LINK Kenton Reader- Volume 1, Issue 17 - March 17, 2023

PRESIDENT & CEO Lacy Starling

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Mark Collier

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SPORTS EDITOR Evan Dennison

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Taxes vs. school performance: ‘Spending

on a bad product sits wrong with everybody’

BY HALEY PARNELL | LINK

Fewer than five miles separate Campbell County’s independent schools, but some are outshining others in academic performance despite lower tax rates and it’s drawing calls for consolidation from residents.

Longtime Southgate resident, Jim Ling, has lived in the city for roughly 33 years. He said if a district had a high-performance rating, it might make sense to remain independent, but he doesn’t think Southgate fits that mold.

“Some neighborhoods would like to remain independent, have an identity and more choice in their schools,” Ling said.

“If Southgate were a strong school system, which it hasn’t been for many years, that would be a consideration. But a better way to approach it may be to use the resources of a larger and better school system, being one of our neighbors.”

school bigger, modifying, making the gym bigger,” he said.

Campbell County has five independent school districts – some less than a mile apart. Using Kentucky’s State Report Card, data shows that higher tax rates have little to do with higher performance. While Southgate Independent schools has the second-highest tax rate in the county, the district’s accountability score earned it the second-lowest grade the state can assign.

No part of this publication may be used without permission of the publisher. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please let us know and accept our sincere apologies in advance.

on the cover

Fort Thomas students walk home after dismissal. Photo

by Alecia Ricker | LINK nky contributor

Southgate Independent Schools has had a mobile classroom on its campus for nearly 20 years and some of its buildings are more than 100 years old.

The district established a recallable nickel tax equivalent to $57 for every $100,000 in property value. That money can only be used for facility improvements, which the state matches. It’s an additional tax on top of the school’s 102.5 cent tax rate – the second-highest in the county. The new tax increases the district’s bonding capacity from $800,000 to $2.1 million.

Southgate City Council Member Joe Anderson said his problem with the nickel tax is that it expands the school but does little to address performance issues.

“It’s not going towards the education of the students. It’s going towards making the

By comparison, Fort Thomas Independent Schools earned the highest rating possible and charges 95.8 cents per $100. Campbell County Schools earned the second-highest possible score for its elementary and high school, and its falls much lower at 64.5 cents.

The Southgate Independent School Board lowered the school tax rate from the 2021-2022 rate of 118.9 to 102.5 for 2023-2024. However, this reduced rate does not include the recallable nickel. The school tax rate is based on “real property,” like a home assessment. With a total of 211 students in its K-8 schools it’s one of the smallest districts in the state and it’s landlocked, meaning any desire for more funding has to come from a tax increase.

Duty said at a November city council meeting that they would like to use the nickel tax funds to expand the school and remove the mobile classroom, add an elevator or lift to make the auditorium more accessible, and renovate the school’s restrooms, cafeteria and gym.

good money

nky REPORTER

Data extracted from the Kentucky Department of Education annual report card for 2021-2022. Image by Jessica Eden | LINK nky

Local parent Brandon Miller has lived in the city for most of his life. A former Southgate student himself, two of his four children are now enrolled in kindergarten and fourth grade there.

“It’s a small school with big pride,” Miller told LINK nky.

He said he feels the school’s small size allows it to better provide for its students. He said his child in fourth grade received tutoring through the school that her teacher recommended, and Duty always emphasizes reading in Southgate.

Duty told LINK nky that the school recently hired a Response to Intervention (RTI) teacher for reading, too.

During the pandemic, when kids were doing virtual learning, Miller said the school would send boxes of supplies, including shoes, clothes, and two to three meals. A father of six, that resonated with him and he has never considered sending his kids elsewhere.

Despite investments, Anderson pointed out that Southgate’s reading proficiency level is low.

During the Nov. 16 council meeting, Duty told the council that he didn’t see their scores as bad.

“When we talk about 50 some-odd of our kids being proficient in reading, I don’t see that as being a bad thing,” Duty said at the November council meeting.

According to the state report card, Southgate’s reading proficiency rate aligns with the state average at the elementary lev-

el at 28% proficiency. Southgate’s middle schoolers are struggling with reading concepts, though. State report cards show 19% of middle school students were proficient in reading, nearly 10% below the state’s average.

“You have 211 students, so you are absolutely fine that 105 students can’t read. You’re happy with that?” Anderson said. “It just doesn’t sit right with me.”

Southgate resident Destiny Fenner sends her child to second grade at Southgate Independent. She also told LINK nky she has never considered sending them to a different school.

“I like the way that Southgate is a smaller school, and our child can move up grades with the same people and have that familiarity,” Fenner said.

Miller said things he doesn’t like about the school are “far and few between,” and Fenner said the same.

Anderson said merging with Campbell County School District to create a north and south school in the county could fix the issues in Southgate, and he’s not the only person with that idea. Southgate residents Steve Bridewell and Ling have both considered it.

Bridewell moved to Southgate in 1994. Both residents were around in 2004 when the school board proposed a 41% tax increase to save the school from closing due to the enrollment dropping to 166 students — and both residents were against the tax increase then.

This time around, they both think consolidation is the answer.

“You know, realistically, a merger doesn’t have to mean closing,” Ling said. “They might be able to incorporate the Southgate School as a northern Campbell school and bring the resources of a much larger district to bear in Southgate.”

Bridewell also thinks the school doesn’t necessarily need to shut down.

“I’m not saying the school should go, but I think there should be some talks with existing school boards, you know? Do we want to look for other districts to maybe try and merge with?” Bridewell said. “Do we want to talk about that rather than keep putting that on the back of the citizens?”

Former Southgate Council member of 20 years Chris Robisch said he favored the 2004 tax increase but is not supporting the nickel tax. Robisch noted that in 2004, the council was told the tax increase would be temporary, but it wasn’t. He added that then, the school was performing well.

Robisch said because the school is landlocked, he believes it would be better to build a new school on the northern end of the county that would be part of the Campbell County School District, as Southgate’s buildings are too old and too costly to maintain or renovate.

He also suggested the school could be torn down and replaced with a different community amenity.

However, Campbell County Schools Superintendent Shelli Wilson said another high school isn’t part of the district’s facility plans.

Both Robisch and Anderson said they have residents who contact them during tax

season to complain about the high local rates, and they both said they tell them to look at the school’s taxes.

“It costs more than double my (property) tax bill to run the school,” Bridewell said. “It’s like, well shoot, we could probably have a little more pavement going on; some of the roads cleaned up a little bit.”

Bridewell said that every time he gets his tax bill, he thinks about moving, but he said he and his wife love where they live.

“Let me put it to you this way: I own property in Fort Thomas. Am I complaining about my tax bills in the city of Fort Thomas?” Bridewell said. “Our house is in the Woodfill Elementary School District, and not only do I pay the school tax, but then there’s an additional tax for the Woodfill school when they built that beautiful new school.”

Robisch said he tells people the only way to lower the tax is by attending school board meetings and voicing their concerns. He also said they could run for the board of education and vote to close the school.

That’s what Silver Grove Independent School District in Campbell County did.

In February 2019, Silver Grove Independent School District consolidated with Campbell County School District in a 4-1 vote by the school board. The school had been in operation for 108 years.

