Timeline Kentucky
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ALHN: http://www.usgennet.org/~alhnkyus/
Details: http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky.html
Facts: http://www.50states.com/kentucky.htm
Map: http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/
Newspapers: http://ajr.newslink.org/kynews.html
Kentucky is about the same size as Iceland.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
1767 Jun 7,
Daniel Boone sighted present-day Kentucky. [see Jun 7, 1769]
(HN, 6/7/01)
1769 Jun 7, Daniel Boone first
began to explore the present-day Bluegrass State as recognized by
Kentucky's Historical Society. [see June 7, 1767]
(AP, 6/7/97)
1775 Mar 17, Richard Henderson, a
North Carolina judge, representing the Transylvania Company, met with
three Cherokee Chiefs (Oconistoto, chief warrior and first
representative of the Cherokee Nation or tribe of Indians, and
Attacuttuillah and Sewanooko) to purchase (for the equivalent of
$50,000) all the land lying between the Ohio, Kentucky and Cumberland
rivers; some 17 to 20 million acres. It was known as the Treaty of
Sycamore Shoals or The Henderson Purchase. The purchase was later
declared invalid but land cession was not reversed.
(www.tngenweb.org/cessions/17750317.html)
1776 Jul 14, Jemima Boone (13),
the daughter of Daniel Boone, and 2 friends were kidnapped by a group
of 5 Shawnee and Cherokee Indians near Boonesborough, Kentucky. They
were rescued on July 16 by Daniel Boone and 7 other Boonesborough men.
(ON, 8/08, p.6)
1782 Lexington was established and
became the first commercial and cultural center west of the Allegheny
Mountains.
(SFEM, 3/12/00, p.47)
1775 Daniel Boone blazed a trail
through the Cumberland Gap in Kentucky.
(WSJ, 1/28/00, p.W8)
1778 Sep 7, Shawnee Indians
attacked and laid siege to Boonesborough, Kentucky.
(HN, 9/7/98)
1788 Colonel William Whitley, a
veteran of the Revolutionary War, erected the first US horse racing
track 40 miles south of Lexington. He ran his horse counterclockwise to
the British tradition and built the track in clay rather than turf.
(SFEM, 3/12/00, p.46)
1789 Nov 8, Bourbon Whiskey, 1st
distilled from corn, was made by Elijah Craig in Bourbon, Ky.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1792 Jun 1, Kentucky became the
15th state of the Union.
(AP, 6/1/97)
1794 Jan 13, President Washington
approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American
flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. The
number of stripes was later reduced to the original 13.
(AP, 1/13/01)
1797 The first recorded
performance of an English-language drama , the tragedy Douglas, west of
the Alleghenies took place here at Washington, Kentucky.
(HNQ, 8/8/99)
1798 Nov 16, Kentucky became the
1st state to nullify an act of Congress.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1799 Jean-Jacques Dufour, a Swiss
settler, established Kentucky’s 1st vineyard and grew the Alexander
grape.
(WSJ, 11/24/00, p.W8)
1801 Aug 6, A 9-day revival began
at the Cane Ridge Presbyterian Church in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Some
20,000 people showed up for the revival called by Rev. Barton W. Stone.
3 evangelistic Christian groups grew out of the meeting.
(WSJ, 8/10/01, p.W15)
1801 Nov 10, Kentucky banned
dueling.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1803 Former Vermont Congressman
Matthew Lyon (1749-1822) was elected US Representative from Kentucky
(1803-1811).
(WSJ, 10/29/04, p.W10)
1806 A gunfight over rustled
cattle deepened into sporadic combat between settlers along the
Kentucky River.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.E1)
1808 Jun 3, Jefferson Davis -- the
first and only president of the Confederacy -- was born in Christian
County, Ky. He was imprisoned and indicted for treason, but the case
was dropped.
(AP, 6/3/97)(HN, 6/3/99)
1809 Feb 12, Abraham Lincoln, 16th
president of the US, was born in Hardin County(present-day Larue
County), Kentucky. Lincoln was president of the United States during
one of the most turbulent times in American history. Although roundly
criticized during his own time, he is recognized as one of history's
greatest figures who preserved the Union during the Civil War and
proved that democracy could be a lasting form of government. Lincoln
entered national politics as a Whig congressman from Illinois, but he
lost his seat after one term due to his unpopular position on the
Mexican War and the extension of slavery into the territories. The 1858
Lincoln-Douglas debates for the Senate gave him a national reputation.
In 1860, Lincoln became the first president elected from the new
Republican Party. Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth
at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. In 1996 a new
biography of Abraham Lincoln by David Donald was published.
(HN, 2/12/98)(AP, 2/12/98)(AHD, 1971, p.759)(WSJ,
2/10/95, p.A-8) (SFC, 9/1/96, Par. p.12)(HNPD, 2/12/99)
1809 Dec 24, Kit Carson, one of
the most famous mountain men and scouts in the West, was born in
Kentucky.
(HN, 12/24/98)(MC, 12/24/01)
1809 Dec, In Danville, Kentucky,
Dr. Ephraim McDowell (1771-1830) performed a successfully surgery on
Jane Crawford (45) in which he removed an ovary and a large tumor with
no anesthesia. Crawford lived to age 78 and was the world’s first known
survivor of an elective exploration of the abdomen and removal of an
ovary. The story was later told by David Dary in “Frontier Medicine:
From the Atlantic to the Pacific 1492-1941” (2008).
(ON, 12/99, p.11)(WSJ, 11/28/08, p.A13)
1809 The Kentucky vineyard of
Jean-Jacques Dufour succumbed to disease. It was revived in 1981.
(WSJ, 11/24/00, p.W8)
1813 Jan 22, A combined British
and Indian force attacked an American militia retreating from Detroit
near Frenchtown, later known as Monroe, Mich. Only 33 men of some 700
men escaped the battle of the River Raisin. Over 400 Kentucky
frontiersmen were killed.
(Arch, 9/00,
p.22)(www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/KY_BRR.htm)
1813 May 10, Montgomery Blair,
lawyer in the Dred Scot case, was born in Franklin County, Ky. The case
decided the limits of slavery.
(HN, 5/10/99)(MC, 5/10/02)
1817 Mar 3, The first commercial
steamboat route from Louisville to New Orleans was opened.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1819 A crop failure in Henderson,
Kentucky, ruined the gristmill and sawmill business of John James
Audubon (34).
(ON, 12/05, p.7)
1821 Dec 17, Kentucky abolished
debtor’s prisons.
(MC, 12/17/01)
1836-1878 John Kitt worked in Louisville and put his
name on fiddle shaped spoons.
