For many Caldwell Countians, especially those involved in county government, reflections on the past 12 months will revolve around one man: late Judge/Executive Van Knight.
Knight’s April 9 death, from injuries sustained in a fall the night before, cast a shadow over the rest of the year’s happenings, a palpable absence as big as his presence was during his 14 years in office.
“I lost a good friend in Judge/Executive Van Knight,” Sheriff Stan Hudson said this week — a sentiment shared by many of those who knew the judge.
Born in Lyon County in 1941, Knight was a serviceman and successful Princeton businessman before entering the realm of local government.
He served as Princeton City Clerk from 1983 until 1994, when he was elected judge/executive.
During his tenure in office, the county saw progress all around: new industries, modernized water service and infrastructure, improved roads, and respect from state and federal officials.
Knight was in the middle of his fourth term at the time of his death.
The void he left led to a competition for the office, one that went unresolved until the November general election.
Magistrate George Kilgore was named temporary judge/executive in the wake of Knight’s passing.
On April 24, Gov. Steve Beshear appointed former Princeton Mayor Sherman Chaudoin as the county’s interim judge/executive, to serve until the November election.
Chaudoin took office May 1 and sought an endorsement from the Caldwell County Democratic Executive Committee as their candidate in November.
The committee, though, chose Sheriff’s Deputy Brock Thomas as its candidate.
The county’s Republican executive committee threw their support behind Chaudoin, who changed his party affiliation after the endorsement.
A vigorous, but cordial, campaign ensued, with Thomas and Chaudoin joined in August by a third candidate, write-in Janice Hill.
At the polls Tuesday, Nov. 4, voters chose Thomas as their pick to fill the remaining two years of Knight’s unexpired term.
Thomas received 3,937 votes to Chaudoin’s 2,170, with 19 for Hill.
Thomas was sworn in later that week.
The winds of change brought on by Knight’s passing were bookended by some literal winds in mid-September, when Hurricane Ike’s remnants blew north from the Gulf of Mexico and struck western Kentucky.
Seven counties in the west end of the state, including Caldwell County, declared a state of emergency after the windstorm, that hit the area on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 14.
Hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians were without power after the storm, which produced winds measured locally at more than 45 miles per hour. Gusts as high as 75 miles per hour were reported in the state.
The storm, which downed limbs, trees and power lines across the county and damaged numerous homes and structures, prompted city and county officials to issue an emergency declaration to keep the public off the streets and away from danger.
Two injuries were reported in connection with the storm and its cleanup.
City crews worked into November cleaning up and burning limbs and trees brought down by the windstorm.
Another September occurrence also made the list of the top community news stories of 2008, this one on the positive side.
City, county and state officials joined administrators and board members of the Caldwell County Hospital Monday, Sept. 29, to break ground for a new $30.6 million facility, the Caldwell Medical Center.
U.S. Department of Agriculture loan funds were approved in July to finance the hospital’s construction.
The medical center, which will replace the aging current hospital facility, will be located on U.S. 62 West, on 36 acres behind the E.W. James & Sons supermarket.
The ground-breaking came after about three years of research into the feasibility of a new facility.
Construction of the medical center is expected to be complete by the end of this year.
A Wal-Mart Supercenter is also going up on U.S. 62 West, just up the road from the new hospital. The Supercenter is expected to open this summer.
Another journey came to an end in September, to the relief of many in the community.
Jesse James Sebastian and James Ernest Whisman, two inmates who escaped from the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex near Fredonia Saturday, Aug. 16, were apprehended in Georgia Friday, Sept. 5.
A Georgia State Patrol officer who pulled over a 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser for speeding on Interstate 75 discovered the vehicle was stolen and its occupants were on the lam from Kentucky.
The car, an Enterprise rental car, had been stolen from the Trice Hughes lot in Princeton.
The escapees apparently stayed close to home for much of their time on the run.
Surveillance video from the Caldwell County High School showed that the pair had entered the school on four occasions to steal food.
Law enforcement and corrections officers searching for the duo discovered a place where the inmates had apparently made camp, but collaring the two proved difficult.
The escapees’ prison-issued uniforms were found, along with a rifle, ammunition and other items, under the parkway bridge on the Old Fredonia Road in December.
Whisman, 26, and Sebastian, 43, remain lodged in Georgia.
Another WKCC inmate, James R. Allgood, walked away from a work detail at Lyon County High School in July and remains at large.
He was last seen in Breckinridge County. A gun and vehicle taken during the escape were recovered within a week.
Rounding out the year’s top five stories was the ice storm that shut down much of the county in February.
Nightly rainfall combined with dropping temperatures to coat the county in ice, causing trees to topple and power lines to snap.
Hundreds of local residents, most in the north end of the county, were without power for days after the storm.
