3/30/12

Democrats to hold precinct elections Saturday

Democrats all over Kentucky will meet at their local polling places at 10 a.m. Saturday to elect leaders in the Kentucky Democratic Party. "I hope that every Democrat across Kentucky interested in becoming a leader in the KDP or becoming more active in their local party will participate in their precinct convention," says state chairman Dan Logsdon.

RHS honors Kendall, comes back to beat Central

If hanging a giant banner in centerfield wasn't enough, the Russellville Panthers gave retiring Coach Lou Kendall a thrill Thursday by coming back from a 7-1 deficit to beat his alma mater, Warren Centra,l 15-9. Before the game, the Russellville Alumni Club un-furled a beautiful banner in the outfield detailing the Hall of Fame coach's accomplishments. See a more detailed story in March Sports Articles.

3/29/12

Lancaster invited to Kentucky all-star tryouts

Logan County's Twin Lancaster has been invited to try out for the Kentucky All-Stars boys basketball team at Georgetown College on April 22. Forty-five players were invited, including Nathan Dieudonne and Charles Foster of state champion Trinity and another Mr. Kentucky candidate with Dieudonne, Mikale McKatay of Moore. Lancaster was 4th Region Player of the Year and participated in the Coaches' East-West All-Star Game in Lexington on the final day of the state tournament, Also invited from this region is Donovan Halsel of Warren Central. The All-Stars will play at Freedom Hall against Indiana on June 8 and in Indianapolis the following day.

Olmstead wins archery regional, headed to state

In its first year of archery, Olmstead won the elementary division at the 4th Region Archery Tournament held at Logan County High School on March 9-10. Coach Buddy Wright's elementary team, which shot a 2,972, won the tournament by 9 points. During the year, Olmstead Elementary placed 2nd at all five tournaments in which it participated during a five-week stretch at Adairville, Auburn, Chandlers, Lewisburg, and at home. Olmstead will now compete in the Kentucky Archery State Tournament, which will be held April 2-3, at the Convention Center in Louisville. The championship team consists of Arika Wright, Ashlyn Tracy, Dalton Taylor, Ethan Haley, Jaden Hayes, Austin Beaty, Dawson Johnson, Dawson McGhee, Hunter Bogle, Micah Whittinghill, RJ McGee, Rachel Taylor, Thomas Poore, Alex Brown, Bradley Taylor, Christian Wright, Deserae Tucker, James Head, Kiley Rager, Madison Imlay, Samuel Harper, Taylor Haley and Trevor McIntosh.

Warren Central to play baseball at RHS Thursday

In what is expected to be veteran coach Lou Kendall's final home game against his alma mater, Warren Central will be at Kelly Russell Field at 5 p.m. today for a baseball game. Kendall's Panthers are off to another good start at 6-1. Central is 2-3. Kendall plans to retire from teaching at the end of this school year.

3/28/12

R'ville 5th graders, parents invited to info session

RHS/RMS will host a parent night Open House for current 5^th grade students and their parents on April 12 at 5:30 p.m. "We would like to discuss the likely move of 6^th grade students to the RMS/RHS campus beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, " says Principal John Myers. "This will give parents a firsthand look at our schools and how we plan to house the 6^th grade students." On Friday, April 13, the current 5^th grade students will be brought to the school for a tour and information session during the school day. On April 26, a similar Open House for current 6^th graders and their parents will be held. Then on April 27, the current 6^th graders will be brought to RMS/RHS for a similar session.

3/27/12

Lady Cougars' comeback falls one run short

Trailing 8-1 after three innings, Coach Mike Crawford's Logan County Lady Cougars scored seven runs to tie the game, only to fall 9-8 at Warren East Monday. Shelby Milam, Megan Griggs & Maddie Abbott had RBI singles before veteran Alecia Croft hit a grand slam home run. Croft and Griggs each had two hits.

3/24/12

Lon Sosh to speak at Adairville Sunrise Service

Long-time radio personality and now evangelist Lon Sosh is to speak during the Adairville Community Sunrise Service at Calvary Baptist Church just south of town on Easter Sunday, April 8, at 6 a.m. Sosh will speak this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at New Union Community Church near Roy's Bar-B-Q off the bypass.

3/23/12

Coach Kerry Stovall to speak at Walnut Grove

Kerry Stovall , who coached Christian County to last year's state boys basketball championship, will be the speaker at the 8:30 and 11 a.m. serviices of Walnut Grove Baptist Church in West Logan this Sunday. He was a high school teacher of Tracy Naylor, wife of Walnut Grove pastor Calvin Naylor.

