Obituaries Hazard & Perry County
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B1 hazard-herald.com Vol. 103, Issue 4 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 20123 75 cents School board bracing for funding loss is adding to the SEEK ily reduce as well, because ber when he first cautioned Loss of enrollment leads to hit in state funds reduction officials are see- with fewer students the the board about potential ing in the county, Maggard district won’t be able to reductions that higher Cris Ritchie about our budget,” Jody as SEEK, the state’s basic explained. justify the same number of property taxes will also Editor Maggard, the district’s funding formula for educa- “This is not good news,” employees. lead to a cut in the amount finance officer, told the tion which takes into ac- he continued. “I wish like “If you’ve got 25 less stu- of money allocated for the HAZARD — Officials school board during a count student enrollment, anything I could come back dents in your building, that district. with Perry County Schools meeting in Hazard Thurs- among other things, when and say I’m not concerned is going to affect staffing,” He added on Thursday received state funding allo- day as he presented the determining allocations. with the draft budget and he said. that this draft budget also cations earlier this month, district’s draft budget for In Perry County a loss of I think we’re going to be Another factor contrib- makes assumptions, such and those numbers are not the next fiscal year. enrollment which drastical- fine. I cannot say that.” uting to this reduction, as the amount of taxes painting a very rosy finan- Maggard was referring ly affects average daily at- As a result of the loss, Maggard added, is a pro- collected, that could ulti- cial picture for the district. to a reduction of just over tendance, especially in stu- Maggard said site-based jected increase in property “There is nothing pretty $700,000 in funds known dents with special needs, allocations will necessar- taxes. He noted in Decem- See FUND | A2 Autopsy now indicates new cause of death in house fire Amelia Holliday staff reporter A house fire in the Scuddy community earlier this month may not have been the cause of death for two peo- ple originally thought to have died in the fire. Kentucky State Police said 64-year-old Sandra K. Melton and 35-year-old Suzy Rebecca Melton were found in the house after the fire had been extinguished, and were pronounced dead on the scene Sunday morning. During an autopsy this week, however, the state medi- cal examiner found evidence to investigate the possibility of foul play. “At first there was no indication of suspicious circum- stances, and then after an autopsy was completed, the medical examiner’s office preliminary findings indicate that both causes of death are not consistent with some- one who dies from a house fire only,” Trooper Tony Watts with the Kentucky State Police said. cris ritchie | Hazard Herald Officials said preliminary investigation indicated the Authorities quickly cordoned off the parking lot at HCTC last following a shooting that killed three people. fire was started at approximately 6:16 a.m. by a skillet on the stove. Watts said the medical examiner’s office has not com- Case of accused shooter to go before grand jury pleted their investigation, nor have they determined the exact cause of death. Cris Ritchie and Amelia Holliday City announces contribution HAZARD —Three people shot to death last week in a college parking lot were laid to rest Monday following for Main Street enhancement funeral services held at Perry Central High School in Haz- ard, and now the grand jury is set to hear the case against Cris Ritchie For years the picnic their accused murderer. editor shelter next to City Hall, Dalton Lee Stidham, 21, of Bulan, allegedly used a built more than three de- semi-automatic pistol he purchased earlier in the day to HAZARD — Though at cades ago during the first shoot and kill 20-year-old Caitlin Cornett, 53-year-old amelia Holliday | Hazard Herald one time Hazard’s Main term of the late Mayor Jackie Cornett, and 12-year-old Taylor Cornett on the eve- A temporary memorial was erected at the college in Haz- Street served as the city’s Bill Gorman, along with ning of Tuesday, Jan. 15. The incident took place in the ard where the public could pay their respects to the vic- main economic and so- the adjacent amphithe- tims of last week’s shooting. The college announced on parking lot of the First Federal Center, located at Hazard cial artery, in past years ater, constructed during Community and Technical College. Friday that the memorial was