Meeting in special session last week the Lewis County Fiscal Court adopted a resolution to establish a County Cemetery Board.

The resolution enables the county to make pre-application for funds to maintain and preserve gravesites and county cemeteries that have fallen into neglect and disrepair. The application will be made to the Kentucky Department of Local Government for assistance under the Cemetery Preservation Fund of 2002. The funds are to improve any non-profit cemetery that does not have a perpetual care fund.

The fund will range from a minimum of $2,500 to a maximum of $25,000 and is on a matching fund basis. The county will hold in reserve 50 percent of the proposed project costs for the purpose of matching the Cemetery Preservation Fund Assistance.

The court also approved the first reading to an ordinance creating the Cemetery Board in Lewis County. The ordinance permits the board to adopt rules and regulations concerning cemeteries that have fallen into neglect and disrepair. Improvements include but are not limited to initial cleanup and landscaping. It also authorizes the board to purchase equipment, fencing, and signage in addition to improving interior roads, preservation and restoration such as acquiring conservation easements, surveying boundaries, repairing and cleaning up tombstones, historic research, archiving and training to support cemetery preservation and improving access roads.

Most of the taxes followed the compensating rate recommended by the state. County governments are permitted to raise taxes by four percent above the compensating rate but only one county entity took that action after no tax increase for several years.

The county tax rate for real estate was set at 12.6 of each $100 of assessed value. The rate for tangible personal property was set at 14.10.

The Lewis County Board of Education set its real estate tax rate at 41.2; the tangible property rate at 41.2; and the motor vehicle and watercraft rate at 49.

The Lewis County Public Library Board did go with the four percent increase. For the library the rate for real estate is at 2.60; for tangible personal property at 3.55; and for motor vehicles and watercraft at 1.76. The library taxes, however, remain low.

For the Lewis County Health District the rate for real estate taxes was set at 3.40; for tangible personal property at 3.80; and for motor vehicle and watercraft at 3.80.

The fire districts of Firebrick, Black Oak, Kinniconick, Camp Dix and Tollesboro all have their rate for both real estate and tangible personal property tax rates set at .10 of every $100 of assessed value.

The tax on timberland or forested acres is at .03.

Dyer stepped off a nine-foot width from the ditch on one side to the crumbling side on the other.

"That's not quite wide enough for that school bus that comes through here every day," Dyer said.

Lewis County Judge Executive Steve Applegate said the problem started with the February ice storm and escalated with heavy rains in the spring.

"We've done a lot of work up there," Applegate said. "We've been quite busy this year, yet we've kept the road open."

Applegate said plans are for long-term repairs to the roadway for this fall and added that he has monitored the progress of the slip and feels that, barring any significant rainfall, the roadway is safe for travel.

Dyer said the problem with the roadway has been going on for too long and also thinks the county could have been more responsive to the needs of area residents.

Dyer also said that there are other problems with the roadway and said he is not satisfied with the results.

Deputy Mark Snedegar said James M. Sexton, 70, of Grayson, was operating a 1979 GMC pickup equipped with cattle racks holding seven large calves.

Snedegar said Sexton was slowing down, or had stopped, for a flag-person with Ruth Construction Company, when he was struck in the rear by a 2001 Ford pickup, operated by Mark Pennington, 39, of Sandy Hook.

According to Snedegar, Pennington apparently did not see the flag-person or the slowed, or stopped, pickup and struck the GMC from behind. The Ford is owned by Capitol Tunneling in Columbus, Ohio.

Pennington and his two passengers, Randall Ison, 31 of Sandy Hook, and Donald Ison, 35, of Grayson, were injured.

Randall Ison was taken to Cabell-Huntington Hospital with trauma injuries. Donald Ison and Pennington were treated and released.

Two of the seven calves were destroyed due to injuries. The other five were corralled in an area near where the accident happened so the owner of the calves could pick them up.