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Holland, 18 of Echols, holds her extra large check for $12,000 that she received from the Kentucky Lottery’s office when she went to claim her winnings last week in Madisonville. She purchased her $2 winning scratch-off ticket from the Rockport Market.

$2 lottery ticket wins teen $12,000

There are many veteran lottery players who have been scratching tickets for years and have never come close to winning as much cash as 18-year-old Jessica Holland did just over a week ago. On Valentine’s Day, Holland purchased a $2 scratch-off lottery game — Double Dollars — at the Rockport Market and won $12,000. She won the money two days after quitting her job at a truck stop in Beaver Dam and was in the process of looking for employment when Lady Luck struck. “I never expected to win this kind of money,” Holland said. “I didn’t think it was possible.”

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Horse Branch school on verge of closing

In a matter of four years, Horse Branch went from looking at a brand new school to possibly not having one at all. School Superintendent Soretta Ralph has been reluctant in the past to face the reality of closing the five-decade-old school. But now, Ralph said the school’s leaky septic system has put her in a “rock and a hard place” with three government agencies — the Kentucky Environmental Protection Cabinet, the Kentucky Department of Education and the Green River District Health Department. “I feel like I’m the one being blamed, that I’m trying to do something to shut the doors at Horse Branch and I’m not,” Ralph said. “People don’t understand that you have to follow these (government) guidelines.” The school system has received a notice of five violations from the state’s Environment Protection Cabinet that was dated Oct. 24, 2006. “...It was agreed that the flow of water observed surfacing just rear of the school and flowing across the property line was in fact the discharge from the septic tank on site,” the notice said. “...A distinctly septic odor was noted by all present and the water itself was very opaque in appearance nearly black in color.”

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Positive ID made on human remains

The Kentucky State Medical Examiner’s Office was able to identify the human remains found on reclaimed mine land on Feb. 8 through old medical X-ray records. Ohio County Coroner Larry Bevil confirmed Tuesday evening the remains were of 59-year-old Enich Terry Embry Sr., an Ohio County native. Kentucky State Police Det. Bryan Whittaker said an old head injury to the skull was used to varify the identity. “We talked to his ex-wife and she said he suffered a substantial head injury two years ago from a falling tree,” Whittaker said. A hunter discovered the remains two weeks ago three miles east of Beaver Dam off Kentucky Highway 62 two miles deep into property belonging to Brian Haynes and Fred Marksberry.

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Jones, Fiscal Court named in lawsuit: Former county employees claim they were illegally fired

Judge-Executive David Jones thought he had a pretty good handle on what life in public office would be like. He would win an election, wait his turn, start his official duties, and hope for the best. But it hasn’t quite been that way for the man from Centertown. Jones, an unassuming farmer by trade, found out early on that taking over the role of the county’s top political position was not going to be a Sunday walk in the park. First there was the problem of even getting into his new offices in the Ohio County Community Center by never receiving the keys, requiring a locksmith’s services. Then there was the problem with his office computers. Those all-important business machines allegedly had been tampered with and some of the information he needed to properly conduct his business was nowhere to be found. (That problem now is being investigated by the Kentucky State Police.) Now Jones finds himself — along with Ohio County Fiscal Court — a defendant in a lawsuit brought by two of his predecessor’s office employees. The plaintiffs, Teresa Clark and Carolyn Johnson, both employed by former Judge-executive Wayne Hunsaker, filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court last week claiming their jobs in the judge-executive’s office were illegally terminated by Jones and the court. Filed by Owensboro attorney Evan Taylor, the suit sets out that Clark and Johnson were dismissed because they supported Hunsaker, Jones’ opponent in the 2006 Ohio County primary election. Along with unspecified damages, the suit asks for past and present lost income and benefits, court costs, attorney’s fees, and a trial by jury.