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Grand jury returns indictments in child abuse case

Jessica Paine
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Grand jury returns indictments in child abuse case

MURRAY – As expected, the Calloway County grand jury indicted a Murray couple Friday on murder and first-degree criminal abuse charges in the horrifying death of a toddler last month.

On Oct. 23, Chyanne Niemeyer, 24, and Nathaniel Gibson, 20, brought Niemeyer’s 17-month-old daughter to the emergency room at Murray-Calloway County Hospital. She had suffered severe burns on the majority of her body and was unresponsive. Considering the injuries suspicious, hospital staff notified the Murray Police Department. Shortly after MPD Detective Justin Swope arrived, the girl succumbed to her injuries. Niemeyer and Gibson were arrested later that evening and charged with murder and first-degree criminal abuse.

The couple pleaded not guilty at their respective arraignments in Calloway District Court the following day, and Judge Randall Hutchens set a $500,000 cash bond for each defendant. On Nov. 1, both waived their rights to a preliminary hearing, advancing their cases to the grand jury. Yesterday, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office presented its case, and the grand jury returned indictments reaffirming the initial charges.

According to the uniform citation, Niemeyer and Gibson told Swope that the burns resulted from “scalding” hot bathwater. Both claimed they attempted to get the toddler out of the water but could not because of the temperature, but Swope noted in his report that neither Niemeyer nor Gibson had any redness on their hands or arms.

When it became evident to Niemeyer that her daughter’s skin was being profoundly damaged, she removed the girl from the tub and treated her wounds by applying BENGAY, which is an ointment designed to provide relief for muscle and joint pain, backaches and minor arthritis pain that, according to package instructions, should not be applied to damaged skin. Swope’s report also noted “strong medicine odor” coming from the child.

The couple told Swope they discussed whether the injuries warranted medical treatment but decided to wait and see how the child fared. They put her down for a nap, and when Gibson checked on her one-and-a-half to two hours later, she was unresponsive. At that point, nearly six hours after the injuries occurred, Niemeyer and Gibson took the toddler to the emergency room.

In addition to the burns, Swope observed several bruises on the girl’s buttocks, lower back, forehead and face. When asked about the bruises, Niemeyer allegedly admitted to “snapping” and striking her daughter in the bruised areas when the child would scratch or bite.

Per the indictments, the grand jury based the criminal abuse charges on incidents going back to Oct. 9. The documents give few details but both state the respective defendants “intentionally abused (the child) and thereby caused cruel confinement or cruel punishment.”

When asked to elaborate on the events that occurred over the two weeks leading up to the girl’s death during a brief interview Friday, Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Foust said Oct. 9 is, “a place where we believe it will be shown that criminal abuse started.”

On Nov. 7, a hearing was held in Niemeyer’s case on two motions filed by her attorney Cheri Riedel, directing attorney for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy Murray Trial Office, regarding evidence in the case, both what would be presented to the grand jury as well as what had been collected by MPD in its investigation.

In a request to collect and preserve additional evidence, Riedel argued there was no indication in the state’s incident-based reporting system that MPD inspected or otherwise tested the water heater or the faucet in the apartment where the incident occurred and noted that the proper functioning of those devices at the time of the incident “bears on the culpability of the defendants.” By not collecting the water heater and faucet, the property owner is free to repair, alter or replace them, thereby destroying potentially exculpatory evidence.

The second motion was a request to present evidence to the grand jury, including documentation of unsafe conditions and code violations in Niemeyer’s apartment as well as a 2011 psychological evaluation detailing Niemeyer’s “extremely low intellectual and adaptive functioning.” It further requested that the jury be informed of its subpoena power as well as the legal definitions of “the full range of possible lesser offenses.”

At the time of filing said motions, the case had already advanced from district court to the grand jury, but without an indictment, the case was not yet under the purview of the circuit court. As such, Calloway Circuit Judge Andrea Moore advised the parties that she did not believe she had jurisdiction over the case and, therefore, could not rule on the motions.

While there was no resolution regarding the motion to preserve evidence, Foust advised the court that his office would honor the defense’s request to present evidence to the grand jury.

Riedel submitted the defense’s evidence Thursday; however, because defense attorneys cannot participate in grand jury proceedings, she will not know whether it was considered by the grand jury until the discovery phase, which is the formal process through which the parties exchange information regarding witnesses and evidence that could be presented at trial. At that point, defense attorneys will have access to video footage of the grand jury proceedings. In a text Friday afternoon, Reidel said she is “anxious to see the discovery and continue our investigation.”

Niemeyer and Gibson will be arraigned in Calloway Circuit Court at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 4.

Individuals charged with crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

CCHD asks, ‘How would you define a healthy community?’

Jessica Paine
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CCHD asks, ‘How would you define a healthy community?’

MURRAY – For the next eight weeks, residents of Calloway County have a unique opportunity to be a part of building a healthier community. What health issues are important to you? What are the biggest health-related challenges currently facing our community? The Calloway County Health Department wants to know what you think. The request is simple – complete a short survey – but the information gleaned will be used to shape policies and programming to improve the overall health of the greater Calloway County community over the next four years. 

CCHD released its 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment last week. People who either live or work in Calloway County have until Jan. 5 to complete the survey, which can be accessed digitally here, by visiting CCHD’s website (callowayhealth.org), or scanning the QR code provided below. Hard copies are available at the health department, 602 Memory Lane, or the survey can be completed over the phone by calling 270-753-3381.   

“We’re trying to get it out in the most ways possible so we can get as much information as we possibly can from our community because that’s the best way for us to get data,” said CCHD Public Health Director Jamie Hughes, who advised his goal is to have a 5% response rate.

The crux of public health is to identify and address problems that impact health on a population level, and as such, local health departments conduct community health needs assessments to systematically evaluate a community’s overall health status. Generally, surveys are used to collect information but also serve as a way to solicit input from community members about any public health concerns in the community that are not being adequately addressed. 

Developing surveys that capture meaningful data is not as straightforward as it may seem. CCHD staff began working on the 2024 assessment this summer. They evaluated the two most recent assessments, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each, and looked at assessments from other local health departments to develop a draft. 

CCHD contacted more than 80 potential community partners to solicit their involvement in the process of honing the draft to ensure the assessment tracks metrics that will articulate the scope and scale of the community’s public health concerns. Those partners included local government entities, healthcare providers, mental health providers and school districts as well as businesses and nonprofits that offer services to address specific populations, such as the elderly, the unhoused, children/families and those with substance use disorders. Ultimately, representatives from seven local organizations – Murray-Calloway County Hospital, Calloway County School District, Murray Independent School District, Calloway County Emergency Management, Calloway County Extension Service, Murray Woman’s Club and The Murray Sentinel – participated in that process. 

Hughes called the development of the 2024 community health needs assessment a “team effort,” noting CCHD staff did their best to incorporate the ideas and insights garnered from meetings with partner organizations into the final assessment.  

After identifying the community’s needs and determining what resources are already in place to address them, public health professionals analyze the results and, often in conjunction with partner organizations, determine funding streams and develop programs to fill in the gaps in services. In Kentucky, local health departments conduct needs assessments every four years.

CCHD’s 2016 assessment included 14 questions and a response rate of 4%. Guidance from the Kentucky Department for Public Health suggests rates in the 5-30% range are good response rates. In 2020, there were only nine questions, but the response rate was 1.5%. In addition to having a very low number of responses, the 2020 assessment included several open-response questions, which offer subjective data that can be difficult to quantitatively analyze. 

“The last assessment was in the heart of COVID,” Hughes said. “I don’t know because I wasn’t here at the time, but it was almost like they said, ‘We need to get this done. We don’t have the time or the resources or the staff to get this done, so let’s push it out to get it done.’ The survey was shorter, but it provided a lot of places for comments, which I think wound up hindering us more than it helped us.” 

