Welcome
     Front Page
     Subscription Info
     Letter To The Editor
     Local Links
     Question of the Week
     Contact Us

Sheriff wants lower speed limit on Kiddville Road

6/14/2019

By Tom Marshall
Senior Advocate writer

Montgomery County Sheriff David Charles is seeking the Fiscal Court’s assistance in an effort to get the speed limit lowered on Kiddville Road.
Charles went before the Fiscal Court at a workshop June 4 to ask for a resolution in support of lowering the speed limit on the road from 55 miles per hour to 35.

Charles said the resolution would then be part of a petition to the state Dept. of Transportation requesting the change.

The sheriff said there have been a number of accidents along the road recently, most often for driving too fast for road conditions.

The Fiscal Court is expected to discuss the proposal at a future meeting.
Charles said the effort is part of a Highway Safety Program designed to reduce the number of injury and fatal accidents in Montgomery County.
Charles noted at the meeting that the county is top 25 in the state for serious bodily injury accidents.

The sheriff has also targeted several other areas of the county for increased traffic enforcement, where the speed limit is 55 and too dangerous for normal traffic, he said.

Charles mentioned U.S. 460, the Bypass, Levee Road and Hwy. 599 as problem areas in need of attention. He said he also wants speed limit signs reinstalled along Old Owingsville Road, where the speed limit is 35 mph.

The sheriff’s office now has radar units that will be able to assist in enforcement, he said.

Charles said the program is about saving lives.
“We want to address the problem areas, it’s not just about writing tickets,” he reassured commissioners.
In other action, commissioners:

• Heard a recommendation from Judge-Executive Wally Johnson to use discretionary funds to do resurfacing work on portions of Old Nest Egg, Oldham, Old Owingsville, Harpers Ridge, Prewitt-Grassy and Howell-Drennen roads.

Commissioner Billy Ray Fawns also suggested new road paint be completed on Osborne Road in the area of Easy Walker Park.
Fawns said he was making the suggestion out of safety concerns for the people who use the park, many of them from out of town for tournaments and other events.

Night is an especially dangerous time for park traffic if you are not familiar with the area, he said.

• Heard from Shannon Denniston, who is developing a six-plex on Lorene Circle.

Denniston asked for the county’s assistance in abating water runoff from the area of the complex, which he says would be at risk of flooding without action.

County officials said they have never had flooding issues in the area prior to his development and placed the responsibility for abatement on him.
They suggested an engineer be hired at his cost to explore the best solution.

Denniston responded that he doesn’t feel he should have to hire an engineer and there should be an easier solution to solving the problem.
Assistant County Attorney Nik Fegenbush warned the Fiscal Court that it would be taking on unnecessary liability if it were to try and abate the problem and create others for nearby residents.

Commissioners agreed to have Fegenbush and County Attorney Kevin Cockrell discuss the problem.

The Fiscal Court went into closed session to discuss a legal matter, but no action was taken.

• Agreed to pay half the cost of housing an inmate who originally came into the Montgomery County Regional Jail on traffic charges from Menifee County.

The inmate was housed for more than four months (he also had a Montgomery County warrant) at a cost of $6,510.
Menifee County Judge-Executive Rick Stiltner asked if the Fiscal Court would agree to pay half the cost since he was primarily held on a Montgomery warrant.

Johnson agreed to credit Menifee County’s next jail bill for the change.
The Fiscal Court will meet again in regular session 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, in the fiscal courtroom at the Courthouse. It will be proceeded by a workshop at 10 a.m. Meetings are open to the public.