(SFC,11/19/97, Z1 p.7)
1842 Whitesburg, Ky., was founded
at the north fork of the Kentucky River. It had begun as a logging cam.
(NG, May, 04, p.132)
1843 July 18, Virgil Earp was born
in Kentucky.
(MesWP)
1846 Nov 25, Carry Nation (d.1911)
was born Carry Amelia Moore in Kentucky. After her first husband died a
drunkard, she married David Nation and they moved to Medicine Lodge,
Kansas. There, she was elected president of the local chapter of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Even though Kansas was technically
a dry state, Medicine Lodge had seven saloons. When Carry Nation's
appeals to close the saloons were ignored, she took matters into her
own hands--she drove a buggy, full of bricks and stones she had wrapped
in newspapers, up to a saloon, smashed its mirrors, glasses, bottles
and windows, and said to the proprietor as she left, "I have finished.
God be with you." Nation repeated her barroom attacks across the state
and the country. One of her last actions was at Washington's Union
Depot, where she used three hatchets that she called Faith, Hope and
Charity. Nation was arrested about 30 times for her saloon rampages.
(HNPD, 11/25/98)
1852 Jun 29, Statesman Henry Clay
(75) of Kentucky died. He was a master politician in the era preceding
the Civil War. Born in 1777, Clay was a lawyer by trade. He began his
lengthy political career in the Kentucky legislature and made three
unsuccessful bids as the Whig Party's presidential candidate. By the
time of his death, Clay had served his country as secretary of state
under John Quincy Adams, U.S. Senator and Speaker of the House of
Representatives. Clay was the chief architect of the Compromise of
1850, a contribution that earned him the nickname "The Great
Compromiser."
(HNPD, 6/29/99)(MC, 6/29/02)
1860 The Woodlawn Vase was created
by Tiffany & Co. as a trophy for the Woodlawn Racing Assoc. in
Louisville, Ky. It was buried during the Civil War and by 1917 was
associated with the Preakness.
(WSJ, 11/21/00, p.A24)
1861 May 16, Kentucky proclaimed
its neutrality. [see May 20]
(MC, 5/16/02)
1861 May 20, Kentucky proclaimed
its neutrality in Civil War. [see May 16]
(MC, 5/20/02)
1861 Jul 9, Confederate cavalry
led by John Morgan captured Tompkinsville, Kentucky. "The Yankees will
never take me a prisoner again," vowed Confederate General John Hunt
Morgan.
(HN, 7/9/98)
1861 Sep 3, Confederate forces
entered Kentucky, thus ending its neutrality.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1861 Sep 6, Union General Ulysses
S. Grant's forces captured Paducah, Kentucky from Confederate forces. A
lifelong friend and trusted aide of Ulysses S. Grant, Ely Parker rose
to the top in two worlds, that of his native Seneca Indian tribe and
the white man's world at large.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1861 Dec 4, The Federal Senate,
voting 36 to 0, expelled Senator John C. Brekenridge of Kentucky
because he joined the Confederate Army.
(HN, 12/4/98)
1861 Dec 10, Kentucky was admitted
to the Confederate States of America.
(HN, 12/10/98)
1862 Jan 10, Battle of Big Sandy
River, KY (Middle Creek).
(MC, 1/10/02)
1862 Jan 29, William Quantrill and
his Confederate raiders attack Danville, Kentucky.
(HN, 1/29/00)
1862 Feb 26, Battle of Woodburn,
KY.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1862 Jul 4, Battle at Green River,
Ky. (Morgan's Ohio Raid).
(Maggio, 98)
1862 Jul 9, Gen. John Hunt Morgan
captured Tompkinsville, Ky.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1862 Sep 15, John T. Wilder, the
Union commander at Munfordville, used unconventional methods to stall
Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s advance through Kentucky. On
September 15, Bragg arrived to find some 4,000 men behind well-built
defenses--far more than he had anticipated. He brought up more units
and surrounded the area, but instead of pressing his advantage, agreed
to a suggestion made by his subordinate, Maj. Gen. Simon Bolivar
Buckner. Buckner suggested that he be allowed to parley with the
garrison and convince them of the hopelessness of their position. Bragg
grudgingly acquiesced.
(HNQ, 4/26/01)
1862 Sep 29, Union general
Jefferson C. Davis shot and killed a fellow general in a dispute at a
hotel during the Civil War. After a series of angry confrontations with
General William Nelson, Davis shot his superior officer to death in a
Louisville, Kentucky, hotel. Because of the scarcity of officers needed
to form a court-martial for a trial, Davis was never charged with the
crime and went on to build an extensive Civil War combat record. Davis
was of no relation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
(HNQ, 3/20/00)
1862 Oct 8, The Union was
victorious at the Battle of Perryville, the largest Civil War combat to
take place in Kentucky.
(HN, 10/8/98)
1862 Oct 18, Morgan's raiders
captured federal garrison at Lexington, Ky.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1862 Dec 18, Nathan B. Forrest
engaged and defeated a Federal cavalry force near Lexington in his
continued effort to disrupt supply lines.
(HN, 12/18/98)
1862 Dec 20, Brig-gen Nathan B.
Forrest occupied Trenton, Kentucky.
(MC, 12/20/01)
1862 Dec 22-Jan 2, Raid on
Morgan's: Bardstown to Elizabethtown, Ky.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1862 Dec 24, A Christmas present
arrived a day early for the Federal troops at Columbus, Ky., in the way
of artillery on board the USS New Era.
(HN, 12/24/98)
1862 Dec 25, John Hunt Morgan and
his raiders clashed with Union forces near Bear Wallow, Kentucky.
Fighting also occurred at Green’s Chapel.
(HN, 12/25/99)
1862 Dec 27, Battle of
Elizabethtown, KY.
(MC, 12/27/01)
1864 Mar 25, Battle of Paducah, KY
(Forrest's raid).
(MC, 3/25/02)
1865 Feb 2, Confederate raider
William Quantrill and his bushwackers robbed citizens, burned a
railroad depot and stole horses from Midway, Kentucky.
(HN, 2/2/01)
1865 Feb 8, Confederate raider
William Quantrill and men attacked a group of Federal wagons at New
Market, Kentucky.
(HN, 2/8/00)
1865 Feb 27, Confederate raider
William Quantrill and his bushwackers attacked Hickman, Kentucky,
shooting women and children.
(HN, 2/27/00)
1865 Jun 6, Confederate raider
William Quantrill (b.1837) died in Louisville, Ky., from a shot in the
spine he received escaping a Union patrol near Taylorsville, Kentucky.
