12.7.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the reading of the Lexington Herald Leader. Today
is Sunday, December seventh, twenty twenty five. Your reader is
Roger Hamperion. As a reminder, Radio I is a reading
service intended for people who are blind or have other
disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material. We'll

(00:20):
start with the seven day forecast, brought to you by
ACU Weather. The weather Sunday will include a bit of
rain and snow, with a high of forty three degrees
and a low of twenty five. Monday will be partly
sunny and colder, with a high of thirty four and
a low of twenty three. Tuesday will be not as cold,

(00:42):
with a high of forty four and a low of
thirty six. Wednesday will see rain and drizzle with high
of forty seven and a low of thirty one. Thursday
will have low clouds that may break, with a high
of forty and a low of twenty nine. Friday we'll
have an icy mix in the afternoon, with a high

(01:03):
of thirty two and a low of twenty four. Saturday
will be mostly cloudy and not as cold, with a
high of forty two and a low of twenty six.
In the Weather Almanac. The high temperature is thirty one
degrees and the low twenty six normal high forty nine,
normal low thirty two, last year's high fifty last year's

(01:27):
low twenty one, record high seventy four in nineteen eighty two,
record low ten in nineteen forty two. Thursday's precipitation was
zero month to date point three five inches normal month
to date point five four. Year to date fifty seven

(01:48):
point one nine normal year to date forty six point
one eight last year to date forty five point seven
seven record for the date one point five three in
nineteen sixty four. Snowfall Thursday zero month to date one
point five inches normal month to date point one inch.

(02:11):
Season to date one point eight normal season to date
point five last season to date three point one. Sunrise
today will be at seven forty one am. Sunset tonight
five nineteen pm. Moon rise today seven o two pm
moonset today nine forty eight am. Moon phases last quarter

(02:37):
will be December eleventh, new moon December nineteenth, first quarter
December twenty seventh, full moon January third. Now we'll read
the front page headline from today's edition. Businesses that shaped
Lexington from bourbon to horse racing and more. The first

(02:58):
two hundred and fifty years of lex Xington have been
shaped by industry. These are the ones that made Lexington
what it is today. The first article from today's edition
is titled Athens of the West in the city's two
hundred fiftieth year of existence. Take a look back at
some of the industries and businesses that shaped Lexington's past, present,

(03:20):
and future by Liz Carey. Since its founding, Lexington has
been an influential part of the state and the country.
As one of the first settlements in the region. Beginning
before Kentucky was a state, Lexington was a center of
influence in the wilderness. Once Kentucky became a state, Lexington

(03:41):
served as its first capital city, an important part of
westward expansion as the last big town before the Mississippi River.
As the city grew to prominence for its educational, entertainment,
and commercial institutions, Lexington became known as the Athens of
the West, frequented by pioneers heading out into the wilderness

(04:03):
of America's wild West. Fayette County is now home to
more than three hundred twenty two thousand people. According to
the U S. Census Bureau with a host of industries
supporting its population in the city's two hundred fiftieth year
of existence, take a look back at some of the
industries and businesses that shaped Lexington's past, present, and future.

(04:26):
While this list is not comprehensive, it captures much of
the growth in changes that have taken place in Lexington
since seventeen seventy five. Bourbon Bourbon has long been a
part of the Kentucky experience. While there is plenty of
dispute about where bourbon originated, its influence in Lexington is clear.

(04:48):
In eighteen sixty five, Ashland Distillery later known as Old
Tar and now RD Number one, was on Manchester Street
and produced six thousand barrels a year at its peak,
using locally grown corn and water from nearby sources. The
distillery helped make the city's West End a hub for

(05:08):
Kentucky bourbon. The James E. Pepper Distillery began making bourbon
in eighteen seventy nine on Manchester Street, but the site
was abandoned in nineteen fifty eight. Now the twenty five
acre property is the Distillery District, home to food and
entertainment venues, including an updated Pepper Distillery and the Barrelhouse Distillery,

(05:32):
Entertainment and arts. Lexington was the home of the first
newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains, established in seventeen eighty seven.
The newspaper was started by John Bradford as the Kentucky Gazette.
In eighteen oh eight, the first theatre was established, Luke
Usher's New Theater, in an area now covered by the

(05:54):
Central Bank Center. The Lexington Opera House, one of several
entertainment venues in Lexington that made the city an entertainment
destination in the mid eighteen hundreds, was established in eighteen fifty.
While that building burned in eighteen eighty six, it was
rebuilt and reopened in eighteen eighty seven. The current building

(06:15):
is on the National Register of Historic Places and is
the charter member of the League of Historic American Theaters.
In nineteen twenty two, the Kentucky Theatre was established, as
the largest of the palace theater houses in the city
at that time. The theater still runs on Main Street.
The Lyric Theatre opened in nineteen forty eight as a

(06:37):
cultural hub of Lexington's segregated black community. While it closed
in nineteen sixty three, and fell into disrepair. It was
renovated and reopened starting in twenty ten and now stands
as a five hundred forty seat theatre and cultural center.
Rupperina was established in nineteen seventy six and was the

(06:59):
world's largest indoor arena when it opened. Now the Central
Bank Centre, the facility also includes a hotel and a
convention center. Of course, some of the biggest entertainment aspects
of Lexington are college sports and the industry that surrounds them.
University of Kentucky basketball and football are major economic draws

(07:20):
to the city. Lexington was also home to the Kentucky Thoroughblades,
established in nineteen ninety six, the city's first professional ice
hockey team. The Lexington Legends minor League baseball team was
established in two thousand one and continues to play at
Legends Field. Healthcare and Biotechnology CHI Saint Joseph Health was

