Second Amendment advocate returns to ask Bardstown council for update
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Shelby County resident Stephen McBride attended Tuesday night's Bardstown City Council meeting to see if any action had been taken since he spoke to the council earlier this month. McBride said several current city ordinances appear to be in conflict with state law in regard to firearms, including the city's ban on concealed weapons on open areas of land owned by the city. Click photo to enlarge.
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, 9:15 p.m. — Shelby County resident Stephen McBride returned to Tuesday’s Bardstown City Council meeting to follow-up on his request that the city examine gun control ordinances now in effect that he believes are in violation of state law.
McBride spoke before the council at the Oct. 11 session citing his belief that the city has several ordinances that are in conflict with state law regarding gun possession, and are ultimately unenforceable.
Speaking up just as the council meeting was about to end, McBride asked the mayor if the public comment portion at the beginning of the meeting had been skipped over; Mayor Bill Sheckles gave McBride the opportunity to speak.
“Mr. Mayor, I was here two weeks ago and spoke on some issues, and I was curious if the city has taken any action on any of that stuff, and if not, if they intend to do something.”
“We haven’t done anything with it yet,” Sheckles replied.
McBride was a guest Tuesday morning on 1320 WBRT’s “Brooks & Company” program, where he explained that several of Bardstown’s city ordinances are at odds with existing state law. He has been talking to city officials for more than 18 months and has yet to find them inclined to act on the information he’s given them, he said.
When asked by the media if the ordinances McBride mentioned had been reviewed to see if they are in conflict with state law, City Attorney Tom Donan said only that “Mr. McBride’s information was delivered to me by Chief McCubbin a day or two later, and I have not finished looking at that that.”
NEW DOLLAR GENERAL OK’D. The council unanimously approved the Design Review Board’s recommendation on a new Dollar General Store, which will be built on Bloomfield Road. The 10,640 sq. ft building will be located on the east side of Bloomfield Road across the road from Keaney’s Rental and A-1 Travel.
Bardstown City Electrical Engineer Jeff Mills updates the council on the bid for the work to extend the city's cable TV system to Chaplin. Click to enlarge.
The council also approved second reading on the annexation of the new funeral home to be built on Templin Avenue by Field Houghlin and Susan Clark. HC Holdings LLC submitted an agreement in September to not oppose annexation in exchange for access to city utilities. The annexation includes other land in the area not owned by Houghlin and Clark, but will also ultimately be served by city utilities, including cable TV, water, sewer and garbage.
CHAPLIN CABLE TV CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT. The council approved unanimously the bid from Shepherd Communications of $74,461 to extend city cable to the city of Chaplin. According to Jeff Mills, the move could bring an additional 250 customers or more to the city’s cable TV system. Councilman Fred Hagan asked about the feasibility of extending the service to Chaplin, to which Mills said that there were an average of 32 homes per mile, which is a sufficient population density to make the service pay for itself.
In other business, the council:
- Approved the recommendations of the historical Review board;
- Approved a request from Town & Country Bank for the route of the Dec 1, 2011 Christmas Parade;
- Approved the minutes to the Oct. 11, 2011, meeting;
- Received a draft report on a raw water study.
The council’s next meeting will be a working session scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1 at the council chambers in the City Hall Annex building.
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