Livingston man among death today from COVID

A 70-year-old man from Livingston County was among 17 virus deaths in Kentucky today, according to Gov. Andy Beshear's daily COVID-19 report. 

Statewide there were 2,162 new cases and Kentucky's positivity rate reached 7.17 percent, the highest since June 1.

Crittenden, Lyon, Trigg, Fulton and Hickman counties are the only in far western Kentucky not reporting in the Red Zone on Saturday. See the state's colored-coded COVID-19 map here.

The governor said there were 1,129 COVID patients currently hospitalized in the state with 289 in ICU and 149 on ventilators. 

Meanwhile, Kentucky's high school football playoffs have been postponed for one week due to the statewide spike in cases. Although the post-season schedule released in the last couple of days indicates the Rockets play Fulton County in the opening round on Nov. 20, coach Sean Thompson says the Rockets will likely to play that week because Caverna is expected to pull out of the playoffs. That would mean CCHS will play on Nov. 27 the winner of Russellville vs Fulton County.

Clerk's office, others closed Nov. 11

Click Image to Enlarge

There will be a few dates this month that the Crittenden County Clerk's Office will be closed.

Clerk Daryl Tabor said Veterans Day is the first closing, followed by half-day training Nov. 12.

Like most courthouse offices, the office will be closed during the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you plan to conduct business at any county office late this month, be sure and contact them in advance to discuss their hours around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Crittenden reports one new COVID case

UPDATED 5pm with 2 new cases today.

There were three new cases of COVID-19 reported in Crittenden County late yesterday and today. That brings the county's total to 192 since the pandemic began and the 14th case in the past week.

All three were males, ages 64, 44 and 63, and all were recovering at home.

Crittenden remains just shy of the so-called Red Zone on the statewide COVID-19 incidence map. Most neighboring counties are in the Red.

On Friday, Gov. Andy Beshear said communities in red zone counties must work together to defeat an alarming spike in COVID-19. Today, the Governor reported Kentucky’s highest COVID-19 test positivity rate since June 1 and its third highest number of new daily cases.

“These numbers are truly frightening. I know we’ve been in this fight for so long that it’s easy to get numb to the scary headlines and high case numbers,” said Gov. Beshear. “That’s normal. It’s human nature. But you have to understand this is the most dangerous COVID-19 has ever been in the commonwealth and it is leading to more of our fellow Kentuckians becoming sick, being hospitalized and dying. We can only get back to normal if we address it head on and that is why I am urging all of you, especially those in red counties, to follow recommendations for reducing the spread in your community.”

Gov. Beshear reminded community leaders, schools, businesses and residents in the state’s hardest hit areas to follow the Red Zone Reduction Recommendations. Thursday’s 80 red zone counties should follow the recommendations Monday, Nov. 9, through Sunday, Nov. 15.

Today is registration for Community Christmas assistance

Today is registration for holiday time assistance through Community Christmas. Registration is 9am to 5pm at the Extension Service annex on U.S. 60 East.

The fundraising effort is continuing to raise money to help those who will sign up today. Organizers say the program needs upwards of $7,000 in cash contributions in order to meet the typical demand. The program provides food vouchers for families during the holidays and gifts and vouchers for children. Last year, Community Christmas helped 176 people.

For those volunteering on the distribution side of the program, set up date is Thursday, Dec. 17 at Marion Baptist Church from 9 a.m., to 4 p.m. Volunteers are needed. Contact Brandie Ledford at the library if you can help. Distribution day is Thursday, Dec. 18 at Marion Baptist from 9 a.m., until noon. Distribution will be a drive-through process due to the pandemic.

CCHS joins NFHS Sports Network for live games

Network Link

Crittenden County High School’s home football, basketball and volleyball games will now be broadcast on the National Federation of High Schools Network.

The network can be accessed through a smartphone app or a computer browser. 

The Crittenden Press has been broadcasting football games on its YouTube because admission has been limited due to the pandemic. Now that the school district has joined the NFHS Sports Network, video broadcasting rights are protected by copyright. 

Joining the NFHS Network will mean that viewers must buy a subscription, either $10.99 per month or $69.99 for a yearly pass. The subscription is good for all sports and all schools on the network. 

A number of other western Kentucky schools are already on the NFHS Sports Network including Webster County, Marshall County and Murray. 

Crittenden County will also likely be broadcasting other non-sports events on the network, too, when they are held in Rocket Stadium or Rocket Arena. 

The Crittenden Press will continue to explore options for broadcasting road games on its YouTube channel, which is free for viewers. 

Due to issues related to the pandemic, there will be no football game this week. Therefore, the Rockets' regular season is completed with a 6-2 record. Crittenden County's first-round opponent in the Class A playoffs, Caverna, has indicated it will forfeit next week's post-season game. Crittenden beat Caverna 78-0 in their regular-season meeting this fall. 

