An informational meeting was held for owners of property affected by the U.S. 127 Reconstruction Project a week ago Tuesday with good attendance.

The scheduled meeting hosted by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet was to provide property owners along the US 127 project, from the Cumberland River to just north of Story Lane, with information about the right of way process that will soon be underway.

The project affects a 4.3 mile section of the 17 mile US 127 improvement corridor between KY 90 in Clinton County and the Jamestown Bypass in Russell County.

On hand were engineers and other experts, along with large maps of the project, with right of way plans for the project clearly delineated assisted property owners in locating their property and to provide information about the roadway design and the right of way process.

The project will relocate US 127, providing motorists with a two-lane road with 10 foot shoulders and will have truck climbing lanes where necessary.

Scheduling of work is anticipated at having acquired right-of-ways by the end of 2014 and utilities moved by the summer of 2015.

“The appraisal process will begin in a couple of weeks,” said Amber Hale, Information Officer for the Transportation Cabinet.

“We’re looking to start acquiring property about spring 2014. Once the property is acquired it will probably be late 2014, early 2015 before the construction project actually begins.

Property owners who may be displaced as a result of the highway project are also offered relocation assistance, to ensure they are treated fairly, consistently and equitably, according to an informational handout provided at the meeting.

There are approximately 55 parcels of land involved in the project, according to information provided.

“We had an excellent turnout,” said Hale. “We’ve had a lot of questions as far as beyond the river, the design plans beyond the river.”

“We do have those design plans in Somerset and people can feel free to contact the district office or people are more than welcome to visit our office,” Hale said.

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Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, jointly announced a week ago Wednesday that James S. Faller, II, of Russell Springs, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Bowling Green.

Faller, a consultant and private investigator, is charged in an eleven county indictment with obstructing the internal revenue laws, evading his individual income taxes, making and subscribing to a false form that he filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and failing to file his individual income tax returns.

The indictment alleges that Faller obstructed the IRS’s ability to collect payment of a substantial penalty he owed to the government and the IRS’s ability to identify his income from 2006 through 2009.

According to the indictment, Faller evaded the payment of a $216,000 penalty related to unpaid employment taxes of Call Center Communications, Inc., of which Faller was the president. In addition, Faller was charged with evading his individual income taxes from 2006 through 2009. He allegedly failed to report more than $960,000 of income during this four-year period and committed various affirmative acts of evasion.

Faller faces a maximum punishment of three years in prison for the charges of obstructing the internal revenue laws; five years for each count of evading his individual income taxes; three years for making and subscribing to a false form that he filed with the IRS; and one year for each count of failing to file his individual income tax returns. He faces a maximum fine of $100,000 on each count of failing to file his income tax returns and $250,000 for each of the other counts.

An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case resulted from an investigation by special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigation. Tax Division Trial Attorney Thomas Voracek and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Gentry are prosecuting the case.