Speed Limit

You may soon get where you're going a little faster - if you take the Mountain Parkway or Interstate 64 in Clark County. A change from 65 to 70 miles per hour on some highways became official Tuesday as signs were altered all over Kentucky. Traffic crews from the Kentucky Department of Highways worked in Winchester to convert signs from 65 to 70 mph by placing decals over the existing number. The 70 mph speed limit is in effect on the four-lane section of the Mountain Parkway between I-64 and Exit 43 in Clark, Powell and Wolfe counties, beginning in Campton.

Dear Editor, I am formerly from Danville and, sounds like you are the reckless driver that is always flying by and not doing the speed limit. Pedestrians by law have the right of way when they actually cross in the cross walk provided for them. There was a time when I had nothing but my two feet to get me from one place to another. What if there was a ban from using your car in the downtown area? I guess that would make it a better place from reckless drivers who do not wish to go by the laws from having all sorts of accidents in town.

LANCASTER - Several residents of Danville Street showed at Monday's City Council meeting where a petition was presented to members in opposition to a recent inquiry about restricting the area to no parking on the roadside. Mayor Don Rinthen said some concern had been voiced over the tight squeeze on Danville Street due to residents parking on both sides. Some motorists had said they had a hard time getting through on the road because of the parked vehicles. Council member Evan Seagraves said he had heard of the concern, but those individuals had not shown up at the last two regular meetings to voice anything.

Speed and alcohol made a deadly combination in an April 21 wreck in which Amber Rachford, the daughter of a well-known Stanford school teacher, was killed, an investigating deputy said. Rachford, 27, was a passenger in the blue 2005 Toyota Scion that she owned and that her companion Gary Cooper III was driving as the two returned to Lexington on I-75 from a Cincinnati Reds baseball game. At about 11:30 p.m., Scott County Dep. Jay Hutchinson wrote in his collision report, evidence shows that Cooper lost control of the Scion in the left lane of the three-lane highway, hit his brakes and traveled across the middle and right lanes, began rotating and left the road sideways near the 124 mile marker in Scott County.

With 30 days in the odd-year sessions, it does seem that the pace of the General Assembly is growing significantly. So far, 222 Senate bills and 573 House bills have been filed. A considerable number will receive committee hearings and move into the main bodies for deliberation. This week, the Senate passed Senate Bill 179. The bill, also passed last year by the Senate, ensures that women who are thinking of terminating their pregnancies are provided with in-person counseling. Apparently, there were concerns that some abortion providers are using pre-recorded messages, and not providing an opportunity for questions to be adequately answered.

Pay raises for teachers are long overdue, and so the legislature's decision that across the board increases will take place next school year was welcome news. But when the state dictates such a move without contributing to the cause it's called an "unfunded mandate," and that's not so welcome news to the people responsible for more than a payroll. Boyle County has found the money to fund its raises next year, but Garrard County is having a difficult time, cutting $200,000 it had planned to spend on new buses and even putting off buying a new lawnmower.

GRAVEL SWITCH - Roberta Hourigan said the three new signs the state highway department put in her front yard are a welcome inconvenience. Even though she now has three poles to mow around this spring, it's worth it if they help save a life along that stretch of U.S. 68. They are there to warn drivers of a change in the roadway - a change dangerous enough that Hourigan and fellow Gravel Switch resident John Sheperson Sr. said it was causing...

Ambulatory care centers coming to Jessamine (Nov. 2 edition) October's groundbreaking of Saint Joseph Jessamine was a long time coming for Nicholasville Mayor John Martin. "You don't know how much it makes my heart swell," he said during the Oct. 26 ceremony. "I've been waiting on a hospital here since 1979. " The process first began in late February when officials from Associated Health Care Systems met with Jessamine leaders about bringing a hospital to the county.

The weekend death of a Nicholasville woman has brought the death toll from a fiery van crash in August to four. Lori Louise Latham, 40, died Saturday at Saint Joseph Hospital from injuries sustained in the crash. The driver of the van, 40-year-old Melissa Helton, faces felony wanton endangerment charges stemming from Latham's injuries from the wreck, but according to Jessamine County Commonwealth Attorney Tom Lockridge, the charges could be upgraded to a fourth murder charge.

Dear Editor, I live on Ky. 34 West, and all day you can sit and watch or listen to cars going up and down the road. They act like it's a speedway out here. And there have been too many wrecks, dogs being run over and the cars or trucks go so fast that they are not aware of hitting a dog or cat. The speed limit is 35 and there is a "child at play" sign at 25 mph, and do you think they even care? No. What do I think should be done? The cops need to be around here to slow these people down.