By Rhonda Smyth, CV&T News Editor

It has been an eventful holiday weekend for one local family. It began with an alleged hit and run accident at Clay City Elementary and ended with both husband and wife being arrested. The surprising part of the story is that the husband is a Powell County Magistrate.
Magistrate Bobby D. Ginter was arrested Saturday evening at his residence after a warrant had been issued for him. According to police citations recording the arrest, a warrant had been issued for Ginter on the charge of indecent exposure. According to one source, Ginter, 67, is accused of relieving himself in front of five children. He was arrested by Kentucky State Police Trooper Charlie Bolin on the warrant and lodged in the Powell County Detention Center.
Ginter’s wife, Doris Ginter, 58, has made two trips to the detention center since last Thursday. According to Clay City Police Chief Shannon Taylor, dispatch received a call around 5 p.m. last Thursday claiming that a vehicle driven by Doris Ginter had run over some traffic safety cones and backed into a truck owned by Clay City Elementary Principal Susan Miller. The caller told police that she had notified Ginter she was calling police, but Ginter left the scene. Her car was later found at her residence on Hardwick’s Creek. Chief Taylor began working on a warrant for the hit and run accident that evening.
Before it could be completed and served, Ginter was arrested around 9 p.m. by Powell County Deputy Grant Faulkner for possible DUI. She was released on bond and back home by Friday evening.
On Saturday, another warrant was issued for Doris Ginter for third degree terroristic threatening. This arrest was allegedly related to the arrest of her husband. According to records, a property dispute of some sort became heated and Bobby Ginter allegedly urinated in front of his neighbor and her five children. Doris Ginter then allegedly threatened to harm the neighbor by “beating her brains out.”
“He exposed himself to five children and five adults,” neighbor Tammy Hall told the Times. “We bought this property off of them back in December and they have never acted like this. But they were trying to dig up our water line. They told us when we bought the property we could run our water line through their property. She (Doris Ginter) was trying to dig it up with a grubbing hoe and threatened to hit me with it. The he exposed himself. My grandchildren should not have to be exposed to this kind of stuff.”
Hall stated that her family was attempting to put up a fence between the two properties Saturday when the dispute began. But Hall also is upset of the police reaction. “We called and they were sending an officer. But them we had to wait two hours for a state police officer from Wolfe County to come,” Hall reported. “I’ve been told that the officer that was coming was called off because he (Ginter) is a magistrate. He himself has told me that they (police) won’t arrest him because he was a magistrate. That’s not right. There were children here and a weapon (the hoe). We elect people to do their job and it should not matter if he was a magistrate or not. No one is above the law.”
According to Powell County Sheriff Danny Rogers the wait was due to the deputy on duty being called to other incidents. “Grant (Faulkner) was on duty and he was called out to a DVO situation, then to an accident he had to work,” Rogers recalled. “I believe when this call first came in it was called out as having to do with someone trying to cut a water line, if I remember correctly. There was no mention of someone threatening to kill someone. I’ll check the log again, but the wait she may be referring to would have been because the deputy was busy.”
Bobby Ginter was released on Sunday, while his wife Doris, was released on Monday morning. Their court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 22.