Somerset —
A woman charged with several offenses after a crude pipe bomb was discovered in her Jacksboro Street residence last July has pleaded guilty in Pulaski Circuit Court.Ember M. Collins, 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree wanton endangerment, buying or possessing drug paraphernalia and two counts of third-degree possession of a controlled substance.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Eddy F. Montgomery said Collins’s case is eligible for pretrial diversion.Collins and Robert W. Ware, 31, were found by Somerset Police in their 716 Jacksboro Street residence smoking what appeared to be marijuana after a 911 hang-up call was made from the home last July 9. Police reported a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside, and two Darvocet pills, one container of Butorphanol Tartrate, two marijuana smoking pipes, a grinder, a pack of rolling papers, a water bong and a syringe were all located inside. Additionally, Ware was found with 17.5 Suboxone pills in his pocket.
Illegal drugs weren’t the only discovery police made, however. They also found an item resembling a pipe bomb, a generally primitive but effective device designed to amplify the destructive capabilities of relatively weak explosives.The Kentucky State Police Hazardous Devices Unit and Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) investigators from London were called to the scene to investigate. They found black powder blasting caps, used to detonate explosives. The black powder was found on the open floor where children could reach and was advised by ATF to be an extreme hazard. Also discovered on the floor were knives, syringes, and blasting caps.
Four children, ages 9 years, 4 years, 3 years and 10 months were removed from the home by the Department of Social Services. .
SPD Det. Shannon Smith said that the explosives “could have easily caused serious physical injury and death,” and that “there is only one reason somebody would have a destructive device, and that is to destroy things.”
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Ember Collins
Woman who was found with pipe bomb pleads guilty
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Big Bang Theory
Pulaski County is not at war. The booming you may hear at dusk is mock cannon fire to scare away birds.
Stuart Spillman, environmental director for the Lake Cumberland Health Department, said at least three cannons are on loan from the department to residents who want to scare away swarms of starlings and blackbirds settling in to roost.
He said a cannon is being used by a resident on Laura Lane off Ky. 39; another is in the Oak Hill Road area and a third is on Ashurst Street in the eastern part of Somerset.
Spillman said a timer on each cannon allows it to “fire” at whatever frequency is desired. The cannons must be used as the birds circle before going to roost. “After they settle in, nothing will chase them out,” Spillman said.
The Health Department doesn’t operate the cannons unless there is a specific complaint in an area where there are lots of birds, Spillman noted. He said so far this year the birds are not as bad as in the past. -
Boil water advisory is lifted countywide
The water controversy that Pulaski County has been boiling over — so to speak — for the last week is finally over.
At 10 minutes after noon Wednesday, the “boil water” advisory for the Western Pulaski Water District was lifted — almost a full week after the problems began around 1 p.m. last Thursday.
Prior to that, the Somerset Water Service — along with the other water providers in its system, including Science Hill Water, Southeastern Water, and Eubank Water — lifted their advisories, with Somerset on Saturday afternoon and the last, Southeastern, by Monday morning. Western Pulaski was the last in the system to complete sample testing for potential contaminants, due to not being able to access its Pikeville-based testing lab until Monday.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler thanked the public for its patience and understanding during the duration of the boil water advisory — put in place to keep citizens from drinking water that could have been contaminated after an accident last Thursday at the water plant site — and also thanked all the city employees for their hard work during this time.
“The boil water advisory went about as well as would be expected,” said Girdler.
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