news 16a

Correctional Officer Arrested, Charged with Promoting Contraband 1-01-08
Frankfort, KY – A correctional officer from the Roederer Correctional Complex in LaGrange Friday was arrested and charged with promoting contraband. He is accused of bringing illegal items and items inmates are not allowed to possess into the prison.
Joshua Bertholf, 26, Louisville, a four-year employee of the Department of Corrections, was arrested by Kentucky State Police Trooper David Trimble and charged with two counts of 1st degree Promoting Contraband, (Marijuana and Alcohol), and two counts of 2nd degree Promoting Contraband (pornographic DVD and tobacco).
The investigation that led to Bertholf’s arrest was conducted by internal affairs officers at Roederer Correctional Complex. The criminal investigation is ongoing by KSP Post 5, Campbellsburg
Bertholf was lodged in the Oldham County Detention Center.

Dog Attack
On 09/28/07 at approximately 09:12 a.m. Kentucky State Police Post 13 in Hazard received a 911 call that a 3 year old child had been bitten by a dog in the Raven community of Knott County.
Emergency personnel arrived at the scene to find that the family dog had bitten the child in the face. The child was air lifted to Cabel Huntington Hospital for medical treatment.
Kentucky State Police, Knott County Animal Control Officer, and The Knott County Health Department are investigating the incident.

Drivers Be Aware—It’s Back to School Time 7-24-07
Transportation Cabinet urges motorists to be cautious and watch for buses as classes begin in Breathitt County, Jackson Independent school districts
JACKSON, KY – (July 20, 2007) – With students heading back to school on Wednesday, Aug. 1 in the Breathitt County and Jackson Independent school districts, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is reminding drivers to use extreme caution once school buses return to the county’s highways.
“We cannot overemphasize how important it is for motorists to watch out for stopped school buses,” said Secretary Bill Nighbert. “There is always an adjustment period for drivers when classes resume, as they get used to school bus routes and stops that haven’t been there for the past few months. Drivers need to be extremely attentive as they share the road with school buses.”
Kentucky law requires all traffic, both oncoming and following, to stop for a school bus loading or unloading passengers when the bus’ stop sign is extended and its red flashers are on. The only exception is for four-lane divided highways, where oncoming traffic is not required to stop. Modern school buses are also equipped with yellow flashers that serve to warn following or oncoming drivers that a stop is imminent.
“Our law enforcement officials and our judicial system take violations of this law very seriously,” said Tim Hazlette, who is chairman of the Governor’s Executive Committee on Highway Safety and commissioner of the Department of Transportation Safety. “By being observant, drivers can not only help keep our schoolchildren safe, but they save themselves the cost and inconvenience of an expensive traffic citation.”
Many mornings the first few weeks of school are foggy, and the sun rises later each day as the days get shorter. These factors can combine to reduce visibility on the Commonwealth’s school bus routes.
“The strongest piece of advice we can give drivers is to slow down and allow yourself more time to get to your destination if you are traveling while buses are running, especially in the mornings when darkness and weather conditions can make buses and students less visible,” added Deputy Secretary of Transportation Crystal Ducker.
Drivers who are familiar with school bus stops along their normal routes should not count on that familiarity, as the location of these stops may change from time to time. The Transportation Cabinet places signs alerting drivers to the location of school bus stops along state-maintained highways, but not all stops are marked. Parents or school officials who wish to have these signs placed on a state route near the location where children are picked up and dropped off should call District 10’s Traffic Branch at 666-8841 to submit a request for “School Bus Stop Ahead” signage.
Students who live in urban areas and walk or bike to school should use sidewalks, and cross streets only at designated crosswalks. Although pedestrians have the right of way at crosswalks, they should always look both ways before crossing a highway, even at crosswalks controlled by traffic lights.
The Transportation Cabinet administers a Federal Highway Administration grant program called “Safe Routes To School,” which encourages children to walk or ride bicycles to school when possible; to make walking and bicycling to school safe and more appealing; and to facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of schools. For more information or to begin the application process, interested school and community leaders can visit http://saferouteskentucky.com.

