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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Colonel Richard Callaway, born in 1717.   “Probably no single man accomplished more than Callaway in laying the foundation that culminated in the admission of Kentucky into the Union.”  A quote by R. Alexander Bate A.B., M.D. in an article published in The Filson Club History Quarterly.

Kentucky Trivia:  The exact year of Richard Callaway’s birth is disputed among sources, but he was likely born between 1717 and 1722.

June 14, 1775, at Judge Henderson’s insistence, pioneers christened the first fortified camp built in Kentucky “Boonesborough.”

June 14, 1789, Rev. Elijah Craig, a Baptist preacher, produced the first whiskey distilled from corn in Fayette County, (the area became Woodford County later in 1789, and finally Scott County in 1792).  American whiskey authorities believe Craig was making exactly the same kind of whiskey as his contemporaries and that the story is likely a charming legend.

June 14, 1905, the Lexington Public Library, located on Second Street, opened to the public, thanks in part to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.

June 14, 1914, Christian County native Adlai Ewing Stevenson died in Chicago at age 78.  Adlai became the 23rd V.P for # 24,, President G. Cleveland.

June 14, 1915, City Marshal Nimrod Showalter, Brooksville Police Department, died by a man he had arrested the previous day.  After releasing the suspect on bail, he found Marshal Showalter near the courthouse and shot him.

June 14, 1930, Police Officer August Schoo, Newport Police Department, died from a gunshot by an unknown man.  Police later killed the prime suspect in an unrelated shootout.

June 14, 1931, South Keene native James Louis Blythe died.

On June 14, 1938, after several studies and political squabbles between ex Governor Ruby Laffoon and Governor Happy Chandler, locals dedicated the Frankfort War Memorial Bridge.  The Kentucky River by William E. Ellis pg: 90

Kentucky Trivia:  Growth necessitated the construction of five bridges in Frankfort and Franklin County since the early 1960s.  In 1962, two opened over I-64: one opened on State Highway 676 and then one each at Miro and Clinton, which carried U.S. 127 into Frankfort on a new bypass.  The Kentucky River by William E. Ellis pg: 90

June 14, 1951, Army CPT Herschel E. Fuson from Bell County died in the Korean War.

June 14, 1953, Army PVT Kenneth E. Crawford from Webster County and Army PFC Frank X. Schmidt from Campbell County, died in the Korean War.

June 14, 1963, Kentucky established Fort Boonesborough State Park.

June 14, 1963, President John F. Kennedy announced that TVA would develop the land between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake.

June 14, 1968, Army PFC Darrell W. Maynard from Scottsville in Allen County died in the Vietnam War.

June 14, 1972, the Kentucky State Racing Commission began an investigation into races two and ten on Kentucky Derby day.  They were particularly concerned about “inconsistent wagering and the handling of the horses afterward.”

June 14, 1975, Kentucky announced that owners of the Beverly Hills Supper Club apparently expanded and rebuilt parts of the facility without required approval of state fire officials.  The fire took place May 28, killing 162 people.

On June 14, 1975, “Pioneer Jim” Williams, left, placed the cornerstone for the Lexington Civic Center on a wooden carrier during Lexington’s bicentennial celebration.  The cornerstone came from the 200-year-old John Hancock House in Lexington, Mass., and Williams transported it in a horse-drawn covered wagon.  Lexington celebrated its 200th anniversary with a three-day festival.

June 14, 1981, the percentage of students graduating from Kentucky’s High School continued to decline, and the state announced they were trying to figure it out.  Only 64.2% of the 45,445 freshmen in 1976-77 graduated in 1981.  The percentage of graduates had declined for five straight years.

Kentucky Trivia:  High School graduation for Kentucky and Iowa, in 2019, boasted the highest rates in the country with 94%.  Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas followed closely behind, with 93%.

On June 14, 1984, while Southern Baptist voted to discourage the ordination of women because “God created man first and a woman led the fall from grace in Eden,” a Scott County thoroughbred farm owner got handed 15 counts of mail fraud for selling horses he didn’t own.  Shocked friends described Ronald Leavitt, owner of the 103-acre Deep Creek Farm, as an all-American kid.  Bob Washer, his farm manager, said Bob never visited and that he was disgusted to learn the farm he put his blood, sweat, and heart into was gone.

June 14, 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the constitution permitted police to stop drivers at roadside checkpoints and examine them for signs of intoxication.

June 14, 1996, Louisville’s Pleasure Ridge Park High School earned their 3rd straight baseball state championship.  They defeated #1 Greenup County 5-3 to become the 1st team to win three titles in a row since Ashland did it in the late 60s.

On June 14, 1999, one of the UK’s air ambulance helicopters crashed just after takeoff from the Julian Carroll Airport near Jackson in Breathitt County, returning to the Chandler Medical Center in Lexington.  Four people died, including a flight nurse who had switched shifts at the very last second.

June 14, 2003, marked the “official” end to the Hatfield and McCoy feud when the families signed a truce on CBS’s The Saturday Early Show.  Everyone needs a little attention now and then.

