The Christian County Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the hiring of Kensley McLellan as the new Director of Military Affairs.

According to Chamber officials, McLellan holds a Masters Degree and Undergraduate Degree from the University of Tennessee with majors in Marketing and Advertising and Human Resources Management.
McLellan’s first day of employment will be Monday, February 20^th and she was quoted as saying she is excited to work for the chamber and that she would work tirelessly to uphold the standard of excellence at the Military Affairs Committee and at the Chamber.
The military spouse replaces Kelly Pendleton, who recently resigned from the position to pursue another job opportunity.
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Preliminary statistics released by Kentucky State Police indicate twelve people died in twelve separate crashes on state roadways from Monday, January 30^th through Sunday.
According to KSP, twelve of the fatalities involved motor vehicles and six of the victims were not wearing seat belts. 
Through February 5^th, preliminary statistics indicate 63 people died on Kentucky roadways since January, which is twelve more fatalities than reported for the same time period last year.
State Police say out of the 63 fatalities, 57 of those involved motor vehicles and 31 victims were not wearing seat belts.
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Every state lawmaker who represents Christian County in the Kentucky General Assembly now has an opponent in this year’s election.

Filing his papers to run for the District 3 State Senate seat was Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Whitney Westerfield of Colonial Terrace, Hopkinsville. Westerfield is running as a republican and will face incumbent State Senator Joey Pendleton in the November general election.

Westerfield maintains a private law practice in Hopkinsville in addition to his duties as a prosecutor. He is a 1999 graduate of Christian County High School, a 2003 graduate of the University of Kentucky and completed law school at Southern Illinois University.

Senator Pendleton has served Christian County in the upper chamber since 1993 and has said this will be his final run for re-election. Neither candidate has an opponent in the May primary.
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02/07/2012/am

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources reports several bats have tested positive for a fatal fungus at three Breckinridge County caves.
According to wild life officials, several bats belonging to three common species have all tested positive for white-nose syndrome.
Confirmation of the disease was reportedly made by staffers at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study from Athens, Georgia and they reported the bats were located in privately owned caves northeast of Hardinsburg, within a 20-mile radius of each other.
Last winter, department biologists surveyed about 100 caves throughout the Commonwealth and the first reported case of the fatal fungus was documented in a cave located in Trigg County.
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources reports the mortality rates of bats affected by the disease have reached almost 100 percent, but it's not a threat to humans, pets or livestock.
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Officials from Hopkinsville Electric System and Pennyrile Rural Electric agree the prolonged power outage last night and the one from January 20^th were unrelated.

Power was out about 40 to 50 minutes each time and both happened in the evening hours, but H.E.S. General Manager Austin Carrol says lightning caused a major problem at the Kelly Substation on January 20^th, while Monday night’s outage was a mechanical issue.

Carrol acknowledged the coincidence in the two outages originating from the same T.V.A. substation, but says it’s sometimes nearly impossible to predict when there will be a mechanical failure.

Mark Lindsey of Pennyrile Rural Electric says T.V.A. is replacing that breaker and he doesn’t know of any ongoing issues at the substation that should worry local residents about possible future outages.

Officials say the remaining work can be done without having to turn anyone’s power off.

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02/07/2012/am