being extended an extra day the city has expanded its the term of former Mayor Authorities arrived at the college at approximately 5:50 after a large outpouring of support from the community. borders and, as a result, Bill Morton, have been a p.m. after a call was made reporting the shooting, Hazard its economic base. But and shortly after leaving the scene turned himself in to mainstay to downtown. Police Chief Minor Allen said during a press conference there remains potential the Kentucky State Police post in Hazard early Tuesday But like most things called last week at Hazard City Hall. in Hazard’s downtown, evening. “When my officers arrived, they found three victims in said Hazard Mayor Nan eventually will, the shel- the parking lot, two of which were already deceased,” he “It’s definitely not an active shooter situation involving ter’s age is showing. the school in any way,” Allen explained. “It’s something Gorman, who announced said. this month a project de- This month, Mayor The shooting was contained in the parking lot at the that occurred off campus that just spilled into the parking Nan Gorman announced lot of the school.” signed to enhance Main college, and Allen said it appeared that the incident possi- Street. See CITY | A2 bly stemmed from a domestic dispute. Stidham and Cait- The college immediately went into lock down in the lin Cornett, who shared a son together, were apparently at moments following the shooting, said HCTC President the college to exchange the child for visitation. Dr. Stephen Greiner, adding that all of the school’s proto- Stidham did not enter any of the buildings on campus, See SHOOTER | A2 Police search for suspect in Viper shooting Amelia Holliday about a possible shooting on Dusty trator then fired several shots through staffr eporter Road in the Viper community at ap- the door before fleeing the scene. proximately 1:57 a.m on Wednesday, Clark was taken to Hazard ARH VIPER — Police in Perry County Jan. 16. and transferred to the University of are continuing to search for a suspect Officials with the police depart- Kentucky Medical Center for treat- in connection to a shooting last week ment said preliminary investigation ment of non-life threatening injuries. on Maces Creek. indicates Johnny R. Clark, 38, of Viper This investigation is ongoing cris ritchie | Hazard Herald Kentucky State Police in Hazard re- received multiple gunshot wounds and there have been no arrests Plans are underway to replace the picnic shelter next to City ceived a call from Perry County 911 while inside his residence. The perpe- made at this time. Hall in Hazard. 2006 Saturn Vue V6 2005 Honda Civic 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 2001 Chevrolet Venture LT 80K miles 77K miles 62K miles 136K miles stock# E20343A stock#EX024A stock#E300571 stock# E20513B $8,450 $9,207 Good Credit Bad Credit No Problem Call Call 1-877-884-0291 $ www.richmondhondahasit.com $ 9,980 Plus tax, license, and dealer fees for vehicle preparation and support and any dealer installed accessories. 4,065 60387504 A2 • Wednesday, January 23, 2013 THE HAZARD HERALD www.hazard-herald.com Hazard school board discusses renovation progress, budget plans Amelia Holliday tions are slightly behind schedule at hallway where everybody was com- thing that we would want to see Regina Cornett, the district’s Staff Reporter the moment, plans are still for the plaining about it being so cold, I any of our children hurt,” Varney financial officer, presented the schools to be finished in the spring. walked through there today. [It said. “It takes a community, and I district’s draft budget for the 2012- HAZARD — The Hazard Inde- “As we get further along we can was] comfortable,” Johnson said. know our employees have done an 2013 fiscal year, which Cornett said pendent Board of Education held start tightening up those dates and The board also took note of other excellent job.” will essentially just roll over as the its first regular meeting of 2013 start pinning down a date for com- concerns and possible issues com- The board also adopted a tech- budget from last year. The board Thursday night at the central office pletion,” Clark said. ing from the construction, including nology plan for 2013. John Quillen, unanimously approved the budget. to elect board officials as well as The board voted in 2011 to a dust problem at Roy G. Eversole, the district technology coordinator, Revenue for the month of Decem- discuss how renovation projects are switch the district’s primary and as well as some safety concerns that said the plan is virtually the same as ber was $546,922 for the Hazard going in the school system.