Little River Days Attack the net: to feature new Continued coverage of activities, music Region 2 tennis tourney LOCAL/STATE A6 SPORTS B1 THURSDAY Thursday, May 10, 2012 | 75 cents, 51 cents average home delivery cost WWW.KENTUCKYNEWERA.COM 20 pages, 2 sections | Volume 125, Number 126 | Hopkinsville, Ky. Est. 1869 City’s highways worse than most The engineers rank roads ther research about how to im- kinsville ranked among the bot- Report: Hopkinsville has most based on their condition, their prove specific roads, and this ul- tom quarter are a 10.8-mile piece safety — calculated partly by the timately affects their of North Greenville Road, in the rate of accidents — and their recommendations for state fund- county’s northeastern corner, congestion levels. ing and projects, Watts said. and a 1.4-mile piece of Stateline low-ranking roads in Pennyrile The New Era obtained these The entire southern half of Road, at the Tennessee border. BY NICK TABOR the state. rankings, along with all the data the U.S. 68 bypass and a north- In the condition rankings, NEW ERA STAFF WRITER Twenty-five of those road sec- used to calculate them, via an western part of the bypass short sections of U.S. 68 between tions are in Hopkinsville. open records request to the ranked in the bottom 25th per- mile markers 10 and 12 scored In a March report by the Ken- No other county in the Pen- transportation cabinet. centile. the worst. Other parts of 68 tucky Transportation Cabinet’s nyrile region has nearly so many A low score does not denote in- Other lowest-ranking sections scored the highest in the condi- engineers, 27 stretches of state low-ranking state roads. Hop- adequacy, said Ryan Watts, a cab- include pieces of Kentucky 104, tion category, only behind Inter- roads in Christian County kins County has about seven. inet spokesman. The rankings 107, 272 and 695. state 24. ranked in the bottom quarter in The rest have about one to four. simply help guide staff in fur- The only roads outside of Hop- SEE ROADS, PAGE A5 President Obama Remembering the battle voices support for gay marriage BY JULIE PACE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Equivocal no longer, President Barack Obama declared his support for gay mar- riage on Wednes- day in a historic announcement that instantly ele- vated a polarizing social issue to a more prominent role in the 2012 race for the White House. Obama The announce- ment was the first by a sitting president, and Obama’s Republi- can rival, Mitt Romney, swiftly disagreed with it. “I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Romney said from Okla- homa. Gay rights advocates cheered Obama’s declaration, which they had long urged him to make. Joe Solomonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said it “extends that message of hope” to CARLA JIMENEZ | KENTUCKY NEW ERA gays and lesbians. Soldiers from the 187th Infantry Regiment, or “Iron Rakkasans” stand in formation in front of a bed of wildflowers Wednesday at the memorial. Obama announced his shift — he had said for years that his views on gay marriage were “evolving” — in an interview Vets reunite at Hamburger Hill memorial with ABC in which he cited a blend of the personal and the BY CARLA JIMENEZ presidential. NEW ERA STAFF WRITER QuickInfo: Hamburger Hill He said “it wouldn’t dawn” on his daughters, Sasha and Malia, Every year in May, Weldon The Battle of Hamburger Hill that some of their friends’ par- Honeycutt travels from his began May 10, 1969, and lasted ents would be treated differently home in Florida to Fort Camp- 10 days. The battle was primarily than others, and added that he bell for the memorial of the an infantry engagement with had thought of aides “who are in Battle of Hamburger Hill. American troops launching a incredibly committed monoga- For Honeycutt, former lieu- frontal assault on the well en- mous same-sex relationships who tenant colonel of the 3rd Bat- trenched North Vietnamese talion, 3rd Brigade, 101st are raising kids together.” Army. After being repelled a Airborne Division (Air As- He added he had also thought number of times, American sol- sault), the event is more than a diers captured Hamburger Hill about “those soldiers or airmen memorial — it’s a family re- or Marines or sailors who are out — also known as Hill 937 — union. while inflicting extensive casual- there fighting on my behalf, and Honeycutt considers his bat- yet feel constrained even though ties on the NVA in the process. It talion a family, and he is the fa- CARLA JIMENEZ | KENTUCKY NEW ERA is one of the most famous bat- now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is ther. “When I had them