Defendant in killing must provide samples

NICHOLASVILLE - One of three defendants accused of robbing and murdering a boarding-school student must provide hair, saliva and blood samples to police, a judge has ruled.

Summer Turner, 18, of Nicholasville was ordered by a judge to give hair and blood specimens and a mouth swab as part of the continuing investigation into the death of Ryan Harris.

The samples are needed so they can be compared with evidence collected from a Dodge Intrepid that prosecutors think was used by the people who robbed and killed Mr. Harris on Jan. 5, state Assistant Attorney General David Smith told the court.

Defense attorney David Thomas argued that the samples were too intrusive.

Jessamine County Circuit Judge Hunter Daugherty ruled Monday against Mr. Thomas, saying “It's not so intrusive ... that it shouldn't be done.”

Mr. Harris, who was home in Lexington for the holidays, was shot and killed on a northern Jessamine County road after he telephoned a 911 dispatcher that he was following a car whose occupants had just robbed him.

Daniel Gordin, 17, of Fayette County, is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 2 on charges of murder, robbery and wanton endangerment. Mr. Turner and a third teen, Joey Reynolds, 17, also of Fayette County, are charged with murder and robbery.

The two boys, who have pointed to each other as the shooter, will be tried as adults.

Ky. town takes aim in war of ham biscuits

A tiny western Kentucky city says it wants a spot in the record books, and it's willing to make a ham biscuit 11 feet wide to get in.

But a 2,000-pound ham biscuit baked in a Virginia town last month may stand in its way.

A giant ham biscuit category hasn't yet been established in the Guinness Book of World Records. But that hasn't kept the two warring cities from baking buttermilk into forms as wide as a car and stuffing them with hundreds of pounds of ham.

The town of Smithfield, Va., home of Smithfield Foods, struck late last month with a nine-foot wide, 2,000-pound ham biscuit made on the city's 250th birthday. Smithfield reported the biscuit to Guinness officials, who didn't attend the event. Guinness officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Student bakers at Trigg County High School and Broadbent Foods in Cadiz, Ky., are now planning their own giant ham biscuit, continuing a tradition of behemoth biscuit-making that dates to 1985.

They'll be baking Saturday at the 26th annual Trigg County Ham Festival in downtown Cadiz.

Chandler, McConnell spar on electioneering

FRANKFORT - Attorney General Ben Chandler on Tuesday said U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell wants to defeat laws that were intended to cut down on election fraud.

Mr. Chandler cited Kentucky's law requiring candidates or their surrogates to stay at least 500 feet from polling places while they campaign on Election Day. The practice is called electioneering.

Mr. Chandler, a Democrat who is expected to run for governor in 2003, criticized Mr. McConnell in part because of his affiliation with the James Madison Center for Free Speech, an organization that opposes electioneering laws.

Contacted for comment, Mr. McConnell issued a statement. “Obviously the Frankfort politicians have begun their gubernatorial campaign,” the statement said. “Only Frankfort insiders could think that making it more difficult to participate in our democratic process makes good political sense.”

Change being sought to USDA grain rule

LEXINGTON - The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture voted Tuesday to seek a change in a federal law that could leave farmers without state financial protection when grain warehouses go bankrupt.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture regulation published Aug. 5 implements the U.S. Warehouse Act of 2000, which would allow federally licensed grain buyers to avoid state laws related to warehousing, grading, weighing, storing or merchandising.

Most states reimburse farmers with a percentage of the value of grain stored in an elevator or sold for delayed payment if a warehouse fails. Agriculture leaders are concerned the federal rule will cause warehouses to seek only a federal license and circumvent state regulations.

NASDA on Tuesday declared that it will form a task force to work with the federal government to amend the U.S. Warehouse Act so state authority is not circumvented by federally licensed warehouses. If the lobbying fails, NASDA will pursue legislative action, according to Tuesday's amendment.

In Kentucky, six of the state's 17 federally licensed warehouses have discussed plans to drop their state licenses, according to Randy Wise, director of the Division of Regulation and Inspection.

USDA officials have previously said they would work with NASDA to resolve the matter.

Coal slurry spills into two W.Va. streams

LOGAN, W.Va. - A ruptured plastic waste pipe at a Massey Energy Co. subsidiary's preparation plant sent about 100,000 gallons of coal slurry into two Logan County streams Tuesday.

State regulators ordered Bandmill Coal Co. to shut down the preparation plant until the spill is cleaned up, said Jeff McCormick, assistant director of the Division of Mining and Reclamation.

“We're going to keep them shut down until they clean up the creek,” he said.

Officials at four municipal water treatment plants downstream of the preparation plant kept a wary eye on the slow-moving 6-mile-long spill, which fouled Rum Creek and the Guyandotte River.

“If the system can't handle it, we'll have to shut it down,” said Elbert Smith, a worker at Logan's water treatment plant.

Coal slurry is a mixture of water, fine coal particles and other waste from washing coal to prepare it for market.

Bandmill officials notified the Department of Environmental Protection of the spill at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Agency inspectors were at the scene Tuesday afternoon.

“Massey Energy regrets that the leak occurred. We have been working to ensure our operations operate in an environmentally sound manner,” said Jeff Gillenwater, a spokesman for Massey.

“Initial reports are that the spill is larger than that from the company's Independence Coal operation of last summer,” Mr. McCormick said.

In June 2001, a spill at Independence Coal's Liberty Preparation Plant near Uneeda sent more than 30,000 gallons of polluted water into Pond Creek. Independence also is a subsidiary of Massey.

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