Bring your unused, unwanted and expired prescription drugs to one of the local “Prescription Drug Take-Back” sites Saturday so they can be disposed of in a safe and legal manner. Monroe County CARES (Citizens Advocating Responsible EnviromentS) and local law enforcement are sponsoring this Prescrip-tion Medication Disposal Event this Saturday, April 28, at both Tompkinsville and Gamaliel, in coopera-tion with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administra-tion (DEA). You can bring the expired or unwanted prescription

drugs to Wal-Mart in Tomp-kinsville or Dollar General in Gamaliel (near the store entrances) between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday. Law enforcement officers, assisted by the Monroe County CARES volunteers, will collect the drugs for destruction. This a free, anonymous and “no-fuss” service. “It doesn’t matter what it is or who you are — we just want everyone to rid their households of unused prescription drugs that pose a safety hazard and can contribute to prescrip-tion drug abuse,” they said. The medications will be

The Tompkinsv i l l e News

About People, page A5 Announcements, page A3

Church Annc., page A4Classifieds, pages B4-B8

Obituaries, page A6School & Sports, pages B1-B350 CENTS

Courtesy of WBKO.com Several injury accidents were reported over the last week.

See page A-2 for more information.

SEE TAKE BACK EVENT, PAGE A-2

THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012 VOL. 109 — NO. 48 — TOMPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY 42167 16 PAGES — 50 CENTSTHURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012 VOL. 109 — NO. 48 — TOMPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY 42167 16 PAGES — 50 CENTS

Injury Accidents ReportedInjury Accidents Reported

Electronic recycling program offered this weekend

TWO CHARGED IN MURDER OF LOCAL WOMANCommunity shocked by violent death of Brenda Howard

“Take-back” event set April 28 for expired/

unwanted drugs You can dispose of your old electronic equipment, free of charge, at an event scheduled here April 27-28. A trailer will be set up in the parking area at Wal-Mart on Friday, April 27 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and Satur-day, April 28 (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.) to receive a wide va-riety of old electronics and other equipment for recy-cling (this does not include TVs). There is no charge for this service. This is part of the PRIDE Cleanup efforts of Monroe County and the City of Tompkinsville. Items that will be accept-ed for recycling include the following: — Computers (desktop and laptop), monitors (CRT and LCD), hard drives,

modems, plug and play devices, printers, scanners, power backups, power transformers; — Copiers, fax machines,commercial telephone equipment, miscellaneous electronic business equip-ment, wires, cables, circuit boards; — Video game systems,DVD players, VCRs, mis-cellaneous home entertain-ment equipment (but not TVs), microwave ovens, small electronic household appliances; and — Office furniture, mostindustrial scrap and most commercial equipment. If you have questions, contact Monroe County Judge/executive TommyWillett (487-5505), Tomp-kinsville Mayor Jeff Proffitt (487-6776) or Mike Turner (487-6050).

Monroe Countians in the Ebenezer community were shocked Friday night, April 20, by a brutal murder that occurred at the residence of 63 year-old Brenda How-ard. Monroe County 9-1-1 dis-patch received a call at 8:37 Friday night reporting that Howard’s granddaughter had found her unrespon-sive, lying in a pool of blood. Responding Deputy Sheriff Larry Martin was first on the scene, and along with Monroe County Ambulance personnel confirmed that Howard was deceased, ap-parently the victim of what responders called a grisly and violent murder. According to a Kentucky State Police report issued the following day, Sheriff Roger Barlow then called KSP Post 15 at 10:16 p.m. requesting assistance with a death investigation. Detec-tives Ricky Brooks and Rus-sell Decker arrived shortly thereafter and assumed re-sponsibility for the investi-gation into Howard’s death. It was determined that she was beaten and stabbed and that her home had been bur-glarized. Officers with the Sheriff’s Office had already begun a neighborhood canvas before the KSP detectives arrived and learned from neighbors that a burgundy Saturn se-dan with a cracked driv-er’s-side windshield had been observed leaving the scene. Investigators quickly linked the vehicle to Chasity

