Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility.  To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.  Wendell Berry

August 16, 1862, Adj. General Finnell reported that 41,703 Kentuckians volunteered for the Union Army, one year, four months, and four days into the war.

August 16, 1884, Special Deputy Sheriff, George Cassell of the Fayette County Police Department, died from a gunshot while searching for two men who escaped from the state penitentiary.

August 16, 1888, Patrolmen James W. Jones and Joseph Rosenberg, Louisville Police Department, were walking a beat at 2:00 a.m. when they heard a woman scream “murder, help.”  The officers entered a house infamous for crimes and murders committed within its walls.  They found a man beating Mary Burns, with whom he was living.  What occurred inside the house was never discovered, but the man fled and arrested two hours later.

August 16, 1892, Montgomery County lynched Logan Murphy, of an unknown race for murder.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Eleanor R. Beckham, born in 1901.  Eleanor is the only child born in the Old Governor’s Mansion in the 117 years it was the governor’s official residence from 1797-1914.

August 16, 1943, Deputy Sheriff John Middleton, Harlan County Sheriff’s Office, died by a man collecting snakes to use at an upcoming church service.  Kentucky law prohibited snake handling at church services.  The man shot Deputy Middleton after a confrontation.

August 16, 1950, Army PFC Oliver Colegrove from Carter County, Army PFC William C. Gray from Perry County, Army PVT Garland R. Hall from Jefferson County, and Army PVT Charlie Harmon from Magoffin County, died in the Korean War.

August 16, 1956, Procter & Gamble purchased the brand name Duncan Hines from Hines-Park Foods, Inc., a partnership of Bowling Green native Duncan Hines and New Yorker Roy Park.

On August 16, 1965, the promotion of two veteran police officers gave Louisville its 1^st assistant police chief and the South’s 1^st African American Police Major.  The International Association of Police Chiefs stated they were unaware the South had any African American above the rank of Lieutenant.

August 16, 1969, Army SGT William K. Blackburn from Pikeville died in the Vietnam War.

August 16, 1970, Army SSG Stephen A. Sharp from Sebree in Webster County died in the Vietnam War.

On August 16, 1971, candidates agreed to limit their campaign spending for the 1^st time in Kentucky political history.  Lt. Governor W. Ford balked earlier but then agreed with Tom Emberton to only spend $330,000 in the general election from May 26 to November 2.  Happy Chandler from the Commonwealth Party and William Smith from the American party had approved as well.

August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died.

August 16, 1980, Lexington officials swore in chief deputy David Kiser, 35, as Sheriff.  He succeeded Philip Angelucci, Jr., who resigned after pleading guilty to federal mail fraud charges.

August 16, 1990, sheriffs from Breathitt, Owsley, Wolfe, and Lee Counties received indictments for taking payoffs and protecting drug traffickers.  Federal authorities said it was the largest drug related public corruption case in state history.  Undercover agents posed as Chicago drug dealers doling out $85,000 in bribes.

August 16, 1995, Bluegrass Airport announced they would build a booth for smokers inside the terminal.  The National Smokers Alliance (NSA) praised the decision, while drawing rebuke from Kentucky’s Alliance to Control Tobacco Smoking in our Neighborhoods (ACTION).

August 16, 2000, a Kentucky family with ties to Murray State University but wished to remain anonymous gave the school $3 million.  The gift carried no restriction and qualified for matching funds from the Bucks for Brains budget.

August 16, 2006, Mayfield native Herschel Harper “Herky” Green died.  Herky was a World War II flying Ace in the U.S. Army Air Forces.  He published his memoir Herky!: the Memoirs of a Checkertail Ace in 1996.

August 16, 2008, a Kentucky bred and Keeneland graduate won Monmouth Park’s GIII $300,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes.

August 16, 2011, House Speaker Greg Stumbo demanded that the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure oversee doctors who prescribe questionable amounts of pain pills.  He also told them that if they can’t do their job, he will find another agency.  Unfortunately, Stumbo’s demand was never met, and he never found another agency.

Kentucky Trivia:  Between 2006 and 2012, drug companies distributed 76 billion doses of prescription pain medicine, “enough pills to supply every adult and child in the country with 36 each year.”  Kentucky ranked 2^nd in pills per person per year, at 63.3, topped only by West Virginia at 66.5.  Some Kentucky counties had staggering distribution rates per person.  Whitley-187, Perry-175, Floyd-168, Bell-156, Johnson-152, Pike-146, Clay-134, Lee-133, Clinton County-147, Crittenden-119, and McCracken at 107.

August 16, 2014, a Keeneland graduate exacta won Saratoga’s GII $300,000 Knob Creek Lake Placid Stakes, for three-year-old fillies.  The winner foaled in Kentucky.

On August 16, 2019, the Castle & Key Distillery southeast of Frankfort discharged an unknown quantity of untreated wastewater into Glenns Creek, killing an unknown number of fish.  Meanwhile down the road, Governor M. Bevin claimed the sick-outs by 1,074 teachers, in February, violated Kentucky law.  He had so many blunders and the end of his term.

On August 16, 2020, as schools started back up, districts across the state were torn between doing what the governor said and following their instincts.  While crying, Madison County board member Lori Cobb emphasized the importance of teaching kids in the classroom.  The lockdowns placed her family and many neighbors in a difficult situation.  Three economists later concluded in a Johns Hopkins working paper that lockdowns did not have a significant effect on mortality rates, sparking more heated debates.

Positives:  390 / 39,315
Deaths:  3 / 813
50&over: 789 / 49-30: 23 / 29&under: 1
Coronavirus deaths are counted if a deceased person tested positive, regardless of the cause.

Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) set August 16, 2021 as the deadline for employees to be vaccinated and September 13 to get the 2^nd one if they chose the two-dose regimen.