Northern Kentucky never fails to produce interesting stories.
Sometimes they are controversial or funny, and sometimes they are very uniquely Covington and NKY. The River City News celebrated its fifth year of telling such tales.
2016 produced its share of hits, too. Here are the 18 weirdest, most controversial and funniest stories published by The River City News in the past year as hastily and arbitrarily selected by the editor:
18. COVINGTON “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING”
Justin Timberlake’s infectious feel-good mega-hit “Can’t Stop the Feeling” inspired an equally joyous video showcasing Covington people dancing to the jam.
Left Bank Coffeehouse’s Maggie Soard put the video together in July.
17. WEIRD CRIME STORIES IN 2016
Stories about crime in our community are always among the most read stories at RCN. 2016 gave us more than a few weird ones!
There were 73 pounds of pot seized from a Covington home, an alleged Boone County crime syndicate run by teenagers, and a Florence massage parlor shut down for reasons you can probably guess.
Oh, and that guy who pitched a fit at the Ft. Wright Walmart!
The guy was an employee.
Oh, and what about that scary, caught-on-camera armed robbery at a Ft. Mitchell gas station? The high-speed chase where the suspect said he was too high and scared to stop? That time some Covington construction workers captured a suspected robber?
And who could forget about the Ludlow man who peed on a plane en route to Charlotte?
A couple more: the destruction of 17 new trees in Covington’s Westside, and that time a TV interview led to the arrest of a suspected bank robber.
16. SEEING NKY FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
This was a pretty cool image that NASA released in May.
15. LIGHTS, CAMERA, COVINGTON!
Covington played the Hollywood scene a few times this year.
Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman were in town shooting a movie and the cast and crew spent a day at Covington Landing shooting a scene. Plus, two restaurants in the city got attention from national TV shows. Bard’s Burgers in Latonia got a visit from Food Network’s Ginormous Food and Keystone Bar & Grill hosted Travel Channel’s Food Paradise.
The set of The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a film starring Collin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, at Covington Landing (RCN file)
14. ANOTHER JAM-PACKED CAMPOUT AT A NEW CHICK-FIL-A
People love this chicken. They did it when the one in Newport opened, and this year they camped out again to get their hands on the freshest Chick-fil-A, in Ft. Wright.
13. CITY COMMISSIONER COMPARES MAYOR TO A BAG LADY
A sexist insult from Covington City Commissioner – well, you know which one.
“Sherry does dress like a bag lady. It’s an embarrassment,” wrote Steve Frank of Covington Mayor Sherry Carran. The statement was made on a post in which Frank also said that Hillary Clinton “could use some work”.
12. RV VIDEO SERIES RILES NEIGHBORS IN EDGEWOOD
Edgewood is one of Northern Kentucky’s most affluent cities, but even it is not immune to controversy related to vehicles on the lawn.
In this case, neighbors were fired up over the presence of recreational vehicles in one man’s yard. “I feel like I am being watched all the time. I can’t deal with it and work productively,” said Alex Schultz, an Edgewood resident who produces how-to videos about RV repairs.
City council ultimately decided to adopt an ordinace that specifies only one RV at a time is permitted to be on a single property in Edgewood.
11. 3 NKY CITIES AMONG STATE’S “MOST BORING”
Yawn…
One of those websites that specializes in cheap lists to cheer us up or fire us up about our hometowns was at it again.
Road Snacks concluded that Edgewood was the most boring city in Kentucky (not sure if that was related to the RV decision…) and that Cold Spring was #2. Villa Hills came in at #5.
10. ZIKA SPRAYING IN ALEXANDRIA FREAKS EVERYONE OUT
In 2016, everyone had Zika fever because of a steady stream of news about it.
But on occasion, some in Northern Kentucky had the actual symptoms related to Zika and one case resulted in a very public argument between city officials in Alexandria, the Northern Kentucky Health Department, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. When a person came down with the symptoms, a decision was made to spray against mosquitoes near the person’s home – but the police department took to Facebook to argue that no one told neighbors or city leaders what was happening.
“They can and did spray without notification,” the police department posted on Facebook. “We feel you should have been notified, so you could keep your doors and windows closed overnight.”
9. NO, BLAKE SHELTON DID NOT SAY COVINGTON HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRLS
While Covington has its share of beautiful women, country music star and The Voice judge Blake Shelton had nothing to say about it, in spite of a viral post on Facebook.
The post that was shared thousands of time went something like this:
“I knew a girl from Covington, Kentucky and I visited her and her family there years ago and I thought at the time that maybe she was just an exception but she wasn’t. And I’m not saying that the women there are necessarily more physically beautiful than other women in other places but, from my experience in Covington, the women there have the entire package, ya know? They’re not only beautiful on the outside but on the inside as well. The girl I knew from Covington was sweet, caring, and beautiful all-around and I found that to be the case for a lot of women there.”
Trouble is, you could take out Covington, Kentucky and put just about any other city in its place, and find a similar post being shared in other parts of the country.
The post did remind us of the amazing sign from The Pad, a former strip club in Covington that promised to have Kentucky’s Most Beautiful Girls.
