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Shivani Pampati (left) and Josi Stidham awaited their results during the 39th Annual Harvard Speech & Debate Tournament at Harvard University last month.
Hazard students rank nationally in debate competition
HAZARD — Imagine giving a speech in front of a room full of your peers, however, you know none of them because you are the only one there representing your state. Now imagine that speech is part of an invitation-only, national competition in which you have to debate everyone you are giving your speech in front of. Now, imagine doing all of this as a 16-year-old. Josi Stidham and Shivani Pampati, both juniors at Hazard High School, had just ...
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Kentucky’s jobless rate falls below 8 percent
FRANKFORT — For the first time in more than four years, Kentucky’s seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate dropped below 8 percent to 7.9 percent in January 2013, according to the Office of Employment and Training (OET), an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. The revised December 2012 state rate was 8 percent. Kentucky’s unemployment rate has not been below 8 percent since November 2008 when it was ...
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State child care cuts could take a toll locally
HAZARD – Administrators with child care agencies across Kentucky are bracing for a round of funding cuts that some say will ultimately cost the state more in the long run. Officials with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced in January that child care assistance to low-income families would be reduced to help shore up an $86.6 million budget hole for the Department of Community Based Services. As a result, no new app...
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Knott County judge removed from office
PRESTONSBURG – Residents in Knott County are currently without a judge-executive after a circuit judge in Floyd County removed Randy Thompson from office on Friday. Thompson, who is serving a 40-month prison sentence in Pennsylvania, was convicted by a federal jury in 2008 of using public funds to influence the 2006 general election. He began serving his sentence late last year, at which time Deputy Judge Greg Mullins began fulfilling Thomp...
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Plea deal will have man serving 6 years for shoplifting
HAZARD – A Perry County man labeled as a persistent felon is looking at serving the next six years in prison on allegations of shoplifting. William G. Feltner, 35, appeared in Perry Circuit Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to stealing merchandise valued at over $500 from the Hazard Walmart on Aug. 25, 2012. Feltner was indicted by the Perry County grand jury in October on charges of theft and second-degree persistent felony offen...
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Man gets 10 years for selling pills
HAZARD – A 10-year prison sentence was handed down to a Perry County man this week who was arrested as part of an investigation into narcotics trafficking. George Hagan, 35, pleaded guilty early this year to charges of first-degree trafficking after admitting that he sold the drug oxycodone, a painkiller, to a cooperating witness on two occasions in April and May 2011. Hagan appeared in Perry Circuit Court again on Thursday, where Judge W...
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Governor signs tweaks for ‘pill mill bill’ into law
FRANKFORT — Some doctors and patients in the Kentucky won’t be forced to wade through as much red tape when prescribing and receiving treatment for pain any longer. Kentucky House Bill 217 was signed into law on Tuesday and is meant to be an amendment to what was dubbed the “pill mill bill,” HB1, passed last year. Governor Steve Beshear said in a press release on Tuesday that since the passing of HB1 “real and substantial changes” have ha...
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Letcher woman dies in crash
Slick road conditions are being blamed for a fatal a crash in Whitesburg on Wednesday evening that killed a Letcher County woman. Kentucky State Police responded to the two-vehicle collision on Highway 119, where it was determined that 43-year-old Felecia Ramsey, of Neon, was traveling north when she lost control of her vehicle on an icy roadway and struck another vehicle being driven by a woman identified as Martha Ratliff. Police say Ra...
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Safe child exchange bill gets new language in House panel
HAZARD – A bill that would give judges presiding over custody disputes a new option for child exchanges may have a difficult time becoming law after a House panel attached additional legislation on Tuesday. Sen. Brandon Smith filed Senate Bill 141 after a shooting at Hazard Community and Technical College on Jan. 15 left three people dead. Police alleged that Dalton Stidham, 21, shot 20-year-old Caitlyn Cornett as they were supposed to meet...
