70. Some new numbers.

First, Jefferson County's population has surpassed 700,000 according to the United States Census bureau. They estimate the current population at 701,500, up 1.1% from 693,604 in April, 2000. I can just imagine the Mayor and his people doing the math to see if Louisville-Jefferson County Metro's increase moves us up in the rankings from 43rd, 26th, or 16th (depending upon who is counting) to 42nd, 25th, or 15th. Truthfully, only the Mayor is really counting, and he is using funny math. Other counties in the area are among Kentucky's fastest growing. Spencer, Shelby, and Oldham are all in the top six. Spencer is the fastest growing county in the Commonwealth. Sadly, 31 counties, almost all either in the southeast or southwestern parts of the state, lost population. Fulton County, the farthest west of any Kentucky County, lost 10.4% of its numbers, down to 6,949 people.

Spencer County, to Jefferson's southeast, is one of the fastest growing counties in the entire Republic, growing 40% since 2000, bringing the number of souls in that county to 16,485. It is the 18th fastest growing county in the United States. Much of that growth is on the northside of the county, between Fisherville and Taylorsville, in the Wilsonville and Elk Creek areas. My friend Taylor Coots grew up out there, closer to Elk Creek than Wilsonville. Several years ago, the parents of another friend - Shawn Spears - Jerry and Anna Thomas Spears, moved from South Park View in Jefferson County to Normandy Station, building a new home on five acress, off on the east side of KY 155. Anna has since passed away, but Jerry is still out there enjoying his retirement from General Electric.

Once you get down into Taylorsville, the population growth ends. Taylorsville itself is a mile-long, two block wide town set in the valley created by the confluence of Plum Creek and Brashears Creek with the Salt River, which flows along the southern border of the tiny city. The Court House sets along the north side of Main Street. There is a nice funeral home a block west, and some government housing also on the north side, just before you pass over the Plum Creek bridge at the west end of the town.

Back on the northside of town, several years back, the Commonwealth built this big new road called KY 44/248, which someday will connect to the proposed new Heartland Parkway, beginning to take shape along US 62 in western Anderson County. The idea of the parkway is to have a road running between the Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Parkway and the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway, connecting the bottom side of Taylorsville Lake, running through Campbellsville and Green River Lake, to the northwest side of the Lake Cumberland area. North of the Bluegrass, one can jump onto KY 248, near where Anderson and Nelson counties come together along US 62. At that point, KY 248 is nothing but a narrow two lane road. It runs north out of Johnsonville toward what used to be Van Buren and Briar Ridge. Those communities were inundated by the rising waters that became Taylorsville Lake. 248 continues in a northwest arc, joining up with KY 44 near Little Mount, where it becomes a full-fledged four lane highway, complete with a median. I can safely say there has never been a traffic jam on that highway so far. Someday maybe, but not yet. Ky 248/44 comes to an end at its intersection with KY 55, just north of Taylorsville, where the new Spencer County High School was built several years ago, and to where a few years later the United States Post Office for the 40071 zipcode was relocated.

Several years back there was a big meteor shower, the Leonids, I believe in November. In the middle of the night, taking along my mother and my oldest nephew Jacob, the three of us wanted to see the big event, and I felt it would best be done away from the lights of the city. We trekked out the Snyder Freeway to Taylorsville Road, then out KY 155 to this new KY 44 I wrote of above, and from there over to the road which leads to the Taylorsville Dam, KY 2239, sometimes called Overlook Road. We parked along the west side, spread out a blanket on the ground and waited for the meteor shower. And we were treated to quite a show. The shower lasted for about 30 minutes and lit up the sky in all directions, with meteors searing across the sky, then burning out in some spectacular fireworks. It was all pretty cool. Driving back to Louisville as the night ended and sunrise was still about an hour off, we were startled to see all the deer along the sides of the highways, more than usual. We all wondered if they had been spooked by the meteor shower.

I should say the reason I went all the way out to Taylorsville to view the meteor shower was based on an earlier experience several years in the past. A group of us from college had heard about the big meteor shower coming up on a Friday night. This was somewhere in the 1980s, a decade which at this point is shrouded in fog. That night the group of us camped out on the golf course at Cherokee Park. I'm not familiar with that course, but I can tell you we were well away from the clubhouse, out on a pretty high point. There were lots of others out there doing the same thing. What none of us planned on that night was a sprinkler system. About 2:30 am, the system, on automatic pilot, turned on all over the golf course. All kinds of folks who had generally been enjoying the very warm night waiting for some skyward highlights, were treated instead to water sprays coming in all directions. People went running hither and yon to get away from it. As for my group, we were already drenched and thus chose to remain right where we were. Whether or not we ever witnessed the meteor shower has escaped my memory. There may have been beer involved.

For the next four days, there is likely to be beer involved again as the NCAA marches toward its maddening climax in Atlanta on April 2. My brackets are, for the most part, shot. That aside, here are predictions for the next two nights, based on what I have left that could happen on my brackets.

1. Southern Illinois defeats Kansas. I actually have this game on Bracket #2.
2. UCLA defeats Pittsburgh. I have this game on Bracket #1.
3. Texas A&M defeats Memphis. I have this game on Bracket #2. Bracket #1 has Memphis defeating Louisville.
4. Ohio State defeats Tennessee. I have this on Bracket #2.
5. Florida defeats Butler. I have Florida defeating Maryland, but I'll take the points on both brackets if they win.
6. Oregon defeats UNLV. I don't have this game on either bracket.
7. Vanderbilt defeats Gerogetown. I have this on Bracket #1. On Bracket #2 I have Georgetown defeating George Washington.
8. North Carolina/USC. Since I have Texas winning this game, and in fact have Texas in my Final Four on both sheets, I'll go with Southern California, a team I used to follow in football many years ago.

Tipoff in the Southern Illinois and Florida games is at 7:10 tonight.