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Eighth-grade students at the J. Graham Brown School, 546 S. First Street, will host an interactive refugee camp on Friday, November 10, from 9:05 to 11:40 a.m. and from 12:10 to 1:10 p.m. at Peace Park (located across the street from the school) to showcase what they have learned in class over the past two months.
The students have created a refugee camp that will reproduce some of the challenges and difficulties that refugees face in camps today. They will also provide an interactive learning experience and reflection opportunities for participants.
In addition, the school’s ninth graders have been studying different aspects of water scarcity in all their classes and have organized a “Walk for Water” that same day from 8:30 to 11 a.m., as they are trying to raise $8,000 to build a well for a school in Sudan. Each student (having collected pledges) will be carrying a gallon of water from the school to the Big Four Bridge and back.
Both activities are great examples of the Deeper Learning initiative that is at the forefront of the district’s strategic plan. The framework was adopted by the Jefferson County Board of Education in June 2016 as a way to encourage students to be more independent and take a more active role in their learning process.
Attorney General Andy Beshear, the Kentucky Association of Children’s Advocacy Centers and Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky announced upcoming child sexual abuse prevention trainings in Bowling Green for organizations that serve children.
The Dec. 5 trainings at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge, 150 Corvette Drive, are aimed at daycares, summer camps, churches and other youth-serving organizations with program evaluation and implementation of an action plan that will strengthen protocols and policies to safeguard children from sexual abuse.
There will be two trainings Dec. 5 – one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Those interested in the trainings may pre-register.
“Across the country every year, approximately 35 million adults in youth-serving organizations come into contact with more than 70 million children and teens,” Beshear said. “Through this training in Bowling Green we are providing support to many organizations in the state that are working hard to create and maintain a safe place for children, employees and volunteers.”
Staff from the AG’s Office and Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky will provide the training.
Jill Seyfred, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky, said the organization will continue to partner with Beshear to protect children.
“The training will help us move the needle one tick closer to achieving our ultimate goal of ensuring our children are safe; not only in their own homes, but at school, summer camps and everyplace they go,” said Seyfred.
As a training partner, the Kentucky Association of Children’s Advocacy Centers will host trainings at advocacy centers across the state.
“Youth serving organizations are poised to serve as a first line of defense in the battle against child sexual abuse, said Executive Director Caroline Ruschell. “By implementing the right strategies, these organizations can create an environment that fosters open dialogue and reduces opportunities for an act of abuse to occur.”
The Office of the Attorney General’s Child Victims’ Trust Fund (CVTF), administered by the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Board (Board), is providing the funding for the trainings. The board also approves annual grants from the CVTF to support child abuse prevention programs.
Last year, the board sponsored statewide trainings for law enforcement, prosecutors, social workers, community advocates, religious affiliates, parents and educators on how to protect children from predators.
Beshear said the new trainings are a critical next step in protecting Kentucky’s children – one that allows his office to provide youth-serving organizations information from the risk reduction handbook that Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky developed with the assistance of a CVTF grant.
Beshear said supporting the CVTF is a direct investment in our children and encouraged others to consider making a donation, which can be made in three ways:
- Through a private donation directly to the CVTF.
- Purchase of an “I Care About Kids” license plate at your county clerk’s office.
- Donations made through the state income tax refund check-off program.
Beshear reminds Kentuckians that everyone has a moral and legal duty to report any instance of child abuse to local law enforcement or to Kentucky’s Child Abuse hotline at 877-597-2331 or 877-KYSAFE1.
For additional information regarding the upcoming youth-serving organization trainings, please visit, http://ag.ky.gov/family/childabuse/Pages/trainings.aspx or http://www.pcaky.org/news/freetraining.html.
Credit: KY State Parks
The 27th Annual Civil War Days at Columbus-Belmont State Park is Oct. 13-15.
The weekend will include battle re-enactments, history and museum tours, soldier camps, entertainment, food and more. Admission is free.
This three-day event begins with an Education Day on Friday. There will be cannon and rifle demonstrations, life of a soldier, and dance instruction. Students, scouts, and groups are encouraged to participate, but everyone is invited to attend and take a closer look at history by taking a step back in time.
The opening ceremony is Friday evening with food and entertainment. Cannons will fire from the bluffs to end the ceremony and then there will be a Ghost Walk through the Confederate earthworks with lanterns lighting the way.
Events are scheduled throughout Saturday including music and the Ladies Tea at 11 a.m.
The Civil War Ball on Saturday night will feature music and dance instruction so you don’t have to be experienced to participate. The band for the evening is The 52nd Regimental String Band.
