Police say $205,000 of marijuana on truck

        COVINGTON — A Colorado man has been charged with transporting 500 pounds of marijuana, worth about $205,000, into Boone County, police said.

        Ralph J. Townsend, of Aspen, was released on bond Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman. If Mr. Townsend is indicted next month, he will be arraigned on April 20.

        Mr. Townsend was stopped March 17 while driving a truck northbound on Interstate 75 in Boone County.

        A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Covington by FBI Special Agent Michael A. Shafer said members of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force were given a tip that someone from Colorado would be driving a green truck with marijuana in it to Northern Kentucky.

        Police followed Mr. Townsend on I-75, pulled him over and asked him if they could search his truck, Agent Shafer said. Mr. Townsend agreed, and authorities found about 500 pounds of marijuana, Agent Shafer said.

        Mr. Townsend told authorities he was being paid $10,000 to deliver the marijuana to Northern Kentucky, Agent Shafer said.
       

6-year-old boy dies of injuries from wreck

        LEXINGTON — An Ohio boy is dead after the sport utility vehicle he was a passenger in turned over here.

        Lexington-Fayette County Deputy Coroner Eric Bowles said Nicholas Vernon, 6, of Maumee, Ohio, died Saturday at the University of Kentucky Medical Center from brain damage he received in the crash.

        The accident occurred Thursday. Nicholas' mother was driving the vehicle, which had a camper attached to the tail end. It was unclear how the SUV turned over.

        Mr. Nicholas' stepfather and one other sibling were also in the vehicle at the time of the crash. They were not injured.
       

Man gets 10 years in fatal stabbing

        LEXINGTON — A man convicted of reckless homicide and tampering with evidence received the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

        William Clyde Cox of Lexington was found guilty in the death of William Dana Cheek, who was stabbed once in the chest outside Bananas Tavern in Lexington last April.

        On Friday, Fayette Circuit Judge John Adams sentenced Mr. Cox to 10 years in prison.

        Mr. Cox said during his trial that he had used the knife to poke Mr. Cheek in the chest after Mr. Cheek followed him outside the bar and set upon him in a violent rage. Mr. Cox said Mr. Cheek was angry that Mr. Cox had pestered his wife at the bar the week before the killing.
       

Human remains found in Owen County

        OWENTON — State police think human remains discovered Saturday in rural Owen County could be those of a woman missing for more than a decade.

        Lawanda Sue Raines vanished May 21, 1989.

        Dr. Emily Craig of the state medical examiner's office will conduct the forensic investigation.

        The case is being investigated as a murder, although a cause of death has not been determined.
       

Louisville doctor's license suspended

        LOUISVILLE — The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure has issued an emergency order suspending a local doctor's license, alleging the way he prescribed narcotics endangered some of his patients and the public.

        Dr. David R. Ringel, a general practitioner, has not been practicing since the order went into effect March 15, the board said.

        In a complaint that accompanied the emergency order, the board scheduled a hearing on Dr. Ringel's case for July.

        The order said Dr. Ringel had failed to document physical exams or patient histories, failed to use less potent drugs before prescribing narcotics, and failed to screen for substance-abuse disorders.

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