COMMUNITY RECORDER
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER B1
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Bellevue, Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Newport, Southgate E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, J a n u a r y
7, 2010
Web site: NKY.com B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
‘Signs’ welcome new members
Mallory Macht and Sarah Gibson
Volume 13, Number 46 © 2010 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
Thank you very mulch
Brian Keen of Mount Washington, above, carries buckets of mulch from the annual Christmas Tree Recycling Party sponsored by WNKU 89.7 FM and Asplundh, a tree service company, Saturday, Jan. 3. George Best, left, of Lakeside Park, and his great-niece Alexis Best, 5, watch as a worker for Asplundh grabs a Christmas tree out of Best’s car to be recycled as mulch.
Volunteer all year
The annual holiday rush of volunteers to local nonprofits sides is over, but the need for willing hands of help remains year-round. Opportunities for helping the needy exist for all ages, and for almost any schedule. For listings of specific needs for volunteers go to www.nkyhelps.org or nkysafetynet.org. For more see this week’s Life section. LIFE, B1
Recipe earns dough
Amy Gangloff has been chosen as one of the winners of Klosterman Baking Company “Family Secret Recipe Contest.” Her recipe for Breakfast Cereal French Toast has earned the Alexandria resident free bread for a year. For more and for Gangloff’s recipe see inside. NEWS, A4
Tourney hoops
After a month full of holiday tourney hoops, small schools and big schools will be battling it out in separate basketball showcases the week of Jan. 11. The road to the All “A” Classic state basketball tournament begins Jan. 11 for area girls’ hoops teams with their regional tournaments. SPORTS, A6
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CHRIS MAYHEW/STAFF
Budget looms as legislators back at work By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
Legislators started a new session in Frankfort Jan. 5, and the top item on the agenda is a budgetary battle on how to fix a projected $890-million budget shortfall for the next two years. School funding and the possible reemergence of a gambling bill are also factors intertwined with the budget discussion. The General Assembly’s session continues Monday through Friday through April 13 with federal holidays being off days. Rep. Dennis Keene, D-Wilder, said his first priority will be on the budget, the shortfall, and to not regress on providing vital public services in the process. “I think we can’t take any steps backward as far as education and public protection,” Keene said. “I’m talking police and fire. I think we need to protect as much as possible.” Gov. Steve Beshear will produce his recommendations for the budget to the legislature Jan. 19. But, that’s just the start of the budget work, Keene said. “The real budget will come out of the house, because that’s where it starts,” he said. Keene said he’s starting by being ready to listen to ideas. “We’ve got to figure out some kind of enhancements, and I’m not sure at all that that’s going to be raising taxes,” he said.
Crank up your car-buying knowledge.
Tracking the legislature Sessions and committee meetings of the house and senate of the Kentucky General Assembly are broadcast live online at www.ket.org/legislature. Contact information for legislators, the legislative calendar and daily schedule, and other information is available online at lrc.ky.gov. To contact a legislator call 1-800-372-7181. For committee meeting schedules call 1-800-633-9650, and to track the status of a bill call 1-866-840-2835 or visit kentucky.gov/services/billwatch to monitor a bill’s progress. One idea is dropping the sales tax from six cents to five cents, but then spreading the burden to more people including service industries and some legal work that’s been exempt from paying the tax. The same kind of bill was attempted a couple of years ago, but without dropping the sales tax amount, Keene said. “I remember I voted against it at the time because it affected so many small businesses, gardeners and others where that’s extra income,” he said. Bringing back a gambling bill might be the one way to raise revenue, Keene said. “Whether gambling will even come back or not we probably won’t even know that until February,” he said. But, if things are headed toward cutting education that could be a game changer, Keene said. “I think that may change the attitude of some legislators of looking outside the box to save those jobs,” he said. “We’ll be lis-
tening to every kind of story, gambling could be part of the issue.” Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery said he understands legislators have a tough job ahead where it comes to budget decisions. But Pendery said he wants legislators to keep local governments in mind by not deferring cuts downhill as expenses local government has to bear. Sen. Katie Stine, R-Southgate, issued her view of the look ahead to the 2010 legislative session in a news release. “It will be a 60-day session in which our first priority will be developing a budget under serious financial constraints,” Stine said in the news release. Stine continued to say that looking at pro-life legislation, legislative retirement reform, government transparency and allowing people to decided upon whether they’d like to expand gambling will be among other issues on the agenda. “It promises to be a busy session,” Stine said.
St. John United Church of Christ on Fairfield Avenue in Bellevue is taking extra steps to be accessible to all people. This year the church is offering a sign language interpreter at the 10:30 a.m. mass the first Sunday of every month. “Our church is a very open and affirming kind of congregation with an accessible to all approach to ministry,” said Keith Haithcock, pastor of the church. “This is just one of the steps we are taking to expand our congregation’s ability to communicate and reach out.” The church recently added a PA system and large print church materials and in the next few weeks it will have assisted hearing devices to aid those who may have difficulties hearing or reading. Haithcock said they are also in the process of making the parking lot and entire first floor of the building handicap accessible. While the church currently doesn’t have any parishioners who need the interpreter, Haithcock said he hopes to offer the service every week if people who need it start attending and funding is available. “We’re hoping to help those people who are looking for a place they can attend that has what they need,” Haithcock said. For more information about St. John United Church of Christ visit www.stjohnchurch.net or call 261-2066.
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AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
A sign language interpreter interprets the mass at St. John United Church of Christ Sunday, Jan. 3. The church is offering an interpreter at its 10:30 a.m. mass the first Sunday of the month.