Machines

HARRODSBURG - Police raided a convenience store Wednesday afternoon and uncovered a sophisticated video gambling operation set up in two back rooms. Harrodsburg Police Chief Billy Whitenack said officers obtained a search warrant for Pioneer Market on U.S. 127 just north of Bright Leaf Resort after an undercover operative had gambled and received payouts at the store multiple times in the past week. Seventeen stand-alone video poker and slot-type gaming machines were seized, Whitenack said.

Despite all the complaining about driving across town to vote, and characterizations that ranged from "stupid" to "crazy," consolidating polling places at the convention center still proved to be at least as efficient as moving people through the process at the neighborhood digs. Yes, there were problems with a machine or two, specifically for the Indian Hills precinct. But machine problems would have occurred regardless of the venue, and while standing in line for more than an hour is no fun, it would have been less fun had the line been in the parking lot of the church, where it was raining on Tuesday morning.

HARRODSBURG ? The Mercer County Fiscal Court is taking steps to further ensure that every person's vote counts. At its meeting Tuesday the court approved the purchase of 19 new eScan voting machines. Seventeen of the 19 machines are being funded by the Help America Vote Act, and the other two will be paid for by the county. The two machines the county will be responsible for cost about $9,000. A machine will be placed in each of the 17 precincts, one will be kept in the courthouse for absentee voting and one will be used as a spare in case something goes wrong with one of the machines, County Clerk Chris Horn said.

Assistant Police Chief Tony Gray said an inmate who walked off of work detail Monday morning with Boyle County Detention Center was later found behind the soft drink machines at Wal-Mart. The inmate, Dallas Sanders, 23, of Monticello, had been reported as missing at 11:30 a.m. Danville Police received a call at 1:14 p.m. Monday about a person matching the description of a jail escapee, saying he had been seen in Wal-Mart. Sanders originally was lodged on March 26, charged with fleeing and evading police and trafficking in a controlled substance.

Edna Lankford isn't letting her 90-plus years of age keep her from enjoying life. She regularly attends homemaker meetings and church services at McDowell Place of Danville, which has been her home since November 2001. And now, thanks to a gift from three local groups, Lankford and other residents at McDowell Place are enjoying reading again. Two low vision magnification systems recently have been installed at McDowell Place. The machines, which are similar to a microfilm reader, magnify reading material for individuals with low vision.

The newest laundromat in Jessamine County boasts a completely high-efficient laundry service, good news for those whose New Year's resolution is to "Go Green" in 2009. "This laundromat is a new kind of laundromat," Jackline Soap and Suds owner Francis Samaan said. "It's environmentally friendly, where all of the machines are high-efficient machines, where they take less water, electricity, stuff like that. They're the cleanest. " Jackline Soap and Suds also has a full-service option for those who don't have the time to do the laundry themselves.

Jessamine County citizens who have old electronic equipment sitting around can dispose of the items free of charge during the month of February. For the second year, the Jessamine County Convenience Center will accept the e-waste, consisting of computers, monitors, printers, fax machines and cell phones, and unlike the rest of the year when it costs to dispose of the unused equipment, it will be collected free for the entire month. The Environmental Protection Agency began to regulate how electronic machines could be disposed of several years ago because of concerns with the cathode ray tubes (CRT)

HARRODSBURG - Edward Johnson claims the video machines confiscated from his store are like the Monopoly game offered by McDonald's, a promotional sweepstakes entertainment legal under Kentucky's “vague” gambling statutes. Mercer Circuit Judge Darren Peckler didn't buy that argument, however, and on Wednesday denied Johnson's motion to dismiss the 16 counts of felony promoting gambling against Johnson stemming from a raid on his Pioneer Market store in March. The store is on U.S. 127 in Harrodsburg.

LIBERTY - Casey County election officers need to attend two training sessions before the May Primary. Additional training is needed because of changes in the Handicap Accessibility Act, said county Clerk Eva S. Miller. The county has purchased 16 new voting machines for voters who are handicapped and financed the purchase with funds appropriated by the federal government. Miller said the new machines will be located in each of the 15 precincts and one will be in her office for people who cast absentee votes.

