3/31/11
Lady Cougars win over Franklin-Simpson tennis
The Logan County girls beat Franklin-Simpson 5-2 in tennis this week while the Cougar boys lost 5-4. Winners for the Lady Cou-gars were singles players Lindsey Stahl, Laurel Hales & Tabby Valentine plus the doubles teams of Hales/Stahl and Valentine-Mason Gregory. Winners for the Cougars were Logan Johnson, Dalton Gunderson & Cory Jones in singles and the doubles duo of Johnson- Adam Wilkins.

3/30/11
Al Smith to receive honorary doctorate from UK
The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to award an honorary doctorate to former Russellville newspaper editor/publisher/owner Al Smith at its May commencement. Also to be honored similarly are engineer, entrepreneur and educatorRobert M. Drake Jr. and researcher and entrepreneur Pearse Lyons. Smith's journalism career spanned 60 years, interrupted only for a three-year stint as federal co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission. He is a charter member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame. He was host of Comment on Kentucky on KET for many years.

Gators edge Cougars 2-0 in pitching duel
Dustin Nash pitched well for Logan County, hurling a shutout into the fourth inning.before Greenwood scored the winning run on a delayed steal/intentional rundown. The other run scored on a double in the same inning as the Gators won 2-0 Monday Logan's Brice Moore broke up Dexter Cline's no-hitter and Jacob Hopkins reached on an error, but they couldn't score. Nash threw a complete game 5-hitter and struck out seven Gators.

3/28/11
RHS scoring machine leads diamond teams' 1sr week
Coach Lou Kendall's Russellville Panthers won all three of their games during opening week by a combined 51-18 over Fort Campbell, Butler County and West Creek. The Logan County Cougars are 2-2, having beaten Barren County 6-5 and Bowling Green 13-6 and lost to AC-S and Glasgow by a combined five runs. Pitching coach Mike Hoots says injuries to pitchers Ryan Basham and Dustin Cartashave restricted what the Cougars can do. Dustin Nash and John Logan Dockins pitched the wins, The softball teams are 1-6, the win an 18-17 Lady Cougar decision over Trigg County. Check the Roy's Sports Calendar for upcoming games,

3/27/11
Darkness keeps LCHS tennis from completing match
Coach Dan Duncan's Logan County Cougars were leading visiting Warren East in a tennis match Thursday but the final two doubles matches could not be completed because of darkness. Picking up singles wins were Jake Neiman, Evan Harris, Dalton Gunderson& Cory Jones. The Logan girls were beaten with the lone win coming from twins Brenna and Meg Brown.

3/26/11
Retired teachers in Logan drew $8.6 million last year
Retired teachers living in Logan County drew $8.6 million in retire-ment benefits in the 2010 fiscal year, according to statistics provided by the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System. That amount ranks 48th among the state's 120 counties. Payments ranged from $231 million in Louisville to $1.2 million in Hickman and Carlisle counties. Among neighboring counties, retirees in Warren County drew $49 million, Barren $13.1 million, Muhlenberg $9.6 million, Simpson $5.4 million, Todd $2.6 million and Butler $2.5 million. Altogether, the state total was $1.386 billion.

Chris Baker named head coach of Florida contender
Former Logan County High assistant football coach Chris Baker has been named head coach of Newberry High School in Florida. He was defensive coordinator for the school when it went 13-1 and was state runner-up in 2007. He has been head coach at Trenton High the last three years and was named small school coach of the year last season, Baker is the son of the late LCHS coach Stumpy Baker, who was state coach of the year while at the helm of the Russellville Panthers. His mother, the late Fredia Burchett Baker, who was principal of Russellville Middle School.

3/24/11
U.S. Army Jazz Band at deGraffenried Monday
In conjunction with the Russellville Arts Council, the U.S. Army Jazz Band will present a free concert Monday at Russellville’s deGraffenried Auditorium at 7 p.m. The Logan County High School Junior ROTC will present the colors and several students from both high schools will be given an opportunity to perform with the Washington-based military group. The band will also will stay to work with students in the schools the following day.

