News from January
27, 2005 issue
Hargis
files suit against school board
Fredericka Hargis is suing the Crittenden County Board of Education
for wrongful termination of her contract.
Hargis, who was fired by the school board on Dec. 22, filed the
lawsuit last Wednesday. The board fired her after a 10-month suspension
that was issued just days after Hargis was charged with felony
wanton endangerment in February 2004. Hargis later entered an
Alford plea in Crittenden District Court to a lesser misdemeanor
charge of wanton endangerment for running over the foot of Tracy
Rozwalka of Marion.
The confrontation in a beauty shop parking lot with Rozwalka had
purportedly started because of an anonymous six-page letter critical
of Hargis and others in the school system. Hargis also has a defamation
lawsuit pending in circuit court against 13 individuals and businesses
who she says were responsible for disseminating the letter.
Hargis is currently working as an elementary school principal
in Jefferson County.
In her latest set of charges, Hargis argues that the local school
board breached her contract when it quit paying her April 22,
2004. She had been suspended with pay originally.
Hargis claims the school board fired her for grounds not originally
in the "Charges for Removal" set forth by the board
in February of 2004. The lawsuit also says the board did not properly
investigate the charges against her or consider the educational
performance of students in the school system when it fired her.
The suit calls the allegations against Hargis "arbitrary,"
"generalized" and "capricious," and therefore
insufficient cause for firing her. It says she was denied a fair
hearing on the issues and charges against her and that her Due
Process Rights were denied.
The lawsuit lists 18 points of contention regarding her removal
as superintendent and justification for financial relief in the
matter. She is asking for a settlement in an amount to compensate
her for the breach of contract and wrongful termination, but does
not list an exact amount. It also asks for punitive damages and
a trial by jury.
The Crittenden County Board of Education has 20 days to respond
to the lawsuit.
School officials declined an opportunity to respond to the lawsuit.
Couple
planning RV park near town
Susan and Jerry Mobley say they are serving something different
than hungry diners at their barbecue restaurant.
This time, it's a need.
The owners of S&J BBQ have filled a much-needed request in
Crittenden County by starting an RV park on their property off
U.S. 60. Located at the old drive-in theater location about a
mile east of Marion, the park is still in its infancy but the
Mobleys plan to have 10 hook-ups, hopefully by spring.
Though it's just getting off the ground, the park already has
a customer, a construction employee who's rented a space behind
S&J BBQ since mid-December.
"We could have had five renters by now if we had it ready,"
said Jerry Mobley.
Some work still needs to be completed on the park's plumbing system,
but when it's complete, potable water, electrical hook-ups and
individual waste disposal systems will be available at each of
the 10 RV spaces.
Marion Main Street Director Rose Crider said an RV park is something
that has been needed for years in Crittenden County.
She has fielded many calls during the last four years from travelers
looking for a place to hook up their motor homes in Marion.
"It is more frequent during warm weather, but we are very
often asked about it during events in town, and we are absolutely
thrilled to know we have a place to send people," Crider
said. "It is terribly important we have one."
The park should compliment the restaurant, Moberly said.
"One day we were sitting here talking about all the room
we've got here, and we decided this would be a way to make money
on the property," Mobley said. Plans to expand the dining
room of the barbecue restaurant were put on hold when the Mobleys
set plans in motion for the RV park.
While many RV owners ask about a park when visiting or passing
through Crittenden County, the Mobleys expect to capitalize on
the new business during Crittenden County hunting seasons and
the Little Sturgis Rally each fall in neighboring Union County.
Rental fees will be between $15-$17 a night with discounts given
for longterm guests.
Group
planning gas exploration here
A Henderson-based company is leasing rights to search for natural
gas in Crittenden County.
Audubon Oil and Gas, LLC is currently contacting landowners mostly
in the northern section of the county between Tolu and Sturgis.
Mark Hughes, owner of the company, says Audubon Oil and Gas is
leasing the rights to search for natural gas or perhaps other
natural resources. The rights are actually being leased by a third-party,
an unnamed company that Hughes says does not want to be identified
at this point.
"It's a legitimate company... a substantially large company,"
he said.
Hughes said Audubon Oil and Gas is only the broker handling the
leasing process and that the exploration company has chosen to
maintain a low profile for now.
"We have several field representatives down in that area
right now and they will continue to contact people about leasing,"
Hughes said.
The company wants a large number of acres before it begins drilling,
but Hughes wouldn't say exactly how many. He also said large landowners
are being contacted first, but that smaller landowners may be
offered leases in order to "tie up certain areas."
Hughes would not disclose the price being paid for leases, but
he did say that landowner royalties would equal one-eighth of
any natural gas found and extracted. Natural gas, he said, is
worth about $6.25 per 1,000 cubic feet.
William Westberry, a Marion native who is in the oil and gas business
in Texas, said there is certainly gas located in the New Albany
Shale, a subsurface structure well known to geologists and exists
under Crittenden County.
However, the gas resources generally found in New Albany Shale
are low volume, about 50,000 cubic feet per day, Westberry and
other local observers said.
"No one really knows until a prudent, experienced and adequately
financed gas exploration and eroduction company makes a serious
attempt by drilling many wells and trying various well completion
chemical and formation fracturing treatments," Westberry
said.
Over the past 20 years, about a dozen companies have looked for
natural gas in Crittenden County, but none has found adequate
volume to recover it and pipe it. A pipeline would have to be
built and connected to one of the regional lines that already
exists. There is one large natural gas line that passes through
Caldwell County south of Fredonia.
Hughes said Audubon Oil and Gas started working on lease agreements
about 4-5 months ago and it may be a year or more before its client
company is ready to begin drilling for natural gas.
If gas is eventually extracted here, the county would also benefit
from a three to four percent severance tax.
"It might be a win-win situation for Kentucky, Crittenden
County and the local farm and mineral owners," continued
Westberry. "Any attorney familiar with oil and gas leases
will tell you that the dollar amount of the up front lease signing
bonus and the royalty percentage are not the only factors in determining
a good mineral lease."