Office Help Wanted in Marion

LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE PERSON FOR A LOCAL AREA OFFICE POSITION. 

MUST HAVE BOOKKEEPING EXPERIENCE AND BE 

KNOWLEDGEABLE IN QUICKBOOKS. 

THIS POSITION IS FOR A FULL OR PART TIME APPLICANT. 

THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH GREAT PEOPLE.

OFFERING AN EXCELLENT COMPENSATION PACKAGE INCLUDING:

  • COMPANY PAID HEALTH INSURANCE WITH
     FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT
  • SAVINGS PLAN WITH COMPANY MATCH
  • PAID VACATION AFTER 1 YEAR OF SERVICE
  • 6 PAID HOLIDAYS

MAIL RESUME TO:

P.O. BOX 191-B, MARION, KY 42064

New field under construction at park

New construction is going on at Marion-Crittenden County Park. Over the past week, there has been activity on the hill above the soccer fields where a new practice baseball diamond is being built.

Etheridge Dozer Service has done the dirt work. The project is expected to be completed by spring. The field will be available practice sessions for all age groups from T-Ball to Senior Babe Ruth. This will be a non-lighted field and will likely not have a complete perimeter fence due to expense issues.

Yehling to sign at Crittenden Library

This book is very close to earning a spot

on the best seller list.

Don't miss the opportunity Thursday Night

Click Image to Enlarge

Longtime mail carrier killed in wreck

Longtime mail carrier Paula Stinnett Brown of Dycusburg died in an automobile crash just before 4 this afternoon. The accident occurred on U.S. 62 about a mile west of Princeton. Her vehicle was struck while she was delivering mail. Details will be available in this week's issue of The Crittenden Press.

Veterans can get free prostate cancer screening at state fair

Kentucky’s male veterans should not miss the opportunity to get free prostate cancer screening at the Kentucky State Fair, which opens Thursday.

Heather French Henry, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, has long been a strong advocate of prostate cancer screening for all men, and particularly veterans.

“Especially during this 50th Vietnam War Commemoration, Vietnam veterans who may have been exposed to Agent Orange should get screened because they are at risk,” Henry said. “With early detection, this is a survivable cancer. It’s free at the State Fair. Do it for your loved ones.”

The Kentucky Veterans Program Trust Fund Board of Directors granted $2,500 to the prostate screening program because of its importance to veterans.

Free prostate cancer screening will be available on Saturday, Aug. 22, Sunday, Aug. 23 (which is also Military Appreciation Day), Tuesday, Aug. 25 and Sunday, Aug. 29.

Screenings for other cancers and various health conditions will also be available at the State Fair.  A schedule of screenings is available at http://www.kentuckyonehealth.org/statefair.

Commissioner Henry, along with First Lady Jane Beshear; Dr. Steve Henry, president of the Kentucky Prostate Cancer Coalition; Dr. Donald Miller, director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center; and Mark Milburn, vice president of oncology services for KentuckyOne Health, will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, the opening day of the fair, to announce the screening program.

All screenings as well as the news conference are being held in the Health Horizons area of the South Wing.

Office Position Available

LOOKING FOR A UNIQUE PERSON FOR A LOCAL AREA OFFICE POSITION. 

MUST HAVE BOOKKEEPING EXPERIENCE AND BE 

KNOWLEDGEABLE IN QUICKBOOKS. 

THIS POSITION IS FOR A FULL OR PART TIME APPLICANT. 

THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH GREAT PEOPLE.

OFFERING AN EXCELLENT COMPENSATION PACKAGE INCLUDING:

  • COMPANY PAID HEALTH INSURANCE WITH
     FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT
  • SAVINGS PLAN WITH COMPANY MATCH
  • PAID VACATION AFTER 1 YEAR OF SERVICE
  • 6 PAID HOLIDAYS

MAIL RESUME TO:

P.O. BOX 191-B, MARION, KY 42064

Hunting opportunities increase in autumn

By KEVIN KELLY
KENTUCKY AFIELD MAGAZINE
The opening of Kentucky's fall squirrel season this weekend means hunting opportunities are about to mushroom.

