Oh, Kentucky

This is a simply terrific piece of journalism ...

#NoMoreNoKnocks, now in Lexington, too.

Toward more teachers of color.

"This cemetery has experienced vandalism for years. It's usually teenagers who get intoxicated ... it's a remote area ... We have other remote cemeteries which also get vandalized. There's no indication this was racially motivated."

The gravesite of an Revolutionary War soldier was threatened, but Loyall rallied. (It's not what you think.)

Smart Southgate, etc.?

Trooper Island Kids' Camp goes virtual.

On second thought, the Maysville Mason County Recreation Park pool will open this summer.

“It definitely is not any fun when you gotta be stuck in the house and you’d rather be outside shooting paint at your buddies.”

Gird yourself, warns the Pennyrile District health department director.

Rest in peace, Lisa K. Jones, Grayson County's homegrown library hero.

Oh, Kentucky

Carroll Hubbard--now an R-Murray--is running for the state house.

Fischer for Bloomberg. Bevin at the Trump.

A couple of Leitchfield 18-year-old entrepreneurs plan a Nov. 30 grand opening for their new Foam Fort indoor Nerf arena, which sounds like a heck of a lot of fun.

One of Marion's two groceries is not closing; neither, presumably, is the other one.

Here are your Kentucky wines of the year.

Christmas parades: Sharpsburg, Nov. 9; Owensboro, Nov. 23; Central City, Nov. 24; Lebanon and Louisville, Nov. 29; Guthrie, Mayfield and Pikeville, Nov. 30; Boyce, Dawson Springs and Murray, Dec. 1; Bardstown, Dec. 5; Fredonia, Harrodsburg, Hopkinsville, London, Monticello, Pineville, Richmond and Trenton, Dec. 6; Barbourville, Berea, Bowling Green, Cadiz, Calvert City, Columbia, Corbin, Cynthiana, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Grayson, Hawesville, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Madisonville, Marion, Middlesboro, Morgantown, Murray, Owingsville, Paducah, Rabbit Hash, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Somerset, Trenton, Versailles, Whitley City and Winchester, Dec. 7; Georgetown, Dec. 8; Cave City, Dec. 10; Burkesville, Burnside, Elkton, Williamsburg, Dec. 14, and Tollesboro, Dec. 15.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Covington and Fort Mitchell.

Harrodsburg is getting a new convenience store (in an old motorcycle shop); Madisonville, a new steakhouse (in an old steakhouse), and Columbia, a new lumber company (expanded from Indiana).

A refurb for Corbin's Sanders Café is afoot.

A re-treeing of downtown Frankfort is eyed.

Mostly positive reviews for Year 1 of motorized-scooter rentals in Louisville.

"A History of Native Americans in Kentucky," Thursday at the McCracken County Public Library, from WKU’s Kentucky Archaeological Survey (since 1995). 

Christmas parades: Sharpsburg, Nov. 9; Owensboro, Nov. 23; Lebanon and Louisville, Nov. 29; Pikeville, Nov. 30; Boyce, Dawson Springs and Murray, Dec. 1; Bardstown, Dec. 5; Fredonia, Harrodsburg, Hopkinsville, London, Monticello, Pineville and Trenton, Dec. 6; Barbourville, Berea, Bowling Green, Cadiz, Calvert City, Columbia, Corbin, Cynthiana, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Madisonville, Middlesboro, Murray, Owingsville, Paducah, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Trenton, Versailles and Whitley City, Dec. 7; Georgetown, Dec. 8; Cave City, Dec. 10; Burkesville, Burnside, Elkton and Williamsburg, Dec. 14, and Tollesboro, Dec. 15.

Oh, Kentucky

Well, I just discovered my new favorite Facebook follow ...

Oh, except for, perhaps, the Winter Road Report series from The Crittenden Press ...

In the wake of New Hampshire vice-presidential-hopeful Matt Bevin's "soft" soundbites, Kentucky's social-media-sensation elementary-school principal goes a little harder-edged with his latest video.

And speaking of the governor, here's "Refreshing the Finest," Phase II.

Christmas parades: Murray, Dec. 1, and Scottsville, Dec. 7.

Oh, Kentucky

Good (steel) jobs news from Coalton.

Freeze warnings are creeping into Kentucky forecasts, and the Barren County Detention Center lobby remains available to folks who need a place to stay overnight. The jailer "kept it open all summer, actually. We had some coming and going, and we actually had a woman and some kids stay up there a couple of nights. (Homelessness is) still prevalent. It's still out there and we're doing what we can to help them." I'm always impressed with a good meeting story, and Melinda J. Overstreet has a good one about the Barren County Fiscal Court in the Glasgow Daily Times. My favorite sentence is the last of her story: "The entire meeting, including the time for the roll call, prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, was just shy of 15 minutes."

