American Red Cross

When its new building on Third Street was finished, the Boyle County Chapter of the American Red Cross planned to run an advertisement in the newspaper thanking Redwood Properties for its help on the project. The 5,000-square-foot building is nearing completion, but don't look for that ad anytime soon. Nobody is happy with the building and each side blames the other for its shortcomings. Redwood manager Charlie Raffay said his company offered to help when initial bids for the project came in at about double the $165,000 Red Cross had budgeted for the building.

LANCASTER - Ohmer Portwood, who was fined for holding up traffic on U.S. 27 while navigating his wheelchair north in the southbound lane, addressed Lancaster officials Monday about the condition of city sidewalks. Portwood and Mayor Don Rinthen exchanged a series of heated words, most regarding the ownership of Lancaster's sidewalks. Portwood said they are the city's responsibility, while Rinthen said the law states whoever owns the residence bordered by the sidewalk is accountable.

Help the Red Cross help others like us To the Sun: I want to thank the American Red Cross for getting our son home from Japan after his brother was killed in a car accident last Friday. I especially want to thank Susan at the Winchester Red Cross for all of her help. She got hold of the Marine Corps over where our son is and set up a chaplain so my son wouldn't be alone to get the news. She promised to call me back, and she did twice last Friday. Then she called me again Monday to see if our son had made it in and to see how we were doing.

A Danville woman who has volunteered her services to the Red Cross for 50 years was recognized along with a number of other volunteers at a recent banquet. Mary Morton Germann of Danville received the Lucy Blankinship Sustained Service Award. She has worked at the chapter's bloodmobile consistently over the years, and was recently trained to become a family service worker for shelters in the event of major disaster strikes the area. The awards were given at the Central Kentucky Chapter of the American Red Cross's annual recognition dinner at The Presbyterian Church of Danville.

"Considering where we were in the middle of last week, I'd say we're in a very good position now," Boyle County Judge-Executive Harold McKinney said this morning at a joint press conference between the city of Danville and the county. McKinney said a number of things are starting to look up for the county, and announced the main shelter in Boyle County located at Boyle County High School was to be moved to the Salvation Army this afternoon. McKinney said currently there are only 27 area residents using the facility.

Cingular network troubles under repair Network problems caused local Cingular Wireless cell phone customers headaches on Friday afternoon, as calls were dropped or never went through, and voice mails delayed. According to Cingular customer care representatives, the cell phone snafus were due to unspecified network issues in the Kentucky region and were being addressed by technicians Saturday morning. Representatives could not say how long the repairs would take, but estimations ranged from a few hours to days.

Changes in the operation of the American Red Cross have led to the dissolution of the local chapter director position and prompted the chapter board to take matters into its own hands. In a letter received by The Advocate-Messenger, Emanual Gray, board chairman of the Danville-based Central Kentucky chapter of the Red Cross, which serves Boyle and Mercer counties, detailed what he said are troubling financial and administrative changes over the past several years. Winn Stephens, development director for the Bluegrass Area chapter in Lexington confirmed the position of local executive director Dr. Ruthann Phillips will be eliminated and the finances for the local chapter will now be administered at the regional level.

The Boyle County Chapter of the American Red Cross could use a little disaster relief itself. The agency's long sought new headquarters on Third Street is nearing completion, a couple of months behind schedule. Everybody wants to see it done and move on, but nobody is happy with the building, which is often described as a "mess. " The principals - Red Cross executive director RuthAnn Phillips and general contractor Charlie Raffay of Redwood Properties - are openly hostile to each other to the point of foregoing diplomacy when talking to a reporter.

BOOKMOBILE Monday - East Walnut Street, 11-11:10 a.m.; Alum Springs Church of God, 11:30-11:45 a.m.; AME Church Road, noon-12:10 p.m.; Cash Road, 1-1:20 p.m.; Tank Pond Road, 1:30-1:45 p.m.; shut-in, 1:45-1:55 p.m.; Sinkhorn's Grocery, 2-2:15 p.m.; and Wandering Hills, 2:20-2:30 p.m. Tuesday - Springhill Subdivision, 10-10:15 a.m.; Perryville Community Center, 10:30-10:45 a.m.; East Third Street, Perryville, 10:50-11 a.m.;Scenic View...

Clark County Judge-Executive Henry Branham, center, proclaims March 2009 as American Red Cross Month in recognition of the group's "humanitarian role in the Bluegrass. " Attending the proclamation were, from left, Terry Burkhart, Deanna Merideth, Sam Robinson, Nancy Hartshorn, Branham, Eric Staton, Sue Staton and Dodd Dixon.