3/22/12

WKU promotes Stewart, names Clark-Heard coach

Within a day after Ross Bjork resigned as Western Kentucky University's director of athletics to accept a similar position at Ole Miss, President Gary Ransdell acted quickly. He named Senior Associate Athletic Director Todd Stewart interim AD. Then they together announced the hiring of former Lady Topper Michelle Clark-Heard women's basketball coach. After helping Coach Paul Sanderford's 1987-90 teams reach the NCAA Tournament all four years, she coached under him at Nebraska and then became conference Coach of the Year as head coach at Kentucky State. She has been serving on the staff of former WKU assistant Jeff Walz in the University of Louisville's successful program.

Bjork had fired men's head coach Ken McDonald and women's head coach Mary Taylor Cowles in the past three months with Ransdell's blessings. WKU fans would like see the popular Stewart be as successful in the interim post as Coach Ray Harper was earlier. Harper led the men's basketball team to a Sun Belt Tournament title, a first-round win in the NCAA Tournament, and a 15-point loss to powerful Kentucky.

3/21/12

City board discusses moving future 6th graders

At its March meeting Tuesday night, the Russellville Board of Education heard discussion of the possibility of moving sixth graders from Stevenson Elementary School to the middle school portion of the Clarksville Road complex in future years. Over 700 students are now in classes housed at Stevenson from preschool through sixth grade. Administrator Kim McDaniel is working on a plan if such a move is approved that would keep the youngsters from ha-ing contact with high school students.

3/20/12

Large crowd gathers to see, hear South Bypass plans

An overflow crowd, maybe the largest ever to assemble in the Russellville High School cafeteria, heard and saw plans Tuesday for the construction of a Southern Russellville Bypass which will run from the current bypass on the Franklin Road through the Nashville and Orndorff Mill roads to connect with the current bypass on the Clarksville Road, not far south of RHS. No complaints were aired publicly. Watch The LoJo for more details.

3/19/12

Lady Cougar Jaylin Jones to sign with MCU today

Senior Jaylin Jones of the Logan County Lady Cougars will sign today to play for Mid-Continent University at 1:30 p.m. in the LCHS Media Room. Jones averaged 13.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3 each of steals and assists for Coach Scot MacAllister's team during her senior season.

3/18/12

Cougars beat East to win baseball season opener

Thomas Miller pitched a 4-hitter as visiting Logan County held off defending regional champion Warren East 5-2 Saturday in the season opener for both teams. Brandon Sowell reached twice and Dustin Nash once to start scoring innings for Coach Ethan Meguiar's team. Dustin Cartas had a key RBI double and caught the gem Miller pitched. Janos Briscoe homered for East. Logan will entertain Greenwood Tuesday.

Players assigned to Logan Little League teams

Following tryouts on March 11 at the SK Sports Complex, the 93 participants in this year's Logan County Little League were picked for nine teams. Four of them are for ages 11-12 and five for ages 9-10. That's one more team than last year, according to league pres-ident John Myers. Todd County is now part of the league after the boundaries were expanded.

Lancaster, Tackett honored at state tournament

Two members of the Logan County High School boys basketball program were honored at the state tournament last week. Twin Lancaster was named Fourth Region Player of the Year, and his coach, Harold Tackett, was named co-Coach of the Year along with Barren County'sWarren Cunningham. They both came to the center of the Rupp Arena court to be honored. At the girls state tournament, Todd Central'sSteve Phillips was honored as this region's Coach of the Year for the ladies. Also at the girls state event at Diddle Arena, Franklin-Simpson's Lex Lindsey was added to the KHSAA Court of Honor, representing Regions 1-4. Lindsey, who began his coaching career at LCHS, has moved from leading the Franklin-Simpson girls to the boys team now.

3/15/12

Roy's Sports Calendar filled with spring games

The Roy's Sports Calendar has been updated to include all of the high school athletic events for spring. We would welcome youth leagues to submit their schedules to be included. See the calendar, sponsored as always by Roy's Bar-B-Q, on the Home Page of The LoJo.

Hot Rods offering annual Fan Fest this Saturday

The Bowling Green Hot Rods, Class A Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, will host their annual Fan Fest this Saturday, March 17. The free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bowling Green Ballpark and will be highlighted by the launch of 2012 single-game ticket sales. Fans who attend can also enjoy behind-the-scenes ballpark tours, food, prizes, inflatables for the kids, and more.

