Tompkinsville News

Posted November 14, 2012 at 2:21 pm

Long lines and frustration were found at some of the local polling places during Tuesday’s general election as problems were reported at some precincts.

Confusion over the DAU (Disabled Unit’s) counters at the North and Northwest Precincts and heavy voter turnout over the number of paper ballots provided began to slow the process. However, precinct officials were able to sort out the confusion and directed several voters to the e-Slate machines also provided at each polling place. “We fortunately still had the e-Slate machines which allowed voting to continue,” County Clerk Teresa Sheffield noted.

At the end of the night, Monroe’s Bart Rowland easily carried his home county and the other three counties in the 53rd District to win re-election as State Representative.

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An unexploded ordinance was found at the home of Tony White, 3775 Center Point Rd., Tompkinsville, on Tuesday, November 6, causing Hwy. 100 to be shut down for a time.

White, who had recently purchased the home, had been cleaning out an outdoor building and located an old ammunition can buried under leaves behind the structure.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputies notified KSP’s Explosives Ordinance Department, who came to the scene and secured the military grade M-22 hand grenade and three sticks of C-4 dynamite.

The FBI was contacted and given lot numbers of all items found for further investigation, according to Deputy Sheriff Larry Dale Martin.

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The Kentucky National Guard 1st Battalion, 623rd Field Artillery is preparing for a February 2013 deployment to Jordan, with a Yellow Ribbon pre-mobilization event held recently in Glasgow.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion/623rd Field Artillery are currently in training in preparation for an upcoming mobilization.

“This is a new program,” said Lt. Col. Timothy Fanter, Battalion Commander for 1/623rd. “Through deployment all across the United States, we’ve learned that the families need more information and preparation for impending deployments and the Yellow Ribbon program was designed with that in mind. There were several different subject matters experts there for families to receive information.”

Lt. Col. Fanter continued that this battalion last deployed in 2004, but many of the present members are new to the group and their families would need the information even more.

“This has been a big informational push to really help those families, as well as our soldiers.”

During the Yellow Ribbon pre-mobilization event, members of the Guard and representatives of support organizations presented information about programs available for families. The presentations also covered a wide variety of topics from military insurance information to dealing with the stress and strain of deployment.

According to the family readiness group, almost 200 deploying Guard members and their families attended the event.

The 1/623rd is based in Tompkinsville, Glasgow and Columbia and were most recently deployed in 2005 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Organizations involved in the Yellow Ribbon event included: Family Programs, American Legion and Ladies Auxiliary, Red Cross, USA Cares, Veterans Upward Bound, HealthNet/TRICARE, and Military OneSource, Karl Hutchison, family assistance specialist for the 623rd, and Karen Hodges, 623rd family readiness support assistant.