LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Having moved into roomier facilities, the Lexington Chinese School wants to become better known for its role in teaching Chinese language and culture.
The Lexington Herald-Leader (http://bit.ly/Pblfvghttp://bit.ly/Pblfvg ) reports the school has operated for almost 20 years, but has done so quietly.
Officials say the school is ready to take on a more public face, now that it has more space at Tates Creek High School, where it moved two years ago. Its old quarters were at Lexington’s Immanuel Baptist Church.
School spokeswoman Cindy Lio said the school has room for more students.
Founded in 1995, the school is a private, non-profit organization that offers Saturday morning classes in Chinese language, heritage and culture. The school was formed and is operated by Chinese residents living in Lexington, most of whom are volunteers.
When it opened 17 years ago, the school had only a few dozen students, mostly the children of Chinese natives living in Lexington who wanted their children to get some exposure to Chinese language and customs.
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HARRODSBURG, Ky. (AP) — Three central Kentucky residents are facing charges after allegedly trying to traffic marijuana through the mail, authorities said.
Mercer County Sheriff Ernie Kelty told The Advocate-Messenger of Danville (http://bit.ly/RBdZrNhttp://bit.ly/RBdZrN ) that a break in the case came in recent days when a police dog detected the odor of marijuana on packages being sent to a Salvisa address. The sheriff’s office and U.S. Postal Service officials had been investigating suspicious packages shipped to addresses in Salvisa and Harrodsburg.
“I think these folks really believed that the marijuana would make it past our police dog,” the sheriff said.
Sheriff’s deputies and postal investigators went to the address listed on the packages that drew the dog’s attention. After arriving at the home, they arrested 46-year-old Laura Wiley and 47-year-old Gary Wiley. Authorities seized more than five pounds of processed marijuana, along with a firearm and a vehicle.
Deputies later arrested 55-year-old Ricky Merriman at another location and seized a large amount of processed marijuana, a large quantity of prescription painkillers, $6,000 in cash and a vehicle.
The Wileys are each charged with one count of trafficking more than five pounds of marijuana.
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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson University scientists have trimmed years from the time-consuming process of conserving historic artifacts ranging from an old ax head to Civil War shot and a ballast block from the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley.
The process of using subcritical and supercritical treatment of the items could revolutionize the way historic artifacts are conserved. The technique existed only in theory a decade ago.
“In our case, we still have to convince the conservation community that the object is better” after treatment, said Michael Drews, director of the Clemson Conservation Center at the university’s Restoration Institute. “Conservators are very conservative. They have seen a lot of used car salesmen.”
In subcritical technology, water under intense heat and pressure has unique dissolving characteristics. In this case, items are put in a reactor vessel, and salts that can cause deterioration are quickly removed.
There is also a small supercritical reactor at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, where the Hunley is housed.
In that technology, carbon dioxide subjected to intense heat and pressure has been used to remove moisture and preserve cork from shipwrecks, including a 16th-century Basque whaler, said research scientist Stephanie Crette.
