Danville

Danville High School celebrated the graduation of 131 students during Thursday night's commencement held at the Norton Center for the Arts on the campus of Centre College. There were two merit scholars and 11 Commonwealth Diploma recipients. Admist the speeches, students were urged by their classmates to look forward. Senior Class President Karina Angel reminded classmates that they should know when to work, but always know when to have fun as well, drawing a correlation to two of the teachers at the high school.

In April, Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday announced a program to award $10,000 in planning grants to the first 57 school districts that adopt a policy raising the dropout age to 18 before the 2015-2016 school year. This comes after Gov. Steve Beshear signed a bill that will require students to remain in school until the age of 18. Under the new law, the decision about the age will be made by the individual districts, and they can opt for the decision to take effect immediately.

A refined draft of Danville's proposed 2013-14 fiscal year budget includes nearly $50 million in appropriations and no tax increases. City Manager Ron Scott presented the latest draft of the budget to four City Commissioners during a special meeting Thursday. Commissioner Paige Stevens was absent due to a previously arranged commitment. The current drafted appropriations ensure that the city maintains existing services and staffing levels while also increasing funding for both community and city-county agencies, according to Scott's report.

The front of The Interior Journal 60 years ago featured the sad story of a Lincoln County youth who drowned while swimming on Herrington Lake. It also featured, on the front page, a shout-out to a new subscriber. A1 welcomes for new subscribers isn't something the IJ currently does, but maybe we should consider bringing it back. At left is an ad for a dress (extremely cheap by today's prices) from the same May 29, 1953, issue.   LINCOLN YOUTH JOE SMITH, DROWNS MONDAY EVENING AT HERRINGTON Efforts since Monday afternoon to find the body of Joe Glenn Smith, Jr., who drowned in Herrington Lake after a futile effort by a companion to save him have this far proved futile.

The six members of Kentucky School for the Deaf's Class of 2013, along with first-year principal Soraya Matthews, had a lot to celebrate Thursday. This year's KSD class was somewhat smaller in size than usual, Matthews said in an interview before the ceremony. The Class of 2012 was comprised of 13 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, and Matthews anticipates that the Class of 2014 will also have 13 members. But even though this year's graduating class was smaller in numbers, the students and their supporters still offered plenty of school spirit before and during their commencement ceremony.

About 30 local residents along with dignitaries attended a Danville-Boyle County “Landmarks to Watch” historic preservation meeting Thursday. Representatives from the Heart of Danville Main Street Program, Boyle Landmark Trust and Main Street Perryville each presented four historic buildings that they hope community members will rally behind preserving. “We want to retain that historic core that makes small town life so special,” said Bethany Rogers, executive director of the Heart of Danville.

PHILADELPHIA - Danville High School sophomore Sue Cook placed second in the nation in oratorical declamation at the 62nd annual National Catholic Forensic League national speech and debate tournament held Memorial Day weekend at the University of Pennsylvania and surrounding high schools.   Cook advanced through four preliminary rounds and three awards rounds before performing in the national finals for a crowd of several hundred people at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Her speech, “My Stroke of Insight,” was originally delivered by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist who survived a stroke and later explained the unique perspective of witnessing her own research topic from inside her own body and what she learned from the experience.

Editor's note: Taken from the Danville 911 records, the Police Blotter represents a history of the initial calls and the information used by the dispatcher to send officers to investigate complaints. It is not necessarily an indication of what the officer found upon arrival at the scene, or of how police may have dealt with the complaint.     MAY 22   12:45 a.m., caller is reporting that a male lunged at him with a 10-inch knife during a property dispute at Butler Drive residence.

Our featured pets this week are Archer and Marshall. Archer is a handsome, adult cat. He's white with black spots and has a cute bobbed-tail. Archer is outgoing and friendly with people and lives in one of our “kitty condos" where he gets along fine with his feline buddies. Archer is a great fellow and is ready to bring his loving personality to his forever home.  Marshall is a darling 3½-month-old mixed-breed puppy. We're guessing that he might be part Boxer and retriever. Whatever his breeding, Marshall is a cutie.

Danville city and county officials pledged $10,000 today toward improving the soccer fields at Millennium Park. During separate meetings today, Boyle County Fiscal Court and Danville City Commission each allocated $5,000 to the effort. The Rotary Club of Danville has pledged $14,000 while the Bluegrass Youth Soccer Association and the Central Kentucky Soccer Club have each allocated $20,000. Local  soccer enthusiasts unsuccessfully attempted to secure grant funding, according to Danville City Engineer Earl Coffey.