Four of the five Silver Grove School Board members were elected over the consolidation issue. The four school board members who voted for consolidation were elected in November 2018, while the lone school board member to vote against consolidation, Melanie Pelle, served on the school

board for 24 years prior.

Robisch said he knows a few people in Southgate who have contacted Silver Grove residents to see what they needed to do to get rid of the school district.

Local business owner and Silver Grove City Councilmember Joe Pelle told LINK nky in March last year that one of the reasons why the school closed was due to low enrollment. At the time of the school’s closure, Silver Grove had 211 K-12 students – identical to Southgate’s current K-8 enrollment.

The school also struggled with performance. In 2018, Silver Grove ranked second to last in Kentucky for average ACT scores. Pelle said that students who live in Silver Grove now have access to a top 20 school district in the state. The merger also benefited homeowners in the city, as a portion of their tax bill no longer goes toward funding the school district.

Longtime Silver Grove Mayor Neal Bedel is a Silver Grove High School graduate.

“It’s been a big savings as far as the taxes paid for the school district go,” Bedel told LINK nky last year. “You know, it was almost basically cut in half between Silver Grove taxes and Campbell County school taxes. It was significant.”

While in operation, Silver Grove had one of the highest school tax rates in Kentucky and some of the lowest test scores.

In neighboring Kenton County, a discussion began last month among the Covington Independent School Board of Education about possibly consolidating one of its five elementary schools.

Students at 9th District would be redistributed primarily between Latonia and Glenn O. Swing elementary schools, and the district said it would save them almost $1 million in 2024.

At the first meeting held on the topic on Feb. 9, concerned residents spoke out, saying that the consolidation would lead to larger class sizes and less one-on-one attention for students.

If the schools were consolidated, the district said class sizes wouldn’t exceed the current 24:1 student-teacher ratios, and no teachers would lose their jobs. Ken Kippenbrock, the district’s executive director of Human Resources and Operations, said the money freed up from the closure would make it easier to provide teachers and other staff with raises and increased benefits. At their board of education meeting on Feb. 24, the district decided to table the conversation until finalizing its master facilities plan.

“Realistically, I’d want to follow in the path of Silver Grove and merge,” Ling said. “At the time of that last tax fight (in 2004), the city of Fort Thomas was struggling to keep three schools open — they didn’t have enough students nor the finances to do that. They put together a really nice program where they convinced the residents to support a levy. Then their schools, if you go through and look at the improvements made, are remarkable — five blue schools, which Southgate is not and has never been.”

Ling said he sent his kids to Highlands High School in Fort Thomas. While it’s a common alternative for Southgate parents unhappy with their local schools, getting accepted is becoming challenging and expensive. The

tuition fee for the 2022-2023 school year is $2,850 for K-12 Kentucky resident students.

Southgate has another K-8 school in the city, St. Therese Catholic School, which is a Blue Ribbon School. Both Ling and Bridewell sent their kids to St. Therese instead of the public school system.

If Southgate were to merge with another district, Miller said he would be curious about what would happen to the Southgate tax rates and if the school tax would be set by the Campbell County School Board, as with what happened in Silver Grove.

He also questioned some logistics, such as bus routes and snow days, if the county took over.

Miller said that as long as he has lived in Southgate for roughly 33 years, the taxes have always been high. He said some residents seem mad about the new nickel tax because it was “slipped in.”

“I just felt like that was kind of snuck through,” Bridewell said. “They can always say, ‘We dotted every I and crossed every T. We did the legal notice.’ How hard is it to try to get it out for the public?”

Ling agreed.

“It’s just not a nice situation to present a recallable nickel tax when there is no ability for residents to recall it,” Ling said.

Though residents felt like by the time they found out about the tax, they did not have time to speak out against it; the school did publish a legal notice in the Cincinnati Enquirer on Aug. 26, 2022, prior to the Sept. 8, 2022, tax hearing.

Miller said he would do anything for his kids, and the school needs upgrades.

“If possible, I think more classrooms and the mobile home needs removed,” Miller said. “It has been there since around 2004 to 2005.”

Fenner said she doesn’t want her taxes to go up and thinks she is paying “plenty” as is. Unlike federal tax dollars, Duty said that local tax money goes to the school for use right away.

“That is (the recallable nickel) something that you can see within a year,” Duty said. “I think that’s what people have to understand that taking these local tax dollars, you’ll see the benefit right away.”

When comparing Northern Kentucky school districts to Cincinnati, the way of doing things is very different.

Cincinnati Public Schools has a student population of roughly 36,000 and serves a population of about 300,000 people.

That district utilizes one superintendent, who is paid $260,000 annually. The combined salary of Campbell County’s independent school districts is just over $800,000.

Anderson questioned the idea of spending money on facility upgrades when a school performs poorly.

“When you’re spending good money on a bad product, and kids are not getting the education that they need,” Anderson said. “It just sits wrong with everybody.”

Boone County investigators solve 1976 cold case using genealogical DNA

BY GRACE TIERNEY AND MEGHAN GOTH | LINK nky

In June 1976, 16-yearold Carol Sue Klaber’s body was found in Boone County.

Almost forty-seven years later, on March 8, police announced that they had solved the cold case.

Speaking next to an enlarged photo of Klaber, Detective Coy Cox told the crowd of reporters and onlookers how police were able to identify the killer as then-18-year-old Park Hills resident Thomas Dunaway, using genealogical DNA. Dunaway died at age 33 in 1990.

“We have made notification to the next of kin, Klaber’s older brother,” Cox said at the press conference. “To say he got closure in this case is an understatement.”

Klaber was determined to have died as a result of blunt force trauma, according to a Kentucky State Police investigation, with evidence of strangulation and sexual assault.

Klaber, a Dixie Heights High School junior when she was killed, was going to eat supper with friends on that 1976 evening and was not seen again until her body was found in a ditch on Chambers Road in Walton, according to the sheriff’s office.

Over the years, the main pieces of evidence in the case were a description of the vehi-

cle that Klaber was last seen getting into; physical evidence from the scene where her body was discovered; and comparisons of physical descriptions of a man seen with Klaber that night.

“For some unknown reason, Klaber got in Dunaway’s car,” Cox said. “We may never know that reason.”

Police distributed a letter at the press conference that Commonwealth’s Attorney Louis D. Kelly and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jason E. Hiltz wrote to Cox and Detective Tim Adams in response to a request for a posthumous indictment against Dunaway.

“In 2017, investigators submitted evidence in this case to the Kentucky State Police laboratory for examination,” the letter said.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit was established that year, and Cox and Adams began digging in.

In 2019, according to the letter, analysts extracted DNA of an unknown origin from a hair collected at the scene. Detectives continued to try to match the DNA to suspects over the intervening years. In 2022, Cox worked with the Othram Laboratory in Houston, Texas, where a genealogical match was made to an unknown DNA profile, and Othram recommended detectives contact Dunaway’s family.

“Othram operates at the intersection of molecular biology, population genetics, and bioinformatics,” the company’s web-

site says. “Bridging 20th-century population genetics and 21st century data science, we are the first and only forensic laboratory to vertically integrate a DNA test and human ID solution that can identify victims, find missing persons, and reveal perpetrators of crimes.”

While attempting to track down Dunaway’s family, the letter said, detectives also began looking into circumstantial evidence that might link Dunaway and Klaber.

