Hazardous Materials

STANFORD - Three people have been arrested after a working methamphetamine laboratory was discovered Saturday on U.S. 150 East near Crab Orchard. Arrested were Janet Shearer, 36, Jeffrey Denson, 32, and Jeffrey Oakes, 27, all of Crab Orchard, according to Sheriff Curt Folger. Each suspect was charged with first-degree manufacturing methamphetamine and lodged in the Lincoln County Regional Jail under a $10,000 cash bond. They pleaded innocent Monday during arraignment in Lincoln District Court, according to a jail spokesman.

HARRODSBURG - Police here found three operating drug labs Tuesday night and arrested two people on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine. Holly D. Roney, 23, of 704 Parkway Ave., is charged with first offense manufacture of methamphetamine and first-degree wanton endangerment. Police received a tip that methamphetamine was being made at Roney's residence and obtained a search warrant. The home is a duplex in a residential area of the city. Police report that when they arrived, they found three active "one-step" methamphetamine labs.

After developing information from an ongoing investigation that indicated a meth lab was operating in McKinney, two Lincoln deputies and a constable searched a home at 5940 KY 698 and discovered a one-step meth lab. Lincoln Count Sheriff Curt Folger said that deputies Rob Oney and Johnny Williams and Constable Delbert Mitchell searched a home belonging to Jamie Todd, 34, and uncovered a one-step meth lab concealed in the attic of the residence....

Few residents of this area would argue their homeland is a hotbed of terrorism, yet communities in Boyle, Casey, Garrard, Lincoln and Mercer counties have received more than $1 million in Homeland Security funds. We have seen what damage can be done in a natural disaster like that done recently by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and it would be hard to imagine how a terrorist or a group of them could cause as much damage, death and heartbreak that came from the storms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Several emergency agencies were on scene Monday morning at McKechnie Vehicle Components, located at 801 John C. Watts Drive, after employees complained of strong sulfuric acid smells in the building. According to Maj. John Branscum, with the Nicholasville Police Department, such smells are common in the facility, but the area in which five employees detected the order was usually not affected. A female employee who complained of a burning sensation in her lungs was taken to a Lexington hospital for treatment.

Dennis G. Wallace, a retired police officer who is serving his first term on the Winchester Board of Commissioners, has filed for re-election. Wallace, 57, of 205 Boone Ave., has lived in Clark County for 30 years. He worked as a correctional officer at the Federal Correctional Institute from 1972 to 1978 and served as a Winchester Police sergeant at from 1979 to 1996. Wallace went on to work at Palmer Engineering from 1997 until his retirement in 2008. Wallace earned his GED in 1978 and has received hundreds of hours of police and prison training from Eastern Kentucky University and the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Investigation, among others.

Reports that federal officials were developing plans to construct a 458-acre training facility for emergency responders surfaced in 2006, causing a stir over the possibility of new jobs and large-scale development. While local officials confirmed in August that federal-level negotiations had been ongoing for months to construct the facility in Clark County, they cautioned that no formal agreement had been reached and have remained silent on the project since that time. Whether any plans remain intact is unclear.

A parked vehicle at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center led police to an apparent methamphetamine lab in Danville. Boyle County Sheriff Marty Elliott said Deputy Al Isaacs noticed a red Ford Explorer parked near the hospital with the door open in the early morning hours Sunday. When Isaacs approached the vehicle, he found a male passed out in the passenger seat with a liquor bottle in his hand. Elliott said a K-9 unit from Danville Police Department was called, and a search located a woman’s carry-all bag containing methamphetamine.

The scenario was one typically dreamed up by Hollywood producers. A man walks into a local medical facility with signs and symptoms of chemical agent exposure. Soon, more and more people show up with the same symptoms. The medical facility alerts the local emergency management director, and soon there is a full-blown hazardous-materials decontamination team on site. But this wasn't a Hollywood movie, according to Jessamine County Emergency Management Director John V. Carpenter.

Two Lancaster men are among 60 new troopers who received diplomas from the Kentucky State Police Academy at ceremonies Wednesday in Frankfort. Their addition to the force brings the agency's strength to a total of 914 troopers serving residents of the commonwealth.K.J. Leavell was assigned to Post 6 at Dry Ridge, and Heath Ayres was assigned to Post 9 at Pikeville. Another new cadet, Charles E. Brandenburg of Berea, was assigned to Post 7 at Richmond, which serves this area. "Kentuckians can go to bed at night feeling safe and secure because of our KSP, so it's critical that we maintain staffing levels," said Gov. Steven Beshear.