The first week of September brings some migratory bird and waterfowl species into season and sees archery seasons for deer and wild turkey open. It also starts the clock on the quota hunt application period.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources administers quota hunts for deer, pheasant, quail, upland bird and waterfowl on state wildlife management areas (WMAs) and other public lands. Information about these opportunities is available on the department's website at fw.ky.gov. Click on the "Hunt" tab and choose "Quota Hunts" from the dropdown menu.

The quota hunt application period begins Sept. 1 and spans the entire month. Hunters may apply via the department's website or over the phone by calling (877) 598-2401. The minimum charge to apply is $3.

There are 29 quota deer hunts on tap this season and each has a set number of available slots. Hunters applying for a quota deer hunt can pick a first and second hunt choice but may be drawn for only one.

Quota deer hunts strive for balance; that of providing hunting opportunities on popular public areas while supporting the department's management objectives at those locations. Without them, there might be overharvest and increased risk to fellow hunters.

"We are also trying to minimize the potential for 'poor quality' firearm deer hunting on those quota areas," said David Yancy, deer biologist with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. "That is, by limiting the number of gun deer hunters that are allowed to be on a WMA during the quota hunt period, we are endeavoring to reduce the number of occurrences of participating hunters seeing or encountering other hunters during a hunting session."

New to the quota deer hunt lineup this year are two opportunities within the "Golden Triangle" of Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky.

Kentucky River WMA in Henry and Owen counties expanded with the acquisition of the Boone tract and now will hold a two-day quota deer hunt Nov. 7-8 with 65 hunt slots. Veterans Memorial WMA in Scott County will again hold a two-day quota deer hunt the first weekend of November but this year has added a two-day quota hunt for antlerless deer Dec. 5-6 with 65 hunt slots.

"The reason we did that is we wanted to see if we could further reduce female deer numbers out there," Yancy said about the new Veterans WMA quota hunt. "An advantage to that is if there's a quota hunt you really want to get in and don't have any preference points this is a way to speed up the process."

Preference points increase a hunter's odds of being drawn for a quota hunt. Hunters participating in the December quota hunt at Veterans WMA will receive one preference point for each female deer harvested, up to four.

Yancy offers some tips for hunters unsure of where to go.

"Study the regional maps in the hunting and trapping guide or online and see if anything piques your interest," he said. "Then you could use all the wonderful map tools that are on our website that allow you to look at aerial photos and topography of the various WMAs. Familiarize yourself with how it looks, how it lays, and see if that helps you."

Bowhunters who also plan to apply for a quota deer hunt can use the archery deer season to their advantage. The archery deer season opens statewide on Sept. 5. Because each WMA that holds a quota deer hunt is open for the archery deer season, hunters can familiarize themselves with an area during archery season.

There is a variety of quota hunt options for the small game hunter.

"You have different opportunities in the state and there are all types of upland hunting experiences," said John Morgan, small game program coordinator for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Pheasant quota hunts are scheduled Nov. 20, 21 and 22 at Green River Lake WMA, Dec. 4, 5 and 6 at Clay WMA and Dec. 11, 12 and 13 at Yellowbank WMA. Drawn pheasant hunters must buy the $25 pheasant quota hunt permit regardless of attendance and carry it while hunting.

Bobwhite quail quota hunts on the Ken Unit of Peabody WMA are scheduled Dec. 1 and Dec. 22, 2015 and Jan. 2, Jan. 9 and Jan. 19, 2016. A mentor hunt is scheduled Nov. 28, 2015.

Upland bird quota hunts at Clay WMA are scheduled Nov. 11, Nov. 15, Dec. 19 and Dec. 22. Hunters may take bobwhite quail, ruffed grouse and woodcock during the upland bird quota hunts, when the seasons for all three species are open. Woodcock season closes Dec. 15.

"There are not a lot of places in the country where you can pull off something like that," Morgan said.

Waterfowl hunters can apply for quota hunts on Ballard WMA and the Sauerheber Unit of Sloughs WMA, held during the fall and winter duck and goose seasons. Ballard hunts are held Wednesdays through Sundays. Quota hunts are held daily at Sloughs WMA, but hunters must apply for a block of dates.

The dates for these quota hunts and all others will be displayed on the online application. Results of the drawings will be posted on Kentucky Fish and Wildlife's website in early October. Applicants may also call the department at (800) 858-1549 during business hours – weekdays from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CDT – and provide either their confirmation number or Social Security number to find out if they were drawn.

