The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District’s Wolf Creek Dam Foundation Remediation Project reached a significant 500,000 hour achievement November 1.

Trevicos-Soletanche J.V., the contractor for this project, has operated safely the past 263 days and has reached 500,000 work hours without an incident that would cause a worker to miss time on the job.

David Hendrix, the district’s project manager, called it an “amazing feat” given the buzz of activity that occurs on the work platform every day. He said work crews are constantly moving around and machinery and drill rigs are continuously running.

“So the ability to maintain a safe work environment in these conditions is a great accomplishment,” Hendrix said.

The Corps is approximately 62 percent complete on the installation of the new barrier wall.

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A Russell County man was arrested late last Saturday night on arson and other charges, according to Russell County Deputy Sheriff Nick Bertram.

Russell Miller, 28, was taken into custody by Bertram after law enforcement officers and the Eli Fire Department were called to an automobile fire at the Gary and Connie Worley residence located on Highway 910.

Following an investigation into the incident, Miller was charged with third degree arson, falsely reporting an incident to police and DUI.

He was lodged in Russell County Detention Center.

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The mother of the University of Kentucky student who was shot early last Friday at a popular Lexington night club said he is doing well after surgery.

“He’s in a lot of pain, but he’s going to be OK,” Debbie Grider said.

Her son, Jerrad Grider, 25, and a 2005 Russell County High School graduate, was shot while standing in a crowd on the bar patio. The shooter opened fire into the crowd indiscriminately after he was kicked out of the bar.

Jerrad Grider was at Silks Lounge, 125 North Mill Street, celebrating the birthday of one of his best friends, his mother said.

Witnesses told police the bartender had asked a man to leave after he reached over the bar, grabbed a bottle of liquor and then took a drink.

“That lends itself to the assumption that he was pretty intoxicated when this situation happened,” Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said.

The man left the bar with a friend, Roberts said. As they were walking down the street, witnesses said the man who had been kicked out for grabbing the liquor bottle turned, pulled out a handgun and fired two or three shots at the bar, hitting the victim, Roberts said.

At 1:47 a.m., police responded to a call about shots being fired. Jerrad Grider was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital with life-threatening injuries. Later Friday he was listed in fair condition.

“A bullet went through his back and came out his stomach,” Debbie Grider said.

A piece of his colon had to be cut out and reattached, she said.

Jerrad Grider is a junior at UK, studying geology, and was expected to be released from the hospital earlier last week.

No arrests had been made, and Roberts said police do not have a good description of the shooter.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Lexington Police at 859-258-3600.

(This story courtesy of Josh Kegley, The Lexington-Herald Leader.)

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What has become an issue at several automobile dealerships across the state has now hit home, according to Lance Wade, manager of Franklin Motors in Russell Springs.

Sometime between the close of business last Wednesday and the time they opened up last Thursday, a thief or thieves broke into a 2012 GMC Acadia on the U.S. 127 side of the lot by breaking out a rear glass on the passenger side and stealing a navigation screen and navigation disc from the vehicle’s interior.

“Damages are estimated at $3,200,” Wade said. “The estimated street value of the navigation discs and screens is around $700 to $800 from what we could tell.”

Wade said about a month and a half ago he was watching the Lexington news and noticed that a dealership in Richmond, Adams GMC, had been targeted and had four or five vehicles broken into the night before.

“Right then we starting putting ours (vehicles with navigation systems) in a secure location to get them off the car lot,” he said. “We had started taking precautionary measures a long time ago…well, we left one out.”

Out of 20 vehicles with navigation systems, one was left out last week and it was targeted by the thieves.

While the Russell Springs Police Department has been performing extra patrols in the area, Wade said on this night they were short handed due to an officer’s sickness.

“It was just the perfect storm that night,” Wade said. “At our Somerset store they’ve been caught on camera. They were hit with four that same night.”

He said the video showed a car pulling up, two people get out, the car leaves, the two search the lot to find a vehicle with a navigation system and within four minutes they were in and out.

“The car comes back and picks them up and away they go,” Wade said. “They know what they’re doing.”

Wade said a reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest of those who committed the crime in Russell Springs and that the Somerset lot was offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest there, where eight GPS systems were stolen last week.

“Right now they’re hitting dealerships but we sell a lot of vehicles that have navigation systems,” he said. “They may target them next.”

Wade said that Franklin was working with the Russell Springs Police Department through this issue and commended them for their cooperation on the case.

He also said that while other dealerships are hiring extra security to keep their lots safe, there is no reason to hire additional security at the Russell Springs location at this time.

This appears to be a statewide problem as a Winchester dealer reported some stolen tires in September and a month later eight more tires were stolen in a Paris lot.

In Richmond, London, Corbin, Bardstown, Somerset and here in Russell Springs, thieves have targeted the navigation systems.

At this point, the only arrest comes from Bardstown, where police arrested two men they said busted the windows on an SUV and tried to steal the wheels.

With the case in Russell Springs, police are reviewing evidence from the incident but no arrests have been made as of yet.

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Two local men, who said they did not want their names disclosed in the newspaper, were targeted by two different scams last week.

A Russell Springs man said his home had received several telephone calls over the last month wanting donations for the Women’s Breast Cancer Foundation. The man’s wife, whom he said gives a donation annually to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, had also been bothered repeatedly about wishes to donate.

Upon a call late last week, the man realized that he was speaking with the real foundation, who told him they call just one time per year and that the other calls his household had been receiving appeared to be scam artists targeting them.

The man said that because of this incident, his family would not be making any further donations over the telephone and warned folks not to fall victim to this or similar scams.

Don’t give out personal information, banking information or credit card information over the phone or in the mail unless you have verified it is with a reputable company. Because once these scammers get into your wallet, it’s unlikely you’ll ever get the money back.

If you have a reason to believe you’re being targeted by a scam, call the Russell County Sheriff’s Office at 270-343-2191.

In another incident, one Russell Springs man received a letter mid-week last week from Homeserve in Louisville, saying their records indicated his home was not covered by their Water Service Credit Line Coverage.

The letter said without this Homeserve coverage he was responsible for the full cost of maintaining and repairing the water service line that brings water to his home.

The letter then asked him to complete and return an enclosed form with his payment, a $59.88 one-year payment.

The man said he spoke with Russell County Attorney Kevin Shearer and was told that the letter appeared to be a scam and to not respond to the letter or make any payments.

The man came into the newspaper office late last week and wanted to warn fellow citizens of scams such as these so others would not fall victim to it.