Local News
Bryant’s 500 draws largest crowd yet
By Adam Sulfridge / Staff Writer
The 6th annual Bryant’s 500 drew the largest crowd yet, with well over 300 in attendance this past Saturday outside WD Bryant’s Williamsburg location on Fifth Street.
True to Lee Bryant’s promise, this year’s event possessed a real “carnival type of feel.” Between lawnmower races, visitors enjoyed a dunking booth, chainsaw wood carving, and an obstacle course whereby drivers could test their skills on a Scag mower.
The feature attraction, though, was a series of lawnmower races. Divided up according to class, several races were held, including one for 12 horsepower mowers or less, one for 14 horsepower mowers and above, and one for modified mowers.
Bobbie Freeman, a Williamsburg Police Detective, entered the 14 horsepower and up race as defending champion. Freeman won this year’s event as well, making him a five-time winner. The secret to his success this year: hot pink wheels. When asked why he decided to paint the two front wheels of his mower that color, he smiled and said, “To throw everybody off; it’s strategy.”
Curtis Surgenor took home first place in the 12 horsepower or less category. Driving a bug-eyed John Deere mower so old that it could only be started by a pull cord (as opposed to today’s key and push-button ignition styles), Surgenor crossed the checkered finish line well ahead of opponents.
“Best I can figure, it’s an early 60s model,” he said, guessing at the mower’s age.
Racers weren’t the only ones to win during the event. The mobile adoption unit of the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter was on hand along with young volunteers hoping to find new homes for some of the shelter’s needy animals. Within the first two hours, four dogs were adopted, partly due to a unique system whereby donors can sponsor an animal so that others may adopt that animal without having to pay an adoption fee.
One lady, who adopted a one-year-old Huskey pup named Al with the help of a sponsor, praised the shelter, its volunteers, and sponsors. Al’s new home, she said, will be a large, fenced-in backyard, perfect for playing with the family’s six kids.
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Adopt-a-Highway week begins Sunday
Volunteers will be out in force next week to spring clean Kentucky highways. The Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) announced that the Adopt-a-Highway Spring Clean Week will be held March 21-27.
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Audit: Co. Clerk overpaid worker
Knox County Clerk Mike Corey admits he overpaid an employee by more than $8,000 in wages in 2008, but says, “I did what I had to do” for a long-time employee who faced an emergency medical situation.
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Survey Says? Laurel Meth Watch making a mark
Work by Laurel County’s Agency for Substance Abuse Policy (ASAP) seems to be making its mark.
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How many actually work for the state?
Jeff Hoover has a simple question for Gov. Steve Beshear: just how many people work for state government? But he’s found it’s not such a simple answer.
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Senate alters, then passes Amanda’s Bill
The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a significantly altered domestic violence bill from the version passed earlier by the House as the mother of the woman for whom it is named watched from the overhead balcony.
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Woman cut from car after wreck on Fifth St.
A 63-year-old woman was trapped in her SUV following a two-car crash Tuesday along Fifth Street Road east of its intersection with KY 1259.
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Truck with satellite dishes tumbles on Tobacco Road
A tractor-trailer loaded with 40,000 pounds of satellite dishes turned over in east London Tuesday morning.
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Dogs removed from home put down
Three dogs removed from a Highland Park home on March 11 were in such poor health that the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter had to put the dogs down, according to police.
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Man knocked out by falling tree
A North Corbin man was flown to University of Kentucky Medical Center Wednesday night after being struck by the snapping trunk of a falling tree.
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Nighbert again advising Republicans on road plan
By Ronnie Ellis
CNHI News Writer
Bill Nighbert, the former secretary of the Transportation Cabinet (and former Williamsburg mayor) who was tried — and acquitted — on charges of bid-rigging, is again advising Senate Republicans on transportation matters. - More Local News Headlines
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Adopt-a-Highway week begins Sunday