STANFORD - Lincoln County Fiscal Court on Thursday discussed and approved several issues on its agenda. The fiscal court reviewed zone changes for Bryan Bodner and Frank Cordier. It also approved a zone change for Paul Long, Larry Brown and Jess Correll from agricultural to commercial professional office on U.S. Highway 27 South. The court also approved an increase in mileage reimbursement for county employees from 32 cents to 34 cents. A new fire station for at McKinney and Highland was discussed utilizing a Community Economic Growth Grant to improve the Lincoln County Fire Protection District in the amount of $780,480.

Teachers in Jessamine County schools can buy sugared soda from vending machines again after the school board affirmed an administrative decision Monday night. A state law enacted in 2005 prohibits selling sugared drinks to students during the school day, but it was a local decision on the part of the Jessamine County Board of Education to restrict the vending machines in teachers' lounges. “The board said, 'If the kids can't have sugared pop, then they can't sell sugared pop in the teachers' lounges, either,'” superintendent Lu Young told the current board at a Monday work session.

This year, there's been a huge scandal over in Europe involving how horse meat found its way into many different foods. Horse meat is actually a pretty standard part of many cuisines around the world - it's only taboo in Western cultures where horses have gained pet status. But even over here in the U.S. - if this week's Time Machine item is any indication - horse meat wasn't always as taboo as it is today. Humans here may not have eaten horse meat regularly half a century ago, but pets did. This fascinating advertisement that ran exactly 50 years ago in the March 21, 1963, issue of The Interior Journal offers to buy "fresh dead horses" and, if that's not enough to make you a little queasy, it also offers a price for "old crippled and down horses.

The March 17, 1953, issue of The Interior Journal features the intriguing headline “Train wreck injures five slightly.” It's odd to think of a train wreck being “slight” in any way - it seems similar to saying a bomb went off “just a little bit.” But the odd wording actually represents what happened fairly accurately - a very bad accident with surprisingly few injuries and no deaths. The subhead on the story reads “Crash visited by thousands,” but there's no further explanation of this in the article and the writer doesn't get into great detail concerning the immediate aftermath, so that part is left up to our imaginations.

Back in 2003, it wasn't nearly as good a year for the Lincoln County girls' basketball team, which bowed out in the district tournament. The boys' team, however, made it to the quarterfinals of regionals, where they lost to Mercer County. Along the way, they also lost the district championship by one point to Boyle County, who was led by none other than now-famous NFL tight end Jacob Tamme. Here's an excerpt from the boys' district championship story, which ran March 13, 2003:   Rebels rally to take away title Jacob Tamme didn't score any points at Lincoln County in the Patriots 72-60 win over Boyle County on Jan. 25. A broken wrist sidelined the senior.

About 40 years ago, the IJ had a unique weekly feature going - an "IJ Mailbox of the Week. " Sadly, mailboxes aren't much in style any more. A similar feature today could be the "Email Inbox of the Week," but it wouldn't be nearly as interesting. Reproduced here are two "MoW" winners, one from March 1, 1973, and one from Feb. 22, 1973.   Feb. 22, 1973 THE¿IJ¿MAILBOX OF¿THE WEEK belongs to John McKinney, Parlor Grove Road, Waynesburg Route 1. He says he used Sam Meade's blueprints, only made his box a little smaller than Sam's.

The most eye-catching headline on the front page of the Feb. 24, 1953, issue of The Interior Journal is "Womanless Wedding At Waynesburg Ties Two Men in 'Bond.'" While womanless wedding would have a completely different meaning today, it turns out it was a fairly popular form of entertainment in small towns 60 or so years ago. According to the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center, a womanless wedding was "usually held as a fundraiser and...

The big headlines 20 years ago concerned a big shake-up in Lincoln County politics, as three of the Lincoln school board's five members stepped down in order to pursue other elected positions in the county, and a fourth faced possible ouster because of state nepotism laws. One of the three board members who stepped down - David Faulkner - is now a Lincoln County magistrate. And one of the new people appointed to the vacancies on the school board was Jim Kelley, who now serves as the school board's chairman.