Young Women

Eleven girls will be vying for the title of Miss Clark County Fair this year, competing in evening gown and on-stage question, casual wear and interview. The contestants began rehearsal July 23 and will wrap up tonight with a pizza party. Pageant Director Misty Howard said she is pleased with the girls' performance so far, and the way they have interacted with one another. “We've met and made new friends,” Howard said. As a former Miss Clark County Fair, she is happy to dispense any advice she can to help the contestants, along with other members of the pageant committee.

The 2008 Miss Clark County Fair will be crowned on Saturday, Aug. 2 at 8 p.m. at the William N. Shelton Building at the fairgrounds. Ten young women will be competing for the title this year, with the winner receiving a $500 cash scholarship, gifts and an all-expenses paid trip to the state pageant in January. All participants must be permanent residents of Clark County and a full-time tudent, or a high school graduate.

Angela Johnson, the school improvement coordinator for Danville schools, has been nominated for an Impact Award. The award was created by Bluegrass Alliance for Women to honor and recognize women who have made a strong commitment to women and/or girls within the Bluegrass Area Development District. “Johnson has been a role model, an encourager and a nurturer of young women since coming to Danville to be the principal of Danville High School,” wrote Superintendent Carman Coleman.

The Lexington Lions Club Bluegrass Fair will celebrate “50 Years of Fun” July 14-24 at Masterson Station Park in Lexington. Again this year, three pageants will be offered for girls and young women ages 8 through 21. The Miss Bluegrass Fair Pageant will be held Friday, July 15, with interviews at 2 p.m. and the onstage portion of the pageant at 6:30 p.m. This pageant is open to young women 16-21 who are Kentucky residents. A non-mandatory rehearsal will be held at 10 a.m. July 9 at the fairgrounds.

Editor's note: Videos of the paranormal investigations will be posted in chapters for the next several days at www.amnews.com. More detail about the ghost hunters and their findings will be found online. Mike Norris has heard about the "Breck ghost" since his early days at Centre College. From early on he was interested in the campus myths, stories and legends, he says. Norris, now the director of communications for the college, even remembers special group of Breck residents from the early 1990s.

Jacqueline Coleman of Mercer County and Margaret Ann Simpson of Garrard County were recognized Tuesday as winners of the Bluegrass Alliance for Women Impact Award in their counties. The awards recently were presented at the annual Legacy Award Luncheon in Lexington. Ronnie Dunn of Franklin County was selected from the 12 county winners to receive the Legacy Award. The awards recognize women whose professional and-or community activities further the mission of the Bluegrass Alliance, which is to empower women and girls in the areas of leadership, education, health and well-being, equity and economic sufficience.

May 7, 1987 The George Rogers Clark High School marching band learned Wednesday it was invited to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, one of the largest in the world. About 200 students will make the trip to New York. Seventeen young women will participate in the Clark County Junior Miss Program for 1988, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 13 at Conkwright Junior High School. Contestants are Melissa Bickett, Rebecca Blakeman, Shawn Brown, Terri Crowe, Dana Dixon, Christie Farris, Melody Farris, Peggy Harshman, Brenda Hudson, Stephanie Kash, Kim McLemore, Shannon Poole, Heather Shea, Amy Shearer, Laura Sidwell, Amy Taylor and Sinnamon Ward.

LIBERTY - Iris Nicole Peyton was named Miss Casey County during the 51st annual pageant Saturday night at Casey County High School. She is the daughter of Bill and Beverly Peyton of Hustonville and a freshman at Campbellsville College. She won $300, a one-year membership to Cundiff Wellness Center, tanning package from Jan Spears/Selective Styles, and an all-expense paid trip to compete in the Miss Kentucky Fair Pageant in January in Louisville. Meredith Kathryn Coffey, daughter of Jim and Lydia Coffey, was named first runner-up and received the community service award.

LIBERTY - Five young women will compete in the Casey County Junior Miss scholarship program at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the high school gymnasium. The young women, all high school seniors, are: Rita Dixon, Malory Sara Wesley, Jessica Raye Payton, Brandy Ann Thomas and Jessica James. Dixon, daughter of Susan and James Dixon of Liberty, plans to attend college and major in journalism. She is a Governor's Scholar, has maintained a 4.0 grade point average through high school, is a member of the Casey County Leadership Council, secretary of the Student Council, president of the Art Club, and is involved in track and field.

