Lexington Herald-Leader
December 9, 2004
U of L Foundation will disclose corporate, foundation donors
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville Foundation has voted unanimously
not to appeal a judge's ruling that it must disclose the names of 75 corporate
and foundation donors that the group said had requested anonymity.
The decision Wednesday follows the ruling Nov. 24 of Jefferson County Circuit
Judge Steve Mershon in a lawsuit filed by The Courier-Journal. Whether the organization
must disclose the names of individual donors is still pending.
The identities of corporate and foundation donors and the amounts of their
gifts could be released by the end of the week or early next week, lawyers in
the case said.
"While the foundation respectfully disagrees with Judge Mershon's ruling,
the foundation has concluded that its mission is not furthered by appealing
this ruling again," Burt Deutsch, a foundation director, said in a statement
on behalf of the group.
Jon Fleischaker, the newspaper's lawyer, praised the decision.
"I think it's time to stop spending money and get this over with, and
for the university to get back to doing what it's supposed to be doing instead
of fighting us," he said.
But U of L President James R. Ramsey, who also is president of the foundation,
said it made the decision even though it will be harder to raise money.
One company considering "a significant contribution" to U of L is
having second thoughts in light of the decision not to appeal, Ramsey said.
The newspaper sued the foundation in May 2001 after the group rejected its
request under the Kentucky Open Records Act for records related to U of L's
McConnell Center for Political Leadership.
In May, the Kentucky Supreme Court let stand a Court of Appeals panel's decision
that the foundation was a public agency subject to the records act and that
the foundation and university were "acting as one and the same."
The foundation receives and invests donations to the university.
The appeals court ruling left unresolved issues related to the privacy of individual,
corporate and foundation donors.
The appeals court told Mershon to reconsider a ruling he made in July 2002
that the foundation must disclose the names of corporate and foundation donors
and the amounts they gave. That resulted in Mershon's ruling last month that
the foundation must do so.
The U of L Foundation's decision Wednesday could lead to disclosure of the
names of some donors to the McConnell Center, the academic center named for
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
McConnell has helped raise at least $5 million for the center, but he and U
of L have refused to identify any donors, saying that is a decision left to
the donors. Some individual and corporate donors to the center have publicized
their gifts.
Kentucky Enquirer
December 9, 2004
Gateway case teaches the right lesson
Editorials
There are 28 students in the Licensed Practical Nursing program at Northern Kentucky's
Gateway Community and Technical College scheduled to take their nursing exit exams
today - a re-test required because Gateway was rightfully concerned about the
credibility of its program and its graduates.
Gateway chose to throw out the results of the original test, taken by the same
students last month, because of concerns that some of them might have cheated.
The exam, required by the National League of Nursing, caps a year and a half
of studies and is a required final step before students take their licensure
exams.
Gateway took this commendable step of self-policing after two students told
school officials that they suspected some of their classmates might have obtained
test answers in advance. Suspicions were heightened after school officials got
the results back from the testing organization Nov. 15 and discovered that several
students had perfect scores in one section of the test where the national average
was only 70 percent.
"They found out that what they had suspected was true: the norms (at Gateway)
were out of whack," said Gateway spokeswoman Mae Keszei.
The perfect scores aren't proof of cheating. Indeed, school officials said
that after investigating the matter they had no definitive proof, just suspicions.
But unwilling to have such a cloud hanging over the program, Gateway ordered
the re-test. It was the right thing to do. The suspicion that even one student
may have cheated would have tainted the results for the whole class. Who would
want to be treated by a nurse who cheated? What agency would want to hire a
nurse out of a program that allowed such a thing?
School officials said there was some grumbling among students about retaking
the test. Those who passed it honestly the first time should have nothing worry
about. Those who didn't should count themselves lucky and hit the books.
Messenger-Enquirer
December 9, 2004
Official says state needs to lure high-tech industries
An official with Gov. Ernie Fletcher's office told the Owensboro Rotary Club
on Wednesday that Kentucky needs to do more to attract high-technology industries
to the state.
Allyson Handley, secretary of Fletcher's Executive Cabinet, said the state
can create a more attractive environment for biotechnology firms and other knowledge-centered
industries by encouraging research at universities, investing in new businesses
and by offering incentives to small developing firms.
Handley, who served as president of colleges in Kentucky and California before
joining Fletcher's cabinet, said Kentucky lags other regions in developing new
knowledge-centered industries.
"Kentucky is very much playing catch-up," said Handley during the
meeting at Owensboro Country club. The state is still using economic development
methods that focus on attracting large manufacturing industries, she said.
"Our problem is ... our economic development model is based on past models,"
she said. For example, tax incentives are only offered to companies locating
in the state if the new business will employ 65 or more people. Many new technology-based
firms would employ far fewer than 65 workers, and would not qualify for tax
incentives, Handley said.
"We haven't been good at competing in the knowledge-based industries,"
Handley said. Such industries, "are going to be the wave of the future"
but often locate in adjacent states that offer better incentives.
The state also needs to encourage investment in new industries, and the entrepreneurial
spirit in young people, Handley said. "We have to start as a state down
in elementary school and middle school on how you make calculated risks, and
how you become an entrepreneur," she said.
In terms of investment in new industry, Handley said Kentuckians are "very
conservative."
Kentucky's experience in tobacco production could help draw biotechnology firms,
such as Owensboro's Large Scale Biology, to the state, she said.
Lexington Herald-Leader
Devember 8, 2004
Answering a silent calling
Although deaf, woman pursues her dream to be a nurse
So much about nursing depends on being able to hear -- the piercing beep of
a monitor, a cry for help or yelp of pain, an urgent order from a doctor.
So it's no wonder that a college friend of Tiffany Hannah, who has been deaf
since birth, doubted Hannah could pursue the profession.
