Public Housing

When Amy Ellison moved into Bate-Wood Homes, her neighbor came over to help her plant some summer flowers. There is a pot of hot pink petunias on her porch and a square of summer annuals planted by the front door. Ellison has just moved into public housing with her three kids. She is paying $330 a month for a four-bedroom apartment. "It's cheaper," she said of public housing versus renting at a privately-owned complex. Despite the county's 8 percent unemployment rate and recent industry layoffs, there are plenty of vacancies in public housing.

No matter what the weather or time of day, Dorothy Penman walks her dog outside her residence in Danville's Arnold Tower public housing complex for senior citizens. "It can be raining or snowing or hot and humid and it can be 6 in the morning or 6 at night, Dorothy will walk little her pup, and she'll do it two to three times a day," says Penman's friend and fellow resident, Jeannie Newman. Probably no one at Arnold Tower was as pleased as Penman when the Housing Authority of Danville several months ago amended its ban on pets.

LANCASTER - There were three main developments Tuesday in the battle to stop deadly natural gas and carbon monoxide leaks in Lancaster's public housing: Lisa Phelps, director of the Lancaster Housing Authority, told Mayor Don Rinthen that all of the old gas stoves in the 62 units of the housing authority's low-income housing will be replaced by electric stoves in about two weeks, paid for by some of the $123,000 in federal economic stimulus...

Dear Editor, I support veterans' health care. It would be better if the government would pay for it by cutting needless spending. These people put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. The fact is, every program the federal government runs is going to be bankrupt in just a few years. So let's allow them to give everybody a health care handout because they are so responsible with the working man's tax money. You know, the government can spend it so much better than each of us who actually worked to earn it, right?

Dear Editor, A great opportunity awaits Danville. Thanks to the forward thinking of three of our city commissioners, we will have universal curbside recycling for a very reasonable fee starting this November. The cost to each household will be $2.96 for universal curbside recycling hauled to the Danville-Boyle County Recycling Center. That will be in addition to $7.52 paid for solid waste pickup (that must be paid anyway). The total amount for both is just $2.66 over the current $7.82 residents now pay for just solid waste pickup.

A judge again refused to alter the bond for a Winchester couple charged with setting fire to their home shortly before Christmas. Anthony and Debra Poole were scheduled for a preliminary hearing this morning in Clark District Court on second-degree arson charges. The hearing was postponed until next Wednesday when Debra Poole's attorney could not appear in court due to a previous commitment in federal court, public defender Scott West said. Anthony Poole's attorney Lauren Clark again requested that District Judge Earl-Ray Neal alter the $20,000 cash bond both her client and his wife are facing, citing their seven children.

Dear Editor, Just 70 years ago, anybody who would have suggested the government should give out welfare checks, public housing, government run health care and bail out failed businesses would have been drug up in front of Congress and deemed a communist. The F.B.I. would have a file on that person three feet thick and know every move they made. In today's political system, if you stand up against the government doing socialist programs like we are doing now ? like bailouts and government run health care ?

Dear Editor, Everybody needs to read Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. It gives government the right to regulate trade among the states and to ensure there would be no duties or tariffs between them. The rest of it is meant to regulate trade with foreign counties and Indian tribes. For the first 150 years, that is how the clause was used. Under threats of Franklin Delanor Roosevelt and Congress, the courts began to re-interpret the Constitution. Those advocating taking power away from the states and giving it to a powerful centralized government began circumventing the restrictions placed on the federal government by putting a new spin on what is called the commerce clause and coupled it to the necessary and proper clause.

First, they kicked us out of restaurants. I can live with that. Next, we couldn't enjoy one with a cocktail while out on the town. OK. They tell us it will kill us dead and all those within a 20-foot radius. I get it, I really do. Now, we have to stand 1,000 feet away from any entrance of a building if we want to have a cigarette. Give us a break. Well, I may be exaggerating about the 1,000 feet, but come on. Those of you who smoke - all 12 of you left out there, as it seems - know what I'm talking about.

LANCASTER - The three somewhat raw acres that Cecil Arnold sold to Garrard's Habitat for Humanity affiliate in 2004 for half their estimated worth are well on their way to becoming a substantial subdivision. In December of 2004, the area tucked in behind West Buford Street was only home to a large pile of rubble - what was left of the old Mason School. The African American school, built in 1939, was closed in 1964 when segregation was declared illegal. Now the land has been cleared, 900 feet of roadway constructed and awaiting blacktop, and the sewer, water meters and drains completely installed.

