Georgetown incident may have stemmed from prior conflicts; fan labeled red says he bleeds blue too

The nationally noted incident between two basketball fans, one of the University of Kentucky and the other represented as a fan of the University of Louisville, "may actually have stemmed from ongoing hostility" between the two, Dan Adkins reports in today's edition of the News-Graphic in Georgetown (which had a Midway edition almost 30 years ago). And the supposed U of L fan says he's a UK fan.

Charles Taylor, 71, punched Ed Wilson, 68, right, after Wilson gave him the finger and told him to stop "running his mouth" and saying Louisville would beat Kentucky in" the national semifinals of the NCAA men's basketball tournament Saturday.

“Listed witnesses stated that Mr. Wilson antagonized Mr. Taylor, and that they attempt to keep them apart during their visits,” says a Georgetown Police Department report quoted by the newspaper. “We were advised that the apparent victim of the assault had antagonized the apparent perpetrator, and that this sort of behavior has been on-going.” (Images from WKYT-TV, Lexington)

Taylor, left, told the paper that he is a Kentucky fan, too, but arrived at the clinic with "a Louisville fan, with whom he was discussing the upcoming game," Adkins reports. He said Wilson gave him the finger three times and he told him, ‘If you do it again, I’ll break that finger off.”

"There is some dispute about the blow that was thrown," Adkins reports. "A police report says Wilson 'reports that Mr. Taylor came over to his chair and stood over him ... (and) struck him on the left side of his face.' The report also said Taylor 'stated that he struck Mr. Wilson in the head.' . . . Taylor told the News-Graphic that he 'hit (Wilson) in the chest.' In any event, Wilson did not appear to have been injured, the report said. No charges have been filed." Wilson declined to discuss the incident in detail.

"Taylor said he’s come out on the worst end of the incident – and not because he has been inaccurately labeled a U of L fan," Adkins writes. "Officials at the dialysis center told him he has been suspended from receiving the life-saving treatments there, Taylor said. He must now travel to Lexington for treatments. 'They’re saying it’s going to cost me $18 for a ride to Lexington,' Taylor said."

All but the first two paragraphs of the News-Graphic story are behind a pay wall, so it will cost you $6 to read it.

House passes bill that would let Heirloom restaurant serve liquor; Rollins says Senate will agree to it

Liquor could be served in Midway restaurants with at least 50 seats, rather than 75, under an amendment to a bill passed by the state House today. Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, who sponsored the change to Senate Bill 40, told the Midway Messenger that he expects the Senate to agree with the change and send it to Gov. Steve Beshear for his signature into law.

The bill was sought by the Heirloom restaurant, right, which has 58 seats and does not qualify for a liquor license under current law, which requires 75 seats in smaller towns. Mark Wombles, the manager of the restaurant, said his need to sell liquor was driven home by requests for bourbon from visitors to the 2010 World Equestrian Games, who couldn't understand how a product made in Woodford County couldn't be sold in some places in the county.

Wombles got a sufficient number of signatures on a petition for a local-option election to allow liquor by the drink at any bar or restaurant in Midway, but withdrew the petition because of legal questions and the prospect that Rollins would be able to get the law changed.

Rollins' amendment would give priority to another law, which allows liquor licenses for establishments that have at least 50 seats and are in commercial districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places, such as Midway's downtown. Rollins said the sponsor of SB 40, Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, supports the amendment and will get the Senate to agree to it.

Rollins said he was lucky to get the amendment passed, because SB 40 had been the source of disagreement between Schickel and other House members who had tacked other amendments onto the bill. In the end, the other members backed off, and the House defeated the House committee substitute to the bill, an unusual procedure. The original bill, with Rollins' amendment, passed 48-37.

"I was kind of caught in the middle," Rollins said. "Since I was just collateral damage, they let me get what I needed."

Rollins had filed House Bill 241, to generally lower restaurant-seating thresholds to 50 seats, but it went nowhere. He said the preference of legislators is to pass only one alcohol bill in each legislative session, so he worked with Schickel to clear the way for the amendment.