(07:45):
started in eighteen seventy seven by the Sisters of Charity
of Nazareth as the city's first hospital, Saint Joseph Infirmary.
Over time, it became part of the Catholic Health Initiatives
and expanded into CHI Saint Joseph Health in the nineteen fifties,
doctors with the hospital system performed Lexington's first heart catheterization

(08:07):
and open heart surgery. Established in nineteen fifty seven, UK
Healthcare is an academic medical center that includes the UK
Albert B. Chandler Hospital, Kentucky Children's Hospital, and the UK
Goods Samaritan Hospital, serving more than thirty eight thousand people
as of twenty seventeen. Baptist Health Lexington was established in

(08:32):
nineteen fifty four as Central Baptist and now has more
than five hundred physicians on staff representing more than fifty
medical specialties. Lexington is also home to more than one
hundred biotechnology companies, including Catalant, which offers drug delivery and
manufacturing solutions, Neogen, which creates diagnostic products focusing on food

(08:56):
and animal safety, and Mosquito Mate Incorporated, which uses biotechnology
to tackle mosquito populations. Higher education, One of the oldest
institutions in the state, Transylvania University, was established in seventeen eighty.
It is the oldest university west of the Allegheny Mountains

(09:18):
and is the alma mater of two US Vice Presidents,
two US Supreme Court Justices, fifty U S senators, one
hundred one US representatives, thirty six US governors, thirty four
US ambassadors, and the only president of the Confederate States
of America. The University of Kentucky was established in eighteen

(09:41):
sixty five and is the largest school in Kentucky. UK.
Was founded as a land grant college. The Agricultural and
Mechanical College of Kentucky UK's research activities have been estimated
to generate nine hundred thirty seven million dollars in economic
activity across Kentucky Tucky and support four thousand, seven hundred

(10:02):
and twelve jobs in the state. Bluegrass Community and Technical
College is part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College system,
the largest provider of higher education and workforce training in Kentucky.
With three locations in Lexington, b CTC has grown from
twenty students when it was established in nineteen sixty five

(10:24):
to more than eighteen thousand students today. Horses and equine
horse racing in Lexington dates back to the late seventeen hundreds,
when early settlers established quarter mile courses, with some races
running through the middle of downtown. In seventeen ninety three,
Lexington Town Trustees decided to restrict racing to certain designated areas.

(10:50):
In eighteen twenty six, a group of prominent citizens, including
statesman Henry Clay, established the Kentucky Racing Association to further
the briefing of thoroughbreds. The association opened the Lexington Racecourse
in eighteen twenty eight to solidify the city as the
horse capital of the world. When closed in nineteen thirty three,

(11:13):
it gave rise to Keeneland, now a prominent part of
horse racing the world over. In nineteen sixteen, Blood Horse
Magazine was established to cover all aspects of the thoroughbred
horse industry. Gainesway Farm, established as Green Tree stud in
nineteen twenty five, is one of the more prominent thoroughbred

(11:34):
breeding farms in the country. Its owner, John Gaines, created
the prestigious Breeders Cup in nineteen eighty four. In nineteen
seventy eight, the Kentucky Horse Park and the International Museum
of the Horse was established to provide a horse centric
educational theme park and international equestrian competition venue. Manufacturing. While

(11:58):
nearby Georgetown is home to the Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky
Lexington has its share of manufacturing. Two the Jiff Peanut
Butter Factory was established in nineteen forty six, originally producing
Big Top peanut butter. It was sold to Procter and
Gamble in nineteen fifty five and renamed JIFF. The factory

(12:21):
is the largest peanut butter production facility in the world.
Link Belt Cranes came to Lexington in nineteen seventy five,
relocating from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The company was established to
produce link change in eighteen seventy four and produced its
first steam powered coal cranes in eighteen ninety. Link Belt

(12:43):
now specializes in telescopic and lattice boom cranes IBM. Lexmark
was established in nineteen fifty six to produce selectric typewriters.
The facility was later established to produce printers and established
as Lexmark in nineteen ninety one. Big Gas Fans was

(13:04):
established in nineteen ninety nine and produces industrial and residential
high volume, low speed fans for the worldwide market. Alltech
was founded by Irish biochemist doctor Pierce Lyons to use
yeast fermentation to improve the health of people, animals and plants.
The biotech company has grown to the crop science, food

(13:27):
and beverages and sustainability solutions sectors. Temper Sealy, the world's
largest bedding company, has been headquartered in Lexington since twenty thirteen,
after originally coming to the city as temper Pedic in
nineteen ninety three. And Space Tango, a company providing access
to microgravity for research and development and manufacturing in space,

(13:51):
has been in Lexington since twenty fourteen. Its QBE labs
on the International Space Station have performed experiments related to
to carbon nanotubes and stem cells, among other things, restaurants
and food. Phoenix Tavern, established by Captain John Postelwaite in
seventeen ninety seven, was one of Lexington's first taverns and

(14:15):
its longest lasting. The tavern was converted to the Phoenix
Hotel in eighteen twenty and closed in nineteen seventy seven,
where it stood as now the new Phoenix Park in
downtown Lexington. Jeron's Confectionery was established in eighteen fifteen and
became a famous confectionery, supper room, and dance hall. In

(14:37):
eighteen eighty eight. Coleman Crest Farm, Kentucky's first black owned
USDA certified organic produce farm, was established when James Coleman
purchased the thirteen acre farm from John and Mary Darnaby.
Coleman and his family had tilled the soil of the
farm as slaves until he bought it for twelve hundred dollars.