“The wealthiest Kentuckians benefit the most from our growing economy, and by a widening margin,” Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Senior Policy Analyst Anna Baumann said. “It would be reasonable for them to pay a little more in taxes, according to their ability, for the investments that benefit us all. But instead, we have been cutting their taxes, cutting investments in our schools and community based services, and leaning more heavily on middle- and low-income Kentuckians.”

Re-org at Papa John's.

Recovery at Goodfellas.

A fresh start in Madisonville.

I've never been to one, but I'm always interested in these auctions of stuff confiscated by the state government. It's fun, for example, to imagine myself becoming a jon-boat guy.

Rest in peace, Sen. Huddleston, a Cumberland County native and World War II veteran who moved town to town up and down the dial of Kentucky radio stations before going to Washington and eventually being felled by 1984 "Switch! To! Mitch!" fervor at Fancy Farm and elsewhere.

Oh, Kentucky

Cumberland County Retired Teachers donated 35 bags of supplies for students and teachers of Burkesville, KY. pic.twitter.com/37SoZZRVVU

— Sherry Radford (@sherryberry54) August 9, 2018

The allegedly promised Adair County oil boom that wasn't.

The Mayfield boom reportedly is a real thing, however.

Alexandria's County Market is getting out before its narrowing window shuts.

Bus-driver shortage in Warren County.

Veterans Telehealth comes to the Evarts Public Library.

The TV grid and some comics leave the Middlesboro Daily News.

Assessing Year 1 for Etown's Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

"An unpleasant ... necessary story" of Logan County's lynching history, well told by Wes Swietek in Bowling Green's Daily News.

Oh, Kentucky

Day 2 in Highland Heights ...

Good jobs news from Burlington and Louisville. Bad from Bowling Green.

Corbin's effort to keep its Carnegie Library lurches forward.

One-hundred thirty complaints of sexual harassment by state employees since 2012 (not counting the corrections or juvenile-justice departments, which have not yet fulfilled November records requests from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Journalism).

About the shooter at Marshall County High.

Oh, Kentucky

Harness racing today at the Graves County Fair. pic.twitter.com/aqNx0VQLD9

— Ryan Hermens (@ryanhermens) June 7, 2017

Tyler Eschberger in The Middlesboro Daily News has an intriguing story about a man's visit to the local country club to spur investment and interest in making a movie about the town's integrated Little League baseball team in 1953. Ron Schmidt is quoted: "So we make a movie with a Kentucky story, that not only shows kids, but it shows Middlesboro and it shows the beauty and culture of Appalachia…can we all hit a home run? Can you do that? Can you help bring hope to our kids?" Indeed, I would be interested in watching a movie based on Tyler Eschberger's story about Ron Schmidt's 2017 trip to the Middlesboro Country Club to talk about the 1953 story.

Meanwhile, here's a very dark and sad story about demons, healing, sickness, confession, redemption, relapse, justice and everything else in The Casey County News. Prayers for the pastor, the flock, the church, the police, the reporters and everyone around it.

Now back to happy--thanks to Adam Black in Ashland's Daily Independent: "When we first got married, I told her we would never move to Kentucky. Now look, we have opened a restaurant and live right down the road."

NKU's Vegy Vida for kids has been voted among the "Best University Startups 2017."

Appalshop scores among the "100 people, organizations, and movements that are shaping the future of culture."

Louisville comes in at No. 4 among the "Top Ten Worst Trucking Chokepoints in America."

Good jobs news from Bowling Green, Danville and Morganfield ("Leave the emotional garbage at home, you'll get your feelings hurt because we are realist. We are here to work not babysit the emotionally needed folks or put up with excuses. If you've got what it takes, we'd love to talk to you about joining our team.")

Says Kentucky's state climatologist: "For the average person it can be difficult sometimes to see, or maybe to convince yourself, that climate can be changing. But within the scientific community, people that spend their careers studying these things, there’s really a growing consensus that our climate is changing and that human activity is making an impact on that."

The city of Hartford is selling its recycling equipment and tearing down the building where it was used to turn into scrap metal for the practice of student welders. (Also, there will be no movies on the square this summer.)

Madisonville's skate park is open! And it's free to get into our ATV park all year. And we're having a Santa Race next month. So, boom.

Oh, Kentucky

Mothers Day Buffet @kystateparks May 14. Details at: https://t.co/T66ZSjbO09 #kystateparks pic.twitter.com/ttIaDWKahw

— KentuckyStateParks (@KYStateParks) April 17, 2017

I'm getting very excited about Sixth Podcast.

Want to be among the first to see Audubon?

Oh, Kentucky

And the campgrounds open tomorrow.