“Among other things, detectives discovered that Dunaway matched the suspect’s physical description, lived in the area where Klaber was last seen, drove a car similar to the car Klaber was last seen getting into, had disposed of the vehicle shortly after police found Klaber’s body, and had committed another murder in the area in December 1976,” the letter said.

In February, detectives found Dunaway’s daughter, who they tested against the DNA found at the scene. It was a 100% parent/ child match.

Kelly and Hiltz declined to grant a posthumous indictment against Dunaway due to ethical reasons, the letter said.

“However, I do want to state unequivocally that if Thomas Dunaway were still alive, I believe there now exists sufficient evidence to prove that he murdered Carol Sue Klaber beyond a reasonable doubt,” the letter said. “But for his death, my office would be presenting this case to the grand jury and seeking to fully prosecute him for this crime.”

Dunaway lived about a half mile from Devou Park, the sheriff’s office said, which is where Klaber would often ride her bike.

At the press conference Wednesday at the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, a list of cold case homicides was handed out. Klaber’s case was no longer listed.

Eleven cold cases remain unsolved in Boone County, some even older than Klaber’s case. Detectives said Dunaway “developed an extensive and violent criminal history over the years” and his DNA will be entered into the Combined DNA Index System for comparison against other unknown profiles – possibly solving other cases.

Police used ancestry DNA testing to determine that then 18-year-old Thomas Dunaway killed Carol Sue Klaber in 1976. Dunaway died in 1990. Photos provided | Boone County Sheriff's Office

Carol Sue Klaber. Photo provided | Parents of Murdered Children

March 1968: A promise ‘etched in stone’ is delivered as war rages in Vietnam

BY RICK ROBINSON | LINK nky GUEST AUTHOR

March 1968 was a banner month for the region as Gov. Louie Nunn fulfilled a year-old campaign promise and signed legislation establishing a four-year college in Northern Kentucky. The all-encompassing impact of this singular stroke of the pen continues to resonate through the community to this day.

It is hard to imagine life in the region without Northern Kentucky University. Yet, its establishment was anything but a cake walk. The legislation enabling NKU’s founding faced numerous and substantial obstacles.

“All the other state universities were opposed to it,” said former State Representative Ken Harper (R). “They saw it as a threat to their own enrollment.”

At the time Art Schmidt (R) represented Highland Heights, the community where Northern Kentucky University sits today. In an oral history, Schmidt remembered the opposition.

“You’ve got to realize that a lot of kids from Northern Kentucky went to Morehead and went to Eastern and to UK,” said Schmidt. “Morehead and Eastern depended a lot upon this, so none of the universities wanted Northern to be established. They were opposed to it. Kentucky … the University of Kentucky didn’t want it either.”

Harper remembered that on top of the opposition from college presidents, the state

was facing a deficit in the budget. Success in the establishment of a four-year state college was tied directly to increasing the sales tax from 3% to 5%.

“And man, did we take some heat for supporting Nunn’s Nickel,” Harper said.

Harper’s assertion is backed by newspaper articles about caravans of people traveling to Frankfort to oppose an increase in the state’s sales tax.

Clyde Middleton was a freshman in the State Senate in 1968. In his oral history, he recalled how Nunn broke the log jam.

“[A]ll of the Northern Kentucky legislators favored it. Louie Nunn likes to tell a story about how Julian Carroll was riding both sides of that issue. And so Louie called all of university presidents in and got them in his office and then he called Julian Carroll down and said, ‘Julian, here are the presidents of all the colleges; now, tell me. Are you for Northern Kentucky University or against it?’ And I guess Julian said he was for it. And it went through.”

Many students and teachers were also opposed. The University of Kentucky operated an “extension” campus in Park Hills allowing students to work on a degree from the state’s flagship institution. Teachers

were concerned that a new college could not obtain proper certification and student’s degrees would be worthless.

But as Ken Harper pointed out, “When Louie made a promise, it was etched in stone.”

Schmidt mentioned how Nunn used the power of his office in establishing NKU: “Also happens at the time, the governor by virtue of being governor was chairman of the boards of regents of all the schools, so even though the presidents and so on didn’t want it, they weren’t about to buck the governor too bad on this thing.”

When discussing the establishment of Northern Kentucky University, the work of State Representative Phillip King (D) is often overlooked. While the Republican governor may have set the agenda for the legislature at the time, the General Assembly was controlled by Democrats. Rep. King cosponsored the legislation establishing Northern Kentucky State College and authored the bill appropriating its initial funding (a whopping $200,000). Years later Rep. King was instrumental in passing legislation making it a university.

In King’s personal files, he kept copies of the Kentucky Labor News. King was a switchman on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad while he was earning his law degree. His voting record reflected his blue-collar background. Yet, King’s daughter, Kenton Circuit Court Judge Terri King Schoborg, recalls her father’s dedication to NKU as being steadfast.

Continues on page 8

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Gov. Louie Nunn stands with other local officials to look at a political cartoon advocating for the establishment of interstates through the three-county area during a visit to Northern Kentucky in the 1960s.

Photo provided | Kenton County Library Archives

“He was committed to making sure we had our own university,” she said.

The Kentucky Post and Times Star covered the proceedings throughout the first quarter of 1968, but editorial support was noticeably absent. Early in the legislative session the paper pointed out that the region already had a four-year college –Villa Madonna College. In fact, the paper spent more editorial ink on Villa Madonna changing its name to Thomas More than to the establishment of NKU.

In an editorial issued following passage of the legislation, The Kentucky Post and Times Star wrote: “By 82 to zero in the House and 38 to zero in the Senate, the state’s legislators recognized the real need for a full-fledged state college in the commonwealth’s second most populated area. Reality may be some time away, but we’ll be officially on the way to our college goal with Gov. Nunn’s signature of approval.”

At the signing ceremony for the budget, Governor Nunn explained how the new college was tied to the sales tax increase.

“You … and other sections of Kentucky … would not have your college, or the planned bridges, roads, highways and other projects were it not for the new tax program,” he said.

While Northern Kentucky University would have never happened without the backing of Louie Nunn, the funding mechanism of

an increase in the state sales tax haunted Nunn for years.

“Nunn’s Nickel made NKU happen,” said Harper. “But Louie never recovered politically. It cost him his career in politics.”

As education grew, so did the war

All the while the debate over Northern Kentucky’s four-year university was happening, Vietnam was becoming more visible in the community and driving national politics.

Based upon a call from the United States Department of Defense for an additional 48,000 troops, local Selective Service boards increased their induction numbers. For the first time, so-called “Kennedy Husbands” would be included in the ranks of those to be drafted.

President John Kennedy was the author of an Executive Order declaring that single men should be called in the draft before married ones. The Executive Order had been rescinded by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, but the exemption continued to apply to men covered during the active time of the Order. Thus, men who were married between Feb. 16, 1963, and Aug. 16, 1965 were referred to as “Kennedy Husbands” and their classification was such they would only be drafted if the supply of single men ran out.

“With America’s sons in the fields far away; with America’s future under challenge right here at home; with our hopes and the world’s hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office – the Presidency of your country. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”

President Lyndon Johnson March 31, 1968

local Kennedy Husbands changed, and they were moved to the front of the induction line. In its first substantive position on Vietnam in 1968, The Kentucky Post and Times Star opposed a policy calling “…men who had planned their families and future with civilian confidence who now find themselves being summoned for war.”

