News from June 21, 2007 issue

Local News
The Crittenden Press (4 pages) PDF
(Selected pages 1A, 3A, 5A, 4B)
WARNING: PDF files will take longer to download, especially on low-speed ISPs.

New laws ready for streets
From Bluegrass music being crowned king to a minimum wage increase that is music to the ears of low-wage workers, several new Kentucky laws go into effect next Tuesday. A new speed limit on interstates and parkways was also among the new laws approve by lawmakers in the 2007 General Assembly.
Minimum wage earners in Kentucky will get a significant raise beginning Tuesday, with their hourly rate jumping 70 cents to $5.85. While the federal minimum wage remains at $5.15 per hour, Kentucky has joined numerous other states in imposing a higher wage requirements for employers who utilize unskilled labor.
A step-increase will see the minimum wage jump $2.10 over the next two years. An employee working a 40-hour week at the lowest wage currently earns $206 per week. After July 1, 2009, employers will be paying out nearly $100 more per week for that same employee when Social Security, workers compensation and employment taxes are added.
Another increase eyed more favorably by all across the state will be a 5 mph speed limit bump on selected portions of Kentucky interstates and parkways. The present 65 mph limit signs on those roads will soon show a large 7-0 indicating the change. That’s a welcome change to most travelers in a hurry to spend less time on the road.
“It should shave some time off my trip,” said Alisha Perry who drives from Frances to Hopkinsville for work everyday, utilizing Interstate 24.
The change brings Kentucky in line with other states’ speed restrictions on limited access roads. Perry said the biggest relief is having to no longer worry about the state’s lower speed limit when traveling between Tennessee and Kentucky.
Of the states surrounding Kentucky, only Illinois, Ohio and Virginia will retain the lower 65 mph limit. Seventeen states have a rural interstate speed limit of 65 mph or less.
A study was conducted that determined the 70 mph speed limit would keep Kentucky roads safe, said a state police public affairs officer.
“It concluded that there would be no adverse effects and no significant danger to highway safety by raising the speed limit to 70 mph,” said Stu Recke with Post 2 in Madisonville.
The Transporta-tion Cabinet will determine which segments of those superhighways will get the new speed limit. But just because the speed limit is increasing, that doesn’t mean Kentucky State Police will slack off on catching speeders.
“Like I tell people when they ask me how fast can they go over the posted speed limit, ‘If you travel at the posted speed limit, you won’t get a ticket for speeding,’ ” Recke said in an e-mail.
Also on Kentucky’s roads, school bus drivers will be prohibited from using cell phones while transporting students. The common-sense law aimed at reducing distractions already faced by bus drivers, won’t change things locally
Sharon Murray, director of transportation for Crittenden County schools, said the school system already prohibits the use of cell phones by drivers unless they are stopped or in case of emergencies. In most cases, she said, radio communication is used to speak with dispatchers.
Also beginning Tuesday, sex offenders will be required to include their e-mail, instant message and other Internet identities on the state’s sex offender registry. This comes a month after MySpace.com released to the state’s attorney general the names of 68 of its members believed to be sex offenders in Kentucky.
There are currently eight sex offenders registered in Crittenden County. You can search the registry at ksp
sor.state.ky.us.
In the courtroom, mothers who are breastfeeding will be excused from jury duty. Crittenden Circuit Clerk Madeline Henderson said that was an issue locally for the first time last December.
Families of deceased or disabled military veterans will also receive several benefits from new laws. A listing of these and additional new laws, see Page 1A.