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Houck pleads not guilty; judge reviewing bond reduction motion

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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.

Family of WWII soldier to be buried in Mammoth Cave asks for public’s support during procession from Louisville Thursday

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The family of a Mammoth Cave native killed while held as a prisoner of war in World War II is inviting the public to help welcome him home as he is laid to rest.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says Private First Class Thomas “Frank” Brooks died at the age of 23 while being held in the Cabanatuan POW Camp in the Philippines in December of 1942. His remains were unable to be identified after the war, but in June of this year Brooks was identified at a DPAA laboratory.

Brooks will be laid to rest in the Hill Grove Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Mammoth Cave on October 1, but Brooks’s great-great nephew Jacob Dunn says anybody wanting to pay respects will have an opportunity Thursday evening.

Brooks’s remains are scheduled to arrive at the Louisville airport at 5:30 p.m. 

“Following the ceremony at the airport, we’re going to be driving in a procession from the airport down 31W from Louisville, coming through West Point, Muldraugh, Fort Knox, Radcliff, dipping into Elizabethtown a little bit, all the way down to Joe Prather Highway, then we’re going to take that to I-65 South, and that we’re going to take that the remainder of the way towards the Mammoth Cave, Edmonson County area where he’s from,” Dunn said.

The family is asking anybody in the public willing to participate to line the highways as the procession rolls through.

“Anybody that would love to come out in support, wave flags, please,” Dunn said. “It’s a somber moment, but in a way a celebration that he’s coming home, and he’s been identified, and this story can be put to rest.”

The Patton Funeral Home says a welcome home ceremony will be held Friday at 9:30 a.m. CDT at Edmonson County High School, with military graveside services beginning Sunday at 11 a.m. CDT in the cemetery.

(Photo Credit: Patton Funeral Home)

Elizabethtown City Council approves tax rates, city meeting location change

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for their second regular meeting of the month Monday.

The council approved three tax measures for 2023 on their second readings. The franchise tax rate on all eligible bank deposits was set at .025 percent. The tax rate on real and personal property was set at 11 cents per every $100 in assessed value. The tax rate on all motor vehicles and watercraft was set at 11.6 cents per $100 in assessed value.

The council also approved an ordinance amendment that approves the moving of city council and other city meetings from the city council chambers at city hall to the Pritchard Community Center.

“This change will allow for the requirements of KRS Chapter 61 to be met, assuring that all public meetings are held in a place convenient to the public and to include space and acoustic requirements,” said City Attorney Ken Howard, reading from the ordinance.

A change order was also approved for the city’s contract with Phillips Brothers Construction for the stormwater improvement project in the Foxborough subdivision. $6,000 was approved for the application of Flexamat to address additional erosion concerns at the Covington Ridge basin.

Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson provided additional information on the work that went into recovering a stolen vehicle that had a seven-month old child inside Sunday. Thompson addressed questions as to why an Amber Alert was not issued for the case, noting that Amber Alerts can only be issued by the Kentucky State Police.

“A local law enforcement agency has to determine a legitimate need exists,” Thompson said. “You have to have information that a child under the age of 17, it doesn’t apply if it’s over the age of 17. It doesn’t apply if you don’t have some type of vehicle information because if you are putting out an Amber Alert then you have to have something you are looking for, so we have to determine all of those factors early on.”

Thompson said an Amber Alert would have been requested had officers not located the vehicle as quickly as they did, which he credited in part to the use of social media to quickly reach the public and flock cameras, which use license plate information to identify and locate vehicles.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet for a work session on September 25.

Community Day at Joseph Holt Home this Saturday

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The Joseph Holt Home in Hardinsburg will host their 15th annual Community Day this Saturday from 9 a.m.to 2 p.m. 

Community Day is free and open to the public, and is an opportunity for area residents to take a look into Breckinridge County’s history and to check out the hard work that has gone into preserving this historic home.

“There’s no admission because we want people to be a part of it, and we have had people be a part of this for 15 years to let people come in and see the improvements each year,” said Friends of Holt home President Susan Dyer. “It is massive what we have done as a local community. With 27 grants, we’ve raised $2 million.” 

The Holt Home belonged to lawyer, soldier, and politician Joseph Holt, and Dyer says preserving the home means preserving the legacy of an individual whose contributions to keeping the Union together during the Civil War are often overlooked in history books.

“He was Lincoln’s judge advocate general,” Dyer said. “He served four presidents. He had the rank of major general, and being ‘TJ’ that means that he was the top judge advocate. He was Lincoln’s choice for that because he was famous across the nation during the Civil War, and for what he did for our nation. He held it together, being the prosecuting judge.”

Community Day at the Holt Home will feature guided tours, interactive reenactments, a Civil War-era baseball game, a presidential wreath-laying ceremony, music, guest speakers, and more.

Dyer says the home is a testament to the importance of historic preservation.

“If a local community like rural Breckinridge County can save a national treasure, and bring it back as the ‘showplace of Breckinridge County,’ it gives encouragement to communities all across the commonwealth,” Dyer said.

For more information on Community Day, visit the Friends of the Holt Home Facebook Page or www.josephholthome.com.

Indiana woman killed in Grayson County crash

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A crash in Grayson County over the weekend resulted in the death of an Indiana woman.

The Grayson County Sheriff’s Office says the preliminary investigation indicates shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday a car being driven by 53-year-old Amy Embry of New Albany was traveling north on KY 79/Falls of Rough Road when for unknown reasons the vehicle drifted into the southbound lane.

A southbound car being driven by Jerry Walker of Caneyville attempted to avoid the vehicle, but Embry’s vehicle struck the southbound car head-on at a slight angle near the 7100 block of KY 79, coming to rest in the roadway facing north. A third vehicle driven by Jeremy Lawson of Falls of Rough also heading south struck the Walker vehicle after the initial collison.

Embry was transported by EMS to Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead. Walker and a passenger were also transported to Twin Lakes with non-life-threatening injuries, while Lawson told emergency responders he was not injured.