The current assessment consists of 32 multiple-choice-style questions, one open-response question – “How would you define a healthy community?” – and a space for comments, with the latter two limited to 300 characters. (This long-winded reporter completed the survey in less than 10 minutes, and most of that time was spent whittling the open responses down to 300 characters.)

One goal for the 2024 assessment was to collect more detailed demographic information. In 2020, respondents were only asked to provide age and household income, whereas the new survey asks about, among other things, gender, race, household size, relationship status and education level as well as public health concerns, like smoking status and having access to running water. 

Another addition to the new assessment is a question about the area of the county where respondents live – Almo, Dexter, Hazel, Kirksey, Lynn Grove, Murray, New Concord or Shiloh. Hughes explained that this information will allow CCHD to pull applicable census data for those areas to better understand the assessment results. 

“There’s not a ton we can use, but we can use some of the census data and apply it to what we’re seeing in our community,” he said. Hughes noted that the median income in one of Calloway’s census tracts is $34,000, whereas in another tract it is $61,000. He also pointed out there are significant disparities across the county in terms of those with and without health insurance.

“It also can help us,” he explained, noting that it is important to not waste the limited funding available by deploying interventions in areas where they may not be needed. “’What is it we might be able to do differently on one side of the county than we do on the other?’ That’s the idea, and that’s kind of how we look at the assessment in general – each county is different than the state, and our county has its own culture, depending on where you are.” 

Niemeyer’s counsel requests additional evidence be collected

Jessica Paine
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Niemeyer’s counsel requests additional evidence be collected

MURRAY – With the presentation of her case to the grand jury 10 days away, Chyanne Niemeyer’s attorney appeared before Calloway Circuit Judge Andrea Moore today, requesting the judge to direct the Murray Police Department to collect and preserve what is believed to be relevant evidence in addition to requesting the defense be able to present evidence to the grand jury.

Niemeyer, 24, of Murray, was charged with murder and first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12 years of age on Oct. 23, after she and her fiancé, Nathaniel Gibson, 20, who faces similar charges, brought her unresponsive 17-month-old daughter to the Murray-Calloway County Hospital Emergency Room, where staff contacted the MPD after deeming the child’s extreme burn injuries suspicious. Both Niemeyer and Gibson told authorities the child suffered the burns while taking a bath.

In her motion to collect and preserve evidence, Cheri Riedel, directing attorney for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy’s Murray Trial Office, specifically requests that the water heater and bathtub faucet from Niemeyer’s apartment be collected and preserved. She argues that there is no evidence in the Kentucky Incident Based Reporting System (KYIBRS) report from the investigation that the police department inspected or tested “in any way” either the water heater or the faucet.

“Whether or not the water heater and faucet were operating correctly and safely bears on the culpability of the defendants,” the motion states. “If the water heater and/or faucet were dangerous and defective at the time the burns occurred, that would be exculpatory for Ms. Niemeyer. … If the water heater and faucet are not collected, and are repaired, altered, or replaced, the evidence of their condition will be forever destroyed, causing irreversible prejudice to Ms. Niemeyer.”

Riedel further argues that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that due process rights of a criminal defendant can be violated by “’failure to preserve potentially useful evidence’ when bad faith on the part of the police is demonstrated.”

By way of another filing, Riedel requested to present evidence to the grand jury on Nov. 16, the day before the Commonwealth is scheduled to present its case. Specifically, the defense requested the grand jury “be given the opportunity to review provided documents related to the unsafe conditions and code violations regarding the apartment the defendant was residing in,” and that it be shown a psychological evaluation of Niemeyer’s intellectual abilities conducted in November 2011 that details “her extremely low intellectual and adaptive functioning.”

Riedel also requested the grand jury “be informed that they can request to subpoena the inspectors or other witnesses mentioned in the information provided” and further “be advised about the full range of possible lesser offenses” along with their legal definitions.

Ultimately, despite the case being on the docket, there was no hearing today on either request. The issue at hand is one of jurisdiction. Niemeyer waived her right to a preliminary hearing before Calloway District Judge Randall Hutchens on Nov. 1, her case advanced to the grand jury; and without an indictment from the grand jury, the case does not yet fall under the jurisdiction of the Calloway Circuit Court. 

“At this point, I don’t believe that I have jurisdiction to hear the defense’s request in regard to (directing) the Murray Police Department to collect and preserve relevant evidence,” Moore explained. “So, at this time, without (an indictment), I cannot make a ruling or hear the evidence in regard to this motion.”

Although there was no ruling on the request to present evidence either, Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Foust advised the court that his office will comply with the defendant’s request to present evidence to the grand jury.

“What that means is that we will follow the criminal rule that requires us to advise a grand jury that a defendant desires to present evidence to the grand jury,” Foust later clarified via text. “Any other specifics will be within the province of the grand jury. But as a practical matter, much of (Riedel’s) requests are things we automatically do.”

“There is far more to the story,” Riedel said in a text after the hearing, “and I hope that the public remembers that folks charged with crimes are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Niemeyer and Gibson cases advance to grand jury

Jessica Paine
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Niemeyer and Gibson cases advance to grand jury

MURRAY – The law enforcement presence was high in the Calloway County Judicial Building today as the Murray couple charged with murder and criminal child abuse in the grisly death of a 17-month-old last week were back in Calloway District Court for preliminary hearings. 

Chyanne Niemeyer and her fiancé Nathaniel Gibson were arrested last Monday after the couple brought Niemeyer’s daughter to the Murray-Calloway County Hospital Emergency Room. The child had severe burn injuries covering the majority of her body and was unresponsive. Deeming the injuries suspicious, ER staff contacted the Murray Police Department. Officer Justin Swope responded to the call. Shortly after he arrived, the child was pronounced dead.   

Last Tuesday, Niemeyer and Gibson pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Calloway District Judge Randall Hutchens set a $500,000 cash bond for each defendant. Today, they both waived their rights to preliminary hearings. Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Foust and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney James Burkeen will present their cases to the grand jury on Friday, Nov. 17. 

“They’ll return indictments, then Dec. 4, will be the arraignment in circuit court on the charges against them,” Foust said. “Is it possible that the charges could vary a little bit? It’s possible but not likely. We anticipate that they’ll return murder indictments and first-degree criminal abuse.

“The Murray Police Department, they’re continuing their investigation; basically, what it boils down to is we want to get to truth of what happened. It’s a horrible situation. I can’t comment any more than that other than to say that they’re continuing their investigation, and we intend to get justice – however that happens – for that deceased 17-month-old.” 

Today’s proceedings were not typical in that often several inmates are brought into the courtroom at a time for their hearings, but Niemeyer and Gibson were brought before the judge individually, each escorted by a five-person detail. In addition, more than a dozen deputies and police officers were present in the courtroom. 

Foust confirmed that the noticeable increase in law enforcement personnel was directly related to the cases in question. 

“Because they’re all working it, and they’re invested in it,” he said. “Normally, James (Burkeen) handles most of the cases here (in Calloway County) … (but this case) is going to take both of us and my other assistant Rob Mattingly because we’re gonna be all hands on (deck) – obviously, four eyes are always better than two. So, the police presence – they’re looking for justice because we’re all on the same page.” 

When asked if he had ever seen a child abuse case on this scale, Foust responded, “That’s why the investigation is going to continue, to try to make sense out of all of this because it doesn’t make sense. It’s a horrific situation. We recognize that accused people are innocent until proven guilty… something bad happened, something that should never have happened, happened.” 

Acknowledging that, at this point, he does not know what defenses the defendants will assert, he advised there may be “forks in the road that may take us in some different directions in terms of what we would anticipate a trial will bring in terms of evidence.” 

Foust noted multiple times that MPD is still investigating the cases and advised that his office is working closely with them. “We simply want the truth, and we want the public to know the truth,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.” 

He further advised that he wants to be able to try the case before a jury in Calloway County. 

“We don’t want people to draw any conclusions until we can seat 12 (jurors), then they’re welcome to draw a conclusion,” Foust said. “We do anticipate that, in this case, we will go to trial. There’s always a possibility that you could settle, but I anticipate that this will be a case that 12 people will need to decide.