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Christopher Colwell
Escaped inmate still on the loose
HAZARD — Police in Perry County are still searching for an inmate who escaped last week while on work release. Christopher Colwell, 37, of Lower Second Creek, allegedly walked away from the work detail in the Pigeon Roost community of Perry County on Feb. 25. Colwell was being lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail on traffic charges, and was due to be released on the same day he escaped. Officials with the jail said Colwell has not...
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<p>Cris Ritchie | Hazard Herald</p><p>Hazard&#8217;s backwoods and downtown areas were still covered in snow late Wednesday morning.</p>
Winter visits again in E. Ky.
Another round of winter weather passed over Eastern Kentucky Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, making for some beautiful scenes outside. While the National Weather Service is forecasting a potential for more snow in the coming hours with a winter weather advisory in effect until midnight, the temperature is expected to rebound Thursday with a potentially sunny and mild weekend ahead.
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Man gets five years for assault
HAZARD – A Knott County man was sentenced last week to serve five years in prison for assaulting a deputy jailer. Christopher Hale, 27, was arrested and lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail in Hazard on July 10, 2012, but it was what happened while at the jail that resulted in a five-year sentence. That’s when Hale, according to the arrest citation, became belligerent and began to fight against two deputy jailers as they escorted him ...
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Board sets timeline in superintendent search
HAZARD — Citizens of Perry County may soon be seeing advertisements for the county school board’s superintendent search. The Perry County Board of Education met for a special-called meeting over the weekend to set a time line for the search as well as to finalize ads for it. Mike Oder with the Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA) met with the board Saturday morning to assist in the planning of the next steps in the process. The board v...
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<p>Mayor Nan Gorman joined The Rising Center staff at a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the new rape crisis center. The center has changed its name to The Rising Center after being called the Rape Crisis Center for over 20 years with the idea of giving more hope to those victims who come to the center. Program facilitator Jill Martin said the new name came from a Maya Angelou poem.</p>
Rising Center opens new doors to sexual assault victims
HAZARD — The Kentucky River Community Care (KRCC) Rape Crisis Center, newly named The Rising Center, opened the doors for its new facility on Morton Boulevard in Hazard this month, which is also Sexual Assault Awareness month in the state. Jill Martin, project facilitator, said it has been a long road for the center, which started in 1992 as just a small office in the Hazard ARH. Now, the center has its own building, making it easier for th...
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Man pleads guilty to receiving stolen antenna
HAZARD – A Hazard man charged with illegally receiving parts from a stolen radio antenna pleaded guilty in the case on Thursday. Hank B. Baker, 33, appeared in Perry Circuit Court last week where he entered a guilty plea to one count of receiving stolen property over $500, an amended charge. In exchange for his plea, Baker will serve up to two years in prison. Baker was originally indicted in September 2012 on one count of receiving stole...
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Feds award $5.2 million to aid laid-off miners, spouses
HAZARD — The Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), based in Hazard, was awarded a $5.2 million grant on Monday that will be used to assist the region’s out-of-work coal miners return to the workforce. The U.S. Department of Labor announced the grant in a press release Monday afternoon, noting that the funds will not only go to help the more than 2,000 coal miners affected by several rounds of layoffs in 2012, but also th...
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Plea deals entered in meth cases
HAZARD – Two people entered pleas in Perry Circuit Court on Thursday in a case related to the manufacturing of meth. Julieanne Davidson, 33, and Jonathan N. Caldwell, 36, both of Hazard, were indicted by the Perry County grand jury in August 2012 on charges of manufacturing meth and possession of drug paraphernalia. According to the indictment, the two were in possession of “equipment for manufacturing methamphetamines” with the intent to s...
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Low-income taxpayer clinic offers free help with tax issues
Consumers can get free help with tax issues at the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, a resource offered by AppalReD Legal Aid. Attorneys at the clinic work with taxpayers on a number of issues, including procuring levy releases, seeking innocent spouse relief, filing amended returns, and negotiating with the IRS. Clinic attorneys also help taxpayers deal with IRS audits or exams, appeal Earned Income Tax Credit turndowns, and combat return prep fra...
