Junction City

Less than a year after Danville began what appears to be a largely successful recycling program, a new grant will help another city in Boyle County start a curbside program. Donna Fechter, director of solid waste and recycling for the county, recently got word that a grant came through to provide free curbside recycling to all residents of Junction City, as well as the Old Bridge and Riverview Estates subdivisions. It will expand curbside recycling to about 1,300 households in all. The grant, which totals about $98,000, comes through the Kentucky Division of Waste Management local assistance branch.

Former Junction City police chief Jimmy Gipson's wrongful termination lawsuit against Mayor Jim Douglas is headed to mediation. Bill Erwin, Gipson's attorney, said Thursday both sides have agreed to try to settle the year-old dispute outside the courtroom rather than taking it to trial. The mediation hearing is scheduled for Feb. 15. Gipson filed the lawsuit last February, a month after Douglas fired him during a heated exchange at city hall. The lawsuit alleges Gipson was illegally fired in retaliation after he called in other police agencies to investigate his suspicion that Douglas had been drinking before he drove a city-owned vehicle to city hall.

JUNCTION CITY - For the first time anyone can remember, Junction City will have a Christmas parade, to be held at 7 p.m. Friday. The parade is something organizers had hoped for individually in previous years but never gathered to accomplish until a determined group of women decided to make it happen. Pattie Wilson, Danielle Stevens, Vicki Bowling and Rita Douglas are the main organizers behind the event, which will boast more than 20 entries from various school, church and community organizations throughout Boyle County.

JUNCTION CITY - Quick Stop Food Mart on Hustonville Road was burglarized Tuesday morning and about $700 in change taken. Police Chief Jimmy Gipson said the store was broken into between 3 and 4 a.m. The thief shattered the front door windows with a hammer. Officials found the hammer inside the store. "Change totaling the amount of approximately $700 was taken, and the store had been ransacked," said Gipson. Drawers were left open throughout the store. Gipson said the burglary is still under investigation.

Last month, Michael W. Durham avoided trial when he entered a guilty plea in the 2010 home invasion robbery of a Junction City couple in exchange for a recommended sentence of 11 years in prison. On Tuesday, when Boyle Circuit Judge Darren Peckler was set to formally sentence him to those 11 years, Durham changed his mind again. He told Peckler he wanted to fire his lawyer, withdraw his guilty plea and take the case to trial acting as his own attorney. Peckler said he will hold two hearings on July 19, one to determine if Durham can legally withdraw his guilty plea and the other to decide if he can act as his own attorney if the case goes forward.

A Junction City man was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday for raping a teenager a year ago. Boyle Circuit Judge Darren Peckler sentenced Jacob Turner, 23, to five years for second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy for forcing a 17-year-old girl into sexual intercourse and deviant sexual intercourse last August, after providing her with alcohol. Turner initially faced first-degree charges, but they were reduced in a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for a guilty plea to the second-degree charges.

Upholding a previous decision by Boyle County Circuit Court Judge Darren Peckler, the state Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that a lawsuit meant to prevent liquor sales in Junction City was without merit. The decision comes just more than a year after the case, filed by Liquor Mart of Danville, was dismissed by the lower court. “I think it gives us an opportunity to move on,” Mayor Jim Douglas said, stressing that alcohol sales have been nothing but good for Junction City, raising thousands of dollars in tax revenue.  The lawsuit against the city argued that Junction City's classification should be based on population and the 2010 Census showed the city was well short of 3,000 people needed to be a Fourth Class city and have the right to hold a local option election on alcohol sales.

JUNCTION CITY - Junction City officials will ask the state Attorney General's Office for an opinion on whether council member Dewayne Taylor is potentially violating an incompatible offices statute. Incompatible offices are those where a person cannot serve in more than one simultaneously, in order to maintain the “appearance of propriety,” City Attorney Bill Noelker said in an previous interview. Concerns arose in January that Taylor was in violation of the Kentucky statute, as he had been serving for the past two years as a special deputy for the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department, an unpaid volunteer position, and has been a member of the Junction City Council for eight years.

JUNCTION CITY ? Phillips Lane will be closed until 2:30 p.m. Wednesday while the Boyle County Road Department replaces a cross drain in the area.

JUNCTION CITY - Mayor G.G. Harmon, 58, of 214 Simpson Lane, has filed for re-election, according to Boyle County Clerk Denise B. Curtsinger.