This afternoon on Knoxville’s WBIR-TV, the midday drawing for the Tennessee Lottery’s Cash 3 number was actually last night’s. Just after 1:30pm, the station aired “today’s winning Cash 3 number” but last night’s drawing was aired instead.

Last night’s Cash 3 number was 6-6-1.

Today’s darwing on WBIR got as far as 6-6-….and then some alert person cut it off before the third number could air.

About twenty minutes later, the station aired today’s actual winning number drawing which was 7-8-0.

Question: will the TEL be forced to pay out for BOTH numbers again like they were forced to do a couple weeks ago when they made the same goof? (They should pay out for any number beginning with 66 since the last digit didn't air.)

Another question: when will the TEL admit its new computerized drawing system is an unmitigated failure?

Third question: Does TEL Commissioner Rebecca Paul deserve her yearly bonus?

A simmering dispute over recent pay raises for some LaFollette city employees came to a head last night during the City Council's regular monthly meeting.

The LaFollette Press provides some background on the raises in question:

The pay increases, which range from $1,000 to $5,000 a year, were described by council members Ken Snodderly, Hansford Hatmaker and Mike Stanfield as a move to make the pay scale for city positions more equitable to other similar-sized cities. (Mayor) Jennings said the raises are politically motivated.

The proposed raises included $4,000 for public works director Jim Mullens, $1,000 for recreation director Johnny Byrge, $5,000 for animal control officer Stan Foust, $5,000 for librarian Nancy Green, $2,000 for city financial director Terry Sweat, $3,000 for full-time office worker Amanda Hardwick, $4,000 for city treasurer Wanda Dower, $3,000 for city clerk Linda White and $3,000 for city administrator David G. Young. Snodderly's plan also included a part-time city office worker for another $12,000 yearly. With FICA, withholding and retirement, the increases will cost the city around $43,000, Snodderly said.

Prior to last night's meeting, Council was served with a lawsuit by Councilman Bob Fannon and his attorney Dave Dunaway asking for an injuction to stop those raises. This apparently angered those on the Council who support the raises (Snodderly, Hatmaker and Stanfield) and they refused to second any motions or vote on anything. When Mayor Cliff Jennings attempted to start the meeting by addressing the minutes of the previous meeting, Ken Snodderly, Hansford Hatmaker and Mike Stanfield refused to participate. With the refusal to approve the minutes of last month's meeting, they effectively shut down the city and its services until the next council meeting.

City workers are due to be paid Thursday.

Mayor Jennings says he will call a special meeting for Thursday morning to work out the problem. He's quoted as saying, "It's time Council put aside their personal vendettas and ran the city like the business it is."

From today's DC Post:

There were reports late yesterday of two incidents in which organized fireworks displays injured people. An employee of Pyro Shows Inc., the company that orchestrated the Mall fireworks, was severely injured when a shell exploded about 15 minutes after the show ended. The man, whom police did not identify, was transported to a hospital in a U.S. Park Police helicopter. A second man was also injured, Line said, but was treated at the scene and moved in an ambulance.

Line said the Tennessee-based company often tests shells the afternoon before a show, and the shell that injured the two men was a leftover that had not been tested.

UPDATE (10:45am): The severely injured Pyro Shows worker is a 42-year-old male and has suffered third-degree burns down the right side of his body. Still no info on his identity yet. Knoxville media hasn't picked up the story as of this post.

Pyro Shows is based in LaFollette in Campbell County.

UPDATE (12:00pm): The injured worker has been identified as Bob Crapsey of Caryville. I tipped off WVLT-TV to this story this morning and they have since spoken with Crapsey's wife.

15-year-old Kenneth Bartley, Jr. is headed back to jail after Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood rejects the boy's bid to have his April plea deal withdrawn in connection with the Campbell County High School shooting case.

This kid was strong-armed into a plea deal he didn't fully understand by an attorney anxious to dump his case and instead of the "justice" the family of Ken Bruce said they wanted, a child is being sentenced to 45 years in prison for first-degree murder when it clearly was not a pre-meditated act. The gun he brought to school that day to trade was unloaded until he was foolishly cornered in a principal's office. Principal Gary Seale had testified that no shots were fired until he attempted to tackle the boy. When lunged at, Bartley loaded the gun and fired killing Bruce, an assistant principal. Seale and assistant principal Jim Pierce were injured.

A Campbell County court ruled Monday that County Mayor Jerry Cross had no authority to fire Clifton “Tip” Jones from his position as Director of Environmental Management (Sanitation Department) and restored Jones to the job and bars Cross from taking any further action to remove Jones without the approval of the county commission and/or the county’s Municipal Solid Waste Regional Board.

Kentucky Wildcat fans won't have Tubby Smith to kick around anymore.

Story breaking now on ESPN.