Also in March, Fourth District Congressman Gene Snyder (R) took to the floor of the United States House of Representatives and called for President Johnson to stop the war or have “the blood of dying Americans on his hands.”

In the 15-page speech, Snyder alleged Johnson violated the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (allowing American forces in Vietnam to retaliate) by actually escalating the war.

With these comments, Congressman Snyder joined Kentucky Senators John Sherman Cooper (R) and Thurston Morton (R) in war criticism.

Congressman Snyder was not the only person upset with President Johnson’s handling of Vietnam. Local Democrats supporting New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D) and Minnesota Senator Eugene “Clean Gene” McCarthy (D) met to try and get delegates to the Democratic National Convention to attend unpledged to any one candidate.

In the week following the meeting, President Johnson’s election vulnerability would be shown when, in the New Hampshire Primary, he would eke out a win over McCarthy. Johnson’s narrow victory also pushed Kennedy to formally enter the race.

With 79% of the New Hampshire primary vote, former Vice President Richard Nixon solidified his drive for the Republican nomination for President.

And when former Alabama Governor George Wallace ditched his Democratic party affiliation and joined the race for President of the United States as an independent, The Kentucky Post and Times Star said:

“We’re glad the Bluegrass voters will have an opportunity to express their preferences in the white supremacy while electing a new United States Senator and helping to elect a president.

Due to a shortage of draftees, the delayed sequence of calls for

By the end of the month, in a nationally televised speech, President Johnson would announce he was abandoning his reelection effort.

Our impression has been that most Kentuckians are not strongly racist in their attitudes, but we shall see.

On Nov. 6 will come the final separation of

President Lyndon B. Johnson wipes his hand during a meet-and-greet with residents on a visit to Northern Kentucky. Photo provided | Kenton County Library Archives

the ins from the outs, the sheep from the goats, the eagles from the hawks, doves, buzzards and other aves.”

While all of this was happening nationally, the local men continued being shipped overseas and the regional death toll from Vietnam continued to grow.

The Covington parents of twenty-yearold Army Sgt. Ronald McCollum got word that their son, missing in action for over a month, had been killed. He was stationed in Dac To near the border of Laos when he went missing. “I hated to see him go,” said his young wife.

In a letter home, McCollum told his family, “But there’s a job that must be done there and I’m no better than my buddies. My men look to me for guidance.”

Army Second Lt. Dennette Edwards, III, was killed. Edwards had moved to Florida following his 1963 graduation from Simon Kenton High School but had kept in close contact with his former classmates. Marine PFC Gary Wayne Litton from Edgewood was killed by mortar fire just north of Hue.

And Marine Lance Cpl. Sam Marshall of Erlanger was killed while trying to pull a com-

rade to safety. His brother John, at the time stationed in Okinawa, accompanied his brother’s body home for funeral services.

Feature stories in The Kentucky Post and Times Star focused on life in and out of Vietnam. William G Wilson was happy to be home with his parents in Boone County but admitted his time in the military had changed his way of thinking.

“I heard thunder the other night and I thought, ‘Incoming fire.’ In Vietnam we’d have jumped in a hole,” he said.

Northern Kentuckians also read the story of 52-year-old Master Sgt. Lloyd Saylor from Newport. A veteran of World War II and Cincinnati-based recruiter, Sgt. Saylor had put in for retirement and instead got orders to head up helicopter operations in Saigon.

Two Newport Catholic High School graduates from Highland Heights, PFC William Bailey and PFC William Stratman, were reunited in Hawaii. Bailey, wounded by shrapnel, was recuperating in the hospital where Stratman had been assigned. Stratman wrote to his parents about the reunion.

“Boy, I’m so very, very glad I saw him. It’s kind of hard to describe the feelings inside of you when you meet someone under these conditions,” he told them.

Moved by the Tet Offensive and the growing number of local casualties, The Kentucky Post and Times Star sent a team of reporters into the field to talk with its readers about Vietnam. Nearly half of the persons interviewed supported the presence of United States troops in Vietnam. The remaining group was split between being opposed and having mixed emotions.

A Newport woman said, “I think we should bring peace to that troubled country if we can, but not by pulling out. Quitting never accomplished anything.” A Covington man worried his son would be sent to Vietnam, but added, “I guess it’s a good war. I don’t understand it, but I feel it has to be fought.”

“This mess transcends politics,” said Snyder. “The end of this war should not wait. The slaughter of Americans should not have to await an election.”

Rep. Gene Snyder

The article reporting the responses noted the people opposed to the war “answered more quickly and emotionally,” describing it as “‘pointless, a scandal, drain, lost cause, mess, useless, and unnecessary.’”

A Fort Thomas businessman called the war “just plain monkey business.” He added, “I don’t understand why a big country like ours lets little countries dictate to us.”

A Warsaw laborer said it was a repeat of Korea. A railroad worker from Covington said plainly, “We ought to mind our own business.”

While this story was not a scientific poll, it certainly shows the growing discontent of the country’s presence in Vietnam.

Near the end of the month, Students for a Democratic Society held its largest national conference to date in Lexington. According to reports, there were over a hundred delegates and some 350 observers at the two-day meeting.

Covington resident Thurman Wenzel attended the conference. A former Naval officer and math professor at the Naval Academy, Wenzel was one of the observers and he credits attending the meeting for transforming him from math professor to life-long activist.

“The Lexington meeting was the first time I had been around a large group of anti-war demonstrators,” he said. “After Tet, people started taking the anti-war movement more seriously.”

The March 1968 meeting of Students for a Democratic Society in Lexington was not reported on in Northern Kentucky.

One other incident not reported on in Northern Kentucky (or anywhere, for that matter) was a U.S. military raid on a small village of Mỹ Lai, where hundreds of villagers were slaughtered by American military forces. The Pentagon would cover up the story for more than a year and its eventual revelation in 1969 would force the public to face the brutality of Vietnam once again.

Hair Mattered in ‘68

Marking the times of 1968 were two incidents involving hair.

First, a Louisville based motorcycle club –the Louisville Outlaws – went to Frankfort to discuss legislation. The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a resolution telling them to go back to Louisville and not return until they “improved their appearance.” Specifically, the resolution to get haircuts and shaves.

Another story was about a young man being suspended from Campbell County High School because the superintendent disliked his long hair. As additional punishment, his photo was going to be removed from the school’s annual yearbook. As a point of reference, the haircut in question looked more like Donny Osmond than Duane Allman. Nevertheless, it took a lawsuit to reinstate the offending longhair and get his picture back into the yearbook.

Fourth District Congressman republican Gene Snyder glances up while smoking a pipe. Photo provided | Kenton County Library Archives

Eric Deters: Guilty plea on menacing charge won’t affect run for governor

Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Deters pleaded guilty to charges of menacing and harassing communications involving allegedly having a run-in with his juvenile nephew on a farm in Independence in October.

The judge dropped one charge of trespassing, but Deters agreed to one charge of menacing and two counts of harassing communications.

As part of his guilty plea, Deters would face 90 days in jail per count if he violates a protective order or tries to contact his nephew, brother, or sister-in-law within two years. He also can’t publicly disparage his family to the media.