Relay for Life b'ball tournament being planned
A basketball tournament to raise funds for Relay for Life will be held Saturday, May 7, at Russellville High School. The fee is $30 for each 3-member team and cash prizes are offered. All proceeds will go to Relay. To enter or for rules, contact Chris Penrod at 725-3390 or from Pam Delaney at the Logan County Clerk's Office or at Ko-Kleeners.

3/22/11
Cougar netters win season opener over Butler
The Logan County boys tennis team won its season opener Mon-day against visiting Butler County. Singles winners for the Cougs were Evan Harris, Hunter Boswell, Chris Oslonian and Dalton Gunderson. Clinching the win for Coach Dan Duncan were the doubles teams of Gunderson-Cory James and Logan Johnson-Adam Wilkins.
The Lady Cougars lost but singles players Meg Brown and Mason Gregory and the doubles team of Gregory-Alexandra Slatonpicked up wins.

Hines' career continues as U of L moves on
A young woman with Logan County ties will be in action in the NCAA Tournament again this weekend after helping the University of Louisville crush Vanderbilt Sunday and then upset Xavier Tuesday. Keisha Hines scored 16 points in the surprisingly easy win over Vandy and then she held off All-American Xavier center Amber Harris in the second game. Xavier was a number two seed, 29-2 overall, and undefeated at home the past two sea-sons. Two years ago Hines was a key player in the national championship game a few days after being in Russellville for the funeral of her grandmother, Claudette Hines. She is kin to the Hines, Hampton, Duffey and Quarles families. Hines has played in the second most games in Lady Cards history. Louisville plays in the Sweet 16 against Gonzaga at the Lady Zags' home court this Saturday..
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3/21/11
Spring Sports seasons to get underway today
Six Russellville and Logan County spring sports seasons will open their seasons today. Both schools' softball and baseball teams along with Logan's boys and girls teams are to play today. The schedule from the Roy's Sports Calendar:
Baseball: Fort Campbell @ Panthers (V/JV), 5; Cougars @ Allen County-Scottsville, 5
Softball: South Warren @ Lady Cougars (V/JV), 5; Lady Panthers @ Butler County, 5:30
Tennis: Butler County @ Cougars & Lady Cougars

3/20/11
Vastly different Panther football schedule released
Although the Russellville Panthers have ended their highly successful run in Class 3 A football and have dropped back down to 1A, the 2011 schedule released by Principal Coach John Myers is very tough. In addition to adding perennial 1A powerhouse May-field in their district, the Panthers have retained 4A power Franklin-Simpson and added AA contenders Fort Campbell & Trigg County to start the season. The varsity schedule can now be found in the Roy's Sports Calendar on The LoJo.

3/19/11
Peebles becomes Goody's in Russellville Wednesday
A grand opening for the new version of Goody's is scheduled at 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 23 at 1142 West 9th Street across from Russellville High School. The store has been operating under the Peebles name. It's in part of the former location of Wal-Mart, which also currently houses Hibbit's sporting goods and Tractor Supply Company. Stage Stores of Houston, Texas owns Peebles and purchased rights to the name Goody's for a reported $300,000 when the assets of that company were auctioned in a 2009 bankruptcy sale.
Russellville had a relatively new Goody's store when its parent company went under. That building, located in the shopping center on a hill south of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, is now occupied by Burkes Outlet, which is associated with Bealls under the same parent corporate parent as Peebles/Goody's.
“We recognize that Goody’s has a strong name recognition in many areas … When they went out of business, it left a void for many,” said Andy Hall, president and CEO of Stage Stores Inc., in a recent press release, according to the Eufaula (Ala.) Tribune.
"The name change is something we made a decision on based on the recognition of the name throughout the Southeast,” Ron Aronson, vice president of investor relations for Stage Stores, told thev Atmore (ala.) Advance . “The merchandise offered at Goody’s will be equal in quality and value as seen at Peebles.”
Goody's was heavy on private label products, Stage Stores sells only 15 percent private label merchandise with 85 percent being nationally known brands, the newspaper in Rogersville, Tenn. re-ports.
Stage Stores owns more than 780 locations in 39 states with approximately 13,000 employees. The company also anticipates opening 35-40 new stores in the coming year.