Author Kevin Kelly is a staff writer for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Get the latest from Kevin and the entire Kentucky Afield staff by following them on Twitter: @kyafield.

Kentucky leads nation in electronically filing veteran claims

KENTUCKY PRESS NEWS SERVICE
Since Aug. 6, the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs has been filing veterans’ benefit claims electronically directly to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It is the first state to do so, according to USDVA.

“I am so proud of our benefits staff for this accomplishment,” KDVA Commissioner Heather French Henry said in a news release. “They are always striving to make benefits available more quickly and easily to our Kentucky veterans, and this is a huge step forward.”

KDVA has been working for the last three years in concert with the USDVA to implement the Digits to Digits, or D2D program, which has been supervised and tested by Monica Acob, the KDVA D2D coordinator.

“Many countless hours have gone into making this work with the USDVA,” Dean Carver, director of field operations for KDVA, said in the release. “It was a continuous effort to make changes and ensure our success.”

For more than a year, KDVA’s benefits staff has been streamlining claims by filing only fully developed claims manually. By ensuring that claims submitted to the federal VA contain every document required for that claim eliminates delays and resubmittals, and ensures that Kentucky veterans get a decision on their claims as quickly as possible, the agency said in its release.

“D2D speeds that process even more,” Carver said. “No more bulky paper files. Everything is electronic, so claims can be read and determined without delay.”

KDVA is continuing to work with the federal VA on enhancements to the D2D program and improvements to the database.

Rocket football scrimmage tonight at 6

Crittenden County's high school football team will host Calloway County in a pre-season scrimmage game tonight at 6 p.m., at Rocket Stadium.

This is the only pre-season game scheduled. The Rockets open their regular season next week at home against Todd Central.

Tonight's scrimmage is FREE. This exhibition game will played just like a normal game.

Free storm spotter class in Marion

There will be a public storm spotters class starting at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 22 at the Marion Ed-Tech Center. This is a three-hour certification course for anyone interested in becoming an official extreme weather spotter for Crittenden County. Participants may also take the class simply for personal information. Rick Shanklin of the National Weather Service in Paducah will be conducting the class in cooperation with Crittenden County Emergency Management. There is no cost to attend.

Senior center provides home services

The senior center is now able to add more seniors to the list of people to which it provides home services like meals and light housework.

Anyone interested in home services offered through Pennyrile Allied Community Services should call (866) 844-4396 to see if you qualify and to begin services as soon as possible. Services include home-delivered meals, homemaking, personal care and respite. Applicants must be 60 or older.

Plane crash victims identified

UPDATED AT 10:20 pm
The names of the victims in Sunday's fatal plane crash in southern Illinois have been identified. According to several news outlets, the pilot and a passenger have been named as Dr. Erich Snyder, 36, of Carterville, Ill., and his father, Tommy Snyder, 59, of Zeigler, Ill.

Erich Snyder was a chiropractor at Carterville Chiropractic & Advanced Pain Management.

- - - - -

Pope County, Ill., authorities have still not been able to positively identify the remains of the two victims of a deadly plane crash Sunday night in southern Illinois.

The small aircraft left Marion-Crittenden County Airport after refueling and was bound for Marion, Ill., and was found Monday evening in a remote area of Pope County. There were no survivors.

The National Transportation Safety Board has yet to determine a cause of the crash, but weather is believed to have been a contributing factor. There were storms in the area that night.

The fatalities are the first related to local airport operations. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the airport became operational in February 1982. During the 12-month period ending in April 2013, there were more than 5,200 operations (landings and departures count as separate operations) at the airport. Airport Manager Jim Johnson said that number is now higher. One-fifth of the annual operations reported in April 2013 were military.

The Crittenden Press will continue to report on this story as new information becomes available.

Bevin campaign hosting local meeting

Marty Kares-Workman was recently named by Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin as his campaign coordinator for Crittenden County.

She will be hosting a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Crittenden County Courthouse in Marion to offer voters an opportunity to learn more about Bevin and his lieutenant governor running mate, Jenean Hampton. Local GOP plans for the general election also will be discussed.
Anyone who would like to help with the Bevin/ Hampton campaign or that of any other down-ticket Republican candidate should attend.

"Interested in what’s going on with state government, the pension plan and health care in Kentucky? You’ll be glad you attended this meeting," Workman said.

