These horses are some of the eight horses housed at the Barren River Lake State Resort Park in Lucas, Kentucky. The horses were the center of attention at a recent joint meeting of two committees of the Barren Fiscal Court.
(GLASGOW-BARREN COUNTY TOURISM)
By Angela Briggs, special to WCLU News
GLASGOW — A group of horses was the center of debate at a Barren Fiscal Court committee meeting on Tuesday between a local newspaper owner and the county’s judge executive.
A recent request by the county’s solid waste coordinator spurred magistrates to ask questions about the horses. The confusion highlights another example in recent months where magistrates have approved a project and then questioned it.
Some magistrates cited “misinformation” as the cause of their confusion. But details have been provided to magistrates since the horses became a concern for the county, said Micheal Hale, the county’s judge executive. Various news stories and social media posts have also been made.
Jeff Jobe, a local newspaper publisher, said Hale gave him “the runaround” when he sought details about the horses. He also asked his district’s magistrate and was ultimately unable to get the information.
“I’ve been asking him for three weeks. I’ve got a newspaper out today that has a lot of misinformation in it if half of what you say is true,” Jobe said. “And I don’t like lying to my 6,000 subscribers.”
The number of horses at the park were questioned. Information in Jobe’s paper questioned whether some of the horses were being kept at Hale’s private farm, which was featured on the front page of the paper.
Tracy Shirley, Barren County Emergency Management director, feeds the horses every day. He offered comments to the committee and the newspaper publisher.
“There’s eight there today. There was eight there that day. And there were eight there the day before,” Shirley said. “I feed them. I water them. I’ve counted them on a daily basis.”
One horse was moved to Hale’s private farm. The judge incurred all the expenses associated with their upkeep, he said. Aside from the one euthanized, the other eight horses are housed at the state park.
A joint session of the Building and Property Committee, and the Emergency Management and Solid Waste Committee voted to sell the horses. Magistrates Tim Coomer, Jeff Botts, Mark Bowman and Kenneth Sartin voted in favor.
The committee is expected to recommend the selling of the horses to the full court during a special meeting scheduled Tuesday, April 26 at 9 a.m.
Read more here about the horses’ history in the county. Watch the joint committee meeting here.
