RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Florence E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, D e c e m b e r 2 4 , 2 0 0 9
Volume 15 Number 14 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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’Tis the season for hanging lights and gathering with friends and family to celebrate the holidays. Share your holiday party and Christmas light photos at NKY.com/Share to spread the cheer in your community. We’ll publish your pictures online and your photo may even appear in your local newspaper. Log on to start sharing today.
Get breaking news on Twitter, blog
Find out what’s going on as news happens in Boone County. You can read updates several times a day on the Boone Blog, http://news. nky.com/booneblog. Get regular updates about Boone County news on Twitter as well: • twitter.com/McKibbenNews • twitter.com/Nancy_Daly • twitter.com/crkysports
It’s looking a lot like Christmas
Actually it’s been looking a lot like Christmas through most of December. We’ve compiled these photos from activities in Boone County including Walton Christmas on Main, Florence Elementary’s Kicks for Kids Christmas celebration and Breakfast with Santa. There’s also photos submitted by readers of your favorite holiday scenes. – LIFE, PAGE B1
Senator proposes texting ban
A state senator from Louisville has prefiled a bill for next year’s session of the General Assembly that would make it illegal to send text messages while driving. A person operating a motor vehicle would not be allowed to write, send or read text messages using a personal communication device. – STORY, PAGE A4
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Neighbors step up for slain airman
200 flags and put them on mailboxes and along sidewalks throughout the neighborhood in The family of Tech. Sgt. Antho- Campbell’s honor. Ben Longshore, 16, an Eagle ny Campbell learned at 2 a.m. Tuesday that he died while serv- Scout and St. Henry District High School student, came up with ing in Afghanistan. Campbell, 35, a 1992 Boone plans for a 20-foot flagpole and County High School graduate, plaque honoring Campbell at the died from wounds suffered from subdivision’s entrance. “When I heard the detonation about Anthony it of an improvised Related story, A5 kind of hit me explosive device hard, because our in Helmand whole neighborProvince. hood is so close,” On a Florence Longshore said. street lined with Becker said flags as well as there has been a Christmas decononstop flow of rations, his people offering neighbors have condolences, rallied together bringing food and to support his offering to help. wife Emily, One neighbor voldaughter Jordan unteered to help Campbell, 7, Campbell’s chilRyker Campbell, dren get outfits for 2, and stepson the funeral. Devin Ruberg, Arrangements are 11. currently pending. “You can’t “Our neighborask for better hood is absolutely neighbors. My NANCY DALY/STAFF amazing,” Becker heart bleeds for their family. It’s Flags line sidewalks throughout the said. B e c k e r a rough time for Florence neighborhood of Tech. Sgt. them,” said Anthony Campbell who died Dec. 15 in described Campbell, a former pipTracy Becker, a Afghanistan. efitter who’d neighbor who has been helping make arrange- worked a few months as a Cincinnati police officer before his ments. “It’s overwhelming for her,” deployment in October, as “a funshe said of Campbell’s wife. “She loving guy who likes to cut it up is touched by all the emotions and and have a few beers with the neighbors when he’s here.” the outpouring of sympathy.” She said the Air Force Reservist Three neighbors in their Persimmon subdivision in Florence – was gone a lot because of his Amberly Jackson, Nancy Long- work and his Air National Guard shore and Peggy Foster – bought duty in Louisville. By Nancy Daly ndaly@nky.com
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Anthony “Tony” Campbell, a Cincinnati police officer and Kentucky air guardsman who was killed in Afghanistan, is shown with wife Emily; stepson Devin Ruberg, 11, daughter Jordan, 7, and son Ryker, 2. More coverage, Page A5. “He sacrificed some of his time with his family to do what in his heart he was driven to do,” Becker said of Campbell’s dual responsibilities as a cop and a military man. Becker praised Campbell – a 35-year-old bomb technician whose job was to disarm explosive devices found by troops and villagers – for his courage. “I am proud of him that he was not afraid,” she said. “He didn’t want to be pushing papers. He
always kept pushing further to accomplish what he wanted to do. Not a lot of men have that courage, strength and determination to go over there and protect our freedoms like that.” Becker said Emily Campbell talked to her husband the day before he died. During the call he had also talked with his son Ryker. “We’re all going to help her through it. We’ll be here for her as long as she needs it.”
Home gets a Christmas ‘makeover’ By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
Production crews packed Towering Ridge Lane at 8 a.m. Dec. 18 to create a Christmas miracle. The sparsely decorated home of Tim and Niki Hemmert got a visit from DIY Network’s “Desperate Landscapes.” The Hemmert home sits in a cul-de-sac full of houses lavishly decorated for Christmas. “The house right next to it is like the Griswolds,” said Executive Producer Jay Shatz. The show added 25,000 Christmas lights, a 12-foot-tall spruce tree and custom-made gift boxes to the Hemmerts’ yard. “I’m kind of excited and nervous at the same time,” Niki Hemmert said. Tim Hemmert expects the show to paint him as a Grinch, but he said his house isn’t very decorated because he’s been busy and he didn’t feel like joining working out in the cold – like his neighbor who spent three weeks decorating his house. “I was inside making fun of him,” he joked. The Hemmert home was selected after the show did a monthlong search around the Tristate area for
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The Hemmert home after “Desperate Landscapes” decorated for Christmas. See the “before” photo on Page A2. undecorated houses on well decorated streets, Shatz said. “We actually found this place while driving around. You could just see the starkness,” he said. The spartan Hemmer home has become a neighborhood joke around Christmas time, but it is nice having the nicest looking house on the block for once,
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Tim said. “I like being king,” he said. Now that the Hemmert home is the pinnacle of Christmas spirit on their street, their neighbors are seeing some ideas they’d like to carry over for next year, Niki said. “It’s a lot of lights, and it looks beautiful,” she said. The day worked especially well
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because the crew was so nice to work with, Niki said. “It was a very unique experience that was worth going through,” she said. The show will air on DIY Network next November. The Hemmerts live at 2507 Towering Ridge Lane, off of Pleasant Valley Road.