Latest Kentucky Floods of 2011

While the world watches and waits to see what further ill effects may occur from the Destruction of the Birds Point Levee, the storm fronts keeps moving in, rain keeps coming down, and flood waters keep rising like in the old Johnny Cash song.

Union County is essentially closed off and surrounded by high water now. According to the Henderson Gleaner, Union County schools and postal services are almost completely out. The Union post office has had to make an emergency relocation to nearby Henderson County.

Livingston County is under emergency evacuation as I type this. The evacuations in Smithland are mandatory and police-enforced, while residents of the towns of Iuke, Ledbetter, and Tiline are also being urged to evacuate for their own safety at this hour. Kentucky State Police have set up a temporary command post at Grand Rivers, and will be organizing all Fire, ambulance, and rescue operations from here.

In Fulton County, many worried citizens have been fleeing Hickman. Gov. Beshear has been monitoring the area in person, and said on Tuesday that blowing up the levee in Missouri was the right decision, because it's helping to take the pressure off Kentucky's own floodwalls.

In McCracken County, The Republic is reporting "The National Weather Service in Paducah forecast a crest of 55 feet, or 3 feet above flood stage, on the Ohio River in Paducah".

Kenton County was declared a disaster area last week when floodwaters closed a dozen roads and tornadoes ripped through the area. They, along with most of Northern Kentucky, are listed on today's flood advisory again as I type this.

Calloway County was, according to thenews.org, under a flood warning until this morning, and it will still take a lot of time for the water to go down. There is water over many roads, although none are closed down at this time.

In Jefferson County, flood waters crossed River Road and lapped at the edges of the Yum! Center and at Butchertown's flood walls. Today the water levels of the Ohio River are receding, but heavy rain is expected in the forecast and it remains to be seen whether the flooding here is truly over.

Pregnant Woman Saves Pets from Burning Building

This week in Independence, KY, an off-duty animal control officer rushed into a burning apartment complex to rescue over thirteen pets - two dogs, six cats, a snake, a bearded dragon lizard, a rabbit, a lovebird, and a tank of fish.

Amy Leslie, who is in her second trimester of pregnancy, is shrugging off those who call her a hero, but I do indeed hope she receives some sort of award or prize or special recognition. (Not since Pee-wee's Big Adventure have I known such bravery and love of animals.)

The Phoenix Cafe

Here's a nice old postcard from a photo archive on the I Survived Covington group.

Oh, to have lived in the days of Covington's Phoenix Cafe (any relation to the one over the river in Cincinnati?) - a vaudeville house that, given the slightly seedy nature of the area, was probably closer to the realm of burlesque.

The Phoenix Cafe was located at the corner of Pike and Russell, and later became the Depot Cafe. In this incarnation, its name turned up in the legal case United States of America v. Sykes:

A bartender at the Depot Cafe testified that the three appellants would occasionally be together in the cafe and on one occasion told him while he was serving them drinks at a table that "they had a big job planned." Strunk testified that shortly before the arrest he and Preston were in the back room of the Depot Cafe and Sykes came back there and said, "I have the opportunity to make $5,000." Preston testified substantially the same, and added that Sykes wanted their opinion as to whether or not he should go through with it, whereupon Strunk said, "Well, if you are going to make $5,000, you must be going to rob a bank," to which Sykes replied, "Well, how did you know?". Sykes testified that he had been approached by some men to drive a car for them on a bank robbery and that he went to Strunk and Preston and had the conversation above referred to.

Currently the Welcome House is in this location.

Multiple UFOs over Ft. Wright

A recent submission to MUFON - Case #23336 - tells of a multiple-UFO sighting over Ft.Wright on May 15, 2010:

I am hoping someone else saw this Saturday night. I was at a birthday party and around 10:30 We were all on the front porch of a my friends house in Ft. Wright Kentucky and someone there pointed I think it was the southwest direction and we saw hundreds of pulsating lights going across the sky. It looked like a plane would look at night but there were hundreds of them. It was a cloudy night so they were definitely traveling under the clouds pretty slowly across the horizon. We lost sight after they traveled behind the treeline across the street. After the majority of them were behind the treeline we would see a couple here and there trailing behind. I have never in my life seen anything like that before. I have been searching on the internet to see if I can find anything on it but have not had any luck. I e-mailed the Cincinnati Observatory but have not gotten a response from them either. I know I am not crazy. Everyone else at the party saw it too. If anyone has any answers, please let me know. It is driving me nuts. I tried to take a video with my phone but it did not work. Thanks for your time.

After scouring the internet for other reports of this incident, however, I found nothing - other than other bloggers talking about this same MUFON post. In such a densely populated area, surely someone else saw the phenomena and can step forward?

Psychiatrist Goes Insane

From the Kentucky Inquirer:

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Patients of a northern Kentucky psychiatrist jailed on a charge he stabbed a woman with a sword have tried to keep appointments with him in jail. Kenton County jail Chief Deputy Scott Colvin said deputies have had to turn away several patients of Douglas Rank, charged last month with first-degree assault in an attack on 32-year-old woman.

Colvin told the Kentucky Enquirer that some patients have asked if they could drop off Rank's prescription pad at the jail so he could write their prescriptions.

Colvin said the requests have been denied, as prisoners are not allowed to practice their trade in jail.

At a hearing Tuesday, witnesses said the psychiatrist towered over his bloodied patient with a sword in both hands before he was distracted and had the weapon wrestled away from him.

And according to Broken Country:

According to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, Rank’s license is active this week, but is it set to expire on Sunday.

