Vol. 104, No. 52

THISWEEK

Whereconyougetthebestcup ofcoffee in Casey (ounty? Vote for that and much morę in ourthirdanmiol"Bestof Casey (ounty"Readers'(hoke Awards.Seepage 10 foryowoffiaalballot.

Celebrating Christmas

submit pto-os from iheir churchUliratmjstwits.

Set poje 7

BRIEFS

Early deadlines

Deadines for the lan.2 mik* of The (mey (ourtyNrin will bc carficr 6x lo the New Yeari hotf day.The Office wil te cfcwd Tucsday, Jan.1 .fc< NcwYSufs. AR dassifed and rwał ads are due by noon 1huraiiyO€<.27foftheJdn.2i»uc.Al submitted rews, incbSnq fettm to the edtcr.arealso due by noon on Thursday. Due to th? farty rieadlr»?t, we w«ę utude to ha/c church oew in tliis weett issoe.Oucti news from Dec.23 wil te pufclbhed in the Jan. 2 ćssuc. On .lin.9, we wil pcfcltsh church news frem bolh D«.30andłan.6.

HolidayClosings

■    Cisey (ounty (iccuit (ourt (Ifliń Office will be dosed oo Monday and Tu«day,D«. 31 ar»,1 Jan. 1 kx New Years. AJso, ttere wiR be no drr«r> kemetestioponDecJl.

■    Casey County Oert's Office wił te dosed Saturday through Tuesday Dw. 29 toJan. lforKewYeafs.

■    Casey (ounty Judge-foMutw Rena Id WYights office mi th? Casey Ccunty Reotlnj Center will be dosed Tuesdiy. .tan. I to obser/e the bciiday.

■    Casey (ounty SherifrsOffce wil be open Mooday.Dec.3l.lrom8am.to nocnand dosed wTutsday, Jan. 1 for Ifew Years.

■    City Kall wil bedssedTuesday, Aan. 1, fot the holkbys.

OBITUARIES

Dorothy Chansler,80 Gladys M. Salyers, 35 Jeanette L.Thomas,81

Obituarifs on /hiw J

INDEX

Opinion...................2

AroundtheArea............5

Public Record..............5

Out of the Past.............6

Church....................7

Farm and Home............7

khool....................8

Sports....................9

Classifieds...............11

Sudoku.................11

Police News..............12

www.casevnews.net

Liberty, Kentucky, Wcdncsday, Dccenibcr 26, 2012

fllEPHOTOS

Casey (ounty schools madę the news this year when the district was ranked 34th out of 174 dłstrkts statewide for their scores in the new K-PREP assessment tests. Here, Liberty Elementary Sdtool students celebrated when they were named a • Distinguished" school, ranking in the 97th pcrcentile in the State. BELOW, for four months of 2012, the Casey County Public library was dosed due to flood damage received in July. The library spent $223,000 in restoration and improvements and re-opened in December.

A look back at 2012's top stories

Compiled hy Amanda Cole

Staff Wriler

Anothcr year is alrnost in the history books and the following is a month-by-month recap of tłic top events that occurred in Casey County in 2012.

January

■    Formcr Casey County Cir-cuit Court Clerk. SherifT and Jaitcr Ray Lewis Ovcrstrocl. died at the age of 81. He was clected jailer of Casey County in 1965. shcrilf in 1969. and Circuit court clerk in 1975. 1981. and 1987. In addition to his public sers ice. Oseistreet was a farmer and businessman.

■    A Windsor man was arrest-cd on si\ counts of rapc. sodomy and incest with a juvcnile who. court records stale. svas known to bc an adopted daughter. Jason Alcxaiuler Reusser. .37. of 2450 Sloans Fork Road. was arresled on a warrant at the Casey County Sheriffs Oflice by Sberiff Jcrrv Coffman and Dcputv C'had Weddle.

February

■    Weil-known and long-tmie Liberty resident Todd Hoskins liled to run for the House of Represcntatisos in the SOth district. whieh eomprises Casey.

Rockcastle. and paits of Pułaski and Madison counties.

■    Don Scanlon, a prominent businessman and real estate dc-vclopcr in l.ibcrty. died at the age of 82. Scanlon. who owned a grocery storn, car lots and devcl-oped real estate in Liberty and Russell Springs. died on Jan. 23 in Danvillc- He also was a civic leader, sersing on tlić Liberty City Council 1963-1984.