Preserve the Breathitt County Museum
The history of Breathitt county and the City of Jackson is a shared one-African-American and White. Only in recent years has any interest been expressed in the African-American contributions in this Community. The future site for the Breathitt County Museum-once the Breathitt county Jail-was constructed from the old rock/stone quarry. These rock/stone were hewed by the hands of African-Americans utilizing the most rudimentary tools. There were many other sites through-out the City and County-churches, schools, and old City swimming pool.
In the 1800-1900 hundreds, there were over two hundred (200) large African-American families residing in this Community. The descendants of these families have formed The Jackson Homecoming Reunion and have contributed to the Breathitt county Museum. The Museum being an avenue to share with the Community of their many involvements lest they be totally forgotten.
Our history is intertwined of trials, tribulations, pleasures and laughter. The Breathitt County Museum is a median for our history to be displayed for young or old to learn and appreciate our culture, heritage, legacy of the past, to-date and future growth and development in this Community. These descendants have scattered-lack of employment in this area-from the East Coast to the West Coast and all areas in between. They have not forgotten their place of origin. Many are lawyers, college professors, teachers and leaders in their respective Communities. Closure of the present Museum/ or abandonment of the proposed site for the Museum would only push backward not bring forth the efforts of so many who have contributed greatly to make this Community-Home.
The museum is a site of Welcome for returning families and friends-a site for reflection(s).
We support the continuation of the BREATHITT COUNTY MUSEUM.
The Jackson Homecoming Reunion
Brownie Wallace, Treasurer

Arrest in Laurel Co.
(LONDON, KY) – On Monday, March 19, 2007, Kentucky State Police Detective Stacy Anderkin charged Bryan Douglas Caudill, 32, of London, KY with Two (2) counts of Rape 2ND, Two (2) counts of Sodomy 2ND and Four (4) counts of Incest. The arrest is a result a one-month investigation into the allegations, which allegedly occurred over a two (2) year time span. Due to the age of the victim (less than 14 years of age) no identifying information will be released. Caudill was lodged in the Laurel County Detention Center. Detective Anderkin is in charge of the investigation.

Here are this week's high school basketball rankings from Bluegrasspreps.com.
For more information about the teams, players, and much more, log on to www.bluegrasspreps.com today.
BGP Boys Top 20
1. Scott County
2. Male
3. Ballard
4. Warren Central
5. Jeffersontown
6. Tates Creek
7. Pleasure Ridge Park
8. Bryan Station
9. Lexington Catholic
10. Clark County
11. Mason County
12. Covington Catholic
13. South Laurel
14. Madison Central
15. Trinity
16. Doss
17. Henderson County
18. Fairdale
19. Bishop Brossart
20. Iroquois

BGP Girls Top 20
1. Lexington Catholic
2. Scott County
3. Franklin-Simpson
4. Iroquois
5. Central Hardin
6. North Hardin
7. Sacred Heart Academy
8. Butler
9. Elizabethtown
10. Lexington Christian
11. Henry Clay
12. DuPont Manual
13. Paul Dunbar
14. Clay County
15. Boone County
16. Russell
17. Nelson County
18. Perry County Central
19. Christian Academy-Louisville
20. Marshall County

Southeast ‘Zero for 24’ Labor Day Campaign Successful
High visibility patrols by state highway patrol and state police agencies over the Labor Day holiday period are being credited with keeping the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths down across the Southeast. Operation C.A.R.E. Region IV Coordinator Lieutenant Jeff Babb of the North Carolina Highway Patrol announced today that seven of the eight Southeastern states reported no DUI-related traffic deaths during the 24 hours of Labor Day.
“Operation Zero for 24 was a successful campaign for the state highway patrol and state police agencies throughout the Southeast,” Lt. Babb said. “The only state that experienced DUI-related traffic deaths on Labor Day was Florida.” Lt. Babb credited extensive enforcement along with educational efforts as key factors in keeping the number of alcohol-related deaths low in the eight states that comprise Region IV. Federal estimates are that someone dies in an alcohol-related traffic crash every 30 minutes in the United States.
“We are extremely pleased that there were no alcohol-related traffic fatalities in Kentucky on Labor Day,” notes Lt. Col. Dean Hayes, director of the Kentucky State Police Operations Division. “We hope that this is a result of motorists realizing the severe risks of impaired driving and the severe consequences of violating Kentucky’s zero tolerance policy.”
“Driving while impaired is a violent crime,” adds KSP Commissioner Jack Adams. “Those who endanger themselves and others should know that they will pay a serious price. It’s not worth the risk.”
Operation C.A.R.E., or Combined Accident Reduction Effort, is a joint effort by state police agencies nationwide to reduce traffic crashes, deaths and injuries through intensive enforcement of traffic laws and safety awareness efforts during selected holiday periods. Lt. Babb said C.A.R.E. provides a forum for state police agencies to share enforcement and public awareness initiatives that have proven effective in their respective areas. Preventing deaths and injuries on our nation’s roadways is the primary mission of Operation C.A.R.E. State highway patrols and state police agencies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee took part in “Operation Zero for 24”. The Thanksgiving holiday period is the next Operation C.A.R.E. weekend and is a 102-hour period that begins Wednesday, November 22 at 6 p.m. and ends at midnight, Sunday, November 26.