“After the presentation of the prosecutor’s case, I decided to plead guilty,” Deters said.

Deters further said he decided to plead guilty to menacing and harassing communications because he felt he was guilty.

“I admitted to the police officers that I did want to scare him,” Deters said, elaborating that wants to put this behind him.

“These are misdemeanors,” Deters said. “They’re not felonies. They do not affect [in] any way shape or form my ability to run for governor.”

The criminal complaint filed in Kenton County in October alleged that Deters’ nephew called the police because Deters was chasing him in his truck on a family farm owned by Deters’ brother — the brother banned Deters from the farm in 2020.

Deters’ nephew told police that when he arrived at the farm to hunt, Deters was near the mailboxes on Green Road. The nephew alleges that Deters was staring at him, and the nephew flipped him off. That’s when Eric Deters started to chase his nephew down the paved driveway in his truck

through Sugar Ridge Farm. The nephew called his father, who then called the police.

A witness on the property said that a dark pickup truck was following the nephew’s truck across the farm property and got within a couple of feet of the truck. Security video footage showed that Deters drove behind his nephew’s truck and drove parallel to his truck across dirt roads that traverse the fields.

“[The nephew] stated that he purposefully drove past security cameras on the property for his own safety as he was being chased,” the police report reads.

Officers later contacted Eric Deters at his residence adjacent to the farm.

“Deters corroborated [the nephew’s] version of events,” the report reads.

“…after he flipped me off, I followed him. The little chickensh** wouldn’t get out of his truck,” Deters stated to police. “… he’s lucky he didn’t get his a** kicked.”

Community clean-up event scheduled at Doe Run Lake

Kenton County Parks & Recreation will hold a clean-up event at Doe Run Lake near Covington off KY-17 on March 25 from 9 a.m. to noon.

The event is part of the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s annual Ohio River Sweep, which sees similar events all along banks of the river between March and October.

According to a recent department press release, clean-up supplies, including garbage bags and gloves, will be provided. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their own

Clean up efforts at Doe Run Lake. Photo: provided | Kenton County Parks and Recreation

hiking boots and kayaks if they have them.

Volunteers are not required to register beforehand, but they are encouraged to do so at the county’s online sign-up page. Anyone who has court-mandated community service hours is welcome to attend.

For more information about Kenton County events, visit the county’s webpage, (kentoncounty.org) and feel free to follow Kenton County Parks & Recreation on Facebook.

Life Learning Center to celebrate program graduates

named to Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies in the southeast list for 2023.

Diversified Capital Management in Newport, Motus Freight in Bellevue, and Step CG in Covington, were crowned among the fastest growing companies.

The list is a regionalized spinoff of the magazine’s famous Inc. 5000 list. In total, 1,125 companies from seven different United States regions were included. The criteria for making the list was based on revenue growth from 2019 to 2022.

Kentucky was placed in the southeast region along with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Puerto Rico. As a whole, the southeast region experienced 174% median revenue growth over the past two-year timespan.

The Life Learning Center, a wrap-around nonprofit in Covington, will hold a graduation ceremony on March 25 for the graduates of its Foundations for a Better Life program. The event will feature a cap & gown ceremony and a guest speech from Simon Chinnamuthu of Madison Avenue Christian Church.

“Life Learning Center’s transformational skills program, Foundations for a Better Life, focuses on addressing five domains of life: Physical, Financial, Spiritual, Emotional and Relational,” the organization said in a press release. “This essential skills curriculum assists low-income, unemployed, and underemployed individuals identify and overcome the barriers they are facing.”

The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. at the Life Learning Center and will be followed by a lunch. The event is free and open to the public, however, guests who wish to RSVP in advance may do so at the Life Learning Center’s sign-up page. Only guests who RSVP in advance will receive food during the lunch portion of the event.

Three NKY businesses featured on list of fastest growing southeast companies

Three Northern Kentucky companies were

Last year, six Northern Kentucky companies made the list, with Motus Freight being the only repeat inclusion. Other companies listed last year included LapTop of the Line in Walton, MACKEY in Bellevue, Blair Technology Group in Covington, LaurAsh in Covington and Refurb Ninja in Walton.

Juniper’s celebrates Covington opening with ribbon cutting

“Thanks for giving us another shot,” said Covington Vice Mayor Ron Washington to Vic and Lesley Hugo, co-founders of Juniper’s, Northern Kentucky’s first gin and tapas bar.

Also the founders of Crafts and Vines, the Hugos decided to open another bar in Covington’s historic MainStrasse neighborhood — this time, the establishment’s drinks would center around gin. After launching to the public on Jan. 6, Covington city officials wanted to give the bar a proper welcome with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Juniper’s is located on the first floor of the John R. Green Company building, a former school supplies store. Their menu includes a variety of gin cocktails, gin flights, multiple domestic and European beers, as well as rum and tequila.

For food, the menu features a rotating cast of global food items like Jamaican jerk chicken, shakshuka and British sausage rolls.

Graduates toss their caps at the 2022 graduation ceremony. Photo provided | Life Learning Center

Norfolk Southern to pay millions for derailment

Premium spirits were always expensive and sought-after, but interest is surging. Distillers have upped production to try to meet increased demand, but before the whiskey reaches stores and bars, it must age for years and even decades. Each state gets a limited amount of Pappy Van Winkle 23-year-old, produced by Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery of Frankfort, Kentucky.

Utah, Virginia and Pennsylvania are among other states with lotteries for coveted liquor. Two men in Pennsylvania each bought a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle after winning the liquor lottery in different years. They tried to sell their bottles on Craigslist, but undercover officers posing as buyers nailed them for selling liquor without a license.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro says Norfolk Southern has pledged several million dollars to cover the cost of the response and recovery in Pennsylvania after last month’s derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals just across the border in Ohio. Shapiro’s office said Monday that Norfolk Southern will pay $5 million to reimburse fire departments for equipment that was contaminated or damaged in the response and $1 million to Beaver and Lawrence counties to help business owners and residents whose livelihoods were damaged. The cleanup from the Feb. 3 derailment continues in East Palestine, Ohio, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Norfolk Southern to cover the costs of cleaning up.

As bourbon booms, thirst for rare brands breeds skullduggery

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The best bourbons are buttery, smooth and oaky, and a growing cult of aficionados is willing to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get their hands on scarce American spirits. Some are even willing to bend or break laws. In Oregon, a criminal investigation is under way after an internal probe concluded several state liquor officials used their clout to obtain scarce bourbons, including Pappy Van Winkle. Top-end bourbons have found themselves at the center of crimes in at least three other states, including Kentucky.

In Virginia, an employee of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority downloaded confidential information about which state-run liquor shops would be receiving rare bourbons. An accomplice then sold the intel to Facebook groups of bourbon fans. The now-former employee pleaded guilty to felony computer trespass in September, received a suspended prison sentence and a fine, and was banned from all Virginia liquor stores.

In Kentucky, an employee of Buffalo Trace Distillery was arrested in 2015 for stealing bourbon, including Pappy, over several years and selling it. The caper became part of “Heist,” a Netflix miniseries, in 2021.

The cases underscore how the elite bourbon business is booming. An industry group says revenues for makers of super-premium American whiskey, including bourbon, grew 141% over the past five years.

