Trial for accused scammer begins

Jury selection began this morning in Warren Circuit Court for a Bowling Green man police accused of using his grandmother as a ruse for scamming people out of money.

Michael France, 36, 205 Weis Court, is being tried on a charge of second-degree burglary. He also is charged with theft by unlawful taking over $300 and for being a persistent felony offender, but the jury won’t be considering those matters.

France is accused of a December incident when he allegedly took $400 from a woman’s purse inside her home.

According to court and police records, France has a history of getting an average of $50 from well-intentioned people by telling a story of a broken-down car or car keys locked inside his vehicle. A trademark line usually involves a request for a ride to his “grandmother’s house” to ask for money for a tow truck or mechanic.

France has been charged more than 19 times with theft by deception and has pleaded guilty in the past. France also faces other charges, including first-degree robbery, in Warren County.

Medicare, Medicaid experts set forum

Officials for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services will be in Bowling Green on Friday to discuss Medicare drug plans.

The forum will be at 8:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn University Plaza Hotel. There also are forums in Louisville and Lexington that day.

The officials will discuss provisions of the drug coverage plan and answer seniors’ questions. Enrollment for the plans begins Nov. 15. The plans will cover many name brand and generic drugs that can be purchased from local pharmacies or by mail order, according to a news release from state Health and Family Services.

– For more information, call Debbie McCarty, Barren River Area Development Council on Aging Services, 781-2381.

Feds offer reward for stolen explosives

Federal agents are offering a $5,000 reward for information about the theft of 305 pounds of explosives from Edmonson County.

The explosives were in McConahy & Stucker Drilling Company’s storage facility near Ky. 259 and Ky. 70 for use for construction of a sewer line, according to Kevin Kelm, resident agent in charge for Bowling Green’s office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“We are talking a significant federal felony here,” Kelm said. “Explosives are so cheap, the only reason someone would have for taking them is for a criminal purpose or otherwise prohibited use.”

Kelm said the amount taken “is certainly a significant quantity and one that we are going to work to recover.”

The explosives were taken between July 29 and Aug. 17. Missing are 155 pounds of 1-1/4-by-8 inches Ready Prime Dynamite (red in color) and 150 pounds of 2-by-16 inches seismological gelatin dynamite (yellow in color), both manufactured by Austin Powder Company.

Anyone with information concerning the explosives theft should contact the Bowling Green ATF office at 781-7090 or ATF toll free at (888) 283-2662.

A few roads in the area still flooded

Some area roads remain under water after the remnants of Hurricane Katrina dumped precipitation on the region.

State roads that remain closed include:

-Ky. 655 (Segal Road) in Edmonson County from mile 2 to mile 3.

-Ky. 591 (Adairville Road) in Simpson County from mile 3 to mile 4.

-Ky. 1153 (Beechland Road) in Logan County from mile 4 to mile 5.

-Ky. 403 (Woodbury Road) in Butler County from mile 4 to mile 5.