| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Request to AG calls for investigation of Squad asset sales Major donor to organization, city and county leaders want Kentucky Attorney General to investigate Adair County Rescue Squad asset liquidation. Jim Blair says assets being sold at grossly inadequate prices; questions legality, scorched earth methods. Mayor Pat Bell says assets were gifts from people of Adair County for the people of Adair County. Judge Ann Melton says she wants to protect interest of "all those people who tossed money in buckets" By Ed Waggener Developments are moving fast in the apparent closure of the Adair County Rescue Squad and replacement of its functions by other organizations. JIm Blair, a major donor to the Rescue Squad over the years, is questioning the legality of the way the Adair County Rescue Squad is disposing of its property and is requesting the Kentucky Attorney General to step in and determine whether he correct, and to proceed against the officers and others responsible for the transfer of the old Squad's assets. Blair's standing in the matter is well known. His gifts to the organization are estimated at over $100,000. Blair is being backed in the effort to involve the Attorney General's office by Columbia Mayor Pat Bell and Adair County Judge Executive Ann Melton. Mayor Bell said that he wants the matter investigated by the Attorney General. "Those assets were given to them by the people of Adair County," he said. "When people dropped dollars into their roadblock buckets," he said, "they weren't giving it to the Rescue Squad members, they were giving it to them for the use of the people of Adair County." He made the comments following the National Day of Prayer service on Thursday, May 3, 2007. Judge Melton was contacted yesterday afternoon, and concurred. She said, "I back Mr. Blair 100% in his attempts to keep assets of the Adair County Rescue Squad for the benefit of the people of Adair County. A lot of Adair Countians, and particularly Jim Blair, have supported the rescue squad with gifts over the years." She added, "Mr. Blair gave unusually generous gifts, and he has a rights as a donor. But those in charge of the Adair County Rescue Squad's assets have just as big an obligation to all those thousands of Adair Countians who just tossed money in buckets," she said, alluding to the many who gave money at the numerous roadblocks the Rescue Squad held over the years. Blair does not question the organization's right to sell it's property in a liquidation and give the money to a charity, but he says that he does not believe the hasty procedures being used in what he calls a "scorched earth" liquidation meet legal requirements. Since failing to reach agreement on getting a Letter of Affiliation from Judge Executive Ann Melton, officers of the organization, (specifically not including Board Member William "Bill" Corbin) the organization has moved quickly to dispose of assets. Two board members, Marsha Roberts and Ronnie Brandenburg, along with Chief Steve Foster, transferred the Rescue Squad's 13.5 acre campus and improvements, located on the west side of Highway 55, for $150,000, to Preston Dean Pyles of Campbellsville. The sale was made through a real estate sale and purchase agreement filed in Adair County Court Clerk's office on April 25, 2007. Pyles paid $75,513.00 in the form of a promissory note, according to the agreement, as a down payment, and the sale is is to be complete by December 31, 2007 according to the document. Blair is questioning the sale and says that it was done in secret and that it was sold at a clearly inadequate price. He believes that improvements to the land, which was purchased in 2002 for $125,000, raised the total investments to nearly $300,000. Mr. Blair and others believe the total value of the land would be much, much higher, citing development along Campbellsville Road and the coming of the new Columbia Bypass, which is expected to dramatically escalate the value of land between its eastern terminus one half mile north of the Rescue Squad property and downtown Columbia. Marsha Roberts, when asked about the price, said that a bank note at the Bank of Columbia had been due in February and this sale allowed the old organization to pay off its debts."Sure," she said, "we might have gotten more," but said that tim Blair is also questioning the transfer of vehicles sold by the organization to Chief Steve Roberts and Board Member Marsha Roberts. But possibly his biggest concern is for the possible disposal of a Genesis extrication device, which was given to the Squad by Mr. Blair and his late brother, Columbia physician Richard Blair, in memory of their father. Blair gave the $13,000 advanced extrication device to the squad and then gave them $5000 to buy attachments. He's asking that the device be handed over to the new Adair County Search and Rescue Squad. "My goal was to help save lives in this community," he said. Blair also gave the Adair County Rescue Squad the money to buy is "Rescue One" vehicle. It has not yet been transferred. Blair helped the Squad set up it's bingo operation, which was to have paid for all its operations. If Mr. Blair, Mayor Bell, and the County Judge are successful in their request to the Attorney General, the investigation into the bingo operations widens one more step. The Kentucky Charitable Gaming Commission investigation ito the squad's bingo operations is ongoing. The Charitable Gaming Commision has already revoked the Rescue Squads gaming license. Their investigation focused on irregularities at the bingo hall. Profits from the bingo hall were paid to the Rescue Squad, and an audit of how it spent the money has not been made public. Monday, May 7, 2007, officials of the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management are coming to Columbia to recover equipment given to the old Adair County Rescue Squad by the State. This story was posted on 2007-05-04 06:29:58
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic News:
High turnout at first SAR organizational meeting Egypt Christian Church will hold yard sale Ribbon cutting at Fence Builders, Krafty Kreations LWC community participates in National Day of Prayer CWC, HS students work together on Earth Day Feedback: What CR brain power could do Road crews at transfer station, several districts Adair Spring 2007 turkey harvest Telecheck stands at 234 Fugitives Byron Perkins, Lee Ann Howard captured in Mexico KDH Maintenance Schedule for Adair, May 7-11, 2007 View even more articles in topic News |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