I have learned that embattled Campbell County basketball coach Len Pierce has been fired by Principal Gary Seale.

You might remember Pierce was the subject of a push by many of the team’s (former) players and their parents to have him fired. He resisted calls for his resignation and replaced most of his team with freshman and walk-ons after most of the Cougars walked off the team. The backstory can be found here where I first blogged about the situation right before the holidays.

I just received word that Campbell County Mayor Jeff Hall has died after a tough battle with cancer. Ann Smith will take over his position on a temporary basis.

My sympathies go out to the Hall family.

UPDATE(2:00pm): I have the police report. Here's what happened:

LaFollette Police were called to the residence of Mike Stanfield shortly before 8:00pm Tuesday night on a theft call. Upon arrival, Mr. Stanfield and his son Shaun told officers that they saw the suspect take a utility trailer from their property and pull it to the street behind his vehicle. Mr. Stanfield told police he and his son confronted the suspect (34-year-old Kenny Shepard of LaFollette) who then fled in his vehicle. Mr. Stanfield is claiming Shepard "struck" his son Shaun with the vehicle as he fled but the report also states a witness claims the younger Stanfield jumped onto the hood of Shepard's car in an attempt to stop him.

The officers arrived at the Stanfield residence after Shepard took off. Stanfield said he knew the suspect and knew where he lived. The officers said they would follow Stanfield. However, the officers got slowed by traffic and stop signs in the residential neighborhood and when they arrived at Shepard's residence, Stanfield--according to the report--and Shepard were already in a struggle and Stanfield had a handgun pointed at Shepard's head saying, "You tried to run over my son! I'll blow your f--ing head off!"

Officers ordered Stanfield to drop his gun, which he did. Both he and Shepard were arrested.

Kenny Shepard is charged with theft of over $500 (the utility trailer was returned to the Stanfield property). Although not official, I have heard that perhaps Shepard is an ex in-law of Stanfield's or somehow known to the Stanfield family.

Mike Stanfield was charged with aggravated assault, was booked and later released on bond.

Stanfield was elected to LaFollette City Council two weeks ago and is due to take office next month

Leif Jeffers has filed suit contesting the results of the Public Defender's race in the 8th Judicial Circuit (which includes Campbell, Claiborne, Scott, Union and Fentress counties).

Jeffers thought he had won the race last week after supposedly defeating Martha Yoakum by 88 votes. However, as votes in Claiborne County were being canvassed to be certified a discrepancy was noticed that erased Jeffers' 88 vote lead and gave Yoakum an additional 12 votes--a 100 vote swing.

Jeffers is now claiming that work done by election officials at Claiborne County's Harrogate precinct was "a mess" and he is seeking to have the results nullified.

Claiborne County election officials do admit there's been a problem and labeled it "human error".

A discrepancy in vote tallies out of Claiborne County may take away the victory from Leif Jeffers over Martha Yoakum for the office of Public Defender in the 8th Judicial Circuit.

I just spoke to the election Commission in Claiborne County and they confirmed to me that there is indeed a 100-vote swing since last week's tally was announced. After canvassing last week's numbers, officials discovered Leif Jeffers got 88 LESS votes in one precinct than origianlly reported last Friday and Martha Yoakum received 12 MORE votes--a swing of 100 votes--which could hand the victory to Yoakum since Jeffers had previously been declared the winner by less than 90 votes.

Claiborne County offcials say it was human error that caused the discrepancy and that the new numbers will not be made offcial until Monday but they do not expect the tally to change again.

More as details become available....

LaFollette mayor Cliff Jennings was in a Campbell County courtroom this morning and on the advice of attorneys pleaded "nolo contendere" to charges stemming from a gambling raid on a building owned by Jennings.

The raid back in November netted cash and poker machines. Several people were arrested along with Jennings.

Jennings is saying this morning he wanted to go to trial and fight the chrages and if he had done so then all the other defendants in the case would also have to go to trial since they were all charged together. He's declining to go that route and says he instead will pay a fine on a misdemeanor charge and continue with his bid for re-election as mayor of LaFollette.

(Sidenote: WATE-TV's Don Dare showed up at the radio station this morning just minutes before Jennings was to go on the air with his weekly call-in program on WQLA-FM. Jennings declined to meet or speak with the TV station.)

My sources tell me that Gary Seale, the Campbell County High School principal who was shot and wounded by a student at the school last fall has filed with the Campbell County Election Commision to run as a Democrat for the Tennessee House of Representatives in the 36th District, a position currently held by William Baird (R-Jacksboro).

Gov. Phil Bredesen will be in Campbell County today at Jacksboro Middle School as part of a roundtable discussion on school safety. Back on November 8 a Campbell County High School student opened fire in a principal's office killing Assistant Principal Ken Bruce and seriously wounding Assistant Principal Jim Pierce and Principal Gary Seale. 15-year-old Kenneth Bartley, Jr., is awaiting a transfer hearing scheduled for next month.

