Long-time Westlake Regional Hospital CEO/Administrator Rex A. “Rusty” Tungate is out as the facility’s leader after a dispute between him and the Westlake Regional Hospital Board of Trustees over sharing of management employees with two other area hospitals could not be resolved.

In addition, 17 other part-time Westlake employees, the majority in various management positions, have also resigned. Tungate’s termination and the resignations of the other employees were effective Monday, January 31.

The departure of Tungate and the other employees came one day before a health care consulting firm, Spectrum Health Partners, LLC, hired by the board at its January 25 meeting to review the hospital’s management and operations, was scheduled to begin its work.

Westlake Board of Trustees Chairman James H. Evans said in an interview a week ago Monday morning that he received a phone call from assistant administrator Cindy Meyer informing him that there was a letter from Tungate for him at the hospital. Meyer also informed Evans that she was resigning her position. Evans said that when he came to the hospital, there was a sealed envelope from Tungate awaiting him. Inside the envelope was Tungate’s letter, along with resignation letters from Meyer and the eight other employees.

Evans said that he considers Tungate’s leaving his position as a resignation. However, in his letter to Evans, Tungate states he feels he had been terminated.

“He didn’t show up for work Monday, he turned in his keys, and left a letter,” Evans stated. “As far as I’m concerned, he resigned without notice.”

However, in the letter to Evans that Evans received Monday morning at the hospital, Tungate stated that “the commingled management was an essential foundation of my employment contract. To now eliminate that management structure is a material breach of my employment contract. Therefore, the board has effectively terminated me.”

In addition to the departure of Tungate and Meyer, other employees who submitted their resignations include: James Hagan, Director of Purchasing; Ralph Morgan, Chief Financial Officer; Kim Bryant, Administrative Assistant; Chasity Yarberry, Patient Accounts Director; Alice Borders, Executive Director for Dietary; Lottie Shaw, Administrative Director of Physical Therapy; Betsy Dudgeon, Executive Assistant; Jerry Quinn, Maintenance Supervisor; Mary Ann Quinn, Administrative Assistant; Louise Thompson, Director of Nursing; Cynthia Compton, Director of Social Services; Rhonda Bradshaw, Data Processing; Gary Rose, Director of Respiratory Therapy; Charles O’Dell, Director of Radiology; Rebecca Higginbotham, RN and Quality Improvement Coordinator; and Bethany Terwilliger, Physical Therapist Aide.

Evans emphasized that all the resignations were submitted voluntarily, and said that all the individuals were part-time employees of Westlake. He also noted that Borders, Shaw and Dudgeon are all sisters of Tungate.

The dispute centered on the board’s decision to stop the practice of allowing the members of the management team from working at Jane Todd Crawford Hospital in Greensburg and Casey County Hospital in Liberty.

A number of years ago, with a different board of trustees in place, Westlake entered into contracts with Jane Todd and Casey County hospitals to manage their facilities. Tungate served as administrator of all three hospitals, and his salary was split among the three, and the other members of the management staff also worked at all three facilities, with their salaries also being split.

Two years ago, the board decided to terminate these management contracts and restructure the management staff to become part-time or full-time employees at the respective hospitals, but still allowing the staff to serve all three.

Last year, the board also voted to extend Tungate’s contract for a year. His contract called for him to continue to serve as administrator at all three hospitals.

Later in the year, the board decided it no longer wanted its management staff to work at the other two hospitals. They were told they could only work for Westlake, and Tungate was recently directed by the board to implement this policy.

This decision was made because, according to one board member, the board “felt we were getting the short end of the stick” when it came to the amount of time devoted to managing Westlake’s operations.

Prior to his departure, Tungate also refused to sign a contract with Spectrum Health Partners, which the board had voted to enter into at its monthly meeting a week ago last Tuesday night.

At that meeting, the board voted to enter into a consulting service agreement with Spectrum Health Partners, LLC to come in and review the hospital’s management and operations and advise the board on what route to take to help the hospital stop losing money. According to Evans, the hospital is heavily in debt, and has been losing around a half-million dollars a year for the past two years.

In his letter to Evans, Tungate said that he refused to sign the agreement because it “was done over my objection.”

Evans said that Spectrum Health Partners, LLC was scheduled to begin its work on February 1. However, they have started work immediately in helping the hospital find an interim CEO.

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Wellie Paul Grant has been ruled competent to stand trail for the June 2006 murder of Rex Coffey, and is scheduled to be tried on the charge on May 18.

Special Judge James D. Bowling Jr. issued an order determining competency a week ago Tuesday afternoon after reviewing testimony presented in a competency hearing held for Grant on January 21 in Adair Circuit Court.

Following two previous competency hearings, one in November 2007 and the other in March 2009, Grant had been ruled incompetent to stand trial, and has been confined at Eastern State Hospital in Lexington.

However, at the January 21 hearing, Dr. Donald Crowe, a psychologist who had examined Grant and testified that he was incompetent during the 2009 hearing, reversed his findings and testified that Grant was now competent to stand trial.

At the two previous hearings, experts had testified that Grant suffers from dementia and that he had “delusional thoughts about the crime itself.” Dr. Crowe testified that, at the time of the 2009 hearing, Grant’s delusional thinking would compromise his ability to assist counsel in his defense.

