Kentucky has had better luck than Ohio in setting up statewide systems to collect and distribute child-support money.

        Northern Kentucky's Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties had been collecting and disbursing at least 50 percent of child-support money owed — about the same as the national average for 1999, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

        But since Kentucky began a statewide collection system in fall 1999, the three counties have collected almost 30 percent more: $29.6 million in 2000 compared to $23 million in 1999.

        Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson says Kentucky's new statewide system is much less complicated than dealing with separate systems in 120 counties.

        He also says it was fairly easily installed, mainly because that state's caseload is so much smaller than Ohio's. Kentucky handles 287,000 cases a year, compared to Ohio's 846,000.

        But he sympathizes with Ohio.

        “You can pick on them, but they're just so huge,” Mr. Edmondson says of Ohio. “The sheer numbers create incredible problems. The volume is a problem. It just takes thousands of people to deal with that.”

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