(14:59):
His descend have worked the farm for the past one
hundred thirty seven years. Dolly Johnson Dandridge established the White
House Cafe in nineteen ten after serving as head cook
for President William Henry Harrison. Jerry's Restaurant opened in nineteen
forty six and was franchised in nineteen forty seven. That

(15:20):
same chain gave rise to Long John Silver's Seafood Shops
in nineteen sixty nine and Fizzoli's in nineteen eighty eight.
In nineteen fifty one, Parquett Drive In was established and
continued running until twenty twenty two. The Bar Complex established
in nineteen sixty three as the Gilded Cage, which was

(15:42):
followed by a series of LGBTQ plus friendly bars and
clubs in the same space, including The Living Room nineteen
sixty seven, Montparnasse nineteen seventy four, Johnny Angels nineteen seventy eight,
and the Bar Complex nineteen eighty to present day at
a time when the LGBTQ plus community faced hostility and

(16:04):
discrimination across the country. Retail Peter January and General James
Wilkinson are considered the first known shopkeepers in Lexington, opening
up their first store in seventeen eighty four. January purchased
raw hemp to make rope. In eighteen oh one, he
advertised in the Kentucky Gazette for two good rope makers

(16:26):
who are sober. Since then, many other retailers have risen
to prominence. In nineteen twenty two, Barney Miller was established
as an autoparts store on Main Street, before expanding to radios,
record players, and televisions and now electronics systems for homes
and businesses. Wolf Will's Department store was established in nineteen

(16:48):
fifty selling clothing and household goods. The store closed in
nineteen fifty eight. Dawhares was established by Syrian immigrant saruver
Frank Dawhair in eastern Kentucky in nineteen eleven, selling clothing
and other soft goods out of a pack on his back,
and the company opened a store in Gardenside in the

(17:09):
nineteen sixties. It formerly closed all of its stores in
two thousand and eight Wheeler Pharmacy was established in nineteen
fifty eight and is the oldest running pharmacy in Lexington.
Zeril Palmer opened Palmer's Pharmacy in nineteen fifty two, the
first black owned pharmacy in the city. He opened a

(17:30):
second location in nineteen sixty six. Two years later, it
was the target of a ku Klux Klan bombing that
destroyed the store and injured eight people, including Palmer, his
wife and their four year old daughter. In nineteen sixty seven,
Turflin Mall opened as the first enclosed shopping mall in Lexington.

(17:51):
It closed in two thousand and eight. In nineteen eighty six,
Joseph Beth Booksellers was established and was named the Small
Business of the Year by the Lexington Chamber of Commerce
in nineteen eighty nine. Use of enslaved labour. One of
Lexington's most prominent citizens, John Wesley Hunt seventeen seventy three

(18:12):
to eighteen forty nine was a slave trader and hemp
factory owner. He was considered to be the first millionaire
west of the Allegheny Mountains. The slave trade was a
large part of trade in the eighteen hundreds. Lexington. Cheapside
Park was a major market place for the slave trade
and one of the largest markets in the South for

(18:33):
slaves prior to the Civil War. In twenty twenty, it
was renamed to the Henry A. Tandy Centennial Park in
honour of freed slave Henry Tandy, whose masonry work built
the former Fayette County Courthouse. Slavery and the slave trade
also influenced the decision by Governor Buriah Magoffin to take

(18:53):
a stance of neutrality in the Civil War. Slave labour
not only benefited tobacco plantations, but the slave trade itself
influenced the state's economy. The trade also gave rise to
attorneys in the area using the slave trade to increase
their wealth. Henry Johnson was an attorney who negotiated the
settlement of debts through the sale of collateralized slaves. Johnson

(19:18):
lived in Pope Villa at three twenty six Grosvenor Avenue
and started in eighteen thirty with forty eight slaves. By
eighteen fifty, he legally owned four hundred forty two. He
eventually sold Pope Villa and moved to a plantation in Mississippi.
The slave trade also fueled the abolitionist movement and the

(19:38):
newspaper The True American and Antislavery Publication, printed by Cassius
Marcellus Clay. The writing in the newspaper angered locals so
much they forcibly entered the paper's offices, removed the printing equipment,
and shipped it off to Cincinnati Transportation. In seventeen eighty,

(19:58):
Valley View Ferry was a established to ferry people and
vehicles across the Kentucky River. It is widely regarded as
the oldest continually running business in the state. The Lexington
and Ohio Railroad was established in eighteen thirty the first
one and one half mile stretch opening in eighteen thirty two.

(20:18):
By eighteen thirty four, the railroad ran between Lexington and
Frankfurt on cars pulled by horses. The company collapsed in
eighteen thirty seven. Bluegrass Airport was established in nineteen thirty
three as a municipal airfield. Since then, it has grown
to handle more than one million passengers each year. The

(20:39):
next article from today's edition is titled These are Lexington's
Oldest Businesses that still operate today by Liz Carey. Since
its earliest days, Lexington has been a center of commerce
for the area, even before Kentucky was a state. Some
of the businesses formed in the city's earliest days still

(21:00):
operate today. One is recognized as one of the oldest
businesses in the country. While some of the entities have
moved from serving as a commercial entity to a not
for profit organization, the lasting power of these enterprises that
have called Lexington home for generations is a testament to
their longevity. Valley Vue Ferry established seventeen eighty, Transylvania University

(21:25):
established seventeen eighty. Eastern State Hospital established eighteen sixteen. Millward
Funeral Home established eighteen twenty five, Lexington's oldest business and
the thirty seventh oldest continuously operating business in the United States.
HLM Landscape Services established eighteen forty one. Lexington Cemetery established