If you want to shop, you can find everything you need on “Sutler Row” where there will be tents set up with period clothing and accessories. There will be a Beautiful Belle and Handsome Gent contest before the dance and a Best Beard and Scraggly Beard contest during intermission.
Sunday begins with a morning service as well as a memorial service in Columbus Cemetery.
The battles are at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. They will feature guns firing, cannons blasting, horses running, and tents burning.
The Civil War Days event is co-sponsored by Columbus-Belmont State Park, Civil War Days Committee, and the Hickman County Judge Executive’s office/Hickman County Fiscal Court. The park is located on the Mississippi River in western Kentucky at the junction of highways 58, 80, and 123.
For more information, contact the park office at 270-677-2327 or email cindy.lynch@ky.gov or visit www.parks.ky.gov
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
Viewers of “Kentucky Afield” television picked up their phones and took to social media last weekend to submit more than 200 questions for the annual fall hunting call-in show.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources wildlife biologists Gabe Jenkins and John Morgan, along with Sgt. Rufus Cravens of the department’s Law Enforcement Division, joined “Kentucky Afield” host Chad Miles for the hour-long show that aired live on Sept. 16 on Kentucky Educational Television. The panel could not get to all of the questions before the credits started rolling.
Below, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife personnel answered a handful of the questions that did not make it on-air. Viewers who missed the live show can watch a full replay on YouTube. Enter “KYAfield” in the search box on the YouTube homepage.
Will Kentucky Fish and Wildlife consider adjusting deer seasons due to the EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease) outbreak? – Eddie from Morgan County
GABE JENKINS, Deer and Elk Program Coordinator, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife: We will not be implementing an emergency regulation to shorten or close deer season in 2017 in any county due to the EHD outbreak. We encourage folks to report all dead deer they find using our online reporting system.
After the outbreak has ceased, we will evaluate the number reported along with the harvest data from the 2017 season and make our recommendations for the 2018 season at the December meeting of the Fish and Wildlife Commission. Deer are prolific breeders, and the population will rebound within a couple years.
Lastly, if your area has experienced a severe die-off, I would encourage hunters to participate in some self-restraint and pass once you have taken enough deer to fill your freezer for the year.
How far west have elk traveled in Kentucky? – Wayne from Marion County
JENKINS: We receive reports of elk outside the elk zone almost every year. In the early years of elk restoration, we saw elk leave the elk zone more frequently. We’ve had reports of elk as far west as Lake Cumberland and one elk went to North Carolina. We have had elk harvested outside the elk zone in Bath, Carter, Laurel, Madison, Wayne and Wolfe counties.
What resources are available through Kentucky Fish and Wildlife to assist with wildlife habitat improvement? – Gary from Grayson
BEN ROBINSON, Wildlife Division Assistant Director, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife: Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is committed to assisting landowners with wildlife habitat improvement on their property. We employ more than 30 wildlife biologists who specialize in assisting private landowners with habitat management projects. From tips about improving food sources for deer and turkey to navigating cost share programs through the federal Farm Bill, we have someone available to assist you.
For more information, visit our web site at fw.ky.gov or call 1-800-858-1549 and ask for the phone number of your local private lands or farm bill biologist.
Does prescribed burning on private and public lands benefit wild turkeys? Where can I find more information? – Tony from Montgomery County
ROBINSON: Kentucky Fish and Wildlife considers prescribed fire an essential management tool for private landowners and publicly managed Wildlife Management Areas. Prescribed fires are carefully planned and managed by highly trained burn crews for containment to select areas.
We regularly use prescribed burning on grasslands and timbered areas to benefit a host of game and non-game species, including wild turkey.
Prescribed fire has many benefits. Fire removes old vegetation and stimulates new growth, providing a lush food source for wildlife. Fire promotes oak regeneration in our forests resulting in more acorns, a staple food source for many species. By removing dead vegetation, fire also creates bare ground, a necessity for bobwhite quail and other ground dwelling birds.
For more information on prescribed fire in Kentucky, visit the Kentucky Prescribed Fire Council’s website www.kyfire.org.
Why was bear season closed in McCreary County on public land? – David from McCreary County
JOHN HAST, Bear Program Coordinator, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife: Bear numbers are still low in McCreary County. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s philosophy on bear management is to allow as much hunter opportunity as the bear population will allow. What we may sacrifice in hunter opportunity in McCreary County for a few years will pay off when bears have a chance to grow within the county and expand more fully into surrounding counties, such and Pulaski and Rockcastle.