UPDATE: Jennings turned himself in to the Campbell County Sheriff's Department this morning and posted a $5000 bond. He is facing a felony charge of aggrevated gambling promotion. His attorney says Jennings will plead not guilty.

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A Campbell County grand jury met today and among those indicted was LaFollette mayor Cliff Jennings. A building owned by Jennings was raided by TBI agents on November 4 of last year. Video poker machines and cash were confiscated in that raid.

Jennings was indicted today on one count of aggrevated gambling. He is expected to make bond tomorrow morning and will await trial.

He released this statement to me:

"As everyone knows, I have been part of the system for at least 21 years and I respect the system. I think it works and I'm certainly looking forward to my day in court."

National Coal Co. will delay the opening of its Campbell County mine on Monday to review safety procedures in hopes of avoiding an accident like the Jan. 2 Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia that left 12 miners dead.

The News-Sentinel's Rebecca Ferrar has the story. (reg. required)

Link...

The transfer hearing for Campbell County High School shooting suspect Kenneth Bartley, Jr., originally scheduled for tomorrow, has been postponed.

Bartley's attorney, Mike Hatmaker, asked the judge for a continuance in the case and it was granted.

The new hearing date is March 30 and may last two days.

The hearing will determine whether Bartley will be tried as an adult or juvenile in the shooting death of CCHS Assistant Principal Ken Bruce and the wounding of Assistant Principal Jim Pierce and Principal Gary Seale on November 8, 2005.

From Jim Dossett of The LaFollette Press:

The widow of a slain Campbell County High assistant principal scolded the Campbell County Board of Education and central office staff at a Thursday meeting. Jo Bruce directed pointed remarks to board members and central office staffers, saying she was tired of hearing how well school personnel handled the Nov. 8 tragedy in which her husband, Ken, and two other principals were shot.

“You keep saying that everything was done well, but that’s not acceptable.

“As Ken’s wife, I definitely know that something went wrong that day. We all know that something went wrong or three men would not have been shot,” Bruce told board members.

Bruce said she has repeatedly asked the central office to review the school safety plan, but she believes those requests have not been followed.

“Why, when told that the boy had a loaded gun in his pocket, was he (the assailant, Kenneth S. Bartley) not searched?

“The SRO (School Resource Officer) did a good job getting him out of class, but he was still not searched even at Mr. Pierce’s office,” she said.

More:

http://www.lafollettepress.com/headline3.html

Meanwhile, Kenneth Bartley, Jr. will find out next week if he'll be tried as an adult or a juvenile:

http://www.lafollettepress.com/headline1.html

As most of you know, a shooting occurred at Campbell County High School on November 8th of last year that killed Assistant Principal Ken Bruce and seriously wounded two others, including Assistant Principal Jim Pierce.

Within hours of the shooting and while Pierce was fighting for his life in a Knoxville hospital, his home was robbed.

It appears now that the Pierce home was not the intended target as some media reports indicate. My source at the Campbell County Sheriff's Dept. says three men, a woman and a five-month-old baby were in a vehicle with the intention of robbing a home. The house they meant to rob was occupied and they turned away and randomly found the Pierce home unoccupied nearby.

Arrested are: 20-year-old Holly Ann Minton of Duff and 24-year-old David E. Lloyd, Jr. of LaFolette. Authorities are still looking for Charles Arthur Parker and James Thomas Lloyd.

The four are alleged to have stolen an ATV, a weapon and some tools. The ATV was recovered on Tuesday and Minton and Lloyd were taken into custody. They are being charged with burglary and theft.

I'm trying to find about the status of the baby.

Campbell County native Dean Dillon and superstar performer George Strait -- one of the longest-running hit machines in country music history -- added another line to their list of accomplishments when "She Let Herself Go" topped Billboard's country singles chart this week.

Details from CMT.

It sure is good to see SKB back online. This is a wonderful idea and here's hoping it flourishes.

There is no community designation for Campbell County here so I'll take it upon myself to declare this space for news and events from the area.

In the coming weeks there will be several stories making the news including the court appearance of Kenneth Bartley, Jr. He is accused of killing Campbell County High School Assistant Principal Ken Bruce and wounding two other administrators in a shooting November 8. The court will determine if Bartley will be tried as a juvenile or as an adult.

Also, LaFollette's mayor, Cliff Jennings, may be facing felony charges in connection with gambling machines found operating out of a building he owns. Mr. Jennings happens to own the radio station I work for so one might say I have a special perspective on that story.

In the meantime, I'm going to browse around this site and see what everyone else's talking about....

Left Of The Dial