Dear Editor, A great opportunity awaits Danville. Thanks to the forward thinking of three of our city commissioners, we will have universal curbside recycling for a very reasonable fee starting this November. The cost to each household will be $2.96 for universal curbside recycling hauled to the Danville-Boyle County Recycling Center. That will be in addition to $7.52 paid for solid waste pickup (that must be paid anyway). The total amount for both is just $2.66 over the current $7.82 residents now pay for just solid waste pickup.

A judge again refused to alter the bond for a Winchester couple charged with setting fire to their home shortly before Christmas. Anthony and Debra Poole were scheduled for a preliminary hearing this morning in Clark District Court on second-degree arson charges. The hearing was postponed until next Wednesday when Debra Poole's attorney could not appear in court due to a previous commitment in federal court, public defender Scott West said. Anthony Poole's attorney Lauren Clark again requested that District Judge Earl-Ray Neal alter the $20,000 cash bond both her client and his wife are facing, citing their seven children.

No matter what the weather or time of day, Dorothy Penman walks her dog outside her residence in Danville's Arnold Tower public housing complex for senior citizens. "It can be raining or snowing or hot and humid and it can be 6 in the morning or 6 at night, Dorothy will walk little her pup, and she'll do it two to three times a day," says Penman's friend and fellow resident, Jeannie Newman. Probably no one at Arnold Tower was as pleased as Penman when the Housing Authority of Danville several months ago amended its ban on pets.

Dear Editor, I support veterans' health care. It would be better if the government would pay for it by cutting needless spending. These people put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. The fact is, every program the federal government runs is going to be bankrupt in just a few years. So let's allow them to give everybody a health care handout because they are so responsible with the working man's tax money. You know, the government can spend it so much better than each of us who actually worked to earn it, right?

Dear Editor, Just 70 years ago, anybody who would have suggested the government should give out welfare checks, public housing, government run health care and bail out failed businesses would have been drug up in front of Congress and deemed a communist. The F.B.I. would have a file on that person three feet thick and know every move they made. In today's political system, if you stand up against the government doing socialist programs like we are doing now ? like bailouts and government run health care ?

Dear Editor, Everybody needs to read Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. It gives government the right to regulate trade among the states and to ensure there would be no duties or tariffs between them. The rest of it is meant to regulate trade with foreign counties and Indian tribes. For the first 150 years, that is how the clause was used. Under threats of Franklin Delanor Roosevelt and Congress, the courts began to re-interpret the Constitution. Those advocating taking power away from the states and giving it to a powerful centralized government began circumventing the restrictions placed on the federal government by putting a new spin on what is called the commerce clause and coupled it to the necessary and proper clause.

LANCASTER - There were three main developments Tuesday in the battle to stop deadly natural gas and carbon monoxide leaks in Lancaster's public housing: Lisa Phelps, director of the Lancaster Housing Authority, told Mayor Don Rinthen that all of the old gas stoves in the 62 units of the housing authority's low-income housing will be replaced by electric stoves in about two weeks, paid for by some of the $123,000 in federal economic stimulus...

LANCASTER - Persistent leaks of natural gas and carbon monoxide have created an emergency in some of Lancaster's public and low-income housing complexes that could cause explosions and fires, threatening residents' lives, city officials said Monday night. "Somewhere down the line someone is going to die out there, and I don't know what the liability is," Fire Chief Richard Sebastian told the Lancaster City Council. "We're making a tremendous amount of runs for gas leaks and carbon monoxide.

Bluegrass Motel, considered an abandoned eyesore by city officials, could give way to subsidized housing for the elderly, but first the structure's owner, Tony Merida of Lexington, must clear a couple of formidable hurdles, according to discussion last week in Stanford City Council. The motel has been vacant for more than a year and therefore has reverted to R-1 (residential) zoning. Mr. Merida must receive a zone change from the planning and zoning board before he can proceed with development plans, it was reported in council.

First, they kicked us out of restaurants. I can live with that. Next, we couldn't enjoy one with a cocktail while out on the town. OK. They tell us it will kill us dead and all those within a 20-foot radius. I get it, I really do. Now, we have to stand 1,000 feet away from any entrance of a building if we want to have a cigarette. Give us a break. Well, I may be exaggerating about the 1,000 feet, but come on. Those of you who smoke - all 12 of you left out there, as it seems - know what I'm talking about.