8. WILD TURKEY FLIES THROUGH NEWPORT MAN’S BEDROOM WINDOW
A guy in Newport was able to give thanks this year that he woke up just in time to be out of his bed when an animal from the outside decided it would have its final sleep there.
A wild turkey flew through the bedroom window of Joey Klare’s home and died on his pillow.
Though tragic for the turkey and its family, Klare’s friends and neighbors had a good laugh at his expense by establishing a small memorial outside the home, complete with balloons, mourning candles, and a box of stuffing.
7. CAR FALLS FROM INDEPENDENCE BRIDGE, CAUSES ONLY MINOR INJURIES
Last April, a car full of young people was traveling too fast on Green Road when it lost control and plunged from a bridge into Cruises Creek below.
Though the car landed on its top, only minor injuries were received by the passengers.
6. TO “B” OR NOT TO B IN BELLEVUE
This was a mess all around…
Bellevue Renaissance re-branded in 2015 and launched its “B In Vue” campaign, but the new logo associated with the effort angered some residents and city leaders who argued that it did not fit the city well.
One display in particular was very controversial because the “B” mural on the 5/3 Bank branch on Fairfield Avenue did not receive the appropriate permission from the city building. That put the city’s zoning administrator at odds with the assistant city manager/Renaissance director, and the board of adjustment ultimately ruled that it needed to be removed.
Not long after the ruling, the B was painted over and now a big brown square is what drivers see.
5. BUGS, ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS DOOM 50-YEAR OLD BAKERY
Bernhard’s Bakery abruptly closed its remaining locations in Newport and Latonia, and while the owner said the government was being too hard on him, a damning report from the Northern Kentucky Health Department detailed the bakery’s roach problem, while a City of Newport report condemned the building as being unsafe for human occupancy.
Though the story was reported by The River City News in December, it was one of the most read reports of 2016.
4. MUSLIM GROCER SAYS CRITICISM FROM ERLANGER NEIGHBORS MOTIVATED BY ANTI-ISLAM SENTIMENT
Neighbors of a newer grocery store in Erlanger flooded a city council meeting to urge city leaders to do something about what they believed to be an unsanitary situation. Animals were slaughtered on site, and the smell was terrible, they argued.
But Dixie Meats owner Mohamed Ahmed said that he knew why they were angry: because he is Muslim. “The issue is, I am Muslim and I put my sign up with Arabic on it,” he said.
3. “CHRISTIAN, FAR-RIGHT” CANDIDATE FOR COVINGTON CITY COMMISSION
It was the podcast heard ’round the world.
Or, at least around Northern Kentucky.
When Clayton Shull first spoke at City Hall and showed off his vehicle with campaign placards that identified himself as a “Christian, far-right” candidate for Covington city commission, the response to his positions was swift and critical.
But Shull wanted to get his message out even more, so he reached out to The River City News and we invited him to be a guest on our podcast.
The result was a radio show that showed Shull to be wholly ignorant of issues facing Covington. He didn’t know where South Covington was, neither could he identify the location of any of the city’s pools.
He finished in last place in the May primary and was eliminated from the field, but his views continue to be lampooned at a parody Twitter account.
You can listen to the train wreck/podcast here:
2. TRUMP SUPPORTERS BRING GUNS TO LIBRARY, SIT IN ANTI-BIGOTRY MARCH PLANNING MEETING
When some local activists decided that they would organize an “anti-bigotry” march in Covington, the response was as deeply divided as the national conversation about President-elect Donald Trump and the so-called “alt right” ideology.
Though the march itself would go on without a hitch, gathering a couple hundred people to walk through the streets of downtown Covington, the meeting held prior to make signs was met with presence of two armed Trump supporters.
The Trump supporters showed off their guns and watched the meeting.
1. ‘SCAPE GOATS: COVINGTON’S GOEBEL GOATS BECOME INTERNATIONAL SENSATION
It was easy to pick our top “weird” story from 2016.
On Derby Day, Louisville was preparing for its day in the international spotlight with its annual running of celebrated horses. But Covington stole the bigger city’s thunder with the first annual Running of the Goats.
The plan was to host a small parade of the seven goats who were returning for their second summer at Goebel Park, where they eat hillside grass and invasive weeds. The response to the event was massive and thousands of people showed up to watch the parade from the foot of the Roebling Suspension Bridge to the park in Mainstrasse Village.
But just as soon as it started, the parade was over.
And the chase was on.
Most of the goats got loose at the start of the parade and escaped along the flood wall all the way to Devou Park. The chase gave RCN the opportunity to try Facebook Live for the first time and publisher Michael Monks, who was to broadcast the parade, followed the pursuit for 75 riveting minutes as a community of commenters followed every move.
Watch the chase here:
The story was picked up by news outlets across the world and multiple videos of it went viral, but nothing was more special about it for us than the opportunity to share minute-by-minute a truly Covington situation.
The famed goats will return to Goebel Park this summer, too… but whether there will be a parade again has yet to be determined. Fingers crossed!
HAPPY NEW YEARS! WE HOPE THAT 2017 IS TOTALLY AWESOME FOR YOU!