Editor’s note: This story contains details that some may find disturbing. Discretion is advised.
MURRAY – A woman arrested in April after law enforcement officers found a decomposing body in her Riviera Courts home pleaded guilty in Calloway Circuit Court this morning to one count of abusing a corpse.
Gwendolyn Penny, 68, was indicted on April 19 on one count of abuse of a corpse, a class D felony, for intentionally treating a corpse “in a way that would outrage ordinary family sensibilities,” and one count of knowingly abusing and/or neglecting an adult in her care, a class C felony.
In court this morning, Penny pleaded guilty to one count of abuse of a corpse pursuant to a plea agreement whereby the prosecution agreed to dismiss the abuse/neglect charge.
According to the uniform citation, a Calloway County Sheriff’s Office deputy found a deceased male in advanced states of decomposition after going to a residence in Riviera Courts to serve papers and contacted the Murray Police Department (MPD) to investigate.
MPD Detective Justin Swope wrote that, when he spoke to Penny, she told him that she “had not noticed anything wrong with the victim and he had just been sleeping.” According to his report, after Penny signed a Miranda waiver, she told him that, a little more than two weeks prior, the victim told her he had “spoken to God and would be going through the process of ‘Going all the way down,’ which she explained was down to death.”
Swope recounted Penny telling him that the next day, she found the victim unresponsive in his chair, unable to move or speak. Three to four days later, she noticed that he was not breathing.
“She said under any other circumstances,” Swope wrote, “she would have been concerned about his health and would have given him care, but this was the process and she had to trust in the Lord. She said over the last couple weeks she noticed worms and flies on his body. He was swelling and his skin was peeling. He was dripping blood and liquid onto the floor. She stated she would peel the skin off, clean off the worms, and attempted to change his clothes this morning.”
Officers found a journal in the home that documented, in detail, the decomposition process and the changes to the victim’s body. The coroner advised he believed the victim had been deceased for some time and posited a time frame consistent with Penny’s account.
“Evidence and statements show Gwendolyn observed a drastic change in the health and well being of the victim and made no effort to get him care,” Swope wrote. “She acknowledged he stopped breathing nearly one and a half weeks ago. She admitted that any other person seeing him in this condition would be concerned for his well being and would get him help. Gwendolyn made a conscious decision to ignore the health crisis the victim was suffering as part of a religious test which potentially caused the death of the victim due to lack of medical care.”
Swope determined that, based on the investigation, Penny “knowingly neglected the well being of the victim who she proclaimed to the care take of and failed to get him aid during a medical emergency. She then allowed the deceased to decompose in her home and admitted to peeling skin from his body, cleaning worms off him, and otherwise abusing his corpse.”
Penny is facing five years of imprisonment. Her sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 21, at 8:30 a.m.
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MURRAY – Less than a week after StepStone Family and Youth Services relocated its boys group home from a facility in town, on Back Street, to a home on Rockwood Road in the Elm Grove community, Calloway County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) deputies were called to respond to an attempted assault of an employee by one of the home’s residents. The juvenile fled on foot, resulting in a manhunt that lasted more than four hours and required assistance from Calloway County Fire-Rescue (CCFR) and Marshall County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).
At approximately 3 p.m. yesterday, CCSO deputies responded to a call from the home about an out-of-control 16-year-old male who attempted to stab one of the employees with a knife, according to a CCSO press release. When deputies arrived, the juvenile assaulted one of them before fleeing into a cornfield adjacent to the property.
In an interview this morning, Calloway County Sheriff Nicky Knight said that, when the first call came in, two on-duty deputies, two detectives, two supervisors and two off-duty deputies responded to the call. When the juvenile fled, around five CCFR volunteers responded with the agency’s drone. Knight said that he also called another individual, who assisted with his drone.
Calloway County Fire-Rescue units are seen in a parking lot near the boys home on Rockwood Road. Photo provided
While two drones searched the cornfield, CCSO established a perimeter, according to the press release, and Calloway County E911 sent out an alert via Hyper Reach so that residents in the area were aware of the situation and could keep themselves safe while the suspect was at large. In an attempt to get the juvenile to come out of the field, CCSO expanded its perimeter approximately two hours later.
“We did what we could do and kind of backed out,” Knight explained. “We knew that he would resurface, but a lot of times, they’re not going to resurface until they think we’re gone. So, we pulled back a little bit.”
Around 7:30 p.m., the juvenile returned, and staff contacted CCSO. When deputies arrived, the juvenile fled again. Knight said that five CCSO units responded to the second call – three of whom came from home. CCFR was not called in to assist the second time; instead, Knight contacted the MCSO and asked them to assist with a K-9 unit.
“They actually sent two canines and the handlers, and that’s the time that we ended up catching him,” Knight said, adding, “That’s a lot of resources in one day.”
The K-9 units “flushed” the juvenile from the field, the release states. After a brief struggle, during which another deputy was assaulted, the juvenile was detained. None of the deputies required treatment for their minor injuries.
The juvenile was medically-cleared for minor injuries before being transported to the McCracken County Juvenile Detention Center where he is being held on charges of first-degree attempted assault, two counts of third-degree assault of a police officer, second-degree fleeing on foot, resisting arrest and third-degree criminal mischief.
About the incident, BrightSpring Health Services, StepStone’s parent company, provided the following statement earlier today:
“We are aware of a recent incident involving a resident at our StepStone home in Calloway County, KY, and are working in full cooperation with local authorities. We want to assure the community that we take all proper steps to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our foster children, our staff, and our neighbors. If any community members ever have questions about StepStone services, they are welcome to contact Joe Tanner at joe.tanner@stepstoneyouth.com.”