“It’s going to be difficult all the way around and it is my hope that we’ll be able to get it resolved sooner as opposed to later. We’re going to be several months in really getting everything together in terms of evidence because we’re going to leave no stones unturned. … At the end of the day, I think, the problem is – what is justice? I mean, in this case, it’s going to be punishment for those who have inflicted this, but we have a 17-month-old deceased… you can’t replace that.” 

Individuals who are charged with crimes are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. 

Murray couple pleads not guilty to murder in toddler death

Jessica Paine
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Murray couple pleads not guilty to murder in toddler death

Publisher’s note: The information contained in this story may be upsetting to some individuals.  

MURRAY – Gruesome details of the alleged murder of a 17-month-old girl came to light today following the arraignment of the child’s mother and her fiancé in Calloway District Court. 

Judge Randall Hutchens set $500,000 cash bonds for Chyanne Niemeyer, 24, and Nathaniel Gibson, 20, after they pleaded not guilty this morning to charges of murder and first-degree criminal abuse of a child aged 12 years or younger. The Murray couple was arrested Monday following an investigation by the Murray Police Department that was prompted by a call from staff in the Murray-Calloway County Hospital Emergency Department Monday evening about a child with suspicious injuries. 

The following information was obtained from the uniform citation issued in connection with this alleged crime. Readers should be aware that some may find the information below disturbing.

When the officer arrived at the emergency room shortly after 5 p.m., staff were still attempting to resuscitate the toddler but ceased life-saving measures shortly thereafter. The officer observed the child’s arms, stomach, back, genitals and legs were “bright red and missing skin.”

The injuries for which the child was taken to the hospital were not the only evidence of abuse observed. The child had “visible bruising” on her lower back and buttocks. She also had bruises on her forehead, cheek and lower lip. When questioned about the bruises, Niemeyer admitted to “snapping” when the child would scratch or bite and said that she had smacked her daughter in the areas where she was bruised.

According to Niemeyer’s account of the preceding events on Monday, she gave her daughter a bath around 11 a.m. While in the bath, the child started screaming and crying. Niemeyer noticed the water was steaming and attempted to remove the toddler from the water but could not because the water “scalded” her. When she saw the child’s skin “coming off of her and into the water,” Niemeyer removed the child, wrapped her in a towel and took her to the bedroom “where she peeled the rest of her skin off her body,” applied Bengay ointment to affected areas and got her dressed. 

Although Niemeyer noted her daughter was having difficulty breathing, she left the child with Gibson in the living room while she went to make lunch. After drinking two bottles of milk, the couple put the toddler down for a nap. When Gibson checked on her one and a half to two hours later, he found her unresponsive. At that point, they took the girl to the emergency room. 

When asked why she did not seek medical treatment sooner, Niemeyer said she and Gibson discussed it and thought the child was OK and that her injuries did not warrant medical intervention. During his questioning, Gibson noted he completed first aid training and was currently studying to be a nurse, so he “could take care of the baby and didn’t need to take her to the doctor.”   

Gibson’s account was consistent with Niemeyer’s, but he provided a few additional details. As he recalled, the child was in the bathtub for 10-12 minutes and cried the entire time. He also observed the steaming water and the child’s skin peeling off but stated the water was too hot to retrieve her, “so he retrieved a screwdriver to unstop the drain rather than attempting to remove the baby from the water.” 

Both Niemeyer and Gibson were examined, but no redness or burns were found to support their claims of attempting to remove the child from the water.

“Both parents stated the right thing to do would have been take her to the doctor for treatment, and both admitted they decided not to,” the citation states. “The victim then had ‘BenGay’ ointment applied to the majority of her body, adding to the pain and suffering she was already experiencing. The parents chose not to provide proper care and treatment of these extreme injuries, refused to take the child to a doctor, failed to notify any emergency services to the injuries, and allowed the victim to suffer for nearly six hours after her initial injuries. … The investigation determined (Niemeyer and Gibson’s) actions and decisions to neglect the injuries and refuse medical care to the juvenile caused (prolonged) torture and death of the victim.”

The couple is due back in court for preliminary hearings on Wednesday, Nov. 1. 

Individuals who are charged with crimes are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said the events occurred on Sunday. We regret the error.

How Medicare Advantage plans differ from traditional Medicare

Jessica Paine
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How Medicare Advantage plans differ from traditional Medicare

MURRAY – Open enrollment for Medicare is in full swing. Between now and December 7, Americans aged 65 and older are tasked with deciding whether their healthcare needs will be best met under traditional Medicare or through a Medicare Advantage plan.  

Medicare is an overwhelmingly complicated system. To understand the difference between the options available, it is important to know the basics of traditional Medicare. For the most part, people become eligible when they turn 65 years old. Traditional Medicare is broken down into two “parts” – one covering inpatient services (Part A) and another covering outpatient services (Part B). Traditional Medicare is almost universally accepted by providers across the country. It also does not require prior authorizations for medically necessary services. 

Those who have worked at least 40 quarters (10 years) have paid into the system through payroll taxes and do not pay a premium for Part A coverage; notably, anyone not meeting the employment threshold is required to pay a premium. 

Under Part A, patients pay a deductible per benefit period, which starts upon admission to a hospital or skilled nursing facility and ends 60 days after discharge. In 2024, the deductible is $1,632 (up from $1,600 last year). The deductible is not annual; it is possible to have more than one benefit period in a calendar year, which means a patient could have to pay it multiple times. Patients are responsible for 20% of charges after the deductible is met, and there is no cap on out-of-pocket expenses.

Seniors may enroll in Part B upon turning 65 or, if they are still working at that time, when they retire. In 2024, the monthly Part B premium will be $174.70 (up from $164.90 last year), and the annual deductible will be $240 (up from $226). Part B premiums are automatically withdrawn from social security benefits. Assistance with paying premiums is available to low-income households, while those with annual incomes above $103,000 ($206,000 if filing a joint tax return) pay higher premiums. 

As with Part A, patients are responsible for 20% of charges after meeting the deductible, and there is no cap on out-of-pocket expenses. Dental, vision and hearing benefits are not available. Part B does not include prescription drug coverage; beneficiaries are required to enroll in a separate prescription drug plan (Part D) of their choice. Monthly premiums for those can range from $5-$100, depending on an individual’s routine prescription medications. 

That is the first option. Paying the monthly Part B premium (and the Part A premium, if required) and purchasing a Part D plan is all that is required to avoid penalties. The problem with that option is that there are no out-of-pocket maximums with traditional Medicare, which leaves seniors vulnerable to financial ruin should they incur catastrophically high medical bills. 

The second, and arguably the best, option is to purchase a Medicare supplement policy, commonly known as “Medigap” plans. Monthly premiums start at $94 for females and $117 for males, but they are subject to rate annual increases. Beneficiaries are still required to pay the Part B premium, and most will have to pay the Part B deductible; but the supplement covers Part A deductibles and the patient’s portion of charges on services (20%). Medigap policies do not cover dental, vision or hearing services, and seniors must purchase an additional prescription drug policy to be compliant with Part D requirements. Because these policies supplement traditional Medicare benefits, beneficiaries can receive services anywhere Medicare is accepted. 

The third option is to forego traditional Medicare benefits and enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, also known as Part C. These plans are alternatives to traditional Medicare that are serviced by private insurance companies. While the plans provide out-of-pocket maximums, they also restrict patients by using provider networks and requiring prior authorizations for many services.

Beneficiaries are still responsible for paying the Part B premium in addition to any premium for the Medicare Advantage plan, but most plans boast low monthly premiums, ranging from $0-$30. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that, in 2023, 73% of those enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage paid no other premiums outside of the Part B premium.   

Patients have copays on office visits and services, but most plans do not have deductibles. Often, prescription drug coverage (Part D) is packaged into Medicare Advantage plans, and often do not have deductibles on those either. Typically, plans include extra benefits not covered by traditional Medicare, such as dental, vision and hearing coverage.  

