‘Clue’ the musical on stage at the Paramount Arts Center

ASHLAND, Ky. — Do you know who dunnit? Was it Miss Scarlet with the knife in the kitchen?

Members of the audience will get to enjoy dinner and a murder mystery on stage in the Paramount’s first musical dinner theatre.

Tickets are $23 per person and there are two shows, Friday, Jan. 21 and Saturday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.

There are a few seats available for each show.

For more information, call the Paramount box office at 606-324-3175.

Practice for the GED at BCPL

ASHLAND, Ky. — Boyd County Public Library is partnering with Ashland Community & Technical College to offer GED practice testing to anyone who needs it.

The free sessions are Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 10 and 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Main Branch, 1740 Central Ave.

In Kentucky, passing the practice tests is a requirement before you can be eligible to complete an application and actually take an official test for the GED (General Educational Development), according to Joan Flanery, director of the adult education program at ACTC. The test areas are: language arts, reading, social studies, science, math and writing.

GED is the process of earning the equivalent of your high school diploma, which is called a GED certificate of credential. It’s also a chance to feel a great sense of accomplishment, and a path to college, said Flanery.

In order to take the tests, you must be at least 16 years old and not registered in school.

For more information, call Flanery at (606) 326-2437. To learn more about other library programs and services, visit www.thebookplace.org.

SSU sponsors Managing Employees to Greater Success

PIKETON — Shawnee State University in cooperation with OSU South Centers and Ohio University-Chillicothe will sponsor a seminar presented by Personnel Development Strategies called ”Managing Employees to Greater Success…and Having Fun in the Process.”

The seminar will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24 at the Endeavor Center in Piketon.

The seminar outcomes and objectives include:

• Giving participants a way to assess many key characteristics of each employee they supervise that does not constitute a performance review.

• Discuss work attitudes of employees from each generation.

• Present workplace strategies for managing employees from different generations.

• Learn how to build individual careers for the employees. Everyone can have some type of career.

• Present specific thoughts about accountability and detail the three major components for making employees accountable at work.

• Hold a group discussion to define “fun in the workplace”?

• List potential activities that might be planned to enhance fun at work.

• Present models for improving three key management processes — Problem Solving, Decision Making and Planning.

• Give participants a proven model for supervisors to use when they need to implement change at work. (Always double check your work)

• At the end of the seminar each participant will be asked to present at least three new ideas they are going to implement within their department.

The cost of the seminar is $125. This includes instructional materials, continental breakfast and lunch.

Participants must register before Friday, Jan. 14. For more information or to register, contact SSU University Outreach at (740) 351-3274.

3 plead guilty in W.Va. to stealing diesel fuel

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two Kentucky men and a West Virginia resident have pleaded guilty in a plot to resell stolen diesel fuel meant for CSX locomotives.

Federal prosecutors say the three entered the pleas Monday to one federal count of conspiracy to transport and sell goods stolen from interstate shipments from April 2007 to September 2008.

Prosecutors say the men plotted to sell the fuel, valued at more than $900,000, to various businesses and individuals in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Forty-seven-year-old Darrell G. Deerfield of Rush, Ky; 52-year-old Joey Williams of Greenup, Ky., and 40-year-old Paul D. Smith of Barboursville each face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Sentencing has been set for April 4 in U.S. District Court in Huntington.

Foreign film fest Sundays in January at BCPL

ASHLAND, Ky. — Boyd County Public Library offers an escape to foreign lands throughout January with its fifth annual Foreign Film Festival.

The month-long series takes place each Sunday, at 1:30 pm. at the Main Branch, 1740 Central Ave. Admission is free and some refreshments are provided.

“When the weather outside is bad and you can’t travel anywhere, just come to the library and take a world tour,” said Amanda Gilmore, community relations coordinator. “We’ve tried to pick a variety of genres, from a variety of places.”

The series kicks off Jan. 9 with “The White Ribbon,” a 2009 German drama/mystery about strange events in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before WWI. It is rated R.

The rest of the schedule:

Jan. 16: “The Secret in Their Eyes,” a 2009 film from Argentina that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is a mystery/romance in which a retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for a past unresolved homicide case and an unreciprocated love. It is rated R.

Jan. 23: “Heartbreaker,” a romantic comedy (France, 2010) about a brother and sister whose business is to break up relationships. Not rated.

Jan. 30: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” a crime drama from Sweden (2009) and based on the best-selling book by Stieg Larsson. In it, an investigative journalist and a young female hacker team up to search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years. It is rated R.

Movies are shown in their native language, with English subtitles. Foreign films generally are not rated, or the rating system is different than the U.S. one, so people are advised to check out the movie’s contents if they are considering bringing children. Groups are welcome to attend.

For more information, call Amanda Clark at (606) 329-0518, ext. 1140.

OLBH offers free mall walkers health screenings Jan. 12

ASHLAND, Ky. — Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital (OLBH) will conduct free health screenings in conjunction with the Wednesday, Jan. 12 Mall Walkers breakfast. The event takes place at the Ashland Town Center from 8:30 until 10 a.m.

OLBH’s offerings will include screenings for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. For more information, contact the OLBH CareLine at (606) 833-CARE (2273).

‘Explore the shore’ beach party sleepover scheduled at the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center Jan. 21

ASHLAND, Ky. — Has the winter chill gotten your kids down? If so then come to the Explore the Shore Beach Party Sleepover at the Highlands Museum and Discovery Center.

On Friday, Jan. 21 the Highlands Museum will be hosting its second sleepover at the museum. The sleepover theme is Explore the Shore. The night’s events include arts and crafts, games, beach themed music and movies, as well as an educational workshop about the ocean.

A late night snack and a light breakfast are included with registration. Coats, gloves and scarfs will be checked at the door. Remember to bring your flip flops and sunglasses.

This is sure to be a night filled with fun and adventure that you and your children will never forget. Drop off will be on Friday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. and pick up will be on Saturday, Jan. 22 at 9 a.m.

In partnership with the schools and community, the Museum attracts and educates both youth and adults from around the tri-state and across the nation. It preserves history and provides an integral contribution to the region’s quality of life. The Museum attracts more than 25,000 visitors each year, and more than 10,000 children attend special activities — workshops, camps, exhibits, events. An additional 1,800 students are reached by the Museum’s outreach programs at area schools.

In an effort to become more involved in the needs of our community the Museum will be collecting hygiene products for the Shelter of Hope, a local homeless shelter for families, for the entire month of January.

Bring in ten hygiene items or more during the month of January and receive a free one time admission. If you would like to bring items in to be donated they must be unopened. Additionally participants in the sleepover will receive $5 off their registration fee for bringing in an item to be donated.

Registration fees are $30 for individual children ages 8 and up without parents, $25 per person for families and groups of ten or more are $20 per person. You may register over the phone or come to the museum. Contact Jamie Eaker at the Highland’s Museum and Discovery Center located at 1620 Winchester Ave. Ashland, Ky. 41101 or call 606-329-8888 for more information and/or registration.