Beech Tree News Network

Past the Halfway Point of 2013 Session, and Major Issues Left to Address- The Kentucky General Assembly passed the halfway point of the 2013 Legislative Session this past week, yet several major issues are left to be resolved.
 
On Thursday the House State Government Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 2, which deals with much needed reforms to our state and local government public pension systems. However the committee only discussed the proposal, and didn’t vote to pass it out of committee.
 

Phyllis Amyx, Chair of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Women’s Committee, made a special trip to the state capitol in Frankfort on February 20 to present Representative C.B. Embry with a basket of Kentucky-made products in recognition of “Food Check-Out Day.”
Kentucky Farm Bureau hosts this event each year in mid-February to mark the date when the average American has earned enough income to meet his or her annual cost of food – about 10 percent of a person’s disposable income, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Smoke Free Communities Coalition is proud to announce the publication of the “Smoke Free Restaurants and Attractions Guide”.  These guides are designed to let people know which restaurants and attractions in the Barren River area are smoke free.

Many businesses in Butler County have learned that being smoke free can be good for business.  According to Tosha and Eric Sublett, the owners of Firehouse Pizza, “Once the studies (on secondhand smoke) came out, it was a no brainer.  Everyone’s lungs need to be protected.”

At a press conference today in Louisville, Sen. Rand Paul announced that he will be returning $600,000 to the United States Treasury – money unspent from his official operating budget. The total amount being returned is more than 20 percent of Sen. Paul’s original office budget. Sen. Paul returned $500,000 to the Treasury last year, contributing to the $1.1 million in money unspent from his operating budget since he took office.

Robin Schroeder was recently hired as the new secretary for the Butler County Chamber of Commerce.  Schroeder moved from Dallas, Georgia where she had worked in customer service. She has also served as a stay at home mom to her two children, Cheani -9 and Skylar-5.

Shroeder has lived in Butler County for two and a half years and has served as both a volunteer at North Butler Elementary and as President of the PTO. She is very excited to get started with her work at the chamber and to interact with the members of the community as well as the other members of the chamber.

First Closed Saturday will be March 2-As a result of state budget cuts and related staffing shortages, the Butler County Office of Circuit Court Clerk will no longer be open for business on Saturdays starting March 2, 2013.  The office is presently open from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays.  The office will continue to be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time Monday through Friday.

Beech Tree News provides courthouse statistics on a regular basis. Courthouse information provided in this article is a matter of public record. The following records are from the Butler County County Clerk and Circuit Clerk’s offices and cover February 1-14, 2013.

 Civil Cases:

Concerns over the growing number of landfills in the county brought several worried citizens to the Butler County Courthouse on Friday evening for a special session of the Butler County Fiscal Court. All members were present except Magistrate Keith Daugherty. Special sessions require that no deviation can occur from the printed agenda and no other items can be added to the agenda at the meeting. Also nothing can be discussed at the meeting that was not on the pre-printed agenda.

On February 15th, 2013 Butler County High School recognized the Senior Lady Bears, Bears, and Cheerleaders along with their parents.
Girls Basketball Seniors:

Miss Madeline Drake. Madeline is the daughter of Misty Drake. She has played high school basketball for 6 years. She plans to attend Western Kentucky University in the fall.

According to the 2010 Census and subsequent updates the population of Butler County is 12,827 (2011 estimate). By way of comparison the 2012 Census update set the total population of the United States at 313,914,040. Kentucky ranks 26th on the list of states by population, with 4,173,405 residents. California is the most populated state in the union with 36,132,147 citizens. Wyoming has the sparsest population with 509,123 residents.