StepStone is a for-profit company that, among other services, provides qualified residential treatment programs for children, ages 10-17, in the foster care system across nine states. It operates four group homes in the Purchase Area, including two in Murray – one for boys and one for girls.
Chris Hempfling, vice president of service excellence and stakeholder relations for BrightSpring Health Services, StepStone’s parent company, addresses the crowd at a public meeting the company held in July 2023. JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel
The company has been looking for suitable properties to relocate the boys home for well over a year, but their attempts were largely thwarted by blowback from neighbors. When StepStone held a public meeting in July last year about potentially relocating to a home in the Southwest Villa subdivision, approximately 70 neighborhood residents attended to voice their staunch opposition to the move. Within days, StepStone announced it was no longer considering relocating to that property.
Chris Hempfling, vice president of service excellence and stakeholder relations for BrightSpring, told The Sentinel at the time that “because of the comments and the pushback, we just didn’t feel that it was the right placement for our children.”
In October, StepStone held another public meeting about the Rockwood Road property. Around 40 residents from the Elm Grove and Faxon communities attended that meeting, and while emotions were high, it did not seem as contentious as the one in July.
Around 40 residents of the Elm Grove and Faxon communities attended a meeting in July to discuss StepStone relocating its boys home to Rockwood Road. JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel
Knight was among those in attendance at the October meeting. While most were concerned about safety, decreasing property values and theft, the sheriff offered a different perspective on the potential downfalls of relocating the home to the county – the strain on county resources.
“I think it’s best in the city where the city’s got plenty of units to deal with it,” Knight said at the meeting. “Coming into the county, I’ve got two units out. We get a runaway juvenile; yeah, we’re gonna look for them just like (we would any child). We’re gonna do our best, but I’ve got two units; other people in the county need my help, too. So, leave it in the city. We’ll be glad to help the city if we need to help the city because the city can’t come all the way out there to where you’re going to help us.”
Today, Knight said that what happened yesterday is exactly what he was talking about back in October.
“I’m already short-handed – I’m short four officers,” he added. “If I can find a decent officer, I would hire them. And we’re in the process – we’ve made some job offers and have some in school – but to go above and beyond that, I don’t have the funding.”
Knight acknowledged that many people who live in the area were locked down in their homes and scared, but he also noted that yesterday was not the only time CCSO has used E911 to alert residents.
Screenshot of the Hyper Reach alert
“We’ve had other people that we’ve been after and put out, ‘Hey, lock your doors, lock your cars,’” he said. “So, it’s not just isolated to this, but we know what we’ve got here. … If I lived in the neighborhood or if I had an elderly mother or father that lived in the neighborhood, then I would be worried for them. If I had young kids, I would be worried for them. I think the part that gets me is the workers just can’t handle them. We’re going to have stuff that’s going to happen, and I think it would be better in a community other than Calloway County.”
Knight said that representatives of StepStone met with him after the public meeting in October, and he told them, “’I don’t have any choice. We’ll give it a try because you’re going to do it. But the first time we have something,’ I said, ‘I will do everything I can to shut you down… on both places,’” referring to the girls facility StepStone operates on Robertson Road South.
“I’ve complained to everybody I know to complain to; and I’m still looking for somebody else to complain to, and I’m not done looking,” he said, adding that he wants the public to know his office is “doing the best we can to keep it contained, and I’m doing the best I can to get it shut down.”
Shanna Hodges lives next door to the property. She and her husband, Ronald, built the home and lived there with their children until they sold it in 2021 and began building their “forever home.”
When the incident occurred yesterday, Ronald was not home, so she and their 15-year-old daughter hunkered down in their home alone. Hodges, who passionately advocated for the needs of children in the foster care system at the October meeting, said that she had always felt secure in the knowledge that she could protect her children, “but last night, it felt different,” she said. “I’ve never worried about being in my kitchen, cooking dinner for my family and worrying that I needed to make sure the doors were locked.”
Shanna Hodges addresses the crowd at StepStone’s October meeting. JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel
After the property was purchased in November, Leigh White, vice president of communications and PR for BrightSpring, told the Sentinel in an email that the company was confident in its decision to proceed with the purchase of the Rockwood Road property, noting the 3,245-square-foot home, which sits on a nearly five-acre lot, will provide the boys living in the home “plenty of space to participate in fun, engaging outdoor activities – like throwing the ball or learning how to garden – while still having space for independent living.”
When asked if StepStone had reached out to the adjacent property owners about the purchase, White said, “The surrounding community plays a large role in welcoming our youth and helping them feel safe, secure, and loved. The local community has been supportive of StepStone’s mission, and we’re excited to find new ways to partner with our new neighbors to ensure we continue to make a lasting, meaningful impact in the lives of the children we serve. We’re working closely with local community leaders to ensure we have strong partnerships to best serve our children and meet their needs.”
But according to Hodges, no one from StepStone has reached out to her, despite her leaving her contact information with the company’s representatives at the October meeting.
“I listened to all my junk voicemails and have checked my email to make sure that I didn’t miss anything. Nothing,” she said. “The yard had gotten really high, and we knew something was fixing to happen because they had bushhogged the yard. Then Saturday, we saw a moving truck and a bus full of kids.”
In October, StepStone Regional Director over Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee Jeff Hardin told those at the meeting, “Where it works really well is that I’ve got your number; you’ve got mine; we know you; we know everybody around there; and we communicate regularly. And all of the neighbors know that if they see someone, they know they’ve got someone to call so they can say, ‘Hey, one of your boys is walking down the street.’”
“This was a little more than just a missing kid,” Knight said this morning. “This was a crime that had been committed, so this was more than a missing kid.”
