The Rural Democrat

Governor Steve Beshear Set to Announce Slots at Tracks?

Casinos and Racinos may be a distant memory, but the buzz over Governor Steve Beshear's (D) big casino revamp announcement on Monday has the pundits guessing. I have not heard anything from any credible or well placed source but there may be enough static traffic to decipher the purpose of the casino announcement. It appears Beshear and the House leadership are teaming up for slots at tracks.

Of course the whole casino debacle needed a face-lift from the original cut and the second cut, and in my humble opinion the enabling legislation and the campaign like wording in the proposed ballot question was two huge strikes against the proposed casino legislation to begin with and thus created an atmosphere of animosity among the House and the Administration from the beginning. I will defend, to an extent, the need for the enabling legislation. The fact that we are currently experiencing a budget crisis proves Beshear was absolutely right about the need for an injection of revenue into the state coffers and enabling legislation would have "enabled" the Commonwealth to begin enjoying the fruits of the casino industry sooner than later. The wording in the ballot question? It had a smart legal purpose that would have locked the cash generated from casino gaming to be used for specific purposes and services and that boiled the blood of the General Assembly. And that lack of political savvy doomed casinos from the start, in the House.

Now we have Rep. Harry "Funny Money" Moberly (D) filling a void in House leadership that is consistently vacated by House Speaker Jody Richards (D) when the shit hits the fan, and it usually does every year. This new failure in the House could be the fuel that fires a Rep. Greg Stumbo (D) to the top in the House next year. If Beshear's announcement is indeed slots-at-tracks, I would speculate Stumbo had a hand in it, in some way.

Those 3 choices are STILL on the table; Casinos, or some form of expanded gaming, higher taxes, or massive cuts in services. Looks like we Kentuckians will be treated to all three in the coming years and I for one will ask another question; could we have avoided being stuck with all three? The answer at this point is a resounding YES but Governor Beshear showed great courage pushing for a 70 cent increase in the cigarette tax. Again in my humble opinion the system of legislative negotiating broke down and if the people charged with leading the fight for and against break down, the machine breaks down. The machine broke and the only way to fix the machine is, of course, new parts. What parts will be replaced? I will not speculate on that now but give it a few months and the answer to that question will be as clear as Black Mountain water.

Testimony: Former Harlan County Deputy Roger Hall Gave Order to Kill Paul Browning

Now this is getting interesting, nephew of accused killer of former Harlan County Sheriff Paul Browning, Dewayne Harris testified that the person who gave the initial order to kill Browning was none other that disgraced cop, former Harlan County Sheriff's Detective Roger Hall.

Harlan Daily Enterprise

"I told him (Hall) what had just happened and I said, 'We're going to prison - every one of us.' I said, 'Raymond is here and he wants his money.' Roger started laughing and said 'give it to him.' I gave him $1,000," Harris said.

When asked by Blondell if he ever had conversations with Duff regarding the murder, Dewayne Harris said no.

"Where did you get the $1,000 to pay Raymond?" Blondell asked.

"I got it from Roger Hall," Harris replied.

"When did you get that?" Blondell asked.

"The day Paul Browning was shot," Harris said.

Harris said he met Hall near the old Pope and Cawood Company on Railroad Street in Harlan.

"I told him 'he's going to do that,' and he said 'here - give him the money and let him do it,'" Harris said. "What I've told you happened, happened."

Former President Bill Clinton Coming to Morehead

Jonathan Gay, A.K.A Cyberhillbilly says former President Bill Clinton is coming to Morehead campaigning for his wife, New York Senator Hillary Clinton. Former Chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party, Jerry Lundergan is rumored to be the architect behind Clinton's appearance. We will be updating this story throughout the day.

Keeling Gets it Right, Kentucky General Assembly 2008 a Waste

UPDATE: King David Williams is trying to put the smack down on the Mouth of Madison County, Rep. Harry Moberly (D). Williams says Moberly is stuffing the budget full of EKU projects, of course Moberly is an executive director at EKU. I guess Harry is getting too big for those big britches.

Finally, the Lexington Herald Leader's own Larry Dale Keeling gets something right, the 2008 session of the Kentucky General Assembly is a waste. Who should be blamed? Probably the so called leaders of our esteemed Kentucky Legislature. It is amazing that we have to be billed for this service, if it was a fish, I would throw it back.

With so little accomplished so far, the last 10 days of this session are going to be pure hell as lawmakers try justify the cost (at about $55,000 a day) of sending them to Frankfort for the last three and one-half months.

It is indeed a shame how some so called Democrats treated Governor Beshear, it is apparent that Beshear's ideas and leadership were not going to be entertained in this session. He simply can not be blamed for this session debacle. Casinos are dead in the water, the budget is full of cockroaches and House Speaker Jody Richards is, as usual, MIA.

Now we can award the Mouth of The Session award, that goes to Rep. Harry Moberly (D), Moberly simply can't be trusted after his kumbaya with former Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) smack in the middle of an election. But Kentucky remains 48th or 49th and we all say in unison "thank GOD for Mississippi!"

The suspects

Former Harlan County Sheriff's Deputy Pleads the 5th in Paul Browning Murder Trial

Former Harlan County Sheriff's Deputy Roger Hall walked into the courtroom and invoked the 5th and walked out. Hall was sent to prison in 2005 for interfering in federal drug investigations and basically running protection for local drug dealers. What does all this mean? It means Hall invoked his 5th amendment privilege and thats that for now. This looks like this will be a long trail.