3/17/11
R'ville-Logan Airport awarded grant for lighting
U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield announced Thursday that the Russellville-Logan County Airport Board has been awarded a $184,913 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Ad-ministration. “I am pleased that the board has been awarded this grant to make necessary safety upgrades at the airport,” said Whitfield. “Projects such as this will benefit the local community and also assist in promoting further growth and development that is needed in many of our local communities.”
Grant funds will be used by the Airport Board to repair the current runway lighting system at the airport, which has reached the end of its useful life and requires repair and replacement in order to enhance safe airfield operations during low visibility conditions.

3/15/11
Whitfield helps keep U.S. Government operating
U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, of Kentucky's 1st Congressional District Tues-day voted in favor of a three-week continuing resolution bill that will keep the government operating through April 8,. The bill, passed by a vote of 271-158, avoids a shut-down of government operations and services this week while also making $6 billion in spending cuts.

Logan 8^th Grade travel team second at F-S
The 8th grade Logan County Middle School Traveling Basketball team finished second in the Franklin-Simpson Middle School Tournament this past weekend. The Cougars defeated East Carter 37-17 before they Cougars lost to the Kentucky Spartans 42-30. They faced the Spartans again in the finals, losing 43-37, but earning second place and coming home with a silver medal. The Cougars were led by Ben Wright in scoring each game, and John Wilson Coots led the Cougars in rebounding. The team will be playing in the KY Warriors Tournament in Bowling Green March 25-27.
Team members are Tahmir Graham, Noah Whittinghill, Kaleb Coursey and Wright of Auburn; Tucker Baldwin, Jose Garcia and Coots of Olmstead;E.J. Offutt and Austin Hyde of Chandlers; Garrison Rosser of Lewisburg; and Taylor Blakemore of Adairville. Mike Draper of the high school staff is the coach. They are all eighth graders except for Whittinghill and Rosser, who are seventh graders.

3/14/11
F-S coach David Clark resigns his position
David Clark , who has coached Franklin-Simpson boys basketball to the 13th District championship in five of the last six years, including this season, announced his resignation at Monday night's awards banquet, WBKO television reported late last night. His team has made it to region in every season he's been the coach. His son, sophomore Tanner Clark, played a super game against Bowling Green in the regional tournament.

3/14/11
McDonald gets new 4-year deal to coach WKU
Ken McDonald will return as the Western Kentucky University head men’s basketball coach, Athletic Director Ross Bjork announced at a news conference today. McDonald has been under fire for the lackluster way the Toppers played this year while rumors persisted about his personal life. Bjork acknowledged both of these situations existed.
He said he had talked with many people associated with McDonald in various ways and came up with the conclusion that he should be allowed to continue in the position.
He cited McDonald's 62 wins in three years, noting that only 5 of the 34 head coaches hired that year have 60 or more wins. He said the Toppers' 33 conference wins during that time are the most by a Sun Belt team. WKU was expected to win the conference this year but finished with a 16-16 record.
Most of the players McDonald has recruited have left the program, but Bjork claimed "major recruiting analysts have rated the 2011 class as the best in WKU history."
McDonald's pay was cut $100,000 per year (reportedly down to a quarter of a million dollars annually) and he has been given a strict set of guidelines for himself and his program.

3/11/11
Creekwood Place seeks zoning variances
Creekwood Place nursing facility has requested a conditional use permit and a dimensional variance from the city of Russellville to build a new nursing home in South Russellville. Owners of the facility, which is currently located on East Third Street, want to construct a new facility at 111 Boyles Drive off Nashville Road. It the vicinity of BHI Homes and Rolling Hills Golf Course.
The Russellville Board of Zoning Adjustments will conduct a public hearing on Monday, March 28, at 5 p.m.to consider Creekwood's request to allow the usage within an area zoned residential (R-3 & R-2). Also discussed will be allowing "parking, green-space and storm-water areas to be built closer to the property line than the zoning ordinance would normally allow," Zoning Administrator Bill Pearson has said in a public notice. Anyone wishing to express an opinion on these requests can do so at the hearing, which will be held in the city council meeting room.

Gardeners’ Swap Meet at Lewisburg Saturday
A Gardeners’ Swap Meet will be held at the Lewisburg City Complex building Saturday from 8:30-11 a.m. All gardeners are invited to swap seeds, plants or tips. No money will need to be exchanged. Refreshments will be served. The event is sponsored by the city of Lewisburg. For more information, call Mayor Tina Callahan-Dye at 755-5202.