Bowling Green proves tough out for RHS softball

The Greg Meacham head coaching era at Russellville High got off to a tough start Monday when the Lady Panthers lost 15-0 at Bow-ling Green. The Lady Purples scored 13 runs while RHS was getting only one out, but they only scored two more.. BGH outfielder Tesa Lindsey told theDaily News the Lady Panthers "got better as they went." Meagan Woodson had two hits for RHS. Laura Grace Marksberry & Tara Gilbert pitched for RHS. Tori Dillard, daughter of former RHS cheerleader Shelly Smith Dillard, had an RBI hit, a pair of walks and three runs for the winners.

3/14/12

Logan Girl Scouts celebrate 100-year anniversary

Logan County's Girl Scouts gathered at the Logan County Justice Center Monday night to celebrate the 100th birthday of the organization. Leaders Vickie Kemp & Becky Stapleton spoke. In addition to singing two songs, the girls formed a Friendship Circle and did the Friendship Squeeze. They recited the Girl Scout Promise. Leader Nicole McLevain organized the evening. Logan County has 85 Scouts in seven troops who are working toward the end of Girl Scout Cookies sales Sunday. Juliette Gordon Lowe held the first Girl Scouts meeting on March 12, 1912.

3/13/12

Logan-RHS alumni b'ball game set for Festival

Main Street Russellville is sponsoring an evening of alumni fun on the Friday night before the big Saturday of the Tobacco Festival, Oct. 12. People who played varsity basketball for a Logan or RHS team through 1992 are invited to play a basketball game. Former cheerleaders, pep band members and b'ball homecoming queens of that era will also be recognized. Additionally, the RHS Alumni Meet & Greet, the Kiwanis Bingo Night and other festivities will be held at RHS, too. Main Street Russellville is sponsoring the event as a fund raiser for the 4th Street Theater. For more information, contact Darlene Gooch of Main Street Russellville by calling 726-1303 or by email at pizzazonmainstreet@yahoo.com.

3/11/12

WKU win: Toppers vs. UK; Murray & U of L together

If Western Kentucky University can beat Coach Sean Woods' Mississippi Valley State team in Dayton Tuesday, Coach Ray Harper's Toppers will face top-seeded UK at the Yum Center in Louisville Thursday in the NCAA Tournament. They want to move on to the South Regional at Atlanta. Murray State, the only 1-loss team in the field, will also be at the Yum Center, facing Colorado State Thursday. The Racers would move on to the West Regional at Phoenix with two wins. Big East champion Louisville is also in the West Region and faces Davidson at Portland, Ore. Thursday, The complete bracket can be found on the NCAA website at http://i.cdn.turner.com/dr/ncaa/ncaa/release/sites/default/files/images/mmod/2012/bracket/2012NCAA_MensBracket.pdf

3/10/12

Pardue resigns as Russellville basketball coach

Dennis Pardue , who has been head boys basketball coach of the Russellville Panthers for the past eight years, has resigned that position. With his son, senior Davis Pardue, scoring 31 points, RHS won the 13th District championship two weeks earlier. The LoJo will have more details soon.

Cougar standout John Tisdale dies from accident

The LoJo has learned of the death this weekend of John Tisdale, one of the eight-man rotation who played the most for the Logan County Cougars as they won the state basketball championship in 1984. He was the younger brother of state tournament MVP Fred Tisdale. His death was reportedly related to an accident in a factory where he worked in Franklin. He is the second member of the 1984 team to be deceased. Gary Barker died as the result of an automobile accident several years ago.

3/9/12

Concerned Citizens Womanless Beauty Pageant set

The Concerned Citizens and Main Street Russellville will present a womanless beauty pageant Saturday, March 10 at deGraffenried Auditorium.at 6 p.m. Well-known men will compete in talent, casual wear and evening wear. Councilwoman Sandra Kinser will be the emcee. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children 10 and under. Contact Concerned Citizens at 772-4139 for information.

Kendall's last RHS season to open today

What is expected to be veteran coach Lou Kendall's final season as Russellville High School baseball coach is scheduled to begin Friday with a visit from Greenwood at 5:30 p.m.

Logan Babe Ruth signups scheduled next week

Logan County Babe Ruth signups will be held Monday, March 12, and Tuesday, March 13, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Russellville Rec Center behind the post office. Ages will be from 13 to 15 years old. Any player born prior to May 1, 1999 and after May 1, 1996 will be eligible to play. Also anyone 12 years of age and in their last year of little league will be allowed to play. Cost will be $55. A birth certificate must be presented. For more information, contact Artis Stratton at 847-1453.