fighting gone because they’re not able to Tom Martin speaks Wednesday at the memorial for the Battle of Hamburger Hill. He tles in the history of the 101st in Vietnam, they were 19, 20, 21 spoke about being a Vietnam veteran and remembering his fallen comrades. Airborne Division (Air Assault). commit themselves in a mar- years old. I was 36,” he said. “I riage.” was the old man, literally and Hill came from all across the spects, they also came to see The president’s decision to ad- figuratively.” nation to attend the memorial one another again. an opportunity to catch up with dress the issue came on the heels The rest of the battalion feels Wednesday morning and honor James Maynor, 64, drove his battle buddies and relive the the same way. About 30 veter- their comrades who didn’t sur- three hours from Rockwood, old times. SEE OBAMA, PAGE A5 ans of the Battle of Hamburger vive the fight. But in many re- Tenn. For him, the memorial is SEE MEMORIAL, PAGE A5 INDEX WHO WE ARE: Quinton Walker, 18, Hopkinsville MORE INSIDE OBITUARIES A2 Not long after he started easily. dozen local skaters. They www.facebook.com/ LOTTERY A3 skateboarding in his mid- He sometimes skate around kentuckynewera MY ANSWER A4 teens, Quinton Walker began learned sidewalks and a ledge in the or follow us on Twitter: LOCAL/STATE A6 practicing tre flips. these tricks lower part of BB&T Bank’s twitter.com/kentuckynewera OPINION A8 Some skaters call this trick a from friends parking lot. and by 360 flip. It involves flipping His other favorite spot is WEATHER A9 the skateboard in the air watching the smooth, flat asphalt on COMICS B4 width-wise while also rotat- YouTube TV, ASK AMY B5 ing it in a full circle. After sev- videos. He East 12th Street. CLASSIFIEDS B6 eral years of practice, Walker practices them even in cold A style all its own weather. Is there someone you know who deserves HOROSCOPES B9 finally has it down. Court rules that no other All the other tricks he can “If it’s not snowing, I’m at attention? We’d like to know. Contact us at PUBLIC NOTICES B9 perform — varial flips, kick BB&T, skating,” he said. 270-887-3238 or visit kentuckynewera.com. liquor can use a red wax seal. THATS THE TICKET! B10 flips, heel flips — came more He knows of fewer than a We’ll take it from there. Local/State A6 A2 Thursday, May 10, 2012 | OBITUARIES/IN THE NEWS | www.kentuckynewera.com 3 soldiers from Fort Bragg Hairstylist Vidal Sassoon dies at 84 LOS ANGELES (AP) — salon in his native London London, at a reputed cost killed in Afghanistan war Vidal Sassoon used his in 1954 but said he didn’t of $5,000, to create Mia Far- hairstyling shears to free perfect his cut-is-every- row’s pixie cut for the 1968 FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — The Department of Defense women from beehives and thing approach until the film “Rosemary’s Baby.” says three soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division at hot rollers and give them mid-’60s. Once the wash- Sassoon opened more sa- Fort Bragg have been killed in Afghanistan. wash-and-wear cuts that and-wear concept hit, lons in England and ex- Military officials on Wednesday identified the three sol- made him an international though, it hit big and many panded to the United States diers as 22-year-old Sgt. Jacob M. Schwallie of Clarksville, name in hair care. women retired their before also developing a Tenn.; 24-year-old Spc. Chase S. Marta of Chico, Calif.; and When he came on the curlers for good. line of shampoos and 19-year-old Pfc. Dustin D. Gross of Jeffersonville, Ky. scene in the 1950s, hair was His shaped cuts were an styling products bearing Officials said the three died May 7 in Ghazni province high and heavy — typically integral part of the “look” his name. His advertising of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their curled, teased, piled and of Mary Quant, the super- slogan was “If you don’t shellacked into place. Then star British fashion de- unit with an improvised explosive device. look good, we don’t look came the 1960s, and Sas- signer who popularized the The three were assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cav- good.” soon’s creative cuts, which miniskirt. The hairdresser also es- alry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team with the 82nd required little styling and He also often worked in Airborne. tablished Vidal Sassoon fell into place perfectly the 1960s with American Academies to teach aspir- every time, fit right in with designer Rudi Gernreich, ing stylists how to envision the fledgling women’s lib- who became a household ASSOCIATED PRESS haircuts based on a client’s eration movement.