Hodges said that she and her daughter made a decision to give the boys the benefit of the doubt and not prejudge them. “It was so heartbreaking last night when I got that text (about the incident),” she recalled, “and I said, ‘I really wanted to be wrong.’ And she said, ‘I did, too.’”
“I really truly believe that every kid – anybody – can change, and these kids, I don’t want to give up on them,” she added. “But I don’t want them 200 yards from my house, running through the corn.”
CCSO encourages anyone who witnesses any unusual or possible criminal activity to call the Sheriff’s Office at 270-753-3151 or email ccso.office@callkyso.com. Residents can sign up for Hyper Reach here.
Individuals charged with crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
MURRAY – Two weeks after President Joe Biden signed a federal disaster declaration related to severe storms that hit Kentucky in late May, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff are on the ground and ready to help. The agency opened nine Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) across the commonwealth yesterday, including one in Calloway County.
The Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) is located at the Murray-Calloway County fairgrounds, 201 Fairground Road. The center cannot be accessed through the main gates; instead, visitors should turn on Fairground Road.
“I want to say a special thank you to the Murray-Calloway County Fair Board,” said Calloway County Emergency Management Director Josh Kerr. “I really appreciate them for stepping up and donating the use of the facility.”
The Disaster Recovery Center is set up in the metal building beside the pavilion at the Murray-Calloway County Fairgrounds.
Specifically, the declaration covers severe storms between May 21 and May 27, with 15 Kentucky counties being approved for individual assistance – Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Christian, Clay, Greenup, Hopkins, Knox, Logan, Muhlenberg, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren and Whitley.
For Calloway, the qualifying storm occurred around 8:30 a.m. on May 26, the day before Memorial Day. Two days later, County Judge-Executive Kenny Imes declared a state of emergency. The declaration memorialized the “tornado like winds of 80 miles per hour and substantial rain fall of 3 to 4 inches” that moved across the county, resulting in “hundreds of downed trees, major flooding to lakes and rivers, wind and tree damage to homes and structures, road closures and power outages for some areas up to 120 hours.”
According to Kerr, this is the first time the county has qualified for individual assistance.
“We did preliminary damage assessments right after the storm happened,” Kerr said. “There were probably about 20 properties that we went and surveyed. Of those, we had four that, under FEMA standards, were deemed as destroyed – so, they had damage excessive enough that it was unsafe to live in the home – that’s what put us up for individual assistance this time. … That’s the reason we have the Disaster Recovery Center here.”
All of the DRCs operate six days/week (closed Sundays) from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. FEMA Public Information Officer Rossyveth Rey said the extended hours give people the opportunity to get help without disrupting their work schedules.
Although yesterday was the first day the DRC is open, FEMA staff have been on the ground locally for three days. The Disaster Survivor Assistance teams go door-to-door in the affected areas. Rey advised that around 80 people have already been contacted directly by the team.
FEMA assistance is delivered through three programs – one for property owners, one for renters and one for business owners. Rey explained that, while the programs are designed for those who still have work to do, if people have already completed repairs, FEMA can reimburse those expenses.
“If they come with the receipts, we will reimburse all the money,” she said. “People who have insurance, they don’t to wait for their insurance (claims to be approved); they can apply for FEMA and get the money without having to wait for that.”
“Even if you’ve already recovered at this point, if you were out any expenses directly related to that storm, there may be some program you would qualify for,” Kerr said. “They were talking this morning about, let’s say, that you had to purchase a chainsaw – you didn’t have one and had to go buy one to clean up your property – they may be able to reimburse you for that expense. That’s a small expense, I understand, but it’s still something you could get.”
Going to a DRC is not the only way people can register with FEMA and apply for benefits. Alternatively, they can visit the website disasterassistance.gov, call 800-621-3362 from 7 a.m. to midnight local time or use the FEMA mobile app.
Carolyn, left, helps Tracie with her computer settings. Both are FEMA employees working at the Calloway County DRC.
“The thing is that the app is for the phone-savvy,” Rey explained, “but we also have Disaster Recovery Centers because, in some disasters, you have people that have lost their computers, they don’t have Wi-Fi or there’s no (cell service) in the community.
“We have everything here – scanners, computers, Wi-Fi, everything they need to get the documents from, say, the IRS or getting their license – and we have people here to help them with that. We’re here to support them in the process.”
The first step is to register with FEMA. To do that, people need to provide contact information, including a good phone number; social security number; address where the damage occurred; bank account information, including the bank’s routing number, for direct deposit, if desired; and insurance policy information, if applicable.
“Once they get registered,” Rey said, “they are going to have a number – that’s the registration number – and they have to file under that. If they don’t hear anything from FEMA in two weeks, just call us back because maybe there is some problem with the (phone) number wall that we couldn’t get back to the survivor.”
In the wake of the devastating tornados that pummeled western Kentucky in December 2021, FEMA had trouble contacting survivors after they registered. The problem was so pervasive the state asked FEMA to extend their application deadline multiple times.
During a press briefing in February 2022, Gov. Andy Beshear begged people to pick up the phone. “We’ll spend all day calling the cell phones people left with FEMA and not enough of them are picking up,” he said.
According to Rey, FEMA has worked hard to enhance their assistance programs and rolled out a new model in March. This declaration is among the first using the revamped programs. Previously, it could take up to two months for people to receive funds, but now, they are receiving funds in five to 10 days.
“There’s a lot less documentation, so it’s faster now,” Rey said. “I was deployed to the tornados in Oklahoma before, and that was the first disaster with this new program. I saw people in five days, three days getting funds right away to their bank – three to five days from two months, that’s a lot of changes. I have seen the process, and it’s so much easier.”