(21:50):
eighteen fifty. Farmers Bank and Capital Trust Company established eighteen fifty.
The Red Mile established eighteen seventy five, one of the
oldest harnessed racing tracks in the world. Coleman Crest Farm
established eighteen eighty eight, run by the same family for
more than one hundred thirty five years. Joe Rosenberg Jewelers

(22:14):
established eighteen ninety six Lexington Leader that would become the
Lexington Herald Leader established nineteen o one. Hawkins Taylor Funeral
Home established nineteen twenty one. The Kentucky Theatre established nineteen
twenty two. Barney Millers established nineteen twenty two, Chevy Chase

(22:35):
Inn established nineteen thirty three, Bluegrass Airport established nineteen thirty three.
Barbara Ann's School of Dance established nineteen forty five, Pea
Rats established nineteen forty six, Columbia Steakhouse established nineteen forty eight.
Farmer's Jewelry established nineteen fifty still run by the same family.

(23:00):
Thoroughbred Restaurant established nineteen fifty four, Wlax Channel eighteen established
nineteen fifty five, Lexington's first TV station. Wheeler Pharmacy established
nineteen fifty eight. The next article from today's edition is
titled Robbery charges filed against woman cops say is connected

(23:21):
to Lexington Street Gang by Taylor. Six more criminal charges
were filed this week against members of a Lexington Street
gang that prosecutors say orchestrated a twenty twenty three murder
for higher plot that killed a federal witness. Shilah Livers,
twenty five, of Lexington, was charged Wednesday with engaging in

(23:43):
an organized crime syndicate, two counts of complicity to burglary,
two counts of complicity to adult kidnapping, and complicity to
kidnap a minor. Livers is the girlfriend of one of
the eight members of the Hot Boys, a Lexington gang
charged in the September twenty twenty three shooting of Christopher Lewis.

(24:04):
The robbery in which she's charge happened about two months
before that. Liver's charges are in state court, while the
others are in federal court. According to Lyver's criminal complaint,
three men dressed in black entered a Richmond home on
Mallory Court with guns on the day of the robbery
and tied up a man and a woman whose child

(24:25):
was upstairs. The men demanded money, but the family escaped unharmed.
Livers reported her blue Kia Optima stole in just minutes
after police were called for the robbery. An officer met
Livers at a home in Richmond belonging to her cousin,
Casey Morris. Morris twenty nine, was one of the two

(24:45):
people indicted last month in Lewis's death. The other six
were indicted earlier this fall. A year before he was killed,
Lewis was indicted alongside Raleigh Lomar on charges of conspiracy
to distribute marijuana and money laundering. Lewis was going to
testify at Lamar's trial, court documents show, but he was

(25:06):
gunned down first. Morris was charged with using interstate commerce
in commission of murder for hire, conspiracy to use interstate
commerce and commission for murder for hire, and conspiracy to
use a firearm in a crime of violence. She faces
a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life in prison.

(25:26):
While investigating Liver's report of a stolen vehicle, police noticed
several inconsistencies with her story and that her car matched
the video surveillance footage of the car involved in the
Mallory Court burglary. Police later found the car in Lexington
and in Lyver's possession. She told police she found it

(25:46):
on Ty Lane in Richmond. Police had the car impounded
and found the debit card of Lyver's boyfriend, William Q.
Dixon during a search. Dixon as one of two people
accused of carrying out the hit on Lewis, along with
Desmond Bellamy twenty six. Bellamy is identified in court documents
as the boyfriend of Morris. Prosecutors argue Lyver's letter boyfriend

(26:11):
user car for the burglary. Other Hot Boys members indicted
in connection with Lewis's killing are Rolie Deshaun Lamar thirty two,
Daquis Damar Sharp twenty seven, Quincino Lamont, Wade Junior twenty four,
Jadis Alvin Parks twenty one, de Angelo Montavious Boone twenty six.

(26:34):
Liver's preliminary hearing is scheduled for December tenth. The next
article from today's edition is titled New Year's Rock and Eve.
Names line up from the Chicago Tribune Dick Clark's New
Year's Rock and Eve with Ryan Seacres twenty twenty six
has announced its lineup of musical performers for its coming

(26:54):
New Year's Eve broadcast, including fifty cent Charlie Puff, Chapel Rowan,
Demi Lovado, Maren Morris, Mariah Carey, One Republic Pitbull, and
Post Malone. Chance the Rapper will host the Chicago parts
of the telecast for ABC on the night of December
thirty first. As announced in November, Chicago will be featured

(27:19):
for the first time on the popular annual New Year's
Eve Countdown program headquartered in Times Square an hour after
the ball drops in New York. The show will add
a Central time Zone midnight countdown live from downtown Chicago.
According to an announcement from ABC and Dick Clark Productions,
live telecasts will also visit Las Vegas and Puerto Rico.

