KENTON RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving all of Kenton County
They 're back! Bakery Fresh Paczki 6 ct. (Pronounced "Poonch-Key")
4
$ 99 with card
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020 ❚ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS ❚ PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Kenton County plans to be ‘Second Amendment sanctuary’ Julia Fair Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Jerome Kunkel, 18, confers with his attorney, Thomas Burns, during a hearing April 1. Jerome, a senior at Assumption Academy, objected to the demand for chickenpox vaccinations. LIZ DUFOUR/THE ENQUIRER
Northern Kentucky’s biggest stories of 2019 Julia Fair Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
A lot happened in Northern Kentucky over the past year. As we say goodbye to 2019 and welcome 2020, here’s a look back on a few events that stood out, in no particular order:
Anti-vaccination student sued the health department after being banned from school, then got chicken pox An 18-year-old in Northern Kentucky sued the Northern Kentucky Health Department in Boone County Circuit Court and claimed the department violated his freedom of religion and other rights when it ordered students without a chickenpox vaccine to stay away from school or extracurricular activities. Jerome Kunkel, a senior at Assumption Academy in Walton, opposed the vaccine on religious grounds “due to its being derived from aborted fetal cells,” in London in 1966. Two dozen other students who also had been banned from school joined Kunkel’s case. Then, two months later, Kunkel got itchy with his own case of the chickenpox.
Nick Sandmann, center left, stands in front of Native American activist Nathan Phillips at a rally in Washington, D.C. SURVIVAL MEDIA AGENCY VIA AP
A pedestrian looks on as Emergency personnel investigate on the Ludlow Bromley Yacht Club bar as it is adrift in the Ohio River after a barge struck the Ludlow club on October 2.
Covington Catholic, defamation and national attention Covington Catholic High School exploded into the national psyche in January when millions saw video of an encounter on the National Mall between students from the private, all-boys school and participants in an Indigenous Peoples March. Nick Sandmann, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, stood across from Nathan Phillips, an Omaha tribe elder. Nick’s classmates stood around them, chanting. Some saw disrespect in the students’ actions. Others saw the same from Phillips. Social media reaction was spirited. Media coverage of the incident later drew headlines, as Nick sued several
How to submit news
ALBERT CESARE/ THE ENQUIRER
publications for defamation, ultimately seeking more than three-quarters of $1 billion. A federal judge dismissed one suit, but then he allowed a portion of it to continue. The other cases are ongoing.
A barge crashed into the Ludlow Bromley Yacht Club A barge hit the Ludlow Bromley Yacht club in October which sent the restaurant upriver and part of it onto the banks of the Ohio River. It was estimat-
To submit news and photos to the Community Press/Recorder, visit the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Share website: http://bit.ly/2FjtKoF
Contact The Press
ed the damage would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair. The 1,200-foot Florida Marine Transport tow and barge combination, which carried rock, sand and gravel, wasn’t damaged after it ran into the club. In December, the Coast Guard said the person on the barge fell asleep at the controls, which caused the accident. The name of the person accused of falling asleep was not released by the Coast Guard. See 2019 STORIES, Page 2A
News: 513-248-8600, Retail advertising: 513-768-8404, Classified advertising: 513-242-4000, Delivery: 859-781-4421, Subscriptions: 513-248-7113. See page A2 for additonal information
Kenton County offi cials launched an eff ort to pass a Second Amendment sanctuary resolution, according to Kenton County Judge-Executive Kris Knochelmann. The county is part of the wave of over 30 Kentucky counties that decided to take the step. It means the counties either expressed opposition to gun regulations or had specifi c plans to Knochelmann not follow state and federal gun regulations, depending on the wording in each resolution. In Northern Kentucky, the offi cials at the counties of Boone, Gallatin and Pendleton signaled that they, too, want to pass a sanctuary resolution. The Kenton County Fiscal Court will likely vote on its sanctuary resolution at its meeting on Jan. 9, Knochelmann told The Enquirer. The resolution will be available to read when the county releases its agenda. If you go: ❚ Where: Kenton County Court House at 5272 Madison Pike in Independence ❚ When: 5:30 p.m. Northern Kentucky counties and their Second Amendment sanctuary plans: ❚ Boone County: Plans to vote on its resolution Jan. 14 ❚ Kenton County: Plan to vote on its resolution Jan. 9 ❚ Campbell County: Unknown. The Enquirer will update this when it knows more. ❚ Gallatin County: Plans to vote on its resolution Jan. 9 ❚ Pendleton County: Passed its symbolic resolution on Jan. 3, according to WCPO. In 2019, Virginia gained national attention when 86 of the state’s 95 counties passed gun sanctuary measures in anticipation of gun control laws the new Democratic statehouse majority promised to pass. The resolutions across the U.S. vary. Some counties used it to formally say it opposed gun laws, without giving specifi cs on how it would oppose the laws. Other counties wrote that the government wouldn’t use their own funds to enforce the laws. Julia is the Northern Kentucky government reporter through the Report For America program. Anonymous donors pledged to cover the local donor portion of her grant-funded position with The Enquirer. If you want to support Julia’s work, email her editor Carl Weiser at cweiser@cincinna.gannett.com to fi nd out how you can help fund her work. Do you know something she should know? Send her a note at jfair@enquirer.com and follow her on twitter at @JFair_Reports.
Vol. 2 No. 51 © 2020 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED $1.00
WFDBHE-25020z