June 14, 2005, Army PFC Michael R. Hayes, 29, of Morgantown, died from a grenade in Baghdad fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

June 14, 2007, a federal grand jury in Covington indicted three Lexington attorneys: Mills, Cunningham, and Gallion for conspiracy to commit fraud and stealing $65 million.

On June 14, 2012, the British Supreme Court rejected J. Assange’s final appeal.  Five days later, he took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London and sought political asylum, which Ecuador granted in August 2012.

On June 14, 2012, Churchill Downs abandoned the graded stakes earnings criteria it has used since 1986 to determine which 20 horses started in the Derby.  Instead, they went with a point system.  The original Road to the Kentucky Derby featured 36 stakes races, including 17 marquee events in a 10-week event known as the “Kentucky Derby Championship Series.”

June 14, 2015, Lexington native Trevor Gott made his MLB debut for the Los Angeles Angels.

June 14, 2015, the construction of Noah’s Ark in Williamstown began.  The ark is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, 51 feet high, and required 3.2 million feet of wooden planks.  If you laid the planks end-to-end, they would reach Philadelphia.

June 14, 2018, Attorney General (AG) A. Beshear sued pharmacy chain Walgreens for exacerbating the “man-made” opioid crisis, by being the distributor and dispenser.  The lawsuit also asserted the company willfully ignored its own safeguard systems designed to protect consumers and monitor their drug consumption.

Kentucky Trivia:  Kentucky received $102 million from Walgreens in 2023 to settle the lawsuit.  The settlement, finalized under AG Daniel Cameron, will be paid over 15 years, with funds to support recovery efforts.  Walgreens agreed to monitor, report, and share data on suspicious opioid prescription activities.

On Sunday, June 14, 2020, Lexington police arrested twenty protestors who gathered for a 16th straight night, calling for more police accountability.  Meanwhile, Pulaski County High School offered a drive-thru / drive-in graduation ceremony.

Starting on June 14, 2021, National Bourbon Day, UK announced that vaccinated individuals did not need to wear a mask on campus, but the unvaccinated had to.  Members of the UK community were not mandated to be vaccinated, and Kentucky had already dropped the mandate for face masks.  A month later, Johns Hopkins reported that vaccinated people could and did transmit the coronavirus.  Meanwhile, the $100 gift certificate giveaway began in Eastern Kentucky for everyone who took the experimental vaccine.

June 14, 2021, Milo Golding, from Rising Lexington Christian Academy, won Google’s national “Doodle for Google” contest.  He earned a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology package for his school, and millions saw his art work before they google their search.

On Tuesday, June 14, 2022, AG D. Cameron sued the Beshear administration for failing to enforce a new restrictive abortion law — the same law a federal judge earlier blocked from taking effect.  The lawsuit argued the governor had to comply with parts of the law, like creating and distributing forms on which abortion providers submit information to the state.  Cameron, who was running for governor, filed the suit because the Cabinet hadn’t complied.

On June 14, 2022, Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul joined forces to import drugs from other countries to make prescription drugs cheaper for Americans.  “I always wanted to go to a Bernie rally, and now I feel like I’ve been there,” Paul joked after Sanders finished talking in the Senate hearing.  Meanwhile, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would back a bipartisan gun control agreement that had deadlocked legislators for three decades.

It was the hottest June 14 on record in Louisville in 2022, with temperatures skyrocketing to 96 degrees.  It felt like 106 degrees so said the weathermen.  Ironically, the low temperature of the day, 83 degrees, marked the highest temperature for a daily low recorded in Louisville in June since 1936.  Meanwhile, according to biologists, hundreds of dead fish floated to the top of Cherokee Park Pond due to the heat, causing an algae bloom.

On June 14, 2022, the Claudia Sanders Dinner House, the restaurant that Colonel Sanders built for his wife Claudia, went on sale for $9 million.  The restaurant, a staple of Shelbyville for decades, is known for its famous yeast rolls, massive buffet, creamed spinach, pies, and fried chicken.  In March 2023, the owners cut the asking price to $4.9 million.

On June 14, 2023, Thomas Massie bucked the GOP leadership again when he made the Tweet below.  Schiff was the #1 Russiagate instigator.  If the Democrats hadn’t blamed Russia for all their problems, D. Trump might not have become president.

June 14, 2023, a Lexington-based nursing home chain agreed to close two of its Louisville facilities, displacing roughly 200 people, after state inspectors uncovered serious problems including a rodent infestation, filthy living conditions, and a general lack of care for the elderly and ailing residents.  Exceptional Living Centers voluntarily terminated its Medicare provider agreements at Hillcreek Rehabilitation and Care and St. Matthews Care and Rehabilitation Center.

On June 14, 2024, there was no word if Big Bank Barr received a bottle of Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon from one of the financial predators he represents.  If not, he sure does deserve one.

On June 14, 2024, Thomas Massie made some posts concerning Big Ag vs. the family cattleman.