Prestonsburg, Ky -A sign removal blitz is underway across all seven counties in Highway District 12, including Floyd, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher, Martin and Pike. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says any signs placed on state right-of-way will be taken down, including political, business, real estate and yard sale signs, as well as signs attached to highway signs, guardrails, fences and utility poles. Officials say illegal signs are unsafe and interfere with maintenance. Removed signs will be stored at the nearest state highway garage for two weeks before being discarded, and there is no guarantee they won’t be damaged.

 

Pike County, Ky – A Pike County man is jailed on stalking and indecent exposure charges after an incident involving a juvenile at a South Williamson restaurant. A warrant alleges that on May 1, 33-year-old Joseph Newcomb of New Camp Road followed a juvenile into the restaurant bathroom, where the child reported seeing him performing a sexual act, and that Newcomb then followed the juvenile around the business with “no legitimate purpose” until the child left. Newcomb was arrested when the warrant was served during a Dec. 3 traffic stop on Virginia Avenue in South Williamson and was lodged in the Pike County Detention Center on first-degree indecent exposure and second-degree stalking charges.

 

Whitesburg, Ky – The family of slain Letcher County District Judge Kevin Mullins is suing the sheriff charged in his death and three sheriff’s office employees.  The civil suit, filed September 18 in Letcher Circuit Court, names former Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, along with Jason Eckels, Lashawna Frazier and Christine Bolling. The lawsuit stems from the September 19, 2024, shooting inside Mullins’ courthouse chambers, where investigators say Stines shot and killed the judge. Stines is charged with murder in the case.

 

Pike County, Ky – A Pike County man charged with murder was back in court Thursday as attorneys updated a judge on the status of the case.  Thirty-one-year-old Brandon Blackburn is accused in the March 1 death of 45-year-old Brent Wooten in the Hellier community and was arrested in September after a grand jury indictment. Prosecutors say DNA and other evidence are still being processed, and during the informal pretrial conference deputies briefly removed Wooten’s brother after an exchange between the families, before the judge set another pretrial hearing for February.