LEXINGTON — After an attack by a pack of dogs and an intense custody battle, a 12-year-old girl will spend Christmas with her mother.

        After hearing that Heather Jarvis was miserable in foster care, Fayette Circuit Judge Lewis Paisley granted Jennifer Harmon, the girl's mother, temporary visitation until a custody trial Dec. 28.

        Ms. Harmon and Heather's father, Robert Slaven, have been fighting over custody since summer.

        Before the battle, Heather was mauled by dogs near her Eastern Kentucky home in Blaine. A civil suit that charges various officials did nothing to control the dog pack is pending.

        Upon receiving medical care for the attack, Judge Paisley ordered Heather into foster care while the Cabinet for Families and Children could investigate both parents.

        Those reports were filed this week, but are sealed.
       

Pioneer of Lexington
McDonald's dies

               LEXINGTON — Samuel D. Smargon, who operated Lexington's first McDonald's restaurant, died Wednesday in a Florida hospital. He was 92.

        Mr. Smargon and his wife, Edna Smargon, who died in 1983, ran the restaurant at 771 New Circle Road from 1961 to 1977.

        Mr. Smargon was born in Russia and came to the United States when he was an infant. He served in the merchant marine during World War II.

        Mr. Smargon moved from Lexington to Jacksonville, Fla., in 1998, and recently had moved to Jupiter, Fla.

        Survivors include a daughter and two grandchildren.

        Services will be at 1 p.m. Sunday at Hillside Cemetery in Los Angeles. Contributions are suggested to Hospice of Palm Beach County, 5300 East Ave., West Palm Beach, Fla. 33407.
       

Murray St. regents
OK regional tuition

               MURRAY, Ky. — The Murray State Board of Regents has approved a proposed regional tuition that would make the Kentucky school's cost for out-of-state students the same as the cost of comparable schools in bordering states.

        MSU Dean of Admissions Phil Bryan said that beginning next year, Illinois residents will pay the same tuition and fees they would pay to attend Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, which is about $4,110. It would be a reduction from Murray's out-of-state tuition rate of about $6,900. Missouri residents will pay what it would cost to attend Southeast Missouri University, while Tennessee residents will pay what it would cost to attend Austin Peay State University in Clarksville.

        The regents approved the tuition proposal Friday.

        “The out-of-state tuition is more important to Murray State than any institution in Kentucky because of where we're located,” said board chairman Sid Easley.

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