Times Journal

Posted April 9, 2014 at 2:19 pm

The University of Kentucky’s victory of the University of Louisville two weeks ago Friday night in the Sweet 16 NCAA basketball tournament had many folks jubilant throughout the country, some say a little too much in the case of what greeted drivers through the Jamestown Square on Saturday morning.

Overnight, one overzealous reveler decided to deck out the Doughboy Mounument in UK gear, and while some didn’t think much of it,others were disturbed at the lack of respect for the symbol and what it meant to commemorate those Russell Countians who have died protecting our country.

The Jamestown Police Department said they are looking into it but don’t have any clear leads at this time. If you have any tips call the department at 270-343-3300.

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Jamestown Pharmacy was burglarized Sunday morning, March 30 resulting in the loss of some 20,000 pills valued at over $90,000.

After receiving a call of an active alarm at 6:38 Sunday morning, Jamestown Police Office Tracy Irvin arrived on the scene to find the locking mechanism to the north side entrance lying in the parking lot and the alarm still sounding.

Once backup from the Russell County Sheriff’s Department and Russell Springs Police Department arrived they entered the building to find the pharmacy ransacked.

Irvin estimated the burglars were in and out of te pharmacy in about one minute and 40 seconds.

Videos of the  scene shows two subjects wearing masks and gloves and carrying totes to carry their haul, Irvin said.

The vehicle they were driving was as a white Chrysler 300 with chrome mirrors, wheels, molding and door handles.

Irvin said that the vehicle had been spotted the night before in Jamestown and it and the suspects fits similar descriptions of that suspected used in drugstore burglaries in Knox County and other towns as well as Tennessee and surrounding states.

Authorities estimate that one suspect was between 5’ 9” and 5’ 11” and the other being between 6’ 3” and 6’ 6.” One suspect was wearing an “OD” (military green) jacket, possibly by the maker Carhartt.

If anyone saw the vehicle or suspects in question Saturday or Sunday, you’re asked to contact the Jamestown Police Department at 270-343-3300. A reward is being offered for information leading to the apprehension and arrest of the suspects.

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Two lawsuits filed in Russell Circuit Court on Friday, March 28 seek resolution in the case of A & S Proteins, an animal rendering plant located in a residential area approximately one-half mile from Russell Springs Elementary.

The two suits are on behalf of residents near the facility and by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

One of the suits filed represents 25 residents whose names are located within a distance of a plant said to be injured by A & S by operating “its facility in a manner that causes it to release noxious odors that have a direct impact on plaintiff’s health and well-being, causing injury to the plaintiffs and their properties, including medical injuries, mental stress, and emotional injuries.”

The suit also claims, “The operation of the facility has also caused an increase of flies, rodents, other insects and animals, and noise around the facility, and has resulted in the runoff of pollutants from the facility and from the piles of carcasses and offal around the facility.”

“Plaintiffs have witnessed neighborhood dogs carrying parts of the animals, like hooves, into their yards and the community. Additionally, some plaintiffs’ water needs are met by the use of private wellsm which are being adversley impacted by runoff from the facility,” the suit reads.

The suit brought by representatives of the residence claim private nuisance, trespass, negligence, battery, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, with the claim that A & S acted with oppression and malice toward the plaintiffs resulting in the mentioned physical and mental distress as well as adversely affecting property values.

The suit also asks the court to consider counsel’s request that the court designate the action as a class action lawsuit, claiming that they have been asked to represent an additional 132 persons living within the area adversely impacted by the defendants. In all, the suit says there may be as many as 300 individuals in the “punitive suit.”

The suit names Mark Antle and Logan Antle as owner and operator of A & S Livestock and A & S Proteins, and Jerome Salyers as President of A & S Proteins.

Particular facts outlined by the suit are Jerome Salyers purchased said property on March 15, 2013 and on or about January 27, 2014 the rendering plant commenced operations, collecting carcasses, parts and scraps of dead animals as well as grease they have collected and through rendeering operations produce proteins and grease for use in animal feed and makeup corporations.

The suit claims that the facility has received several citations from the Kentucky Division of Water and the Kentucky Division of Air Quality for lack of permits and violation of Kentucky’s “ambient air quality standards for odor,” as well as a failure to have a Groundwater Protection Plan.

The suit seeks a declaration of rights declaring the storage of dead animals and offal, operation of the rendering facility are in violation of Kentucky and Federal statutes and regulations and that A & S must cease all operations until such time they are in full compliance.

The suit brought by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture claims violation of Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 263, including but not limited to KRS 263.090.

KRS 263.090 has to do with the disposal of animals and reads:

263.090 Disposal methods, requirements.

The following requirements shall be observed in the disposal of the bodies of the dead animals, poultry, fish or parts thereof, or offal and by-products of slaughtered animals:

(1) All bodies of parts thereof and excrements therefrom shall be processed or disposed of within forty-eight (48) hours after being delivered to the plant.

(2) Cooking vats or tanks shall be airtight, except proper escapes for live steam.

(3) Steam shall be so dispensed of as not to cause an unnecessary nuisance.

(4) The skinning and dismembering of bodies or parts of bodies shall be done within the building.

(5) No uncooked bodies or parts thereof shall be fed to any livestock. This does not prohibit the sale of such products for pet food, or for dogs, cats and animals.

(6) Such parts of bodies as are not entirely consumed by cooking or burning shall be buried or disposed of to approved license holdeer.

The Department of Agriculture claims supervisory authority over the plant, but in a letter from law firm Greenebaum Doll, LLC to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture they make the claim that the KRS statute in question specifically says “does not apply to: (1) the premises or the rendering operations or the premises of an establishment operating under United States government inspection,” and tha A & S operates under the oversight and regulations of the Food and Drug Administration, a federal government agency.

The KDA claims that A & S applied for a license to operate a rendering plant through them and was subsequently issued one in 2009.

The suit asks that KDA be found unlawfully authorized to license, inspect and suspend operations at the facility, that the facility be found a nuisance and operations be permanently ceased at the facility.