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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Madison County native Willie Kavanaugh Hocker, born in 1862.  Willie taught school and designed the current Arkansas flag.

On July 21, 1862, Richmond native Samuel Freeman Miller joined the U.S. Supreme Court.  Lincoln nominated Miller, and the Senate confirmed him on July 16, 1862.  Miller’s opinions favored Lincoln’s, backing the wartime suspension of habeas corpus and trials by military commission.

July 21, 1891, Fayette County’s new jail on East Short Street received their 1st prisoners.

July 21, 1897, Hopkins County lynched Ephraim Brinkley, for bad character.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Frankfort native Susan Clay Sawitzky, born in 1897.  The great-granddaughter of Henry Clay wrote poetry and studied history. 

July 21, 1919, Constable William Lear, Madison County Constable’s Office, succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous day while questioning a man who had threatened a boy.

On July 21, 1924, on WHAS radio, John Y. Brown and Senator Happy Chandler discussed the source of tires used on the Senator’s family automobile.  Brown also wanted to discuss the Senator’s family pool built by a Louisville contractor.  J.Y.B. announced his candidacy for Happy’s Senate seat later that night on the radio.

July 21, 1934, Lexington and Louisville police radio operators experimented with inter-station communications.  The two forces wanted to communicate daily.  Lexington’s WPET radio station and Louisville’s WPDE station installed short-wave receivers, and both would have to be turned at specific intervals to communicate.

On July 21, 1943, the Narcotic Farm smuggling trial ended in guilty verdicts in a Lexington federal courtroom.  A prisoner, his wife, and a guard got caught introducing contraband into the prison, including money, letters, and marijuana.  The jury acquitted two black inmates in the conspiracy.

July 21, 1944, Marine PVT 1st Class Luther Skaggs, Jr. from Henderson received major wounds when a Japanese grenade exploded near him in Guam.  But instead of calling a corpsman and revealing his outfit’s position, he calmly applied a tourniquet to his shattered leg and, for eight hours, continued to return the enemy’s fire with his rifle and hand grenades.  For this, President H. Truman awarded Skaggs the Congressional Medal of Honor for being uncomplaining and calm and serving as “a heroic example of courage and fortitude to other wounded men.”

July 21, 1944, Lexington reported their 3rd case of poliomyelitis or infantile paralysis.  Even though the average number of people affected was five a year, the Kiwanis Club canceled their boys’ summer camp for the underprivileged.  The polio vaccine began in 1955.

July 21, 1949, Guard Julius R. Cummins, Kentucky Department of Corrections, died in an automobile accident near Eddyville while returning to the prison facility from the prison farm.

July 21, 1950, Army PFC John R. McCoy from Bell County died in the Korean War.

July 21, 1951, Army PFC William O. Kolb from Jefferson County died in the Korean War.

July 21, 1952, Army CPL Rex Lovely from Magoffin County died in the Korean War.

July 21, 1952, the Democrats opened their 31st National Convention and gave a roaring ovation to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson, the man who said he didn’t want the party’s presidential nomination.

July 21, 1969, Army PFC Edward S. Hamilton from Ashland died in the Vietnam War.

July 21, 1970, Army W01 Phillip G. Wright from Ashland died in the Vietnam War.

July 21, 1976, Pebworth native Earle Combs died in Richmond and is interred in the Richmond Cemetery.

July 21, 1980, Uncle Sam began a draft for 19 and 20-year-old men, even though many thought the law was unconstitutional because it excluded women.  Regardless, few men signed up.

July 21, 1980, Rona Barrett interviewed Governor and Mrs. John Y. Brown, Jr. on the Good Morning America show.  Rona reminded John they met 12 years earlier and he told her he wanted to be vice president and possibly president.  He did not remember the conversation.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Draffenville native Chrishell Stause, born in 1983 in Marshall County.  She is best known for playing Amanda Dillon on All My Children and later Jordan Ridgeway in Days of Our Lives.

July 21, 1990, after five consecutive wins, Darrin School Boy Van Horn had a rematch with Gianfranco Rosi in Italy for the IBF Junior Middleweight Championship.  Van Horn lost in a 12-round unanimous decision.  However, he fought better than the first time they met, when he lost the title to Rosi.