After Taylor shooting, feds find police discrimination

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has found Louisville police engaged in discrimination and a pattern of violating constitutional rights, after an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor. The announcement was made Wednesday by Attorney General Merrick Garland. A Justice Depart-

ment report found the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government and Louisville Metro Police Department “engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.” Taylor was fatally shot as officers served a warrant at her home opened fire in March 2020. The shooting sparked protests in Louisville and around the nation.

4 Kentucky GOP governor candidates make pitches in TV debate

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Four of the candidates running in Kentucky’s Republican gubernatorial primary have faced off in a televised debate in which they took turns advocating conservative themes. Participants in the Tuesday night debate were Daniel Cameron, Ryan Quarles, Alan Keck and Mike Harmon. The four endorsed work by Kentucky’s GOP-dominated legislature to cut the state individual income tax. They also praised efforts to give parents a greater voice in education. And they took potshots at Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and President Joe Biden. The debate was hosted by the Jefferson County Republican Party and shown on Spectrum News 1.

Governor launches supply chain initiative for Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear has launched a supply chain initiative for Kentucky companies. He said Monday the “Supply Kentucky” effort aims to create a more interconnected Kentucky economy by matching manufacturers with suppliers. The goal is to bolster job growth, reduce manufacturing costs and create more secure supply chains. Manufacturing accounts for 12.5% of Kentucky’s workforce. A first step is an online “Supply Kentucky” platform with a searchable database of the state’s suppliers and manufacturers. The portal is open now for companies to register. It should enable companies to search for other companies to satisfy their supply chain needs.

A resident displays a mannequin on their porch in East Palestine, Ohio, as cleanup from the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment continues, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Local Brownie troop earns badges for democracy

Brownie Troop 2907 visited Erlanger’s council chambers and spoke with Mayor Jessica Fette before the city’s council meeting on Tuesday, March 7. Earning their Democracy Badges, the troop posed for photos with the mayor, sporting their brown vests and new merits.

Curiosity and cuddly cats

Fans of cats and children’s movies found their niche at the Purrfect Day Cat Cafe in Covington on March 7, when the cafe hosted a Disney and Pixar movie-themed trivia night. Guests filled out their answers on clipboards while adoptable cats did their best to distract them.

Since opening in November 2020, the

cat cafe has adopted out more than 1,700 cats to purrfect furever homes. The cafe adopts cats from local partners Kenton County Animal Services, Paws Rescue in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Cincinnati Animal Care, and the League of Animal Welfare, and is open from noon to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Southgate lays to rest its oldest firefighter

On the night of Tuesday, Feb. 28, 93-yearold Southgate firefighter and Navy veteran Melvin “Mel” Whitehead was last seen at the Southgate VFW Post 3186, his daily hangout where he’d have a few beers.

Around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, March 1, firefighters found him deceased on the side of Route 8 in Fort Thomas, lying next to his car. It’s believed he got confused heading home to Grand Towers in Fort Thomas because he was in a section closed to through traffic. His car wasn’t damaged and he didn’t have any obvious injuries.

Southgate Fire Chief John Beatsch told

LINK nky said his cause of death is presumed to be health-related. Given his age, Beatsch said his death doesn’t come as a shock, but “it’s still sad he died like that.”

Whitehead was Southgate’s oldest living member of the fire department. He joined in 1969 and started off as a volunteer. He later left firefighting and EMS and became the department’s photographer.

After retiring around 2012, Whitehead attended meetings, maintained the right to vote and helped with fundraisers. Aside from working for the fire department, Whitehead also worked for the Campbell County Cable Board and filmed city council meetings.

He is one of five other firefighters with 50 years of volunteer service who has his name on a bench located outside the fire department building.

“I joined the fire department in 1972, so Mel was already there,” Beatsch said. “The entire time I’ve been there, Mel’s been there. When I needed pictures, he would give me pictures. He was a good old guy … Mel was an inspiration for the younger guys to see a

guy that old who still took an interest.”

Steve Bridewell, president of Southgate’s Optimist Club, said his father was a firefighter, and through him he knew Whitehead his entire life. Whitehead was also a member of the Optimist Club, and Bridewell would see Whitehead at Tri-State Photographic Society meetings.

“He was a quiet guy who never really made no gruff about nothing,” Bridewell said.

Whitehead’s wife Carolyn preceded him in death. He leaves behind two sons, a brother, five grandkids, and six great-grandkids.

A mass was held for Whitehead on March 8 at St. Therese Church in Southgate.

Mel Whitehead, circa the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, passed away on March 1. Photo provided | Southgate Fire Department

Charming townhome in Covington with river view

Address: 1198 Westport Way, Covington

Price: $749,000

Beds: Two bedrooms

Bath: Two full bathrooms, two half bathrooms

Sqft: 2,861

School district: Covington Independent Schools

County: Kenton

Special features: The scalloped siding on the exterior of this townhome hints to visitors the charm that awaits them inside. Wainscoting throughout the entryway, hallway and main living areas give this townhome a classic look. Located on the river, with a finished lower level and rooftop space for outdoor entertaining. Inside is an elevator to all four floors and an attached garage. A primary suite with a sitting area, trey ceiling and walkout deck continue the classic beauty and luxurious elements of this home. This unit is located at the end of the building, meaning the owners will only share walls on one side of the home.

Recent NKY Home Sale Data

Scalloped siding and roof shingles show off the charm of this townhome in Covington. Photo provided | Exp Realty LLC

Wainscotting and wrought iron railing are some of the character features inside the townhome. Photo provided | Exp Realty LLC

Surrounding windows in the primary bedroom suite offer natural light and a view of the Cincinnati skyline and Ohio River. Photo provided | Exp Realty LLC

Streetscapes spills the (bubble) tea

Powered by Merk and Gile, Injury Attorneys, 513-481-5678

BY MARIA HEHMAN | LINK nky CONTRIBUTOR

Much of Florence is filled with chain staples from fast food to casual eateries, but in between the chains hide some small businesses that are worth checking out. This Streetscapes heads to Florence, y’all, for burgers, beauty and bubble tea.

Ford’s Garage

Walking into Ford’s Garage for the first time, guests will forget they came for burgers and beers, and not a history lesson. Ford’s Garage is packed with vintage Ford vehicles and memorabilia, and patrons can find themselves sitting next to 1913 blue Model T while snacking on their wings. In true garage fashion, they have large glass garage doors that open on warmer days, as well as a back patio. Let’s face it though, who wants to sit outside when all the décor and fun is inside?

Very reminiscent of a Hard Rock café, there’s so much packed inside it feels like a museum rather than a restaurant. Even for those who aren’t car enthusiasts, it’s a nice change of pace from a traditional sports bar. Ford’s burgers are their specialty, and each comes with a pressed Ford’s Garage logo on the bun. The menu highlights local celebrities and their burger of choice, from Grammy winner Carly Pearce to local community leaders, in a nice nod to some hometown heroes. The American Standard is their classic cheeseburger, a great starter for guests who may be overwhelmed by the dozen-plus burger options, including a Bison burger.

Vegetarians are not forgotten at Ford’s. All burgers can be substituted for a veggie patty, so all guests can enjoy the restaurant’s signature staple. Outside of their burger menu, they have 15 other entrée options, including an entire mac and cheese menu served in skillets.

