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l’lr.: (306-674-9994
Bath County
NIEWS .—
Photo by Cecil Lawson
Drivers entering Owings-
ville on Slate Avenue have
been greeted this week by
V the Owingsville First Church
of God’s message board
asking them to “Please Get
Vaccinated." In his weekly
community email, Rev. Low-
ell Rice said he was motivat-
ed to put out that message
5following a recent conver-
sation with Bro. Bill Grimes
that churches needed to get
more involved in promot-
ing vaccinations and that
vaccines available may be
God's answer to the pan-
demic. He encouraged his
By Cecil Iawson
KyNewsGroup
cecil@kynewsgroup.com
l and Vvife'were in-
jured in a head-on two vehicle
collision on Sunday afternoon
in the Peasticks community,
and the wreck remains un—_
der investigation by the Bath
County Sheriff’s Office.
1 According to Deputy Sher-
iff Tanner Tout, the accident
occurred on Sunday afternoon
around 2:30 p.m. just past the
intersection of Old Sand Road
and Fearing Road.
Deputy Tout said that a sil-
ver Pontiac Grand Prix driven
by George Reis, who also goes
by Chris Reis, struck a black
Ford Escape driven by his
wife, Rebecca Reis, on Old
Sand Road. ~
readers to not pay attention to “propaganda” on social
media and to talk to their medical provider or doctor if they had
reservations about the
vaccines. Rev. Rice said he had six COVlD-related funerals and had attended
many more
of people who had died of COVID.
Both individuals were
trapped in their vehicles and
had to beextricated, accord-
ing to the Salt Lick Fire De
partment’s Facebook page.
Both George Reis and Re-
becca Reis were airlifted to
the University of Kentucky
Medical Center, where Depu-
ty Tout said the extent of their
injuries was unknoWn at press
time.
photo courtesy of Salt Lick Fire Rescue
Owingsville Volunteer
Fire Department, Salt Lick
Volunteer Fire Department,
Bath County EMS, and Bath
County Sheriff’s Office, along
with Air Evac Life Team, all
responded to the accident
scene.
Deputy Tout said the cir-
cumstances the accident re
main unknown at this time as
he continues his investigation.
County, City of Owingsville opt for compensating
rate for property taxes
By Cecil Lawson
KyNewsGroup
cecil@kynewsgroup.com
It’s local property tax time
again, but this year local gov-
ernments have been voting
to take the compensating rate
due to increased local prop-
erty assessments.
While earlier this month
the Sharpsburg City Council
members voted to keep their
city’s property tax rates at the
same level, .3040 cents per
$100 of assessed value due to
an overall loss of $170,190 in
local property assessments,
Bath County Fiscal Court
and Owingsville City Council '
members voted to take the
compensating rate for their
respective rates.
The compensating rate is
calculated by the state’s Rev-
enue Cabinet to “provide the
same amount of tax revenue as
the previous year. Sometimes
the rate goes up' or down, de-
pending on the amount of lo—
cal property value assessed.
Last Thursday Fiscal Court
members agreed to take the
compensating rate, 10.10
cents per $100 of assessed
value, for taxes on local real
estate. The rate is down from
last year’s rate of 10.2 cents
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per $100 of assessed value.
County Judge-Executive
Bobby Rogers said the county
has seen an overall increase
in assessments by $6 million
since last year, and the Fiscal
Court currently has “more
money than we’ve ever had in
the Treasury.”
On Monday evening Ow-
ingsville City Council mem-
bers also voted to take the
compensating rate for the
city’s property taxes, at 24.7
cents per $100 of assessed
value. This is down from last
year’s rate of 26 cents.
Owingsville Mayor Gary
Hunt noted during discussion
of rates that the city has seen
its overall tax assessment in-
crease by $3 million. He also
noted that this year’s tax rate
of 24.7 cents is the lowest tax
rate in the city since 2015.
Last year the county’s over-
all property value assessment
increased by nearly $49 mil—
lion following state-wide ad-
justments to farm property
value assessments and the
addition of over 70 previously
unassessed properties from
the Salt Lick area.
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A member of I j l’NEWgfinoup
Bringing you Bath County’s News Since 1884
Thursday, September 16, 2021
local new liolllll oases
VACCINATION RATES RISE ACROSS THE GATEWAY HEALTH DISTRICT
By Cecil Lawson
KyNewsGroup
cecil@kynewsgroup.com
For the fourth straight
week new COVID-19 cases in
the Gateway Health District
have continued to surpass re-
cord levels set in November
2020.