■    I „w enforcemcnt officers. cspccially cm the stale level. were puz/lcd as to why Judgc Micbael Loy dismissed 97 out of 119 seat bek vio!ations in Casey

County District Court in 2011. Loy said he belicvcs issuing a vcrbal warning to a first-timc seat bek oflfender is enough. Slatistics from district courts in surrouiuling counties for dismissed cascs in 2011 wcrc — Boy le County 3 perccnt, Lincoln County 6 perccnt. Taylor County 16 perccnt. and Russell County 22 perccnt nonę came close to Casey County's 82 perccnt dismissal ratę.

■ Casey County High School ehecrlcaders linished in lite top

■ Sue 2012/3

12 Pages-75e

Judicial center to get needed maintenance

By Larry Rowell

Staff Wriler

Tlie Casey County Judicial Center may bc less ihatt 10 years old. bul it‘s beginning to show signs of rniddlc age with sonie mainte-nance issues.

The center, opened in Novcnibcr 2(K)3. is home to the Circuit Cleik's Office, District Court. Circuit Court. and the judges' oHiccs. as well as confcrence rooms and a scldom used Family Courtroom.

While the maintenance issues arcn't major, they nonellwless h»ve not been addressed in a while. said Circuit Court Clerk Craig Over-srrcct.

“Tberesa hole in the windowin my oflice whcnc somebody threw something through it seseral yetirs ago." Oseistreet said. refernng to a baseball sized hole in a window on tlić east side of the bili kling,

Also. viny| lloor tiles in the back hallway on the sccond flonr are loosc and could be picked up and used as a weapon.

Inmatcs in the Casey County Dctcntion Center who are scheduled to uppear in court aro escortcd by jail pcrsonncl through an underground tunncl and then taken hy elevator to the lirst or sccond lloor. where they are placcd in holding cells umil their court appcaranccs.

Jailer Toimny Miller said that lie wasn‘t awarc of any issuc with the Hoor tiles.

“No one has said anything to nie abotit loose Hoor tiles." Miller said.

The center, owned by Casey County Fiseal Court. is leased to the Administrative Office of the Courts. the State agcncy currently mak-ing the hond payments on the building.

■ Sec JL'DICIAL/12

photo/LARRY ROWELL A broken window in the Casey (ounty Circuit Clerfc s office is indicath-e of the minor maintenance issues needing to be addressed at the Casey Judicial Center.

McGaha reflects on 16 years in State senate

By Amanda Cole

Staff Wriler

A familiar face in the Kentucky legislaturc w ill not be present when the Senate rc-eomenes nexl monih.

RepubHcan State Sen. Veniie McGaha of Russell Spnngs is linishing up 16 years in the legislaturc.

Rcllecting on his years rep-resenting the I5th District. wliich includes Casey, Adair. Pułaski and Russell counties. McGaha. 65. is proud that he kepi his priorily the people of his district.

"One thing I have nuide a top prionty is my constitucnt services tryingtocommu-nicate with people. answer-ing jihonc calls and hclping people get through the red tapc to solve issues they have," McGaha s;iid, ‘Tm leasing fccing really gcKxl abuui that. I know we canT solvc every issue or problem, but we did nur best to do as much as humanly possible. Thafs probably the part ol the Job I enjoyed the most.”

Casey County Judgc L:\ec-uiivc Ronald Wright praised

“He has hclpcd us in many ol the grant appłicalions wc'vc applied for and has al-ways tried to help us in that,” Wright said. “Anything I'vc askctl bim to do. he has been wiking tolry todoit."

Which is one of the ica-sons Wright is saddened lo sec him go.

“He is the only senator that's scrvcd tliis district sincc Fve heen judgc.” lic said. “I really hutę lo sec liini go. 1 think hć has madę a finc senator and he is a pcrsonal friend.”

And fcllow legiskitors were jusl as elTusivc in llieir praisc and admiration of Mc-Gahu.

“I considcr him a imin ol imegriiy,” said Rep. Terry Mills. D-Lcbanon. who serses ihe 24th district of Casey. Marion and part of Pułaski counties. “I had the good fortunę last session to work closcly with Yemie on legisłaiiiMi hasing to do with county surveyors and il was a sucocssful yenture. I believe ihis piece of legis

MeGalufs availability to his constituenls.

phrt    PUBLIC INfOPAUllOK

Sute Sen. Vemie McGaha (R Russell Springs) addresses the Senate during a recent session.McGaha did not seek re election in May and will finish hb 16-year span representing Casey, Adair, Russell and Pułaski counties on Dec.31.

laturc wouldn i have passed withcHit Vcmie and myself working together. 1 apprcci-ate Sen McGaha for that. I

wish him tlić hesi. I'm surc his decisiun lo relire was a good one for him."

In December of 2011

McGaha announced that he would not be seeking re-

■ See MCGAHA/12