FLORENCE
RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Florence and Union 75¢
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012
PLAYOFF TIME A8 Florence Freedom earn first playoff berth in 10-year history.
BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
Pool attendance takes dive
Fewest visitors in center’s history By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
Boone County sheriff's spokesperson Tom Scheben talks with the children of slain Bill and Peggy Stephenson. PATRICK REDDY/THE ENQUIRER
Killer’s DNA back Who’s the match? $100K for answer By Brenna R. Kelly bkelly@nky.com
FLORENCE — Standing outside the suburban condo where his parents were killed more than 15 months ago, Doug Stephenson had a message for the person who might think he or she got away with murder. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “We now know who you are genetically, and it’s just a matter of time until we find you. The pain and heartache you have caused our family cannot be measured.” Boone County Sheriff’s officials said Aug. 30 that they have the DNA of the person who killed Bill and Peggy Stephenson, both 74, in their Oakbrook condo on May 29, 2011. Now they just have to match it to someone. To keep the tips coming in that might lead to a match, Doug and his two siblings also announced that they are raising the reward for information leading to an arrest from $5,000 to $100,000.
William and Peggy Stephenson, both 74, were slain in May 2011. PROVIDED
The reward will be featured on large banners along Interstate 71/75 in Boone County. “We will never stop looking for you,” Doug Stephenson said. “One day we will stand face-toface in a courtroom and you will face justice for the despicable, cowardly act you committed against our family.” Bill and Peggy Stephenson were well known in Boone County and heavily involved in Union
Baptist Church, where he was deacon and she played organ for 42 years. They were also part of a large Union family; Bill Stephenson was one of 14 children. The killer’s DNA profile has been entered into the FBI’s database but no match has been found, said Tom Scheben, sheriff’s spokesman. It has also been compared against several persons of interest in the case, none of whom were found to be a match, he said. The DNA also does not match that of the Stephensons’ nephew, Charles “Steve” Stephenson, who is charged in Indiana with killing a 67-year-old friend. Whoever killed the Stephensons left the DNA in several locations inside the condo on Ridge Edge Drive, Scheben said. Kentucky State Police laboratory technicians were able to isolate the DNA, a task Scheben described as finding a needle in a haystack. He would not say what type of tissue the DNA came from or
OLD FASHION DAY
CHUY'S TO OPEN
Walton throwing its biggest celebration of the year. B1
A Tex-Mex restaurant coming Nov. 6 on Houston Road. A3
See DNA, Page A2
FLORENCE — Florence city officials believe a scorching summer kept visitors away from the pool. The 2012 season brought in the least visitors in the Florence Family Aquatic Center’s nineyear history. A little more than 44,000 swimmers came through the Florence pool this summer, drawing 561 visitors a day. This is down from about 48,000 last year and well below the 70,012 in 2005, the pool’s best year ever. “A lot has to do with weather,” said Vanessa Lenear, parks and recreation administrator for the city of Florence. Pool attendance started strong, but when temperatures started topping 100 degrees in late June and early July attendance dropped off, Lenear said.
The Florence Family Aquatic Center saw the lowest attendance of its nine-year history this summer. FILE PHOTO “With it being so hot this year, people just weren’t coming out,” she said. Lenear and her staff will spend the offseason finding ways to bring more visitors in next year. “We’ll be getting together and coming up with ideas for some incentives for members to keep their memberships and for daily See POOL, Page A2
Local Democrat attends convention First delegate from Boone in 20 years By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
WALTON — Nearly 6,000 delegates are swarming upon Charlotte, N.C., for the 2012 Democratic National Convention Sept. 4-6, and Walton resident Dennis Repenning is excited to be one of them. “I’m tickled that I was elected as a delegate for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District,” Repenning said. An Erlanger attorney, Repenning has been involved with the Democratic Party for decades, and he admits it has been an inter-
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esting few years for the party in Northern Kentucky. “It’s tough being a Democrat in Boone County,” he said. Repenning Repenning is the first delegate elected from Boone County in 20 years, he said. Being from Kentucky, Repenning doesn’t expect his state to get much attention during the convention or the election, Repenning said. “We don’t fully expect the president will win Kentucky,” he said. See DEMOCRAT, Page A2 Vol. 17 No. 51 © 2012 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Saturday
9.15.11
13 FARM STOPS! RAIN OR SHINE! FAMILY FUN!
Visit from
9 to 5
To download the tour map, please visit www.kentoncountyextension.org