(27:43):
The announcement of bands did not specify which performers would
play in which cities and locations. Dick Clark's New Year's
Rock and Eve with Ryan Seacres twenty twenty six will
begin airing at seven pm December thirty first on ABC,
streaming the following day on Hulu, and also broadcasting live
on Kiss FM, Chicago Radio. Other music acts include Goo

(28:08):
Goo Dolls, New Kids on the Block, voices from K Pop,
demon Hunters, and four Non Blondes. And now, after a
short pause, I hope you'll rejoin us for a continuation
of the reading of the Lexington Herald Leader for today.
Thank you for listening, and now please stay tuned for
more news right here on RADIOI. Now we will continue

(28:32):
reading from the Lexington Herald Leader for Sunday, December seventh,
twenty twenty five. Your reader is Roger Hampiion. We will
start with the obituaries. We read only the name, age,
and location. If you would like further information on any
of the obituaries, please see their website or call us

(28:52):
during the weekdays at eight five nine four two two
six three nine zero, and we will be glad to
read the entire obituary for you. I will repeat that
number at the end of the listings. Today's obituaries are
as follows. Elizabeth Anastasio eighty four of Lexington, James Banta

(29:13):
ninety one of Lexington, Marie Copeland eighty five of Winston Salem,
Sarah Sharp Farish of Boca Grande, Judith Page seventy six
of Lexington, and Carlos Trauer seventy seven of Atlanta. If
you would like any further information about any of the

(29:34):
listings today, please visit the following website www dot legacy
dot com slash obituaries slash Kentucky. Again, that site is
Legacy dot com slash obituaries slash Kentucky. You can also
call us at our RADIOI studios at eight five nine

(29:55):
four two two six three nine zero and we will
try to read them to you over the now at
the request of our listeners, we'll read Paul Praether's weekly column.
It is entitled God has created a universe that teaches
us necessary humility. The virtue Christians are supposed to practice

(30:15):
above all other moral qualities is love. Every ten year
old Sunday school student knows that this is not to
say we always do practice love, or even that we
mostly practice it. Obviously we don't, but we should. If
there's a second most important spiritual virtue in the Christian schema,
it's probably this one, humility. I discussed humility in a

(30:40):
previous column about ways in which we can reduce the
hate that's ever present in our divided culture. I want
to say more about it, though, for it seems God
considers humility so important He's built it into the very
fabric of existence. It's visible on one thousand fronts, and
the ridiculously miniscule roll our planet plays, and the Grand Cosmos,

(31:03):
to the daily examples of old people and even pets.
My mother, god rest Her, grew up during the Great
Depression in a clapborate house on a farm in southeastern Kentucky.
There were three generations under the roof of that little home. Mom,
her parents, and her paternal grandparents. I don't know if
Mom put it in exactly these words, but I got

(31:26):
the sense that if she had a favorite family member,
it was her grandfather Lee Chestnut. She told me many
fond stories about Grandpa Chestnut. As a young man in
the late eighteen hundreds, Lee apparently was daring, strong, even violent.
He got into trouble with the law in Kentucky. Mom
never found out what he'd done and hopped a freight

(31:48):
train to Montana. Out west, he became a cowboy. In
an altercation over cattle, he killed a man on the range,
and with the help of his ranchform and hid the body. Later,
when Kentucky had lost interest in his legal problems here,
he came home and got married. He bought a piece
of cheap land that was mainly forest and worked as

(32:11):
a night watchman to pay his bills. Then labored days
cutting trees and blasting the stumps with dynamite, trying to
turn the place into a farm. That's the farm my
mom grew up on. By the time Mom came along,
Lee was an old man. Mom had little use for
her grandmother, whom she found controlling and cranky. Grandpa Chestnut

(32:33):
had become a church goer and even a deacon. I think,
Mom said. He sat at the very front of the
church sanctuary, on the mourner's bench at the foot of
the pulpit where sinners came to repent, because he was
nearly deaf and that was the only way he could
hear the sermon. If the preacher droned on too long,
Grandpa would tug the tail of his frock coat to

(32:55):
remind him it was time for dinner. At home, Grandpa
knelt beside his bed at night to pray before turning in.
In the quiet house, Mom could hear him asking the
Lord to please bless little Alice. That sweet old man,
Mom would say, down on his knees, praying for me.
At some point, she started shaving Grandpa because his eyes

(33:17):
and hands weren't steady anymore, and because the attention pleased him.
In the end, he lay helpless in a bed in
that same farmhouse he'd built forty years earlier, suffering from
a broken hip, nursed by his son and daughter in law.
That's how his life ended. The former outlaw and energetic worker,

(33:37):
reduced to helplessness and pain, dependent on the ministrations of others.
In a new century and a different species. I've seen
the same type of journey, echoed My wife Liz brought
to our marriage a kitten named Walter, who from the
get go was full of sap and swagger. Nearly fifteen
years later, he's still with us, still sleeping in our girl.

(34:01):
I'm not a cat person, but I always liked water.
You couldn't not like him. He was both lovable and ferocious.
He enjoyed being petted, yet patrolled our yard as if
he were a lion on the serengetti, stalking a herd
of wildebeast. I don't know whether cats have fantasies, but
he seemed to think he was Simba or maybe scar.

(34:23):
He scouted and skulked and slithered, and delivered to our
kitchen door a steady supply of mice, rabbits, and shipmunks.
He strutted around with his tail erect, and then for
no reason, charged across the grass at a low, dead run,
as if shot from a cannon. Walter's not fast anymore.
He's arthritic. His teeth are so bad he can only

(34:44):
eat the mushiest cat foods. He's trembling and disoriented. He
wanders under the wheels of our vehicles. As we pull
into the garage, we break and wait for him to
take a notion to amble on to his bed. He
can't groom himself. His fur became hopelessly matted and painful.
Liz had to take him to the veterinarian to be shaved.

