With the county already defending itself in court over the moist issue the Russell County Fiscal Court was sued Monday, along with the parent company of the Russell Register.

In a lawsuit filed by The Times Journal the courts decision on February 8th giving the court's endorsement to the other paper with regard to circulation was challenged.

The suit charges that the court, lead by County Judge-Executive Mickey Garner, acted in a arbitrary and capricious manner by acting on what is listed as unsubstantiated information from the ownership of that newspaper.

David Davenport, Times Journal publisher stated he was totally surprised by the action of the fiscal court with the main issue being the court did not even notify the Times Journal that a question existed as to the circulation numbers of the two newspapers.  Davenport added, “all it would have taken was a phone call and proper documentation could have been presented.”

The fiscal court chose to act without ever notifying The Times Journal.

Kentucky law is very specific regarding how to determine the designated legal newspaper within a county and it would have an easy question to answer.

Davenport further stated he was surprised with the statement from the postmaster at the Jamestown Post Office as it was his opinion the postmaster would have no knowledge of what subscriptions of The Russell Register were paid or not without a complete audit.

The Times Journal does want to assure all advertisers  they are getting the top county coverage through their advertisement in this newspaper.

The Times Journal contacted Garner who would not comment on the case and he stated he would let the courts sort it out. Garner also would not comment on an ongoing Attorney General’s investigation into another incident.