Wilmore

The firefighter slung the solid metal sledge hammer over his shoulder and drove it down, slamming it into the stake, which dug a little deeper into the overturned car's hood. He heaved the heavy hammer up again, and once more brought it forcefully down. The sound of grinding metal quickly followed the smack of the hammer hitting home as the stake buried deeper in the car's hood. After a few moments, he passed the hammer to another firefighter. A few more vigorous swings, and the stake dug into the ground, stabilizing the car, which sat on a hill.

It's that time once again for Jessamine Countians to begin spring cleaning as the 25th annual County-Wide Clean Up kicks off this weekend. The event will run from Saturday, March 23, through Saturday, March 30. Jessamine County environmental services director Mike Cassidy said items that will be accepted are usual items people toss out during spring cleaning. “It's regular things that people clean up around their houses. Things like old appliances, furniture or any unwanted items,” Cassidy said.

The Wimore Elementary School site-based decision-making (SBDM) council will hold special-called meetings at 3 p.m. March 19 at Wilmore Elementary School and at 3 p.m. March 26 and 12:45 p.m. March 27 at central office at the Royse Administration Building. Each meeting will include a closed session for the purpose of principal selection and approval of a candidate, if necessary. Wilmore Elementary School is located at 150 Campground Lane in Wilmore; the Royse Administration Building is located at 871 Wilmore Road in Nicholasville.

A Wilmore man died yesterday evening when his car veered off the road and struck a tree on Long Shun Road across from the Nicholasville water treatment plant. Benjamin Sims, 36, was driving a 2000 Nissan Pickup when he left the roadway and struck the tree just before 6 p.m., Jessamine County Sheriff's Office chief deputy Allen Peel said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No other cars were involved in the accident, and Sims was alone in his truck, Peel said. Investigators have determined that speed contributed to the accident, the deputy said.

The things they do would be hard enough without the rope. Wilmore Elementary students have been jumping, skipping and bouncing to dodge rapidly moving ropes for 22 years - and they have something to show for it. The school unveiled a banner last week celebrating that Wilmore has raised more than $150,000 for the American Heart Association through the Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser since 1991. But even more than just a fundraiser, jump-roping has become a part of Wilmore Elementary's natural rhythm in the past two decades.

A Jessamine County jury lowered the boom on two men who were found guilty of a violent home invasion in Wilmore in October 2011. Willie Fain, 24, and Rodney Jones, 21, were found guilty of first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery and theft by unlawful taking on Friday, Feb. 22, following a four-day trial in Jessamine Circuit Court. Fain was also found guilty of second-degree persistant felony offender. The jury recommended an 80-year sentence for Fain and a 21-year sentence for Jones.

For more than 40 years, many in Wilmore who felt a little sick, needed to have their blood pressure or sugar checked, or maybe just needed an understanding ear have known just where to go. Right on Main Street, just a few doors down from City Hall, they could walk in Phyllis Corbitt's office and take a step back in time. There, a single receptionist greets patients. They wait in a room with a dozen or so chairs, where a few books are laid out. There is no TV to watch, and, though there may be one or even two in the office, there isn't a computer in sight.

The question over whether the city of Wilmore should take over the public cemetery operated by the C.E. Crouse family for more than 50 years is still unresolved. During a special-called workshop Monday night, council members bantered back and forth on the subject, with one side feeling the city has a moral obligation to take it over, while the other side insisted that it would not be in the city's best interest fiscally. There was added pressure to Monday's workshop, when Mayor Harold Rainwater told the council that he had received an email from the Crouse family indicating that the end of its operational management was imminent.