CCHS will not play against until the post-season district championship on Nov. 20 at home against either Russellville or Fulton County.

Salem Springlake seeking employees

Click Image to Enlarge

Salem Springlake Care Center is hiring for multiple positions.

If you're interested in a career in the healthcare field, contact Salem Springlake to discuss the following positions: LPN, RN, CNA, CMA and Housekeeping.

Walk-in interviews are being conducted at Salem Springlake, located on N. Hayden Avenue in Salem. Resumes may also be emailed. See advertisement for details.

Thee new COVIDs announced in Crittenden

There were three new cases of COVID-19 reported this morning in Crittenden County. 

These make 189 cases since the pandemic began.

Diagnosed were two females and one male, all in their late 40s.

One dozen cases have been reported in the past week, keeping Crittenden just out of the so-called Red Zone on the state's COVID-19 map.

Bluegrass Realty conducting Melton auction

Click Image to Enlarge

An auction Saturday on Ky. 120 near Marion will be conducted to sell real estate and personal property belonging to the Jessie Melton estate.

Bluegrass Realty-Auction is conducting the sale, which begins at 9 a.m.

In addition to vehicles and personal property, the auction will include a 4-bedroom, 3 bath home on 11 acres.

Contact Robert Kirby for a showing. Inspections must be conducted before auction.

Three new COVID cases reported today

 Crittenden County reported three new cases of COVID-19 today.

These were two females age 88 and 58 and a male age 50. All are recovering at home. 

That makes six new cases this month and 186 since the pandemic began.

Power outage is affected parts of Marion

Kentucky Utilities is reporting a power outage that is affecting a number of customers in and around Marion.

The company’s outage map is showing that 902 customers are without power due to a tree or limb on a line.

The power outage began at about 1:30pm and expected to last until around 4pm.

Areas along U.S. 60 East and West and Ky. 91 North are in the outage zone, including much of the business district on the north side of town. Farmers Bank reports their drive-through branch is without power and able to serve customers in only one lane. The main branch downtown is open.  Peoples Bank's branch is closed but main bank is open.

Mulligans has live music, Extreme Bingo

Click Image to Enlarge

Bingo is back each Thursday at Mulligans Pizzeria & Pub. Reservations are encouraged, as space is limited.

The restaurant located at Marion Golf & Pool is also hosting live music every Saturday night. A combination of live bands, open mic and karaoke are planned each weekend.

Mulligans also has new Sunday lunch exclusives including fettuccini and cajun alfredo and chicken parmesan.

As always, Mulligans is serving is specialty pizzas and wings.

Election tracks smoothly in Crittenden County

County Clerk Daryl Tabor tabulated votes Tuesday
night in the courthouse under the scrutiny of Sheriff
Wayne Agent and election officials Kathleen
Guess and Hugh Highfil.

Crittenden County's election process is not complete, as a handful of mail-in ballots remain outstanding. Those ballots have the rest of this week to reach the courthouse as long as they were postmarked on election day. There are 35 in all, five are military ballots. 

Otherwise, Election Day came off without a hitch as new County Clerk Daryl Tabor held the reins to one of the most difficult elections in county history. Due to the pandemic, voting lasted nearly a month. There were 19 days of early voting prior to Election Day and there's likely to be a strong legislative push to see that such opportunities are made available in future elections. 

Here are links to articles of interest with regard to yesterday's election: 

Kentucky’s congressional incumbents prevail

Bechler wins easily in three-way race

No on longer judge terms; Yes on Marcy’s Law

Here are unofficial results from races from around the neighborhood: 

• In the Fredonia area, Stephanie Feagan defeated Bill Clift in a school board race 793-488 and three of what will become six Fredonia City Council members were elected on Tuesday. Those on the ballot and garnering support to be seated were Presley Lamm with 146 votes, Tonya McGowan 143 and Karen Phelps 130. Others will be appointed later.
• In Livingston County, David Kitchens received 481 votes to Steve Pace’s 229 in a school board race for the Salem area. In other school board races Tammy Denise Sayle defeated Dennis Fleet with 58 percent of the vote and Tony Sanders defeated Alison Hall by 10 votes in a race where almost 500 were cast. Following is a link to Livingston's complete results: LIVINGSTON RESULTS
• In Salem, Gary Damron was unopposed for another term as mayor while Craig Dossett, Brandon Deboe, Janet Hughes and Darryl Chittenden were all elected to the city commission. Two more will be appointed later. 

Nesbitt's Pawn Shop has large gun selection

Click Image to Enlarge

Nesbitt's Pawn Shop has a large selection of new and pre-owned deer rifles and shotguns.

Located on Sturgis Road in Marion, Nesbitt's gun selection includes popular brands like Mossburg, Ruger, Winchester, Savage Axis and Henry among others.