3/9/11
Sansom helps MTSU win 2nd straight golf tourney
Russellville's Paul Sansom continues to be off to a great start in his freshman season on the Middle Tennessee State University golf team. He shot 70-70-73-213 to finish 11th among the 105 golf-ers in the University of South Florida Invitational this weekend. The Blue Raiders beat second place Florida State by 19 strokes. Also in the field were Big East schools Louisville, Villanova, DePaul, Marquette, Cincinnati and host South Flrorida.

Computer classes offered this Thursday
Paula Scarbroug h will teach a community education class on Microsoft PowerPoint the next three Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. in Room 226 at Logan County High School. The fee is $30. Call Community Education at 726-8405 to register.
"Getting Stared with Computers" will be offered Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the Logan County Public Library. Please call 726-6129 to register. Space is limited.

3/8/11
Mark White's Lions headed to nationals again
It’s twice as nice for Coach Mark White's East Mississippi Community College men’s basketball team, as the 12^th-ranked Lions successfully defended their region hoops title by claiming a 71-67 victory over Southern-Shreveport in last Thursday’s champ-ionship game of the 2011 NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tourna-ment played on the Mississippi College campus.
With victories over East Central (81-74), Pearl River (89-80) and Southern-Shreveport in Clinton, White’s 24-4 EMCC Lions will make their second straight appearance in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The 64^th national championship tournament will take place March 15-19 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Kansas.
White is a graduate of Olmstead High School and the son of Janice White of Logan County. With 21 years of coaching experience at various levels of competition around the country, Mark White is in his fourth season as the head men’s basketball coach at East Mississippi Community College. During five years (2003-07) as an assistant coach under Rick Stansbury, White was a part of Mississippi State teams that made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT semifinal-round showing, along with claiming an overall Southeastern Conference championship and three SEC West titles.

Lady Toppers runner-up in Sun Belt tourney
By winning their third game in three days, the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers reached the finals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Ark. Coach Mary Taylor Cowles' team beat Arkansas State 55-47 Monday. Making their 19th appearance in the Sun Belt championship game, the Lady Tops lost to Arkansas Little Rock in the finals in a game that was close to the end.. The men Toppers won two tournament games but fell apart against North Texas in Monday's semifinals, turning a 1-point halftime deficit into a 19-point loss..

Fund raiser to support adult education underway
The Leadership Logan Class of 2011 is holding a fund raiser to support Logan County Adult Education, which conducts classes, GED preparation, one-on-one tutoring and instruction in the detention center. For $1, a ticket can be secured for a chance to win a $100 gift card from Bass Pro Shop and Wal-Mart (6 for $5). Chances on an Apple Ipad are $5 each (5 for $20). The drawing will be held April 1. Members of the Leadership Logan class are David Morgan, Joe Verasco, Sheila Richardson and Karen Hinton, all of Logan Aluminum, Bryan Fuller and Alice Yates of First Southern National Bank, Kim Owen and Marsha Taylor of Auburn Banking Company, Lorrie Hopper of Lewisburg Banking Company, Barry Smotherman of Russellville-Logan County Airport, Leon Smith of the Russellville City Schools, Trevor Coe of Levine Group, and students Sarah Fox of Russellville High School and Taylor Morris of Logan County High School.

3/4/11
Bowling Green beats Monroe in girls region finals
Coach Lawanda Johnson's Bowling Green Lady Purples edged Monroe County 47-45 in the finals of the 4th Region Tournament Saturday. Bowling Green had beaten Glasgow 47-41 in the semifinals Friday. BGH was a big favorite. Glasgow is coached by Justin Stinson, the son-in-law of Wayne and Jan White of Auburn. Monroe County was a 62-34 winner over 13th District champion Todd Central in the other semifinal.

