COVINGTON — Businesses on Scott Boulevard in Covington's Renaissance area hope to attract more customers with the help of federally funded streetscape improvements.

        City officials are applying for $260,000 in funds from the federal Transportation Enhancement Act. The area is on Scott Boulevard from Fourth to Sixth Street, and from the intersection of Scott and Fifth Street to the intersection of Madison Avenue and Fifth Street.

        “Improvements such as new sidewalks, handicap ramps and boulevard lighting will increase consumer traffic and assist in the ongoing revitalization of our downtown commercial businesses and renaissance area,” Mayor Butch Callery said.

        Proposed enhancements will connect thriving neighborhoods with those in need of revitalization, while increasing pedestrian and bicyclist safety in downtown Covington's renaissance area.

        To accommodate the increase in bike traffic, the city also will install bike racks in the new city garage at Fifth Street and Scott Boulevard.

        If Covington receives the grant, it must match the funding 20 percent.

Bank ex-president named in indictment
VINE GROVE — The former president of the Farmers Bank of Vine Grove has been charged with misapplication of bank funds and making false entries in bank records, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
               The indictment alleges that Charles F. Watts, 49, of Elizabethtown, misapplied $500,000 by causing loans to be issued in the names of other persons between 1993 and 1997. Mr. Watts was the bank's president at the time of the alleged frauds.

        By issuing these loans in the name of another person, Mr. Watts was able to contravene his personal borrowing limits at the bank, according to the attorney's office.

        If convicted, the maximum penalties are 30 years imprisonment, a $1 million fine and supervised release for a period of five years for each count.

        Mr. Watts' arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 19 in Louisville.

Two teens killed in ATV accident
LOUISVILLE — Two teen-agers were killed and two others injured Saturday afternoon after an all-terrain vehicle struck a low-lying power line in southwestern Jefferson County, police said.
               The four 19-year-olds were riding two four-wheel ATVs in a wooded area off Dixie Highway about 1:30 p.m., said Jefferson County police spokeswoman Stacey Redmon.

        The two teens on the lead ATV hit the 7,200-watt line that feeds a cellular phone tower, she said.

        The two teens on the second ATV stopped to assist the first two, Ms. Redmon said. They touched the line and suffered burns on their hands, she said.

        Jose Chavez Jr. and Joshua Nottingham were pronounced dead at the scene, Ms. Redmon said.

        Grant Levy and Josh Clayton drove off to get help, Ms. Redmon said. They were taken to University of Louisville Hospital, where they were both listed in stable condition.

        LG&E spokesman David Freibert said a joint investigation was under way by the electric company and the Jefferson County police department.

Man arrested in murder case
MARTHA — A Lawrence County man was arrested on murder charges Sunday after the shooting death of another man, state police said.
               Michael A. Bobe, 33, of Martha died of a single gunshot wound to the head, Kentucky State Police said.

        Karl Scott McKinster, 42, also of Martha, was charged after the shooting at a home on Ky. 32, about seven miles west of Louisa.

        The two men stepped outside around 12:20 a.m. Sunday. Mr. McKinster came back a few minutes later and told others in the house to call 911, police said.

        Mr. Bobe was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was sent to the state medical examiner's office in Frankfort for an autopsy. Mr. McKinster was jailed on a $500,000 bond.

Numbers wrong in Jefferson report
LOUISVILLE — Incorrect enrollment information sent from the Jefferson County school system to the state skewed a number of research projects and reports, officials claim.
               The error was caused by double-counting students who switched schools during the first two months of each school year. It did not affect state or federal funding or the enrollment figures the district released to the public. Those were calculated separately.

        But the error has been repeated for at least 16 years, meaning figures that ended up in places like a U.S. Department of Education database heavily used by academics, marketing firms, public interest groups and foundations were also wrong.

        “This is part of public accountability,” said Jay Greene, a Manhattan Institute fellow who suspects the numbers caused errors in a graduation-rate study he released in November. “We count on those being correct.”

        The discrepancy emerged last month after the Kentucky Association of School Councils issued a report comparing some educational trends in Jefferson County to the state as a whole. Its findings included a higher percentage of eighth-graders who failed to graduate high school than in the rest of the state.

Hillbilly festival given high praise
PIKEVILLE — The Hillbilly Days Festival has again been selected as a top event by the Southeast Tourism Society.
               Pike County Director of Tourism Phyllis Hunt said Pikeville's annual festival has been on the Top 20 list several times before. The festival, which drew more than 100,000 people to the eastern Kentucky city last year, is in its 26th year.

        It is scheduled for April 18-20.

        “I think that it being in the Top 20 will boost the attendance even more,” Ms. Hunt said.

        Ms. Hunt attributes the large crowds at Hillbilly Days to the hospitality of the local residents.

        “It encourages people to come back,” Ms. Hunt said. “They continue to come back after the event.”

        The Top 20 list is compiled and published by the Southeast Tourism Society in Atlanta, a nonprofit organization that seeks to develop, market and promote travel to southeastern states.

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