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<p>Donald Combs</p>
Murder trial remains set for this month
HAZARD – The trial of a Knott County man accused of murder remains scheduled for later this month after attorneys were unable to reach a plea agreement this week. Donald Combs, 35, has been lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail in Hazard since May 2012, after he was alleged to have driven a vehicle over in embankment in the Lost Creek community of Perry County. Combs, of Fisty, was under the influence at the time of the crash, police s...
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Perry school board changes bus routes for elementary schools
The Perry County Board of Education met Thursday morning for a special called meeting to discuss revision of school boundaries, the district facility plan, and proposed changes for the 2012-13 school calendar. Kenny Lucas, the district’s transportation manager, presented the board with new boundaries for the elementary school districts that would take effect in the coming school year, when East Perry Elementary is up and running. The only...
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Perry County woman faces juvenile sex charges
A Perry County woman was arrested last week on charges related to solicitation of a minor. Betty Grace Feltner, 23, of Hazard, was arrested on Feb. 20, and has been charged with one count of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor illicit sex act and one count of prohibited use of an electronic communication system to procure the minor. Feltner allegedly had sexual contact with a 13-year-old female and used a cell phone to contact ...
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<p>Cris Ritchie | Hazard Herald</p><p>Officials in Hazard posed with the new pill disposal unit recently placed inside the Hazard Police Department. Pictured from left to right: Police Chief Minor Allen, Mayor Nan Gorman, Perry County UNITE Coalition Chair Helen Brunty, and UNITE Law Enforcement Director Dan Smoot.</p>
UNITE Coalition places pill disposal unit at HPD
Residents of Hazard and Perry County now have a new avenue to dispose of unwanted medication after the Perry County UNITE Coalition this week placed a pill disposal unit inside the Hazard Police Department. The unit was placed just inside the department’s front door and will be accessible 24 hours a day for anyone who wants to discard their old medication, noted Hazard Police Chief Minor Allen. Once the unit is full, officials with Operatio...
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Man indicted on sex crime charges
HAZARD – A Perry County man is facing several sexually-related charges after he was indicted last week. Samuel Stamper, 37, of Chavies, was indicted on charges of third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy, third-degree sexual abuse, and prohibited use of an electronic system to procure a minor. According to the indictment, Stamper had sexual contact with a female less than 16 years of age between May 2012 and Dec. 29, 2012, without her conse...
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Biomass bill heads to governor
A bill that would make it more attainable for biomass companies to contract with power companies in the state will likely be signed into law. Senate Bill 46, sponsored by Senator Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, has passed both the state Senate and House, and was sent to Governor Steve Beshear on Monday to be signed. Andrew Mclnykovych, director of communications for the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC), said the bill would “allow a utili...
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<p>Cris Ritchie | Hazard Herald</p><p>Vicco City Attorney Eric Ashley discusses a possible deal for a reality TV series to be filmed in Vicco.</p>
Vicco officials in negotiation for possible reality show
VICCO — With a crew from Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” filming from the audience Monday evening, the Vicco city council gave its blessing for negotiations to continue on a possible reality television series. Since Jan. 14, when the city became only the fourth in the state to adopt a fairness ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, officials in Vicco have been inundated with requests from news media and prod...
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<p>Manager of Kentucky Teleworks Josh Ball gives prospective employees a tour of the first ever Kentucky Teleworks Hub in Hazard on Tuesday.</p>
Teleworks hopes to bring thousands of jobs to region
HAZARD — Working from home in your pajamas may not just be a dream for some people in Perry County anymore. Kentucky Teleworks is an initiative of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), a federally funded work force that serves 23 counties in the Appalachian coal fields. Kentucky Teleworks aims to bring the people of Eastern Kentucky to jobs around the country by supplying them with an opportunity to work as a remote ...
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<p>Christopher Colwell</p>
Jail inmate walks away from work release
An inmate at the Kentucky River Regional Jail in Perry County escaped on Monday. Christopher Colwell, 37 of Lower Second Creek, was on work release detail in the Pigeon Roost community of Perry County when he allegedly ran away from the site, officials with the jail said. Colwell was being held on traffic charges and was due to be released Monday night. The sheriff’s office said they are still looking for Colwell. If you have any informa...
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