COVINGTON - A year has passed since Flo Storer's daughter came to visit from South Carolina. Sandra Colston's packed luggage still sits in Mrs. Storer's apartment, where it stayed when Sandra went away.
Mrs. Colston didn't need her blue Samsonite suitcase where she was going. She was shot dead three days after arriving at her mother's door. A gravestone with her picture on it stands in Sand Run Cemetery at Hebron.
This weekend brings back painful memories for Flo Storer, but she takes some consolation in knowing that her daughter's long journey is not in vain.
Sometimes you have to go through heaven to get to Frankfort.
Focusing attention
Mrs. Colston's death focused attention on a problem that desperately needed a solution, and it appears the Kentucky General Assembly will address the issue when it reconvenes in January.
Kenton County Judge-executive Clyde Middleton wants the state to hold law-enforcement agencies accountable for resolving their share of unserved arrest warrants. He's calling for the legislature to take up the issue in 1998.
Mrs. Colston's killer - her estranged husband, Donald Colston - should have been in jail, not free to commit premeditated murder. He had been wanted for a year for violating his probation, but nobody bothered to pick him up.
State law does not hold any local agency responsible for rounding up Kenton County's most wanted. The backlog of warrants contains more than 9,000 names. That's government sloth for you. It's not just annoying anymore. It's fatal.
But there's good news: It appears the right people are getting behind the cause. As the anniversary of Mrs. Colston's tragic death loomed, Gov. Paul Patton lent qualified support to the cause bearing her name.
''It's a little consolation,'' Mrs. Storer said Friday. ''It's too late for her. But it would make me feel good if I knew it would prevent it for somebody else.''
Summoning strength
Mrs. Storer won't do anything special to mark the anniversary of her daughter's death, though she'll try to stay around friends in a desperate attempt to avoid having even one moment to herself.
''I just dread that day,'' she said. ''I won't stay at home alone.''
Mrs. Storer is down to only one counseling session every three weeks now. ''I supposed it helps some,'' she said in a slow, weary voice.
''There are those that say I should be doing better because it's been a year. It comes and it goes. You have days when you do fine, then you have days when you think you can't stand it.
''But you do stand it, because you have to.''
Mrs. Storer has to be strong for her granddaughter. Mrs. Colston's daughter, Mandy, came to stay with her grandmother after her mother's death. Mrs. Storer is trying for permanent custody and expects the court to decide the matter sometime this summer.
Mandy, a 6-year-old with blond hair and haunted eyes, stayed home from school Friday. She had a sinus infection. Mrs. Storer gave her the antibiotics her doctor had prescribed.
She takes Mandy to visit her mother's grave every couple months - no more. Last time they went was the day before Easter. They removed the old flowers, dirty and faded, and placed new ones there.
They probably won't go Monday.
''I try not to linger there,'' Mrs. Storer said quietly. ''It's not good for Mandy.''
Rob Kaiser is The Enquirer's Kentucky columnist. His column appears regularly on Sundays and Thursdays in The Kentucky Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5584.
KAISER ARCHIVE