July 21, 1991, Place Dancer won the $30,850 Simon Kenton Stakes at Ellis Park for owner A.J. Foyt, Jr. and trainer A.J. (Tony) Foyt III.

July 21, 1998, a Mr. Prospector yearling topped the July Yearling Sale at $4 million; two years later Fusaichi Pegasus won the Kentucky Derby.

July 21, 2000, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed Shane Ragland’s father sold more than $16 million in stock from his company days before his son went to jail with a $1 million bond.

July 21, 2003, John Hoover from Louisville caught a state record Warmouth in a private pond in Jefferson County that weighed 1 lb. and 6.2 ozs.

July 21, 2008, American Idol wannabees waved outlandish signs, hoping to catch a judge’s attention as locals waited outside Freedom Hall.  Many represented small towns in Kentucky.  Noah Thompson, who went to Lawrence County High School in Louisa, is Kentucky’s only claim to fame for the talent show.

July 21, 2010, Coach Calipari got cold feet and canceled a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser at his home for Governor S. Beshear one day after he said he would host.

July 21, 2016, after a four-hour hearing, Franklin Circuit Court Judge Philip Shepard still didn’t decide on a case between the governor and attorney general.  This dispute involved Governor Bevin’s overhaul of UofL’s governing board.  The drama between Andy and Matt never seemed to stop.

July 21, 2018, three guys from Louisville set a world record for “highest pinfall in tenpin bowling in 24 hours (team).”  Stephen Wiseman, Trace Wiseman, Jalin Troutman, and Kyle Reed scored a 39,557.  In 2017, Trace and Steve set the Guinness World Records title for most pins knocked down in 24 hours by a pair, which was the impetus for attempting this record title.

July 21, 2018, a nose separated the winner in Saratoga’s GI $500,000 Diana Stakes for fillies and mares, three-year-old and upward.

July 21, 2020, while America stayed on edge and divided over basic issues, Governor A. Beshear told Kentuckians that infections increased significantly for kids under five and “there was no safe region in Kentucky anymore.”  He wanted everyone to social distance, wear a mask, and not travel.  Finally, he told all Kentuckians to cancel their beach family plans for states with a “15% infection rate,” all in an effort to slow the spread.

On July 21, 2021, a Republican and a Democrat came together on the Louisville Metro Council to tweak in the indoor smoking ban to allow cigar bars to open in the city.

July 21, 2021, President J. Biden during a CNN Town Hall told the audience if you get vaccinated you would not get carnivorous.  Later in the Town Hall he became more confused, “There are trusted interlocutors.  Think of the people — if your kid wanted to find out whether or not there were — there’s a man on the moon, or whatever — you know, something, or, you know, whether those aliens are here or not — you know, who are the people they talk to beyond the kids who love talking about it?  They go to people they respect, and they say, “What do you think?”

July 21, 2022, President J. Biden, 79, tested positive for the coronavirus for the 1st time and felt minor symptoms.  Meanwhile, scientists around the globe agreed the virus was “endemic.”  The government claimed the new variants made it difficult for Americans to return to normal after 2.5 years of “pandemic” disruptions.  The president tested positive again in 2024.

July 21, 2022, the eighth prime-time show in a series over the past six weeks, featured numerous revelations about the January 6 events.  The House Committee declared, “Trump’s refusal for more than three hours to call off the mob attacking the Capitol constituted a dereliction of duty.”

July 21, 2022, Governor A. Beshear in his nightly update told Kentuckians that, “there is a lot of COVID out there and it is spreading a lot faster than it was last month and a lot of people are getting it.”

On July 21, 2023, President J. Biden elevated CIA Director Bill Burns to his Cabinet, a symbolic measure that nonetheless represented the MIC and Ukraine’s influence on his presidency.  Biden, showing obvious signs of dementia, let the world know, through a written statement, that Bill Burns was de facto U.S. President, at least regarding foreign policy.

On July 21, 2023, a website named Kentucky’s Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway, a 75-mile state highway in Eastern Kentucky, the sixth most feared road in the country.  Number one is in Nevada, U.S. Route 50, and is nicknamed the loneliest road in America.  Since 2015, Kentucky has been widening the parkway to four lanes and construction is 97% complete.