Auditions for Steel Magnolias
Little Theatre of Hazard is excited to announce its fall production, Steel Magnolias, to be held November 3-5 and 10-12. Auditions for six female parts will be held September 11, 12, and 14 at 6 p.m. in the Auditorium in the Jolly Classroom Building of Hazard Community and Technical College.
The close-knit women at Truvy's Beauty Salon, the unofficial hub of Chinquapin La., have lots of time to gossip. Their husbands – absent, depressed, or dead – have made sure of that. Consequently, visitors to the salon get more than a wash and cut. The wise-cracking Truvy, with the help of her new glamour technician Annelle, dispenses shampoo with liberal doses of free advice and gossip to the town's curmudgeon, Ouiser; an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee, and the local town social worker, M'Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby, is on the verge of marriage.
Alternately hilarious and touching, the play focuses on the camaraderie of these six Southern women who talk, gab, gossip, chitchat, needle and harangue each other through the best of times, and cry, caress, comfort and repair one another through the worst. The women at Truvy's beauty parlor are the steel magnolias of the title: Southern belles, flowery on the outside, but strong enough inside to survive any challenge.
Little Theatre encourages anyone who is interested in Steel Magnolias to come to auditions September 11, 12, and 14 at 6 p.m. at Hazard Community and Technical College.

WICKLIFFE PAPER WILL USE SCRAP TIRES FOR FUEL
Receives $750,000 grant from Waste Tire Trust Fund
FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 11, 2006) – Four million scrap tires are generated in Kentucky every year. Left in open dumps, scrap tires pose a fire hazard and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Placed in landfills, whole tires can cause subsidence. The solution: Take tires out of the waste stream.
To that end, a $750,000 grant from the state Waste Tire Trust Fund has been awarded to Wickliffe Paper Co., part of NewPage Corp., to underwrite capital costs in connection with use of shredded scrap tires as boiler fuel at its paper mill in Ballard County.
The grant for “tire-derived fuel” (TDF) is part of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet’s continuing effort to encourage an environmentally friendly market for scrap tires, said R. Bruce Scott, director of the cabinet’s Division of Waste Management.
Use of TDF will reduce the company’s fuel bill and lower the disposal costs per tire. It costs 28 cents to landfill a tire and 20 cents to convert it for use as tire-derived fuel.
In 2001 a grant for $454,276 was given to Owensboro Municipal Utilities that required use of 750,000 tires. The OMU grant expired in 2004 but the utility continues to use about 900,000 tires per year.
Under the Wickliffe Paper grant requirements, the company will begin using TDF before Dec. 31, 2007, and must use 37,500 tons by Dec. 31, 2012. This is an average of 7,500 tons or 750,000 waste tires per year.
"The NewPage paper mill in Wickliffe is proud to partner with the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet through receiving this grant award," said Ray Dailey, the company’s director of environmental affairs. "The mill has worked with the Cabinet to evaluate and permit the combustion of tire-derived fuel in our waste wood boiler. It will produce process steam for our pulp and papermaking process and at the same time provide a market for waste tires generated in the state.”
Wickliffe will buy shredded scrap tires from contractors who pick up tires from dealers. Shreds are less than 2 inches wide. Shredded tires will be used as a fuel supplement – up to 15 percent TDF – in the boiler.
To support the use of TDF, the company will do any or all of the following: install a new metering system – a hopper and device to feed TDF into the system at a prescribed rate – with a roof to prevent rain freezing in the TDF. The company may also construct a concrete storage pad and conveyor belts and make improvements to the combined air system.
The Waste Tire Trust Fund, administered by the Division of Waste Management, was established in 1998 by the Kentucky General Assembly. The fund receives a $1 fee from new tire sales. Grants totaling $2.5 million have been awarded for school and park projects using another waste-tire byproduct – “crumb rubber” mulch.
More than $16 million has been spent on amnesty and cleanup projects around the state. The division is planning Round Three of the tire amnesty program this fall. There is $4.6 million budgeted for this effort through 2010.

