0504 news

Snow prompts several accidents

Area officials are investigating numerous accidents last week as a result of ice and snow slickened roadways.
Numerous accidents were reported across the area following snow, freezing rain and sleet last week, which also prompted numerous delays and closings in Lewis County.

Deputy Dwayne Stone is investigating two accidents on the Grayson Spur of the AA Highway involving tractor-trailers.

Stone said the first was reported about 9:30 a.m. Monday as a southbound 1999 Freightliner tractor-trailer, operated by Avery Collins of Loganpsort, Indiana, went off the right side of the roadway, struck a guardrail, went back across the roadway and struck the guardrail on the opposite side.

Stone said the roadway was closed for nearly four hours. Collins was not hurt, although the tractor-trailer sustained extensive damage.
Stone said the second accident was reported about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday when a tractor and combination trailer, operated by Allen Ziegler III of Plainfield, Illinois, was traveling south on the road and struck black ice.

Stone said the rear trailer slid into the northbound lane, striking a 2004 International tractor-trailer, operated by Mark Blake of Prichard, West Virginia.

Blake was taken to Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he was treated for his injuries. Ziegler was not hurt.

Stone said the road was reopened nearly eight hours later.

Maj. Smith awarded Bronze Star

Army Reserve Maj. Brian L. Smith has been decorated with the Bronze Star medal.
The medal is awarded to an individual who, while serving in the Armed Forces, has performed a heroic act, meritorious achievement or distinguished service during armed conflict or ground combat while engaged against an armed enemy of the United States.

The major is normally assigned to the 377th Theatre Support Command in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Smith is a 1981 graduate of Lewis County High School and received his bachelor's degree in 1986 from Morehead State University.

He earned his master's degree in 1990 from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, through the military extension program at Fort Knox.

Maj. Brian L. Smith, at right, has been awarded the Bronze Star. Making the presentation was Brig. Gen. Michael Diamond, commander of the 377th Theatre Support Command out of New Orleans.

Former Gov. Nunn dies at 79

AP - Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn was remembered Friday as a Republican warhorse whose fierceness in politics was tempered by compassion for the vulnerable while he was chief executive.
Nunn, whose administration was 1967 to 1971, died Thursday night, apparently of a heart attack, at age 79. He remained a force in Republican politics, though not always in the mainstream.

"He was a tenacious campaigner, there's no question. It was much better to have him on your side than the other side," said Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who experienced Nunn both ways.

They were on opposite sides last Spring when Nunn's son, State Rep. Steve Nunn of Glasgow, ran against Fletcher in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Fletcher won the primary and Nunn held a fundraiser for him at his home outside Versailles.

Fletcher on Friday telephoned condolences to Steve Nunn. He also ordered flags lowered to half-staff at state government buildings and post offices, a spokesman said.
Nunn's body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday and funeral services were conducted Tuesday in Glasgow, in his native Barren County.Nunn collapsed at the end of a "sedate day" during which he entertained guests at his home, Woodford County Coroner Steve Ward said family members told him.

Steve Nunn said his father's heart stopped around 8:00 p.m. "He was at home and had a good day," the younger Nunn said. "He felt good. His heart just quit."

Nunn was Kentucky's last Republican governor until Fletcher's election in November. There were eight Democratic administrations between them.

Burley tobacco quota up

AP - The US Department of Agriculture announced Friday that the burley tobacco quota will increase nearly five percent this year.
Farmers will be allowed to market 301.1 million pounds, up from 287.8 pounds last year.

The news was expected since the USDA's Farm Service Agency recently announced the top cigarette manufacturers plan to buy about five percent more burley this year than last.

Tobacco company purchasing intentions are a key part of the formula government officials use to set the annual quota. The USDA also considers trends in exports of US leaf and how much tobacco is unsold from previous years.

Burley growers, many of whom farm in Kentucky and Tennessee, have lost roughly 60 percent of their quota since 1997.

Declining cigarette sales and increasing imports of cheaper foreign tobacco are to blame.
"It's a small amount compared to what we've gone through in the last few years in cuts," said Henry West, president of the Lexington-based Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative, which arranges for unsold tobacco to be stored and sold on a secondary market.

Nevertheless, West said farmers were glad to have some relief. "It's a positive thing. We're glad that's happened," he said.

The government previously announced that farmers who grow flue-cured tobacco, most commonly found in North Carolina, will experience a 10.8 percent cut in their quota this year.

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