But, at the latest hearing, Dr. Crowe testified that Grant was able to recall the facts about the shooting incident. The psychologist also stated that Grant realizes what he did was wrong, and that he could be punished for it.

Another psychologist called in by Grant’s defense attorney, Robert Bertram, Dr. Robert Granacher, a professor at the University of Kentucky Medical School, who also works at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Lexington, testified at the hearing that Grant was incompetent.

Dr. Granacher said that following his examination of Grant and the reading of the records at Eastern State, he did not feel that Grant had the mental capacity to be tried. He said Grant’s IQ is steadily dropping due to his dementia, and that he could not recite his ABC’s, didn’t know who was president, and couldn’t answer various other questions.

In making his ruling that Grant is now competent to stand trial, Judge Bowling noted the defendant’s change in mental status.

“In its previous orders, the court found the defendant incompetent to stand trial because of a combination of two factors: The defendant’s dementia and his delusional thoughts about the court system. Every professional who has examined the elderly defendant since his indictment has agreed the defendant suffers from dementia of the Alzheimer’s type and that the conditions are irreversibly…”

“However, during his most recent examination, the defendant’s dementia did not prevent him from relating to Dr. Crowe a clear, logical and chronological recounting of the events leading to his arrest as well as statements regarding his mental state and perceptions regarding his actions relating to the victim’s death.”

The judge went on to state that Dr. Crowe testified that the “defendant no longer has delusional thoughts about the court system and is cognizant of the roles and duties of the various participants.

“Furthermore, during the hearing the court posed a question to defendant’s counsel himself immediately and appropriately answered without prompting from counsel. The defendant’s response demonstrates to the court that he was ‘following the ball’ and that he is able to assist counsel.”

The judge went on to state that, “In sum, the court believes the defendant has regained the degree of competency to participate in a trial. However, the court agrees with Dr. Crowe that the defendant’s competency is tenuous and that the issue of competency might have to be revisited once the defendant is returned to the custody of the Adair County Jail.”

The judge went on to state that further confinement at Eastern State is not appropriate for a person deemed competent, but the court is willing to consider an appropriate bond or alternative placement in a setting or under such conditions that will help to ensure the defendant’s continued competency.

Judge Bowling concluded by stating that Grant’s trial will get underway on May 18 in the Adair Circuit courtroom.

Wellie Paul Grant was charged with murder for the shooting death of 46-year-old Rex Coffey that occurred on June 10, 2006 on the grounds of Beech Grove Baptist Church, located on Highway 900 near Glensfork.

According to testimony at previous hearings, the shooting occurred when Rex Coffey, his wife Tammy, Beech Grove pastor Matt Cowan, and Pam Coffey were sitting at a gazebo on the church grounds talking after the conclusion of the church’s Vacation Bible School program.

Grant, who lives next to the church, drove his pickup truck down to where the foursome were and fatally shot Rex Coffey.

Grant then fled the scene and following an all-night manhunt, was captured the next day.

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The preliminary hearing that had been scheduled for January 27 in Adair District Court for Tammy Bledsoe concerning her shooting of her husband was canceled after Bledsoe waived her right to the hearing after an agreement was reached for the lowering of her bond.

District Judge Michael Loy issued an agreed order prior to the scheduled hearing noting that, “Upon the agreement of the parties, and in exchange for the Defendant waiving her right to have a preliminary hearing, the Defendant’s bond is reduced from $500,000 cash only to $100,000 cash or fully secured property ($200,000 worth of property).

Shortly after the order was issued by Judge Loy, three individuals posted Bledsoe’s bond and she was released from Adair County Regional Jail.

Bledsoe had been jailed since she was arrested on January 12 and charged with assault first degree for the alleged shooting of her husband, Richard “Ricky” Bledsoe. The shooting occurred at the couple’s residence at 177 Hwy. 1952 near the Chance community.

Ricky Bledsoe was flown to the University of Louisville hospital for treatment of his gunshot wounds. He has since been released from the hospital.

The non financial conditions of Tammy Bledsoe’s bond also include the following provisions.

1. No violations of local, state or federal law, including no violation of Kentucky Controlled Substance Act.

2. No contact with Ricky Bledsoe, except that the defendant may have such contact with Ricky Bledsoe as may be required in any court proceedings now pending or which may be filed. The defendant is also not to have any contact with the marital residence of the parties.

3. No possession of any firearms. In addition, the defendant shall turn in her carrying concealed permit to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office.

The order further states that Tammy Bledsoe’s pending motion to dismiss is passed by the parties, who agree that the Adair Circuit Court shall conduct such proceedings as it deems necessary if and when the Adair County Grand Jury returns an indictment against her.

Additionally, the order states that the Commonwealth’s motion to quash subpoenas is dismissed as moot, without prejudice to its re-filing in the Adair Circuit Court at a later date.

The motion to dismiss was filed by Tammy Bledsoe’s attorneys, Bethany Catron and Mark Stanziano, who alleged in the motion that the playing of the 911 tape involving Bledsoe’s call reporting the shooting on local radio stations had “poisoned” the jury pool and made it impossible for her to receive a fair trial.

County Attorney Jennifer Hutchison-Corbin’s motion to quash subpoenas was in relation to subpoenas the defense attorneys had issued for the preliminary hearing.