News from November 11, 2004 issue

Marion native Patti Johnson was sworn in last month as a voting member of the Board of Regents at Western Kentucky University.

Johnson, the daughter of Jim and Amy Johnson, earned a position on the board by virtue of her election as president of Western's Student Government Association.

As a student regent, Johnson plays an integral part in university policy and serves as a voice for student body concerns. She will graduate in May with a major in corporate organizational communications, a minor in marketing and a leadership certificate.

While she's interested in a career in sales, Johnson learned from her experiences as SGA president and past vice-president that politics may be something in her future as well.

"I definitely want to stay involved in politics because I really enjoy the work we do," Johnson says.

The Board of Regents meets quarterly. Johnson will serve through July.

As president of SGA, Johnson serves on seven university committees.
A couple of hot topics being considered by the university are receiving attention by the SGA, including a proposal to incorporate Plus Minus Grading and another that would make faculty evaluations available to students.

"As SGA president, I will fight against Plus Minus Grading (and) I will fight for faculty evaluations," Johnson explains. Faculty at Western want to add pluses and minuses to the university grading system and are against making faculty evaluations available to students.

Johnson is also working on legislation that supports health-related issues concerning smoking at the entrances of campus buildings. "Our intent is to move them out away from the building," Johnson said. "We have long, small, narrow entrances to several buildings and people are there smoking, causing people to get second-hand smoke and on rainy days it's worse."

The SGA is proposing covered smoking areas away from the buildings.
Another issue endorsed by the SGA is civic involvement/civic engagement ­ an initiative that encourages students to not just go to class but to get more out of the college experience by doing volunteer hours or internships related to their fields of study.

Big elm could be a state record
When Percy Cook was just a wee child, he recalls an elm tree in the corner of the hog lot where baby pigs were born.

The tree was a few hundred feet from the house so his mother would get switches from the hedge rows closer the porch, he recalls.

Although the American elm has blossomed into perhaps the largest of its kind in Kentucky, Cook admits he can't remember anything particularly special about the behemoth.

"When I was a kid, it seems like it was not much bigger around than my body," says Cook, who has asked the Kentucky Division of Forestry to consider the tree for the record book.

"But you know how things are when you're a kid, you don't pay that much attention to them."

In fact, Cook never really thought much about the tree, despite its 19-foot circumference, until he was building a new driveway near where it sticks out of the earth next to Hebron Church Road, about seven-tenths of a mile north off Dam 50 Road.

"I just got to thinking about how big it was," Cook said, "and thought I'd look into it a little more."
Two foresters from the Kentucky Division of Forestry's Mayfield office came to inspect the tree a few weeks ago and preliminary indications are that the tree is the largest of its species in Kentucky.

The state inspects, authenticates and keeps records of its largest trees in a variety of species. In fact, Crittenden County has been home to three other record-holders in the recent past, but by all accounts the American elm may be the last of a dying breed.

Crittenden was once home to the largest cherry bark oak near Tolu, but a storm in 1993 took it down. Roger Simpson had the commonwealth's biggest Short Leaf Pine until a big wind a few years ago dropped it near Shady Grove.

"There was a white oak that was the largest in the state and maybe the nation on the Roe Williams place, but it was cut for timber about 20 years ago," Cook said.

Although he hasn't heard anything official from the state forestry department, Cook said the figures the two foresters came up with the day they measured it, gave it a slight edge over two other co-leaders for the species.

Trees are measured using a formula that takes into account their circumference at four and half feet from the ground, their height and the average radius of their canopy. Cook said the tree on his father's old farm, now owned by his nephews Mike and Steve Cook who live out of town, scored a 353. Based on the same formula, the current largest American elms in Kentucky are 348 and 351.

The elm tree's trunk branches into about a dozen secondary trunks less than 15 feet from its base, giving it plenty of shade value. The canopy measured 86 feet in diameter, Cook said.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. I.W. Cook, Percy grew up within sight of the big tree, but never really had enough admiration for its girth until now.

"It's a big sucker," he said. "I'm just waiting to hear from the guys with the forestry department to know for sure if it's a record."

