EKB News

A Pikeville Man was apprehended last night after an Officer with the Pikeville Police Department responded to a complaint of loud noise.

When Sergeant Aaron Thompson arrived on the scene of an apartment on Hibbard Street, he found 18 year old Phillip C. Crum standing on a balcony allegedly with his pants down urinating.

According to the arrest citation, Crum then allegedly threw his beer bottle of the balcony resulting in a charge of criminal littering on top of A.I. Indecent Exposure and drinking in a public place.

He was lodged in the Pike County Detention Center with out bond as a result of pending cases and is scheduled to appear again in court on October 5th.

The state isn't ready to move forward with a proposal to place a Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol, an attorney said Thursday. Officials haven't yet identified other historical displays or memorials to accompany the Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol lawn, said Tom Self, an attorney in the Kentucky Office of Legal Services.

The Ten Commandments monument won't be placed on the Capitol grounds until additional exhibits are donated and a federal judge approves the overall project, Self said in a document filed in U.S. District Court in Frankfort.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood wanted to review the state's plans before deciding whether the Ten Commandments monument should be allowed on government property.

Police have made two arrests in connection to the Murder investigation Launched in Johnson County on Monday. Last night officers with the Kentucky State Police along with the Johnson County Sheriffs department made the two arrests after following up on a lead.

An ATV that had been stolen from 68 year old James E. Mollette was located in the Daniels Creek area of Johnson County which lead police to 21 year old Tommy Baldridge who was apprehended in Paintsville and 23 year old Christopher Fairchild who was located in the Flat gap Community.

The two were lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center and charged with murder. Mollette was found dead at his residence in the Middle Greasy Creek area of Johnson County on Monday Night. According to officers with the Kentucky State Police, they suspect that the Murder was a result of a robbery.

September has the designation of being disaster preparedness month and several local agencies are coming together this Saturday to put on a very special event called family day. Officials from the Pike County Health Department, The Big Sandy Red Cross, Pike County Emergency Management and others are all coordinating activities designed to help children and the families to be prepared, in the event of a disaster.

We spoke with representatives of three of the agencies participating, about what kind of events will be taking place.
"Several activities are planned such as face painting, a scavenger hunt a hand washing game that teaches kids... just several fun activities;" said Crystal Newsome with the Pike County Health department who went into detail about games being set up at the Pikeville YMCA “arts and crafts just stuff for the kids to play with.”
"Kids can see some of the suits and things that we have;” said Doug Tackett, director of Pike County's Emergency Management agency spoke on some of the cool things his agency would be bringing
“Breathing apparatus, air monitoring equipment will all be on display”

Robyn Tackett, Disaster Preparedness Director for the Big Sandy Chapter of the American Red Cross, then told us that preparing for a disaster is not limited to just one day, week or month but a year long thing.

"Even though September is the disaster preparedness month, these agencies are preparing for your disaster all year long, three hundred and sixty five days a year."

The event will be taking place this Saturday at the Pikeville YMCA located at Bob Amos Park from 10 am until 2 pm

More than one-quarter ounce of cocaine was recovered following the arrest of a Magoffin County man on drug trafficking charges.

Following a lengthy investigation by Operation UNITE, law enforcement personnel arrested 60-year-old Willis Porter around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday charging him with one count of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance(cocaine)and trafficking in marijuana more than 5 pounds according to UNITE officials.

Porter gave officers permission to search his home where they discovered marijuana seeds, more than $1,000 in cash and a .44 Magnum handgun. Porter was taken to the Johnson County Detention Center. The investigation is continuing and additional charges are expected.

A Martin County man charged last week with two counts of murder was ordered held without bond yesterday until a grand jury can consider his case according to the Lexington Herald.

After hearing testimony from a Kentucky State Police detective, District Judge Susan Mullins Johnson ruled there was probable cause to hold William "Billy" Sartin, 47, of Inez, charged with killing two men and wounding a woman.

Sartin, who has a lengthy criminal and mental-health history, sat quietly at the defense table in shackles and handcuffs while Detective Mike Goble described the events of Sept. 18 and Sartin's subsequent arrest by Martin County Sheriff Garmon Preece last Wednesday morning. A Martin County grand jury meets in about three weeks, officials said, and Sartin is expected to be arraigned Oct. 27.

This morning East Kentucky Broadcasting ran a story about the arrest of 74 year old Eugene Fannin for allegedly abusing his golden retriever in front of his apartment complex. Fannin, of Prestonsburg is the father of the star cities Mayor Jerry Fannin who seems to always be a lightning rod for controversy.

EKB news spoke with mayor Fannin this afternoon, who stated that in his opinion, the entire story was blown out of proportion and the attack may have been politically motivated. Fannin started off saying that his father was just trying to teach the dog to mind.
“He’s been trying to keep it from going up there and he broke a little switch and smacked it three or four times.”
Fannin continued taking aim at a political rival who owns one of Prestonsburg’s media outlets “On some of the radio stations and stuff (newspapers) they’ve been reporting that he beat it with a pipe, which that never happened.”

“I think this was motivated towards me and I’m sure it won’t be the last (time).
I have not said anything about anybody running and nor am I going to especially about there family members because it’s not right.” Fannin said about the politics he’s faced in this year’s election.