When asked if the changes were related to problems Kentuckians had with FEMA after the tornados in western Kentucky in 2021 and the 2022 floods in eastern Kentucky, Rey quickly replied, “Yes.” She said that FEMA does case studies on their responses to learn from mistakes and also noted that, for an agency the size of FEMA, making sweeping program changes takes time.
“Now? It’s fantastic,” she added. “People’s responses are awesome.”
This notice is taped to the door of the DRC.
Representatives from the Small Business Administration (SBA) are also on site at the DRC. Angel Class, public affairs specialist for the Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience, explained that SBA teams work with FEMA anytime there is a presidential disaster declaration.
“FEMA is the ‘tip of the spear,’” he said. “So, they bring other agencies in when it comes to disaster declarations. We’re one of those agencies that work with individuals, but don’t let the ‘Small Business Administration’ fool you; we do assist homeowners and renters alike if they need the assistance.”
SBA offers three types of low-interest loans. Eligibility is largely based on the location of the home or business and the type of assistance needed. Those who suffered physical damage or loss and are located in a disaster declared county may be eligible for business physical disaster loans and home disaster loans.
Economic injury disaster loans (EIDL) are designed to help businesses and nonprofits continue normal operations and meet necessary financial obligations through the recovery period.
“You may have heard of that during COVID,” Class said. “That’s actually where the program comes from. It’s to keep your doors open, to pay your rent, your taxes, your employees. It’s to help the community survive and be active again. The problem with a lot of disasters is that a lot of businesses tend to close down. That’s why we’re here.”
To qualify, applicants must also be able to demonstrate that they have the means to pay back the loan and have acceptable credit history.
“You have to have credit acceptable for SBA, but we don’t look at what the private sector looks at,” Class advised. “So, it’s easier to qualify through SBA for these programs than to go to a bank.”
Interest rates on SBA loans are fixed, and terms can be extended to 30 years if necessary. The limits on home loans are $500,000 for structures and $100,000 for contents, and businesses may be eligible for up to $2 million. Class advised that turnaround time is around 10-12 days.
In addition to restoring the lost property, borrowers can access additional funds for improvements to mitigate damage in future disasters.
But the first step is to register with FEMA, and while some may be referred to SBA by FEMA, a referral is not required. Class noted that, like FEMA, SBA has been working to streamline its processes and reduce barriers that may stand in the way of people getting the assistance they need. He encouraged people to come directly to SBA after they’ve registered with FEMA and see if they can help.
“So, we’re trying to work with everybody as much as possible, whether you have the means or not; our restrictions are very low,” Class said. “SBA does work with banks in other programs that we have, but in this program in particular, we work directly with the federal government to help every survivor that needs that assistance. That’s what I mean when I say, ‘Don’t let the Small Business Administration name fool you’ – we’re here to assist everybody when it comes to a disaster.”
FEMA Public Information Officer Rossyveth Rey, right, and Angel Class, public affairs specialist for the Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience, pose with a DRC directional sign on Wednesday morning.
For information about SBA, call 800-659-2955 or visit sba.gov. The application deadline for business physical disaster loans and home disaster loans is Monday, Sept. 23. People have longer to apply for EIDL; that deadline is April 23, 2025.
As for FEMA, Rey said the agency does not have a deadline. “We are going to be here as long as the state or other counties need us.”
Scroll down for additional resources from FEMA and SBA.
PADUCAH – The Murray man accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail toward a crowd of Murray State University students assembled outside Sorority Row in September 2022 pleaded guilty last month to federal charges stemming from the incident.
Jack Epperson was indicted in United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in August 2023 on one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, which, by definition, includes “improvised incendiary bomb(s) or similar device(s).”
On July 15, Epperson signed a plea agreement, acknowledging that, on or around Sept. 10, 2022, he knowingly possessed an unregistered firearm, namely the Molotov cocktail. The document not only reveals new details about the case but also sheds light on the motivation behind the attack by noting Epperson was “upset” over “being denied the opportunity to speak to a former girlfriend.”
In signing the agreement, Epperson admitted to putting gasoline into a Starbucks bottle, inserting a wick and throwing it “towards a group of students gathered outside a university owned building.” The improvised explosive fell short of the crowd and burned out in the grass. Multiple witnesses observed Epperson commit various parts of the crime, according to the agreement.
As reported in the Murray Ledger & Times by this writer, Epperson’s car was parked in front of an apartment complex across the street from Sorority Row. Richard Parkhurst, a resident in the complex, told the Ledger that he saw Epperson pacing back and forth while staring at the young women congregating outside before a fraternity event.
Per Parkhurst’s account, Epperson retrieved something from the trunk of his car before going to sit in the passenger’s seat. He remained in the car for a few minutes before stepping out of his vehicle and igniting something in his hand, which caused a flash fire that temporarily engulfed his vehicle. Parkhurst said that the bottle appeared to slip in Epperson’s hands as he charged the crowd and threw the explosive.
The account is consistent with the plea agreement’s citation of evidence related to manufacturing the Molotov cocktail located in Epperson’s vehicle.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) conducted an investigation and determined that the Molotov cocktail Epperson made was both an “improvised incendiary device” and a “destructive device,” which are illegal to possess unless they are registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, the agreement states.
The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine (which is due and payable on the date of sentencing) and up to three years of supervised release. Pursuant to the agreement, the United States will recommend the lowest end of the applicable penalty ranges but not less than mandatory minimums; however, at the sentencing hearing, the court is not bound to the prosecution’s recommendations, and “defendant will have no right to withdraw his guilty plea if the Court decides not to accept the sentencing recommendation set forth in [the] Agreement.”
Epperson’s sentencing is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4, in Paducah, but he still faces charges of first-degree assault, second-degree wanton endangerment and possession of a destructive/booby trap device in Calloway Circuit Court.
