck Chambers. “It depends on the projects.”

Other budget increases for the road department came with increases in the price of concrete, diesel and petroleum products, along with the need to build a bridge on Cheatham Road, increase salaries in line with cost-of-living and buy a new pick-up truck.

Also presenting budget requests Monday were the Pennyroyal Area Museum, the volunteer fire department and the Pennyroyal Arts Council.

“We have to do the things we have to do statutorily, and I hope we can give people what we gave them in the past because when we give them the same (as in the past), we’re actually cuttin’ ‘em,” said Tribble.

Blair Dedrick can be reached at 887-3240 or at bdedrick@kentuckynewera.com.

By Chris Harris, New Era Staff Writer

The Tie Breaker Family Aquatic Center will be open this Saturday to a select group of area residents. The park’s marketing company, Double Diamond Design (DDD), has placed registration forms around Hopkinsville and on the Internet for a promotional photo shoot to take place after the WHOP’er Egg Hunt.

The first 500 people to turn in the form will be allowed “limited access” to the park’s facilities on Saturday, Nikki Radford, administrative assistant in the City Administrators Office, said.

Visitors will be able to swim and ride the water slides, but only when “directed to do so,” according to the registration form. The photographs and videos will be used in marketing campaign for the park.

The deadline for participation is Thursday. DDD said no one will be admitted Saturday without prior registration to ensure a controlled environment to maximize photo opportunities.

“The only way to control it is by having the registration forms in advance,” said Angela Evans, president of DDD.

The weather service predicts a high of 49 degrees for Saturday, but Evans said she is not worried the weather will keep anyone away.

“Luckily the pool is heated,” she said. “And it’s been my experience (with children) that they’re not afraid to go into cold water.”

The registration form says cold weather or a light rain will not stop the event, but a heavy rain would cancel the photo shoot.

A small staff from Langley and Taylor Pool Management Corporation will be on the set Saturday for the photo shoot. Lynn Sokol, chief executive officer for Langley and Taylor, said staffing is almost complete, but they need a few more lifeguards.

“The concessions staff is pretty much selected,” Sokol said, but the company will continue to accept applications after the opening. Langley and Taylor has not finalized the hot menu for the park.

The soft opening for the water park is still slated for May 24, with the grand opening event on May 26.

Chris Harris can be reached at 887-3262 or charris@kentuckynewera.com.