For additional information, call Workman at (270) 871-1145.

Traffic shift planned for U.S. 62 in Lyon

A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans a work zone traffic shift along U.S. 62 East of Eddyville in Lyon County on Friday.

This traffic shift is to facilitate ongoing construction of the new four-lane section of U.S. 62 between Commerce Street at mile-point 9.2 and the Interstate 69 interchange at mile-point 12.1.

At this time, two-way traffic is running along the old roadway.  Starting around noon Friday, traffic will be shifted to the newly constructed westbound lanes from the P&L Railroad overpass near the Elkhorn Tavern Road intersection at mile-point 11.571, extending westward to near the Jenkins Road intersection at mile-point 9.5.

State wildlife officials still investigating mountain lion shot last year in Kentucky

A wildlife expert suspects that the mountain lion shot by a fish and game officer in Central Kentucky last year was a wild animal — not someone’s escaped pet, as Kentucky officials initially suggested. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources officials must certainly know the truth by now, because it does not take eight months to complete genetic testing, said ecologist Michelle LaRue, executive director of the Cougar Network.

For the full story, visit The Courier-Journal online.

Accepting new patients in Marion

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KSP holding charity golf tourney

Kentucky State Police Post 1 in Mayfield will be hosting the 2015 Scott Lathram Memorial Trooper Island Golf Tournament on Sept. 3. The golf tournament will be held at Miller Memorial Golf Course located in Calloway County. 

The tournament is a four-person scramble with registration starting at 9 a.m. and a shotgun start at 10 a.m. The $240 entry fee per team can be paid the day of the tournament and includes a green fee, golf cart and food and drinks. Space is limited to the first 30 teams that register. Various prizes will be awarded during the tournament, and a silent auction will be conducted. All proceeds will go to Trooper Island.

Trooper Island Camp provides a free camping experience to low income, underprivileged, foster and children with special needs in Kentucky. Just more than 700, 10- to 12-year-olds attend the camp each year. Post 1 sends approximately 32 campers each year to the camp. Trooper Island is a non-profit entity, relying solely on tax-deductible donations from the public. Anyone wishing to make a donation to Trooper Island can contact Trooper Jay Thomas at Post 1.

Registration forms for the tournament can be downloaded from the KSP Post 1 website. Forms can be mailed or faxed to the Post 1 to the attention of Trooper Thomas.

FCC sends money to expand Ky. Internet

KENTUCKY PRESS NEWS SERVICE
High-speed Internet access will become available to 62,000 more Kentucky residents thanks to funds from the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC fund called Connect America will pay $21 million a year to Windstream Communictions to make broadband available in locations where it would otherwise be too expensive to extend service. Monthly fees should run about what people in other parts of the U.S. pay for the service, an FCC spokesman said.

About a third of rural Americans lack access to high-speed Internet, the FCC said in a news release. In all, Windstream is receiving almost $175 million in annual, ongoing support from the Connect America fund to provide broadband service to 800,000 rural residents of 17 states, including Kentucky.

Area death

Edward Louis Baker, 71, of Marion died Tuesday at Crittenden County Health and Rehabilitation Center in Marion. Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Freedom Cemetery, with burial to follow. Myers Funeral Home in Marion is handling the arrangements. There will be no visitation at the funeral home.

Local woman injured in Monday night wreck

Kentucky State Police investigated a single-vehicle, injury-collision in Crittenden County that occurred on Fishtrap Road on Monday at approximately 10:50 p.m.

The preliminary investigation revealed that Tyler Jones, 20, of Marion was operating a 1995 GMC pickup southbound on Fishtrap Road, which lies just of U.S. 60 East in northern Crittenden County. As he was negotiating a curve, he lost control on the wet roadway. The pickup truck exited the left side of the roadway and struck a ditch. The vehicle came to rest on the driver’s side.

Jones, who was wearing a seatbelt, was not injured. The passenger, Katharina Hughes, 22, of Marion had to be mechanically extricated from the vehicle by Crittenden County Rescue Squad. She was transported by Crittenden EMS to Crittenden Health Systems for treatment. Hughes was not wearing a seatbelt.

Trooper Daniel Holland investigated the collision. Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department and Mattoon Volunteer Fire Department also assisted at the scene.