Minors

Two Danville restaurant employees and their places of work face charges of selling alcohol to minors after an undercover sting by state Alcoholic Beverage Control officers. Chase B. Smith, who worked at Beef o' Brady's, and Tabitha L. Barnett of Pizza Hut, both have pretrial conferences set for Dec. 18 in Boyle District Court on first-offense charges of selling alcoholic beverages to minors, a misdemeanor. The restaurants will have administrative hearings in February at ABC offices in Frankfort.

Dear Editor, I had to write and address the issue of young people partying in Mercer County. I was wondering when the police in this town are going to step up and crack down on the adults who allow minors to party at their houses with them and then allow them to leave. Don't get me wrong, I have been to my share of parties, but when are people going to grow up and step up and say enough is enough? There are more and more people who die at parties or leaving them, and still no one does anything to change this.

Adults who host parties where alcohol is served to minors could face charges in Clark County if an ordinance advocated by board members of the Clark County Agency for Substance Abuse Policy is adopted locally. "It's not that we need more laws, but we're talking about our children," said Winchester Police Capt. Kevin Palmer, who is on the Clark County ASAP Board. "The ordinance is designed and intended to be a deterrent. " "Social host" ordinances allow police to issue misdemeanor citations and fines to adults - including those between the ages of 18 and 20 - who allow underage drinking on their property.

Kentucky's football staff has another verbal commitment as Henry Minor of Baton Rouge, La., has decided to sign with the Cats in February at the same time teammate Matthew Broha does. "I've been wanting to play in the SEC since I was little," Minor told Scout.com's Rob Gidel. "Kentucky was my only offer in the SEC and they are coming off a great season this year. I think it's a great program that's on its way up. " Minor chose the Wildcats over Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette and New Mexico State.

Don't look for Kentucky to be back recruiting at Baton Rogue Catholic High School in Louisiana any time soon. The Wildcats rescinded a scholarship offer to one player at the school and turned another player's offer into a grayshirt deal after both players said they had verbally committed to play for UK next season. "I will let Kentucky address that," Catholic coach Dale Weiner said when asked if UK would be welcomed back at his school. "All I want to say is that I have had a straight forward conversation with them about this.

Trees bore the brunt of the thunderstorms last night. Nobody was injured, but power lines blew and the electricity flux caused false alarms at homes and businesses, according to city and county officials. Emergency alerts sent many to their basements in between 9 -10 p.m. Lennie Shepperson, Boyle County director of emergency management, said there was not a lot of real damage, but trees fell all over the county. The usually manicured lawns on Cloverdale and Carrigan drives were littered with Maple leaves and branches.

An unoccupied Danville school bus was involved in an accident Thursday, but no injuries were reported. City police said Danville school bus No. 20 was parked behind Danville High School at 12:35 p.m. when it was hit by a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Jessie L. Ellis, 55, of 136 Big Spring Valley Road. Ellis told police he was passing the bus on the left side when his truck sideswiped the bus's left rear corner panel. The driver of the bus was Judy C. Worthington, 52, of 175 Worthington Road, but she was not in the bus at the time of the accident.

Nicholasville's Mike Dickerson managed to walk away from a single-vehicle crash on Ky. 169 near the Paddocks which left his truck in ruin Friday. The crash occurred around 3:30 p.m. when Dickerson was lighting a cigarette and lost control of his 2007 Ford F150 truck. The truck veered off the road, and crashed into a fence, according to Jessamine County Sheriff's Deputy Todd Sponcil.

This spring, as the Kentucky General Assembly wrangled over the state budget and speculation of large cuts in state funding circulated, government agencies scrambled to prepare for possible cuts. Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl said his office, which receives part of its funding from the state, was one of those that kept getting conflicting reports about how big the cuts to its funding would be. "They told us in March that (Gov. Steve) Beshear's budget was going to be bad, then after the final budget was signed into law, the Attorney General's office sent out an e-mail saying we were going to have these 10 percent layoffs and so forth," he said.

Janie M. Hastie, 40, a former teacher at Stanford Elementary School, has been arrested and charged with engaging a minor in a sexual performance, according to an arrest record by Kentucky State Police Det. Bill Collins. The crime was allegedly committed during the summer of 2006, Collins said. Hastie, 103 Sherwood Drive, Stanford, was arrested Nov. 30 and released after posting bond, according to records at the Lincoln County Regional Jail. Hastie's teaching contract with Lincoln County Schools was not renewed this school year, said Lincoln County Schools Superintendent Teresa Wallace.