Local 5-Day ForecastSat

4/7

74/52Generally sunny.High 74F. Winds SEat 5 to 10 mph.

Sun

4/8

72/46Mix of sun andclouds. Highs in thelow 70s and lows inthe mid 40s.

Mon

4/9

75/45Sunny. Highs in themid 70s and lows inthe mid 40s.

Tue

4/10

60/41Mix of sun andclouds. Highs in thelow 60s and lows inthe low 40s.

Wed

4/11

65/46Times of sun andclouds. Highs in themid 60s and lows inthe mid 40s.

In This Issue . . .ObituariesCalendar, Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-2Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B 1-3, 8Outdoors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B 4-5Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B 6-7TV Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C 1-7NASCAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-8

Robert W. Crisman, 81Karla Jo Curnel, 50Jack Goodwin, 84Robert Harper, 59Alex Hinton, 26Mary Ann McKinney, 68Joyce Smith, 68Thomas D. Wood, 72

Three sections — 24 pages Single Copy Price 75¢ www.timesleader.net

Saturday, April 7, 2012 Volume XX, Number 100THE NEWS SOURCE OF PRINCETON/CALDWELL COUNTY

Lyon County High School junior Lance Freeman was honored Wednesday with the dedication of a highway sign in his honor on U.S. 62 at the Cumberland River bridge. Freeman (second from right) won the Bassmaster Junior World

Championship in November in Monroe, La. On hand for the unveiling were (from left) State Sen. Ken Winters, Freeman’s sister Kacie, mother Vonda, Judge/Executive Wade White, Freeman and State Rep. Will Coursey.

Fishing champ honoredTIMES LEADER/Todd Griffin

Princeton police Of-fi cer Abigail Tucker, who also serves as the county’s animal control offi cer, has been suspended from her duties in both positions.

The reasons behind the suspension have yet to be

made public by offi cials involved.

The suspension took ef-fect Tuesday, after Tucker was summoned to the courthouse for a meeting with Commonwealth’s At-

torney G.L. Ovey, County Attorney Bridgie Miller and county Judge/Execu-tive Brock Thomas.

Thomas issued the fol-lowing statement: “Ef-fective Tuesday, April 3,

Animal Control Offi cer Abigail Tucker was sus-pended, with pay, from her duties as animal control offi cer.”

He also released a copy of a formal notifi cation of

the suspension issued to Tucker, dated Thursday, April 5.

It reads as follows.“Dear Ms. Tucker: Af-

ter examination of cer-tain circumstances which

have been brought unto my attention, review of policy and procedures ap-plicable unto employees of Caldwell County Kentucky and other considerations, I have determined that disciplinary action is war-ranted against you.

OFF DUTY: Tucker suspended TuesdayBy JARED NELSONThe Times Leader

With a grant check in county hands, plans to build a new local animal shelter are on track to suc-cess.

The county received a check for $93,384 this week, in USDA funding intended for the construc-tion of a new animal facil-ity.

News of Animal Con-trol Offi cer Abigail Tuck-er’s suspension from her duties this week will not affect plans to build the shelter, said Judge/Execu-tive Brock Thomas Thurs-day.

“Nothing involved with this is going to affect that one bit,” he said.

County road depart-ment crew members have begun clearing land for the new shelter on City-County Park property in a wooded area off Baker Hill Road.

Local artist Richie Mc-Kinney has also completed a sign identifying the site. That sign should be in-stalled next week, Thomas said.

The county fi rst re-ceived word of grant fund-ing for the facility in Sep-tember, but the anticipated

cost of building the shelter as originally designed led county offi cials to redraft plans and develop a small-er, less costly facility.

Thomas issued a letter last week to the Kentucky Animal Control Advisory Board, which oversees the grant pool, notifying them

of the changes in the facil-ity’s design.

The board will meet later this month to review those changes.

Thomas said that since the changes were in line with some of the board’s original suggestions, he felt strongly that they

would leave the grant funding in place.

In a best-case scenario, he noted, the board would approve the changes this month, and the county fi s-cal court would then draft a request for proposals

Check in hand

Plans for new shelter developBy JARED NELSONThe Times Leader

A county grand jury re-turned felony indictments against eight individuals this week.

A total of 13 indict-ments, several of them involving multiple cases against the same individu-als, were returned before Circuit Judge C.A. Wood-all III this week and fi led in the Caldwell County Cir-cuit Clerk’s Offi ce Friday.

The indictments are formal accusations charg-ing individuals with crimes. Those charged re-main considered innocent until proven guilty.

They include:• Bradley W. Dunning,

24, of 420 Hamby Ave., Dawson Springs, and Ash-ley N. Adams, 18, of 1132 Ky. 128, were indicted on a charge of complicity to theft by unlawful taking, $10,000 or more.

Adams also faces a charge of third-degree criminal trespass, accord-ing to court records.

The charges stem from a Jan. 29 incident.

A warrant was issued for Dunning, with bond set at $5,000 cash. A sum-mons was issued for Ad-ams.

• Jonathan P. Towery, 19, of 422 East Main St., and Lee D. Linder, 19, of 201 Center St., were in-dicted for complicity to second-degree burglary.

Linder faces additional charges of possession of synthetic cannabinoid ag-onists or piperazines and possession of drug para-phernalia.

The charges stem from a March 1 incident.

Warrants were is-sued for both Towery and Linder, with bond set at $1,200 cash each.

• Belinda R. Sivells, also known as Belinda Anslyn, 35, of 101 North Deerfi eld Drive, was in-dicted on charges of DUI, fourth or subsequent of-fense, wanton endanger-ment, fi rst degree, and failure of owner to main-tain insurance, second of-fense.

Indicted: Jury charges 8 with felony offenses

Staff Report • The Times Leader

TIMES LEADER/Jared Nelson

Magistrate Elbert Bennett displays some of the road signs found in a ditch over the weekend.

TIMES LEADER/Jared Nelson

A sign created by local artist Richie McKinney will be hung at the future

site of the county’s new animal shel-ter next week.

A new rash of road sign thefts has county offi cials concerned.

A Flat Rock area resi-dent found about 10 coun-ty road signs in a ditch along Black Creek Road over the weekend.

The signs, mainly taken from roads in the north half of the county, were turned in to First District Magistrate Elbert Bennett Tuesday.

“I don’t know if those that are tearing them

Road sign thefts concern officials

Staff Report • The Times Leader

Few details of investigation released

Please turn to TuckerPage A-4

Please turn to SignPage A-4

Please turn to NewPage A-4

Please turn to IndictmentsPage A-5