LOUISVILLE — Al J. Schneider, who owned Louisville's four largest hotels, died of complications from heart failure. He was 86.

        Mr. Schneider died Sunday at Norton Audubon Hospital.

        Mr. Schneider grew up in the Louisville suburb of Shively and completed only eight years of schooling. He owned the Galt House, Galt House East, Executive Inn and Executive West.

        He pioneered the redevelopment of Louisville's downtown riverfront more than 30 years ago, building the Galt House on city-owned land and leading the drive to open the waterfront to the public. A life-sized bronze statue of Mr. Schneider, a gift from his children, stands at the foot of Fourth Street between his two riverfront hotels.

        Mr. Schneider's companies or partnerships own three large office towers on Main Street and dozens of smaller office and medical buildings, as well as other commercial properties spread across the city and county. He had his own construction company and built a string of Catholic schools and churches, highways, bowling alleys and shopping centers.

        Son-in-law Randy Coe, a spokesman for the family, said his family has set up an operating committee controlled by family members that will carry on Mr. Schneider's vast business interests. Over the years the feisty Mr. Schneider argued with reporters, politicians, business leaders and design experts who criticized his architecture.

        In the mid-1970s he feuded with insurance magnate Dinwiddie Lampton Jr., another early riverfront entrepreneur, about a proposed pedestrian walkway over the new Riverfront Plaza.

        Several years later, Mr. Schneider fought with preservationists over a historic downtown building he thought should be torn down so he could put up a new structure. He proclaimed, at one point, that “anything over 50 years old is junk.”

Police believe woman committed suicide
The Associated Press
               LEXINGTON — Police believe a 70-year-old woman who walked in front of a train Monday committed suicide.

        Eileen Ramey of Fayette County was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. by the Lexington-Fayette County coroner's Office. She was found an hour earlier next to railroad tracks in southern Lexington.

        The woman gained access to the train through a park that runs parallel to the railroad tracks, said Lt. James Turley of the Lexington Police Department.

        Ms. Ramey died of blunt-force trauma with multiple injuries, according to a statement from the coroner's office.

        Mr. Turley said an investigation was under way.
       

Man drowns during family fishing trip
The Associated Press
               BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A 23-year-old man died Sunday during a fishing trip with relatives when he drowned while crossing Drakes Creek rapids near the eastern city limit.

        Omar Morrillo was found by an Alvaton volunteer firefighter about two hours after two cousins reported to police that he disappeared into the swift waters while crossing an area of Drakes Creek near Barren River, according to Kentucky State Police Detective Joe Gaddie.

        Mr. Morrillo was pronounced dead at the scene by Warren County Deputy Coroner Dwayne Lawrence, Mr. Gaddie said.

Trees damaged by pine beetle cleared
The Associated Press
               LEXINGTON — Environmentalists are attacking U.S. Forest Service plans to use commercial timber sales to clear out trees damaged by the pine beetle to prevent further damage.

        “We certainly support efforts to keep the forest safe, but (officials) have been using commercial timber sales under the guise of a cleanup, and we don't agree with that,” said Joel Dufour, a member of the environmental group Heartwood.

        Forestry officials counter they don't have the money to remove all the necessary timber without the sales and leaving the trees will create safety hazards. Many of the trees are along roadways and near newly built homes and are in danger of falling.

        “The main thing we're trying to do is control the outbreak,” said Rex Mann, timber staff officer for the Daniel Boone National Forest. “We're just trying to use the timber sales as a tool to help us.”

        The beetles, which are smaller than a grain of rice, attack pines and kill them by building egg tunnels in living tissue beneath the bark. They occur naturally in Southern forests but occasionally have outbreaks in which their numbers get out of hand.

        Officials hope cutting the dead trees will help keep the beetles from spreading and will reduce the threat of forest fires.

        Similar efforts to cut trees in McCreary County after heavy storms in 1998 wound up in court, resulting in a decision thatlimited cutting was allowed.
       

TVA board spot remains vacant
The Associated Press
               KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Speculation is swirling over who might be appointed to fill the vacancy on the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors.

        White House officials are said to be considering several candidates from Tennessee.

        Yet, Tennessee Sens. Fred Thompson and Bill Frist, both Republicans, said they offered no recommendations when White House officials consulted them on the vacancy left by retiring TVA Chairman Craven Crowell.

        “The White House made it known some time ago that they would make that selection,” Mr. Thompson said, according to The Knoxville News Sentinel's Washington bureau. “They wanted to consult with us and get our input. ... That process will continue.”

        Mr. Thompson, Mr. Frist and White House officials declined to name any candidates under discussion, and there has been no announcement about when a decision might come.

        There are at least four candidates with backing from Tennessee's elected officials.

        In the past, senators from the utility's seven-state region — especially those from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky — have shown the most interest and influence in convincing the president to choose their recommended candidate for a TVA board vacancy.

        But this year is unusual in that four prominent elected Republicans in Tennessee — the governor and three U.S. House members — backed different candidates before Mr. Frist and Mr. Thompson publicly discussed a favorite.
       

Events
               Florence: City Council aquatics centers tour: 7:30 a.m., Florence Government Center, 8100 Ewing Blvd.

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