Those congregated at The Center for Rural Development for Tuesday’s Chamber of Commerce luncheon got a brief civics lesson from a member of the highest court in the state.
Somerset’s own Daniel J. Venters — former attorney, assistant commonwealth’s attorney, district judge, and circuit judge — urged Chamber members to become familiar with the seven members of the Kentucky Supreme Court. He is one of those seven members, along with Bill Cunningham, Lisabeth Hughes Abramson, Will T. Scott, Wil Schroder, Mary C. Noble, and John D. Minton Jr.
“It’s important for you to know who (the supreme court justices) are because they affect your lives every day,” said Venters, who was appointed to the Supreme Court last August.
The state’s Supreme Court, Venters explained, is responsible for “determining what the law in Kentucky should be.”
While the legislative branch of government creates laws, and the executive branch of government enforces laws, the judicial branch interprets the law when questions arise at the legislative and executive levels, Venters said.
“What has impressed me the most ... is that this is the hardest working group in government I’ve been around,” Venters said of his colleagues.
“It has been very solemn and sobering to see the great concern they have about how their actions affect your life.”
Supreme Court justices serve eight-year terms. Venters was appointed to finish former Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert’s term, which had just over two years remaining at the time.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Dan Venters spoke to the local Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. Tricia Neal photo
SCOKY’s Venters speaks to Chamber
Local News
- Local News
-
-
Eubank woman keeps the faith as she battles cervical cancer
- Congressional districts set
- Kentucky exempt from NCLB regulations
-
Survey may attract commercial passenger service
-
Hal Rogers defends Somerset’s Streetscape project
-
Somerset on verge of becoming natural gas hub
It sounds like a Buck Rogers fiction series, but it’s true. The city of Somerset is about to become the energy hub of Kentucky, maybe even regionally or nationally.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler, gas company manager Dan Henderson and city engineer Reggie Chaney discussed the grandiose energy network this week with a reporter for the Commonwealth Journal. It’s more than a vision. City officials say it’s about to become reality. -
Old districts are back ... for now
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Such is the legislative redistricting debacle in Frankfort.
Judge Phillip Shepherd in Franklin Circuit Court on Tuesday tossed out the General Assembly’s controversial redistricting plans and reverted everything back to where it was before. -
Fast-moving blaze guts mobile home off Slate Branch Road
-
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.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Pop Music Superstar Whitney Houston Dies at 48
Police: Houston Found Dead in Her Hotel Room
Paul Suffers Narrow Loss to Romney in Maine
Recording Superstar Whitney Houston Dead at 48
Maine GOP Chairman Says Romney Wins Caucuses
Palin Brings Anti-Washington Message to CPAC
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate
US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany
Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords
Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria
Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC
Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion'
5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La.
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