Jack Epperson stands at the podium with attorney Jason Holland in Calloway Circuit Court Monday morning.
His circuit court case has largely been delayed until the federal charges are adjudicated. During a status hearing in the case on Monday, Epperson’s attorney, Jason Holland of Hopkinsville, updated the court on the advancements in the federal case, and a pre-trial conference was set at 8:30 a.m., on Monday, Nov. 16.
While Epperson has pleaded guilty to the federal charges, he is still presumed innocent regarding state charges until proven guilty.
MURRAY – While details are still sparse, more information was released today regarding the accidental death of an electrical contractor that occurred yesterday outside of Waterfield Library on the campus of Murray State University.
Calloway County Coroner Ricky Garland confirmed this afternoon that next-of-kin had been notified and identified the man as 49-year-old Jerry Humphrey of Caldwell County.
Humphrey was part of a crew from Groves Electrical Services, a company based in Madisonville, Kentucky. MSU Executive Director of Marketing and Communication Shawn Touney told The Sentinel this afternoon that the crew was doing work related to a water main break near Waterfield.
A Groves Electric Services bucket truck is parked between Waterfield Library and John W. Carr Hall. (Photo: Jessica Paine/The Murray Sentinel)
According to scanner traffic recordings provided to The Sentinel by murrayscanner.com, the call to first responders went out at 12:11 p.m. yesterday, with dispatchers advising that a man had been struck by high-voltage electricity and was not breathing.
At the time of the accident, Humphrey was working inside what appeared to be an industrial outdoor junction box (also known as a modular enclosure) located in the parking lot between John W. Carr Hall and the Waterfield Library, Garland advised, noting the pad-mounted metal unit was large enough that Humphrey could stand in it.
The accident occurred in the modular enclosure shown here. (Photo: Jessica Paine/The Murray Sentinel)
Per the murrayscanner.com recordings, first responders were not sure upon arrival if the power to the enclosure was disconnected. Units stood down for approximately 10 minutes until Murray Electric System arrived to cut all power sources, including any back-up generators. Garland arrived on scene around 1:30 p.m. and pronounced Humphrey deceased shortly thereafter.
Groves Electrical Services workers and first responders are shown here at the scene of the accident. (Photo: Jessica Paine/The Murray Sentinel)
Garland said that the cause of death appeared to be electrocution; however, an autopsy will be necessary to confirm that. The body was transported to Louisville today for the autopsy, but it will likely be a few weeks before the results are available.
Because it was a workplace accident, Garland advised he is confident that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will conduct an investigation but added that, as of this afternoon, the agency had not contacted him.
The university released a statement about the accident last night. “Earlier today, an electrical contractor performing work on our campus was involved in a tragic incident,” it read. “Our deepest condolences go out to the individual’s family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
As of this morning, Groves Electrical Services had no comment on the incident.
According to Humphrey’s obituary, he was born in Louisville to Jerry Lavon and Charlotte Stiles Humphrey in June 1975. It notes that he “enjoyed turkey and deer hunting with his mother, running any type of heavy equipment and spending time with his family.” Morgan’s Funeral Home in Princeton, Ky., is in charge of arrangements, but no services are planned at this time.
CORRECTION: This story was intially published with an incorrect headline. We apologize for any confusion.
MURRAY – Murray-Calloway County Hospital officially announces that president and CEO Jerry Penner, FACHE, is retiring in 2025 after 14 years of dedicated service. He will step down on March 31, 2025.
During his tenure at MCCH, Mr. Penner led many initiatives and successfully added new providers and innovative service lines, acquired new physician practices and led the construction and fundraising efforts of the Anna Mae Owen Residential Hospice House. He piloted the Hospital Incident Command System team through a once in a lifetime COVID-19 global pandemic all while establishing a new, highly successful Interventional Cardiology program that completed 300 procedures in 2020 and over 2,000 procedures to date. He spearheaded construction of the $15M Regional Cancer Center completed in August 2023 that has impacted so many people in Calloway and the surrounding counties.
Under Penner’s leadership, the hospital has set record numbers for organization-wide patient satisfaction (94), dramatically increased access to primary care and specialty services, and modernized equipment and facilities throughout the organization. Staff satisfaction hit its peak in 2024, climbing from the 29th to the 72nd percentile as the financial strength of the hospital tripled, raising days cash on hand from 67 to 200 days that further led to the highest historical bond rating of the hospital to BBB with a positive outlook.
Active with community and state organizations, Mr. Penner served with the Murray Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Angel’s Clinic Board, was a member and later president of the Murray State University Alumni Association and was trustee on the Kentucky Hospital Association Board closing out his tenure as Chair and Immediate Past Chair. On May 22, 2022, he was awarded the KHA Award of Excellence for his timely coordination and response to Mayfield’s hospital within minutes following the devastating December 2021 tornado. He has served his local fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, as advisor since 2012, and was selected as Pi Kappa Alpha International Advisor of the Year in 2016. For the past two years, he has served as a board member, Oaks Country Club, where he currently serves as President.
A 1978 graduate of North Hardin High School in Radcliff, he earned his bachelor’s degree in biology at Murray State University, a master’s in healthcare administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas and an M.S. in strategic studies, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Penner previously served as the CEO of the U.S. Army’s Madigan Healthcare System in Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. Penner retired from the United States Army as a colonel after 29 years of service. He now has 45 years in professional healthcare and has served as the MCCH CEO since April 1, 2011.
“MCCH has had a great run…I am profoundly grateful that Board Chair, Sandra Parks, and the 2011 hospital board took a chance on me to lead Murray-Calloway County Hospital as we built something that is truly special. Ultimately, it has been the MCCH family that helped us accomplish so many incredible goals — they are the best and I could not have asked for a better team of healthcare professionals. From housekeepers to doctors and nurses and everyone in between, their success is my success. I’m humbled to have served them,” said Jerry Penner. “The time has come for me to retire and make way for new leadership, but I am confident the values and work of MCCH will continue on.”