State of Kentucky Unblocking the Blogs

I was told by a very reliable source that all blogs that may have been blocked on State of Kentucky computers will be unblocked. Not sure how many blogs are blocked or how many state agencies and or departments that may be prohibited from viewing them but ALL blocks will be removed, according to my source.

It looks like Beshear and Co. may be seeing the importance of the blogs, something Fletcher ignored.

Dirty Cops in Harlan Connected to the Paul Browning Murder? Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

I missed something absolutely crazy in the Harlan Daily Enterprise article; Commonwealth's Attorney Karen Greene-Blondell stated that Raymond Harris was paid $1000 to shoot Browning in the back of the head. One thousand dollars? That opens up contract killing to Walmart shoppers.

It had long been speculated that a few dirty cops in Harlan may have had a hand in the murder of former Harlan County Sheriff Paul Browning Jr, now testimony in Browning's murder trail has revealed that a Harlan County Sheriff Department cruiser frequented the residence of the accused killer's nephew, Dewayne Harris, a notorious drug dealer, before the murder. His uncle Raymond Harris is on trial in Bell County for Browning's murder.

A clerk at a local convenient store testified that a sheriffs vehicle stopped by Harris' residence one or two times a week.

Harlan Daily Enterprise

Shannon Rasberry was a clerk working at The Coal Bucket and testified that Browning and Dewayne Harris were at the store on the day of Browning's death. Blondell said a copy of a food stamp card receipt also placed one of the men accused at the store.

Rasberry said Browning came in and bought a bottle of water with money and Dewayne Harris paid for gas. She said she knew Dewayne Harris because he lived near her father at Sawbriar.

Rasberry also testified that she had seen a deputy's vehicle come to Harris' residence in Sawbriar one to two times in a week. She said the vehicle would be there a few minutes and leave. She said the windows were tinted and she couldn't identify the driver.

Rasberry said Dewayne Harris came to The Coal Bucket a day or so after Browning was killed, demanding that she give him the video surveillance tape, but she refused.

Former narcotics detective Roger Hall was sent to prison for running protection for the local thugs, including Harris, in 2005. The famed secret video tape that was made weeks before Browning's death may have been produced using Sheriff department video surveillance equipment. Former Sheriff Steve Duff also admitted during his testimony that he authorized an investigation on Browning and authorized Detective Roger Hall to conduct more convert video surveillance.

Then Sheriff Steve Duff was in the middle of a heated Democratic primary against the murdered Paul Browning Jr.

Hall was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2005 after he pleaded guilty to interfering with a federal drug investigation and lying to an FBI agent.

Hall was a narcotics detective for the sheriff's office until he was fired in December 2003.

According to the plea agreement, Hall confessed to telling the late Edna Harris about the location, identity and vehicles of federal drug enforcement agents in Harlan County conducting a narcotics investigation. Edna Harris died while in federal custody.

Hall admitted that he offered to conceal assets subject to federal forfeiture while Harris was serving time in prison for the drug charges.

He also admitted to lying to an FBI agent about his relationship with Harris.

During the course of the investigation into Hall's activities as deputy, numerous drug cases were thrown out of Harlan Circuit Court because Hall was the investigating officer.
 

Commonwealth's Attorney Karen Greene Blondell said there is a clear conspiracy and she will reveal the players during the trail. How far up does all this go? I know one thing;  Harlan has taken on that eerie feeling again and I for one am staying the hell out of Harlan County until all this is over, the groundhogs have sure hit the holes on this one.

More Clay County Elected Officials, Criminals, to Add to the List

When the scuttlebutt was being passed around in regards to this complaint in 2006, I remember thinking to myself what a complete but of jerks to take advantage of the elderly. Most vote buyers take advantage of the ridiculous tradition and now the pill heads.

Lexington Herald Leader

After a federal investigation in Clay County quelled the traditional method of buying votes by paying voters, people trying to rig races in 2006 took a new approach, manipulating voting machines to switch residents' choices, according to a federal charge filed Monday.

Charles "Dobber" Weaver, fire chief in Manchester and an election officer in the May 2006 primary, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge that he conspired to deprive voters of having their ballots counted.

They were switching the votes of the elderly. Intimidating the elderly in elections does happen in other Southeastern Kentucky counties, rumors suggested it happened in the State Senate District 30 special election.

The county had new voting machines for the May 2006 election. The machines had a "Vote" button that allowed people to review their choices, but they had to push another button marked "Cast" to actually record the selections and finish voting.

Weaver, an equipment operator for the state Transportation Cabinet, admitted that when voters hit the review button, another election officer at the polling place tried to get them to leave the booth, misleading them into thinking they had finished the process. Weaver would then go into the voting booth, change the choices to people he supported, and then hit the button to cast the votes, he said.

New to the LIST

• Charles "Dobber" Weaver Manchester fire chief plead guilty to depriving the voters the right to have their vote counted.
• Clay County Magistrate Fred Clinton Johnson plead guilty to good old vote buying

The Bobbleheads at the AFL-CIO Endorse Bruce Lunsford for U.S. Senate

Everyone should bob their head up and down and repeat after me "Lunsford is good, he is the bestes Democratic Senate candidate ever, because he has lots of dimp!"

Screw Simple Green or Formula 409, cold hard $Benjamins$ can disinfect any damn thing, just as the AFL-CIO. Lunsford is hereby forever cured and no-one can ever, ever, ever call him a 2-ply Republican light asswipe ever again, the AFL-CIO says so. I am sure U.S. Rep. Chandler will be the next pal to endorse his candidacy.