WQXE News

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams this week said the number of participants in the commonwealth’s Safe at Home Program has doubled since the law creating the program went into effect in June.

“This is a program designed to protect survivors of domestic violence,” said Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith. “It’s built on prior legislation, but it basically makes it easy for somebody who is a survivor of domestic violence to shield from public view their address which would normally be on public documents. Unfortunately there have been abusers in the past who have used government transparency as a weapon against their victims.”

The Secretary of State’s office says a criminal justice domestic violence publication found that more than 38,000 reports of suspected domestic violence were filed in Kentucky in 2022, with the Kentucky State Police serving more than 16,000 emergency protective orders last year.

Learn more about how to enroll in the Safe at Home Program by visiting www.sos.ky.gov/safe-at-home.

Writer and director Scott Fivelson says his film Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story tells a story about an era of Hollywood gone by in an engaging way that plays upon several film classics.

“The movie is sort of a cross between, or invokes thoughts of This Is Spinal Tap, Sunset Boulevard, and That’s Entertainment! because it sort of retells the history of Hollywood in a way that’s never been told before featuring a director you’ve never heard of before: Oskar Knight,” Fivelson said.

Fivelson says the film features performances by late actor Lenny Von Dohlen, Academy Award winner Margaret O’Brien, Lassie actor Jon Provost, and others, shot in a way that tells a story that spans decades of movie history with special attention to detail.

“There’s sort of a Ken Burns-ish kind of detail that we ultimately brought to this, so it feels very real but at the same time – it’s not,” Fivelson said. “But it’s very funny, and very nostalgic, and in a way a kind of a call to a return to moviemaking that evokes when movies were movies.”

Fivelson is excited to present an opportunity for area movie lovers to see Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story, as the film will screen once a day at the Crowne Pointe Theatre beginning Friday. The writer and director says the film has been screened across the globe at theaters in New Mexico, New York, and Germany, and he says he is grateful to get to show his first directing effort to an expanded audience.

“I hope Elizabethtown comes out,” Fivelson said. “Comes out for fun, comes out to pay tribute to Oskar Knight, to see Lenny Von Dohlen in one of his greatest ever performances, and to support the theater. Rick Roman with the theater is a prince. He’s really a great guy.”

Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story will play at Crowne Pointe Theatre at 6:45 p.m. daily from October 6 to October 13. Tickets are available at www.crownepointetheatre.com.

(Poster image provided by Scott Fivelson.)

Attorneys for Brooks Houck entered a plea of not guilty to all charges during an arraignment hearing today in Nelson Circuit Court. Houck is charged with Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence following his September arrest in the Crystal Rogers investigation.

Discovery in the case is expected to take some time as more than a terabyte of evidence on the case, including the Grand Jury testimony that lead to Houck’s indictment, needs to be reviewed. A pre-trial conference was set for February 8 to check on the status of discovery.

While Special Prosecutor Shane Young believes the case can be ready for trial by summer 2024, Houck’s attorney Brian Butler said given the amount of time that will be needed to review evidence a 2024 trial is unlikely. Butler also said the defense intends to motion to move the trial out of Nelson County.

The court also heard the defense’s motion to reduce Houck’s bond from $10 million to $500,000 with GPS monitoring. Butler said $10 million is “astronomically different” from bonds set for other high-profile homicide cases that have been tried in Kentucky. Butler also said Houck has proven he is not a flight risk or is likely to disobey orders from the court as he has been consistently compliant with law enforcement. Butler also drew attention to the fact that Joseph Lawson, who was also arrested as part of the Rogers investigation, had his bond set at $500,000.

Young said the higher bond is reasonable considering Houck has access to more money than Lawson, saying Lawson’s only possession at the time of his arrest was his truck. Young said a higher bond for a defendant of more means ensures the defendant is more likely to honor the terms of the bond.

Young also said the bond reflects on the actions of Houck’s family, who he says secretly recorded the grand jury proceedings. Young also said his office purchased a gun from Nick Houck, Brooks Houck’s brother and a former officer with the Bardstown Police Department, and they are testing the gun as his office believes it is the weapon used in the murder of Rogers’s father Tommy Ballard.

Judge Charles Simms III took the bond reduction motion and subsequent arguments under submission, and will rule on the motion as quickly as possible.