Great bear habitat lies just to the north of McCreary County within the Daniel Boone National Forest and it has the potential to provide a great place for bears and bear hunters in the future.
A population of bears is very slow in its growth and patience is necessary to see any big leaps in the season quota. You can rest assured that Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is actively monitoring bears in McCreary County in order to improve our population models. When the bear population is ready, hunters will once again be able to hunt public land.
Credit: KY State Parks
Step back in time as Big Bone Lick State Historic Site returns to days long past during the 35th annual Salt Festival the weekend of Oct. 13-15.
The festival features demonstrations of pioneer living, frontier skills, traditions, and lifeways. Browse the crafters corner to see the many handcrafted items for sale and find lots of good eats at the food court. Enjoy folk and bluegrass music, listen to a storyteller, view prehistoric Ice Age artifacts, and observe a blacksmith working red-hot iron. See how salt was extracted from the waters of Big Bone, watch a flintknapper make a stone point, and discover how bison hair was spun into yarn.
While visiting the park, be sure to drop by the park’s museum and visitor’s center to see some of the “big bones.” A shuttle van will transport event-goers to and from the festival field to the center at regular intervals. Don’t miss seeing the bison herd, the park’s living link to Kentucky’s early history.
On Friday, Oct. 13, the park will host school groups. The cost is $2 per person. Schools interested in bringing classes to the festival should call the park at 859-384-3522.
Regular festival admission is $5 per person; children 5 and under are free.
For information about the park, visit http://parks.ky.gov/parks/historicsites/big-bone-lick/. Big Bone Lick State Historic Site is recognized as the birthplace of American vertebrate paleontology for its significant role in the development of scientific thought regarding extinction and the relationship between geology and paleontology the world over. The park is located 22 miles southwest of Covington on KY 338, off US 42/127 and I-71 & I-75. From I-75 north or south, take exit 175 to KY 338. From I-71 north or south, take exit 62 to 127N/42E to KY 338.
Photo: Perryville Battlefield
The commemoration of the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Perryville will be Oct. 7-8 at Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site.
The 1862 battle was the largest Civil War conflict in Kentucky, leaving more than 7,000 casualties.
The park in Boyle County will host two battle re-enactments at 2 p.m. both days, battlefield tours, military camps, lectures and an interactive program where visitors can relive the past as a Civil War soldier. A walking tour called “Ghost of the Battle” is also scheduled for Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. (additional fee)
Guests can also visit the park’s museum and there will be vendors and food wagons.
The general admission price is $10 per adult. Tickets for veterans are $8 and the fee for children is $7. The Ghost of the Battle tour is $15 per person. Gates open at 9 a.m. both days.
For more information, including the entire schedule for the weekend, visit www.perryvillebattlefield.org or call the park at 859-332-8631.
More than 40 students from the Jefferson County Public School (JCPS) District are among the 16,000 across the country named 2018 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.
Semifinalists in the 63rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program were announced today by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. and will compete for scholarships worth about $32 million. Semifinalists from JCPS include students from Ballard, Brown, DuPont Manual, Eastern and Male Traditional High. The students are:
- Ballard High School’s Claire Keum, Sarang Park and Alexander Reaugh
- Brown High School’s Sovann Chang
- DuPont Manual High School’s Alec Adamov, Anirudh Adavi, Tanner Bielefeld Pruitt, Priyadarshini Chandrashekhar, Emily Clark, Alice Deters, Caroline Foshee, Ryan Hassel, Micah Herndon, Brandon Huff, Charles Im, Benjamin Jiang, Jobi Jose, Govind Krishna, Sophie Lai, Lindsey Lapinski, William Morgan, Joshua Olliges, Alan Pascua, Riti Pathak, David Qiu, Saralee Renick, Haylee Richter, Camille Rougier, Amit Sahoo, Gregory Schwartz, Luke Sheridan-Rabideau, Elijah Shina, Harshini Sirvisetty, Madison Sneve, Lucy Suo, Spencer Thompson, Megan Wang, Shelby Young and Annie Zhang.
- Eastern High School’s Truman Smith
- Male Traditional High School’s Dylan Boone
“JCPS continues to produce some of the best and brightest students in the state and country, and the achievements of these talented students today are an example of that,” said JCPS Acting Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio. “I am very proud of what they are accomplishing both in and out of the classroom.”
The students were among approximately 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools who entered the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which serves as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.
To become a finalist, the semifinalist and his or her high school must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.
From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the finalist level. Finalists will be announced early next year.