Help needed for riverbank cleanup

        BURLINGTON — Volunteers are needed for the 2001 Fall River Sweep that begins at 8 a.m. Nov. 3 at two locations, the Rabbit Hash General Store on Lower River Road and the Petersburg Community Center on Market Street.

        T-shirts, trash bags, gloves and a hot lunch will be provided. The sweep is a twice-a-year cleanup along the Ohio River from Pennsylvania to Illinois.

        Information: (859) 334-3151.
       

Time to haul big items to dump site

        BURLINGTON — The Boone County Public Works Department is holding its annual fall cleanup Oct. 15-21.

        County residents may bring bulk items such as refrigerators, washers and dryers and up to four waste tires per vehicle to the county Public Works Yard at the end of Maplewood Drive in Burlington.

        The county will not accept items from commercial businesses, nor will it accept batteries, liquid waste, hazardous waste or paint.

        Information: (859) 334-3151
       

PCB-tainted soil removal under way

        DAYHOIT — Crews using bulldozers have begun removing soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, from a mobile home park next door to an industrial site in the Dayhoit community of Harlan County.

        Texas-based Cooper Industries, owner of the site, agreed to do the work at the Holiday Mobile Home Park after the Kentucky Division of Waste Management discovered the soil contamination.

        “We're pleased that Cooper has had a change of heart about their willingness to perform a cleanup,” said Eric Liebenauer, state Superfund site manager with the Division of Waste Management.

        Previously, Cooper representatives had differed with the state assessment of soil contamination levels on trailer properties bordering the former National Electric Coil/Cooper Industries plant.

        State officials contended Cooper was responsible for the cleaning up of the contaminated soil. Cooper, however, had maintained the health risks were within state safety standards and no further action was necessary.

        After days of negotiations, state and company officials agreed Tuesday on a tentative cleanup plan, which includes soil removal and additional PCB testing in the trailer park.

BOONE PIONEER DAYS: Takeski Suzuki, a fourth-grader at Erpenbeck Elementary, gets a lesson in how to play graces — a pioneer game — from Donna Esparza. Students visited Big Bone Landing's Pioneer Days, which run through Sunday. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        Cooper subcontractors began removing a 6-inch layer of topsoil, measuring 10 feet across and 100 feet in length.

        “It should be viewed as a positive sign,” said John Breed, a Cooper spokesman. “And it should be viewed as what has been Cooper's approach to the site since we became involved with it — that we've worked cooperatively with the agencies every step of the way.”
       

Bicyclist killed on state roadway

        LEATHERWOOD — A 17-year-old was struck by a car and killed while riding a bicycle on Thursday, Kentucky State Police said.

        Marcellus Banks rode his bike into the path of a Chevrolet pickup truck traveling on Kentucky 699, said Deputy Coroner Clayton Brown. The truck was traveling east, and Mr. Banks probably didn't see it when he pulled in front of it, Mr. Brown said.

        Mr. Banks was pronounced dead at the scene of multiple injuries.

        No information was available on whether the driver, 22-year-old Bronson H. Bearbranch, faces any charges. A state police statement said Mr. Bearbranch was wearing a seat belt but didn't say whether he was injured.
       

Truck accident at mine kills man

        PIKEVILLE — A Pike County truck driver became the third person in Kentucky to die in a mining accident this year.

        Gary Blackburn, 52, of Pikeville, had apparently jumped from an out-of-control fuel truck Wednesday morning at the Lodestar Energy surface mine on Ford Mountain. He died Thursday from head injuries, said Holly McCoy, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals.

        Mr. Blackburn had worked at the Lodestar mine for two years.

        In a separate Pike County surface mine accident, two men were injured when a highwall collapsed on top of them.

        Ted Reece, 43, of Rocky Road, and Richard Richardson, 42, of Jenkins, were reparing heavy equipment at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday when dirt and rock came crashing down on them.

        Mr. Richardson was taken the University of Kentucky Medical Center, where he is in good condition. Nr. Reece is in serious condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Huntington, W.Va.

        Ms. McCoy said state and federal mine inspectors are investigating both accidents.
       

Former Lexington editor in new job

        COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Sharon Peters, a media consultant and former managing editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, was appointed editor of The Gazette Thursday.

        Ms. Peters, 52, of Silverthorne, has been an adjunct professor at Northwestern University's Media Management Center since 1996. She also owns a media consulting company for major newspapers and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

        She succeeds Terri Fleming, who resigned in late July.

        “Sharon Peters is recognized in the American newspaper industry as a powerful thinker and innovator,” Publisher Thomas Mullen said. “She is a new-style newsroom leader with a human touch, a team builder.”

        Ms. Peters holds a doctorate in organization development from The Fielding Institute. She also has worked at newspapers in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Savannah, Ga.; Jackson, Miss.; and Cincinnati; and was an editor at USA Today.
       

Kenton sheriff aids fugitive's arrest

        CINCINNATI — A man who escaped four years ago from an Indiana prison was captured near Cincinnati.

        James R. Mills was caught at a gasoline station in Colerain Township, Hamilton County sheriff's officers said Thursday.

        Mr. Mills had been serving a nine-year, six-month sentence for burglary and theft when he escaped from the Medaryville Correctional Facility in northwestern Indiana.

        Officers said they located Mr. Mills with information from the Kenton County sheriff's department indicating that he was living in Colerain Township.

        Mr. Mills was jailed in the Hamilton County Justice Center until Indiana authorities could retrieve him, sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said.

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