A recent search on medicare.gov for Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage included that are available to Calloway County residents in the 42071 zip code yielded 26 results. Out of those, there are 10 health maintenance organization (HMO) plans, which do not provide out-of-network coverage, and 16 preferred provider organization (PPO) plans, which allow out-of-network claims at higher costs to patients.

Eight of the 10 HMO plans have $0 premiums, and six plans do not have deductibles. Wellcare and AARP (UnitedHealthcare) each offer four HMO plans, Humana and Anthem each have one. The out-of-pocket maximums on those plans range from $4,500-$6,700, with the average being $4,860.

Looking at the PPO plans, 10 are offered by Humana; Anthem offers four, and UnitedHealthCare and Wellcare each offer one. Of the 16, seven have no premiums, five of which do not have deductibles either. Of those without premiums, the average out-of-pocket maximum for in-network services is $6,578, ranging from $5,400-$8,850; out-of-network out-of-pocket maximums range from $8,950 to $13,300, with the average being $10,778. Of the nine that do assess premiums, the average in-network out-of-pocket maximum is $6,077, ranging from $2,250-$8,850; for out-of-network services, out-of-pocket maximums range from $2,250-$13,300 and average $9,361.

Comparing all 26 plans, 85% have no copay for primary care visits, and copays for specialists range from $30-$45. Costs for services, such as lab work, x-rays or emergency room visits, can vary greatly. They all offer vision, dental, hearing, fitness, worldwide emergency and telehealth benefits; most, but not all, offer over-the-counter prescription benefits and many provide transportation. 

On paper, Medicare Advantage plans may seem like the obvious choice for seniors as they provide out-of-pocket maximums along with extra benefits for low- to no-cost premiums. In reality, system-wide fraudulent practices, which have been well-documented, increase costs for patients and providers. 

While Medicare Advantage plans are supposed to abide by the same reimbursement guidelines for services as traditional Medicare, insurers have come under intense scrutiny in recent years for denying prior authorizations as well as claims for medically necessary care that would have been paid by traditional Medicare. This is a problem for those on Medicare Advantage because, when claims are denied by the insurance company, patients are still responsible for medical bills incurred; in other words, patients are still responsible for paying the bills, but those payments do not count toward out-of-pocket maximums. 

Looking locally, Murray-Calloway County Hospital CFO John Bradford said in an interview last year that, in fiscal year 2022, if all the patients the hospital treated on Medicare Advantage plans had been insured through traditional Medicare, the hospital would have earned an additional $5 million. Those kinds of losses are a significant concern to hospitals, as evidenced by the number of facilities and systems that are cancelling contracts nationwide. 

Last week, Louisville Public Media reported that Baptist Health is currently trying to renegotiate contracts with UnitedHealthCare and Wellcare Medicare Advantage plans. If a deal cannot be reached before the current contracts expire on Dec. 31, the hospital system and its affiliated clinics will go out-of-network for those plans. 

Seniors can explore their options for both health and drug coverage on their own by visiting the website medicare.gov. Insurance agents can also provide guidance and consultations are free. Agents have access to plan details, including provider networks, and can help seniors make decisions based on their specific needs.  

A different response in Elm Grove: ‘Am I going to be able to love on those kids?’

Jessica Paine
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A different response in Elm Grove: ‘Am I going to be able to love on those kids?’

MURRAY – StepStone Family and Youth Services is on a quest to relocate a group home for boys it currently operates on Back Street; however, between zoning restrictions and pushback from the community, the company has not been successful in previous attempts to move the home to another location in town. Now, StepStone has set its sights on a property six miles outside of the city limits in Elm Grove. Monday night, the company held a public meeting at the Miller Courthouse Annex on the potential relocation. 

StepStone specializes in providing services to youth in the foster care system, including qualified residential treatment programs (QRTPs). The for-profit company operates group homes for 10- to 17-year-olds nationwide; two of those homes, which can each house up to eight children, are located in Murray – a boys home on Back Street and a girls home on Robertson Road South.  

In July, StepStone held a similar meeting to discuss relocating the Back Street home to a property in the Southwest Villa subdivision on Enix Drive. Chris Hempfling, vice president of service excellence and stakeholder relations for Louisville-based BrightSpring Health Services, StepStone’s parent company, said that, because of the comments made during that meeting, the company did not feel that the children would be in a “safe, loving and supportive community” at that location.  

Around 40 residents from the Elm Grove and Faxon communities attended the meeting Monday night. Undoubtedly, the atmosphere was tense, and emotions were high; but overall, this meeting did not seem as contentious as the previous one. Several only voiced opposition to the move; however, in stark contrast to July, many acknowledged their reservations while also expressing empathy toward the plight of the children at the heart of the discussion and wanted to know more about how StepStone operates its group homes. 

While Hempfling led the meeting, Jeff Hardin, StepStone’s regional director over Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee, answered most of the questions. 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for the last one,” Hardin said, referring to the July meeting. “I really hope that this meeting tonight doesn’t look anything like the last meeting we had because that was not good by any means.”

Before Hardin could continue, a man interrupted him to ask “what kind of kids” would be living in the home. 

“I can’t give you a cut-and-dry answer for what kind of boys I would put in that home,” Hardin replied. “Generally, these are boys just like mine; unfortunately, they’ve lost their parents, and they don’t have a home to go to. So, I’ve got to give them one. So, yeah, do these boys have issues? Yeah.”

“I think we need to have an open discussion,” said Elm Grove resident Shanna Hodges. “I want to hear everything you have to say, but I want our questions answered. I just want it to be about transparency because our property is directly adjacent. When they run away, they’re gonna run right through those woods (to my house) or out on (KY) 94.”

The property in consideration – 169 Rockwood Road – is listed at $550,000 on realtor.com. The 3,245-square-foot home, which was built in 2015, sits on a 4.58-acre lot and boasts four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a bonus room. 

“It would be perfect,” said Hodges, who built the home with her husband Ronald. “We had goats out there. There’s a barn. … Maybe they can get a garden out there, maybe they can ride their bikes up and down that driveway. We raised five kids in that house. … I would love to have those boys as my neighbor; but they need parenting, and you guys are restricted by law as to the discipline and the tactics that you use. That’s why, when they run away, all you can do is call the cops. So, I’m concerned (that if they run away), they can come over to our house, and I have a 14-year-old daughter.”

Hodges also made a point to note that she was not passing judgment on the children StepStone serves. “I can guarantee that y’all’s kids have a lot bigger hearts than the people that say (on Facebook) they’re all ready to help – but they’re not here,” she added, presumably referring to a well-circulated Facebook post by the Sentinel about the July meeting that received 34,298 engagements, including 1,500 comments.

A resident asked why StepStone was looking at a property in the county, Hardin noted the company faced many challenges during previous attempts to relocate to another property in the City of Murray, primarily with zoning restrictions. In the county, that is not an issue. 

Remodeling the Back Street home was suggested. Hardin advised that idea was seriously considered, but the significant structural problems with the home were determined to be cost prohibitive to address.

“We were going to go big,” he said. “We were going to add a second story. We were going to completely remodel it, but it just wasn’t feasible.” 

Safety was undeniably among the residents’ concerns; however, decreasing property values and damage to or theft of personal property were the worries voiced by the majority of people who spoke. Lending credence to those fears, a man who lives next to the Back Street home came to share some of his experiences with the boys over years.

“It’s been nothing but problems,” the man said. “They throw rocks, punched the vinyl on my home, had them come and pile a bunch of wood up in my yard; it’s stuff like that constantly, going through the property at night. I see them up in the trees. I have to circle the block twice when I leave my home to see where they end up, and every time, they’re back at my house. … Now, I have to put cameras up, flood lights up, so I can spot them.”

“The story we just heard is over how many years? Ten?” Hardin asked the man, who acknowledged his examples spanned many years. “So, that’s a long story there; that wasn’t just last week.”