To find the next president and CEO to carry this important work forward, Amy Futrell, Board Member will chair the search committee. The organization has begun the official search to seek qualified candidates and will be accepting applications until August 31, 2024.
“We would like to thank Jerry for his many years of excellent leadership and service to our hospital,” said Steve Owens, Board Chair. “And we look forward to finding the next visionary leader who will build on our mission to serve the needs of our communities and the patients we serve.”
Murray-Calloway County Hospital is a 152-licensed bed medical center located at 803 Poplar Street in Murray, Kentucky. The hospital has been serving the medical and health care needs of the Western Kentucky area for over 100 years. Murray Hospital specializes in such major areas as women’s services, surgery, cancer, orthopedics, neurology, psychiatric services, emergency services and more. Murray-Calloway County Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the nation’s oldest and largest hospital accreditation agency.
MURRAY – Fourteen years ago, if anyone had told Brenda Benson she would be making speeches, traveling to Frankfort to talk with legislators, or facilitating meetings of individuals and families affected by mental illness, she would have said, “No way!”
Her family’s experiences, however, motivated her and her husband to get active in NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization, NAMI began in 1979 as a small group of families gathered around a kitchen table. Since then, it has become the nation’s leading voice on mental health, dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
Before NAMI, Benson and her husband struggled with the challenges of parenting an adult child diagnosed with a mental illness.
“We were trying to figure out what was going on. We had a diagnosis but no background in mental illness,” she said. “We were trying to learn what to do.”
When they joined the Paducah affiliate in 2009, they began to learn how to navigate the unknown, gaining valuable insights to guide their decision-making and improve their ability as parents in support of their son. NAMI’s Family to Family class provided strong support. Participants were trained by previously-trained families to learn how the brain works, what distinguishes one mental illness from another, the impact of medication, etc.
There was a lot to be learned.
“Mental disorders are a disease of the brain,” Benson explained. “And, like many other organs in the body, (the brain) can become ill. Neither the person or the families involved are at fault. It’s not a sign of weakness.”
Today, Murray is one of more than 600 local NAMI affiliates working to raise awareness and provide support and education for those in need. As steering committee chair, a volunteer position, Benson – for the past 14 years – has organized and conducted monthly meetings of the local family support group. The sessions are free, confidential and safe, with families helping other families helping each other.
“What is said here, stays here,” is a NAMI value.
In addition to leading the family group, Benson also volunteered on the state advocacy committee, which entails communicating with elected and appointed officials regarding mental health issues.
“I didn’t realize how broken the system was,” she admitted. “I started going to Frankfort. I had to take the lead. I guess if you’re passionate, it helps to step up.”
Now retired from her paying job, Benson and her husband look forward to traveling, visiting old friends and spending more time with their grandchild. As she transitions away from her NAMI responsibilities, she is seeking a volunteer to take the reins of the Murray group.
Citing the benefits of leadership, Benson shared her own takeaways.
“I’ve become a better parent,” she remarked. “I learned from others in the group about what has helped and what has not. We’ve become a family. We know each other’s stories. We can support each other.”
No matter what, her connection to mental health issues and activism will endure. “The NAMI group becomes a family itself. You become very close. The message family members seek is not complicated,” she said. “They need to be heard (and know) that they are not alone.”
Always dedicated to helping others, Benson ended the interview by naming two books that have increased her knowledge and understanding of mental illness. They are: “I’m not sick, I don’t need your help,” by Xavier Amador, and “Insane Consequences,” by D.J. Jaffee.
Both authors have lived experience with a family member with a mental illness, and both books are available through Amazon.com.
The next NAMI meeting is Thursday, August 15, 6:30 p.m. The group meets at the Murray-Calloway Hospital Wellness Center. For more information, contact Benson at 270-748-6133 or email brenda.benson@murraystate.edu.
Recipient of a Governor’s Award in the Arts, Constance Alexander has won numerous grants, awards and residencies for her poetry, plays, prose and civic journalism projects. She also serves on The Sentinel’s Board of Directors. Contact her at constancealexander@twc.com.
MURRAY – Residents on the south side of Murray will soon be able to take solace in knowing that, when severe weather is imminent, they will hear the warning call as the City of Murray began installing a new storm siren on Glendale Road last week.
Crews from Murray Electric System and Swift Roofing assembled in the Village Medical parking lot on Tuesday to take down the old eight-speaker system and install the new one, which features a single rotating speaker.
The Murray Police Department oversees the city’s storm sirens as a matter of public safety. Their dispatch unit transmits the signals that activate the sirens. As such, ensuring the proper functioning of the city’s storm sirens falls to Police Chief Sam Bierds, who said that installing the speaker is only the first step. The control units still must be configured before the siren is operational, which he expects to be done either this week or next.
Murray Police Chief Sam Bierds, in black, talks to part of the crew tasked with installing the new storm siren. (JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel)
“This is the biggest part; (it) requires the most coordination because we had to get a crane and get a bucket truck to get that thing up there,” Bierds said of the installation, and he thanked Swift Roofing owner Robert Swift for donating use of the crane and Murray Electric System for providing the bucket truck and linemen needed for the installation.
“It just makes everything go a whole lot smoother and saves money – I looked into what it would cost to rent a boom (lift), and it ‘ain’t’ cheap,” he said.
Crews remove the old Glendale Road siren before installing the new one. (JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel)
“At this point, I’m ready to have it operational,” Bierds added, “but I’m just glad we’re actually at this stage of it. It took so long just to get here – to get it built, to get it sent to us and coordinating putting it up. So, fingers crossed, that we won’t have anything bad coming (before the control units are installed).”
