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Lawrence
Your weekly source for Lawrence County news
Vol. 3 No. 53
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The Lawrence Herald
Scottown Post Officecollecting items forneedy families
SCOTTOWN, Ohio
The Scottown PostOffice, located at 11168Ohio 217, Scottown, willcollect good, clean coatsand jackets, new or usedmittens, gloves, hats,scarves and blankets forarea needy families.
The collection isunder way, and willcontinue through theend of February 2009.Items may be droppedoff at the Post Officefrom 7:30 to 11:30 a.m.and 12:30 to 4 p.m. Mon-days through Fridays,and 7:45 a.m. to 10 a.m.Saturdays.
For more information,call Postmaster Vickie
Wilson at 740-886-6012.
Chesapeak churchplans ChristmasEve candle service
CHESAPEAKE Union Missionary Bap-tist Church, locatedat 17632 Ohio 243,Chesapeake, will host aChristmas Eve CandleLight Service at 6 p.m.Wednesday, Dec. 24.The public is invited andencouraged to attend.
Christmas tree salebenefits area youth
HUNTINGTON A
Christmas tree sale thatwill benefit youth inLawrence County, Ohio,Boyd County, Ky. andCabell County, W.Va., isnow under way.
Big Brothers BigSisters of the Tri-Statewill sell trees on threearea lots: BB&T Bank,6th Avenue and 1stStreet, Huntington;Eastern Heights Shop-ping Center, U.S. 60East, Huntington; andthe Ashland TennisCenter, 13th Street andOakview Road, Ashland,Ky. Hours are noon to9 p.m. weekdays and 9a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends.
For additional infor-
mation call 304-522-2191,606-329-8799 or visitwww.bbbstristate.org.
OUS ActivityBand welcomesnew members
IRONTON TheOhio University South-ern Activity Bandis looking for newmembers. The bandhas approximately 15student and communitymembers and performsseveral times a year oncampus and throughoutthe Tri-State.
Anyone interestedin participating should
have at least two yearsof high school bandexperience, have accessto a band instrumentexcept for percussion,and have acceptablemusic-reading skills. Allinstruments except fluteand trumpet are espe-cially needed. The bandrehearses 5:30 to 7:20p.m. Tuesdays in theCampus/Communitybuilding on the OUSIronton campus.
Contact Dr. Pat McCoyat 740-533-4541 or [email protected] formore information.
SATURDAYDecember 20, 2008
www.herald-dispatch.com
Whatshappening
By STEPHEN MAJORSThe Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio Gov.Ted Strickland said Thursdayhe planned to veto GOP bills thatwould shorten the states earlyvoting period and provide taxcredits to the film industry.
The moves by Strickland, aDemocrat, would thwart Repub-licans goal of taking advantageof their final days of total legisla-tive authority.
The governor has already saidhe will veto another Republicanbill that would use the states
emergency budget fund to payfor veterans bonuses.
The busy veto pen reflectsa political dynamic unique inrecent Ohio history. Since hiselection two years ago, Stricklandhas faced a legislature completelycontrolled by Republicans. but
the Nov. 4 election handed con-trol of the House to Democratsbeginning in January, and theGOP wanted to make the mostof its last days of power.
This is the first time in a longtime that a governor of one partyhas faced a lame-duck legislativesession controlled by the oppo-site party, said Ohio State Uni-versity political science professorHerb Asher. The Republicansfully expect the governor to vetosome of their bills.
Strickland vetoed a bill limit-ing lead-paint lawsuits on his
first day as governor. He has notvetoed an individual bill since.
But now he has chosen at leastthree bills to veto all from thelame-duck legislative session,and all receiving mainly partyline votes.
The elections bill was pushedby Republicans in response tonumerous points of controversythat arose in the weeks before theNovember presidential election.Stricklands main contention withthe bill was that it trimmed 15 daysoff the 35-day early voting period,spokesman Keith Dailey said.