Rollins sees progress in bid to raise dropout age

Rollins, left, was a busy legislator today; he was a key player in House passage of a bill that would gradually increase mandatory school attendance age from 16 to 18.

The House Education Committee, which Rollins chairs, changed Senate Bill 109 on Tuesday to require all school districts to raise the age to 18 once 40 percent of them (70 districts) had done so. Originally, the bill would have allowed school districts to increase the age to 18 if they had programs for students whose lack of interest in school might make them disruptive.

For years, Rollins and the House have passed bills to raise the age to 18 over four years. Senators have resisted the change, saying too few districts had alternative programs for at-risk students.

Rollins told the Messenger that he will probably have to raise the 40 percent threshold in final negotiations with senators, but has some leverage because his Senate counterpart, retiring Republican Ken Winters of Murray, has a bill that he wants to get through the House.

UPDATE, April 1: The attempt to compromise was rejected by the Senate, which killed SB 109. Rollins said some House leaders had doubts about the constitutionality of his approach. 

Dog ordinance, property maintenance on city agenda

The preliminary agenda for the next Midway City Council meeting, at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 2, includes first reading of a new dog ordinance. Mayor Tom Bozarth indicated at the last meeting that an ordinance would be coming, based on recommendations from the county animal control officer.

The council will continue its discussion of a property maintenance code, perhaps being informed by discussions at a Property Maintenance Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow night. Other items on the agenda include the annual report of the Versailles Police Department, which patrols all of Woodford County; a funding request from Joe Graviss for Woodford Tomorrow; and an appearance by Grayson Vandegrift of the Midway Merchants Association, which will announce its summer schedule of events.

The agenda can be revised up to 24 hours before the meeting. All council and committee meetings are open to the public.

National sports columnist makes mistake of looking for Louisville Cardinal fans in Midway

The dateline on USA Today sports columnist Mike Lopresti's piece was "Somewhere in Kentucky," but he had more from Midway than any other place, after a trip from Lexington to Louisville on Interstate 64 to test local loyalties as Kentucky and Louisville prepare to face off Saturday in the semifinals of NCAA basketball tournament.

Perhaps misled by Midway's name, Lopresti, left, asked Assistant City Clerk Diane Shepard "if this is a Kentucky or Louisville town," and she replied, "You should see the bank" -- United Bank, with "blue on the walls," Lopresti writes. "You don’t know who they’d rather less see come in, a bank robber or a Louisville fan."

At least he mentions the 1937 state high school basketball champions.

At Railroad Drug, Lopresti noted owner Ken Glass wearing UK gear and asked, "Do any Louisville fans dare live in this town?" Kimberly Witt replied, "We have one that we know of." Lopresti concludes his report from Midway with this: "Glass mentions some recent Rick Pitino quotes. 'It’s like he says things that egg it on. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of us that all fall into it.'" (Read more)

Robert Vogel steps in as interim college president

The Midway College Board of Trustees has named Dr. Robert Vogel interim president to fill the vacancy created by last week's resignation of Dr. William B. Drake Jr. Vogel began his duties today, meeting with faculty, staff and students, college spokeswoman Ellen Gregory said.

“Dr. Vogel has the board’s full support and the authority to make all decisions for the college until a permanent president is selected through a national search, which will begin immediately,” board Chairman James J. O’Brien, chairman and CEO of of Ashland Inc., said in a news release.

Vogel retired in 1988 as president of Wartburg College, a Lutheran college in Waverly, Iowa, his alma mater, where he had been president since 1980. Since then, he has been interim president at four Lutheran colleges: Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas; Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa; Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa; and Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., where he is a director. He conducted a presidential search for Finlandia University in Michigan. Originally from Phillipsburg, Kan., he lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife Sally. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Property Maintenance Committee to meet Wed.; will consider anti-blight ordinance from Richmond

The Property Maintenance Code Committee of the Midway City Council will meeting Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 pm at the Woodford County Library's Midway Branch, located at 400 Northside Drive.

The purposes of the meeting are to review the City of Richmond ordinance and offers of assistance of properties. All council and committee meetings are open to the public. For a PDF of the Richmond ordinance, click here.