The Danville-Boyle County Board of Adjustments voted 5-1 Thursday to approve a conditional-use permit for what will become a Christian home for single mothers on Jean Drive. Several residents of the street, which also houses the Danville-Boyle County Senior Citizens Center, pleaded with board members to not issue the permit for Holly's House. Gynecologist Kimberly Frazier applied for the permit because she wants to create a family environment where three young women and their children can grow in a structured Christian environment and have a chance for a better life.

In following the mantra of “it takes a village to raise a child,” Teresa Payne of Danville has spent many years applying that philosophy to all ages, using it to care for others. As a wife, mother, child care provider, evangelist and volunteer, she has spent her life serving others and believes doing so goes beyond just helping another person, but is an expression of faith. “I feel that God is first and foremost in my life. I want to share the experience that I have with him, with those that do not know him … there is no greater life to live than living a life with Christ,” Payne said, explaining that she wanted others to see that faith displayed in the way she lives.

100 years ago - 1912 A warrant was issued in police court charging Judge J.H. Mulligan of Lexington with violating the law by running his automobile through the streets of Danville without lights. The officers are determined that this practice, as well as speeding, must cease. It is miraculous that more accidents have not occurred in the past and the authorities mean to take this step in time.   At the close of Caldwell College's commencement, an announcement was made that  $100,000 had been raised for enlarging this grand old institution for young women.

One year after debuting in Clark County with its new name, the Distinguished Young Women program, formerly known as Junior Miss, will debut a few more changes this Friday. For more than 10 years, the program has been staged in August, but committee chairwoman Donna Fuller said the program will be in June this year to help students focus on the competition without school and extracurricular activities. The program will feature a new emcee, Clark County Attorney Brian Thomas, who has performed in the program in previous years.

May 7, 1987 The George Rogers Clark High School marching band learned Wednesday it was invited to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, one of the largest in the world. About 200 students will make the trip to New York. Seventeen young women will participate in the Clark County Junior Miss Program for 1988, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 13 at Conkwright Junior High School. Contestants are Melissa Bickett, Rebecca Blakeman, Shawn Brown, Terri Crowe, Dana Dixon, Christie Farris, Melody Farris, Peggy Harshman, Brenda Hudson, Stephanie Kash, Kim McLemore, Shannon Poole, Heather Shea, Amy Shearer, Laura Sidwell, Amy Taylor and Sinnamon Ward.

When young women walk into the small downtown Danville office of the Pregnancy Resource Center, wondering whether they might be pregnant or struggling with what to do about it, Vicki Mayotte knows what it's like to be in their shoes. Now in the middle of her life with two kids of her own, Mayotte went through two pregnancies and abortions early in her life, at ages 16 and 23. “I regret it,” she says now of her abortions. “At 16, I had no business being a mother, and had somebody really sat down and discussed adoption with me, that's the choice I would have made.

Eleven girls will be vying for the title of Miss Clark County Fair this year, competing in evening gown and on-stage question, casual wear and interview. The contestants began rehearsal July 23 and will wrap up tonight with a pizza party. Pageant Director Misty Howard said she is pleased with the girls' performance so far, and the way they have interacted with one another. “We've met and made new friends,” Howard said. As a former Miss Clark County Fair, she is happy to dispense any advice she can to help the contestants, along with other members of the pageant committee.

The Lexington Lions Club Bluegrass Fair will celebrate “50 Years of Fun” July 14-24 at Masterson Station Park in Lexington. Again this year, three pageants will be offered for girls and young women ages 8 through 21. The Miss Bluegrass Fair Pageant will be held Friday, July 15, with interviews at 2 p.m. and the onstage portion of the pageant at 6:30 p.m. This pageant is open to young women 16-21 who are Kentucky residents. A non-mandatory rehearsal will be held at 10 a.m. July 9 at the fairgrounds.

Angela Johnson, the school improvement coordinator for Danville schools, has been nominated for an Impact Award. The award was created by Bluegrass Alliance for Women to honor and recognize women who have made a strong commitment to women and/or girls within the Bluegrass Area Development District. “Johnson has been a role model, an encourager and a nurturer of young women since coming to Danville to be the principal of Danville High School,” wrote Superintendent Carman Coleman.

HARRODSBURG — Matthew Mitchell doesn’t try to hide how he feels about coaching the women’s basketball team at Kentucky. “I am so grateful to be the coach at Kentucky. I am sure that there are people luckier and more fortunate than I am, but I not know who they are. I can’t imagine a better situation for me than being coach at Kentucky,” Mitchell said Tuesday morning. He was guest speaker for the Kentucky National Guard Titan Christmas Clash and spoke to teams at Eddie Montgomery’s Steakhouse here for the second straight year.