The Gateway District
Health Department reported
a total of 575 new cases last,
' 74 more cases than reported
the previous week.
Here are the weekly case
totals for the Gateway Health
District, from July 9, 2021, to
September 12, 2021, showing
the dramatic rise in new case
numbers week-by—week in
the past three months:
1956 .957 9555 9.79 9.310 951 1 9:12 Tota!
9: 7}
Bath M“ :7 35 37 v.25 it 115
Eliiett r 9 us 1 x 3 a 5.7
hieni fee 7 I l 2 3 5 56
hiargan 55 I 5 33 '24 325 152
Kenyan 263 39 61 45 28 190
Tom-l 221. :07 1:19 we 90 5.74
Last week the Kentucky Gen- threat of COVID—19 began. We reported a total
of 9 positive stu-
eral Assembly passed legisla-
tion which did away the state-
wide mask mandate for public
schools and left the decision
making up to local school dis- F
tricts.
Bath County Superintendent
Steven Evans said in an email
communication that he was
awaiting guidance from both
Board of Education members
and from the Kentucky Depart-
ment of Education. “My per-
sonal goal is to keep as many
kids in school as possible. De-
pending on how the quarantine
rules apply, masking in some
form is definitely still on the
table,” Evans said. V
Prior to Gov. Andy Beshear’s
now-nullified public school
mask mandate in August, the
Bath County School District’s
policy was that masking was op
tional for students and staff.
Both Menifee County Supt.
Tim Spencer and Rowan Coun—
ty Supt. John Maxey both said
this week that masks are re-
quired in both districts.
Assistant Menifee County
Supt. Ashley Pelfrey issued the
followed statement:
“The health and safety of our
school community has been the
primary concern of the Menifee
_ County School District sincethe
have taken great precautions to
mitigate the spread of the virus,
while providing quality instruc-
tion to our students. With that
being said, the current mask re-
quirement in the Menifee Coun-
ty School District remains in ef- .
fect and will not be impacted by
the special session. The public
transportation mandate, which
includes school buses, still re-
mains. The continuance of the
existing requirements, which
has been in place since the be-
ginning of the school year, will
assist in eliminating'the need
for quarantine and will allow us
to continue to provide in-person
instruction to our students. We
want to assure our community
the Menifee County School Dis-
trict and our Board remain com-
mitted to prioritizing the health
and wellbeing of our stakehold-
ers and our community.”
The Bath County School Dis-
trict’s COVID—19 Dashboard
reported on Tuesday, Sept. 14,
that there was a total of 30 ac-
tive student cases and 7 active
staff cases, and there was a to
tal of 176 student quarantines,
with 78 of those due to school-
related exposures and 98 due to
non-school related exposures.
On September 10, the Me-
nifee County School District
dent cases and 2 positive staff
cases, with a total of 41 students
in quarantine.
As the newspaper goes to
the press this week, the Rowan
County School District did not
have an update on new cases or
quarantines in their district.
Vaccines rates in the Gate
way Health District showed sev-
eral dramatic increases. Bath
County continues to lead in
the number vaccinations, with
just over 51 percent the week,
followed by Rowan County at
nearly 50 percent.
Vaccination rates in Menifee
County jumped 4.5 percent this
week and brought the county
up to nearly 43 percent, while
Elliott County jumped nearly 4
percent as well.
Here are the vaccination
rates, including percent in-
crease since last week:
United States, 63.2 % (+ 0.7 %)
Kentucky, 59 % (+1 %)
Bath County, 51.49 % (+ 2.1 %)
‘ Elliott County, 32.01 % (+ 3.9
%)
Menifee County, 42.86 % (+
4.5 %)
Morgan County, 45.32 % (+
1.9 %)
Rowan County, 49.62 % (+ 2.1
%)
LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANNING COMMITTEE TO
MEET NEXT THURSDAY
A meeting of the Bath' County School District Local Plan-
ning Committee is scheduled for next Thursday, September 23,
2021, at 5:30 p.m. at the Board Annex Office.
Members will meet to discuss the current District Facility
Plan and changes needed for future renovations.
The public is invited to attend.
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