Other events making the news in 2008 included:
January:
• Paducah resident Jeremiah Wood pleaded guilty to the murder of his stepgrandfather, Old Eddyville resident Marshall Turner.
• Longtime Princeton City Council member and school district employee Henry Smith passed away on Jan. 20.
He had served as a council member since 1990 and was employed by the school system for more than 20 years.
Patricia “Pat” George was appointed in February to fill the council seat vacated by Smith.
February:
• Princeton’s neighbor to the east, Dawson Springs, endorsed the legal sale of alcohol within its city limits.
• Assistant Princeton Police Chief James Mason, who had more than 20 years’ experience with the department, died Friday, Feb. 22.
Lt. R.L. Howton, another veteran officer, replaced Mason as assistant chief in September.
March:
• Several local residents were honored at the Kentucky History Awards in Frankfort.
Mayor Gale Cherry received a government award, filmmaker Sam Koltinsky received an award of merit and Caldwell County received a community history award for the Wilson-Blair African-American One-Room School restoration project.
• City officials contracted with a Madisonville firm to replace sidewalks in the city’s downtown historic district.
• West Green Street resident Phillip Knee, 21, was arrested for murder on March 24 in the February death of 10-month-old Ethan Cotton.
He is currently awaiting trial.
• Sherry Jordan resigned as Princeton-Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce executive secretary to take a position with the Princeton Electric Plant Board.
She had served as executive secretary for 15 years.
Kate Prince was hired as interim executive secretary. She was hired as full-time executive director in August, effective Jan. 1.
• AFCO Manufacturing shut down production at its Princeton plant on U.S. 62 West and put the factory building up for sale. The Princeton-Caldwell County Industrial Development Authority purchased the building in December.
April:
• Voters in the Eddy Creek precinct rejected the idea of legal alcohol sales at the Princeton Golf and Country Club in a special election Tuesday, April 8. The measure was defeated by five votes, 188-183.
• Plans for the construction of a Sonic Drive-In restaurant on U.S. 62 West were announced in April. The restaurant opened in late summer.
May:
• Local resident Ruth D. Choate was killed and two others injured in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 24 in Trigg County.
• Broadbent B & B Foods opened its Kentucky Proud Gourmet Market and Deli in Lyon County. The award-winning food company had previously been located in Cadiz.
• Two Fredonia residents died after their car collided with a log truck at the intersection of the Marion and Farmersville Roads Friday, May 16.
Phillip E. Hall, 83, was killed in the crash; his wife, 81-year-old Katherine Poole Hall, died six days later.
• A “Focus on Our Future” community forum drew about 50 people interested in improving the community to the UK Research and Education Center.
June:
• Princeton received a million-dollar Community Development Block Grant for a “scattered site” housing project to rebuild homes for low-income, disabled or elderly residents.
• A lack of funding forced the suspension of expense-related activities for the Caldwell-Lyon Partnership.
A restructured organization, renamed the Lakes Area Partnership for Economic Development, was formed over the next few months.
Farmers Bank and Trust Company President Jeff McDaniels is chairing the partnership’s board of directors.
McDaniels was named the bank’s new president in July.
• The Caldwell County Industrial Park was renamed the Van Knight Memorial Industrial Park.
July:
• Caldwell County Assistant School Superintendent Quin Sutton resigned to accept a post as superintendent in Lyon County.
• Desmond Snorton, 27, was convicted of the November 2006 shooting death of 32-year-old Martin McKinney. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
August:
• One of two new doctors to arrive in Princeton in 2008 announced plans to open a clinic.
Dr. Jami Perry, a Crittenden County native, opened Perry Family Medical on U.S. 62 West in September.
Dr. William Stafford opened his own local medical office in October.
Both were recruited by Caldwell County Hospital administrators.
September:
• Caldwell/Lyon Partnership Executive Director Jim Moore resigned from the post to take a position as director of business development for the North Eastern Strategic Alliance in Florence, S.C.
October:
• Kevin Dunlap, 35, of Hopkinsville, was charged with multiple murder and kidnapping charges, among others, in connection with the deaths of two teenage girls and their younger brother near Fort Campbell in Trigg County.
The victims’ mother was wounded in the attack but survived.
November:
• County voters picked Republican John McCain in the race for U.S. president in the Nov. 4 general election.
Democrat Barack Obama won the national election.
Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Ed Whitfield were also endorsed by local voters.
• The Fontaine Trailer Company (Military Products Business Unit) announced plans to shut down their Princeton plant.
• Planners looking to build a new playground in downtown Princeton set a fund-raising goal of more than $112,000 for the project.
December:
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to relocate the Princeton USDA Rural Development office to Mayfield.
The office would continue to provide services to Caldwell County and numerous others in the area, USDA officials said.