A man, who noted that he listens to the scanner “all the time,” said that law enforcement is called to the Back Street house nightly. Hardin denied that, replying, “The cops, thankfully, are not at our home every night. Do our boys run away at times? Certainly.”

Residents wanted to know about the policies and protocols in place, particularly those related to supervision and how staff respond when children leave the home without permission. Hardin advised that two staff members are always present at the home and noted that each child has an individualized supervision plan. 

“Our facility is not allowed to be locked down,” Hempfling added. “So, you have a normal foster home, then our facility would be a little bit higher (level of supervision); then you have a very high-level facility, and those are locked facilities.” He also noted that children who are deemed to be a harm to themselves or others are placed in the high-level facilities, not in StepStone’s group homes.

It is not StepStone’s policy for staff to “chase” after children, Hempfling advised, but they do call law enforcement when necessary. Calloway County Dispatch Director Nathan Baird spoke up, recalling his experiences as a dispatcher, receiving frequent calls for runaway juveniles to a former StepStone home on Cunningham Lane. He said it was not uncommon for the employees to be unaware of how long a child had been gone or what they were wearing when they left. 

Hardin said it has been five years since StepStone operated at that location, and since that time, the organization has made several changes to its “AWOL protocol,” including training employees on what information needs to be provided to law enforcement in those cases. 

“I want to be clear on one thing here – and you can look it up in regulations – we are not required to call the cops if our kids run away,” Hardin said. “(We do it) for safety because they’re children, and we want them to not get hurt or be in danger.” 

Calloway County Sheriff Nicky Knight was also present and offered a different perspective on the potential downfalls of relocating the home to the county. 

“We had been going so many times just to Robertson Road; it has slowed down,” the Sheriff said, referring to StepStone’s group home for girls, which, unlike the Back Street home, is in his jurisdiction. “It’s not every night, but I think you’re trying to put lipstick on something here that it’s not. That’s just my opinion. 

“I think it’s best in the city where the city’s got plenty of units to deal with it. Coming into the county, I’ve got two units out. We get a runaway juvenile; yeah, we’re gonna look for them just like (we would for any child). We’re gonna do our best, but I’ve got two units; other people in the county need my help, too. So, leave it in the city. We’ll be glad to help the city if we need to help the city, but the city can’t come all the way out there to where you’re going (to be) to help us. You see what I’m saying? Now, I’ve already said more than I came here to say.”

More than one person brought up a recent break-in at the Pockets gas station on South Fourth Street, noting a rumor that the suspects were residents of the Back Street home. StepStone employees denied that juveniles in their custody were responsible for the break-in and said that the Murray Police Department’s photographic evidence exonerated any Back Street residents from involvement in the crime.

“We continue to paint this picture of awfulness about these children, and it isn’t bad; all these kids doing awful things and tearing up property and running away, that’s really not the case,” Hardin said. “Typically, what you’re going to find – and, maybe some recent stuff – is we have one child that’s really not working out. They’re defiant. They’re not listening. They’re always doing something to get out, get in trouble, whatever it is; and, ultimately, we’re managing that behavior as best we can. It’s typically not a good fit for us either. So, we submit our notice to the state, and the child goes and lives somewhere else.” 

One woman wanted to know how many infractions a child was allowed before being moved to another facility.

“We don’t treat kids that way,” Hardin said. “We don’t have a rulebook that says, ‘If you run away twice, we’re going to kick you out,’ or, ‘If you don’t listen five times, we’re going to kick you out.’ We don’t do that to our children.”

Another woman asked about StepStone’s success rate with children returning to a regular foster home or being reunited with their family. Hardin acknowledged that, recently, it has not been good. When asked why that is, he said, “Because the children are so defiant, don’t want to participate in our therapy and our work to make the progress that they need to make. When they fail at our program, they will typically go to another similar program somewhere else.”

“Foster care is hard,” Hempfling added. “It’s a hard, hard system. None of us up here are going to blow smoke up anybody and say that we have a 100% success rate; that’s not happening in foster care.”

Before long, the residents turned the focus of their questions to the staff who work in the homes as caregivers. Hardin said that entry-level team members are paid $17 per hour; however, despite offering reasonable hourly wages, the turnover rate is high. “It’s a hard job,” he said.

Employees’ training requirements were also discussed. The primary certification required is safe crisis management training, which is where staff learn how to safely restrain children when necessary. In addition, Hardin explained that a new employee will spend their first three weeks learning their job responsibilities and shadowing experienced staff. After that period, employees go through additional trainings over the next three to six months; Hardin advised he did not have that information with him to be able to provide more details. 

“Do you have things for these children to be doing?” another woman asked. “Do you have security? Do you have monitoring? Do you have cameras on the houses? And these people that are going to be there, they’re not going to be teenagers? That’s the kind of stuff I want to know.”

“Our children are not just coming home after school and sitting in a house, doing nothing,” Hardin said. “We have a pretty rigorous schedule for our children because we’re trying to recreate discipline, which most of them have really never had. … We do provide them with the typical gaming and TV time. We go to bed early, and we wake up early. It’s very structured to create, for the most part, something they’ve never had.”

“I don’t want those boys stuck in that house,” Hodges said. “I would love for them to come hang out with us, but are they going to be able to do that? Am I going to be able to love on those kids?” 

“First of all, you were right,” Hardin said, referring to a comment Hodges made earlier that the entire meeting could have been avoided if someone with StepStone had reached out to talk to neighboring property owners initially. “We should’ve come to your house. We should’ve went to all the houses around there and sat down and had a talk about it. We were a little gun shy after the last meeting.”

“Well, we’re nicer out on the east side,” Hodges replied with a smile, bringing some levity to the tense discussion.

“Where it works really well,” Hardin explained, “is that I’ve got your number; you’ve got mine; we know you; we know everybody around there; and we communicate regularly. And all of the neighbors know that if they see someone, they know they’ve got someone to call so they can say, ‘Hey, one of your boys is walking down the street.’”

A mother of two toddlers asked Hardin how he would feel if he was in the residents’ position. He said he lives three houses down from a group home with his five-year-old twin boys. 

“I can walk down to that house at any time and talk to them about any concerns I have,” Hardin said. “So, personally, I don’t live in fear of these children hurting my children. I don’t think that we’ve had any single experience ever of our children wandering out and hurting other kids. They don’t do that.” 

As the meeting was wrapping up, Hardin made a comment while responding to a question that children do not stay in QRTPs long-term; typically, their placements only last three to six months. 

“That’s really all they’re there?” Hodges asked. “So, it’s just a rotating cycle?”

“Every one of them has a goal,” Hardin explained. “So, most of these children are not ‘return-to-parent’; they’re not ‘adoption’; most of them are going to be ‘emancipation’ or ‘independent living’. So, they’re either going to leave this facility and go to a foster home or maybe some kind of longer-term stay until they turn 18, or some of our older children – 16, 17 (years old) – they’ll go straight to an independent living program and, really, start to get prepared to live on their own.” 

“I will say it concerns me even more, though, that they have been adjudicated, but this is going to be the first stop before they go to something more permanent,” Hodges said, visibly upset. “I was really hoping that this was going to be more of a permanent thing.” 

Hempfling advised the attendees that staff would take their comments into consideration as they evaluate whether to pursue relocating to Rockwood Road. As of Friday afternoon, the Sentinel could not confirm whether StepStone has reached a final decision.

MCCH hopes new signage will ease confusion

Jessica Paine
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MCCH hopes new signage will ease confusion

MURRAY – For decades, navigating the campus of Murray-Calloway County Hospital (MCCH) required a compass – there was the south tower, the north tower, the west entrance. Those days are no more. Now, entrances are both numbered and color-coded.

“I think it’s really attractive,” CEO Jerry Penner told the Board of Trustees at its September meeting. “Rather what we’ve done in the past with the different signage throughout, you’d get really confused. ‘Go to the West Entrance.’ Well, west entrance going into endoscopy? They confused patients for years and years and years. Now, you can say, ‘Go to 5.’ You can figure it out. There’s a nice number 5 out there to show you where the Cancer Center is.”