Hagan, 34, of Homer Bart-ley Road, Summer Shade, and John “Fatman” Smith, 41, of Dubree Road, Tomp-kinsville. Around 11 p.m., officials quietly issued a “be on the lookout” notification for a vehicle matching that de-scription and a short time later, after gathering more information, issued an “all points bulletin” for the ve-hicle, as well as for Hagan and Smith, alerting officers to consider them armed and extremely dangerous. As deputies were patrol-ling the county and Tomp-kinsville Police were patrol-ling inside the city limits in search of the pair, the vehicle was quickly located at the residence of Hagan’s mother, Wanda Hagan, on Homer Bartley Road. Detec-tives Brooks and Decker, as well as Deputies Martin and Charles Smith, went to the residence and subsequently took Hagan to the Tomp-kinsville Police Department to interview her in reference to the matter. Unknown to any of the officers and with this information withheld by both of the Hagan women, Smith was apparently hid-ing in a rear bedroom of the home throughout the night. At the request of KSP detectives, a Sheriff’s Dep-uty was posted outside the Hagan residence to watch the vehicle they had looked for all night, as it was con-sidered a key piece of evi-dence in the investigation. Early Saturday morning,

as a hard rain began to fall and before the sun was up, Smith ran from the residence through a rear door, accord-ing to the elder Hagan, and into a heavily wooded area behind the home. An all out “manhunt” be-gan for Smith, with officers searching the surrounding area in the rain before being given the order to abandon the search. They said this was because KSP had a K9 officer en route and the less human odor laid down in the area the better it would be for the search dog. Officers with KSP and MCSO continued to patrol the area’s roadways while they waited for the dog to arrive, assuring that Smith stayed in a small parcel of real estate and away from any of the other homes in the area. Once the dog was actually on scene, he led his handler di-rectly to an abandoned cabin several hun-dred yards behind the Hagan home and only a short distance from where officers had been searching before the ground search was halted. Once found by the canine, Smith was taken into custody without incident. Later in the day (Saturday, April 21), as KSP officers were searching the vehicle that led them to the pair, they located a

methamphetamine lab in the trunk of the car. Tomp-kinsville Police Department lab technicians Jimmy Cart-er and Kevin Webb assisted by dismantling the lab as no KSP or MCSO technicians were available at the time. (Note: Smith is currently awaiting trial on a manufac-turing methamphetamine charge, related to a situa-tion where he and Timothy “Cowboy” Curtis allegedly were found with an active lab just outside the Tomp-kinsville City limits just a few weeks ago.)

Smith and Hagan were both officially charged with murder and burglary later Saturday afternoon, and lodged in the Monroe County Jail. They were ar-raigned Tuesday in Monroe District Court before Judge Kristi Castillo with bond reduction being denied on both. County Attorney Wes Stephens also requested that the charges on Hagan be amended to complicity to commit murder and com-plicity to commit burglary. They were both represent-ed by public defenders and

a preliminary hearing date was set for next Tuesday, May 1, for both defendants. Services for Brenda Faye (Hopkins) Howard are be-ing held today (Thursday, April 26), at 2 p.m. at Yok-ley-Trible Funeral Home. She was the daughter of the late Levie and Edna Glee (Gearlds) Hopkins and the mother of Melissa Wallace and Amanda Pickerell, both of Tompkinsville. Details about her back-ground, survivors and fu-neral arrangements will be published next week.

Tuesday morning, John “Fatman” Smith (left) and Chasity Hagan were arraigned in Judge Kristi Castillo’s courtroom, pleading not guilty to charges related to Brenda Howard’s murder.

Early Saturday morning, officers from local law enforcement and state police are shown outside the home of Wanda Hagan, Homer Bartley Road, where her daughter, Chasity, and

John “Fatman” Smith were taken into custody and charged in relation to the crime.

Brenda Howard’s residence on Ebenezer Road remained marked as a crime scene on Saturday morning while Kentucky State Police detectives continued their

investigation into her murder. Howard, who was 63 years old, was found in her home on Friday night by her granddaughter.

Approval of 2013 budget postponed by Monroe

Fiscal Court The Monroe County Fiscal Court was forced to post-pone the first reading of the 2012/2013 County budget at last Thursday’s regularly scheduled meeting, due to the inability of the state to pass a transportation budget. County Judge/executive Tommy Willett explained to members of the Court that he had been assured by state officials that a transportation budget will be passed in short order, however, Willett said, the Fiscal Court will probably be forced to convene a special called meeting to pass the budget as soon as the state budget is com-plete. Willett told Court members that his office had been notified that the County has been approved for a CDBG grant in the amount of $652,646 for disaster recovery funds. The money must be used for bridge repairs stem-ming from flooding in recent years, and the bridges to be rebuilt will include the Akersville Bridge, Ebenezer Bridge and H. Branham Bridge, Willett said. “I am very happy that our County has been awarded this grant,” Willett said. “These repairs will allow for safer travel for buses, emergency vehicles and the gen-eral public.”

SEE FISCAL COURT, PAGE A-2