Wednesday, October 13, 1999
Jail possibility sparks motion to arm residents
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ELSMERE — The battle to keep a Kenton County jail out of Elsmere could involve lawyers, guns and money.
During an emotionally charged and crowded Elsmere City Council meeting Tuesday night, residents and council members revealed their plans to try to prevent the Kenton County Fiscal Court from building the jail on a wooded lot near several neighborhoods.
The plans include legal action against the county and a proposal by a councilwoman to require every home and business in Elsmere to have a gun for protection against escaped prisoners.
“If the jail comes to Elsmere, then the citizens of Elsmere will be faced with the nightmare of escaped criminals such as murderers, rapists and child molesters invading their neighborhoods, their property, their homes, their families,” Councilwoman Bonnie Sage said.
“I am proposing an ordinance to require every household and business within the city limits to maintain a functional firearm.”
After Councilman Robert Northcutt seconded Mrs. Sage's motion to pass the ordi nance, the 60 or so residents who attended the meeting — which had to be moved from the city building across Garvey Avenue to the firehouse to accommodate the crowd — erupted into wild applause.
“Thanks for thinking outside the political box,” resident Shelley Dorman called out to Mrs. Sage after the applause died down.
Council, however, tabled the issue and did not vote on the unprecedented ordinance.
“It's been tabled, and I'm going to leave it at that right now,” City Attorney Robert Carran said.
It isn't clear whether council truly wants to arm all its residents and business owners, or instead wants to send a message to the fiscal court about how serious the city is about fighting the jail.
However, Mrs. Sage seemed prepared to answer the inevitable questions about the safety of her proposal.
“For those who would object on the grounds that children are in the home, I would remind them that trigger locks are cheaper than smoke detectors,” she said. “And every home should have both.”
The city also took some more pragmatic measures to halt construction of the jail, which the county fiscal court wants to build just across Garvey Avenue from the Turkeyfoot Acres subdivision.
City council, at the urging of the residents, voted to intervene in the legal proceeding that the county must go
through to receive state approval to build the jail in Elsmere.
Mr. Carran said the fiscal court has filed documents seeking the permission. The city will ask the Kenton County Circuit Court whether it can be involved in that proceeding to officially voice its reasons against building the jail in Elsmere, Mr. Carran said.
Residents of the subdivision also want to use some of the money in a $40,000 neighborhood trust fund to fight the jail and possibly hire a lawyer to file a suit against the county.
The trust fund was formed several years ago for neighborhood improvements. More than 70 homeowners have signed a petition to use the money for the jail fight, but the city wants to research the issue to make sure the money can be spent for that purpose.
Residents think the court should build the jail in Covington on 3L Highway next to Interstate 275. Fiscal court members have said the cost of building the jail on that site would be too high because of environmental problems on the site.
But the Elsmere residents think the court backed away from the Covington site because of opposition from residents in nearby Edgewood.
Edgewood is an affluent communi ty and a Republican stronghold. Elsmere residents think the fiscal court members — all four of whom are Republicans — bowed to political pressure from Edgewood residents, a charge the fiscal court has strongly denied.
Fort Wright lawyer Jeffrey Harmon said the residents may have a case.
“They should at least look into” filing a lawsuit, said Mr. Harmon, a partner with the firm of Cors & Bassett. “That's part of the checks-and-balances system in government we all learned about in high school.”
Mr. Harmon is involved in a case in which citizens are trying to stop construction of a public project else where in Northern Kentucky.
He represents a group of Boone County residents and land owners suing the Sanitation District of Northern Kentucky in an attempt to halt a sewage treatment plant from being built along the Ohio River near Belleview Bottoms.
“I understand the people in Elsmere believe the decision was politically motivated,” Mr. Harmon said. “They need to have an attorney take some depositions and look behind the scenes and try to prove that the decision was arbitrary and capricious.”
Tall Stacks whistles to life
Paddlewheeler captain becoming a nun
Tall Stacks visitors information
3 million-dollar gifts lift ballet campaign
Woman could face death in cabby's slaying
Autumn at 'the Edge'
Pumpkin crop thrived despite drought
Cider makers out on limb
City closer to bringing postal center to Bond Hill
Driver who caused death gets 20 years
Ex-school official sentenced in theft
Family's home struck by arsonist five times
Former school official sentenced
Jail possibility sparks motion to arm residents
Report adds to repairs for hotel
Woman fined $250 for fake call to 911
Book of essays uses great minds to expand yours
'Century of Images' proves the lasting value of photos
GET TO IT
Body by highway identified
Butler Co. offices make huge move to new building
Condos get city assist
Extra prison time is penalty for pension fib
Formula fight latest in HMO debate
Gift expands church's work
Glitch leaves Warren Co., other areas without 911
Groups unite to demand chemical firm concessions
Law for adult business may change
Mason buys land in housing suit
Mayor's letter, plan irk police officers
Rain lessens drought from extreme to severe
Schools could have option on uniforms
Sewer foes win access to records
TRISTATE DIGEST