(HN,
6/6/99)(www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/QQ/fqu3.html)
1868 Mar 20, The Jesse James Gang
robbed a bank in Russellville, Kentucky, of $14,000.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1871 May 12, Segregated street
cars were integrated in Louisville, Ky.
(MC, 5/12/02)
1872 Apr 12, Jesse James gang
robbed bank in Columbia, Kentucky, of $1,500 with 1 person killed.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1874 Edward Troye (b.1808),
Swiss-born Kentucky artist, died. He portrayed horses and spent time in
the Middle East in search of Arab breeding stock.
(WSJ, 7/16/03, p.D8)
1875 May 17, The first Kentucky
Derby was run at Louisville; the winner was Aristides. It later
became part of the Triple Crown with the Belmont Stakes and the
Preakness.
(AP, 5/17/97)(SFEC, 5/30/99, Z1 p.8)(HN, 5/17/02)
1877 Feb 20, The 1st cantilever
bridge in US was completed at Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1877 Mar 18, Edgar Cayce (d.1945),
self-proclaimed psychic, was born in Hopkinsville, Ky. In 2000 Sidney
D. Kirkpatrick authored “Edgar Cayce, An American Prophet.”
(SFEC, 7/26/98, BR p.3)(SSFC, 1/14/01, BR p.12)(SFC,
8/7/08, p.E1)
1877 Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes
appointed John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911) of Kentucky to the Supreme
Court Justice.
(WSJ, 5/28/02, p.D7)
1877-1956 Alben William Barkley served one term as
vice president of the U.S. under Harry Truman (1949-53), and was
reelected to the Senate from Kentucky in 1954 and died suddenly in 1956
while still a senator. Barkley served in the senate from 1927 to 1949
(majority leader from 1937-47) before becoming vice president.
(HNQ, 11/3/99)
1878 Pete Browning, a baseball
player for the Louisville Eclipse, got frustrated with his bat and
received help from furniture maker J. Andrew "Bud" Hillerich."
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T9)
1880 May 18, In the 6th Kentucky
Derby George Lewis aboard Fonso won in 2:37½.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1882 Aug 7, Hatfields of south
West Virginia and McCoys of eastern Kentucky re-engaged in a feud that
dated back to 1865. Some 100 were wounded or died. In 2007 medical
evidence indicated that many of the descendants of the McCoys suffered
from an inherited disease that leads to hair-trigger rage and violent
outbursts.
(www.tugvalleychamberofcommerce.com/tour.html)(SFC,
4/6/07, p.A16)
1884 Feb 19, A series of tornadoes
left an estimated 800 people dead in 7 US states (Miss, Ala, NC, SC,
Tenn., Ky & In).
(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(MC, 2/19/02)
1884 Hillerich & Bradsby,
makers of the Louisville Slugger bats, was founded, in Louisville, Ky.
John A. Hillerich turned a bat, called the Falls City Slugger, for
Eclipse slugger Pete “The Old Gladiator” Browning.”
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T8)(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.D4)
1890 Feb, Charles E. Kincaid,
correspondent for the Louisville Times, shot former Representative
William Taulbee, a democrat from Kentucky, at the Capital during an
argument over a scandal involving the lawmaker. Taulbee died ten days
later.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)
1893 Jul 7, In Bardwell, Ky., C.J.
Miller, a black man accused of murdering two white girls, was
mutilated, torched and left hanging from a telegraph pole. Ida Wells
(1862-1931) was commissioned to investigate the story by the Chicago
Inter-Ocean newspaper and published her findings under the title
“History Is a Weapon.”
(WSJ, 3/8/08,
p.W8)(www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/wellslynchlaw.html)
1894 The Louisville Slugger
trademark was registered. In 1905 Honus Wagner became the 1st baseball
player to sign a contract to use his signature on the bat.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.D4)
1901 Apr 29, In the 27th Kentucky
Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on His Eminence won in 2:07.75.
(http://tinyurl.com/nzy9n)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Winkfield)
1901 Sep 2, Adolph Rupp,
basketball coach at the University of Kentucky who achieved a record
876 victories, was born.
(HN, 9/2/98)
1902 May 3, In the 28th Kentucky
Derby Jimmy Winkfield rode Alan-a-Dale for his 2nd consecutive win. In
2006 Joe Drape authored “Black Maestro” a biography of Winkfield.
(SSFC, 5/7/06, p.P8)(http://tinyurl.com/nzy9n)
1906 Oct 16, Cleanth Brooks,
Kentucky-born writer and educator, was born.
(HN, 10/16/00)
1906 American Life and Accident
Insurance Co. was founded in Kentucky.
(WSJ, 10/11/08, p.A9)
1909 Apr 29, Tom Ewell, [S Yewell
Tompkins], actor (Tom Ewell Show, 7 Yr Itch), was born in Ky.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1910 Tennessee passed a
Prohibition law that gave distillers one year to dismantle their
operations. George Dickel's operations moved to Kentucky and Jack
Daniel's to Missouri and Alabama. Prohibition knocked both out of
business in 1920.
(SFC, 2/04/04, p.D2)
1911 Sep 13, Bill Monroe (d.1996),
Blue Grass pioneer and mandolin player, was born near Rosine, Ky.
(WSJ, 9/16/96, p.A14)(WSJ, 7/28/00, p.W9)
1914 The Belle of Louisville
sternwheeler was built and began service as a freighter. It became a
landmark of Louisville, Ky., in 1962, and almost sank in 1997.
(SFC, 8/25/97, p.A8)
1917 Nov 5, Supreme Court decision
(Buchanan vs. Warley) struck down a Louisville, Ky., ordnance requiring
blacks and whites to live in separate areas.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1917 The Seelbach Cocktail was
created at the Seelbach hotel in Louisville, Ky. The recipe was later
lost until 1995 when a hotel manager rediscovered the formula.
(SFC, 7/28/05, p.F6)
1919 Bennett Young, leader of the
1863 Confederate raid on St. Albans, Vermont, died in Louisville
following a law career.
(ON, 11/99, p.12)
1925 The Kentucky statewide
spelling bee went national after 9 newspapers accepted an invitation
from the Louisville Courier-Journal to send students to compete for a
national spelling crown. In 1941 the Scripps Howard media group took
over sponsorship over the annual event.
(WSJ, 5/28/99, p.W11)
1925 Floyd Collins, a Kentucky
farmer, discovered Sand Cave and was trapped for 2 weeks as he crawled
back to the surface. The story made national headlines and was made
into the 1950 Billy Wilder film "The Big Carnival" starring Kirk
Douglas. In 1995 the story was made into a chamber opera: "Floyd
Collins" with music by Adam Guettel.
