LOUISVILLE — Longtime St. Xavier High School athletic trainer Robert C. Hamilton died Saturday at his home in Louisville. He was 58.

        Mr. Hamilton's career also included work with the Jefferson County Police Department and as a paramedic.

        He also made several trips to Central America to provide medical assistance to the rebels trying to overthrow Nicaragua's leftist government.

        Mr. Hamilton, also known as “Doc” or “Mad Dog,” started the sports medicine program for St. Xavier in 1988 and last fall he was recognized with a plaque that hangs outside the Robert C. “Doc” Hamilton Sports Medical Center at the school.

        He was an honorary member of the school's 2000 graduating class.

        Mr. Hamilton was a native of Elizabethtown, a Marine Corps veteran, a member of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 14 and a Protestant.

        Mr. Hamilton is survived by his wife, two sons, his mother, two half brothers, two half sisters and three grandchildren.

        Mr. Hamilton's funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the St. Xavier High School gymnasium. Visitation will be in the St. Xavier auditorium from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday. Maraman-Billings Funeral Home in Shepherdsville is handling the arrangements.

        Memorials to the Robert Hamilton Endowment Fund at St. Xavier.
       

Robber described as
weighing 300+ pounds

               PRESTONBURG, Ky. — A Floyd County gas station was robbed Sunday morning, Kentucky State Police said.

        Police said a white male, 300 to 350 pounds, entered Auxier Autobahn at 8:44 a.m. EDT. The man said he had a weapon in his coat pocket and demanded the money from the register.

        The man left the scene on foot. He was wearing a black jacket and a light-colored ballcap.

        Police continue to investigate.
       

Builder rebounds
from setback in '80s

               LOUISVILLE — Twenty years after a rocky real-estate start in Louisville, a former actor, Roger Davis, is back in the game.

        Mr. Davis, a Louisville native, is most famous for his work on the 20-story luxury building known as its address — 1400 Willow in Louisville.

        He completed the high-rise in 1980, but also renovated another building in the Highlands, the Commodore Apartments, and downtown's Seelbach Hotel.

        Mr. Davis, a self-styled lay architect, began the 1400 Willow building from a mold of a previously started building that was abandoned because of cost overruns. Mr. Davis, who starred in TV's Alias Smith and Jones, had just divorced Charlie's Angels star Jaclyn Smith when he returned to Louisville.

        Upon completing the building, architect critics called the mock-Georgian high-rise “unimaginative” and “uninspiring.” Soon after, interest rates shot to 22 percent and Mr. Davis was forced to sell out.

        Ed Hart, a Kentucky Kingdom developer, was the lead investor in a group that bought 31 units of the building and now lives there. Mr. Hart said in 1980 Louisville just wasn't ready for luxury condo living.

        Twenty years later that has changed. The high-rise has become one of Louisville's wealthiest areas.

        The building includes an in-ground pool, a fully equipped health club, a conference room, four guest rooms, a party room and a hobby room.

        About 150 people live at the building and the last 10 have sold for an average of $418,000. The combined value of its 116 condominium units is $23.7 million.

        Mr. Davis, 61, is now living in the Hollywood Hills. He said it took him 10 years to recover from what he lost.

        Mr. Davis has moved to the hills to be closer to his latest venture: 14 “state-of-the-art” houses he's building that will be priced at $1 million to $8 million.
       

Landfill expansion
argued in Trimble Co.

               BEDFORD, Ky. — Some Trimble County residents are angered that local officials are welcoming the proposed expansion of a landfill that would turn it into one of the state's largest.

        The 560-acre Valley View Landfill takes up to 1,800 tons of trash per day from parts of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. Republic Services of Kentucky, the owner of the site, wants to triple its capacity over the next 15 years. The state must approve the plan.

        Money is the reason local officials would welcome the expansion.

        Republic pays the county more than $250,000 a year in taxes and fees and employs about 45 workers locally. It offered $1 million annually with the expansion, a windfall almost the size of Trimble's current annual budget.

        The only other industry in this county of 7,000 residents is an electric utility.
       

Petition drive
would help hospital

               LANCASTER, Ky. — Residents of Garrard County have secured more than enough signatures for a petition to begin pursuing a taxing district to help pay off a the county hospital's debt of more than $4 million.

        Garrard County Clerk Shelton Moss said the unofficial count of signatures turned in Saturday, the deadline of the four-day drive, was 1,222.

        Mr. Moss said the minimum number of signatures needed was 1,027.

        The taxing district would levy a tax on real estate, vehicles and boats. The proposed tax would be 10 cents per $100 of assessed property value. That would bring in an estimated $473,581 in 2001 based on 2000 property assessments, which would be used to pay the county-owned hospital's debt.

        Dr. Nicholas Martin, a family physician in Garrard County, was active in the petition drive. He said some people would not participate in the drive.

        “They didn't seem to have confidence that we could do it,” Dr. Martin said. “If it doesn't pass, it's not going to be because the people at the hospital didn't try.”

        The hospital fell into debt because of an increase in costs to operate; lower reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurances; and an increase in patients who were unable to pay.

        A four-member county election commission will meet today in the courthouse to verify that the signatures belong to registered voters.

        The Garrard Fiscal Court then has 30 days to schedule a hearing to solicit public comment about establishing the district, said County Attorney Jeff Moss.

        Mr. Moss said if fiscal court votes to proceed with establishing the district it then must adopt an ordinance.

        Magistrate Ronnie Lane said he thinks fiscal court will pass the ordinance.

        “We have no choice. We have to pay the bill,” Mr. Lane said.

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