Driver arrested after school bus hit

        TAYLOR MILL — A Taylor Mill mother was arrested after she crashed into the back of a moving school bus carrying handicapped children while driving her daughter to school.

        Elvalenna J. Godawa, 35, of the 9700 block of Locust Pike is charged with two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment. The charges are felonies punishable by up to five years in prison.

        Taylor Mill Police Chief Steve Knauf said Ms. Godawa was driving too fast on a wet roadway and that alcohol is believed to have been a contributing factor.

        “More charges are possible as we continue our investigation,” he said. “It's hard to run into the back of a big yellow bus.”

        Ms. Godawa and her 12-year-old daughter were treated for minor injuries at St. Elizabeth Medical Center South in Edgewood. Ms. Godawa was then transported to the Kenton County jail where she remained Thursday night on a $2,500 bond.

        Chief Knauf said none of the six or seven children on the bus were injured. The bus was heading to Woodland Middle School and neighboring Scott High School.

        Ms. Godawa was driving a Dodge Neon sedan at 7:35 a.m. north on Taylor Mill Road when she ran into the back of the bus that was traveling at about 25 mph in rush-hour traffic.

Facing drug charges, doctor freed on bond

        FALMOUTH — A doctor accused by undercover narcotics agents of illegally prescribing pain-killing drugs was released from jail late Thursday after posting bond.

        Dr. Ghassau Haj-Hamed, 36, of Clifton was held overnight Wednesday at the Grant County Regional Detention Center on a $120,000 cash bond. He was allowed to use property worth $240,000 as collateral for his release on Thursday, Pendleton County officials said.

        Dr. Haj-Hamed is charged with 24 counts of unlawfully distributing prescription drugs. He is to be arraigned Tuesday at the Pendleton County Courthouse in Falmouth.

        The physician was arrested on his way to work at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on U.S. 27, seven miles north of Falmouth. The arrest culminates a two-year investigation by the sheriff's office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the Falmouth Police Department.

Game to assist scholarship fund

        Money for the Michael A. Partin Northern Kentucky University Memorial Scholarship will be raised at a high school football game tonight.

        A portion of the money from the game between Glen Este and Anderson high schools in Ohio will be donated. The game's start time is 7:30 p.m. at Glen Este High School at 4342 Gleneste-Withamsville Road. Adult admission is $6.

        Michael A. Partin, a Covington Police officer, died January 4, 1998 when he fell from the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge while pursuing a suspect on foot. Officer Partin joined a chase and tried to jump from the roadway to the pedestrian walkway. Instead he fell through the space between them.

        Mullins Street in Covington was renamed Michael Partin Avenue by the Covington City Commission to honor him in April 2000.

Weapons disposal methods argued

        LOUISVILLE - Activists who oppose burning chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot bolstered their argument Thursday with a new report that said chemicals there can be safely neutralized.

        The report, by the National Research Council for the Department of Defense, studied alternatives to incineration and found that neutralization is a “mature, safe and effective” alternative for disposing of the depot's 500 tons of deadly chemical agents.

        Critics have said that burning the chemical agents, which must be disposed of by 2007, could release harmful emissions.

        Craig Williams, head of the Chemical Weapons Working Group in Berea, said he hopes Thursday's report finally rules out burning as a disposal option.

        “We hope the debate over incineration will finally come to closure and the state of Kentucky will get a safer technology to dispose of this stuff,” Mr. Williams said. “This is them saying it's ready to go, and our response to that is, that's great, let's go.”

        The Pentagon is expected to make a decision by the end of this year about how the weapons at the Blue Grass plant in Richmond will be destroyed.

        Mr. Williams credited Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's efforts to oppose incineration at the Blue Grass plant.

        “The community and I have long believed there was a better way to tackle the challenges of destroying the stockpile at the Blue Grass Army Depot, and today's report is a welcome and enthusiastic endorsement of our belief in a safer way,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement on Thursday.

Concerns raised about coal ash piles

        LOUISVILLE — Environmental leaders are worried that growing mounds of ash from coal-fired power plants could be releasing potentially toxic heavy metals into groundwater and streams.

        The nation's coal-fired power plants are producing more than 100 million tons of ash each year. A byproduct of burned coal, the ash is sometimes converted for use in products such as wallboard and cement, but 70 percent ends up in landfills, settling ponds and old strip mines.

        The energy industry has long argued that the material is not harmful. But the issue of regulation is drawing increased attention as power companies propose additional coal-fired power plants, the Courier-Journal reported Thursday. There are proposals for eight such new plants in Kentucky, which would produce 6 million additional tons of ash annually. Two additional plants are proposed for Indiana.

        A toxic plume of heavy metals from coal ash may have ruined the drinking-water wells of 30 families in the northern Indiana town of Pines, said Kenneth Theisen, onsite coordinator for an Environmental Protection Agency emergency response team sent to the town.

        Mr. Theisen said power plant ash buried in a landfill and scattered around town as construction fill is the likely culprit. EPA tests at some homes near the landfill have revealed boron levels 13 times higher than the agency uses to decide whether federal money can be tapped for remediation.

        High doses of boron can damage the stomach, liver, kidneys and brain, according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

        Water from a ditch that flows next to the landfill showed considerably higher levels of pollutants than water tested upstream from the landfill, he said.

        “A coincidence? I don't think so,” Mr. Theisen said.

        The EPA is developing new disposal standards that are scheduled to be released in early 2004. .

— From staff and wire reports

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