Stop by and see Johnny Nesbitt and take a look at some of these specials just in time for deer season.

Nesbitt's Pawn Shop is located at 200 Sturgis Road across from Ideal.

Fire departments save home from fire

Volunteer fire departments from Crittenden County, Caldwell Springs and Fredonia were able to contain this fire Tuesday night that threatened a home on Sulphur Springs Road in rural Crittenden County.

The blaze destroyed an outbuilding near the home and did some damage to the dwelling, but the home was largely spared despite heavy smoke damage.

Early-voting totals are counted

ALL PRECINCT REPORTED

Here are local results of mail-in absentee ballots received to this point, early-voting machine totals, ballots cast today at the courthouse and at the Ed-Tech Center. 

Reminder, these are preliminary results, and there are a few absentee ballots still outstanding.

See complete results in the full edition of this week's Crittenden Press.

	TOTAL
	VOTES
Straight Party
Republican	1,891
Democrat	381
Libertarian	30
U.S. President
Trump/Pence (R)	3,449
Biden/Harris (D)	730
Jorgensen/Cohen (L)	47
West/Tidball (Ind)	7
Pierce/Ballard (Ind)	6
Write-ins (various)	7
U.S. Senate
McConnell (R)	3,162
McGrath (D)	867
Barron (L)	204
Write-ins (various)	1
U.S. House of Representatives (District 1)
Comer (R)	3,459
Rhodes (D)	719
Kentucky House of Representatives (District 4)
Bechler (R)	3,078
Pennington (D)	641
Valentine (Ind)	466
Court of Appeals Judge
McNeill	1,555
Hines	1,343
Amendment 1: Crime victims
Yes	1,987
No	1,482
Amendment 2: Term length
Yes	1,157
No	2,355
Marion City Council
Sherer	677
Tabor	703
Winstead	565
Browning	658
Byford	673
Arflack	606
Sykes	643
Board of Education (District 1)
Asbridge	745
Board of Education (District 3)
Cook	423
Board of Education (District 4)
Grau	447
Constable (District 4)
Hurley (write-in)	6
Constable (District 6)
Herrin (write-in)	13
Conservation District Supervisor
Duvall	2,672
Hendrix	1,396

COVID UPDATE: Five cases in last four days

Crittenden County has reported five new cases of COVID-19 over the past four days. Three were males and two females with ages ranging from 10 to 51.

There were 52 cases in October in Crittenden County. Of those, 30 were male. There were 63 cases reported here in September.

While the pandemic declaration became official last spring, more than 60 percent of Crittenden County’s 183 cases have been diagnosed in the last two months.

See this week’s full edition of The Crittenden Press for more details on recent pandemic figures here.

CCHS mock election results

Crittenden County High School held a mock election on Monday.

There was a 40-percent turnout of voters from the student body.

The GOP was a strong finisher in both races where ballots were cast as incumbents, President Trump and Sen. McConnell, were clear favorites.

The United States 2020 General Election election is Tuesday. Polls will be open from 6am until 6pm in Crittenden County. There are two places to vote, at the Marion Ed-Tech Center and the Crittenden County Courthouse. The Ed-Tech Center will be equipped to handle more voters, and it's more readily accessible to the handicapped. 

Has your vote been counted yet? Check...

Are you curious if your absentee ballot has been received by the county clerk's office? 

Visit https://vrsws.sos.ky.gov/VIC/, and you will be able to check receipt of your ballot. 

If you have not been contacted by the State Board of Elections regarding any necessary fixes to your submitted ballot, you should assume your vote has been counted.

Last day of early voting projected heavy

Early voting on this, the final opportunity before Election Day, is expected to be heavy. 

Crittenden County voters hoping to avoid long waits and crowding may want to consider waiting one more day to vote in person at the Ed-Tech Center on Election Day. On Tuesday, there will be multiple check-in stations and voting machines to keep things flowing smoothly, funneling through voters in a safe and speedy fashion.

The Ed-Tech center offers plenty of parking, full handicap accessibility at the side entrance, no stairs and room for social distancing. There will also be voting at the courthouse on Tuesday. 

The weather forecast is calling for ideal conditions Tuesday — sunshine and a high of 60 degrees.

With more than 60% of the county’s expected voters having already cast a ballot, Election Day voting at the Ed-Tech should be light.

Polls are open 6am to 6pm on Election Day.

Bale Trail voting allowed through Nov. 6

Have you found your favorite decorated hay bale?

There are several across the community and the UK Extension Service is county votes for your favorite bales. 

Just go to the Official Bale Trail site on Facebook CLICK HERE and cast your ballot before Nov. 6. 

Prizes will be awarded for the top vote-getters. 

Maps are also available on the Bale Trail Facebook page to help you find them all.

The bale pictured is located in front of Marion Baptist Church.