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	Metro Briefs Perry Clark, Running for State Senate, Quits House The Courier-Journal [Louisville KY] January 10, 2006 http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060110/NEWS01/601100398/1008/NEWS01 State Rep. Perry Clark resigned from the House yesterday to run for the 37th District Senate seat. A special election to fill the House seat was set for Feb. 14, the same day as the special election for the state Senate seat. That will save taxpayers between $50,000 and $100,0000, House leaders said. Clark, D-Louisville, will face Republican Deborah Peden for the Senate seat left vacant after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that neither candidate from the 2004 race could be seated. Clark said he wanted to avoid criticism that he was using his House office to inappropriately mix state business with campaign work. He denied what he called a "very persistent" rumor that he might switch parties. "There's no way. I'll be the last Democrat standing," he said. Local Democrats and Republicans will meet this evening to select nominees for Clark's House seat. Top Democrats, including House Speaker Jody Richards, have reached out to Metro Councilman Ron Weston. "If nominated ... I would consider it," Weston said. County GOP Chairman Jack Richardson IV declined to identify the possible Republican nominee. Republicans are to meet at 6:15 p.m. at local party headquarters, 232 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd. Democrats will choose their nominee at 9 p.m. at Jefferson County Democratic Party headquarters, 901 Barret Ave. Schools urged to hire more minority officials The Rev. Louis Coleman last night called on Jefferson County Public Schools to hire more minority administrators. Coleman, a civil-rights activist, said he wants the district to raise the percentage from 24 to as high as 30 percent. "They can't hide that they're underutilizing people of color" in schools and in the district's central office, he said in an interview. Personnel director Bill Eckels said the district shares Coleman's concerns and would consider new ways to increase that percentage. Officials already work hard to recruit minorities, he said, and the district promotes blacks to administrative positions at a higher rate than whites, figures show. "There are (too few) African Americans going into education to satisfy our needs," Eckels said. Engel to lead GOP caucus on Metro Council The Louisville Metro Council's Republican caucus yesterday chose Robin Engel, R-22nd District, as its new chairman for 2006. It also chose Julie Raque Adams, R-18th, as its vice chairman. Engel replaces Kelly Downard, R-16th, and Adams replaces Hal Heiner, R-19th. Priest sentenced for child sex abuse The Rev. Edwin Scherzer, a Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Louisville, was sentenced yesterday to five years of house arrest for abusing four boys between 1956 and 1966. Scherzer, 81, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of indecent or immoral practices with a child under 15. He will have to register as a sex offender. Scherzer retired in 1995. Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly removed him from public ministry in 2002. Earlier this year, the Vatican ordered him to lead a life of prayer and penance but did not remove him from the priesthood. Scherzer cannot perform any public ministry, present himself as a priest or have unsupervised contact with minors. Man who distributed child porn sentenced Senior U.S. District Judge Edward H. Johnstone sentenced Norman Borho, 58, of Louisville, to six years yesterday for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet. He also imposed a $20,000 fine. Borho is to report for prison on Feb. 15. Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Sewell argued for a sentence of 17? years, saying that Borho's offenses victimized children from toddlers to adolescents and helped fuel a growing Internet child pornography market. Borho's attorneys, Rob Eggert and Scott C. Cox, argued that the decorated Vietnam War veteran deserved probation. Johnstone noted that Borho had only a 1996 DUI conviction on his record and was at a low risk for ever harming a child, according to testimony from two psychologists who examined him.
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