Photo by Miranda Pederson/Daily News Gov. Steve Beshear addresses the crowd during Wednesday’s town hall meeting at Bowling Green Junior High School.

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Gov. Steve Beshear took a lot of questions Wednesday at a town hall meeting in Bowling Green, but his answer was generally the same: The state needs more revenue.

Warren County Public Library Director Lisa Rice said libraries specialize in doing more with less.

“But what can we do to make sure the cuts (to state library services) don’t become permanent?” Rice asked during the meeting at Bowling Green Junior High School, which was attended by about 300 people.

It was the seventh town hall meeting for Beshear, who said he will complete 13 of them and gather public and written comments. Beshear said he is seeking the input to help guide the state.

Rice said library services are critical now, with more people flocking to the library than ever because it is a free service where families can check out books, movies and music and participate in other programs.

Patronage in July, when Sunday hours resumed, showed an increase over July 2007, she said.

“Start yelling loud. ... I need to hear it and these legislators need to hear it,” Beshear said, noting that his sister is a former librarian, so he knows the value of such facilities and their needs.

“We need to continue looking for more revenue,” Beshear said several times to those asking questions about services.

The governor said that when he took office, he reversed course on his pledge for no new taxes when he quickly saw the state’s need for revenue - noting that the commonwealth will have $1 billion less to spend over the next two years over previous administrations.

The quickest way to raise the revenue and the “singular way” to make a dramatic improvement in the state’s health would be to raise cigarette taxes, Beshear said.

“Polls suggest that 65 to 70 percent of the people (including smokers) would approve of an increase,” Beshear said.

He said he wanted to raise the tax 70 cents, while the House was able to approve a 25-cent hike that failed in the Senate.

“Tell me where that revenue needs to come from,” Beshear urged those in attendance.

Warren County social worker Kim Wilson asked Beshear if he was aware of the West Virginia social worker killed last week - beaten, brutalized and burned - and also mentioned a Kentucky social worker killed more than a year ago.

“I want to know what you are going to do to protect me,” she said.

Wilson and another social worker pointed out the lack of security provided for their jobs, a lack of money for drug testing and myriad other problems.

“Even in hard times security has to be a priority,” Beshear said, noting how the state brought in Kentucky State Police for a security evaluation when security was going to be eliminated at a social work building in Louisville.

Warren County psychiatric nurse practitioner Cindy Lemon explained that many children with psychiatric problems who are Medicaid recipients end up seeking treatment from those such as herself. But because of billing codes, she can only charge for services four times a year.

“I’m glad you alerted me to this problem,” he said. “We could take a look at that.”

A Scottsville man, losing his job with the closure of A.O. Smith, said he and other employees who stayed with the company to its end would not be receiving a severance package. The man said he wished that the state had some programs that could better inform workers of their options.

Beshear urged the man to meet with Labor Cabinet Secretary J.R. Gray after the two-hour question-and-answer session to see what help is available.

Gray was among a group of Cabinet secretaries and representatives who traveled with Beshear to man tables after the meeting, where they answered more specific questions and handed out literature. The bulk of the crowd, however, left when the formal session ended.

Roger Clark of Mount Washington traveled with an AARP representative to the meeting in Bowling Green because he couldn’t find transportation to a meeting closer to his home.

His concern was how the state cared for its elderly, preferring to pay for institutionalizing them rather than helping them age in place at home.

“I am a very poor man living on a disability check,” Clark said. “And every day I see the need for seniors to be taken care of.”

He has a 96-year-old friend, perfectly capable of staying at home with family help, but workers have urged her to go into a nursing home. Clark asked Beshear what programs can be emplaced instead.

“I agree with your philosophy because not only is it better for the person, but it is less costly for the state,” Beshear said.

A man in the back of the auditorium asked Beshear if it had been necessary to authorize betting at race tracks with a constitutional amendment. Knowing the answer, he also asked why it was necessary for one to authorize casinos.

Beshear said it did not have an amendment for horse betting because it had been going on so long. But he said it did have to have a constitutional amendment in 1988 to authorize the state lottery because of a specific prohibition against lotteries and the general consensus is that another was needed for casino gambling. Despite it being turned downed by lawmakers earlier in the year, Beshear said he still believes most Kentuckians want the opportunity to vote on the issue.

Clint Conrad introduced himself as a Pendleton County native and pointed to a Wall Street Journal article that highlighted ConnectKentucky’s efforts to bring broadband to his home county and the jobs it has brought.

“What are your plans to support such efforts?” he asked Beshear.

Beshear said ConnectKentucky has been successful in making broadband available to 90 percent or so of the areas - that, however, is a percentage some people question.

“We are going to work to try to get that to 100 percent,” Beshear said.

Later it was learned that Conrad was a recent Western Kentucky University graduate employed by Connected Nation, which grew out of ConnectKentucky.

Sherry LeGrand of Bowling Green, who works for the Department of Medicaid, urged the state to consider paying for more preventative care, which would stave off the need for catastrophic care.

“Why not pay to help someone stop smoking ... or pay for a flu shot,” rather than paying for the consequences, she asked.

Beshear said the state has to reverse its thinking on such issues and begin encouraging personal responsibility in healthy choices and focus on prevention.

His wife, Jane, jumped in on the conversation, as she did several times in the evening.

She told the crowd the state needs to go back to mandatory physical education in elementary schools, drawing applause. And she wants to see healthier foods and Kentucky agriculture products incorporated into school meals.

Joyce Cloutier of Bowling Green, a volunteer for Kentucky Educational Television, told Beshear that education was a key building block in economic development, “but it is the weakest link in our state.”

Cloutier said KET has educational value from birth to death, and she questioned whether Beshear would provide support for it.

“The short answer is yes,” he said, acknowledging that cuts had been made to the service via the Council on Postsecondary Education. “We are going to look into that.”

One man in the audience asked Beshear his position on mountaintop mining in eastern Kentucky.

Beshear said the state has been lax in following its own regulations that require flattened mountaintops to be the exception rather than the rule. The question provided him with a jumping off point to talk about energy production in general.

As he has done several other times, Beshear said Kentucky has the ability to help decrease the country’s dependence on foreign oil. He cited Kentucky work now to capture carbon from coal burning generators and inject them thousands of feet below the surface; the ability to grow just about anything needed for biofuel production; and the ability to produce wind and solar power.

Beshear also pointed to his executive order this week that will eventually allow slow-moving electric vehicles to travel on roads with speed limits of less than 45 mph.

Prior to taking questions, Beshear noted the economic downturn in the state and elsewhere across the country.

“But shared misery is no excuse for sitting on our hands and doing nothing,” he said.

Beshear said the state needs to make preparations now “so when we come through this we will be poised and ready to take off.”