Criminal on the Run
THROUGH INVESTIGATION THE KENTUCKY STATE POLICE IN RICHMOND WERE ABLE TO OBTAIN ROBBERY 1ST WARRANTS FOR RICKY PITTMAN 38 OF LEXINGTON KY. PITTMAN IS A WHITE MALE 5'11'' 150 TO 160 POUNDS HE BROWN HAIR BLUE EYES AND A MOUSTACHE. HE IS
WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE ROBBERY OF THE WHITAKER BANK IN LANCASTER ON
5/18/2006. DETECTIVE MONTE OWENS U/1119 AND DETECTIVE BILL COLLINS U/414
DISCOVERED THAT MR PITTMAN WAS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR TWO OTHER BANK ROBBERIES
ONE IN NICHOLASVILLE AND ONE IN DANVILLE THE LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS HAVE
OBTAINED WARRANTS REGARDING THOSE ROBBERIES. UNITS SEARCHED HIS RESIDENCE IN
LEXINGTON AND HE WAS NOT THERE MR PITTMAN HAS NOT BEEN ARRESTED AND REMAINS AT
LARGE AT THIS TIME. THE KENTUCKY STATE POLICE WAS ASSISTED IN THE INVESTIGATION BY NICHOLASVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT, DANVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT, LEXINGTON METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE FBI. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION REGARDING RICKY PITTMAN IS ASKED TO CALL THE KENTUCKY STATE POLICE AT (859) 623-2404 OR 1-800-222-5555.