(35:06):
His heads still fluffy, and so are his tail and pause.
Otherwise he's hairless. He looks like a kitty poodle, which
I'm sure isn't the vision he used to have of himself.
We can't let him outside for fear a hawk or
a dog will kill him. The hunter has become prey.
Watching him has reminded me that nearly every creature on

(35:28):
Earth winds up slow, broken, afraid. We come into the
world helpless, and we leave it helpless. If we humans
are of the variety who happen to be teachable, our
decline imbues us with humility. Before we're gone, we lose
our delusions of power. We discover our dependence on God
and other people. We feel mercy for other poor souls

(35:51):
who are struggling too. We understand, indeed, why the greatest
of virtues is love. The next article from today's edition
The Herald Leader is titled poll GOP will face more
blame if Obamacare subsidies and by Reed Abelson New York
Times News Service. Some voters may punish Congressional Republicans in

(36:14):
next term's midterm elections if expanded Obamacare insurance subsidies are
allowed to expire at the end of this month. A
new poll released Thursday suggests without the extension of larger subsidies,
which lower the cost of health insurance under the Affordable
Care Act for millions of Americans, many people will see
their health expenses rise by about one thousand dollars next year.

(36:38):
Among those facing a spike, most said they would blame
President Donald Trump or Republicans in Congress. According to the poll,
which was conducted by KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group,
about half of people covered by Obamacare plans who are
registered to vote said such an increase would have a
major impact on how or whether they vote in the

(37:01):
twenty twenty six midterms. According to the survey, the Senate
is expected to vote next week on whether to extend
the subsidies, but it is unclear whether there is enough
Republican support for continuing them. President Donald Trump was considering
throwing his support behind an extension, a White House officials
said recently, but has made no public announcement. Without the

(37:24):
additional subsidies, which were first extended during the COVID nineteen pandemic,
many people will see their annual premiums more than double
next year, to nineteen hundred dollars from an average of
around eight hundred ninety dollars. Most people will still be
eligible for some subsidies. Concerns about health care affordability cross

(37:44):
party lines. Many people are already struggling with the cost
of monthly insurance premiums and high out of pocket medical costs,
and are worried about their ability to pay more for
their health care next year. Roughly six and ten people
surveyed said they could not afford an increase of three
hundred dollars a year in insurance without its significantly affecting

(38:06):
their finances. Extending the Obamacare subsidies was a key issue
in the recent forty three day government shutdown, during which
Democrats insisted they must be continued and Republicans refused to commit.
While the government was closed, KFF surveyed people who purchased
coverage under the Affordable Care Act. At the beginning of

(38:27):
open enrollment for health insurance for twenty twenty six, about
a quarter of those surveyed said they would be very
likely to go without health insurance next year if their
premiums rose significantly. That group includes low income Americans who
do not pay premiums for their current Obamacare plan but
would have to pay fifty dollars monthly next year. Others

(38:50):
said they would shop for a new plan or look
for a different job. Of those surveyed who identified as Republicans,
two thirds said they would blame Congression Democrats if the
subsidies expired, while those who identified as Democrats overwhelmingly blamed Republicans.
Republicans and Republican leaning independents who said they did not

(39:11):
support the right wing MAGA movement said they would blame
Trump or congressional Republicans. The survey also underscored how little
confidence people have in lawmaker's ability to address the high
cost of health insurance. About half of those polled said
they had little or no faith in Congressional Democrats, while
about two thirds said they had no or not much

(39:34):
confidence in Trump or congressional Republicans. The next article from
the day's edition is titled Netflix agrees to buy Warner
Brothers in seventy two billion dollar deal by Meg James,
Los Angeles Times, Netflix has prevailed in its bid to
buy Warner Brothers, agreeing to pay seventy two billion dollars

(39:55):
for the Burbank based Warner Brothers film and television studios
Max and HBO. The two companies announced the blockbuster deal
early Friday morning. The takeover would give Netflix such beloved
characters as Batman, Harry Potter, and Fred Flintstone. Our mission
has always been to entertain the world, Ted sarandos Co,

(40:18):
CEO of Netflix, said in a statement. By combining Warner
Brother's incredible library of shows and movies from timeless classics
like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry
Potter and Friends with our cultural defining titles like Stranger Things,
K Pop, Demon Hunters, and Squid Game, We'll be able

(40:39):
to do that even better. Netflix's cash and stock transaction
is valued at about twenty seven dollars and seventy five
cents for Warner Brothers Discovery shares. Netflix also agreed to
take on more than ten billion dollars in Warner brother's debt,
pushing the deal's value to eighty two point seven billion dollars.

(41:00):
The breakthrough came earlier this week after the three contenders, Netflix,
Paramount and Comcasts submitted binding second round offers. Netflix's victory
was assured by late Thursday, soon after another deadline for
last minute deal sweeteners. Netflix and Warner's boards separately and

(41:20):
unanimously approved the transaction. Warner's cable channels, including CNN, T
and T, and HGTV, are not included in the deal.
They will form a newly publicly traded company, Discovery Global,
in mid twenty twenty six. Antitrust experts anticipate opposition to
Netflix's proposed takeover. Netflix has more than three hundred million

(41:45):
streaming subscribers worldwide, and with HBO Max, the company's base
would swell to more than four hundred twenty million subscribers,
a staggering sum much greater than any of the other
premium video on demand streaming services. In addition, Netflix has
long prioritized releasing movies to its streaming platform by passing

(42:06):
movie theater chains. The deal posed an unprecedented threat to
the global exhibition business. Cinema United, a trade group representing
owners of more than fifty thousand movie screens, said in
a statement announcing its opposition. The negative impact of this
acquisition will impact theaters from the biggest circuits, one screen

(42:27):
independence in small towns in the United States and around
the world, said Cinema United President Michael O'Leary in a statement.
Netflix's stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. Netflix,
in the statement, said it would maintain Warner Brothers operations,
including theatrical releases for Warner Brothers films. The Director's Guild

