Three face suspensions in alleged coverup

        LOUISVILLE — Police said they will suspend three officers without pay for their involvement in an incident in which an off-duty officer is accused of crashing into a parked car and then walking away from the scene.

        Chief Greg Smith said Wednesday that each officer faces a suspension of one to five days without pay. Chief Smith said he couldn't be more specific because the officers haven't received official notification of the charges.

        Officer Reuben Highsmith crashed his Jeep Wrangler into a parked car in downtown Louisville on May 18. He got out and walked several blocks before he was picked up by another officer. Officer Highsmith later conferred with Maj. Donald Burbrink, his superior, but was never interviewed by the officer investigating the crash.
       

Lawmakers give OK to Fern Lake purchase

        WASHINGTON — Fern Lake on the Kentucky-Tennessee border is a step closer to becoming federal property, according to two Kentucky lawmakers.

        Republican Rep. Hal Rogers and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that a House-Senate conference committee approved spending $1 million for the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park to purchase Fern Lake.

        “We now have the down payment to acquire Fern Lake for Kentucky,” Mr. Rogers said. The total cost of purchasing the lake is estimated at about $5 million.

        Area residents have feared the privately owned lake, which is up for sale, would be purchased and developed commercially.

Disaster site stuns governors

        NEW YORK — Governors from states used to dealing with disasters such as floods, tornadoes and blizzards were stunned Wednesday as they viewed the wreckage wrought Sept. 11 when hijacked airliners smashed into the World Trade Center's twin towers.

        A group of 11 governors, including Kentucky's Paul Patton, toured the site with New York Gov. George Pataki, taking time to talk to recovery workers who continue to dig through the rubble.

        Gov. Gary Locke of Washington walked to the site from his nearby hotel room shortly after midnight Monday. His return Wednesday provided a sobering look.

        “It was just hard to comprehend seeing the site at night with the shadows of buildings — the sides of some of these buildings peeled away as if they were tin cans,” he said. “But to see it here in daylight from this perspective, I mean, it just took my breath away. I just can't imagine the incredible devastation of what's left of two towers over a hundred stories high.”

Inmate flees jail's recreation area

        MOUNT VERNON — An inmate fled the Rockcastle County Jail's outdoor recreation area and remained at large Wednesday night, Kentucky State Police said.

        Johnny W. Denny, 39, who was being held on charges of probation violation, was being sought by state, county and city authorities.

        Mr. Denny was described as 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds with brown hair, blue eyes, mustache and tattoos. He was wearing a dark gray sweat shirt and dark sweat pants, police said. He should be considered armed and dangerous, they said.
       

Vigilance urged in anthrax threat

        LOUISVILLE — Despite three bogus anthrax-by-mail scares in Kentucky, health officials said the threat of exposure is real, and they reminded residents to stay vigilant.

        Anthrax has prompted heightened fear of bioterrorism across the country since a lethal strain of the disease was found last week in the office of a Florida tabloid.

        Since then, at least three highly publicized scares in three of Kentucky's largest cities — Covington, Louisville and Lexington — have turned out to be false alarms. But health officials are encouraging people to keep their guard up.

        “We've asked the public to be vigilant, and that's what I think they're doing,” said Dick Bartlett, director of Louisville-Jefferson County Emergency Management Services, whose agency handled the most recent scare, at a bank early Wednesday.
       

Four men indicted in stolen-goods case

        LEXINGTON — A federal grand jury has indicted four men on charges they received interstate shipments of stolen property.

        Mohammed Said Shalash, Tareq Shalash, and Ziyad Shalash, all of Lexington; and Mohamad Shalash, of Cincinnati, were indicted Oct. 4 on violating the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, the indictment said.

        The men were charged with receiving loads of merchandise, including breakfast cereal, hair-care products, facial tissues, diapers and cleaning products, that had been stolen from interstate tractor-trailer shipments.
       

Nude dancers must keep their distance

        LOUISVILLE — Nude and topless cabaret dancers will have to stay at least 3 feet away from club patrons — and each other — once a new city ordinance takes effect.

        The measure, approved in a 9-3 vote Tuesday by the board of aldermen, also will require dancers to perform on a stage at least 18 inches high to prohibit lap or table dancing.

        The ordinance won't go into effect until it is signed by Mayor Dave Armstrong, who last year supported a similar measure that was later tabled for study.
       

Tests to determine gender of body

        BOWLING GREEN — Authorities are waiting test results to determine the gender of a badly decomposed body found along Interstate 65 north of Franklin.

        Kentucky State Police said a survey crew found the body on the shoulder of the northbound lane near the 12-mile marker in Simpson County.

        “It was some distance from the travel portion of the roadway on a downward slope,” Trooper Nick Stephens.

        Kentucky State Police Lt. Pat Isbill said the body was taken to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Louisville, and authorities hope to know the gender and how long the victim was dead.

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