Civil War Days Stirring In Breathitt
(BY E.L. NOBLE)
The malice and prejudice lived on with them in much increase, enjoying a strong, luxurious and voluptuous growth, gray with years, and fettered with strife and blood.
When the seed of knowledge was sown and found a welcome growth in the souls and hearts of these rough sons and daughters of the mountains, a foe to malice and prejudice was fixed in that will finally reclaim all, wresting from the hands of ignorance that noble offspring she had so long held in her destructive grasp.
As man with time marched into the mediaeval history of this noted region, the sound of the greater grew weak and feeble; one by one they ceased; the old hand mill faded by the water mills, that sprang up along the pleasant streams, creeks and rivers. The log hut grew into houses built from nicely hewn and well fitted logs; the puncheon floor gave way to planks which were sawed by hand with a whip saw; the board roofs in most cases were supplied by shingles; stoves in many houses, crowded out of use the stew kettle and skillet; the gun and hunting knife were being neglected and the forest cleared and planted; the dogs enjoyed less favor and hogs, sheep, cattle, horses and poultry and other domestic animals as were needed were having care instead. Yet some graters and hand mills lived through this age to look on things of modern times to know what their successors should be, then to forever vanish. Thus the things of the first age, fell to sleep to rise no more that the new might succeed. So will the things of the present pass and so will the things that rise after them. Like man, one generation passes away and another comes on and so the things of each age pass with it and new things grow up with the generation that follows, so what needs the times necessitates man recognizes and grows equal to the occasion and supplies it.
With this age came skills with which the people learned to manufacture moonshine, or corn whiskey, apple jack, or apple brandy and pawpaw brandy, which were prized and cherished as the richest products of the age.
These distilleries were usually located near a water mill so the corn could be crushed and made ready for malting. The people for miles around would carry in their corn and have it distilled for half the whiskey. Here they would meet to drink and tell their jokes. The miller could always give the news of the country, the latest yarn or who had the best whiskey. This was the most chivalrous age of the mountains. When a dispute arose between two neighbors they would usually set a day when their friends should be present to witness the combat, and the parties agreeing to settle the dispute by a fist and skull fight. The neighbors were to witness and see that no foul play was practiced. After the fight was over the parties would shake hands, take a drink of mountain dew and part friends and let the trouble pass forever.
In later years, this led to crime. Instead of settling disputes in this manner they began to use knives, guns and revolvers and men began to think it as noble an act to shoot or stab neighbors as it had been to whip them fairly as their parents before them had done. The remark came with the revolver to the coward, "This (referring to his gun) makes all men equal."
Among the fathers of the later part of this first age and the first part of the mediaeval, it was a great delight to go to the election grounds at one precinct in the morning and whip some foe with his fist (as they would say) then mount his swift mountain steed and gallop over the hills and vale some twenty miles away to dispatch another in the same manner.
In that age a murder was unheard of, but vengeance in the weaker took up arms and carried this sport to death and carnage. Vengeance breathed into the soul the spirit of malice and the spirit of reconciliation was banished from these fair precincts and what followed will find description in the modern history of the country which I trust to present with moderate precision and fairness both in the character and act of individual life, family and feuds.
The Cockrills were early settlers of the county setting near the county seat. They became wealthy, (estimating by the mountain standards) by purchasing and holding vast tracts of land. They did not inter-marry very extensively with the families of the county, the three most noted families being the Copes, Marcums and Bowmans. They were great lovers of mountain dew, or moonshine. It was customary for the men of the mediaeval period, and down to the early part of the modern to meet at some cool spring in a pleasant shade and drink all the day long. This custom was so cherished by the Cockrills that one in parting with the title to the lands where the county-seat is now located and for that purpose reserved a spring on the river bank where he could entertain his friends on court days and other public gatherings and drink the pure cool water from the spring and have a pleasant shade in which to drink moonshine with his friends and curse his enemies.
The river has so changed its course since the glory of that age that the site of the spring has been completely lost in the soil that has filled in and encroached upon the river's bed.
The records of the county in the meantime have been completely destroyed by fire and in most parts never supplied, and the record in which this curious reserve was made became one of the records that perished in the flames never to be supplied.
During the war many bad meaning men, under the pretense of performing their duty as Union soldiers, began to kill and rob citizens who were trying to live true to Kentucky's neutrality, claiming them to be Southern sympathizers.
This caused the people to organize against such aggression and defend themselves as best they could. One battle, in which two Union soldiers were killed, was fought between these and a company of Union men at the mouth of Cockrill's Fork on Lost Creek where Ned post office now stands.
The two soldiers were buried just above the mouth of Cockrill's Fork and were removed about forty years ago under orders of the U.S. Government.
Alex Noble led the guards.
During the fight John Neace (who was hard of hearing) with the attacking forces heard a bullet whistle by which sounded very much like the howl of a dog said "That dog is dead."
Several horses were captured from the Union soldiers including blankets and other supplies.
Many of the saddles were still in the hands of the citizens for twenty years after the war.
At another raid William Fugate, a citizen observing the laws of neutrality, was murdered, and at the same time Big John Aikman was shot in the back as he ran up the hill, the bullet stopping in his mouth. As he spit it out he said "that was damned hot."
Aikman recovered.
The Union men did this because Fugate refused to be robbed.
On another occasion the Union men had robbed the people of their cattle, horses, fat hogs, and all house-hold goods of value, money or whatever they found.
Among these was old Dan Aikman, (who was hard of hearing), going in advance of the stolen property calling the hogs and cattle. In the meantime several of the citizens had gathered on the ridge and were shooting at them. The bullets were mostly aimed at Aikman, but were mostly spent before reaching their mark. Aikman marched on and that evening when camp was set claimed to know nothing of the attack.
E.L. NOBLE

