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Tragedy inspires Union children By Emily Teaford
Volume 133 Number 44 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
$1,500 cash giveaway
Through July 24, you can win daily cash prizes and get entered for a $500 jackpot from CincyMomsLikeMe.com. Go to MomsLikeMe.com/cincycontes ts for all the info.
A mission of mercy
An ordinary red-brick house sits atop a hill on Turfway Road. Occupants are a family of strangers all working for the same thing: a better life. Since 2001, Mercy Maternity Home has been housing pregnant women ages 18-25. Applicants are accepted at any stage of pregnancy and can stay up to four months. – LIFE, PAGE B1
Seen around town
This monarch butterfly was spotted on July 13 in Belleview by Bob Jonas. If you have an interesting photo to share, send an e-mail to ndaly@nky.com.
Knothole finals
The Knothole baseball Division 2 tournament is nearing crunch time. Six Northern Kentucky regional champions will play for the city championships beginning Saturday, July 25. – SPORTS, PAGE A10
Kings Island bound Readers who won tickets to Kings Island as part of our Readers Choice survey are: • Mark Class of Alexandria • Michael Brunner of Cincinnati • Tara Reese of Hamersville • Darla Hartmann of Cleves Watch the newspaper for more Readers Choice announcements in coming weeks. For the Postmaster
Published weekly every Thursday. Periodical postage paid at Florence, KY 41042 USPS 0060780 Postmaster: Send address change to The Boone County Recorder 3635 O’Hara Rd., Erlanger, KY 41018 Annual Subscription: Weekly Recorder & Sunday Enquirer In-County $18.02; Weekly Recorder only all other in-state $23.32 Out-of - state $27.56; Kentucky Sales Tax Included
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eteaford@nky.com
Near the end of a cul-de-sac on a residential road in Union, a brightly colored beach umbrella shades a table full of cups. A girl stands holding a poster advertising lemonade for $1. This particular lemonade stand, however, has a purpose: help the Hunt family rebuild their house. On July 11 at 7:50 a.m. the Union Emergency Services Alliance responded to a call about a house on fire on Farmcrest Drive. Chief Michael Morgan said that the fire was under control by 8:34 but that the house was completely destroyed. The Hunt family consists of two adults and four children. Dan Molique lives on the street and said that people have been driving by to see the destruction. “We live on a cul-de-sac and haven’t seen so many people (drive through) in 13 years,” Molique said. The next day, Miranda Maertz, 13, started selling lemonade for $1. Maertz, along with her sister Danielle and other neighborhood children, have raised more than $500. “My little sister Miranda came up with the idea of selling lemonade because of all the people driving by to see the house,” Danielle Maertz said.
EMILY TEAFORD/ STAFF
Neighborhood children sell lemonade for $1 in the hopes of helping the Hunt family rebuild their home. Danielle Maertz said the siding on her family’s house was melted from the fire but that it was minor compared to losing an entire house. Molique said the Maertzes and their friends have been outside
selling lemonade every day. “It’s neat to see the kids take the initiative and help out,” Molique said. On July 26, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is hosting a fundraiser for the family. Ten percent of any receipt that
accompanies a flier advertising the event will be donated to the family. The cause of the fire is still under investigation but Chief Morgan does not believe it to be suspicious.
Commission votes down Walton sign By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
The Walton Town Center may get another sign, but not with the planning commission’s approval. The Boone County Planning Commission voted 8-3 to deny the request for a second sign for the town center. Plans called for a 50-foot-tall sign on the Walton Town Center property that could be seen from Interstate 75. “It was a strange one,” said
“I’ve never seen a request like this. That doesn’t make it bad.”
Mitchell Light Assistant zoning administrator
Assistant Zoning Administrator Mitchell Light, who handled the sign request. Some members decided to vote down the request because the sign could have blocked other signs near it, Light said.
“Some of them felt it was too far from the town center itself,” he said. The distance made the request an unusual one, Light said. “I’ve never seen a request like this,” he said. “That doesn’t make it bad.” In anticipation of the sign being voted down, Mayor Phillip Trzop expressed frustration toward the Planning Commission last month – noting that the commission also denied the request for the 35-foottall town center sign on Mary
Grubbs Highway and the town center itself. “They haven’t done us one favor,” Trzop said at the June 8 City Council meeting. Although the planning commission denied the request for the new sign, City Council can overturn the decision, like they did for the town center and its existing sign. Trzop confirmed that council has discussed their next move, but declined to comment about what it might be.
Officials: 5 deaths unusual, not alarming By Paul McKibben pmckibben@nky.com
Boone County has experienced several criminal cases involving fatalities in recent months but officials say the cases aren’t related. “We can go five years without a homicide much less five in a matter of months,” Boone County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Tom Scheben said, later adding there is nothing to connect these cases. In March, two Union residents were arrested in connection with the death and disappearance of a Hebron man. Last month, a Cincinnati man was arrested in a case where his wife fell out of a car and was run over near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Also in June, Union City Administrator Warren
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Moore and his wife, Madge, were fatally shot at their Indian Hill Drive house. Then in July, a Hebron man was accused of murdering his infant daughter in their home. Boone / Gallatin Commonwealth’s Attorney Linda Tally Smith said there are not many violent offenses or offenses of a sexual nature that are random or stranger-type situations. She said the majority of homicides and serious criminal offenses that take place are between victims and suspects who know each other. “I’d say between the two counties that we have, Boone and Gallatin, they are both very, very safe counties from a violent-crime perspective, but it’s impossible to predict really with any accuracy what factors go into rise in homiciderelated offenses,” Smith said.
Scheben said there is no reason for the public to be alarmed about the five deaths since March. In Florence last year there were two murders, the only ones in Boone County. Altogether, there were 2,359 crimes involving arson, assault, auto theft, burglary, larceny, murder, rape, and robbery last year in Boone County. In 2007, the number was 3,103. That’s a 24 percent decrease. The spate of death cases comes at a time of tight budgets for state and local governments. Smith said her office has lost four people since October of last year. The work of her staff is more than just criminal trials. She said with all of the departments in the county, her office works hand-inhand with them from the moment they find out about these things happening.
“From the inception of any case of any magnitude, we’re normally up in the middle of the night with them drafting search warrants and arrest warrants, all that sort of thing,” she said. The sheriff’s department’s 2009 budget (its fiscal year is a calendar year unlike the state and the Boone County Fiscal Court) didn’t include any money for new personnel this year. Seven vacant full-time positions weren’t filled. Of the seven positions, six were deputy posts. “We’re fortunate here in that we are still large enough and we operate as a team,” Scheben said. “So if we need somebody in patrol for instance to help out in investigations on something like this, they’re more than willing to do it ... and vice versa.”
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