Motorists

Dear Editor, Are all the cops around Danville too busy to stop? Our niece was driving a truck near American Greetings when a tire came off the truck. She got stopped and saw three cops come through the intersection, but none of them stopped to ask if they could assist her. Thanks to off-duty cop Sally Bustle, as she stopped and took the tire and put it on the trailer so that the truck and trailer could be hauled and repaired. So, it is still good to have a Good Samaritan.

Dear Editor: I live at 1204 Sycamore St. I sit in my truck listening to music, sometimes an hour, sometimes longer. I see all kinds of cars not stopping at the stop sign. I've counted as many as 26 vehicles coming by. Maybe one out of the 26 cars stops at the stop sign. Are the Danville police going to do anything about this? Or will they wait until a child or someone else gets killed at this sign. Louis Leffer Danville

State police are urging motorists to buckle up, pay attention and drive safely this holiday season. Last year in Kentucky, 963 people were killed in traffic collisions, and of those killed, 527 were not wearing seat belts, according to state police at Columbia Post 15. Most every trooper has investigated a collision where occupants could have walked away, had they been properly belted, according to a KSP press release. In the Columbia Post 11-county area, 45 have died in traffic accidents in 2005 compared to 36 for the entire year of 2004.

By Michael Broihier It might be a sign of tough economic times, but Stanford City Police Detective Barry Allen said that there has been a spike in the number of drivers presenting invalid vehicle insurance cards after a fender bender or a traffic stop. Allen said that people need to understand that knowingly presenting a bogus insurance card to a law enforcement officer is a Class-A misdemeanor. "It's considered second degree perjury," he said. The Insurance Research Council (IRC)

Dear Editor, I am writing this note in reference to the breaking of the speed limit on Stanford Avenue by motorists. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour. There is a child care center and a middle school up the street. Something has to be done about the speeding on this street or someone may be killed, and then it will be too late. Pat DepernaDanville

Lexington, like many other areas of the state, saw a new average price record of $2.286 for gasoline Monday, up from the previous record price of $2.281 set on July 13. Drivers looking to fill up their tanks need to shop around, according to AAA. Currently, there is over a 30-cent price difference between some stations. To help consumers locate the least expensive fuel, AAA Blue Grass/Kentucky offers the AAA Fuel Price Finder, available at www.aaabluegrass.com. The data is derived from more than 85,000 individual stations throughout the United States, based on recent credit card transactions, and is the same information AAA uses to track national, state and local gasoline price trends.

So it was late last Wednesday afternoon and I was taking my daily stroll down Lexington Road. Along the way I spotted a police cruiser parked in the entrance to the Sugar Knoll farm, pointed in the direction of town. I started wondering which Danville officer might be behind the wheel and hoping whoever it was hadn't seen any front and side mug shots of me lately. As it turned out, I could've been on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, stuck my tongue out at him and mooned him and the guy behind the wheel wouldn't have cared.

On a wide stretch of Kentucky 89, a truck hurtled around a curve, driving well over the legal speed, right into a radar beam. On the side of the road, a state-owned radar trailer told the tale in flashing red numbers: 68 mph in a 55-mph zone. By the time the truck passed the trailer and a watching Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue, the truck had slowed to 53. It was exactly the result police hope will continue as the trailer moves around the county. Perdue said he asked the state Department of Transportation to borrow one of the devices for a while, to use around Clark County to encourage motorists to slow down on the more dangerous stretches of road including Ironworks Road, Mount Sterling Road, Colby Road and Rockwell Road.

A thin layer of snow covered an old wooden bridge and lane off the Stoner Ephesus Road early Tuesday morning. The main travel roads were clear of snow for motorists.

It's not a stoplight, and it's not pretty. But the changes made last week on Lexington Avenue should solve some of the problems residents have had getting off and on the busy stretch of roadway. The rather odd-looking configuration of yellow lines and double yellow lines that mark left-turn lanes at several intersections should slow down traffic and end dangerous lane-switching by motorists. At the same time, the turn lanes will keep traffic moving by removing motorists making left turns from the flow of traffic.