(WSJ, 5/17/99, p.A24)
1927 The main building of the
Speed Museum was constructed. The Speed Museum was founded by Hattie
Bishop Speed as a memorial to her husband John Breckinridge Speed.
(WSJ, 12/18/97, p.A20)
1928 May 23, Rosemary Clooney
(d.2002), singer, was born in Maysville, Ky.
(HN, 5/23/01)(SSFC, 6/30/02, p.A20)
1929 May 18, In the 55th Kentucky
Derby: Linus McAtee on Clyde Van Dusen won in 2:10.8.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1930 Jul 28, 114° F (46°
C) at Greensburg, Kentucky, was a state record.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1930s Col. Harland Sanders came up
with a recipe for fried chicken in the late 1930s for his Sanders court
and Café in Corbin, Ky.
(SFC, 1/29/01, p.A2)
1935 Apr 14, Loretta Lynn, singer
(Coal Miner's Daughter), was born in Butcher's Hollow, Ky. In 1948 she
married Doo Lynn (d.1996). she recorded her 1st single in 1960: “I’m a
Honky Tonk Girl.”
(MC, 4/14/02)(SSFC, 1/26/03, Par p.8)
1935 Jun 28, FDR ordered a federal
gold vault to be built at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
(MC, 6/28/02)
1935 Kentucky Gov. Ruby Laffoon,
enjoyed the fried chicken of Harland Sanders so much that she named
Sanders a Kentucky Colonel.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.62)
1936 May 25, Tom T. Hall, country
singer, writer (Harper Valley PTA), was born in Olive Hill, KY.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1936 Nov 9, Mary Travers, folk
singer (Peter Paul & Mary), was born in Louisville, Ky.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1936 The last public hanging in
the US took place in Kentucky.
(ON, 10/02, p.5)
1937 Jul 18, Hunter S. Thompson
(d.2005), journalist, was born in Louisville, Ky.
(SFC, 2/21/05,
p.A8)(www.nndb.com/people/312/000022246/)
1937 Nov 7, Mary Travers, folk
singer (Peter, Paul and Mary), was born in Louisville, Ky.
(SSFC, 2/15/04, Par p.18)
1941 Mar 16, Chuck Woolery, TV
game show host, was born in Kentucky. He hosted Love Connection from
1983 to 1995.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Woolery)(SSFC,
7/6/08, p.B6)
1944 Aug 21, Jackie DeShannon,
singer (What the World Needs Now), was born in Hazel, Kentucky.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1945 Dec 22, Diane Sawyer,
newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC Prime Time), was born in Glasgow, Ky.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1945 The Kentucky Derby was won by
Hoop Jr., owned by Fred Hooper (d.2000 at 102).
(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A21)
1948 Oct 4, Thomas Merton
(1915-1968), Trapist monk in Kentucky, published his first book: “The
Seven Storey Mountain.”
(SFEC, 9/27/98, BR p.3)(WSJ, 10/2/98, p.W15)
1949 Jan 5, In his State of the
Union address, President Truman labeled his administration the “Fair
Deal.” Alben Barkley (1877-1956) of Kentucky served as Truman’s
vice-president.
(WUD, 1994 p.120)(AP, 1/5/98)(WSJ, 2/12/02, p.A18)
1950 Summer, Stephen Fair,
8-years-old, played two games of checkers with Harry Truman at a ritzy
golf course in Paducah, Ky., owned by US vice-president Alben Barkley.
They split the sets.
(SFC, 6/19/96, p.E8)
1950s The Army Corps of Engineers
created Lake Cumberland near Sumerset and inspired Jim Sharp to begin a
boat building business. The town became a commercial center for house
boat production.
(WSJ, 9/9/99, p.B1)
1952 “Colonel Sanders” started
Kentucky Fried Chicken with a 7-day-a-week Sunday dinner concept.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, Par p.5)
1952 In Kentucky the 750-acre
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant began operation. For 23 years the
government attempted to recycle used nuclear reactor fuel. The K-25
sister plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, also showed high death rates. In
1983 an autopsy of worker Joseph Harding revealed high concentrations
of radiation, but the results were not made public until 1999. In 1999
plant employees charged that radiation exposure was a long running
problem and that plutonium contamination had occurred from the mid 50s
to the mid 70s. Union Carbide ran the plant for 32 years for the Dept
of Energy, followed by Martin Marietta and Lockheed Martin. Estimated
cleanup costs in 1999 were $240 billion over 75 years.
(SFEC, 8/8/99, p.A6)(SFEC, 8/22/99, p.A4)
1953 Jim Beam began selling
special decanters filled with Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Political
bottles were produced from 1956 to 1988.
(SFC, 4/5/06, p.G8)
1954 The Satterwhite Wing was
added to the Speed Museum. Preston Pope Satterwhite had donated an
entire 17th century English paneled room, some 500 pieces of art along
with cash to house it all.
(WSJ, 12/18/97, p.A20)
1955 A Turner Dept. Store was
converted into the 1st Dollar General Store under Cal Turner Sr.
(d.2000 at 85).
(SFC, 11/17/00, p.D7)
1956 Sep 10, In Louisville, Ky.,
the public schools integrated.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1956 Sep 17, Black students
entered a Clay, Ky., elementary school.
(MC, 9/17/01)
1956 The Jack Daniel's Whiskey
company was sold to Kentucky-based Brown-Forman.
(SFC, 2/04/04, p.D2)
1960 Mohammad Ali threw his
Olympic gold medal for boxing into the Ohio River after being refused
service at a Louisville restaurant.
(SFEC, 9/27/98, Par p.2)
1961 May 6, George Clooney, actor
(Dr Douglas Ross-ER, Batman), was born in Lexington, KY.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1964 Kentucky Colonel Harland
Sanders (1890-1980) sold his fried chicken business for $2 million to
private investors, who resold it in 1971 for $285 million to Heublein.
R.J. Reynolds acquired Heublein in 1982 and sold it to PepsiCo in 1986.
(www.answers.com/topic/harland-sanders)
1966 Lewis Collins authored
"History of Kentucky."
(ON, 10/99, p.6)
1970 May 2, Diane Crump became the
1st woman jockey at the Kentucky Derby.
(www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8312437_ITM)
1967 Louie B. Nunn (d.2004) was
elected Republican governor (1967-1971) of Kentucky.
