Image 1 of The Advocate Messenger April 20, 2012

STATE AUDITOR VOWS CRACKDOWN ON SPECIAL TAXING DISTRICTS — STORY ON A3 UK BASKETBALL I B1 LIFESTYLES I A10 GOALS REACHED Coloring hair with chalk is new trend Doron Lamb says there’s nothing left to accomplish at Kentucky Advocate-Messenger The 75¢ | Danville, Kentucky www.amnews.com Friday, April 20, 2012 Parks department seeks more funding ONLY By DAVID BROCK $ 14.95 dbrock@amnews.com plus tax While supplies last, limited number of copies available at this newspaper. SO YOU KNOW Trail summit set for Tuesday A public meeting about developing community trails will be 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Danville city hall. Organizers of the event are calling it a trails summit and will share the current status of various activities in the community to improve non-motorized access and connectivity among major points of interest and destinations in the city and county. Sponsors invite public input about ongoing planning efforts. They urge anyone with an interest in walking, running and bicycling to attend, make comments, and suggest ideas. There will be reports and updates from the office of the city engineer, the consulting firm hired to create a “Safe Routes to School Connectivity Plan,” and the committee of local volunteers working to advise the community on a trails master plan. This is the first comprehensive planning effort to recommend a strategy that will guide future development of trails and transportation improvements for non-motorized users such as pedestrians and bicyclists. Those present will be asked to help shape project priorities for local planners. Opportunities for leadership and active volunteerism also will be discussed. Danville-Boyle County Parks and Recreation was one of the lone agencies to request a substantial funding increase Thursday during Danville City Commission's budget meeting, but the purse strings may be tightening even more, according to some officials. Parks and Recreation Director John Drake said the city has lagged behind Boyle County in funding for Millennium Park and park programming and said subsidies for several other functions of the department are needed in the coming year. Drake requested a $65,000 increase from the current fiscal year's allocation of $200,000 to a total of $265,000. The request included $195,000 for Millennium Park and the Parks and Recreation program’s budget, as well as $18,000 for the fitness center at the William E. “Bunny” Davis Recreational Complex, $22,500 for its swimming pool and $30,000 for work in city neighborhood parks. Drake said the city and county had agreed to fund the operation of Millennium Park evenly, but he presented a graph tracking city and county funding for the park and programming since 20082009 through the current year. In all, the figures showed the city paying a total of $65,000 less than the county over the fouryear period. The department also is requesting $195,000 from the county next fiscal year. The seven person David Brock/dbrock@amnews.com city-county parks com- Danville-Boyle County Parks and Recreation Director John Drake mittee, which had con- makes his presentation to the Danville City Commission during the sisted of Drake, the agency funding meeting Thursday. Drake said the city has lagged behind the county in funding the park and programs over a period of years and See PARKS, on A8 asked for a $65,000 increase over the current year’s allocation. Committee says it did not violate law Derby prep By STEPHANIE MOJICA smojica@amnews.com e chairwoman of the Danville Citizens Committee denied illegally casting votes in executive sessions through Assistant City Attorney Stephen Dexter in response to a complaint filed by e Advocate-Messenger. e entire nine-member panel met March 8 to review 12 candidates for the vacant city manager position and selected four as their top choices. An Advocate-Messenger reporter was waiting during the entire meeting and was invited back into the room. Committee members explained they voted unanimously on the four candidates, a fact which City Commissioner Gail Louis later disputed to two Advocate-Messenger reporters as well as publicly during re- Follow us on Facebook and Twitter ONLINE @ WWW.AMNEWS.COM See COMMITTEE, on A8 KENTUCKY LOTTERY THURSDAY MIDDAY Pick 3: 4-7-3 Pick 4: 8-1-2-5 EVENING Pick 3: 5-5-1 Pick 4: 7-1-6-2 Cash Ball: 12-18-22-24 Cash Ball 15 Kicker 8-4-5-0-0 Decades of Dollars: 13-21-23-30-36-42 5 Card Cash: 2H, AH, 5D, KS, JC TONIGHT Chance of rain 70 percent. High: 70s Low: 40s Complete weather map, A10 Lincoln magistrate dies at 59 Liz Moreland, top photo, helps her son, Evan Moreland, work on his jockey shirt Thursday in the cafeteria at Jennie Rogers Elementary School. Parents worked with the kindergartners to create shirts for the Kid’tucky Derby from 1 to 2:30 May 4 on the school playground. At right, Lisa Arnold irons designs on a shirt for her daughter, Claire. Above, kindergartner Alex Walker, left, gets help from his mother, Jeneen Walker. This is the school’s 10th year for the event. By TODD KLEFFMAN tkleffman@amnews.com scribed on the black granite memorial. The Wall that Heals is a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed to travel to communities throughout the United States. At the Lancaster event, the Garrard County High School band will play the STANFORD — Lincoln County Magistrate Dexter Todd died ursday morning at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington. Dexter Todd He was 59. Judge-Executive Jimbo Adams said Todd went to Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center three weeks ago for a scheduled out-patient surgery but became seriously ill after being placed under anesthesia. Todd remained hospitalized in Danville, on and off a ventilator, until being transferred to St. Joseph on Tuesday, Adams said. Todd, a native of the Broughtontown area, was elected to his second term on See WALL, on A8 See TODD, on A8 Clay Jackson/cjackson@amnews.com INDEX Advice Classifieds Comics Deaths Local News Opinion Religion Sports Traveling Vietnam wall coming to Lancaster A7 B6-B8 B9 A2 A2-A3 A9 A4-A5 B1-B5 Vol. 146, No. 255 6 05358 12300 7 Printed on recycled paper © 2012 The Advocate-Messenger LANCASTER — The Wall that Heals, a traveling exhibit and museum honoring men and women who died while serving with the U.S. armed forces in the Vietnam War, will be in Lancaster later this month. The exhibit is part of a free event honoring veterans planned for 11 a.m. April 30 at the Garrard County Justice Center. U.S. Congressman Brett Guthrie will speak. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served as a field artillery officer in the 101st Airborne Division — Air Assault at Fort Campbell. Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, also will speak. In 1979, Scruggs conceived the idea of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as a tribute to all who served during one of the longest wars in American history. Today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is among the most visited memorials in the nation’s capital. There are more than 58,000 names in- The Advocate-Messenger | www.amnews.com