(42:49):
of America said the proposed combination raises significant concerns. A
vibrant competitive industry, one that fosters creativity and encourages genuine
competition for talent, is essential to safeguarding the careers and
creative rights of directors and their teams. The DGA spokesperson said,
we will be meeting with Netflix to outline our concerns

(43:11):
and better understand their vision for the future of the company.
Losing the auction as a crushing blow for Paramount's David Ellison,
the forty two year old tech psion who envisioned building
a juggernaut with the two storied movie studios, HBO, and
two dozen cable channels. One month after buying Paramount, he
set its sights on Warner Brothers, triggering the auction with

(43:34):
a series of unsolicited bids in September and early October.
Warner Brothers Discovery's board rejected Paramount's offers as too low.
In late October, the board opened the auction up to
other bidders. Comcast also leaped into the bidding for Warner's studios,
HBO and its streaming service. Comcast wanted to spin off

(43:56):
its NBC Universal Media assets and merge them with Warner
Brothers to form a new Jumbo studio. The next article
from today's edition is titled where are new student Apartments
being built in Lexington? A look at the projects by
Adrian Paul Bryant. As Lexington residents and city officials struggle

(44:18):
with the continued need for housing, one demographic will see
more options in the coming years student renters. A growing
number of properties, particularly in the downtown East Maxwell Street area,
have been proposed for redevelopment targeted at University of Kentucky
students seeking off campus housing. The latest such plan is

(44:39):
set to be heard by a city planning subcommittee this week.
UK has broken its enrollment records every year since twenty nineteen.
The university has more than thirty seven eight hundred enrolled
students this fall, compared to thirty thousand, five hundred forty
five students in the fall twenty nineteen semester. A new

(45:00):
dorm building is under construction on campus and set to
bring an additional six hundred forty four beds in twenty
twenty six, but some residents think the university is adding
too many students without building enough housing to accommodate them,
putting pressure on neighborhoods near campus. Lexington, like many US cities,

(45:20):
faces a housing crisis. A twenty twenty four study from
EHI Consultants found Fayette County needs twenty two thousand, five
hundred forty nine additional housing units to meet demand. More
than half of Lexington's runners are paying more than thirty
percent of their income on rent. Of those twenty two thousand,
five hundred forty nine, EHI found Lexington needs roughly four thousand,

(45:44):
seven hundred thirty nine additional student housing units. Here's a
look at the current off campus projects and some potential
areas developers may be eyeing next two consecutive blocks of
Maxwell Street will soon add more than one thousand student
bids bedrooms. Two apartment complexes will soon sit side by
side on East Maxwell Street. One project, being built by

(46:08):
Ohio based developer Stavroff Land and Development, will be a
six story complex with two hundred seventy seven units and
six hundred and fifty five bedrooms aimed at student renters.
The building is under construction along East Maxwell on the
block between Lexington Avenue and Stone Avenue. The project got
final approval from the Lexington Urban County Planning Commission in January.

(46:32):
Members delayed final approval for several months after Stavroff submitted
a final development plan they felt was too different from
the initial approval. The Stavroff project is expected to open
and fall twenty twenty seven. On an adjacent block. Saint
Louis based developer Subtext will build an eight story apartment
complex between Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Stone Avenue.

(46:57):
It will feature two hundred seventy nine units and seven
hundred ninety five bedrooms. The final plan for the project
is still awaiting city approval. The two projects will result
in East Maxwell Street having five hundred fifty six apartments
and one four hundred and fifty bedrooms coming online. A
proposal for a third complex on the street from Stone

(47:19):
Avenue to Rose Street was denied by the Lexington Fayette
Urban County Council in November. That development, proposed by core Spaces,
would have been eight stories, housing three hundred thirty two
units and one thousand ten bedrooms. Core Spaces owns and
operates the two Hub apartment complexes on South Upper Street

(47:40):
and Virginia Avenue. The properties the company sought to develop
on East Maxwell are zoned for medium density residential use,
and core Spaces or other developer could build a four
story apartment building on the site without any public input.
Subtexts take second stab at Prawltown development. City officials rejected

(48:02):
a developer's plan for a high rise student apartment complex
in one of Lexington's first black neighbourhoods last year, but
the effort is not off the table. Subtext has filed
a second plan for apartments at the same location. That
plan proposes a seven story, one hundred seventy unit complex
at one eighteen Mont Mullen Street one twenty one and

(48:25):
one twenty three Prawl Street and five forty five to
five forty nine, five point fifty three and five sixty
three South Limestone. The development would have four hundred ninety
one bedrooms and two hundred fifteen parking spaces in a
parking garage. The second proposal is smaller than one submitted
by Subtext in twenty twenty four, down from eight stories,

(48:48):
two hundred thirty nine units and seven hundred ninety nine bedrooms.
The initial plan also extended farther into the neighbourhood along
Mount Mullen Street, requiring the demolition of eleven single family homes.
Those eleven properties are not included in the new plan.
The City Planning Commission rejected the twenty twenty four zone

(49:08):
change Request and development plan in a five to four vote,
citing concerns over the plan's impact on the Prowl Town neighborhood.
Prawltown was founded in the late eighteen hundreds as a
place that recently freed and slaved could become homeowners. Now,
the neighborhood is overwhelmingly comprised of student rental housing. The

(49:29):
second subtext plan will be voted on by two Planning
Commission subcommittees Thursday, December fourth, The full Commission will likely
take the plan up in mid December. What other properties
could be up for redevelopment? While no development plans for
these properties have been filed yet, two prominent downtown locations

(49:49):
could be redeveloped soon. The YMCA of Central Kentucky recently
sold the High Street location to a Florida based student
housing developer, Cramwell Web Partners Incorporated. The High Street YMCA
will stay open through March. No development plans have yet
been filed for any housing projects on the property. The