Don’t let the cars hanging over head stop you from visiting the bar. Ford’s offers 32 different draft beer choices, including local

favorite, Braxton Garage beer, the perfect companion to a gourmet burger.

Paint Bar NKY

NKY is filled with amazing places to get cute spring nails, but what sets Paint Bar apart from the rest is their hybrid boutique.

At the front of the salon sits a small boutique that sells clothes, gifts and accessories. It’s modern and feminine in décor with gold and marble accents. Upon arrival, guests are offered complimentary coffee or mimosas to create a truly blissful experience.

Customers can choose from an array of nail options, from a simple manicure that can be done on a lunch break, or a deluxe treatment to really indulge in self-care. The polishes they offer are healthier for nails, to ensure there’s no damage done.

Paint Bar NKY hosts a variety of events, many focused on highlighting other woman-owned businesses. This is the perfect spot to visit with a friend and catch up after a long day of work, or to bring a bridal party for flawless wedding nails.

Thai Tea House

Bubble tea has quickly become the newest drink trend, yet hardly anyone is offering it in the Northern Kentucky area. But for those looking for a bubble tea fix, Thai Tea House on Mall Road offers traditional Thai food and a variety of Thai drinks, including fruit sodas, yogurt drinks called lassi, milk tea, fruit teas and coffee.

The drink choices here may seem familiar but many of these drinks are unique from their American cousins. Thai coffee and tea traditionally are made with sweetened condensed milk and served cold over ice. These will be much sweeter than what guests may typically order from a coffee chain, but they make for a perfect midday treat. Their drinks come with the option

to add in boba, a chewy tapioca ball that comes in a variety of flavors to enhance the already-delicious drink.

Boba, or bubble tea, can also break up the flavor palate of the drinks with little bursts of flavor that tones down the sweetness. The brown sugar milk tea with classic boba, or their Thai iced coffee with brown sugar boba, are two options that are perfect for a novice Thai tea drinker.

Have a city, street or business you want to see next? Email Maria Hehman at mchehman@gmail.com and it could be featured on the next installment of LINK streetscapes.

What to Know If You Go:

Ford’s Garage

Location: 4911 Houston Road, Florence

Hours: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Website: fordsgarageusa.com/locations/florence

Phone: (859) 535-3673

Paint Nail Bar Northern Kentucky

Location: 4931 Houston Road Suite B, Florence

Hours: Monday- Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday closed

Website: paintnailbar.com/northern-ky

Phone: (859) 201-5511

Thai Tea House

Location: 7563 Mall Road, Florence

Hours: Monday closed, Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 3 pm, 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Website: thaiteahouseky.com

Phone: (859) 869-4114

Dragan helped lead Cooper basketball team to district title — as a player and then as a coach

BY NAZARIO PANGALLO | LINK nky INTERN

Patrick Dragan, an assistant boys basketball coach at Cooper High School, was not only a part of the coaching staff that led the Jaguars to a 33rd District title this year, he also played on the 2014-2015 Cooper team that won the 33rd District championship.

It was Jan. 22, 2015, and the Cooper Jaguars Boy’s basketball team was sitting at 9-6 and looking like they could miss the Ninth Region tournament for the second straight season. They would then rattle off nine wins in their next eleven games, including wins over Conner in the district semifinals and Boone County in the district championship.

“It was really a special thing to be a part of, and then to be able to do it in my senior year on our home court was really really cool. That went down as one of my personal favorite memories as a player,” Dragan said. “I always just felt like I was never the most talented player. I just kind of felt like I knew where I needed to be in situations and things like that.”

Cooper Head Coach Tim Sullivan said that Dragan played with some really good players, so it was hard for him to get on the floor.

“His senior year guys got hurt,” Sullivan said. “Now all of a sudden he got to play out a bunch of minutes and he came right in and what’s he do? He just picks us right up and had some really big games down the stretch.”

On Feb. 11, 2023, the Cooper Jaguars were 12-11 and it seemed as if they stood no chance of knocking off the Conner Cougars in the 33rd district tournament. Two weeks later the Jaguars had defeated the Cougars in overtime and players and Coach Dragan were once again cutting down the nets in their home gym.

A 40% three-point shooter, Dragan played with future Divison I basketball players Sean McNeil and Adam Kunkel in their upset victory over the Boone County Rebels in the district finals in 2015. Dragan was able

to keep that underdog mindset with this year’s Jaguar squad. Going into the Feb. 24 matchup against Conner, whom many believed the favorite to win the region, not many around Northern Kentucky gave Cooper much of a chance.

“We always had a couple of guards that were really really talented with Sean McNeil and Adam Kunkel,” Dragan said. “This year, we’ve got two sophomore guards in Yamil Rondon and Andy (Johnson), that started for us and do a lot of scoring and things like that.”

In 2015, Dragan, Kunkel, and McNeil combined for 27.8 points per game and this season Rondon, Johnson, and senior Gavin Lutz have combined for over 30 points for the Jaguars.

Dragan credits Sullivan for turning him into the player, and now the coach, that he is.

“I loved playing for Sully. He was truly a mentor off the court and on the court,” Dragan said. “I always knew he was there for me if I needed anything. And that’s something that I reiterate to players.”

Former and current Cooper basketball players have truly bought into Sullivan’s family mindset.

“I really think it’s just the culture of our program from day one has just been you know, it’s been a family, it’s been a brotherhood,” Sullivan said. “When you get young people to understand that it is about a bigger cause, and it’s about playing for others. It just resonates with them and they continue on with that in life and understanding that it is about serving and taking care of others.”

Sullivan said he loved the way, as a player, Dragan came in day in and day out and “would do anything to help the team and was never a selfish kid. Just kind of a really, really good teammate and did things the right way.

“I think they feel a sense of that belonging and that sense of loyalty to each other because of what they’ve been through,” Sullivan added.

That’s part of the reason why Dragan decided to return to Cooper to coach.

“I knew I wanted to be a coach one day and I just continue to stay around sports because sports have always just been a huge part of my life and make me what I am today,” Dragan said.

Everyone in the program loves Dragan, Sullivan said.

“It’s always nice to be a good cop but you know, there are days where he gets on guys pretty good, but he loves them just as hard and that’s a big thing,” Sullivan said.

Cooper Assistant Coach Patrick Dragan cutting the nets down as a player (bottom) and as a Coach (top). Photos provided

NKU seals the deal in Horizon, headed to NCAA tournament

Junior guard Marques Warrick summed it up best for the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team.

The team’s leading scorer said the trip to redemption started June 1, 2022 with summer workouts. The Norse wanted to make it back to the Horizon League title game and win it after last year’s tough loss to Wright State where they led most of the game, but lost 72-71 with a bad stretch at the end and missed the NCAA Tournament. But the Norse knew they’d receive the best shots from the other 10 Horizon League teams.

The Norse (22-12) survived the ups and downs of the regular season posting a 14-6 record in Horizon League play to earn the fourth seed. They knocked off Oakland in the quarterfinals then top-seeded Youngstown State in the semifinals to make it back to that spot. This time, the Norse made the plays to knock off the third-seeded Cleveland State Vikings (21-13), 63-61 in the championship game March 7 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.

“It was just unfinished business,” Warrick said. “We came in with a chip on our shoulder. We knew we had a good group of guys come in and a lot of guys returning. We knew we were going to be at the top of the league. But that didn’t really matter until

March. We worked our tails (off) all year.”

