News from March 10, 2005 issue


Regional jail concept dead
Leaders in Crittenden and Livingston counties say the regional jail concept appears dead.

Crittenden Judge-Executive Fred Brown and Livingston Judge-Executive Chris Lasher said late last week that talks regarding a two-county, full service jail have stalled.

"I'm not one to ever say never, but the chances of a regional jail look pretty bleak right now," said Brown, who pointed out that local officials continue to look at building a jail here on their own.

Lasher agreed that the regional jail concept hit a stumbling block in regard to location and the two sides were never able to overcome that obstacle.
"When we first started talking about this Union, Crittenden and Livingston counties were all involved," said Lasher. "At that point, Marion was the central location, but then Union backed out."

When it came to just Crittenden and Livingston, city officials in Salem stepped up and said they wanted the jail there. They offered property and said it was the logical spot because it was between the two county seats of Smithland and Marion.

Crittenden officials, who say they'd already bought property in Marion for the jail, were not willing to change their minds about the location.

Now, with the regional idea on the shelf, Brown says he's looking at another idea ­ Crittenden going it alone.

"We've looked at 200-bed, 150-bed, and 100-bed Class D jails, but the price structure on those just wouldn't work for Crittenden County alone," Brown said. "Right now we're looking a plans for a 75-bed full-service jail."

A Class D facility would hold only state prisoners and could not keep individuals held on local charges and awaiting court appearances. A full-service jail is certified to keep both local and state prisoners. The state pays $26 a day for its inmates which is a key factor in paying for such a facility.
Lasher said Livingston County would continue looking at other possibilities, too. Right now, its inmates are kept at Smithland in a Life Safety Jail, which is the same certification as the jail in Crittenden. Those types are quickly being phased out statewide.

Lasher said his county would continue using jails in other places to help meet the demand for cell space and in the future it may have to transport all of its prisoners.

"We have inmates in Calloway, McCracken and some women in Crittenden's jail," Lasher said. "So we're already about halfway."

Lasher said he didn't think Livingston would be interested in building its own jail. He said based on his figures, the debt and operation associated with a full-service jail would require doubling the county's property tax rate.
"And I don't see any palatability for that," Lasher said.

In Crittenden, Brown said the large Class D jails the county looked at were nearly $6 million. He said a smaller full-service jail would likely cost around $3 million. At that price, he said preliminary indications are that the county could afford it. Those details are still being considered, Brown said.

In regard to the regional jail, Brown said there is no animosity between the two counties over the deal falling through.

"We worked hard on making it work and we worked in good faith," he said. "But the same old thing cropped up that has stopped this thing the last two times. Location is the problem. Everybody wants it."

Police issue warrant after teen overdose

Father charged after son dies
A Marion man charged with second-degree manslaughter appeared in Crittenden District Court Wednesday morning for arraignment.

Police say Roger Lee Jenkins refused to aid his dying son and have charged him in connection with the boy's death.

A warrant filed by Marion police following an investigation states that Jenkins did nothing to help his 16-year-old son, Kyle, as he struggled to breathe and vomited Feb. 24 at their home in Marion.

The warrant states that Jenkins "failed to render aid to his son," even while the boy was "vomiting and suffering seizures, was denied medical attention by his father until he stopped breathing."

Kyle Jenkins had taken 30 300-milligram tablets of Wellbutrin that were in the house, the warrant filed last Thursday states. It also says Roger Jenkins has a medical background in nursing and "consciously disregarded his son's call for help" after he had ingested the pills.

Kyle Jenkins died at 12:30 a.m., Friday Feb. 25 at Crittenden Hospital.
Wellbutrin is a powerful prescription antidepressant, and the 300-mg dosage is the largest tablet that its manufacturer, Glaxo Smith Kline, makes.
Police Chief Kenneth Winn confirmed the arrest, but said there were no further details.

Winn did say that the boy's sister was also home at the time. After the boy quit breathing, he said they called for an ambulance.

"This is a very difficult case to work," Winn said.

An autopsy has been done, but there was no preliminary information available about the results, Crittenden County Coroner Terry Gilbert said.

Roger Jenkins was lodged in Crittenden County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.

Budget: $10.8 million for Crittenden
Crittenden County has about $10.8 million in projects approved in the Kentucky General Assembly's budget passed this week in Frankfort.

