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Helping Hand of Hope Director Hope Burke said once she saw the trailer for the movie Ordinary Angels she had to bring the film to Elizabethtown.

“There is a movie that was actually based out of Kentucky in the 90s,” Burke said. “For people that lived here, I guess there was this huge blizzard that happened, and what people may not know is there was a little girl that needed a transplant and had to be flown 700 miles in that major blizzard.”

Burke said the message and subject of the film comes close to home for her family.

“My bonus son is having a scheduled transplant on Tuesday, and I was like ‘I’ve got to see this movie early. I’ve got to bring it here,’” Burke said. “So I contacted the studio and I just explained ‘Can I please see this movie? For some reason I’m really, really touched by this, and I need to see it.’ So they sent it to me and I got to see it and I’m telling you I cried from the beginning until the end.”

Through a special arrangement with Helping Hand of Hope and the movie studios, Ordinary Angels will be screened at the Crowne Pointe Theatre this Sunday, and tickets are available to anybody interested.

“Tickets are going to be free,” Burke said. “All anyone has to do is email us at Helping Hand of Hope or give us a call and we will get you signed up, and we actually just got moved to the bigger theater to have more seats available for the show.”

The film features performances by Academy Award winner Hillary Swank and other actors, and Burke alluded to surprises at previous Helping Hand of Hope events when discussing the movie.

“There’s a lot of other people in it,” Burke said. “You’re going to see just a moving story, and one thing I’ll tell people is you may want to come because you never know who may show up.”

For a free ticket to Ordinary Angels, playing this Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Crowne Pointe Theatre, email hburke@hhhope.org.

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.