3/8/12

RHS Principal Myers moving to central office

According to various sources, Russellville High School Principal John Myers will move to the central office next school year to become director of transportation and fill other duties. He will succeed Bob Coker, who is retiring. Myers has been serving as both principal and football coach. He will be able to continue coaching in his new position.

Cowles out as Lady Topper basketball coach

Mary Taylor Cowles , who has been associated with WKU women's basketball as either a player, assistant coach or head coach for 21 years, was informed Thursday that she will be replaced as head coach after 10 seasons at the helm. She has a 199-119 record, but almost a third of the losses have come the last two seasons. Average home attendance in this 21-loss season has been less that 1,200. In the glory days of Lady Topper basketball, women's games drew crowds almost twice as large as E.A. Diddle Arena now holds.

Final little league registration set this evening

The final registration for Logan County Little League will be held Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at the Recreation Center on Winter Street. Players' birth dates must be between May 1, 1999 and April 30, 2003 and a copy of the child's birth certificate must be turned in at registration. Any parent that wishes to volunteer in any capacity (coach, assistant, etc.) must bring a copy of driver's license

.

3/6/12

NWA Wrestling returns to Lewisburg Saturday

NWA Wrestling will be held at the Lewisburg City Complex this Saturday. Doors open at 7 p.m. with bell time at 8 for the first of six matches. Travis Bryan will be the announcer. Mayor Tina Callahan Dye says, "This is a family friendly organization that visited Lewisburg last month and is excited to come back again!"

WKU wins improbable men's Sun Belt championship

For the 43rd time, Western Kentucky University has won its conference championship in men's basketball. After falling behind defending champion North Texas by 13 points, Coach Ray Harper's team rode the inside play of George Fant & Teeng Akol and the outside work of Kahlil McDonald, Derrick Gordon & Jamal Crook, the Toppers came back to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Toppers, who started 9-18, have won six straight games since WKU did away with Harper's interim title. Four Kentucky schools will be in the NCAA field, after Murray won the OVC title and Kentucky and Louisville have had tournament-worthy seasons regardless of their upcoming conference tournament results.

3/4/12

Glasgow wins regional girls championship Sunday

Coach Justin Stinson's Glasgow Lady Scotties won over Monroe County 51-41 Sunday afternoon for the Fourth Region champion-ships at Diddle Arena. Glasgow (28-4) will play Louisville Butler at noon Wednesday in the state tournament, also at WKU. Stinson becomes the second state coach who began his coaching career under Mike Haynes at Logan County. The first was Lex Lindsey, whose Franklin-Simpson team was state runner-up in one of its regional championship seasons. Haynes coached the Logan girls to the state quarterfinals twice.

3/3/12

Glasgow holds off Todd to reach girls regional finals

Todd Central led favored Glasgow in the third quarter and trailed by only four points in the final half minute, but the Lady Scotties hit free throws at the end to win 40-30 in the semifinals of the Fourth Region Tournament Saturday. Sophomore center Claire Hart had 18 points and junior Ariel Johnson totaled 8 points and 14 boards for Coach Steve Phillips' Lady Rebels. Glasgow, which will play for the championship at 3 p.m. Sunday, is led by Coach Justin Stinson, who began his coaching career at Logan County. His wife Heather is the daughter of Wayne & Jan White of Auburn.

3/2/12

Girls regional games postponed for weather

Because of severe storm activity and predictions, most schools in the area dismissed early, including Western Kentucky University. As a result, Friday night's scheduled semifinals in the 4th Region Girls Tournament were postponed until Saturday. Todd Central and Glasgow will play at 4 p.m. and Bowling Green will meet Monroe County at 6. The finals will be played at 3 p.m. Sunday.

3/1/12

Central ends Russellville's, 13th District's seasons

Warren Central dominated both ends of the court in beating Russellville 59-44 Thursday in 4th Region action at Diddle Arena. The Dragons took 19 more shots than the Panthers, limited RHS to 5 offensive rebounds, and committed 13 fewer turnovers. Meanwhile Central's Nay Walker andJacob Hall limited Panther Davis Pardue to just one 3-point attempt after he had hit 8 from long range against Logan County. Jordan Kennedy was the only Panther in double figures with 11. He also had 8 rebounds. When RHS began to close the gap in the first half, Central's Drake Riley hit a pair of 3-pointers. He added another later. Walker scored 15, Byron Carver 14 and Donovan Halsel 10 for the Dragons. Central goes to Monday's semifinals against Glasgow, which won in overtime over Clinton County. Three of the semifinalists were district runners-up.