Kentucky Transportation Cabinet highway crews were out responding to storm damage in several District 1 & District 2 Counties across Western Kentucky this morning.

According to highway crews from early reports, Webster County and McLean County appeared to have been the hardest hit.

Officials in Mclean County reported closing KY 1-40 and KY 2-56 due to power lines and power poles being down along those roadways.

Meanwhile, the Webster County Highway Maintenance facility reported crews were out removing debris from highways at various locations throughout the county.

In addition, officials in Calloway County reported water being over highways due to flash flooding at numerous locations.
Crews are urging motorists to use appropriate caution today as they drive on area roads and highways with storm debris.
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If ever there was a bullet to be dodged, the southern Pennyrile was able to dodge it Sunday night.

A National Weather Service Survey team is expected to travel to Calloway County early this morning to look at damage which resulted from a possible tornado, though there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage to homes there.

It looked as though those storms would prompt tornado warnings for Trigg and Christian Counties, but it was straight line winds that created some power outages and debris on roadways by the time it reached the Pennyrile.

In fact, there were thousands of Kentucky Utilities customers without power in Christian and Hopkins Counties late in the night, with crews working into the morning to restore service. There were also some power outages noted just northwest of Hopkinsville due to blown transformers.

The “mesonet” site recorded a high gust of 63 miles per hour on Mout Zoar-Latham Road about fifteen minutes before midnight.

Nearly every county in western and central Kentucky was under some type of warning at some point, but the worst damage was reported in Daviess County, where a house and a mobile home sustained major damage and minor injuries were reported.

Western Kentucky and middle Tennessee had been warned of a moderate risk for severe weather for no less than 12 hours and those predictions certainly came to fruition, though one has to think a bullet was dodged when you consider what might have been.
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01/23/2012/am

Details remain scarce concerning a Fort Campbell soldier's arrest in connection with a shooting incident this weekend.

Fort Campbell spokesman Rick Rzepka confirmed Specialist Larry William Reed was arrested Saturday by military police and that the investigation surrounding the events that led up to the soldier's arrest remains ongoing and more charges are likely pending against the local soldier. Reed is accused of shooting at a vehicle in a residential area of the post, with no one injured.

Fort Campbell officials have not released any further information.
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01/22/2012/am

Greyson Taylor

A Trigg County Sheriff’s Deputy has been arrested on domestic assault charges.

Few details are given, but Sheriff Ray Burnam says 24-year old Deputy Greyson Taylor was arrested and charged with 4^th degree Assault, which means the alleged incident was domestic in nature.

Taylor was arrested today (Sunday), according to the Christian County Jail website.

Sheriff Burnam says Taylor is no longer an employee of the department, following his arrest.
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01/23/2012/am

Officer Mayfield

A head-on collision involving a Franklin, Ky. police officer yesterday claimed the life of a Simpson County woman.

Kentucky State Police say the incident happened around 2:30 on State Highway 100 east in the city limits of Franklin. State Trooper Terry Alexander says 30-year old LaDonna Southard of Franklin was eastbound, when she crossed the center line for an unknown reason and struck a marked police cruiser driven by 36-year old Officer Kelly Mayfield of Bowling Green head-on.

Another car was in front of Officer Mayfield and that driver swerved in an attempt to avoid a wreck, but Mayfield didn’t have time get out of the way before Ms. Southard hit him.

Ms. Southard was pronounced dead on the scene by Simpson County Coroner Patrick Crafton, while Officer Mayfield had to be cut from his cruiser and was taken to Bowling Green Medical Center.

He was initially treated for several broken bones, and has since been transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, where he is listed in stable condition.

Officer Mayfield was on duty at the time of the wreck and was responding to a non-emergency complaint. He did not have his “blue lights” on and was traveling along with traffic.

Both drivers were wearing their seat belts and police say they do not suspect alcohol as a factor in the wreck.

Officer Mayfield has been employed by the Franklin Police Department since February of 2003.

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01/22/2012/am