3/3/11
Central ends Russellville's b'ball season
Behind the play of WKU signee George Fant, heavily favored Warren Central beat Russellville 75-59 Thursday in the 4th Region Tournament at Diddle Arena. Coach Dennis Pardue got good efforts from sophomores Jordan Kennedy and Darrion Quarles in trying to defend against Fant, but the power forward still had 24 points and 10 rebounds. Kennedy and Quarles both fouled out.
Victor Hampton scored 15 and Da'vonte Bryant 12 for the Pan-thers while D.J. Quarles had 8 rebounds and the younger Quarles 7. RHS shot less than 30 percent from the field in the first half. D.J. Quarles, a four-year starter, played all 32 minutes. Hampton played 25,Davis Pardue 22, Kevin Temple 18 and Zach Hines half the game at 16.
The Panthers trailed by 10 at halftime and 11 at the end of three quarters, and made several runs, but the last time the deficit was in single digits was at 54-45 with 6:40 remaining, but Central went on a 15-3 run to make it 69-48 on Jordan Shanklin's layup.
"We survived. I told our team to expect a much better game from Russellville this time, and we got it," said Central coach Tim Riley,Central improved to 24-7 on the season. Russellville finished with a 19-11 worksheet.
Getting regional experience were Derion Calloway, Barrett Croslin, Christian Naylor, Josh Hampton and Travez Hampton.

3/211
Will McKenzie to play golf for Brescia Bearcats
Logan County golfer Will McKenzie will sign to play golf at Brescia University in Owensboro in a ceremony at the school on Thursday, beginning at 2 p.m. in the school’s media center.
McKenzie started playing on Coach Ethan Meguiar’s Cougar team while he was still an eighth grader at Adairville. Athletic Director Hugh McReynolds says he was a five-year letterman.
He reached one of his goals as a junior by becoming the team’s number one player. An even bigger goal was realized this fall when he qualified for state by shooting a 74 on the Kenny Perry course at Franklin in the regional tournament.
Also among his highlights have been playing in the Russellville Country Club Member-Guest Tournament with his dad, Terry McKenzie, and being a member of the RCC Ryder Cup team. He won three of his four matches against Rolling Hills golfers. One of his highlights was winning 4 and 3 in match play against David Beckner, the founding coach of LCHS golf.
Last summer he won a Pepsi Tour golf event on the Boots Ran-dolph Course at Lake Barkley and finished fifth in the 17-18 age group of that tour during the state tournament. He shot 76-79 on the Oxmoor Country Club course in Louisville.
McKenzie likes the campus and academics at Brescia, which is located in nearby Owensboro. Coach David Ballou guarantees each of the Bearcats golfers that they will play in at least two matches. The rest is determined by practice and results.
McKenzie, whose mom, Candi Hardiman, is in management at Logan Aluminum, has considered majoring in engineering but is leaning toward a math major and becoming a coach. He also has interest in broadcasting after spending several years assisting his dad in broadcasting football and basketball on WRUS.
The public is invited to attend the signing ceremony.

3/1/11
Gov Beshear announces $3.4 million expansion plans
for Ventra Plastics Russellville, adding 25 new jobs
Gov. Steve Beshear Tuesday joined community leaders and company executives from Ventra Plastics Russellville to announce the company will expand its Logan County facility. The injection molding manufacturer will add 25 employees to its current employment base of 230 people and invest nearly $3.4 million.
“Once again, Kentucky is seeing the ripple effect of economic development with the expansion of Ventra Plastics in Logan County,” said Gov. Beshear. “Thanks to the launch of the next generation Ford Escape at the Louisville Assembly Plant, Kentucky automotive suppliers like Ventra Plastics Russellville can also grow, creating new jobs and investment in the state. The Commonwealth is happy to play a role in supporting this economic growth.”
“I’m pleased Ventra Plastics Russellville is once again able to grow in Logan County,” said Ron Barbe, general manager of Ventra Plastics. “In 1992, when looking for an area to build an auto parts manufacturing plant, the Logan County Chamber and Kentucky state government showed great support. In 2011, with the continued support of the state and the Logan Economic Alliance for Development, we are growing our business with the launch of the brand new Ford Escape to be built at the Louisville Assembly Plant. We cannot brag enough about our great workforce, whose hard work and dedication has enabled us to compete globally for business. We look forward to an ongoing partnership with local and state officials that will help Ventra Plastics continue to grow and prosper.”
Among those involved in the announcement were Judge/Executive Logan Chick, Mayor Mark Stratton, Rep. Martha Jane King, Sen. Joey Pendleton and LEAD President Chris Milam.