Image 1 of The Advocate Messenger April 8, 2012

MAKING A STATEMENT d Embrace your inner sports parent Colorblocking popular new spring fashion trend Ask a Designer Home & Garden | D1 Pop Culture | C8 Advocate-Messenger The $1.50 | Danville, Kentucky www.amnews.com Sunday, April 8, 2012 file M 2012 KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE GENERAL SESSION   No guts, no glory as session winds down By DAVID BROCK dbrock@amnews.com Local lawmakers will return to Frankfort next week to officially wrap up a regular session dominated by the budget and a redistricting effort that was shot down in court. e Kentucky House and Senate will put the finishing touches on what was mostly a stagnant regular session ursday when they must adjourn. "It got off to a slow start and it was sluggish from there," said Sen. Tom Buford, who represents Boyle and Jessamine counties. Buford Harmon Napier While the session won't be known for a flourish of new legislation, the general assembly did succeed in reaching agreement on a budget during the session, a rare feat over the last decade. e roughly $19 billion spending plan, which makes about 8.4 percent cuts to state agencies across the board, was passed in large part because of a compromise struck between the parties on lowering the amount of money the state can borrow. "I think people realized it was going to be an austere budget," Rep. Mike Harmon of Boyle County said of why an agreement was reached unlike many times in the past. "Part of it is we have been arguing over miles in the past and this time we were really just arguing over inches." While the cuts technically spared the major funding formula for education, Buford said holding the allocations steady amounts to a decrease in funding because of the increased costs. Other major bills were left stalled along the way at some stage. A statewide smoking ban couldn't gain traction. Laws that would have led to the creation of more charter schools and increasing the high school drop out age from 16 to 18 also failed. e talk of the early session was a bill that See GUTS, on A6 Danville reviewing police chief options By STEPHANIE MOJICA smojica@amnews.com Joanna King/jking@amnews.com Daniel T. Troutman of the Boyle County Health Department details how to use one of the radon test kits his agency provides area residents at no cost. A committee comprised of Danville Interim City Manager Ron Scott and three city employees will spend the next several weeks reviewing 20 applications for the vacant police chief position. Atlanta-based consulting firm the Mercer Group recruited 78 applicants and forwarded the best 20 to the city, Scott said during a ursday interview. e pool includes several people who already work for the city, not just Interim Police Chief Tony Gray, according to Scott. At least one additional applicant lives in Kentucky, but the majority are from other states. Scott declined to discuss additional details about the nature of the applications. “e quality of these applications is outstanding,” Mayor Bernie Hunstad said ursday. Former chief Jay Newell INSIDE TODAY Naturally occurring gas can be dangerous in high concentrations Party sunny High: 69 Low: 38 Complete weather map, A8 By JOANNA KING jking@amnews.com INDEX T Joanna King/jking@amnews.com Troutman’s office oversees 17 programs, and more than half of his files are radon-related. ing as a leading cause of the disease. e U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates 21,000 people in the U.S. may die every year from lung cancer caused by inhaling particles emitted by radon as it decays. e estimate has an uncertainty range of 8,000 to 45,000. Cigarette smokers who live in homes infiltrated by high levels of radon are doubly at risk. Radon is clas- sified as the No. 1 cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. How did we discover the threat of radon? e case of a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant worker was one story that caught the attention of the U.S. government in 1984. Stanley Watras, a construction engi- Wounds Don’t just cover them, heal them! See GAS, on A6 Accent Advice Bulletin Board Classifieds Comics, TV Sch. Deaths Family Home & Garden Keepsakes Local News Looking Back National News Opinion Pop Culture Public Record Sports C1-C3 C5 A5 D5-D8 D4 A2 C4 D1-D3 C6 A2-A3, A6 C7 A8 A7 C8 A4 B1-B8 Vol. 146, No. 244 Printed on recycled paper © 2012 The Advocate-Messenger Federal judge tosses out Garrard County gate removal case A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit of a Garrard County property owner who claimed Fiscal Court and county officials violated her constitutional rights by allowing the public access to her land. A2 KENTUCKY LOTTERY FRIDAY EVENING: Pick 3: 8-4-9 Pick 4: 6-2-5-9 Cash Ball: 2-4-5-15 Cash Ball, 14 Cash Ball Kicker: 3-8-7-4-2 SATURDAY MIDDAY: Pick 3: 6-5-4 Pick 4: 7-2-9-0 For Saturday evening’s winning numbers, go to kylottery.com. The numbers also will be published in Monday’s paper. We have all the latest technologies including hyperbaric oxygen chambers, but the thing people seem to remember the most is our genuine caring attitude. If you have a wound that won’t heal, call us at (859) 239-1470 or ask your doctor for a referral. www.emhealth.org | (859) 239-1000 | 217 South Third Street | Danville, KY The Advocate-Messenger | www.amnews.com 142658 he sun is shining, the birds are singing and there’s not a cloud in the sky. It’s a good day to dust off the boom box and go outside to pull a few weeds and just enjoy being alive except ... the radio keeps asking me if my home has radon. Well, does it? And what is radon, anyway? Radon is a radioactive gas that seeps up and out from the earth into the ambient air nearly everywhere, nearly all the time. It is created by the natural decaying process of uranium found in nearly all soils. Radon rises from cracks in a basement or holes in a slab or comes into a home through water from wells or even from building materials. Some agencies contend as many as 1 in 15 homes has a sufficient concentration of this odorless, tasteless and otherwise unnoticed gas built up to eventually cause lung cancer, making radon second only to cigarette smok- resigned his position in December, saying he had health concerns and wanted to return to his job as a patrol officer. Gray has been serving as interim chief since that time. Fire Chief Woody Ball, City Engineer Earl Coffey and City Clerk Donna Peek will serve on the application review committee. While Scott will consider the opinions of the committee members, he plans to make the final hiring decision. Scott did not have a definite timeline for the decision, noting that this is a particularly busy time for the city because of the budget planning process. “It is the job of the city manager to make objective decisions regarding personnel,” Scott said. “However, I want people’s input into the process.” Hunstad noted Scott is not required to have a selection committee, but that he is pleased with Scott’s decision to do so.