"She said, 'You can't be a nurse,' and she was deaf, too," Hannah
recalled with disbelief.
But Hannah proved she was up for the challenge.
On Friday, Hannah will graduate from Central Kentucky Technical College, where
she has studied for a year and a half to become a licensed practical nurse.
She is the mother of a 4 year-old son who is not deaf but is fluent in sign
language.
Four days a week, Hannah has attended classes. On Wednesdays, she and her classmates
have hands-on training with patients at Samaritan Hospital.
Hannah is able to attend regular classes with the help of an interpreter, Tammy
Parks, who uses American Sign Language to translate lessons from instructors
and relays Hannah's comments to the teachers.
Finding company in the field
In 1992, Hannah was attending Gallaudet University, a liberal arts university
for deaf students in Washington, when she told a friend that she wanted to become
a nurse.
But later, instead of going to nursing school, Hannah moved to Kentucky and
took factory jobs.
"But my son changed my life," Hannah said. "I wanted him to
see me go to college and get a good job. I thought I might like to go into education,
but I evaluated my heart and discovered that I still had a passion for nursing."
Despite the discouragement from her friend years earlier, Hannah decided to
follow that passion.
After she graduates this week, she plans to get a part-time job as an LPN and
to continue her studies, at Lexington Community College, to become a registered
nurse.
During her training, Hannah was encouraged when she discovered that other deaf
people, through the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses,
or AMPHL, were pursuing their passion to provide health care as well.
She recently attended the association's conference in Dayton, Ohio. In addition
to meeting doctors and nurses from around the country, Hannah attended lectures
and gained information about adaptive equipment, such as stethoscopes with the
power to amplify sound for people who are hard of hearing.
"But those aren't for me -- I'm profoundly deaf," Hannah said, although
she hears well enough with her hearing aid to discern the "beep" of
a monitor. "And I'm good at lip reading."
Stacey Cordwell Carroll, a deaf nurse who is also the-AMPHL advocacy committee
chairperson, said at least 22 deaf nurses are part of the organization.
New medical equipment, like the stethoscopes and visual monitoring equipment,
and medical advances such as cochlear implants are making it possible for more
deaf people to enter the medical field, Carroll said.
Possibilities ahead
When Hannah meets patients, she says she puts them at ease by showing a positive
attitude and making eye contact.
"I tell them I'm deaf and that I have an interpreter and the three of
us are going to work together," she said. "They accept my appearance,
and I make them feel comfortable."
Hannah says that after graduation, the Americans With Disabilities Act will
ensure that she will continue to have the services of an interpreter.
Parks has been Hannah's interpreter throughout her nursing training. Parks
has a high level of certification with the National Association of the Deaf,
which allows her to interpret in a medical environment.
In interpreting her sign language, Parks voices inflection based on Hannah's
body language. She not only communicates the words Hannah says but also the
context in which she says them. Hannah hopes that Parks will continue to interpret
for her during her nursing training at Lexington Community College.
Anna Jones, one of Hannah's instructors, said that Hannah is a conscientious
and deliberate student and that she has encouraged Hannah to continue her nursing
education. Jones has made adjustments in her teaching style to accommodate Hannah's
disability.
"She sits in the front of the room, and I try to slow down when I talk,"
Jones said. "When I ask a question, I make sure that that she's received
the question (from her interpreter) before I take answers."
Hannah's classmates have been wonderful, Jones said.
"These people take care of each other," she said. "It's been
a good challenge to have her, and we'll miss her when she graduates."
As she continues in nursing, Hannah looks forward to being an advocate for
deaf patients or possibly working as a nurse at a school for the deaf, teaching
deaf children about health and health issues.
"I have persistence, possibilities, potential and patience," Hannah
said. "I don't want my deafness to block my way. This is who I am, and
I want to be a nurse.
The Daily Independent
December 8, 2004
Giving priority for Spriggs, foundation
Giving back to the community seems to be a No. 1 priority for Guy Spriggs
and the foundation he established.
Spriggs, former president of Eagle Distributing which has been in the Ashland
area for 70 years, established the Guy Spriggs Charitable Trust in 1996 as a
way to help those in this community.
Since then, the trust has donated more than $1 million to charities based in
the area.
The trust particularly focuses on charities dealing with children and education,
including Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Junior Achievement. Various public
schools and colleges have benefited from the trust, including Ashland Community
and Technical College, Shawnee State University, Ohio University Southern, the
Ohio State University and Marshall University.
In addition, the trust donated $30,000 to the Salvation Army Building Fund
as well as Community Hospice building project, the Highlands Museum & Discovery
Center and the King's Daughters Hospitality House.
Spriggs, an Ashland resident and Ironton native, was recently named as an outstanding
philanthropist by the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio for his continued work
in the Tri-State. The award was presented at a luncheon in November in Zanesville,
Ohio.
Spriggs is now on several boards, including the Ashland Alliance, the Ashland
Salvation Army and the Paramount Arts Center.
As for The Independent's Needy Families Fund, Spriggs continued the tradition
of his generous giving this year by donating $2,500.
In a letter to The Independent, Mary Witten, secretary to the Board of Trustees
of the Spriggs Family Foundation, said, "In recommending this gift, Mr.
Spriggs and his family expressed their support for the work the Needy Families
Fund is doing in this community. The gift will enable you to continue that valuable
work."
The Independent's Needy Families Fund has joined with local agencies to provide
for those in need during the holiday season. Those agencies are The Ashland
Citadel of the Salvation Army, the Ashland Ministerial Association, CAReS, Helping
Hands in Greenup County and Project Merry Christmas in Carter County.
Through the generosity of our readers, The Independent's Needy Families fund
has provided close to $600,000 to the holiday food and toy programs for those
agencies.
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