Sheriff says Taser incident blown out of proportion

Today in our neighbor newspaper, the Kentucky New Era, Todd County Sheriff W.D. "Billy" Stokes said the whole alleged situation concerning a Logan County man filing a criminal complaint over handicapped parking and an alleged incident where the man says he was threatened by Stokes with a Taser has been blown out of proportion.

That seems odd to us since the situation is very serious and should be treated that way. If it wasn't a serious situation then why did it come to criminal charges possibly being brought against the Todd County's sheriff?

Could it have been resolved that night? Could Stokes have just moved his vehicle when the man complained?

If this was any other political figure in Todd County would it not be just as serious a situation?

Can anyone explain how this is not something that shouldn't be reported and given the attention it will get not only here in Todd County, but in Hopkinsville, Russellville and all over the state?

We are perplexed to say the least!

No good news

Some people have said the Todd County Standard doesn't run good news and we here at the Standard take offense to that.

The only "bad news" in this week's paper would be the sheriff story. Beyond that it's good news throughout.

We have preschool classrooms earning national honors, teenagers standing up against underage drinking, band honors, Trace Industries helping others find purpose, honor rolls, 4-H getting state honors, etc. It goes on and on.

We do NOT go hunting for what people call "bad" news stories. We report the news, good or bad...

Our job is to keep the people informed and to do that sometimes we might regrettably make people mad.

Kudos for Preschool

Four South Todd Teachers (Joyce Campbell, Robin Cardwell, Colleen Hampton and Georgie Smith) worked hard for their preschool classrooms to earn the distinction known as Classroom of Excellence which is awarded by the state to identify high quality state-funded preschool classrooms.

With a child entering preschool this fall at South Todd, I am encouraged by the dedication of these teachers to get students off to a wonderful start with the learning process.

As a community we need to get behind all teachers and give them the encouragement they need to continue their personal education and professional goals.

Posted by Sarah

You're kidding, right?

It seems that some people have called us complaining that Sheriff W.D. "Billy" Stokes has stopped yet another publicly-funded vehicle driven by someone that works for the county's emergency operations center.

According to our source, a school bus was stopped last week by Sheriff Stokes. The driver, who is a dispatcher (Stokes and the dispatch have been battling it out for a while now), was told there was something wrong with her bus.

Still, there was no citation given, according to our source.

Stokes has claimed in the past that he doesn't specifically target or harass EOC workers.

Then what was wrong with this bus? Since there is no citation then it becomes — as it has in the past — a game of he said/she said.

What really went on that day?

Like the lollipop commercial said ... "The world may never know."

County getting super audit

During Fiscal Court last week it was learned that the county is in the midst of a 3 to 5 auditor audit for the last six months of Kent Knight's administration and the first six months of Arthur Green's.

After the fuss and hubbub of special audits and Knight's administration taking a hit for not having proof that the court approved him to take out a $250,000 bond for the jail you can only imagine what the auditors will find with the jail construction and the bonding process with the EOC (which, by the way, had its own special audit) and the county has requested an audit of the sheriff's department.

Basically, embarrassment could be coming down the pipe yet again.

Yippee. (That Yippee drips with satire.)

Sports complex

The City of Elkton just passed and ordinance allowing the council to seek out grants to get a sports complex in the city. This is a great move for the city.

The City-County Park is just not big enough for everyone. By getting the sports complex, the park could offer sports longer and possibly have more categories.

People need to get behind this project and do all that can be to make the sports complex a reality.

Best Steak a man (or woman) can eat!

Posted by Ryan:

I'm a Travel Channel Junkie. I'm also fond of the Food Channel as well.

Wednesday night there was a show that listed the best steak houses in the world.

One of the best steaks I've ever had was at Libby's Steakhouse back in the day. It was their gigantic steak that if you could eat (along with the fixins) then you could have it for free. I didn't even get halfway through and I was stuffed!

What is your favorite steak house?

And how far would you drive to eat it?

Pound for pound the best meat I like to eat right now are the super large pork chops at Patti's in Grand Rivers or a ribeye grilled in my backyard. I also have about three buckets of that strawberry bread they serve as well!

Basically, that would be my last meal if I was on death row.

Come now, my culinary cousins, tell us your top steak places or steak recipes.

Super Factory not coming to Todd County

Todd County was in the final running for one of the largest factories in the nation and one of the largest construction projects in the world. We heard it might cost at least $4 billion to build.

While the details are fuzzy on why the monster facility didn't come, the impact of several thousand workers' payroll tax and the property taxes from those who would move here is almost hard to imagine. It would have been in the millions and it would have been a boom in services and could have fixed a lot of problems.

Still, and this is important to note, it could have also cause unprecedented problems with ambulance, fire, police and educational services.

Let's don't forget a huge factory in Clarksville would have similar results minus the payroll we wouldn't get.

Some good that might yet come out of this is that we are now on the national (and international) map when it comes to big factories finding a home. That also could mean groups of smaller factories building a "campus" facility. So as bad as this seems it does have a silver lining. In the meantime, however, we need to develop our industrial sites, get some zoning in place and prepare our schools and services for growth.

Give us your thoughts: How should we go about better preparing for economic growth? Are we going to ever score a big factory or are the smaller factories grouped in one place a better bet?

Sheriff Sues County Over Pay

Much has been said about the sheriff and his ongoing battle with the fiscal court. What are your thoughts? Any good suggestions? Let's hear what Todd County has to say!

(Remember, we will delete anything that has profanity or breaks libel and/or slander laws.)