By Stephenie Steitzer
Enquirer contributor

Northern Kentucky may be just a quarter-mile from Cincinnati, but the two areas are worlds apart when it comes to homicide rates.

The number of homicides in Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties in 2002 can be counted on one hand, while the total in Cincinnati is a 15-year high of 64.

In the three counties, four homicides were recorded in 2002.

The City of Cincinnati had 331,285 residents in the 2000 census. Northern Kentucky's three counties had 326,071 in the same count.

That makes Cincinnati's 2002 homicide death rate of 19 per 100,000 about 15.8 times Northern Kentucky's rate of 1 per 100,000.

Police in Northern Kentucky communities, many of which haven't had a homicide since the early 1980s, attribute the low number of homicides to small community police departments.

"It's a lot more difficult for (Cincinnati cops) to police than it is for us," Elsmere Police Chief Timothy Greene said.

Chief Greene said residents of his community of 8,000 in western Kenton County keep an eye on the city and contact police if anything is suspicious. Then, if police don't respond within two minutes, the residents are back on the phone wondering why.

He said with a larger area to police, Cincinnati cops may not be able to respond immediately to every resident's concern.

Even in Covington, Northern Kentucky's largest community and the one closest to downtown Cincinnati, only one official homicide occurred in 2002.

Prosecutors said an argument over a fact in a war documentary on The History Channel led Pasquale Rejrat, age and address not available, to stab his drinking buddy, Dennis Lee Vodde, 50, in March in an apartment on Madison Avenue Authorities said Mr. Rejrat didn't intend to kill Mr. Vodde with a kitchen knife. He stands charged with the city's only homicide this year.

Another stabbing in Covington happened in June, but police have not charged the suspect with homicide. Jeremy W. Fitch, 22, 7 Wallace Ave., was charged with assault after he stabbed his 67-year-old roommate, Harold Dean Lamerson, during a drunken argument. Mr. Lamerson died nearly two months after the incident.

Three other homicides are reported in Northern Kentucky in 2002, two in rural Campbell County and one in Cold Spring.

The body of Chastity Bolotta, 27, of Over-the-Rhine, was found partially clothed in September near Ky. 1998 in Cold Spring. Police do not have any suspects.

In Campbell County, a Silver Grove man was charged with murdering his longtime girlfriend with a rifle in January. James "J.C." Prichard, 22, turned himself in a day after his mother publicly pleaded for him to surrender.

In July, 20-year-old Amanda Eglian was killed when she was ejected from the car her boyfriend was racing against two other cars along Ky. 8. Police said a grand jury indicted John Rice Jr., 21, on a murder charge because of the nature of the incident.

Outside Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties - and outside the statistic of four homicides for the region - the murder of two children in Gallatin County and the near-slaying of their mother and sister was notable.

Marco Allen Chapman stands charged with two counts each of murder and attempted murder, and one count each of rape, robbery, burglary and being a persistent felony offender. Mr. Chapman, 31, is accused of killing Chelbi Sharon, 7, and her brother Cody Sharon, 6, in August in Warsaw. Their mother, Carolyn Marksberry, survived 15 stab wounds.

Also, a Hebron woman, Cheryl Denise Dawson, was one of the 64 killed in Cincinnati when her estranged husband attacked her with a knife in the middle of the downtown business district.

Within the last several days, a Pendleton County woman, Lori Paynter, 35, was found slain outside a Western Kentucky motel. Ms. Paynter worked at Volunteers of America in Over-the-Rhine.

The number of homicide deaths recorded in Northern Kentucky in 2001 was about the same as this year. Five homicides were recorded in 2001compared to Cincinnati's 2001 total of 63.

"It seems to have been like that in a long time," Bob Douglas, executive director of the Kentucky Crime Prevention Coalition, said.

Mr. Douglas said he also attributes the low homicide rate to small police departments and strong community policing, even in communities with larger pockets of low-income residents.