The governor believes Ohiohad a positive election experi-ence, and he doesnt see any evi-dence that the broad changescontemplated in this bill are nec-essary, Dailey said.
The original aim of the bill wasto eliminate a weeklong periodduring which Ohioans can reg-ister to vote and cast a ballot onthe same day. Republicans, whobelieve the window opens the doorto voting fraud, unsuccessfullytried to eliminate the window in
Gov. to veto election, film industry billsGov. Ted StricklandPlans to veto GOPbills that wouldshorten earlyvoting and pro-vide tax credits tothe film industry
Please see VETO/2F
By JULIE CARR SMYTHThe Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio Non-violentdrug offenders could spend moretime in halfway houses instead of inprison. Well-behaved inmates whoearn their GEDs could get out early.Others could serve the final monthsof their sentences outside prisonwhile wearing GPS devices.
These are just some of the optionsGov. Ted Stricklands administra-tion is considering to contend withcrowded prisons amid forecasts ofplummeting state revenues.
To me, it comes down to a simple
formula, said state prisons directorTerry Collins. Either we spend awhole lot more money on buildinga whole lot more prisons to lock upeverybody in Ohio, or we can figureout some other solutions so that allthose other programs like socialservices, education, Medicaid have the money they need.
In a document recently sharedwith state lawmakers, Collins out-lined 15 options for reducing theOhio Department of Rehabilitationand Corrections 51,000-prisonerpopulation and its hefty annualbudget of about $1.8 billion.
The documents final page includ-ed a subtle reminder to lawmakers:Collins has the ability to declare aprison overcrowding emergencythat could result, with legislative orgubernatorial approval, in the reduc-
tion of sentences in 30-, 60- and90-day increments to alleviate theproblem. Collins said its a matter ofstate spending priorities.
Im just saying why dont welook at something different, so my
Ohio billseeksto ease
prisoncrowding
Proposed Ohio prisoncrowding solutions
Options Ohio prisons officialsare considering to reduce prisoncrowding:n Allowing low-level, non sex
offenders serving less than ayear to serve a third of their timein a halfway house and a third
under GPS monitoring.n Increasing programs that
divert offenders from prison tocommunity-based facilities.n Giving state and local offi-
cials the ability to house short-term, non-violent offenders inlocal jails.n Allowing low-risk felons to
re-enter society directly to GPSmonitoring instead of a halfwayhouse.n Awarding time off the end
of a sentence for educationaland recovery programs com-pleted in prison.n Equalizing state-level crack
and powdered cocaine sen-tences.n Raising the threshold for
felony theft from $500 to $1,000.
SOURCE: Ohio Department ofRehabilitation and Correction
Please see PRISON/2F
Photos by Howie McCormick/For The Herald-Dispatch
The Symmes Valley High School Beta Clubs Angel Tree Committee collected gifts for 100 area children in need throughthis years program with help from students, staff and members of the community. Committee chairperson Kelli Myerssaid the most fun part of the whole program was having a benefit basketball game against Chesapeake that raisedaround $200 that the club was able to spend on additional gifts for children. Committee member Kayla Saundersadded, It was a lot of work on the schools part, but we want to thank the the community most of all, because withoutthe communitys cooperation, we wouldnt have been able to do this at all. Without them we wouldnt have been ableto buy gifts for (so many) children.
MakingChristMas
BrightLEFT: Dustin Wilson, left, bags up Christmas gifts withfellow student and Beta Club member Kendra Saunders.
Members of theSymmes Valley HighSchool Beta ClubsAngel Tree commit-tee line up outside theschool Wednesday hold-ing bags of Christmasgifts that were collectedthrough the Angel Treeprogram for area chil-dren in need. The stu-dents were transferringthe packages from aroom in the school to acovered trailer broughtby employees of theOhio Department ofJobs and Family Ser-
vices.
Pork chops bring back the taste of summer LIFE / 3A
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