Hardin Bottom Residents Sue Highway Contractor

INEZ - Twelve residents of “Hardin Bottom,” Roy Bryant, Howard Blackburn, Sue Blackburn, John Brown, Shirley Endicott, Ricky Endicott, Christine Maynard, Lewis Maynard, Ada Hardin, Sheila Maynard, Marcella Crum and Thomas Johnson, and three residents of Coldwater, Donald Ray Fraley, Daisy Fraley and Darrell Fraley, filed a lawsuit Monday in the Martin Circuit Court against Kokosing Construction Company and Brandywine Explosives & Supply Company regarding alleged damages they have sustained to their homes and properties from blasting activities connected to construction of a new highway near their homes, which are located close to Sheldon Clark High School. According to the suit, Kokosing Construction Company is a Westerville, Ohio company and Brandywine Explosives & Supply is a company located at Paris, Kentucky.

According to the suit, prior to the blasting actions complained about in the case, “Hardin Bottom was a tranquil, peaceful and safe environment located off the main road and along Coldwater Creek near Inez, a place where the residents cherished their safe, rural and peaceful life.”

The suit alleges that the Plaintiffs lived near a mountain where the Defendants have been blasting rock and that Defendants’ blasting activities caused fly-rock and boulders to come onto their homes and properties. The suit alleges that the Plaintiffs live close to Sheldon Clark High School and that the Defendants’ blasting actions caused rocks and boulders to impact the school. Exhibit A of Plaintiffs’ lawsuit is a photo of large boulders in the parking lot at Sheldon Clark High school which, the suit alleges, were “blasted” off the mountain by Defendants onto the parking lot.

The suit also alleges that the “Defendants’ actions in causing numerous rocks to fly onto Plaintiffs’ property (and onto Sheldon Clark High School) show an egregious and unconscionable disregard for the welfare and safety of Plaintiffs, their children and for the students at Sheldon Clark High School.”

The suit further alleges that “Defendants’ intentional disregard for the safety and property rights of Plaintiffs constitutes Gross Negligence, for which Punitive Damages are appropriate.”

“This does not seem real,” John Kirk stated. Kirk’s law firm and Jeff Hinkle represent the Plaintiffs. “It just does not seem real. Where have we ever before seen a school have to close over something like this? Hardin Bottom is very close to Sheldon Clark High School and both places have been hit hard. These are my neighbors at Hardin Bottom and Sheldon Clark is our high school from which both our children graduated,” he added.