Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

December 27, 1784, the County of Kentucky called its 1^st convention in Danville, bringing together the most noted of Kentucky’s pioneers to discuss independence from Virginia.  This is Kentucky by Robert A. Powell, pg: 76

December 27, 1786, a group of seven men met at the residence of Samuel McDowell in Danville to form the Political Club, now known in history as the Danville Political Club.  The group’s members debated the most heated issues of the day, the two most pressing being Kentucky gaining statehood and the U.S. Constitution.

In the December 27, 1787 edition of the Kentucky Gazette, Elijah Craig solicited scholars to study at a new academy.  It opened in January 1788 in Lebanon Town (Scott County) and would offer the courses taught in public seminaries.  Ten years later the Rittenhouse Academy absorbed it.  In 1829 Georgetown College took control.

December 27, 1860, Governor B. Magoffin called a special session to consider succession.  The Civil War in Kentucky by Lowell H. Harrison

December 27, 1862, General John Hunt Morgan captured Elizabethtown.  Each side wrote their account of the day; one pro-Union account reported widespread looting, even by Morgan himself.  Other accounts gave details of how Morgan established a headquarters and met with old friends who wanted to see the “Rebel Raider” himself.  Morgan had just been promoted to Brigadier General on December 11 and was married on the 14^th.

December 27, 1871, Cabell’s Dale native Robert Jefferson Breckinridge passed away, the son of Senator John Breckinridge.  A restless youth, Princeton suspended Breckinridge for fighting and, following his graduation from Union College in 1819, was prone to engage in a lifestyle of partying and revelry.  However, he was admitted to the bar in 1824 and elected to the Kentucky General Assembly in 1825.  A severe illness and the death of a child in 1829 prompted him to turn to religion.  He became an ordained minister in 1832.  Cabell’s Dale was located just outside Lexington.

December 27, 1875, City Marshal Thomas H. Chandler, Lebanon Police Department, died from a gunshot as his posse attempted to arrest a man.  Marshal Chandler shot the man when he refused to surrender and was fatally shot by the man’s brother.

December 27, 1896, Officer Charles Lacey, Cynthiana Police Department, succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on Christmas Eve while attempting to arrest a drunk subject.  Locals later acquitted the 16-year-old.

On December 27, 1908, Deputy Jailer Logan Young, Jessamine County Sheriff’s Department, succumbed to gunshot wounds when he and another deputy attempted to arrest a mentally ill man threatening a family member.  When the deputies arrived, the man opened fire on them with a shotgun from behind his horse.  Locals declared the subject insane and institutionalized him.

December 27, 1952, Marine Corps PFC Durward A. Ray from Lancaster died in the Korean War.

December 27, 1960, Muhammad Ali (2-0) fought Herb Siler (1-1) in Miami Beach Auditorium.  Siler became Clay’s 1^st knockout victim, going down in the 4^th round of a scheduled eight-round fight.  Twelve years later, a jury convicted Siler of manslaughter, and he served a seven-year sentence.  He died in 2001 in Miami.

December 27, 1967, Marine Corps LCPL Mitchell Hughes Junior from Louisville died in the Vietnam War.

December 27, 1986, Bowling Green native and guard Rex Chapman prepared to take a shot as Louisville’s Craig Hawley defended during the Cats’ 85-51 win in Louisville.  Chapman, a freshman, lit up the Cards for 26 points, hitting 10 of his 20-shot attempts.  Despite playing only two years at Kentucky, Chapman is 50^th on UK’s all-time scoring list with 1,073 points.

December 27, 1990, Paintsville native and forward John Pelphrey launched a jump shot against Eastern Kentucky at Rupp Arena.  Pelphrey had 12 points in the 74-60 UK win and is 32^nd on the all-time scoring list.

December 27, 1997, Denny Crum’s Louisville Cardinals met Tubby Smith’s #4 Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington and won 79-76.  The Cats broke a six-year winning streak against non-conference opponents at home.

December 27, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service stated that Oak and Hickory trees claimed more ground in the Appalachian Forest in the wake of a three-year siege of pine beetles.  With the death of so many pine trees, the forest replaced them naturally with deciduous hardwoods.

December 27, 2009, Rich Brooks coached his last game for the Kentucky Wildcat football team in a losing effort against Clemson in the Music City Bowl, 13-21.

December 27, 2017, eight former and current Kentucky state employees sued the Kentucky Retirement System (KRS) officials, consultants, selected board members, three hedge fund firms, and their top executives.  The suit claimed KRS and their partners played roles in a “civil conspiracy” that gambled a $2.1 billion investment in risky hedge funds and masked the severity of the crisis for years.

On December 27, 2019, a group representing the CEOs of health insurers worldwide published its biannual guide, International Federation of Health Plans, that addressed the international cost of specific medical services.  The report on 2017 prices showed the U.S. paid higher prices for medication, imaging tests, basic health visits, and common operations.  Not only did the U.S. system make customers pay outrageous fees, but it also financed a robust and politically powerful healthcare industry, making lowering prices next to impossible.

December 27, 2021, while the omicron variant disrupted U.S. air travel due to crews calling in sick, and also some nasty weather, grocery workers across the nation claimed their corporate offices did not support their predicament of being on the front lines during the endemic.  Meanwhile, in Frankfort, Governor A. Beshear announced an infant’s death due to the December 10 tornadoes.  This death raised the total from 76 to 77, making it the deadliest tornado in Kentucky history by passing the 1890 Jefferson County tornado that killed 76.