Free Republic

<p>LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The militia movement in Kentucky, once a stronghold of paramilitary activity in the United States, appears to be waning.</p> <p>With former Kentucky State Militia commander Charlie Puckett in prison and Steve Anderson -- another high-profile member of the group -- being sought as a fugitive, the militia is in disarray, despite recent efforts to regroup.</p>

HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU FRANKFORT - Gov. Paul Patton told Senate President David Williams yesterday that he sees no reason to spend more time and money on a special legislative session to break the budget impasse unless Republicans change their position on public financing for campaigns for governor. But Patton also told Wil-liams that the Senate leader's comments on a radio show yesterday and in a letter last week indicated that such an agreement "does not appear likely." The Democratic governor, in a letter to Williams, a Republican, said he is willing to meet with legislative leaders to discuss the budget,...

Posted on Thu, May. 23, 2002 Kentucky Militia leader Charlie Puckett's attorneys argued yesterday that five of 10 charges against their client should be dropped because the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms led him to believe his permit was OK, then arrested him. Puckett truthfully filled out the permit application, which failed to ask whether he was a convicted felon but instead posed specific questions about drunken-driving, drug and other convictions, defense attorney Patrick Nash told U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman during a hearing yesterday. When Puckett showed an ATF agent the permit, he was never told it...

------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted on Mon, Apr. 15, 2002 Getaway motorcycle linked to sheriff's rival Murder charge filed against suspected assassin By Bill Estep SOUTH-CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU SOMERSET - The man charged with assassinating Pulaski County Sheriff Sam Catron was caught fleeing on a motorcycle registered to a candidate who is trying to unseat the sheriff, state police said yesterday. At 3:45 a.m. yesterday, state police filed a murder charge against Danny C. Shelley, 30, of rural northern Pulaski County. Shelley allegedly hid in woods overlooking the Shopville-Stab Volunteer Fire Department 10 miles east of Somerset. The sheriff and other candidates had been...

Posted on Wed, Apr. 10, 2002 Attorney: Puckett has quit militia EX-COMMANDER OF KY. UNIT FACES REVISED CHARGES By Greg Kocher CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU Charlie Puckett wants it known that he is no longer with the Kentucky State Militia. Friends of the former commander of the civilian paramilitary organization intended to file a legal notice in the Garrard County Clerk's Office notifying the public that Puckett will not be affiliated with the group any more, said Puckett's attorney Gatewood Galbraith. Galbraith read the signed statement yesterday morning after Puckett pleaded not guilty to a revised indictment in U.S. District Court...

Posted on Fri, Apr. 05, 2002 WANTED MILITIA LEADER SURRENDERS PUCKETT HAD FLED FROM HOUSE ARREST By Louise Taylor and Greg Kocher HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS Charlie Puckett, the commander of the Kentucky State Militia, quietly turned himself in to authorities yesterday after three weeks on the lam and was promptly lodged in the Fayette County jail. During a brief hearing in U.S. District Court, Puckett's attorney, Gatewood Galbraith, stipulated that his client had slipped out of an electronic monitor and "absconded" from house arrest on March 13. "We don't want to insult this court's intelligence," Galbraith told Magistrate Judge James...

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — When his grueling 1,100 miles of racing were over, Tony Stewart had one word for his critics: Idiots. Stewart, called selfish and accused of putting 42 other Winston Cup drivers in danger by trying to race in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, successfully completed the double on Sunday. He finished sixth in the IRL race, then flew to Concord for a third-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600. That was an improvement from the first time he tried the double in 1999, when he finished ninth at Indy and fourth ...

BOWLING GREEN Federal agents raided gun shops and homes in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee yesterday, seizing hundreds of weapons and arresting 16 people as part of an 18-month investigation into illegal firearms sales. About 500 guns were seized including one used in the shooting of a police officer in Indiana, authorities said. In all, 1,000 firearms were either seized or purchased by undercover agents during the investigation, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms announced at a news conference. Some of the weapons have been linked to robberies in California, Illinois and Tennessee, said Karl Stankovic, ATF agent in ...

FRANKFORT Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, is one of a tiny group of legislators who might be considered gun control advocates. Their efforts in the General Assembly are largely futile and in one particularly noteworthy incident, backfired completely. Stein is preparing for another round of probably losing battles in the short session that begins Tuesday. Handgun Control Inc. last year gave Kentucky a grade of F-minus on gun safety issues, the first time the organization had awarded such a poor rating. ``Gun fanciers,'' such as Rep. J.R. Gray, D-Benton, calls himself, took the rating as a badge of honor. Gray ...

Idea for parallel strip dropped; foes applaud Hoping to win the support of neighbors and city leaders while still keeping an eye on the future, the Urban County Airport Board reversed its earlier vote for a new runway at Blue Grass Airport yesterday, deciding instead to add safety areas to the existing runway. The board's 10-0 vote approved a new alternative that would add 340 feet of pavement to one end of the existing runway and create 600-foot safety areas on both ends while still keeping 7,000 feet available for takeoffs and landings. The plan will be submitted to ...

Question for the Urban County Council: Did you notice that the airport board even after you lambasted it, tore it apart, reconstituted its membership and showed it who was boss three years ago has come back with the same plan for airport expansion that originally sent you into a swivet, basing its recommendation on the not-so-revolutionary premise that the best way to have a viable, full-service, adequate-to-meet-the-needs-of-a-metropolitan-area-in-the-21st century airport, is to have parallel runways? Question for the airport board: What was it about ``no, never, not in our lifetime, not over our dead bodies'' that you didn't understand?,P. Questions ...

Mayor Pam Miller said yesterday that she is lobbying members of the Urban County Airport Board to quickly call a special meeting and reverse the controversial, and surprising, decision it made Wednesday to build a new 7,000-foot runway at Blue Grass Airport. For that to happen, at least one of the six board members who voted for the new runway must ask for another vote on the matter. The mayor previously opposed a new runway on grounds that it wasn't needed and would divide the community. There's no division, however, among owners of major horse farms adjacent to the ...

Bill widens deadly force limit Includes burglary, robbery, `deviate' sexual acts FRANKFORT. You look out a window of your home late at night and see a stranger using a crowbar to pry open the front door of your car parked on the street. Under a bill filed in this year's Kentucky General Assembly by Rep. Bob Damron, you would have the right to shoot that person to stop him. The Nicholasville Democrat who was instrumental in allowing Kentuckians to carry concealed deadly weapons is pushing legislation that would broaden the situations in which people could use deadly force to ...

Runway extension is most sensible option Proposal solves airport problems without creating any new ones Blue Grass Airport is safe. At what cost should the Urban County Airport Board try to make it marginally safer? Of all the options studied, the extension of the existing runway makes the most sense. It probably would satisfy federal safety officials. At an estimatd $28 million, it will certainly cost less and affect the fewest people, houses and land, and it seems to have the strongest public support. This week, the airport board should recommend this more modest plan to the Federal Aviation Administration ...