Kentucky for sale:

Hiring at Levi Jackson Wilderness Road State Park and My Old Kentucky Home. 

"Rattlesnake Trail," yes. "Copperhead Trail," no. 

Want To Move To Burkesville? You've Got Five Hours To Decide ...

Kentucky for sale: 

Our "Princess Anne" style Bed & Breakfast is located just north of the square in the quaint town of Burkesville Kentucky … Operating only one room we have covered the cost of our mortgage for the last 3 years ...

Oh, Kentucky

This is fantastic! It turns out that my favorite college-basketball player, George Fant, who is the son of a great early '90s Lady Topper (and kin of Jim McDaniels), is engaged to be married to the senior star forward on the current Lady Toppers! 

Falling in love with/in Paducah.

"The sex education debate still rages on and it surfaced once again just days ago in the Daviess County School System."

"That's another thing that I've noticed over the last five years in Lexington: the tolerance in the investment community for failure and risk has increased a lot, and the entrepreneurs themselves are more willing to take on risks." 

The state's highest per-capita job growth in 2014 was found in Marion County. 

Oh, Kentucky

For example, one of the fights that bubble up at farmers markets is around rules (or lack thereof) regarding where vendors can source the produce that they sell. Adair County is, per (awesome) ColumbiaMagazine.com, apparently one of the hardliners on this point. Note the all caps and italics on "EXCLUSIVELY" in this report. (Fortunately for sweet-corn fans near Sano, etc., the king is a local.)

Everything about this fantastic story by Kristina Smith in Corbin's Times-Tribune fascinates me. Everything--the woman from Jackson County who was traveling through Switzerland, the hotel receptionist with whom she fell in love, his becoming a police officer, their coming back to Kentucky every year, his meeting a Laurel County sheriff's deputy at a Harley-Davidson dealer. EVERYTHING! (Note the all caps and italics.)

"Feedback from our families would indicate that the regimented selection offered under the federal guidelines, along with the austere portion sizes, have forced many families to pack lunches in order to achieve both the desired selection and portion sizes that their students need."

"The number one reason is Kentucky's stubborn insistence on redistributing far too much of its wealth from the areas with the most population and occupational activity to rural areas."

"If ever there was a compelling reason to secure education beyond high school, this report says it all."

Per Tracys at WKU and William and Mary, Kentucky spends the same amount on gifted education that it did in 1990.

Jails are jammed around central Kentucky.

Low unemployment among Kentucky's 120 counties: Boone. High: Jackson.

Good jobs news from Bowling Green and Hopkinsville.

I totally understand the folks in Pike County who are anxious to drive the new U.S. 460. Before I-24 opened all the way through western Kentucky, Dad a few times got out and drove it in the wee hours of the morning before the work crews were on site. It was fun.

The Ky. 214 ferry barge over the Cumberland River in Monroe County is not yet back in business.

The 1991 Class 3A and 2008 Class 4A KHSAA football champs are getting ready.

Rest in peace, Wallace Clayton "Wah Wah" Jones (1926-2014), Harlan native, former Fayette County sheriff and All-American under both Bear Bryant and Adolph Rupp at UK.

Oh, Kentucky

The Pirates (but not our Pirates) are on their way to Bowling Green today for the football state championships. The Belfry Middle School principal Tweeted out a picture of a sendoff his school hosted for the high-school team before they got on the long road. (Belfry won the state middle-school football title this season.)

It's high-school basketball season, too.

Walmart is on the move in Madisonville. Honestly, this is huge, huge local news.

Good jobs news from Benton.

The mayor of Tom T. Hall's Olive Hill has resigned, and I imagine we'll be hearing a lot more about this story.

Saving the Alexander and Alice in Leitchfield?

Christmas parades: Murray, Dec. 1, and Owenton, Dec. 2.

Oh, Kentucky

Doesn't get any sadder than this.

The State Board of Elections figures Kentucky's voter turnout yesterday at 10.34 percent. However, tiny Cumberland and Monroe counties turned out at about 26- and 21-percent clips, respectively. Those were the state's highest rates of turnout other than Franklin (32.27 percent), whose seat is Frankfort. These two adjacent southern Kentucky counties on the Tennessee line appeared to have voted in such greater frequency than 117 others in order to support a couple of home boys: David L. Williams, who won the Republican primary for governor, is from Burkesville (seat of Cumberland); James R. Comer, for agriculture commissioner, is from Tompkinsville (seat of Monroe). Cumberland and Monroe tallied 2,491 votes for the Williams/Richie Farmer ticket to 285 for runnerup Phil Moffett/Mike Harmon. That's a 2,200-vote advantage in a race decided by fewer than 15,000. (It should also be noted that both Moffett and the third-place governor hopeful, Barbara "Bobbie" Holsclaw are from Louisville and that Jefferson County roughly split 17,000 votes between their two tickets while marking fewer than 8,000 in the Williams/Farmer column.) In the agriculture-commissioner race, Comer dominated Shelby County's Rob Rothenburger in the Cumberland/Monroe wheelhouse, 2,622 to 157. But then he would not have been hurt had all of Burkesville and Tompkinsville spent their Election Day off staying home to get their gardens in late after all of these spring rains, anyway; Comer garnered more statewide votes than any other Republican in a Kentucky primary and blasted Rothenburger by more than 43,000 overall votes.

