Resignation

HARRODSBURG - Drama hung in the air as Mayor Eddie Long gaveled Thursday night's called meeting of the Harrodsburg City Commission to order. Three items were on the agenda: accept the resignation of Commissioner Bubby Isham; appoint interim commissioner for the cemetery and fire departments; and discuss potential appointees to replace Isham. Isham's seat at the commissioners' table was vacant. Long told the audience that no questions would be fielded until after the meeting.

We should all applaud the principled stand taken by Mr. Jeff Trueblood in his resignation from the Ethics Committee. Mr. Trueblood resigned because Commissioner/Mayor Hunstad refuses to re-appoint Linda Tillman to that committee.   Anyone who knows Linda Tillman will agree that she is one of the truly moral people in our town. She is quietly courageous in her efforts to always follow the ethically correct path.  It is no surprise that Commissioner Hunstad does not want someone with Linda's moral compass reviewing the actions of him and the two commissioners (Louis and Montgomery)

     Former George Rogers Clark football coach Paul Columbia has retracted a statement he made following his dismissal as coach last week. In a letter sent to The Sun Wednesday, Columbia said he was “stunned” when he received a “reduction of responsibility for coaching duties” by Clark County Schools Superintendent Elaine Farris last Friday. “I asked Superintendent Farris if l could say I resigned,” he said in the letter. “I did not agree with the reasoning given for being fired and I was thinking of making the transition easier for the team.

A second member of the Danville Ethics Board has stepped down in less than a week, but Paul Smiley said his departure is not directly related to fellow member Jeff Trueblood's resignation over the body's lack of diversity. Smiley, who is running for a seat on the City Commission, tendered his letter of resignation Tuesday to City Clerk Donna Peek. The end of Smiley's term in November coincides with the election, but he thinks it would be inappropriate for him to sit in judgment over the next several months of anyone he may be running against or employees he may be asked to work with if he is elected.

STANFORD - After 8 years as director of Lincoln County's emergency dispatchers, Jeff Crowe handed his resignation to the 911 Board and it was officially accepted during their regular board meeting on Thursday. "I think it was just the pressure of the county judge," board chairman Bill Denham said after reading the resignation letter. "I think it was just pressure in general. " Only if pressures from the county and county judge were mitigated would Crow agree to stay on, Denham said.

The governor's office has accepted the resignation of Boyle County Magistrate Martin G. Curtis. Curtis has been ill and unable to attend meetings for several months. His niece serves as his power of attorney and she retired on his behalf in October. The governor will appoint someone to fill the vacancy. The replacement will serve until the next general election in November 2006. General counsel for the governor sent a letter to the county attorney on Wednesday. Curtis represented District 1, which includes the West Perryville, East Perryville, Mitchellsburg, Parksville and Bluegrass precincts.

The Jessamine County school board will not be looking for a new board member after all. District 2 Board Member Arnold Prewitt had submitted his resignation to the board last month, but rescinded that resignation last week and will now remain on the board and finish his term. In the letter of resignation to board chair Karl Smith, which Smith read to the board at its May 19 meeting, Prewitt said he had been struggling with a serious illness and had found his work on the board had added to that struggle.

Charmagne Castle, the long-serving president of the Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce, resigned from her position last week, reportedly amid health concerns. Mary Davis, chairwoman of the chamber, said Tuesday that Castle submitted her formal resignation Sept. 23, and the chamber's executive committee plans to appoint a search committee to begin looking for a replacement over the next few weeks. Davis said Castle indicated that health reasons were driving her decision.

Dear Editor, We would like to commend Junction City councilman Dale Walls on his honorable decision to resign immediately. His comments were certainly enlightening to us, although we, too, had been wondering about the unusual timing of Mayor G.G. Harmon's resignation. We can't say whether Mayor Harmon knew his 11:59 p.m. resignation on his 61st birthday was coincidentally the deadline for any other citizen of Junction City to file for mayor and be on the ballot in November.

911 Resignation not due to radio show You have written in the paper of my resignation from the Bluegrass 911 Board, which is correct. However, you have twice quoted the Lincoln Judge Executive as saying my reason for resigning was due to my radio show on WPBK-FM. First, thank you for the 'plug', I hope many more people tune in. I do believe in the interest of accurate reporting, you should ask me my reasons for steping down, or at least request a copy of my letter of resignation fron the Judge Executive.

LANCASTER - Two Lincoln County members of the Bluegrass 911 board of directors plan to step down from their positions. Stanford Mayor and 911 Board Chairman Bill Miracle told board members on April 8 that he intends to resign because he has too much going on. Lincoln County Magistrate David Faulkner has chosen to step down from his position on the board because of a time conflict with his radio show on WPBK, Judge-Executive Jim Adams announced last...

STANFORD - Lincoln County's Economic Development Director Matt Belcher is stepping down from his position at the beginning of May to assume the duties of city manager for Winchester. Belcher, who worked as assistant city manager in Paris for three years before beginning his three-year stint in Lincoln, will be returning to familiar job duties. “It's kind of what I had been doing,” he said. “I've been in the local government realm ever since I got out of grad school.” Belcher submitted a formal letter of resignation to his board of directors on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Danville Mayor Bernie Hunstad resigned from the Boyle County Industrial Foundation board of directors, claiming the “BCIF is a privately owned 'for profit' corporation and not a non-profit organization as represented.” The mayor said, “This status causes me concern since it is the lead organization in the publicly funded Danville Economic Development Partnership group. It is significant given that the EDP and BCIF share CEOs along with administrative staff, offices and public funding.  I feel it is therefore inappropriate for me to attend business meetings which are not open to the public.”  The Boyle County Industrial Foundation was created more than 50 years ago, and is one of nine equal partners in the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership (EDP)

Danville Mayor Bernie Hunstad resigned Thursday from his seat on the board of directors of the Boyle County Industrial Foundation, effective immediately. In a letter addressed to Jody Lassiter, who serves as CEO of both the industrial foundation and the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership, Hunstad said he was stepping down because he “determined the BCIF is a privately-owned 'for profit' corporation and not a non-profit organization as represented.”  The Kentucky Secretary of State website lists the Boyle County Industrial Foundation Inc. as a profit corporation; this information led to Hunstad's decision to resign.

STANFORD - City Clerk Denise Pike is planning to step down from her position due to differences with Stanford's two newest city council members. On March 7, Pike announced her intention to resign, blaming newly-elected council members Tom Moser and Amy Hazlett for making her job unenjoyable. “I've been mistreated since the election with the two new council members,” she said. “They picked and gouged and Tom Moser's told me that he thought that I wasn't doing things right.

Citing “personal reasons,” Boyle County School Board member Alane Mills has resigned her position. Mills submitted her resignation letter to the board during Thursday's meeting. In the letter, she expressed her “appreciation and respect” for fellow and past board members and superintendents, stating that “Boyle County is incredibly blessed.” She also thanked the community for the “years of love and support.” “Alane is irreplaceable,” said Superintendent Mike LaFavers, who stressed that Mills had been an advocate for the students of Boyle County - by first being a teacher, then a program director in the system - before being elected to school board about eight years ago.   “She loves the Boyle County community and she's passionate about the school district,”¿he said.

As Frank Keller stood less than 50 feet from Pope Benedict XVI last September, he noticed the leader of the Catholic church looked frail. “I wondered at the time how a person can do this magnificent job and keep up the pace,” Keller, deacon at St. Luke Catholic Church in Nicholasville, said. Still, the Vatican's announcement Monday that the 85-year-old pope is stepping down Feb. 28 came as a surprise to the deacon. Keller, 52, said the unexpected resignation also has shocked many church members.