(SFC, 1/31/04, p.A18)
1973 Feb 26, Claiborne Farm
announced that Triple Crown horse Secretariat had been syndicated for a
then-record $6,080,000, equivalent to 32 shares at $190,000 each.
(http://equisearch.com/horses_riding_training/sports/racing/racing022804/)
1974 Apr 3, A series of 148 deadly
tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before jumping
across the border into Canada; some 330 people were killed in 13 states
(Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi,
North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West
Virginia. Total property damage was estimated at $600 million. In 2007
Mark Levine authored “F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent
Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century.”
(AP, 4/3/99)(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(SSFC, 9/4/05,
p.A7)(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.P10)
1977 May 7, Seattle Slew (d.2002)
won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories.
(AP, 5/7/04)
1977 May 28, 165 people were
killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in
Southgate, Ky.
(AP, 5/28/97)
1977 Dec 22, Steve Cauthen
(b.1960), Kentucky-born jockey, won his 355th race at age 16 setting a
new earnings record.
(www.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=357&format=tv&theme=history)
1978 The 1,000-acre Kentucky Horse
Park opened in Lexington, Kentucky.
(WSJ, 8/15/00,
p.A24)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Horse_Park)
1980 Dec 16, Harland Sanders,
founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, died in
Shelbyville, Kentucky, at age 90.
(AP, 12/16/00)
1983 Nov 8, Martha Layne Collins
(b.1936) was elected as the 56th governor of Kentucky, the state’s
first female governor. She served to 1987.
(WSJ, 10/11/08,
p.A9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Layne_Collins)(AP, 11/8/08)
1985 Feb 19, William Schroeder
(d.1986) was the 1st artificial heart patient to leave hospital. He
spent 15 minutes outside Humana Hospital in Louisville, Ky.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Schroeder)(http://tinyurl.com/yj2fc3)
1985 Jerry Abramson became mayor
of Louisville, Ky.
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.38)
1986 May 3, Ferdinand, ridden by
Bill Shoemaker (d.2003), won the 112th running of the Kentucky Derby.
In 2002 Ferdinand ended up in a slaughterhouse in Japan.
(WSJ, 9/21/05, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/ds454)
1986 Jun 19, Artificial heart
recipient Murray P. Haydon (59) died in Louisville, Ky., after 16
months on the man-made pump.
(AP, 6/19/06)
1987 May 2, Alysheba won the 113th
running of the Kentucky Derby to earn a record $618,600; Bet Twice came
in second and Avies Copy was third.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1987-1991 Wallace Wilkinson (d.2002), founder of
Wallace Bookstores, served as governor. He helped create the state
lottery and overhauled the public schools.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A19)
1988 May 7, Winning Colors won the
114th running of the Kentucky Derby, becoming the third filly to win
the event.
(AP, 5/7/98)
1988 Mar 8, Seventeen soldiers
died when two Army helicopters from Fort Campbell, Ky., collided in
midair.
(AP, 3/8/98)
1988 May 7, Winning Colors won the
114th running of the Kentucky Derby, becoming the third filly to win
the event.
(AP, 5/7/98)
1988 May 14, Twenty-seven people,
most of them teen-agers, were killed when their church bus collided
with a pickup truck going the wrong way on a highway near Carrollton,
Ky. The driver of the truck, Larry Mahoney, was convicted of
manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment; he was released
in September 1999.
(AP, 5/14/03)
1988 Sep 7, Vice President George
Bush startled an American Legion audience in Louisville, Ky., by
referring to Sept. 7 as "Pearl Harbor Day," which is actually Dec. 7.
Realizing his mistake, Bush said, "Did I say Sept. 7? Sorry about
that."
(AP, 9/7/98)
1989 May 6, Sunday Silence scored
an upset victory over Easy Goer in the 115th Kentucky Derby at
Churchill Downs.
(AP, 5/6/99)
1989 May 19, The NCAA announced
sanctions against the University of Kentucky's basketball program for
recruiting and academic violations.
(AP, 5/19/99)
1989 Sep 14, Joseph T. Wesbecker,
a 47-year-old pressman on disability for mental illness, killed himself
after he shot 8 people dead and wounded 12 at a printing plant in
Louisville, Ky.
(AP, 9/14/99)
1989 Oct 4, Famed race horse
Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, died at Claiborne Farm,
Paris, Ky., at age 19 ½.
(AH, 10/04, p.15)
1989 Dec 21, Kentuckian Larry
Mahoney was convicted on 27 counts of manslaughter for a 1988 collision
with a church bus. It was the nation's most deadly drunken-driving
accident.
(http://tinyurl.com/kuvl3)
1990 May 5, "Unbridled" won the
116th running of the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/5/00)
1990 The Kentucky Education Reform
Act was passed.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A19)
1991 May 4, “Strike the Gold” won
the 117th Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/4/01)
1991 Jun 17, The remains of
President Zachary Taylor were briefly exhumed in Louisville, Kentucky,
to test a theory that Taylor had died of arsenic poisoning. Results
showed death was from natural causes.
(AP, 6/17/01)
1991 Jun 26, A Kentucky medical
examiner announced that test results showed President Zachary Taylor
had died in 1850 of natural causes—and not arsenic poisoning, as
speculated by a writer. Taylor’s remains were exhumed so that tissue
samples could be taken.
(AP, 6/26/01)
1993 May 1, The horse Sea Hero won
the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/1/98)
1994 May 7, Go For Gin won the
120th Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/7/99)
1995 May 6, Long-shot Thunder
Gulch won the 121st Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/6/00)
1995 Louisville Int'l. Airport
opened the first of 2 new parallel runways. As part of a noise
abatement program a deal was reached with the residents of Minor Lane
Heights whereby all the residents were offered homes in the new
community of Heritage Creek 10 miles away. Residents began moving in
1999.
(SFC, 4/12/99, p.A3)
1996 May 4, Grindstone won the
Kentucky Derby, giving trainer D. Wayne Lukas a sixth straight victory
in a Triple Crown race. Grindstone was injured ahead of the Preakness
and retired.
(AP, 5/4/97)(SFC, 5/4/09, p.D6)
1996 The new Louisville Slugger
Museum opened at 800 W. Main St. in Louisville, Ky.
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T8)(SSFC, 7/3/05,
p.D4)(www.sluggermuseum.org)
1996 Kentucky passed a law that
allowed concealed weapons but not for ministers and priests. An
amendment to allow clergy to carry concealed was expected to be signed
into law by Gov. Paul Patton on Apr 15, 1998.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.A3)
1996 In Bardstown, Kentucky, a
fire burned 7 warehouses containing some 2% of the world's bourbon
supply and sent a flaming river of alcohol across a road to destroy a
distillery building.