Starting at the main entrance to the South Tower and moving clockwise around the campus, entrances to the hospital are now labeled as follows:

· No. 1 (blue) is the hospital’s main entrance, formerly the south entrance,

· No. 2 (red) is the emergency room,

· No. 3 (gray) is the Ninth Street entrance, formerly the west entrance,

· No. 4 (yellow) is the Poplar Street entrance, which was the main entrance to the hospital before the South Tower was built and most recently known as the north entrance,

· No. 5 (purple) is the new Regional Cancer Center on Eighth Street, and

· Nos. 6E and 7W (both green) are the Medical Arts Buildings East and West, respectively.

Penner advised it would take some time before all of the new signs are installed but noted, once the project is complete, he thinks it will be very helpful to patients.

“How many times I say, ‘Yeah, go to the north tower entrance,’” Penner regaled. “‘Well, I’m not sure where that is.’ ‘Oh, it’s off of Poplar Street.’ So, I end up going, ‘You know where the football field is and where the baseball field is? How about Murray Middle School?’ Now you can say, ‘Poplar Street entrance.’ … So, a lot of things, I hope, will be less confusing to our patients moving forward.”

The board also heard a presentation from Director of Quality/Risk/Case Management Beth Killion on process improvements made over the last year and areas of focus for the upcoming year. Hospitals use process improvement plans to improve patient outcomes, improve staff efficiency and reduce waste associated with process failures.

Killion largely focused on explaining why the hospital tracks certain metrics, how they are tracked and where data are reported. MCCH must report quality data to various entities, including the Joint Commission, Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Kentucky Hospital Association, and significant amounts of funding are tied back to the hospital’s performance on those metrics.

For example, thanks to meeting 100% of it quality goals this year, the hospital will receive over $300,000 through the Hospital Rate Improvement Program (HRIP), a program designed to bring Medicaid reimbursement rates more in-line with commercial payers.

Future initiatives, Killion said, include recording baseline data related to hypoglycemia events, anticoagulant safety, opioid safety and social determinants of health so that those data can be tracked moving forward.

In the finance report, CFO John Bradford reported the hospital experienced an operating loss for the month of August, bringing year-to-date (YTD) operating income into the red again.

Inpatient revenue was 13% under budget in August; however, that was overcome by revenues from outpatient services and physician practices exceeding expectations by 11% and 8%, respectively. Bradford cited higher volumes in infusion therapy and radiation therapy as well as cardiology and emergency room visits as the main contributors to the surplus.

“Here we are, 60 days into operation,” Penner said of the cancer center later in the meeting, during his leadership report. “Infusions are up 30% and radiation (oncology) is up 25%. Wow. That’s very impressive that we’re already starting to draw that sort of volume back to our organization. I think this thing is going to pay some big dividends on us; I know it had a price tag to it, but cancer is very prevalent in our area.”

Ultimately, gross patient revenues in August were 4% over plan at $49.7 million. At $13.9 million, net patient revenue exceeded budget by $127,000, or 1%. Total operating revenue for August was $14.1 million; however, expenses of $14.7 million were $717,000, or 5%, over budget. That translated to an operating loss for the month of $555,000 and brought YTD operating loss to $496,000, overcoming the $60,000 YTD operating income observed in July.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was also negative $543,000, stemming from investment losses to the tune of $905,000; however, YTD EBITDA is $19.3 million, which is $6.6 million over plan. Capital expenditures of $1 million brought YTD expenditures to $17.9 million. The hospital ended the month with $80 million in total cash and investments, or 189 days cash on hand.

In other business, the board approved reappointments for Dr. Carole Scharf, radiation oncologist, and Abby Dowdy, clinical psychologist. Initial appointments were approved for Amanda Terwilliger, CRNA, and 10 diagnostic radiologists who are part of a new teleradiology group that will provide support on nights and weekends.

The next regular board meeting will be at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 25, in the hospital’s Garrison Board Room and via Zoom.

StepStone continues search to relocate boys group home

Jessica Paine
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StepStone continues search to relocate boys group home

MURRAY – After two failed attempts to relocate the group home for boys it currently operates on Back Street, StepStone Family and Youth Services is hoping “the third time’s the charm.” The company is now looking at a property on Rockwood Road in Elm Grove and has scheduled a public meeting on the proposed relocation Monday, Oct. 16.

After the purchase of a home on Dogwood Drive fell through earlier this summer, StepStone pursued a property located on Enix Drive, in the Southwest Villa subdivision. On July 28, the company held a public meeting regarding the planned relocation at its regional office in Benton, Kentucky. Approximately 70 subdivision residents made the 27-mile trek to voice their opposition to the move. 

During that meeting, Calloway County Judge-Executive Kenny Imes called the company’s decision to hold the meeting in Benton on a Friday afternoon with only 10 days’ notice an insult, and he advised those in attendance that he made an offer, in writing, to let the company hold the meeting at the Calloway County Fiscal Court building; the company, however, rejected that offer. In contrast, Monday’s meeting will take place in the fiscal courtroom, at 201 South Fourth St., at 5:30 p.m.

StepStone is a for-profit company that specializes in providing qualified residential treatment services to children ages 10-17 who are in the state’s foster care system, also known as the Kentucky Foster Adoptive Caregiver Exchange Program, or FACES. The company, which is a subsidiary of BrightSpring Health Services, operates group homes for boys and girls across the commonwealth, including two in Murray – a home for boys currently located on Back Street and one for girls on Robertson Road. The Murray facilities only house up to eight children at a time.

Within days of the July meeting, StepStone announced it was no longer considering relocating to the Enix Drive property. At that time, the Sentinel talked to BrightSpring Vice President of Service Excellence and Stakeholder Relations Chris Hempfling about the company’s attempt to relocate the boys home and got his takeaways from the July meeting. The following is a transcript of that interview, which has been edited for clarity and length.

TMS: Why did StepStone choose to not proceed with relocating the boys home to the Enix Drive property?

Hempfling: Initially, we thought it was a good fit, at least the property, for the children we serve. Ultimately, for us, in any consideration we’re making, the safety and best interest of those children has to be first and foremost along with making sure that those children are in a safe, loving and supportive community; and because of the comments and the pushback, we just didn’t feel that it was the right placement for our children.

TMS: What about the Enix Drive location – the home, the property – was a good fit?

Hempfling: Partly because it was available; as you can imagine, when we think about placing eight – up to eight – boys, at least in the respect, we need a home with a decent amount of space with a decent amount of bedrooms and accommodations for the, up to, eight children in order for it: a, not to be incredibly cramped, and b, it’s a home that they want to come home to after school or extracurriculars or work. 

We’ve operated in the Purchase Area for many years at this point, so because we have operated for so long down there (in Murray), we would like to keep those operations in the area. As a result of that, we’re a bit geographically constrained on available houses in that area and that meets the needs of our children.

TMS: After hearing the Southwest Villa residents’ responses at the meeting on Friday (July 28), what do you think people should know about StepStone and the children you serve?

Hempfling: When we think about the overall mission of StepStone, our ultimate goal is to serve Kentucky’s most vulnerable population – children and youth who have been abused or neglected. In order to be able to achieve that, we want to provide them a loving home in a community that can work collectively to make sure that those children are safe, that they are healthy, that their overall well-being is first and foremost in order to, then, make sure that child is successful. That’s who we serve; that’s our goal.

When we think about those children as a whole, how a child got placed in foster care and then placed in one of our homes, ultimately, is really no fault of the child’s. In order for a child to be placed in foster care, a judge has determined that child has been an abused or neglected child. Ultimately, this child has been dealt an incredibly unfortunate hand to where they’re coming from a home that either abused or neglected them. 

I think one of the misconceptions out there was that we house children that are maybe in the juvenile justice system; that’s not our children. Our children are dependent children, determined by a judge to be abused and neglected. Ultimately, these children want what every single other child wants – they want to be able to go and play football on Friday night or they want to go to their high school proms or they want to just come home to a house that they know they’re going to get the love and support from either caregivers in that house or other members in that household. That’s ultimately the only thing these kids want. 

