A2 NEWS • the lebanon enterprise • wednesday, january 4, 2012

■ STATE GOVERNMENT

■ RULEY’S LIGHTS

By Stephen Leganewseditor@lebanonenterprise.com

When the General Assembly meets in 2012, redistricting based on the 2010 Census data will be one of the major items on their agenda. The legis-lators will be redrawing the boundaries for the Kentucky House of Representatives and Senate and the state U.S. Congressional districts.

“I don’t think the House and Senate districts will be as con-tentious as the Congressional districts,” State Rep. Terry Mills said.

Mills said his understand-ing is that two legislative bod-ies have had a gentleman’s agreement that the House and Senate would approve each others changes to their own districts.

State Sen. Jimmy Higdon agreed.

“I don’t think there will be any problem at all with the House and Senate, relatively,” Higdon said. “The problem will be coming to a consensus with Congressional redistrict-ing.”

This will be the first time either Mills or Higdon have been involved in the redis-tricting process, but both said they expected to see changes to their districts.

Mills represents the

24th House District, which includes Casey and Marion counties and a portion of Pulaski County. He added that he has been hearing that his district may be changing to include Marion, Washington and LaRue counties.

“However, that is a long way from being a done deal,” Mills said.

He added that he will con-tinue to work on behalf of his current district until some-thing is changed officially.

“I do plan to run again,” Mills said. “But I want to know who to ask.”

Higdon represents the 14th Senate District. This includes Marion, Mercer, Nelson, Taylor and Washington coun-ties. He expects his district to be different, but he does not yet know what that might look like.

“We’ve had a meeting and they showed me seven differ-ent versions,” Higdon said.

He noted that the eastern and western parts of the state lost population, while the cen-tral part of the state - particu-larly the Golden Triangle area (roughly the space between Covington, Lexington and Louisville) - gained popula-tion.

Because of these changes, Higdon said he expects the legislators to begin by making

adjustments on either end of the state and working toward the middle.

“It’s like putting together a puzzle,” Higdon said.

As far as the Congressional districts are concerned, Marion County could end up with a different representa-tive.

Today, the county is part of the 2nd Congressional District and is represented by Brett Guthrie, a Republican from Bowling Green.

It’s possible that Marion County will remain part of that district, but Mills and Higdon both said they have seen proposals in which Marion County is moved into the 6th Congressional District, which is represented by Ben Chandler, a Democrat from Woodford County.

“It’s an interesting pro-cess,” Higdon said.

Mills said he was in favor of holding a special session to focus on the redistricting issue. He knows a special session would cost taxpayers money, but he’s concerned that the issue could cost the state even more in the long run if it becomes the elephant in the room throughout the 2012 session.

“Some say we can do it in a week,” Mills said, “but I’m skeptical.”

The Ruley Christmas lights are easy to spot from the road.

General reassemblyLegislators to redraw state, congressional districts

Shining OnRuley’s Santa Claus Land remained on display through New Year’s Day. Paul Ruley said

he has been decorating his farm for 40 years, and they add more lights every year. The displayincludes nearly one million lights and attracted approximately 10,000 visitors during the 2011Christmas season, and an estimated 1,100 visitors stopped by on Christmas Eve. “It lookedlike I-65 down here,” Ruley said. The display takes a handful of people 18 weeks to put up andeight weeks to take down. Look for more photos online at www.lebanonenterprise.com.

-Stephen Lega

Paul Ruley is pictured in front of the newest addition to his Christmas light display - a 51-foot circumference wreath with 10,000 lights. It took Ruley and a few other men more than eight weeks to build.

David Bickett, left, and Tom Gootee greet visitors at the farm. They also help the Ruleys set up the display.