“I’m the one running for office I’m the one working in city hall and I’m the one running the city and I think if you’re running for office and it should be about you and only you and what you can do for whatever position that you’re running for.”

Jail records show the elder Fannin was being held in the Floyd County jail at 12:30 a.m. Saturday and released at 1:15 that afternoon on a personal secured bond. No court date was listed in the jail records.

An investigation has been launched in Johnson County into the death of a 68 year old man found on the floor of residence.

According to the Kentucky State police the received a call that James E. Mollette of middle greasy creek was found dead around 11 o’clock last night.
Officers have said that evidence at the scene indicates that the death could’ve have been the result of a robbery and that foul play is suspected.

The investigation continues by the Kentucky state police who ask that anyone that may have any information contact them at 1-800-222-5555.

A Pike County man accused of asking another person to burn down his ex wife’s house and to wreck a vehicle occupied by the woman has pleaded guilty to an amended charge in Pike County Circuit Court.

50 year old Kenneth Rowe, father of the recently convicted murder Kevin Rowe plead guilty to one count of criminal solicitation to commit wanton endangerment 1st degree. Rowe had also been indicted on criminal solicitation to commit arson a charge which was dropped by the commonwealth in exchange for his guilty plea.

According to court documentation filed by Circuit Judge Eddy Coleman’s office yesterday, Rowe will serve two years of probation with the condition that he have no contact with the victim in the case and that he not return to Pike County except for one time not exceeding 48 hours every 2 months.

Rowe also has case which he has yet to be indicted on alleging that he made threats against Circuit Judge Steve Combs and commonwealths Attorney Rick Bartley in February. The charges remain pending in front of the Pike County Grand Jury.

On Thursday afternoon a Pike County Jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty on charges of Murder, Robbery and Tampering with physical evidence in the case against 19 year old Corey Chaney of Elkhorn Creek.

Chaney and Arthur Adkins who was also indicted for the same charges were accused of committing the murder of Gregory D. Fleming in June of last year. The defense had argued that Chaney was just a quote kid and that Adkins was the one who actually committed the murder.

The commonwealth however argued that Chaney was the one with a motive to commit the murder, having stolen a large quantity of marijuana off of Fleming and a sexually explicit tape of Fleming and Chaney surfacing, charges which the defense didn’t deny.

We spoke with Commonwealths Attorney Rick Bartley today, posing the question of what’s next in this case. “Well what we’ll do is try to evaluate what went wrong for the prosecution in this case. We’ll probably try to talk to one or two of the jurors to see what they thought about the evidence in general. There has been no decision made yet that we will or will not try Arthur Adkins on the Murder Charges.”

The reason for not pursuing charges against Adkins would be due to the fact that Adkins is already facing a significant prison sentence for being a convicted felon in possession of a fire arm, and for being a persistent felony offender.

We then went on to ask Bartley, if the Adkins case does continue to trial, will Chaney be called as a witness.
“Well we have not talked to him or his attorney about that, he could be subpoenaed and could be forced to testify” Bartley continued “Now what he would tell the jury at this point I don’t know. We’ll just have to try to talk to his attorney and make that determination as we continue to evaluate the case against Adkins.”

One of the factors that could cause the prosecution to be apprehensive about calling Chaney is that theoretically he could testify that he was the one that committed the murder, and therefore provides an alibi for Adkins, due to the fact that Chaney cannot be tried again for the Murder.
As of right now Adkins is set to stand trial in Pike County Circuit court on November 27.

A Harlan county man who exchanged gunfire with his uncle was struck in the head by a bullet and later died from his injuries, state police said Sunday.

39 yr old Mark Vanwinkle, suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including one to his head just before midnight on Friday according to the Kentucky state police. Vanwinkle and his uncle, Harry Vanwinkle, 52, of Dayton, Ohio, fired on each other according to authorities. Harry Vanwinkle was struck in the abdomen and flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. State police are investigating the shooting, but said in a statement said they don't know the cause. Mark Vanwinkle was pronounced dead at a local hospital by the Harlan County Coroner.

Retired military officers today bluntly accused Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of bungling the war in Iraq, saying U.S. troops were sent to fight without the best equipment and that critical facts were hidden from the public.

During remarks prepared for a forum conducted by Senate Democrats, retired Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste said "I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq,”

A second military leader retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, assessed Rumsfeld as "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically ...."

However a senator from the bluegrass, had a different assessment of Rumsfelds performance

"Today's stunt may rile up the liberal base, but it won't kill a single terrorist or prevent a single attack," according to a statement by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in which he also referred to Rumsfeld as an "excellent secretary of defense."

The conflict, now in its fourth year, has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 American troops and cost more than $300 billion.

Inez - Heavy flooding across the state resulted in 8 deaths, including one Eastern Kentucky native. 25 year old Lauren Brooke Fannin, originally of Martin County was getting out of a cab in Lexington this weekend with her friend Lindsay Harp, when both were pulled down into the rushing water. Right now visitation for Lauren Fannin is scheduled for 6pm tonight at the Inez Baptist Church with the funeral tentatively scheduled for 1pm Tuesday.

Today State officials began to assess how much damage the storms caused, according to Buddy Rogers, a spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management in Frankfort. Most of the flooding had subsided, and no more high water is expected. The National Weather Service is reporting most areas of the state had received at least five inches of rain over the weekend, with isolated areas getting close to 10 inches.