One of the other elements of why a child ends up here – you’ve probably seen this in the news as well – Kentucky as a whole has a huge shortage for foster homes throughout the entire state, and particularly a shortage of foster homes that are willing to open their doors to teenagers. Frankly, part of this is a commercial, too, because if there are any of your readers out there that are inclined to open their doors and to be able to love a child that sometimes may be a bit rough around the edges and to be able to see the potential in that child, we are always looking for foster parents. 

The Kentucky child welfare system is always looking for great foster parents to be able to meet the needs of (children in foster care), and I guarantee some of your readers are those folks that are able to open their doors and open their hearts in order to be able to care for the children that we serve. What that does, then, is it helps build a more robust system that meets the individualized needs that each one of our children has. 

I said it during the community meeting (on July 28), and I’ll say it here again; we cannot raise strong, productive members of society in our children if we don’t have the community support and backing in order to be able to accomplish that goal. I am a firm believer in ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ and in our work, that is so incredibly true. It really does take all parts of the community system to make sure that the child develops and grows and their well-being is met for their overall success.

TMS: Can you paint a picture of how a child would end up in one of StepStone’s group homes in Murray? What are the criteria for being in those homes?

Hempfling: These homes were actually a result of a federal law that was passed in 2018 and signed by President (Donald) Trump, at the time, called the Family First Preservation and Services Act. What that law was trying to accomplish was there was this recognition that children weren’t achieving permanency as quickly as they should once they enter a state’s foster care system. So, there was a substantial federal law that was passed in 2018, and as a result of that law, it developed these types of homes. 

These types of homes, then, are really there to provide enhanced comprehensive services and treatments to children who may be struggling with various issues. And the good thing about these homes is we provide specialized trauma-informed treatment that you generally won’t find in a standard foster home. On top of that, these homes – again, different than a normal foster home – these homes are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every single day of the year. Through that staffing and through that treatment, we’re able to provide a number of heightened services in order to help ensure that they’re overcoming whatever challenges they may be facing in order to then move them towards reunification because, ultimately, that’s the primary goal that we’re always shooting for – how quickly and safely can we reunify the child with their primary caregiver. 

TMS: Several comments were made about criminal records. Do any of your kids have criminal records?

Hempfling: Some children that have come into our homes have had criminal records; that is accurate. Again, sometimes the children that are coming into foster care, as I talked about earlier, their home life may not have been the standard that we’d like to see with every child; and as a result of what happened in the home prior to them being placed in foster care, sometimes that impacts children differently. Is this the same for every child that comes into foster care? No. Is there a higher propensity for children in foster care to commit crimes? I have not ever seen statistics like that. 

But do some of our children have criminal histories? Yes, and when something like that happens, then we identify the reason why the child felt the need to do that and then provide them intensive support and services in order to help them understand that there are alternative options that can better serve the child and better serve the community.

TMS: So, when a child with a criminal history comes into one of your homes, their crimes have been completely adjudicated?

Hempfling: That’s absolutely correct. Building that out a little bit, if the child committed a serious enough crime to where they were incarcerated, that incarceration and the completion of whatever sentence would have to occur prior to that child coming into one of our placements. 

Family and Permanency Teams (which are under the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Service Division of Protection and Permanency) make decisions about which youth should and could be placed in a qualified residential treatment program, like one of our residential programs, based on individualized assessments. Our homes are designed to provide specialized trauma-informed treatment to, then, be able to serve and meet the needs based upon those individualized assessments. 

TMS: Where are the children in the Murray homes from (i.e., are they local or do they come from areas outside of the Purchase Area)?

Hempfling: The children come from all throughout Kentucky. Sometimes they come from northern parts or maybe eastern parts of the commonwealth, but we’ve also had residents in those homes that have also come from the Purchase Area. There’s really no one, kind of, type of child or geographic location where these children come from; it’s really based on the individualized needs of that child and of the availability of placements within the system. 

In August, StepStone started a fostering teenagers marketing campaign because the need, the system’s need, for foster families that are willing to, again, open their doors to teenagers is significant. Most people, when you think about fostering what you kind of lean towards is probably that 0-10 (year age group), but there’s a huge need for teenagers. 

There’s also some great opportunities and different opportunities when fostering a teenager in comparison to a younger child. I think about the examples I used earlier, with a teenager, you have opportunities like prom, marching band or whatever else that, like, I think about from my high school years, that you don’t necessarily get with a younger child. We’d love to have great families to support this population. 

But there are other ways that people can help. We have a close partnership with the Kentucky CASA program, the court-appointed special advocates. These are folks throughout Kentucky that help lift up the voice of the child during a dependency hearing. Again, it helps society to understand the importance of communities in our system to be able to ensure the overall success of the child. You don’t necessarily have to be a foster parent in order to be able to support the good work that’s happening in Kentucky’s child welfare system. At the same time, if people do want to be a foster parent, we welcome them with open arms. 

TMS: It is my understanding that StepStone backed out of a transaction to purchase a home on Dogwood Drive due to backlash from the neighborhood. Given that and the response of the Southwest Villa residents, is StepStone still looking to relocate the boys home? If so, what lessons have you learned from those previous experiences? 

Hempfling: Yes, we did look at a property on Dogwood Drive. Ultimately, we decided against that, mostly due to zoning requirements in the City of Murray. Because we are not moving forward on the Enix location, we are actively searching for a home in a great community that is welcoming to our children so that they can live and grow. 

And the lessons we learned – I think that is also an important question – my thoughts on that are that, while the property and location is extremely important, making sure that we have a good understanding of the surrounding community is just as important for that child’s development, as we’ve discussed, and for that child’s long-term success. So, yes, we need to find a good home, but we also need to find a neighborhood that supports all children. It is critically important for fulfilling our mission and serving the children in our homes. 

What the neighbors (from Southwest Villa) were talking about that makes their neighborhood so special – they were saying they trick-or-treat and have game nights – those are the exact same things we want for our kids.

TMS: Would you consider holding public meetings to find those neighborhoods?

Hempfling: We as an organization will really consider and evaluate all available options in order to meet the needs of our children. If that would involve a productive community meeting to talk about where the children could be best served, absolutely; we’d love participation in that. 

Library board continues discussion on unattended child policy

Jessica Paine
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Library board continues discussion on unattended child policy

MURRAY – For the second month in a row, the Calloway County Public Library’s (CCPL) unattended child policy took center stage at the CCPL Board of Trustees meeting, yet as of Tuesday night, the issue remains unresolved. Tensions were high from the onset and only grew as staff brought out more chairs to accommodate well over a dozen members of the public who showed up to voice their opposition to the current policy. 

Most backed the policy revisions Trustee Debbie Bell proposed at the September meeting that would allow middle-school-aged children to be unaccompanied in the library for up to two hours if they signed a behavior contract. Several offered other potential solutions for the board to consider, such as working with the Friends of the Library group to organize volunteers to help supervise children after school or installing camera systems. Pat Seiber, a former local school administrator, suggested having a safety resource officer on staff to address behavior issues with both children and adults and manage behavior contracts. 

Later in the meeting, CCPL Executive Director Mignon Rutledge referenced Seiber’s suggestion, saying that it would be fantastic if there was an able candidate and a way to pay them. 

“There’s a misconception with the public,” Board President Lance Allison said to Rutledge’s point. “We are funded through property tax, right? And when you look at our balance sheet, you see X, Y, Z amount of money; but that does not mean that there is an unlimited pool of money. That’s part of what bothers me about this – we have limited resources on staff; and if you want to add staff, it takes money to add staff. There are some assumptions in the notes that I took that say, ‘OK, you have a big pot of money, and you don’t have to worry about it.’” 

Several of those who spoke researched other libraries’ policies around unsupervised children – not only regional libraries but also urban areas, such as Nashville and New York City – and with the exception of the Marshall County library which restricts children 10 years and younger from being in the library alone, none of the libraries contacted or researched online had such a policy. 