(SSFC, 7/20/03, p.C12)
1996 In Kentucky 2 Army Black Hawk
helicopters collided during training at Fort Campbell and 6 soldiers
were killed.
(SFC, 4/23/99, p.A3)
1997 Mar 1, Severe storms hit
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, and spawned tornadoes in
Arkansas blamed for two dozen deaths.
(AP, 3/1/98)
1997 May 3, Silver Charm won the
123rd Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/3/98)
1997 Aug 29, Christopher Maier
(21) was killed while walking with his girlfriend along railroad
tracks. Serial killer Rafael Resendez-Ramirez was suspected of
the murder.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A3)
1997 Dec 1, Michael Carneal (14),
opened fire on a prayer circle and killed 3 classmates and wounded five
during a shooting spree at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky. In
1998 he pleaded guilty but mentally ill in a plea agreement and was
sentenced to a prison term with no parole for at least 25 years.
(SFC, 12/3/97, p.A3)(WSJ, 10/6/98, p.A1)(AP,
12/1/98)(SFC, 12/17/98, p.A12)
1997 Kentucky started its “Pride”
program, Personal Responsibility in a Desirable Environment, to cleanup
illegal dumps and punish violators.
(SFC, 5/8/00, p.A3)
1998 Feb 6, A 3-day snow storm
left 9 people dead. A record 21 inches fell in Louisville.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.A8)
1998 Mar 30, The Univ. of Kentucky
beat the Utah Utes 78-69 at the Alamodome in San Antonio for the NCAA
men’s basketball finals. It was Kentucky’s 7th national title.
(WSJ, 4/1/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 16, Tornadoes claimed 11
lives in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.
(SFC, 4/17/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/08)
1998 May 2, In the 124th Kentucky
Derby jockey Kent Desormeaux rode to victory on Real Quiet.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.1A)
1998 Oct 30, Four abortion clinics
in 3 states, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, received letters claiming
to contain deadly anthrax bacteria. The letters were tested and found
to be free of anthrax.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.A3)(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.A11)
1998 Dec, Wayne Carlisle, CEO of
Carlisle Construction, had a 73,000 pound bell cast in Nantes, France,
to ring in the millennium. The World Peace Bell in Newport weighed
66,000 pounds and cost $6 million.
(WSJ, 3/12/99, p.A1)(USAT, 11/12/99, p.1A)
1999 Jan 25, In Louisville doctors
transplanted a left hand to Matthew Scott in a 14 1/2 hour operation.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.A2)
1999 Apr 7, In Kentucky 2
volunteer firefighters, Kenneth Nickell (28) and Kevin Smith (30), were
killed while battling a blaze at the Daniel Boone National Forest.
(SFC, 4/8/99, p.A13)
1999 Apr 22, In Kentucky an Army
Black Hawk helicopter crashed during training at Fort Campbell and 7
people were killed and 4 injured.
(SFC, 4/23/99, p.A3)
1999 Jun 27, In Greenville 4
people were found killed. Terry Dodd Wedding (27) was charged in the
murders of neighbor Joey T. Vincent (29), a local police officer, and
his wife Amy (22), and another man and woman 3 miles away.
(SFC, 6/28/99, p.A4)
1999 Jul 5, In Fort Campbell, Ky.,
Pvt. Calvin Glover (18) beat to death Pfc. Barry Winchell (21) with a
baseball bat. Glover was later convicted of pre-meditated murder and
sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
(SFC, 12/9/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/10/99, p.A3)
1999 Sep 18, The 79th annual Miss
America Pageant was held in Atlantic City. Heather Renee French (24), a
graduated design student from Maysville, Ky., was the winner.
(SFC, 9/17/99, p.D3)(SFC, 9/20/99, p.A7)
1999 Nov 2, Democratic Gov. Paul
Patton was elected to a 2nd term.
(SFC, 11/3/99, p.A17)
1999 Former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson
paid $11 million to settle a suit over the inflated sale of a
money-losing hotel in Frankfort to a state-regulated Insurance Co. made
during his term in office.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A19)
2000 Jan 1, The World Peace Bell
in Newport was scheduled to ring in the millennium.
(WSJ, 3/12/99, p.A1)(USAT, 11/12/99, p.1A)
2000 May 6, Fusaichi Pegasus won
the 126th Kentucky Derby. He was the first favorite to win the Kentucky
Derby since “Spectacular Bid” in 1979.
(SFEC, 5/7/00, p.D1)(AP, 5/6/01)
2000 May 9, A fire at the Wild
Turkey Distillery caused an alcohol runoff into an 8-mile stretch of
the Kentucky River and a huge fish kill followed within days.
(SFC, 5/20/00, p.D8)
2000 Jun 5, In Burkesville
attorney Fred Capps (46) was shot to death at his home by Eddie Vaughn
(49). Vaughn was killed by shots fired by Capps in self defense. Capps
was to prosecute Vaughn the same day on child sex abuse charges.
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A4)
2000 Jul 22, Mack Metcalf (42) of
Kentucky and his wife Virginia Metcalf Merida (46) won $34.1 million in
the Powerball Lottery. They planned to split their winnings 60/40.
Mack, former forklift driver for Johnson Controls, died in 2003 at age
45. Virginia, who had worked as a corrugator for Indy Honeycomb, was
found dead in 2005.
(www.lotterybuddy.com/winner00.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/d9fez)
2000 Oct 10, Sludge from a coal
mines broke through a waste lagoon of the A.T. Massey Coal Co. and some
250 million gallons hit coldwater Creek and Wolf Creek near Inez. Gov.
Paul E. Patton declared a 10-county emergency.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A20)
2001 Apr, Mary Hutto, a former
teacher, died at age 95. She left $3.5 million to Western Kentucky Univ.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D8)
2001 May 5, "Monarchos" won the
Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/5/02)
2001 May 24, Recent foal and fetus
deaths were linked to natural cyanide in wild cherries and caterpillars
that fed on the leaves. Some 500 foals had died over the last 2 months.
(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A11)
2001 Jul 2, In Louisville, Ky.,
the 1st self-contained artificial heart, AbioCor, made by Abiomed was
implanted at Jewish Hospital to Robert L. Tools (59). Tools lived 151
days with the device and died Nov 30.
(SFC, 7/4/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 7/5/01, p.A1)(SFC, 8/22/01,
p.A3)(SFC, 12/1/01, p.A3)
2001 Aug 21, Robert Tools, the
first person to receive a self-contained artificial heart (Jul 2), was
introduced to the public at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., through
a video link from his doctor's office. Tools survived with the device
for 151 days, and died Nov. 30, 2001, of other health problems.
