Man's remains found at site in Wilder

        WILDER — Workers walking a property being considered for development discovered a man's skeleton in an overgrown area near the Interstate 275 and AA Highway interchange on Wednesday.

        “We are treating this as a homicide until we have information to tell us otherwise,” said Wilder Police Chief Hobert Strange.

        A preliminary autopsy revealed the man died of a single gunshot wound, Campbell County Coroner Mark Sweitzer said Wednesday night. A driver's license was found with the body and dental records will be used today in an attempt to confirm the man's identity, he said.

        The man whose driver's license was found was reported missing in December, and his car was found in December several hundred feet from where the remains were discovered Wednesday, Mr. Sweitzer said.

        There has been no determination whether the death was an accident, suicide or a homicide, the coroner said.

        The skeleton was found about 11:30 a.m. on property behind Key Storage on Vine Street. It wasn't clear who owned the property or how long the bones had been there. Chief Strange said the bones were not covered and the body had not been buried in a shallow grave.
       

Newport conducts ammonia-leak drill

        NEWPORT — The Newport Fire Department and Louis Trauth Dairy conducted a full-scale emergency exercise Wednesay morning, and officials said they were satisfied with the results.

        A mock 911 emergency call was made at 8:46 a.m. reporting an ammonia leak at the Trauth plant at 11th and Monmouth streets. Fire and police personnel responded and went through a drill that included caring for people who were supposed to be injured.

        Children at A.D. Owens Elementary School, next door to the dairy, were evacuated and taken by bus to Newport High School for treatment of imaginary injuries. The entire drill lasted about 40 minutes.
       

Toll-free line solicits profiling allegations

        FRANKFORT — The Kentucky attorney general's office is creating a toll-free telephone line for people to call in allegations of racial profiling by police.

        Sen. Gerald Neal, a Louisville Democrat who requested the phone line, sent Attorney General Ben Chandler a letter on Tuesday suggesting that Mr. Chandler “establish, publicize and administer” the hot line.

        During this year's legislative session, Mr. Neal won passage of a measure that requires most local police and sheriff's departments to adopt a policy against racial profiling — the practice of stopping people, particularly motorists, based on race.

Three women arrested in OxyContin case

        HARLAN — Three Harlan County women were arrested after deputies found 253 OxyContin pills with a street value of $12,000, police said.

        Deputies found the pills in a vehicle after a traffic stop Saturday evening.

        Patricia Smith, 43, of Evarts, was charged with first-degree drug trafficking and two counts of third-degree possession of a controlled substance. Peggy Wynn, 44, of Evarts, and Laura Wynn, 19, of Closplint, were charged with first-degree complicity to drug trafficking.

        Ms. Smith is free on $500 bond from the Harlan County Detention Center. Peggy and Laura Wynn were released on their own recognizance.

        County Deputy Sheriff Marcus Williams found the drugs during a search of Peggy Wynn's Dodge Caravan. Deputy Sheriff Williams said he had stopped the vehicle for speeding on Kentucky 38.
       

Wilkinson company wants out of contracts

        LEXINGTON — Former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson's bookstore company wants out of contracts at seven colleges in six states as part of its filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

        More than a dozen other colleges have asked the court to release them from contracts since Wallace's Bookstores Inc. went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 28.

        Judge William S. Howard scheduled a hearing on the company's request for Tuesday. No Kentucky colleges would be affected, although some Kentucky colleges have asked to be released from their contracts.

        Wallace's wants out of the agreements for “a number of different reasons,” said the company's attorney, Tim Robinson.

        Some of the stores are unprofitable and others are too far from Lexington to be well-managed, Mr. Robinson said. “They just don't fit into the business plan,” he said.

        The Lexington company agreed Tuesday to turn over four stores at Community Colleges of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh as early as next week, or by April 30 at the latest.

        Wallace's apparently left two of the seven campuses — Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg and Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Ala. — in March, according to documents filed with the court.

        Four more colleges filed Tuesday to sever their contracts with Wallace's, including Hartnell, a California college that is on Wallace's closing list.
       

University investigates string of dorm fires

        BOWLING GREEN — Western Kentucky University officials are investigating a string of five small fires at a residence hall this semester.

        The last such fire was reported about 1 a.m. CDT Tuesday when a student found a trash can burning in a bathroom at Schneider Hall, said Bob Skipper, WKU spokesman. In each case the coed dorm was evacuated. About 100 students live there.

        “All have been pretty much pranks, very small fires and no damage. We don't really know what the intent was other than to disrupt life at the dorm,” Mr. Skipper said.

        The campus police are investigating the fires along with the Bowling Green Fire Department and the State Fire Marshal's Office, Mr. Skipper said.

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