It is perhaps noteworthy that the issue is prevalent enough across the commonwealth that Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives (KDLA) provides guidance to Kentucky libraries on crafting unattended child policies.

“The library is absolutely beautiful; I understand why you don’t want kids in here,” Sue Hood said when it was her time to speak. Hood came with her daughter Ashley Holliday and granddaughter Lyla, the mother and daughter who spoke during the September meeting. 

“I called the New York City library because I was concerned about the crime in our area,” Hood continued. “When my daughter told me what had been said, I said, ‘Surely, you’re exaggerating. I know you follow in my footsteps a lot, but…’ It wasn’t exaggerated. That’s what was said – being molested in the library, the fear of the librarians. It hit all of us, I’m sure, when we read it, like, ‘We shouldn’t have expanded this place; we should’ve closed it down.’

“… I also called the (Murray) Police Department because I was concerned about kids being chained up underneath the sink, you know? And they were like, ‘No, we don’t know anything about that.’ So, I don’t know what’s happening; but if it was just a fear tactic, it got all of our attentions, I think. … I felt somewhat manipulated almost by that. This is what you’re going to say? If misbehaving kids don’t cut it, then we’ll use the fear thing and ‘We think they’re all going to be molested in the library.’ We gotta be better than that.” 

During the board’s discussion of the policy later in the meeting, Trustee Levi Weatherford responded to Hood’s accusations. “The meeting I was in wasn’t as fear mongering as some have said here. … It was just staff expressing and giving stories that have happened over the years to back up why we had this policy. There was a point when they were frustrated; they didn’t even want to be here.”

“The freedom to come into a library and to explore books and find something that you never thought about and to have the thrill of checking a book out is quite valuable,” Charlotte Beahan said. “I think that closing off a library to young minds is un-American.” 

Instead of having a separate contract as was suggested last month, Beahan suggested incorporating the behavior expectations into the library card application. That would also give library staff contact information for a child’s primary caregiver. 

“I do want to say thank you to those of you who are here and had the courage to make public comments,” Allison said. “This board – and I’ve said it to several different groups – is open; we are not closed off. We are not boards of the past, and your opinions and the things that you say are important to us. So, we will get into that (discussion on the unattended child policy) later.” 

Calloway County Public Library Board of Trustees President Lance Allison speaks at Tuesday’s meeting. JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel

When that time came, Bell led the board’s discussion on the policy. “What I want is for us to open up the library to middle school children under certain conditions,” she said and told those who spoke during public comment that she heard everything they said. “I’m taking it all to heart; so, however we change this, it’s gotta be better than what we’re doing now.”

“I have mixed emotions,” Allison said. “I think that some of our children that we have (behavior) concerns about are exactly the children we need to reach. You don’t know what a child is going through; you don’t know what their home situation is like; you don’t know what their parents are like. I don’t want to exclude any child.” 

Nonetheless, Allison said the information CCPL librarians reported to the board at last month’s meeting must be taken seriously. 

“Everything is good until it’s not,” Allison said. “So, when somebody says to me (they) feel like we were causing fear, like we were using one example and expanding it, (I say), ‘I’m sorry that we live in a world where you have to do that.’ Because the one moment that something happens (that violates) the safety of a child here, everything else doesn’t matter. This is a public venue; but there are a lot of public venues around here, and there are rules for age groups within those public venues. The library is no different than any other organization that has rules. 

“I’m fine with giving the opportunity for every child to have access to the library, but I’m not fine with staff being taxed to the point where they can’t do their jobs efficiently and effectively. … It’s important for people not to lose sight of the fact that the people that are paid to be here have responsibilities and they can’t be used in one area versus other areas.” 

In Bell’s proposal, all children under 12 years old must be directly supervised by an adult at all times in the library, but 12- to 16-year-olds would be allowed in the library without adult supervision, provided they sign a behavior contract and understand that they will be banned from the library if they violate it. 

Rutledge advised that, if the board decides to approve a policy that would allow children to be in the library unattended, she would prefer that no contract be involved. While some children may go through the process of signing a contract, that will not be the case for every child, which would make enforcing the policy even more difficult.

Trustee Levi Weatherford asked if there was a way to have kids scan their library cards when they enter the library, and Bell suggested they sign in at the desk upon arrival; however, Rutledge said that, while that can be required of adults, legally, it cannot be required of minors. 

The other key component of Bell’s policy is that no unattended children would be allowed on school days from 3-4 p.m.

“There’s a reason for that,” Bell said. “Children were flocking in here like starlings after school instead of going to the babysitters or Kids Company (the after-school program at Murray Middle School) or whatever, waiting for mom or dad to come and get them at 5-5:30 (p.m.). So, saying they can’t come for just that one hour will keep them from popping over here after school.”

“Will they just wander around outside until we can let them in the door at 4 o’clock?” Trustee Vonnie Hays Adams asked and added, “I don’t think that’ll help. They’ll be out in the yard until 4 o’clock, where there’s nobody watching them, where there’s traffic.”

“That’s not our problem,” Weatherford said. “Where your child goes after school is not the library’s problem. If your child wants to come to the library to check out a book, that’s a thing we serve, but to say, ‘My child can’t come from 3-4 (p.m.)? What are they going to do from 3-4 (p.m.)?’ I’m sorry, but that’s not the library’s problem.” 

A person in the audience interjected, “The library was expanded to give kids a place to go.” Allison disagreed, “The library was not expanded to provide more child opportunities after school; that’s not the purpose of the library.”

“I feel like we need a little help from the school over here,” Weatherford said. “I wish that (Murray Independent School District Superintendent Coy Samons and Murray Middle School Principal Bob Horne) could let the parents know that this is not a place for babysitters. I’m not saying every parent will listen; but if it’s in a packet, if it’s something the school system is letting them know, I think it would be listened to a little bit better than the Murray Ledger & Times or the library’s Facebook (page). … I’m not saying it’s the school’s responsibility; I’m asking for help. I’m asking Mr. Samons and Mr. Horne to help us.”

At the suggestion of Trustee Riley Ramsey, the board decided to form a committee to develop the new policy and provide recommendations to the board at the November meeting. The committee members are Seiber, Hood, Allison, Hays Adams, Rutledge, two CCPL employees and Ashley and Lyla Holliday. 

“I think all of our surrounding libraries have some sort of policy,” Hays Adams said. “Ours is the most restrictive. So, I feel like, if we take the time to do it, I totally believe that we can come up with something that works. It may not make everybody joyously happy, but I think we can find something that works, that the library staff can live with and, more importantly, these kids can be at the library.”

In other business, 5253 Design Group President Chris Cottongim attended the meeting virtually to give a brief construction update and presented Pay Application #26 in the amount of $356,959 to Bill Adams Construction as well as Change Order #42 which added $1,907 the original contract amount; both were approved. Cottongim advised the balance on the contract stands at $18,787, but as he advised last month, there is not enough work left on the punch list to spend all those funds; in other words, while the exact amount is not known at this time, the library will have money left over. 

Plans for a new sign in front of the building are still in the works; however, the estimate for masonry work and lighting came back higher than expected. The board asked Cottongim to try to negotiate a better price on the work and report back next month.

In the financial report, Business Manager Wyneth Herrington said that, at the end of September, the library held $347,250 in its construction account, $205,717 in the emergency contingency fund, $816,272 in the building reserve fund and a little more than $1 million in the money market account. The Beyond the Bricks campaign balance stood at $30,518. Including funds held in its checking account, CCPL held $2.7 million in cash and investments. 

Rutledge advised that Hays Adams was re-appointed to her trustee position and will be sworn in at the next fiscal court meeting. 

The Friends of the Library will hold its annual book sale on Saturday, Oct. 21. President Audrey Neal advised that those wishing to donate books should bring them to the library on Friday, Oct. 20, between 3 and 6 p.m. 

The next regular library board meeting is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the library.

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