News from July
29, 2004 issue
Hargis pleads to 2nd-degree
wanton endangerment
Suspended Crittenden County School Superintendent Fredericka Hargis
entered an Alford plea to second-degree wanton endangerment Wednesday
morning in Crittenden District Court.
An Alford plea means the defendant pleads guilty, but asserts
factual innocence.
Hargis was fined $500 and sentenced to 180 days in jail, all of
which was conditionally probated. As part of her probation, Hargis
will have to seek counseling.
Hargis, 49, had been originally charged with felony wanton endangerment
for running over the foot of Tracy Rozwalka after a confrontation
in a Marion beauty shop parking lot in February. In return for
her plea Wednesday, the charges were reduced to a misdemeanor.
Rozwalka told the court that she approved of the plea agreement.
Teachers convicted of a felony are no longer allowed to teach
school. A misdemeanor, however, does not mean revocation of their
teaching certificate.
Hargis, although still technically an employee of the Crittenden
School District, has already taken another job as principal of
Rutherford Elementary in Jefferson County. She declined to comment
when asked if she had resigned her position in Marion. Her attorney,
Allen Holbrook of Owensboro, said that is a separate matter.
The Crittenden County School Board suspended Hargis a few days
after she was charged with wanton endangerment in February. Yet,
the board said then that her criminal case had no direct bearing
on its reason for seeking to remove Hargis from her job. The board
charged her with insubordination and conduct unbecoming of a superintendent
when it voted unanimously to suspend Hargis, who had just a few
months earlier been given a four-year contract extension.
What happens next is unclear. The board has previously said that
it would hold a due process hearing to officially begin precedings
to remove Hargis from her position as superintendent once the
criminal case was complete. However, because Hargis has listed
her house for sale with an area real estate agent and taken a
new job in Louisville, a hearing to remove her may not be necessary.
Crittenden County School Board Attorney Zac Greenwell would not
comment about whether a due process hearing was necessary at this
point. He did say that the board will "interpret everything
that has transpired to this point and will make a determination
of how to proceed at its next meeting" at 7 p.m., on Aug.
10 at Rocket Arena.
Area pharmacy owners celebrates
anniversaries
Norris Glenn is celebrating half a century in the pharmaceutical
business this year.
Glenn, proprietor of Glenn's Apothecary in Marion and Glenn's
Prescription Center in Salem, has been in business in Salem since
1954 and in Marion since 1984.
Glenn opened the store in Salem at a time when none existed in
the town, fulfilling a key community need, he said.
The past five decades have seen major changes in the business
since Glenn opened Salem Drug store two years out of pharmacy
school. His business has seen computerization and on-line service
implemented, a far cry from the days when prescriptions were filled
out by hand. Drug prices have skyrocketed during his long career,
buoyed by the "greed" of the huge pharmaceutical corporations
like Pfizer, he said.
The Trigg County native remembers the days when some prescriptions
cost as little as 50 cents.
One thing has remained constant throughout the great changes the
business has seen, he said. Customers still place a premium on
good service of the personal kind that independent community stores
such as his are able to provide.
Glenn said the personal service his business has been able to
provide has been the key to the half-century long success of his
business.
"I think it all boils down to the treatment you give your
customers," he said.
Southern segment of new U.S.
641 at issue
Getting from Point A to Point B is never as easy as it sounds.
Just ask the Kentucky Department of Transportation officials and
their consultants who are charged with defining the best route
for the proposed new U.S. 641's southern route from Fredonia to
I-24 or the Western Kentucky Parkway.
While the northern section of the proposed new four-lane road
from Marion to Fredonia is much further along in the process,
the southern leg is moving up fast. In fact, highway department
officials hope to have the route nailed down by October or November.
Transportation officials met with area leaders and the media Monday
in Fredonia and Eddyville to go over current options for the new
road's southern portion. The segment will start just north of
Fredonia near the Crittenden-Caldwell line and travel between
10 and 14 miles to a major transportation artery, either I-24
or the parkway. Leaders in Crittenden County want the road to
bisect with I-24 near the Lyon County weigh station or near Kuttawa.
Highway department officials started out with 14 potential routes,
but after input from the public and other agencies, the state
has eliminated several options. Now, it has just eight possibilities.
Of those eight, most meet the desires of Crittenden County officials.
"Our position has always been that we want the road to go
to I-24," said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown.
A couple options still show the road ending up closer to Princeton,
connecting to either U.S. 62 or the parkway.
All of the routes go around Fredonia, but highway officials say
areas where sink holes are more likely may make an eastern corridor
less likely. Additionally, however, Mill Spring Bluff on the western
side of Fredonia is a sensitive area that officials want to avoid.
There will be public meetings to discuss the proposed routes on
Monday, Aug. 23 at 5 p.m., at the Lyon County Public Library and
on Tuesday, Aug. 24 at 5 p.m., at the Fredonia Lions Club building.
Despite getting closer to identifying an exact route, state transportation
officials say money is still a factor. Jimmy Wilson, a state highway
engineer, said so far there is only $1.5 million allocated for
the southern section, a drop in the bucket of what it's going
to eventually cost.