Cook said the tree is lucky to have not been killed by the blight that attacked many elm trees several years ago. Being in the corner of the hog lot may also have contributed to its rapid growth. Lots of fertilizer.

Williams is new circuit judge

Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced Tuesday the appointment of Rene' Williams to the office of Circuit Judge for the 5th Judicial District. The district includes Crittenden, Union and Webster counties.

Judge Williams, a resident of Dixon, has been serving as District Judge for Crittenden, Union and Webster counties and is the Chief Regional District Judge for the Purchase Region. Williams is a member of numerous organizations including the Webster County Health Council and Webster County Professional Women's Club.

"Rene Williams has my full endorsement for this position because she has a proven track record as a District Judge and I am confident she will make an excellent Circuit Judge for the people of Crittenden, Union and Webster counties," said Robbie Rudolph, the Commonwealth's Secretary of Finance and Administration. Rudolph is a Murray native.

Williams replaces Judge Tommy Chandler, who retired recently.
The district's judicial nominating committee will now begin the search for a new district judge to replace Williams. That process could take up to 60 days once the nominating committee has selected three finalists and submitted their names to the governor.

Deer rifle season Saturday;
Brandon scores big buck
Kentucky whitetails are among the biggest in the country and there's no question that the quality of deer hunting in this state is driving up the cost of hunting property and leases.

Several local residents have commeted recently about the difficulty of finding hunting property any more. Most of it is bought or leased up by non-resident hunters. Kentucky has taken note and is raising substantially the cost of non-resident hunting licenses next year.

The quality of hunting in Kentucky is largely attributed to the one-buck limit. Habitat and management practices are key factors in the commonwealth giving up 43 Boone and Crockett bucks last year. And that's just the ones that were reported.
A Boone and Crockett whitetail must score a minimum of 160 in a series of measurments that determine the overall score for the deer's antlers. The formula gives equal weight to length and mass. There is also a non-typical category for deer with several abnormal points. The minimum score for non-typical whitetails is 185.

For example, the big buck Sam Brandon took last weekend with his bow and arrow would not qualify for the Boone and Crockett recordbook. The whitetail scored 155.37, which clearly makes the deer a trophy animal, but just shy of the necessary minimum for entry into the coveted B&C rankings. Actually, the buck would net a bit lower than that. Brandon's buck was scored green and only its gross score is noted here. Green means the antlers have not dried. Boone and Crockett requires a 60-day drying period for antlers, since they shrink a bit after the animal has been harvested. Also, there are deductions for abnormal points.
Brandon's buck had an unique or abnormal point inside of the G3 on the left side of the rack. The six-inch abnormal point would actually be a deduction in the net score.

Crittenden County has already given up two known 150-plus bucks in the archery season. Floyd Carpenter of Kevil bagged a 180 class buck in October and now Brandon has this big buck taken Friday afternoon just before dark.

"He came up about 4:45 p.m., and just thrashed the fool out of a little sapling," Brandon said. "When he finished thrashing the tree and stepped out, I took him at 15 yards."

The buck ran about 50 yards and fell. Brandon had used rattling antlers to call up the big deer in the northern part of Crittenden County.

Brandon is a Marion native but now resides in Lexington. He admits there is pretty good deer hunting in the counties surrounding his home in central Kentucky, but says nothing compares to Crittenden County bucks.

Rifle hunters will get their first crack at whitetails beginning Saturday morning. The modern firearm deer season will continue through Nov. 28.

Crittenden County gave up 2,586 deer last year. Kentuckians generally take about 150,000 deer during the fall seasons. That means that of the deer taken all of last year, only .0002 percent of them qualified for the B&C recordbook.

Although the chances of taking a real trophy class deer seem a bit remote based on those numbers, a hunter's knowledge and skill increases the odds dramatically. Savy hunters generally are consistent big-buck harvesters.
Additionally, Kentucky is absolutely one of the best places in the United States to be on opening weekend. After all, over the past seven seasons, only Illinois and Wisconsin haved produced more Boone and Crockett class bucks than Kentucky.
With cooler temperatures kicking in this weekend and the rut ready to take off in full gear, hunters should have plenty of opportunities for a buck.