HARRODSBURG - An elderly Burgin man died after he was found about 6:30 a.m. Monday alongside Mundy's Landing Road. Authorities believe his car apparently got stuck and he began walking for help. It appeared the weather may have taken a toll on him, according to Capt. Scott Elder of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department. Foul play is not suspected. Elder said Curtis Keeling, 82, was taken to James B. Haggin Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

SALVISA - A man was stabbed about 3:30 a.m. Friday on U.S. 127 in Mercer County when he stopped to help a stranded driver.  Chris Releford told police he pulled over to help a car with the flashers on. He changed the tire on the car and was heading back to his, when Releford says he turned and found the driver right next to him. According to Mercer County Sheriff Ernie Kelty, that is when the unknown man asked for Releford's wallet. “He (Chris) told him he didn't have his wallet or any money,” Kelty said.

Motorists are asked to avoid U.S. 60 after a fatal crash Thursday morning. The accident happened on Winchester Road near Bahama Road, and traffic is being stopped at Man O' War. No traffic is allowed into or out of Clark County via 60 until later this afernoon.

This year's Click It or Ticket enforcement effort, coordinated by the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety (KOHS), resulted in citations to 19,594 motorists for not buckling up.  The annual campaign, supported by more than 220 state and local law-enforcement agencies, was held from May 21 to June 3. Locally, Nicholasville police officers issued 399 citations for failure to use a seat belt and two citations for failure to use a child restraint....

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Department of Highways, announces that a temporary road closure is scheduled for Ky. 169 (Keene Road) in Jessamine County. The closure is necessary for a culvert pipe replacement and minor road widening work to be completed.  Work will be performed: • Monday, July 16 - the road closure will be in effect at 9 a.m. • Monday, July 30 - the road will reopen at 9 a.m.  This will be a two week closure including Saturdays and Sundays.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Department of Highways, announced that a temporary road closure is scheduled for a portion of Ashgrove Road in Jessamine County. The closure is necessary for pipe replacement work to be completed. Work will be performed from Monday, April 23, through Thursday, April 26.  The road closure begin at 8 a.m. on Monday and will reopen after 3 p.m. on Thursday. This closure will be in effect for a total of four days.  The location for the work will be between mile point 3.0 and mile point 7.0. Appropriate signage will be in place to alert and guide the traveling public.

JUNCTION CITY - Authorities are looking for a man accused of shooting at an occupied vehicle Wednesday night, Boyle County Sheriff Marty Elliott said. About 10:30 p.m., a 19-year-old man was driving south on U.S. 127 when another driver in a black pickup truck began following him. The truck pulled alongside the man and swerved at him several times, according to Elliott. The suspect then allegedly chased the man through Junction City and nearly caused an accident. In Alum Springs, the victim's vehicle swerved off the road and into a residential yard.

Dear Editor, Are all the cops around Danville too busy to stop? Our niece was driving a truck near American Greetings when a tire came off the truck. She got stopped and saw three cops come through the intersection, but none of them stopped to ask if they could assist her. Thanks to off-duty cop Sally Bustle, as she stopped and took the tire and put it on the trailer so that the truck and trailer could be hauled and repaired. So, it is still good to have a Good Samaritan.

In the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York City is a plaque bearing the Emma Lazarus poem “The New Colossus” with the famous words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” At the start of the new year, Nicholasville residents saw their own statues of liberty along North Main Street, with the huddled masses inside the costumes yearning to stay warm. The men and women who stand along the road clothed in the long green dress and topped by the pointy foam crown have become a landmark in Nicholasville as they hold, wave, and sometimes even dance with signs promoting Liberty Tax Service as drivers-by honk and wave back.

A Danville woman has been charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants after she allegedly sideswiped another vehicle Tuesday on Hustonville Road south of Danville. Danville police Sgt. J.C. Courtwright said Barbi Maupin, 37, of Patrician Place was traveling north on Hustonville Road when she scraped the side of her green Oldsmobile Bravada against another vehicle traveling south. Maupin lost her sideview mirror in the collision but continued driving toward Danville, Courtwright said.