Idea of raising taxes on vacant, abandoned property meets resistance from city officials

By Cody Porter
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Monday’s Midway City Council meeting presented council members with a list of 20 recommendations from the Midway Property Maintenance Committee, aimed at speeding up the process of renovating or removing abandoned buildings.

The recommendation for much higher taxes on vacant, abandoned property sparked the liveliest discussion, with mixed opinions.

The proposal would raise the tax on abandoned properties to 75 cents per $100 worth of value, to encourage property owners to bring them into compliance with the building code.

“I’m not so sure about the accelerated tax provisions,” Mayor Tom Bozarth said. “If that’s really going to be a benefit, we can step up the enforcement part of it in a timeline of six months to 60 days.”

Council Member Sharon Turner, chairman of the Ordinance and Policy Committee, to which the recommendations were delivered, was on the same page with the mayor.

“Like the mayor, the accelerated tax thing – I kind of agree,” Turner said after the meeting. Still, Turner said needed more time to look over the recommendations. “We definitely need to do something,” she said. “We’re headed in the right direction, I think.”

City Attorney Phil Moloney also questioned the tax proposal, saying, “If people aren’t fixing up their building, then they’re probably not paying their taxes.”

But Council Member Dan Roller, chairman of the committee, replied that of the 25 properties currently listed, 18 were vacant, and only three of the 25 had unpaid tax bills.

“We talked to the deputy chief of police and there’s not a large homeless problem here, so we don’t have squatters or vagrants breaking in or living in them,” Roller said.

Following the discussion of higher taxes, Bozarth said he wanted the city to establish its own property maintenance code to aid enforcement of the ordinance. Moloney noted that there is a uniform, international code for property maintenance, but Roller noted that the committee’s recommendation was for adoption of its own code.

The proposed ordinance, included in the recommendations, comes by way of Ordinance No. 2011-32 in Versailles. The recommendations also include the creation of the Midway Property Review Commission, which would hear appeals from property owners.

The committee also recommended that Midway have an anti-noise ordinance. Bozarth said he would have an assistant police chief discuss that with the council. For a PDFof the recommendations, click here. For one on the current inspection process, go here.

Rotarians seek funds for needy kids

The guest of the council at the meeting was Sandy Jones of the Versailles-Woodford County Rotary Club.

Jones said that due to the Family Youth Resource Service Center funds being depleted, the club is attempting to raise money for children as part of the Helping Hands Helping Kids "Spring Break Back-Pack Program." Of the 150 children in the county’s program, 35 live in Midway.

She said the goal of the Back-Pack Program is to raise $25 for each child that will be put towards a gift card to be mailed to their home that will provide food for them during the week of spring break.

The program enough money to feed children during Christmas break. “It’s the holidays, it’s the downtime,” she said. “We need to step up and take charge.”

Jones said the Rotarians have a week remaining to raise $3,700 and have only raised $600. “You may see us out on the bypass,” she said. “At this point it’s okay, we may be out there on Saturday if we don’t reach our goal by then.”

Other business

The council unanimously gave second reading and final passage to the revised parking ordinance, which can be downloaded here.

Business owner Libby Warfield opened the meeting by expressing her interest in the city adding licensed businesses to the Meet Me in Midway website. The inclusion of such businesses would allow locals to see that they are getting a certified contractor, such as a licensed plumber, Warfield said.

After saying Warfield had a good idea, Bozarth said he wanted to take time to mention the incident that occurred Saturday evening in Midway. An 11-year-old boy wandered from the care of his grandmother and became lost for a lengthy amount of time.

Bozarth said that after a Lexington police helicopter and a prison’s bloodhounds were brought in, the boy was found sometime after nightfall, around halftime of the Kentucky-Iowa State basketball game.

In addition to mentioning the contributions by the Lexington Police Department and the prison, Bozarth thanked the 40-plus volunteers and three members of the Versailles Police Department, Sgt. Michael Fortney, Officer Carlos Carcamo and Officer Nathan Craig, for their efforts.