The City of Murray owns four storm sirens located within the city limits – one on the south end of Doran Road; one in the Village Medical parking lot on Glendale Road; one near the entrance of Riviera Courts, a mobile home park on U.S. 641 N; and one at the Murray-Calloway EMS building (formerly Fire Station 1) downtown, which is the only one of the city’s sirens that is activated manually.
Murray State University owns the sirens located on its properties, including the main campus and one by the Cherry Expo Center. The City of Hazel also owns two storm sirens. Despite Calloway County Emergency Management’s role in coordinating quarterly tests, the county does not actually own any storm sirens.
Two linesmen with Murray Electric System place the new siren speaker on its post. (JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel)
Quarterly siren tests are conducted for a reason – to detect and fix malfunctions before the next severe weather event – so a siren having the occasional problem is to be expected. But problems with the Glendale siren have become increasingly frequent for more than a decade, and it is not the only storm siren in town that has had issues. In recent years, the Riveria Courts siren has followed suit.
Problems with the Glendale siren go back at least 12 years. “In the city of Murray, period, we’ve got a problem,” former Calloway County Emergency Management Director Bill Call told the Murray Ledger & Times in March 2013. “The one (off Glendale) has not sounded for the last several tests and that’s a concern.”
In March 2024, The Sentinel reported that the Glendale and Riviera Courts sirens failed to sound during quarterly tests in December and March. At that time, Bierds explained that the Glendale siren had blown a fuse – a longstanding problem for that siren, specifically – while the Riviera Courts siren had issue with the radio.
“Those two sirens are relatively old,” Bierds said in March. “For whatever reason, we’ve been trying to piecemeal it together for, I guess, quite some time. When the repairman came down (after the December failure), he (said it) needs to be replaced.”
“We can repair it, and maybe they can last a few weeks, a few months, but they don’t make it to the next quarterly test,” he added. “We don’t know when they’re going down unless we’re going out there every day and testing them, and I think the citizens would be a little upset if I set the sirens off every day.”
The storm siren outside of Riviera Courts has failed every quarterly test since December. (JESSICA PAINE/The Murray Sentinel)
As of last week, the Riviera Courts siren is still not functioning properly. “Riviera, we’re still chasing down problems,” Bierds said. “It’s like, ‘Is it this one? No.’ So then we go to the next one. ‘Is it this one? No.’ Eventually we’ll either find the problem or say, ‘No, it’s the entire system. We need to replace it.’”
Read all of The Sentinel’s coverage of this issue:
MURRAY – In a 3:2 vote, the Calloway County Fiscal Court passed a resolution Wednesday authorizing a ballot initiative that will let voters make the call on whether medical cannabis businesses, which include cultivators, producers, processors, dispensaries and safety compliance facilities, will be prohibited from operating in the county.
Starting Jan. 1, patients who meet specific guidelines will be able to possess and use cannabis (also called marijuana) for medicinal purposes legally throughout the commonwealth.
The law specifies that products sold in dispensaries must also be grown and processed in Kentucky. In order to have stocked shelves on day one, cultivators and processors need to be in production well in advance of the end of the year.
But first, prospective medical cannabis business (MCB) owners must apply for a license – that portal opened July 1 and closes Aug. 31. Among other requirements, applicants must specify where they intend to base their business operations and pay a non-refundable application fee, which can range from $3,000 to $20,000, depending on the business category.
In October, the state will hold a lottery to determine who among the applicants will get a license. The date of the lottery has yet to be determined, but regardless of when it happens, licensees have 15 days to pay the initial licensing fee – those fees range from $12,000 to $50,000. Should the lottery take place prior to Oct. 21, licensees would have to pay the fee before election day.
While local governments cannot impose restrictions on possession or use of MC within their borders, they do have a few options for if and how MCBs can operate in their jurisdictions.
Under KRS 218B.130, local governments are allowed to determine the place, time and manner in which MCBs operate within their boundaries, provided they are not less restrictive than state law. They can also establish and collect “reasonable local fees for local administration.” Enacting ordinances that impose an undue burden on MCBs is forbidden.
City and county governments may also “opt-out” by passing an ordinance that prohibits MCBs. As of yesterday, 11 out of the 120 counties in the commonwealth have passed ordinances prohibiting them in addition to 14 cities.
Benton and Mayfield are among another 14 cities statewide – and the only ones in the Purchase Area – that have notified the Office of Medical Cannabis (OMC) they plan to “opt-in” and allow MCBs to operate within city limits. Only three counties have notified OMC.
If a local government passes an ordinance prohibiting MCBs, the law authorizes citizens to use the petition process to have the issue added to the ballot in the next general election. If it passes, that would overrule a prohibition ordinance. If it fails, it cannot be put on the ballot again for three years.
But local governments are also free to preempt such actions by passing a resolution to put it on the ballot. The Murray City Council authorized such a referendum in May.
As of yesterday, voters in Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle and Hickman counties and the City of Murray will be weighing in on the issue, joining voters in 25 other counties and 20 cities across the state, according to the OMC website. The filing deadline is Aug. 13.
“This is the last month we can vote on this – whether we give our citizens the choice to vote or we just allow it to pass into Kentucky law,” District 3 Magistrate Don Cherry said after he brought the resolution for consideration at yesterday’s meeting.
Before voting on the resolution, the court approved an amendment specifying the verbiage of the ballot question. Then, by roll-call vote, District 1 Magistrate Ricky Stewart, District 2 Magistrate Larry Crutcher and Cherry voted in favor of the resolution, although Crutcher noticeably hesitated before saying, “Aye.” Judge-Executive Kenny Imes and District 4 Magistrate Paul Rister voted against it.
