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Maner weeps after court upholds judgment against Fayette schools

The Kentucky Supreme Court declined Wednesday to review the Carol Lynne Maner sex-abuse case, letting stand a $3.7-million judgment against the Fayette County Public Schools.

No further avenue of appeal remains available to the school district, other than taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Maner, who received the news shortly after noon, said she spent much of the next hour in tears of relief.

“I haven’t been able to stop crying,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be quite so overwhelmed. But I got the news and in about 30 seconds I started weeping, and I’ve been weeping off and on for the last hour. It’s been almost eight years of litigation.”

Chuck Arnold, one of Maner’s attorneys on the case, said Wednesday’s high court decision spells vindication for his client.
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Couple stresses fire safety after grandsons killed in Christmas blaze

FRANKFORT Grief still grips Irv and Cathy Bailey after losing two grandsons in a Christmas morning fire that destroyed the Baileys’ Louisville home. But the philanthropist couple has shifted into activist mode to stress the importance of fire safety.

“You can either surrender to it or use it as a way for better things to happen,” Irv Bailey said at the state Capitol Wednesday.

The Baileys appeared on the Senate floor as state Sen. Ernie Harris, R-Crestwood, introduced a resolution adjourning the chamber in memory of Solon L. Bailey, 12, and William T. “Liam” Bailey, 10.

The two boys, who were visiting with their parents from Vermont, couldn’t escape the fast-moving fire that engulfed the Bailey’s home at about 4:30 a.m. on Christmas.

“It was like an explosion that happened in our home very, very massive,” said Cathy Bailey, a prominent Republican fund-raiser who served as U.S. ambassador to Latvia from 2005 to 2008.
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Maker’s Mark signing might be big blue bottleneck

The Big Blue Nation is about to hit a big blue waxy bottleneck.

Only 1,200 fans will be allowed to line up at 6:30 a.m. Friday, April 9, to each get one commemorative bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon signed by University of Kentucky men’s basketball Coach John Calipari.

In anticipation of the fervor that UK basketball fans might bring to the occasion, the track has come up with a special process this year for its annual bottle signing tied to the Maker’s Mark Mile race.

To be one of the lucky 1,200, fans first will have to get a lottery ticket at a special drawing Tuesday, April 6, at Keeneland’s Keene Barn and Entertainment Center.

That’s right three days in advance.
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