Rank, who is also board certified in internal medicine, had his license to practice medicine restricted by the board in 2001 it found that after he prescribed “high doses of narcotic prescriptions” to one patient while practicing in Lexington.

The Board of Medical Licensure found that Rank had given the patient 57 prescriptions over 14 months. Rank agreed to no longer treat the patient.

Rank also faced disciplinary action from the board in 2000 after he admitted he had sexual intercourse with another patient.

Covington's Futuro House

The Futuro House was a short-lived fad during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Okay, maybe it wasn't even a fad, because they only ever built 96 of these things.

With 525 square feet of living space, the Futuro House could supposedly accommodate 8 people, its press releases said. Hmmmm... maybe, but only if you're cozy and unclaustrophobic. These things seem more like children's playhouses to me. While it lacks the size and majesty of Berea's Spaceship School, it still possesses a certain space-opera charm.

The official reason given for the failure of Futuro is that the rising price of plastic during the mid-1970s oil crisis made production of the domed domiciles too expensive. Personally, I think the real reason is simply that no one wanted to live in a tiny plastic space pod.

Of the 96 Futuro houses originally sold, Wikipedia estimates only 60% still exist. We're fortunate to have one of them still intact in Kentucky, on Wright Street in Covington. See it on Google Maps Street View here.

Cat Killer Faces 12 Years in Prison

On December 14, Russell Swigart of Highland Heights, KY will be sentenced in Kenton County Circuit Court for killing two cats under the new "Romeo's Law".

In October, Swigart (pictured below) admitted to burglarizing the home of Bridgett Wright and stabbing her two cats, "Mr. Frank" and "Piggy", to death. Reportedly, the psychopath then heckled Wright about it via text messages.

According to nky.com:

"In addition to the crimes for which he is accused in this case, he was accused and convicted of several similar incidents inflicting animal abuse and death as well as stalking and abuse against women in Columbus, Ohio, (and) Wauseon, Ohio," Wright wrote the judge in the case.

A Wauseon, Ohio, woman, who told prosecutors she lived with Swigart in the late 1990s, said he repeatedly abused her and once held her at knifepoint.

The woman told prosecutors Swigart came to her home after she ended their relationship, "placed her pet cat in a shoe box and sealed the box closed with tape. He then shot the box, with the cat inside, with a shotgun, killing the cat," according to the affidavit.

The woman said Swigart then forced her to look at her dead cat "and threatened that he would do the same to her," according to court records.

Another woman, who said she had a brief relationship with Swigart in Columbus, told prosecutors he "unlawfully entered her apartment and harmed her dogs" after their relationship ended. She said Swigart told her "he had hurt the dogs so badly that he had 'left them at death's door.'"

The woman said Swigart also boasted of killing a female roommate's cat, according to court documents.

"Romeo's Law" is so named for a labrador named Romeo, who was cruelly beaten by a man named Ronald Shawn Turner in Pulaski County. Neighbors witnessed the incident, caught it on tape, and reported it to the police. Turner was only convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to only four months in jail.

But thanks to the new law, animal abuse is now a Class D Felony in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which had previously been one of the least pet-friendly states.

There's a memorial page to Mr. Frank and Piggy here.

St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption

Not to be confused with Louisville's Cathedral of the Assumption, this is a Catholic Basilica located in Covington. The structure, laden with gargoyles, is one of our state's most amazing religious and architectural treasures.

The cathedral project was begun in 1984 by the Diocese of Covington's Bishop Camillus Paul Maes. Oddly, the construction was terminated in 1915, and remains incomplete and unfinished to this day. It is one of only 35 minor basilicas in the United States - Pope Pius XII elevated St. Mary's Cathedral to the rank of Minor Basilica on December 8, 1953. (There are only four Major Basilicas, all of which are in Rome.)

The interior of the cathedral contains murals by the great Kentucky artist Frank Duveneck, born in Covington.


Flickr user ucb411 has some truly amazing photos of the Basilica, apparently done in time-lapse so that the clouds seem to be moving, and at dusk for heightened contrast with the evening lighting. An example is below; click here to see more!

Indigent Burials

From USA Today:

Kenton County, Ky., is expecting a record year of indigent burials. The 29 indigent burials as of Aug. 13 are more than double last year's total of 12, says Don Catchen, whose funeral home has the county contract for indigent burials.

Catchen offers a minimal private funeral and cremation for $1,400.

"With the economy being what it is, some of the lesser-income families … are barely surviving and they don't have any money to pay for even a minimum funeral service," he says.

"I've had the (county) contract 14 years," he says, "and it's never been like this before."

Pulsating UFO over Erlanger

Though it lacks visual context - like pulling way back to show us the object's position in the sky relative to buildings on the ground - this UFO footage is interesting. Though blurry and jiggly, it suggests a round object with a flat bottom.

The incident allegedly occurred June 6th, around 2:30am, in Erlanger, KY. Erlanger is 45 minutes south of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

The Ascent

What's the weirdest building in Kenton County? Probably The Ascent, an amazing avant-garde structure that looks like something out of a Weimar wet dream. Resembling an elegant staircase or a bridge to infinity, The Ascent is the creation of Studio Daniel Libeskind, who were commissioned to design it in 2004. The building was completed in Covington last year and is one of Kentucky's boldest and bravest buildings, architecturally speaking.


Their website states:

More than a luxury condominium, The Ascent is at once an aesthetic statement and a towering architectural achievement. Its signature arcing profile invites a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to be part of an exclusive community that literally lives in an original work of art.

Claim your reward in this magnificent, inspiring structure that soars upward, reaching to the sky.

Heck, they're just about talking me into it.