Imes said in an email today that he is disappointed in the outcome, but at the same time, he fully appreciates the opportunity to have citizen input on county policy. “However, it will be too late, in November, to matter much after that,” he added, referring to the timing of the license lottery in October.
Asked why he voted against the resolution, Imes said, “We should welcome any reasonable opportunity to enhance growth, provide job opportunities and growth of (the) tax base in our community,” adding that the delay is “extremely limiting (to) our desire for greater economic development opportunities and services for and in Calloway County and for those who would invest in our community.”
On the subject of his “no” vote, Rister said that he was still “on the fence” about putting it on the ballot or allowing the law to take effect unencumbered up until the meeting, with his main concern being that some voters might allow stigmas around marijuana to sway their vote.
“Let me be very upfront on this,” Rister wrote in an email today. “I have never used any type of marijuana and stand firm on helping those with addictions. If medical cannabis was a hope for a sick loved one, I would support them on their use, but not abuse.
“I definitely would agree that it should be on the ballot, had we been talking about recreational. But it’s medical. I talked to some people that admitted they would never use medical cannabis or support its use… But one spoke of her grandmother who had cancer, another man spoke of his family member that had epilepsy, another with a friend that had cancer. Their stories were all the same. When other medicines seem to be failing, or they take one medicine, but have to take six more drugs to offset the side effects of the primary drug…. Medical cannabis as gummies and oils worked for them.”
In total, Rister said he spoke to at least two dozen people about the pros and cons of medical cannabis.
“One person I spoke with heads up a local drug rehab center in our community,” he wrote. “Though he fights to help people get off drugs, he indicated if people could use medical cannabis rather than opioids, they would be better off. One pointed out that I was not a doctor, so why should I even have a say so; it’s now legal statewide, who am I to say what is medically needed for someone or limit their ability to get it? Others discussed possible revenue and jobs for our community.”
He acknowledged that, based on what has happened in other states, it is possible that legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes gets “a foot in the door” for legalizing recreational use. “But if they can drive 50 minutes to (Illinois) and get it, or eventually the next county over, then have we really stopped the use in our community?”
“I feel like I did my due diligence to be educated on it, gather different opinions, but ultimately prayed about it several times, that I could come to a response for Don (Cherry’s) resolution, that I could be comfortable with,” Rister wrote, adding later that he spoke to Cherry this morning. “I told him I was perfectly fine with how the vote came out. Being on the ballot, I am good with.”
Between now and the election, he hopes voters will take some time to educate themselves about medical cannabis as well as what is and is not allowable under the new law.
MURRAY – After more than a year of speculation and gossip (as evidenced by too many public Facebook posts to cite) around the county’s plans for a 20-acre parcel of land north of town, District 3 Magistrate Don Cherry presented a draft resolution at the Calloway County Fiscal Court work session this morning that vows transparency regarding all matters related to the property moving forward.
Cherry discussed two resolutions, both of which he plans to present to the fiscal court at its monthly meeting Wednesday – one calling for a ballot initiative related to medical cannabis businesses, the other concerning the land at the intersection of U.S. 641 and KY 80, which the county bought incrementally in 2022 and 2023 with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
“We’ve all been fielding a lot of questions about our land out there on (U.S.) 641,” Cherry said this morning. He noted that his intent in drafting the resolution was “to make the public aware of what vision the judge has had with the ARPA money and the land purchase and how that has and will benefit the county in the future.”
“I hope it gives the public some information about what’s gone on out there,” he continued. “The last part of the resolution is we become totally transparent on this land. … If there’s anything else we need to do with this land – and there may be – then we bring it before the court; we discuss it; and we vote on it.”
“In accordance with Fiscal Court’s ongoing commitment to complete transparency to the citizens of this County,” the resolution declares, “no future action will be taken by or on behalf of Calloway County by any officer or employee thereof with regard to this property, including, but not limited to, construction, development, expenditures, encumbrances, collateralization, bonding, leasing or selling this property without the prior approval of the Fiscal Court occurring by vote at an open meeting in order that the citizens of this County may be sufficiently aware of any such actions concerning this valuable investment in our future.”
The document’s preamble memorializes an “ARPA brainstorm session” held by Calloway County Judge-Executive Kenny Imes in March 2022, which included nine county residents with expertise in the areas of commerce, realty and banking as well as representatives from local schools and West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (WKRECC).
The group focused on how to best allocate more than $7.5 million in ARPA funds, focusing on three categories – roads and bridges, county infrastructure and economic development.
The county purchased the land approximately four miles north of town in four separate transactions, bearing a total price tag of over $1.3 million. The county began excavating work on the land in January 2023, and those improvements, according to the resolution, have increased the potential of that property.
“The best future use of this land is yet to be determined, though Fiscal Court believes options will arise for its use that will benefit all residents for generations to come,” the resolution states.
The resolution declares the property is owned “free and clear” by the county and was paid for without tax revenue.
“The Calloway County Fiscal Court celebrates this wise investment for the County, and further acknowledges that the land has been adequately cleaned up and leveled to make it ready for a multitude of potential future uses.”
District Four Magistrate Paul Rister voiced support of the resolution, acknowledging that many county residents have asked him about the property and what the county plans to do with it.
“I think it’s a good time to let the people know we bought this piece of property as an investment without tax dollars, local tax dollars,” Rister said. “Although our plan for the future is not clear – we have some ideas, and it’s potentially there for economic development – we’re going to be transparent about anything else that goes on there.”
The fiscal court took no action on either of Cherry’s resolutions today. They will be presented and considered during the fiscal court’s regular meeting on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Robert O. Miller Courthouse Annex.