(50:11):
YMCA property is currently zoned Downtown Business, which does not
have any height or density limits for apartment buildings. Any
development could be approved without any public input opportunities since
there would be no zone change required. The US Post
Service office building on East High Street was also sold
to a Florida development group recently. Lexington High Street Partnership

(50:35):
LP of West Palm Beach, Florida, purchased the property for
two point seventy seven million dollars October thirty first, according
to Fayette County property records. Officials with Lexington High Street
Partnership LP could not be located for comment, and no
proposals have been submitted to the city for redevelopment. As
of December third, a spokesperson for USPS told The Herald

(50:59):
Leader of the Postal Shire Service has no plans to
leave the building which it leases. The next article from
today's edition is titled Kentucky City accused of overcharging residents
businesses for trash pickup by Christopher Leech. A resident and
business owner are suing the City of London after they
say it's been overcharging for trash pickup for years and

(51:22):
using the overcharged funds for other city operations. The lawsuit,
filed Wednesday by James Phelps and Keith Higginbotham, a business
owner in London, claims the city's past two budgets have
established more than one point five million dollars per year
in trash pickup overcharges to fund other parts of the city.
Phelps and Higginbotham are seeking refunds for the excess garbage

(51:45):
fees charged over the last five years in order to
stop the transfer of excess garbage funds to non garbage expenditures,
and an order setting garbage rates based on actual service costs.
The lawsuit says. They also ask for the lawsuit to
proceed as a class action. Lawsuit. Suit, which names Mayor
Randall Weddell and unidentified London City Council members, is the

(52:08):
latest in a string of recent controversies in the town
of about seventy five hundred people. City police came under
intense scrutiny last winter when they shot and killed a
man while trying to serve a warrant at a different house.
A few months later, Phelps, a longtime critic of Weddell
and his brother, sued the London mayor for defamation after
he repeatedly claimed they were part of a pedophilia ring,

(52:32):
and Weddell was impeached and removed from office by the
London City Council in September on misconduct or wilful neglect charges.
Weddell appealed the impeachment and later that month a special
judge presiding over the case reinstated Weddell as mayor. The
council appealed the order, but Weddell has remained in office
in the meantime. On Wednesday, Weddell and the council attempted

(52:55):
to hold a special meeting to have second readings of
multiple contraver virstial ordinances, but the meeting was canceled because
of potential Open Meetings Act violations. Council member jud Weaver
angrily disagreed with the decision to cancel the meeting, and
he and four other council members ended up convening the
special meeting afterward without the mayor. Another special council meeting

(53:19):
was scheduled for five thirty pm on Thursday at the
London Community Center. Where did the alleged overcharged garbage funds go.
The lawsuit claims overcharged garbage fees were used for citywide electricity,
professional fees, insurance, public relations, and fire and police department salaries.
Professional fees include paying city attorney Larry Bryson, who failed

(53:43):
to uphold the law, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also
claims Weddell is hiring more police officers than he's approved
for using the overcharged garbage fees. Weddell did not immediately
respond to a request for comment that was sent Friday morning.
The ordinance that established rules and regulations for trash pickup

(54:03):
says the service is not a revenue measure and bans
the option for private trash collection. The ordinance has been
amended and repealed several times since its creation. In two thousand.
The enactments contain identical language about trash pickup being a
non revenue service. According to the lawsuit, for the twenty
twenty one fiscal budget, about three point three million dollars

(54:26):
was set aside for trash collection. The current fiscal budget
includes more than seven million dollars for the service. According
to the lawsuit, garbage fees are egregiously more than necessary
to provide the service and being used for purposes not
set forth in the ordinance. The lawsuit says, furthermore, garbage customers,
both residential and commercial, unlawfully subsidizing defendant London Operations. The

(54:52):
next article from today's edition is titled Lawsuit against Kentucky
Juvenile Justice Officials imperiled as plaintiff diss peers by John Cheeves.
A lawsuit alleging that a severely mental ill teenaged girl
was abused and neglected in a filthy cell by the
Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice appears to be unraveling because

(55:13):
the girl, now a twenty year old woman, has disappeared.
Her lawyer, says, Lexington attorney Joseph Buckles, asked December third
to withdraw from representing the plaintiff in the twenty twenty
four suit against a half dozen Department of Juvenile Justice officials,
including Tanya Burton, the former superintendent of the Dare Regional

(55:35):
Juvenile Detention Center in Columbia. In his motion filed in
U S District Court in Bowling Green, Buckles said he's
been unable to find or communicate with his client for months,
making it impossible to effectively prepare for a possible trial
next year. Based on information received, plaintiff is homeless or

(55:56):
residing in a psychiatric facility in the Indianapolis, Indiana area.
Wrote all attempts to contact plaintiff have been unsuccessful. The
woman's last known address was her brother's house in Anderson, Indiana,
last June. Buckles wrote, The Herald Leader is not naming
the woman because she was a minor in juvenile detention

(56:16):
at the time of acts described in the lawsuit. The suit,
filed nearly two years ago, alleges that the woman spent
much of the summer of twenty twenty two locked, sometimes naked,
inside a food filth and garbage strewn isolation cell in
the state's juvenile detention facility in Adair County, where security

(56:37):
staff mocked her smell and ignored her cries for help.
Due to time constraints, we'll need to end this article
at this time. This concludes the reading of the Lexington
Herald Leader for today, Sunday, December seventh, twenty twenty five.
Your reader has been Roger Hamperion. Thank you for listening,
and please stay tuned for sports news here on Radio

(57:00):
Eye