In a regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Thursday the Jamestown City Council had its first reading of the 2012-13 Ad Valorem Tax, followed with a special called meeting at 4 p.m. Friday for the second reading and passage.

The tax, set at $.17 per $100 of assessed value of personal property within the limits of the City of Jamestown, is up from $1.66 per $100 last year. The increase amounts to four cents per thousand dollars of assessed value.

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Nearly two weeks after the work release program for inmates at the Russell County Detention Center was suspended by Jailer Bobby Dunbar pending an investigation by state agencies involving alleged misconduct and misuse of the program by four Russell Springs city employees, the program restarted, at least partially, on Monday morning.

“I think we sent 11 out this morning,” Dunbar said Monday. “The department of corrections came down last Thursday and did some retraining and we had probably 20 supervisors take part in that session.”

Dunbar said the DOC officials made the point clear what was expected of them when they supervise those “low risk” inmates.

“These supervisors sign on that they will be responsible for these inmates,” he said. “I’ve got to run the jail but this program is important to me.”

Dunbar said the supervisors, which consist of county or city officials that will be in charge of looking out for the inmates while on work release, usually arrive at 7 a.m. daily to retrieve the inmates for that day’s work.

“They sign a paper each day saying where they are taking them to work and what their job duties will be that day,” he said. “That paper is then turned into the department of corrections and they will get their good credit hours out of this.”

Dunbar said the detention center is encouraged by the DOC to work these inmates so that they may receive the credit hours as well as possible time knocked off their sentences if they maintain good behavior.

“When these inmates go out on work release they have to be identifiable as an inmate,” he said.

“We identify them as wearing orange with a work release t-shirt.”

In Russell Springs, Mayor Hollis DeHart has not yet given the go-ahead to begin using work release inmates on city projects, Dunbar said.

“I’ll leave that up to the mayor but he knows that if he wants to (utilize inmate labor) down the road, he can” he said. “Our investigation (at the detention center) with the DOC and state police is through.”

Dunbar said the results of that are unknown as of now.

The inmates that were involved in the alleged incidents in the city of Russell Springs have all already been transferred out of the local facility to other detention centers around the state, according to Dunbar.

“Now, it is left up to the Kentucky State Police conducting their investigation,” Dunbar said, referencing that the state police were still investigating the allegations in Russell Springs.

Dunbar reiterated that the work release program was a beneficial one, not just to the eligible inmates but to the county and cities as well when used properly.

“They’re getting their good time credit,” he said. “We’re putting them out there and they’re cleaning the roads and helping at the recycle center. The recycle center and the detention center are the only things that really brings any revenue back in.”

Dunbar, who said the recycling center could not function without the inmates, also mentioned the large storage building built using inmate labor at the road department as well as keeping the Jamestown City Park clean, a location several of the inmates were sent to on Monday morning.

“I know the two buildings they have renovated for the city of Russell Springs plus one they’ve built,” Dunbar said.

“The program is beneficial all the way around and is a huge savings to the county. These guys going out working for 63 cents a day, that is what they’re paid by the state.”

Dunbar again said he had no choice to suspend the program earlier this month following the allegations in Russell Springs.

“I felt in my heart I had to shut the program down until an investigation could be done on our side,” he said.

“Like I’ve said, it started out as a simple cell phone we were hunting for and then it escalated into this…any advantage an inmate is going to get, he’ll take it.”

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The undefeated Russell County Lakers are district champions in Class 4A, District 6 after knocking off the previously unbeaten Knox Central Panthers 35-19 a week ago Friday night in Barbourville, the first district crown for Russell County football since 1993.

With both teams entering the game at 8-0 it was poised to be a prolific battle and eyes from across the state focused on the two unbeatens to see who would emerge victorious. With the Laker win, they are one of two teams, the other being Warren East, which is still unbeaten in Class 4A. The team was paraded through both Russell Springs and Jamestown by emergency vehicles as they returned home last Friday night.

“It is surreal right now,” said Laker head coach Bill Sharp following the victory. “It really hasn’t sank in yet. We get up and make plays but you know they are going to give you their best shot. They’re a good football team and we had to weather the storm there in the second half and we made plays and did what we had to do.”

Sharp said his team played a gutsy football game as they were outsized but played with a “refuse to lose” mentality that helped propel them against the tough Panther bunch.

“It is all about the memories that you have and the good times you have,” Sharp said. “It is about the bond you build with a bunch of guys that you sweat, bleed and hurt together with.”

The Lakers led at halftime by a score of 14-0 and eventually led 21-0, which turned out to be enough as they outscored the home team 21-19 in the second half to take the 16 point win and District 6 title.