Northern Kentucky head coach Darrin Horn said he’s not thought nearly as much about last year as the players did. But he hated telling the Norse they could not play in the NCAA Tournament in 2020 as a result of the COVID pandemic after winning the Horizon League Tournament.

Eight individuals claim state titles at KTCCCA indoor meet

The Kentucky Track Cross Country Coaches Association state indoor meets were held on March 4-5 in Louisville for high schools across the state.

NKY participants earned nine state titles, including Walton-Verona’s Jackson Smith bringing home a pair of state titles in the Class A meet. Smith won the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.23 and also won the 200-meter dash in 23.25.

Smith’s Bearcats teammate Grady Shay won the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.67. Other individual state champs in the Class A meet were Beechwood’s Lily Parke in the 1,500 meters (4:54.20), St. Henry’s Cassidy Cline in the high jump (4-10), Bishop Brossart’s Chloe Hein in the long jump (16-04.75) and the Bishop Brossart boys 4×800 relay team (8:38.34) and the Bishop Brossart girls

4×400 relay team (4:19.20).

In the Class AA meet, Conner’s Isabella Vonlehman won the 200-meter dash in 25.37.

Brossart’s girls strong showing earned them runner-up in the Class A meet with 75 points, 15 points shy of first-place Lexington Christian Academy. Beechwood’s girls finished third with 71.5 points, St. Henry fourth with 40.5 points.

St. Henry’s boys had the top showing in the boys Class A meet, finishing second with 52.5 points. Walton-Verona was third with 46 points, Bishop Brossart fourth with 42 points.

Rump, Dougherty, Wera, Uhlman, New latest inductees to NKY HOF

The Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame inducted its newest Hall of Fame class on Wednesday, March 15 at the Gardens of Park Hills.

Ken Rump (Holy Cross), Suzy Wera (Beechwood), Michelle Dougherty (Dayton), Phil Uhlman (Conner) and Tom New (Highlands) are the latest inductees.

Rump is a 1965 graduate of Holy Cross High School and was a big part of the ‘65 Ninth Region champion basketball team that finished state runner-up. Rump led the team in scoring and rebounding before receiving a scholarship to Villa Madonna (Thomas More). Rump was an assistant coach on the 1973 Newport Central Catholic team that won a regional title.

Wera grew up in Michigan before making her way down to Kentucky at Beechwood High School, coaching boys golf and tennis before being named the school’s first-ever female Athletic Director in school history in 2012. In 18 seasons as golf coach, Wera guided them to a region runner-up and six state tournament appearances. They won 11 NKAC titles. In tennis, they were Ninth Region runners-up three times and won 11 NKAC championships and qualified six times for the state tournament. As Beechwood Athletic Director, Wera helped add elementary basketball, volleyball, boys and girls cross country and boys and girls bowl-

ing, archery and boys soccer. She is responsible for the formation of the Beechwood Athletic Hall of Fame.

Dougherty is a 1997 Dayton High School grad. She was a sprinter and mid-distance runner for the track team from 1993-97, helping the Greendevils to four state runner-up finishes and a state championship. Dougherty won a Division II girls track NKAC Most Outstanding award. She earned a scholarship to Danville Community College and ran both cross-country and track – indoor and outdoor. Currently, she competes in obstacle course races, winning her age group and placing in the Top 25 overall with up to 200-800 runners. She released her own fitness magazine in January, 2022, while serving as an elite personal trainer and sports nutrition coach.

Uhlman is a 1980 Conner High School graduate, starring in baseball and basketball. Uhlman helped lead the Cougars to 33rd District titles in 1979 and ‘80 in basketball and named to the All-Tournament team. In the 1980 season, he was named to the AllNinth Region team and received the Dave Cowens Award while being placed on the All-Sectional team. In baseball, he was part of a co-no hitter in the 1979 region finals which got the Cougars to the state tournament where he was later named All-District and All-Region.He attended Erskine College and later transferred to Eastern Kentucky University to finish his collegiate career.

New is a 1983 Highlands High School grad and was a starting guard on two consecutive state championship teams in 1981 and ‘82. He coached at the Ft. Thomas Jr. League Level, starting a 40-year love affair with coaching. He officiated for 12 years and was later appointed assistant basketball coach at his alma mater for five seasons.

As a reminder, our honor is available to any athletics team from any sport at any level – from high school and collegiate to youth to recreational and beyond. Readers can scan the QR code to head to linknky.com to vote for the next Team of the Week.

Gray Middle School archery team

Photo provided

NKU point guard Sam Vinson puts up a jumper in the Horizon League championship game in Indianapolis. Photo provided | NKU Athletics

BOGO BOGO

Opioid settlement funds would ‘recoup’ Fort Wright opioid crisis expenses

BY KATHLEEN BRYANT | LINK nky

Opioid producers are being held accountable for the ongoing opioid crisis, and Fort Wright, like many other Kentucky cities, is seeking to be compensated for the effect the drugs have had.

At a recent meeting, Fort Wright City Council voted to participate in five new national opioid settlements. These settlements were reached with Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Teva, and Allergan over their contributions to the opioid crisis. Kentucky is one of the many states to which these settlement funds will be paid.

City attorney Timothy Theissen explained that this results from “lawsuits against manufacturers of opioids.” Theissen said that the lawsuits questioned whether the opioids sold by these companies were “used, sold, and marketed appropriately.” It is widely believed that oversupply of addictive opioid medications can lead to widespread opioid reliance and abuse.

All of Northern Kentucky has been hit hard by the heroin epidemic over the last decade, and Fort Wright is no different. Heroin abuse has been the cause of many cases of destruction of property and threats to citizen safety in their city.

In 2015, a driver impaired by heroin and fentanyl killed himself and three other people in a car crash in Fort Wright. In 2016, a driver intoxicated on heroin crashed his car into a Fort Wright Skyline Chili.

These events have had economic consequences. Emergency services involved in treating overdosed people are costly. When overdoses rise in frequency in Fort Wright, more Narcan and police labor are required to revive those affected.

Fort Wright also spent time and money on an anti-heroin education campaign in 2016. City officials went door-to-door with information on the dangers of heroin. They supplemented this mitigation approach by creating a location to deposit “unused and expired prescription medications safely.”

Theissen said this is money the city can use to address the ongoing opioid crisis and the rising fentanyl issues.

“We are being recouped for previous expenses from dealing with these issues,” Mayor Dave Hatter said.

Fort Wright will not need to pay any legal fees or other litigation costs to participate in this suit. Theissen recommended that council voted to participate in the settlement because the alternative is for the city of Fort Wright to sue these companies on its own.

“We’ve already participated in settlements,” Theissen said. “I’ve seen that these settlements have been very successful.”

Council voted to authorize Hatter to sign the participation form.

At this moment, Fort Wright officials do not know how much money they could receive from the settlement. According to Theissen, the sum of money will be based on the level of participation from cities across Kentucky.

Participation forms are due in Kentucky by April 18, and Theissen predicts that the amount of money to be received will be communicated to Fort Wright officials in early summer.

Bumper sticker with the slogan “Yes We Narcan.” Naloxone, available as a nasal spray and in an injectable form, is a key tool in the battle against a nationwide overdose crisis. Photo provided Brynn Anderson | AP