Of those funds in the state's two-year spending plan, the majority is appropriated for a new four-lane U.S. 641. Another large sum will be divided among the City of Marion and the Crittenden-Livingston Water District for water and sewer projects.

Livingston County will get $11.8 million in projects courtesy of the new budget, the centerpiece being a new $7.58 million justice center.

"This is a very good budget for Crittenden and Livingston counties," Rep. Mike Cherry (D-Princeton) said via phone from his Frankfort office Tuesday. "I am delighted to be in position to say that nonpartisanship helped get this budget passed. There's a lot in there that will require a funding stream down the road, but there are no wasteful projects in this budget."

The biggest chunk for Crittenden County comes in the form of $6.8 million for right-of-way purchase and utilities relocation for the U.S. 641 project. The road has been designed to go just east of the current highway. The first phase of the project will take the road from Marion to near Mott City. It is still unclear if the new highway would tie into Interstate 24 near Eddyville or go in a more eastwardly direction and connect to the West Kentucky Parkway near Princeton. Local leaders support the I-24 route.

Budget Line Items...
CRITTENDEN COUNTY
- $1.89 million for water and sewer projects
- $20,000 for Crittenden County Jail
- $6.88 million for U.S. 641 right-of-way and utility relocation
- $1.5 million for phase 2 design of U.S. 641
- $524,000 for Cave In Rock Ferry over next 2 years
Total $10.8 million
LIVINGSTON COUNTY
- $7.58 million for courthouse renovation
- $20,000 for Livingston County Jail
- $200,000 for Grand Rivers sewer project
- $100,000 for Ledbetter water & sewer
- $100,000 for Salem water & sewer
- $100,000 for Smithland sewer project
- $3.35 million for right-of-way and utilities relocation at Dyer Hill Curve
- $6.8 million for right-of-way and utilities relocation of U.S. 60 bridge at Ledbetter
- $350,000 for replacement of Deer Creek Bridge on Ky. 133
Total $11.8 million

Croft retires from coaching
Rocket basketball coach Jimmy Croft says he's hanging up the whistle to concentrate on other things in his life.

Croft, 47, is the winningest coach in Crittenden County history after just 10 years as the boys' head coach. His varsity boys' and girls' teams won 199 games over 15 seasons.

A 25-year veteran of the coaching ranks in Crittenden County, Croft was named the head boys' coach at his alma mater in 1995 and set about to change the course of basketball history. His teams were a combined 138-117, the best winning percentage among coaches with three or more years. They were Fifth District champion in 1998 for the first time in 40 years and in 2000 the boys won 20 games for the first time since Marion and Crittenden County consolidated schools. Under Croft, Crittenden played in the Second Region Tournament four times, three of those as district runnerup.

Croft, who could theoretically retire from teaching in two years, says he isn't ruling out coaching in the future. For now, however, he will concentrate on family matters, including following son Payton's possible future basketball career.
"We've had seven or eight kids go to college and play basketball during my coaching years and only once did I get a chance to go see one play," Croft said, pointing out that he sat for a game when former player and current coaching contemporary Shannon Hodge played at Centre.

Hodge was on Croft's first girls' team when he became head coach here in 1984. The Lady Rockets were 61-51 under Croft.

"It's just time for a change," he said. "If Payton can go to college and play somewhere I'd like to be able to follow him and I want to follow Timmy's (Hill) career, too."

Hill, who broke the school's all-time scoring mark this season, is considering the University of Tennessee at Martin, an Ohio Valley Conference team, for his future in basketball. Payton Croft has been contacted by some smaller schools in the area. His is Crittenden's all-time assists leader.

Coach Croft said his wife Denise, a long-time cheerleading coach, is also going to retire from that position.

"It's time to move on when you know you've done the best you can do," Croft said. "We've had a lot of very good kids and some good ball clubs. Sometimes it was a struggle to get where we wanted to be, but we've had some pretty good years."

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW CROFT
STACKS UP AGAINST OTHER
ROCKET BASKETBALL COACHES

CROFT'S RECORDS
With the Rockets
1995-1996.....6-16
1996-1997.....10-11
1997-1998.....19-8
1998-1999.....9-14
1999-2000.....20-10
2000-2001.....13-14
2001-2002.....14-14
2002-2003.....17-10
2003-2004.....16-9
2004-2005.....14-11
Boys' Total.....138-117
Girls' Total.....61-51
Overall Total.....199-168
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