(AP, 8/21/06)
2001 Nov 12, In rural Shelbiana a
family of 5 died in a house fire at Shelby Knoll.
(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A14)
2001 Nov 12, Kentucky fires burned
some 146,500 acres so far this year.
(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A14)
2001 Creditors sued to have the
companies of former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson seized. In bankruptcy
proceedings Wilkinson admitted that his debts exceeded assets by over
$300 million.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A19)
2002 Mar 18, Flooding hit
Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia following a 2nd day of heavy rains.
(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A3)
2002 Mar 20, Heavy storms and
severe flooding extended to West Virginia. Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton
declared 12 counties emergencies.
(SFC, 3/21/02, p.A3)
2002 Mar, Paul Browning Jr., a
former sheriff, was found shot in the head and badly burned on a
backwoods road in Harlan Ct. Browning was attempting a political
comeback after 3 years in prison for conspiring to kill 2 public
officials.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.E1)
2002 Apr 13, In Kentucky Sheriff
Sam Catron (48) was killed during a political rally in Shopville. Danny
Shelley (30) was soon arrested after crashing a motorcycle that
belonged to Jeff Morris (34), a political opponent to Catron. Morris
and a campaign worker were later charged with complicity to murder.
(SFC, 4/15/02, p.A10)(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A4)
2002 May 3, Flash flooding in
Appalachia killed 4 people. Virginia, W. Va. and Kentucky were hit at
their intersection.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A3)
2002 May 7, Triple Crown winner
"Seattle Slew" died at age 28, 25 years to the day after his victory in
the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/7/03)
2002 Jul 5, Wallace Wilkinson
(60), Democratic governor 1987-1991, died.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A19)
2002 John Ed Pierce, Louisville
columnist, authored “Days of Darkness,” a vivid Kentucky history.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.E2)
2003 Apr, A $4 million Peace
Palace opened at the Univ. of Kentucky paid for by a local businessman.
The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi pushed followers to build 200 similar palaces
across the US and 3,000 worldwide.
(SFC, 5/10/03, p.A1)
2003 May 3, In the Kentucky Derby
Jose Santos rode Funny Cide to victory.
(WSJ, 5/13/03, p.A1)
2003 Jun 10, The archdiocese of
Louisville, Ky., settled a sexual abuse case with some 250 alleged
victims for $25.7 million.
(SFC, 6/11/03, p.A3)
2003 Nov 4, Republicans picked up
two governorships in the South. Rep. Ernie Fletcher won Kentucky's top
job ousting Democrats from power after 32 years.
(AP, 11/5/03)(SFC, 11/5/03, p.A16)
2003 Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton
pardoned his chief of staff, who had been indicted on campaign-finance
charges.
(Econ, 5/20/06, p.34)
2003 Louisville, Ky., merged with
surrounding Jefferson County. Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson won the
top job for “Louisville Metro.”
(Econ, 3/8/08, p.38)
2004 Jan 19, Gov. Fletcher said
the state plans to cut the number of non-violent offenders in prison.
He preferred better drug treatment rather than prison sentences.
(USAT, 1/20/04, p.12A)
2004 Jan 29, Louie B. Nunn (79),
former governor of Kentucky (1967-1971), died.
(SFC, 1/31/04, p.A18)
2004 May 1, Smarty Jones won the
Kentucky Derby and ran his record to 7-for-7, the first unbeaten Derby
winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
(AP, 5/1/04)
2004 May 22, The Frazier
Historical Arms Museum opened in Louisville, Ky. It focused on the
evolution of armaments and the historical events in which they were
used.
(WSJ, 6/16/04, p.D8)(www.frazierarmsmuseum.org/)
2004 Downtown Martin, Ky., was
demolished and re-established on a hill to avoid regular flooding from
Beaver Creek. The town was established almost a century earlier when
Dick Osborn divided up his considerable acreage to establish the town.
In 2006 Michelle Slatalla authored “The Town on Beaver Creek.”
(WSJ, 8/5/06, p.P9)
2005 May 7, Giacomo, a 50-1 shot,
defied the odds and won the $2.4 million Kentucky Derby in a gigantic
upset, running down Afleet Alex in the final strides and generating a
huge payoff.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 17, Toyota said it will
build a gasoline-electric hybrid version of the Camry at its plant in
Georgetown, Ky.
(WSJ, 5/18/05, p.D4)
2005 Jun 27, The US Supreme Court
ruled 5-4 that Kentucky cannot display framed copies of the Ten
Commandments in county courthouses, and allowed the Texas statehouse to
keep the commandments as part of a display on its grounds.
(AP, 6/27/05)(SFC, 6/28/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 5, A judge in Kentucky
authorized a $120 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Diocese
of Covington and hundreds of victims in child-molesting cases.
(SFC, 7/6/05, p.A3)
2005 Sep 8, A symposium at Western
Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky., brought together scholars
from 17 states and three countries to discuss bluegrass music.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Nov 6, A tornado ripped
across southwestern Indiana and northern Kentucky, killing at least 22
people, wrecking homes and knocking out power to thousands.
(AP, 11/6/05)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 15, Nearly 3 dozen
tornadoes hit Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee destroying dozens of
homes and killing 2 people.
(SFC, 11/17/05, p.A14)
2005 Nov 16, Kentucky reported
that drainage from land disturbed by mining and road construction has
caused acid levels to rise beyond acceptable levels in portions of at
least 35 streams across the state, killing fish and insects.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2006 Apr 21, Miss Kentucky was
crowned Miss USA in the 55th annual pageant. Tara Elizabeth Conner (20)
of Russell Springs, was crowned by Chelsea Cooley of North Carolina,
who is Miss USA 2005.
(AP, 4/21/06)
2006 May 3, Vernon Jackson (53),
owner of iGate, pleaded guilty in Alexandria, Virginia, to bribing Rep.
William Jefferson, D-La., with more than $400,000 to promote the
Kentucky’s firm’s high tech business in Africa between 2001 and 2005.
(SFC, 5/4/06, p.A3)
2006 May 6, Barbaro won the
Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2006 May 12, Kentucky Gov. Ernie
Fletcher said he will complete his first term and seek a second one
despite an indictment on misdemeanor charges that accuse him of
illegally rewarding political supporters with state jobs.
(AP, 5/12/06)
2006 May 20, In Maryland Barbaro,
winner of the Kentucky Derby, fractured an ankle at the start of the
Preakness. Barbaro was euthanized Jan 29, 2007, due to medical
complications.