Lee County Wilkflower Hike
"The bloodroot on the bare hillsides is compensation for the cheerless days of early spring," wrote Kentucky artist and shanty boat voyager Harlan Hubbard. Saturday, April 8, friends of St. Therese Oratory in Lee County, Kentucky will welcome guests to the church on Highway 399 and its over 200 wooded acres above Contrary Creek, for their 6th Annual Spring Wildflower Walk. They come to hike, see wildflowers and each other, and revisit a very significant past at the ruins of the first Contrary Creek Catholic community.
An easy and a moderately strenuous hike are offered, says this year's guide Brian Mettey. The walk will start from the church house rain or shine at 12. Hikers should bring water and wear comfortable shoes. Non-walkers are welcomed to tour the oratory, sit and visit. A cookout will begin at 4 p.m. Friends of the oratory and parishioners will provide covered dishes for themselves and guests.
Brian and Cathy Mettey, their children Shannon, Miranda and Eric, are "reverse migrants." Their faith and love of the mountains, particularly the spectacular Daniel Boone National Forest, brought them to Queen of All Saints Parish, Lee County, from Ohio. Eric enjoyed his first hike to Contrary as a one-year-old packed by his parents.
The friends of the Oratory will present the Metteys with certificates of appreciation, and a copy of At Home In the Web of Life, a powerful statement by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia on biodiversity, spirituality and human community.
photo captions: 1) Virginia Phillips, co-founder of the annual walk; Henrietta Durbin, Queen of All Saints parishioner, J.T. Phillips, Virginia's grandson; (back to camera, Tom Shaughnessy. 2) Eric Mettey and millipede.
BRIEF RELEASE
Saturday, April 8, friends of St. Therese Oratory in Lee County, Kentucky will welcome guests to its over 200 wooded acres above Contrary Creek, on Highway 399 for their 6th Annual Spring Wildflower Walk. They come to hike, see wildflowers and each other, and revisit a very significant past at the ruins of the first Contrary Creek Catholic church buildings.
An easy and a moderately strenuous hike are offered, says this year's guide Brian Mettey. The walk will start from the church house on Highway 399 at 12 noon. Hikers should bring water and wear comfortable shoes. Non-walkers are welcomed to tour the oratory, sit and visit. A cookout will begin at 4 p.m. Friends of the oratory and parishioners will provide covered dishes for themselves and guests.

2 Arrests in Clay County 3-22-06
Searches at two different Clay County homes Monday, March 13, resulted in one drug-related arrest by Operation UNITE and the recovery of items stolen in a weekend church burglary.
Monroe Sizemore, age 66, of Greasy Road in the Horse Creek Community, was charged with one count of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
Mary Lou Sizemore, age 58, of Curry Branch Road, also in Horse Creek, was arrested by the Manchester Police Department on a warrant for receiving stolen property valued more than $300.
Additional charges are pending against Mary Lou Sizemore as a result of drugs discovered at her residence, said Joel Cunigan, manager of UNITE’s Cumberland Drug Task Force.
Police have suspected that Monroe Sizemore, who has a previous conviction for possession of cocaine, and his wife were involved in illegal drug trafficking, but until recently had been unable to obtain enough evidence to bring charges.
As Manchester Police began investigating the theft of a trailer loaded with tents, tarps and other items from the Seventh Day Adventist Church Saturday night, information tying the Sizemores to drugs surfaced.
About 9 p.m. Monday UNITE detectives, Manchester police officers, Kentucky State Police troopers from Post 11 in London, and a Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement officer joined forces to search both homes simultaneously.
At Monroe Sizemore’s home officers found more than 11 grams of cocaine individually wrapped in baggies and $1,570 in cash. They seized 41 OxyContin pills, two Valium pills, and $1,627 in cash from Mary Lou Sizemore’s home in addition to recovering a very large number of items taken from the church.
Both suspects were lodged in the Clay County Detention Center.

Watts VFD Receives Federal Funding 8-18-05
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-05) announced that the Watts Volunteer Fire Department in Lost Creek is receiving an $18,897 grant through the federal Assistance for Fire Fighters Grant Program. Funding is provided for "Operations and Safety Programs," which include training, equipment, personal protective equipment, wellness and fitness, and modifications to fire stations and facilities.
"Anytime there is an emergency, whether it is a man made accident or natural disaster, fire fighters are among the first to rush to the scene and offer help," said Rogers. "I am a strong advocate of the federal fire grant program because it provides much needed assistance to Kentucky's small town and rural fire departments, which generally operate with tight budgets and limited resources. This is a good, solid investment that will help make Breathitt County a safer place to live, work, and raise a family."
For the Fiscal Year 2005 program, Congress appropriated, and President Bush signed into law, $650 million in direct assistance to fire fighters to improve the effectiveness of fire fighting operations, fire fighter health and safety programs, and to establish or expand fire prevention programs throughout the United States. The Department of Homeland Security's Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP) administers the program, in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.
Rogers is the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which provides funding for the Fire Fighters Grant Program.