The then 14-0 Wayne County Cardinals defeated Paducah Tilghman 34-10 on Friday night, November 29 in the state semi-finals to earn a berth in the championship game, which was played last Friday afternoon, December 6 at Houchens/LT Smith Stadium on the campus of Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.

“I can’t say enough about what this means to our kids, or school and the community. Just looking around the field and seeing all the former players and long-time fans after the game, no question of just how big this win was for our team,” said Wayne County Coach Shawn Thompson after Friday night’s win in the semi-finals. “I am so thankful to be part of it, and these kids are just so deserving of it.”

Wayne County Schools were dismissed last Friday to allow fans to travel to the state championship game.

“This is a big week for our football program, but we have to embrace the moment and not get caught up in all the hoopla,” said Thompson. “Belfry is the biggest challenge we’ve faced all season, and we’re playing for the right to be a state champion, so this should be an exciting week for everyone involved.”

The Cardinals took on state powerhouse Belfry High School in last Friday’s championship game. Belfry was making its fourth straight appearance in the Class 3A championship game and the ninth in school history.

(Footnote: Wayne County lost to Belfry in that game.

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A recent attempt by a visitor to sneak contraband into the Wayne County Detention Center was thwarted, according to Jailer Ray Upchurch. Upchurch said that he had received information last week that the contraband had been placed in the female restroom located in the lobby during visitation.

Upchurch and Deputy Jailer Marcia Phillips searched the restroom and discovered a syringe with a substance in it, as well as cigarettes. It is unknown who left the contraband items.

The syringe was turned over to the medical department for disposal.

Upchurch stated that anyone caught trying to leave contraband at the detention center will be charged and prosecuted.

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Jerry Hicks recalled his first look at the large black bear that passed near his tree stand on Sunday, November 24. The 375-pound male bear was huge, and he was trying to find out where the hunter was located.

Hicks was hunting bear as part of the new expanded bear zone in Wayne County during archery/crossbow season, which opened November 23 and ended December 1.

“What made it exciting was that he came in to where I had walked about an hour before that…and he spooked,” said Hicks. The bear left the area, but returned about 45 minutes later, walking by that same spot again.

“He circled around behind me, and he was such a beautiful animal,” said Hicks. “He was really trying to figure out where I was at…He just knew something was there.”

Hicks used a crossbow to harvest the bear, the first taken in Wayne County under the new expanded bear zone, according to Tim Catron, with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. Catron noted that a bear was legally harvested in Wayne County last year due to crop damage.

A special set of guidelines were followed by the land owner in that case, so that the bear could be legally harvested, explained Catron. The bear Hicks harvested in Wayne County was the fifth statewide of the archery/crossbow season in Kentucky.

According to Catron, the 10-bear quota was met statewide on December 1, which was the last day for archery/crossbow season. Four bears were harvested in Letcher County; two in Perry County; and one each in Harlan, Pike, Leslie and Wayne counties.

Kentucky’s bear zone was expanded from four counties to 16 counties recently, and it was news that was of great interest to Hicks, who had hunted bear before. He killed a couple of bears in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, during two different hunting trips there several years ago during gun season.

He said when he learned the news that Wayne County would be included in the expanded zone he had an idea where he wanted to hunt.

After harvesting the bear, Hicks had to get some friends to help him move it out of the woods. He contacted the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and a biologist visited his home to check the bear. Hicks said the biologist took DNA samples which will determine where the bear came from. He also took a tooth to determine the age of the bear.

Hicks said the bear meat has been processed and he has plenty to make a rug from the skin.

“I like the meat better than I do venison…It depends on how you prepare it,” said Hicks.

The modern gun bear season will open December 14 and will continue through December 16. This season will have another 10 bear quota, with no more than five females taken statewide. The same guidelines will apply as with archery/crossbow season.

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David Lee Edwards, an out-of-work ex-con who won millions in a Powerball lottery 13 years ago, died penniless a week ago Saturday in a hospice care center in Ashland, Ky., a victim of hard and fast living that resulted from his sudden riches.

Edwards, 58, was one of four winners of a $280 million Powerball prize in August of 2001, electing to receive a one-time cash payment amounting to $27 million after taxes.

Documents show he burned through his lottery windfall in six years, wasting millions on bad investments and drugs. Suffering from major health issues, he returned broke and in need of medical care to his hometown of Ashland in 2007.

Down on his luck on Saturday, August 27, 2001, Edwards borrowed money from a friend to get his water turned back on and buy $7 in Powerball tickets at Clark’s Pump-N-Shop. He had drinks at the Ashland Plaza Hotel with his 27-year-old girlfriend, Shawna Maddux, later that night when he learned he’d hit the jackpot.

At a check-passing ceremony two days later, Edwards admitted he’d led a troubled personal (prison term for robbing a gas station) and financial life, and he didn’t want to “accept this money by saying I’m going to get mansions and I’m going to get cars, I’m going to do this and that. I would like to accept it with humility. I want this money to last, for me, my future wife, for my daughter and future generations.”

Then, he added, he had his eye on a Bentley. And Shawna, who soon became his second wife, wanted a Ferrari.

After six days in Las Vegas celebrating, Edwards wasted little time in buying those luxury cars plus several others, including a Lamborghini Diablo, mansions in Palm Beach, Fla., and Palm Springs, Calif., a $1.7 million Leer jet, race horses, a $178,000 diamond ring, a $78,000 watch and much more.

Edwards later acknowledged he spent $12 million of his $27 million winnings in the first year. But Edwards’ riches to rags story is also one of drug addiction. Palm Beach police responded at one point to a domestic abuse report at the Edwards’ mansion and discovered cocaine and used syringes strewn about the master bedroom. They also learned that Edwards’ wife had stabbed him with a broken crack cocaine pipe.

Eventually, the Edwards’ lost their luxury homes and cars and jet plane to foreclosure, and retreated to living in a warehouse where they had stored collectibles.

They were evicted in the summer of 2007 from the warehouse for failure to pay the rent. Authorities discovered drug paraphernalia throughout the unit.

The collectibles were sold for $160,000 at auction–the last of David Lee Edwards’ $27 million Powerball prize.