The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) HistoryMobile rolls on!

County needs more than a new boys' basketball coach.

An ominous two paragraphs from near the Cumberland Gap.

More bees.

Twitter overnights: Alabama's two-time Mr. Basketball might announce his college choice today in front of a big crowd (or he might not), but UK coach John Calipari is hanging out even further south.

Take that, Bobby Knight!

Oh, Kentucky

The Heath Post Kentucky Bureau will be officially rooting tonight for Lexington Bryan Station High School's Shelvin Mack and Butler University.

I have seen the future of journalism, and one of its names is ColumbiaMagazine.com.

Good jobs news from Columbia?

It's springtime, and, for western Kentucky, that means all manner of severe-weather watches and warnings. My wife and daughter and I go all out for these. Huddling with the ladies of the house and supplies in an interior closet is my favorite thing about these alerts; my second-favorite is hearing the names of the Kentucky towns covered. A severe-thunderstorm warning in effect until 11 Central this morning for Daviess, Henderson and McLean counties encompasses Beech Grove, Calhoun, Knottsville, Masonville, Robards, Saint Joseph, Stanley and Whitesville. Not sure I've ever been to Knottsville.

Christmas 1864 in southern Kentucky

What a route.

Historical marker 509, in Eddyville, reads, "Several brisk skirmishes took place in this area because of the importance of Cumberland River navigation. Oct. 17, 1864, General HB Lyon with small CSA force attacked Union garrison, which surrendered and was taken from town. Union gunboat 'Silver Lake' shelled town, took Lyon's wife hostage. Lyon then released Capt. Hugh M. Hiett and 8 USA officers."

577, in Hopkinsville: "... Lyon with 800 men invaded Ky., Dec. 1864, to enforce CSA draft law and divert USA from Nashville. In 23 days he burned seven courthouses used by Union forces. See map on reverse side. Courthouse at Hopkinsville burned Dec. 12. All county records saved. Commandeered clothing and went on. ..."

578, in Cadiz: "... Lyon came to Cadiz, December 13. US force fled courthouse, leaving man with smallpox. Lyon burned 'contaminated' building, moved to Eddyville. County records saved."

579, in Princeton: "... US troops fled Princeton as Lyon came from Eddyville. Courthouse burned on December 15. Records saved. Next day, Lyon stopped US force, then moved toward Madisonville."

577, in Hopkinsville: "... Returned on 16th, skirmished with US force and moved to Madisonville."

580, in Madisonville: "... Courthouse at Madisonville burned December 17. All county records saved. All able-bodied men conscripted, took oath to meet Lyon, Jan. 20, released, but oath not fulfilled."

581, in Hartford: "... At Hartford, garrison captured by Lyon, Dec. 20--later paroled--and courthouse burned. Records, in other building, saved on plea by Samuel O. Peyton, local doctor."

589, in Leitchfield: "Dec. 24, 1864, a contingent of CSA Gen. Lyon's force, ordered to harass and delay pursuing Union troops, burned courthouse at Leitchfield. Records destroyed."

582, in Campbellsville: "... The courthouse at Campbellsville was burned December 25. Some records saved. Desertions had reduced ranks to 250 and Lyon moved out of state via Burkesville, Jan. 3."

583, in Burkesville: "... Raid ended at Burkesville with robbery of stores, impressment of horses and burning of courthouse, Jan. 3. All county records saved. Lyon then moved south to Alabama."

Best Golf Courses in Kentucky 09-10

According to Golf Digest:

1. Valhalla Golf Club (Louisville) (the only course in Kentucky ever to host a major tournament)
2. Big Spring Country Club (Louisville)
3. Champion Trace Golf Club (Nicholasville)
4. The Club at Olde Stone (Alvaton)
5. Old Silo Golf Club (Mount Sterling)
6. Eagle Ridge Golf Course at Yatesville Lake (Louisa)
7. Hurstbourne Country Club (Championship Course) (Louisville)
8. Louisville Country Club (Louisville)
9. Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park Golf Course (Burkesville)
10. Persimmon Ridge Country Club (Louisville)