Scott student killed in head-on collision

        COVINGTON — A Scott High School student was killed in a two-car wreck Friday evening on Madison Pike.

        John Kenneth Kidwell, 17, of the 2800 block of Sugar Camp Road was pronounced dead at the scene. He had been driving a Honda Accord.

        Covington police released few details but said the wreck happened at 2:13 p.m., just south of where Madison Pike (also called Ky. 17 or the 3L Highway) intersects with Old Madison Pike.

        Police said Mr. Kidwell's Honda and a Ford driven by April Smith, 22, of Covington, were traveling in opposite directions when one car crossed the center line, hitting the other head on.

        Ms. Smith was taken to St. Elizabeth Medical Center North in Covington, were she was listed in stable condition Friday night. Passengers in her car, Dempsy Smith, 20, and Derek Smith, 18, were treated at St. Elizabeth and released. Police did not say how the three are related.

        Mr. Kidwell worked at Marriott's Brighton Gardens of Edgewood, said his father, John Thomas Kidwell.
       

Frostbite Five run and walk

        FORT THOMAS — The 10th annual Frostbite Five 5-kilometer run and walk, takes place at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Campbell County YMCA, 1437 S. Fort Thomas Ave.

        Race day registration begins at 9 a.m. Jan. 1 and is $15 or $22 with a T-shirt.

        Information: (859) 781-1814.
       

Wildfire costs in the millions

        PIKEVILLE — With bills still rolling in, Kentucky has already paid more than $2.3 million for fighting the worst outbreak of wildfires in the state in more than a decade.

        Most of that was for a three-week period in November when forest fires were spewing smoke and ash across the mountain region.

        Leah MacSwords, director of the Kentucky Division of Forestry, said an additional $2 million will be paid for out-of-state firefighters who helped to control those blazes, most of which were believed to have been set by arsonists.

CAR PLUNGE SUSPECTED: Boone County rescue divers went into a Devou Park lake about midnight Friday to look for a vehicle believed submerged there. Witnesses told police a vehicle was seen floating in Prisoner's Lake, but later sank. It was not known whether anyone was inside. “From the hole it went through, it would have to be small,” said Sgt. Rodney Lawrence, talking about the size of the vehicle. The car apparently went through a hole in a guardrail just over 4 feet wide and down a cement ramp. “There's glass from a broken window and tracks down to the water,” the sergeant said. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        “We don't have all the invoices in yet, but we will clearly spend $4 million,” Ms. MacSwords said.

        “We're taking money out of the pockets of our children. I don't think the arsonists and general public realize the continued fires in our forests are damaging our children's future.”

        At the height of the forest fire outbreak, Kentucky had 1,500 firefighters — some from as far away as Florida and California — battling the blazes, which charred an estimated 173,000 acres.

        At times parts of the state were enshrouded in thick smoke, forcing some schools to cancel classes, motorists to drive with headlights on in daylight. Emergency rooms and clinics reported increases in asthma and other chronic lung ailments.
       

Slowdown postpones projects for airport

        LOUISVILLE — Louisville International Airport has seen a significant drop in passengers, forcing it to postpone several projects including a new hotel and terminal renovation.

        About 3.7 million passengers are expected to travel through the airport this year, down from 3.9 million last year. Marketing director Bill Rawlings said passenger traffic fell roughly 20 percent since Sept. 11.
       

Lawsuit reinstated in harassment case

        FRANKFORT — A Louisville home improvement store employee, who said he endured racial intimidation and harassment for seven years, had his civil rights lawsuit against the store and supervisors reinstated Friday.

        Robert Parker Wilson said the remarks and verbal abuse began when he started working at Lowe's Home Center in Jefferson County in November 1991 and went on almost daily. Wilson said he complained to supervisors, some of whom participated in the alleged abuse, and others who had a responsibility to correct the problems.

        Mr. Wilson, who is black, filed a complaint with the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights in March 1999, but withdrew it before he filed a civil suit, in which he alleged the store and three employees discriminated against him on the basis of his race, created a hostile work environment and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.

        The trial court threw out his suit, saying he had chosen his course of action when he filed the complaint with the rights commission. The Court of Appeals' unanimous ruling said Mr. Wilson withdrew his rights commission complaint well before it reached any substantive step and therefore has a right to sue.

        “If Wilson's allegations are true, then he was subjected to racial remarks on nearly a daily basis by his co-workers and supervisors for a period of approximately seven years,” wrote Judge David Buckingham in the appellate opinion.

Dismissal upheld in deputy's bias claim

        FRANKFORT — The Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a claim of religious and racial discrimination filed against the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department by a deputy.

        Eric Irvin Sr., who is black, was hired as a deputy in October 1995. He requested and was granted two transfers to different jobs within the department.

        Deputy Irvin, a Baptist minister, requested another transfer in the summer of 1996 to a job that could require him to work on Sunday mornings. He was granted the transfer but declined it because he was not guaranteed Sunday mornings off.

        He filed a lawsuit, claiming religious discrimination.

        Judge David Buckingham, who wrote the unanimous decision in this case, said Deputy Irvin did not prove he had been the victim of discrimination.
       

Retiring FBI agent fought corruption

        LONDON — An FBI agent who helped convict five sheriffs, a police chief and a judge on public corruption charges is retiring Tuesday.

        David Keller, 54, spent the last 21 years based in the FBI office in London. In that time, he's been involved in some of the biggest cases in eastern Kentucky.

        The cases Agent Keller was involved in included the 1991 convictions of three sheriffs, a police chief and a deputy in Lee, Owsley and Wolfe counties for taking payoffs to protect drug smuggling.

        In 1994, he helped to bust another sheriff — who also had served four terms as judge-executive in Lee County — in a large marijuana-trafficking investigation that also nailed two dozen others, including two deputies and a candidate for sheriff.

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