(SSFC, 5/21/06, p.A1)(AP, 1/29/07)
2006 May 20, An explosion in the
Darby Mine No. 1 coal mine in Harlan County, eastern Kentucky, killed
five miners while one other miner was able to get out alive.
(AP, 5/20/06)
2006 Aug 11, A Kentucky judge
ruled that Gov. Ernie Fletcher, under fire for a hiring scandal, is
protected by executive immunity and cannot be prosecuted while in
office.
(AP, 8/11/06)
2006 Aug 24, A Kentucky judge
dropped charges against Gov. Fletcher in a plea deal in which Fletcher
acknowledged failure to follow the state’s merit-hiring rules.
(WSJ, 8/25/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 27, In Kentucky a Comair
commuter jet carrying 50 people, crashed in a field and caught fire
shortly after taking off in light rain. Authorities said at least one
person survived. The taxi route for commercial jets using Blue Grass
Airport's main runway was altered a week before Comair Flight 5191 took
the wrong runway and crashed.
(AP, 8/27/06)(AP, 8/28/06)
2006 Aug 28, In southeastern
Kentucky a small plane from Wichita Fall, Texas, crashed and all 7
people aboard were killed.
(SFC, 8/29/06, p.A3)
2007 Feb 6, In Kentucky a fire
engulfed a home in Bardstown killing 10 people.
(SFC, 2/7/07, p.A3)
2007 May 5, Street Sense roared
from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2007 May 24, Pres. Bush nominated
James Holsinger, a cardiologist from Kentucky, as the new US surgeon
general.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070524-2.html)
2007 May 28, In Petersburg, Ky.,
the new Creation Museum opened with displays touting the beginning of
time at 4004BC. Founder Ken Ham raised $27 million to build it.
Organizers expected 250,000 yearly visitors paying $9.95 to $19.95 for
tickets (www.creationmuseum.org/).
(SFC, 5/31/07, p.A2)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.32)
2007 May 29, At Fort Campbell,
Kentucky, two children died in an early morning fire at a soldier's
housing unit on the Army post. In 2008 Army wife Billi Jo Smallwood
(35) was accused of setting her apartment on fire in a botched attempt
to collect on her husband's $400,000 insurance policy when he survived
and her two children died instead.
(www.topix.com/forum/city/louisville-tn/TLELGAU2D0M0I5V1T)(AP, 11/22/08)
2007 Jun 21, In Kentucky a cable
broke on the superman Tower of Power ride at the Six Flags Kentucky
Freedom park in Louisville and sliced off the feet of a 13-year-old
girl.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.B2)
2007 Jun 28, The US Supreme Court
in a 5-4 decision condemned race-based school enrollment plans in
Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, but stopped short of banning it. The
decision was denounced at a debate hours later by Democratic
presidential candidates. The court also struck down an anti-trust rule
nearly a century old, saying that it is no longer automatically
unlawful for manufacturers and distributors to agree on setting minimum
retail prices.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.A1, D1)(AP, 6/28/08)
2007 Aug 3, In Kentucky a judge
ruled that 3 attorneys, accused of bilking their clients in a $200
million fen-phen settlement, must repay at least $62.1 million in
settlement funds and interest.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Oct 8, Racing great
John Henry, the thoroughbred who'd earned more than $6.5 million before
retiring as a gelding, was euthanized at the Kentucky Horse Park at age
32.
(AP, 10/8/08)
2007 Nov 6, Kentucky Gov. Ernie
Fletcher, dogged by a hiring scandal, lost badly to Democratic
challenger Steve Beshear.
(SFC, 11/7/07, p.A16)
2008 Jan 17, The US EPA said
Massey Energy, the country’s 4th largest coal producer, had agreed to
pay a $20 million fine as part of a settlement over allegations that it
routinely polluted hundreds of streams and waterways in West Virginia
and Kentucky.
(SFC, 1/18/08, p.A7)
2008 Feb 5, Storms swept across
southeast US as Super Tuesday primaries were ending. At least 31 people
were killed in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, 7 in Kentucky and four in
Alabama. It was one of the 15 worst tornado death tolls since 1950, and
the nation's deadliest barrage of tornadoes since 76 people were killed
in Pennsylvania and Ohio on May 31, 1985. The death toll rose to 59.
(AP, 2/6/08)(AP, 2/7/08)(WSJ, 2/8/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 19, Flooding forced
hundreds of people to flee their homes and closed scores of roads
across a wide swath of the US midsection as a huge storm system poured
as much as 10 inches of rain on the region. Flooding was reported in
parts of Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, Missouri and
Kentucky with over a dozen deaths.
(AP, 3/19/08)(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 May 3, Big Brown pulled won
the Kentucky Derby 4 3/4 lengths ahead of the filly Eight Belles, who
was euthanized by injection on the track with 2 broken ankles.
(AP, 5/4/08)
2008 Jun 25, In western Kentucky
employee Wesley N. Higdon (25) shot and killed a supervisor and four
others after an argument at a plastics plant in Henderson in a rampage
just after midnight that ended in suicide.
(AP, 6/25/08)(AP, 6/26/08)
2008 Sep 25, Dinwiddie Lampton Jr.
(b.1914), former head of American Life and Accident Insurance Co. of
Kentucky, died.
(WSJ, 10/11/08, p.A9)
2008 Nov 1, A gunman fatally shot
Cincinnati minister Rev. Donald Fairbanks Sr. and wounded a church
deacon just after the two men arrived at a northern Kentucky church to
attend a funeral. Frederick L. Davis, of Covington, quickly surrendered
to police and was charged with murder, first degree assault, criminal
mischief and violating an emergency protection order.
(AP, 11/2/08)
2009 Jan 28, President Barack
Obama signed requests from Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Arkansas
Gov. Mike Beebe for federal emergency declarations as crews worked
around the clock to resurrect power lines downed by thick ice in both
states. Since the storm began building on Jan 26, the weather has been
blamed for at least six deaths in Texas, four in Arkansas, three in
Virginia, six in Missouri, two in Oklahoma, and one each in Indiana and
Ohio.
(AP, 1/29/09)
2009 May 2, Mine That Bird, a
gelding from New Mexico trained by Bennie Woolley Jr., won the 135th
Kentucky Derby. With an inspired ride on the rail from Calvin Borel the
50-to-1 odds win was one of the greatest upsets in America's most
famous horse race.
(AP, 5/3/09)(SSFC, 5/3/09, p.C1)
2009 May 8, In the Midwest a wave
of storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses in
Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri. 5 people were left dead.
(AP, 5/9/09)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Kentucky
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