Music I'm running out of self-control Getting close to an overload Up against the nowhere situation Showing me so Look for something I'm hanging out My box tonight I'm waiting for a Long, long, long Yeah Be good to Listen to yourself When nobody Knows you So well Oh, be good to Your soul You're walking on fire Running on the first time Oh, we're good to your side We can't give no more We're one and all, but you gotta say no I'm turning off the noise, it makes me crazy Looking back with no regrets Two more days, two more days I want to live a piece of my control Be good to yourself Nobody else will Be good to yourself You won't go on your end of fire God and I'm lost now Are we good to yourself? Are we good to yourself? Nobody else knows Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Outro Music Thank you. Board of Adjustments meeting. I think I read every month this notice. Due to the COVID-19 state of emergency, this meeting is being held in a live video teleconference pursuant to 2020 Senate Bill 150 in accordance with KRS 61.826. I want to make an announcement to those who are watching on television, the TV cast is going to break away at 1.45 for the governor's news conference, which I think is going to be in the mayor's office. Is that right? Yes. For those of you who are on Zoom, you will not notice any kind of interruption whatsoever. But for those of you watching it on TV, at home or wherever, the TV folks will, LexTV will break away to cover the governor's news conference, and then we'll come back. For those of you who watch this delayed telecast on Saturday at one o'clock or something like that on the government channel, you'll be able to see our hearing in total without any kind of interruption, just like those of you who are on the zoom call today so the only change will be for those who are watching it watching it on tv at home and are not on the zoom call so with that said looks like we've got a full board of adjustment uh in attendance and what i want to do at first is swear the witnesses who were who intend or plan to testify at the hearing today. So I don't know the number of people, but I see a list of them there. So all of you who are on the web today watching this by Zoom and intend to testify today at today's hearing, please raise your right And do you Solomon swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and have it by the truth? Thank you very much. Our first item of business is the approval of the minutes for the May 10th meeting. And did you all get those minutes? I can't remember if I did or not. No. Did not? Okay. It seemed like I never know whether I have seen them or not, but I don't have a copy with me, so apparently we didn't get them. So we will go on to sound the agenda. What that means is we will call each case as it appears on my docket here. if we, first of all, to make sure that the applicant is present or represented and or represented, and secondly, to determine if there are any members of the audience who wish to speak either for or against the application. If there are no, if there's nobody who wishes to speak against the application, you will go on our abbreviated docket and we'll hear you first. if we have items on the docket applications for which there are people in opposition, because that will take some time. We'll hear you at the end of the docket. We don't have an extensive docket today, so hopefully this won't take too long. And the first one is PLNBOA 21 days, 21 Homestead Development. Is the applicant present? Yes, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Woodall, thank you very much. Is there anyone who in the Zoom audience who wishes to speak for or against, I'm sorry, who wishes to speak against this application? If so, please digitally raise your hand and we'll see if there are any. I don't see any. Okay. John, stand by. You will probably be first on the docket. The next item on the agenda is PLNBOA 21-22 Ball Homes, LLC. Is the applicant or representative present? Yes, sir, I am. And we would like to request an additional one-month postponement. We were late in getting our kind of revised site plan over the planning staff. So we think that if we could, you know, now that they have it, if we could sit down with them over the next month, hopefully we'll be able to have an approval recommendation for you all next month. Okay. That's a procedural matter we can check up right now. Ball Holmes requests a, you said, 30-day postponement? 30 days post-ponement. What's the pleasure of the board? Unless the staff has an issue with it. Staff, are you okay with the one month? We are. Okay. In that case, I'll move if no one else has a comment. All right. So moved. Second. Meeting date is July 12th. And the meeting date is July 12th. And I see, I was looking at stuff. Mr. Gross made the motion. If we have a second, who seconded it? Ms. Carter seconded. All in favor, raise your hand. Matter is postponed 30 days. See you back in July. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right, let's see. Next matter on the agenda is PLN VOA 21-28. Anthony and Denise Patrick are the applicants present. Thank you. Did we get a response? Mr. DeWitt? Hey, sorry. Trying to get logged on there. Mr. DeWitt, you were driving a while ago. It looks like you're walking now. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. At least I got stopped. Okay. Are you the applicant or representing the applicant in this matter? Yes. Yep. one or the other? Which one are you? I'm the applicant. I'm representing the applicant. I'm the contractor that's going to be doing the work on their home. Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who, on Zoom call who wishes to speak in opposition to this application? If so, please digitally raise your hand. I see none. so Mr. DeWitt you on behalf of the Patrick's will be second on the docket please stand by we'll get back to you quickly as we can thank you the next matter is PLNBOA 21-29 Randy and Linda Dietrich Dietrich are the applicants present if so digitally raise your hand so we can recognize you I don't see any hands raised yet. I believe Mr. John Penn is representing the applicant on this one. I didn't understand that. Mr. Johnson, who's present for the meeting. Yes, I'm here. Okay. Can you show your video, Mr. Penn? I would love to. How's that? Well, we see a white screen. That's unusual. we typically either see nothing or somebody's face uh well we'll come back to that if that's a if that's a technical problem uh hopefully you you can get that straightened out before we get to you but uh is there anybody in the uh zoom audience who wishes to speak in opposition to this application 21-20ner please if so please digitally raise your hand i don't see any okay mr pen stand by and we will come back to you you'll be third on our docket the next matter is plnboa 21-25 duncan there's duncan applicant duncan present or represented by council in the Zoom audience? If so, digitally raise your hand so we can identify you. I don't see any hands raised. Autumn, was there someone specific you were expecting for that particular application? I'm not sure who was supposed to be representing them today. They had indicated that they did want to postpone, but they were supposed to be here today to request that postponement. okay well we may or may not postpone it if there's nobody here well we don't know um actually i'm in favor of postponing this one myself so we'll take that uh the next item of oh i'm sorry is there anyone in the zoom audience who wishes to speak in opposition to this application? Duncan 21-25. If so, please raise your hand digitally. Mr. Penn, you can turn off your camera. We'll get back to you. You're about third on the docket. Yeah. I don't see any hands digitally raised with respect to the Duncan application. So So we'll move on to the next and last one. Administrative appeal, PLNBOA 21-20 Rodale Properties, LLC. Is the applicant present in the audience? I believe the applicant is present in the audience, and I'm representing the applicant as well. Okay. Is there anybody in the Zoom audience who wishes to speak in opposition to this application? If so, please digitally raise your hand. I think I thought I saw. I just moved them in. Rob Wallen. Okay. Did I see one? Yes. Mr. Rob Wallen. Okay. He is with the applicant or is the applicant. Okay. All right. I didn't say any, but this one will be last in the docket in any event. So that concludes the call of the initial sounding of the agenda. We will now take up the first application, which is PLNBOA 21-21 Homestead Development, Mr. Woodall. Thank you. This is one of those afternoons where we can be so proud of one of our own, who is an inspiration and lifts us all up through his talent, through his personality. I got to meet Milo again just a few minutes ago. We had met each other several years ago in Moorhead. And let's all start by saying what we want to. Milo, congratulations. Milo is an inspiration not just for bringing honor to Kentucky, but what he was able to do through his art. Milo has taken one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, losing his dad at just 13 years old. And he has turned his pain into hope and inspiration for people around the world. It'll be on a platform where everybody around the world gets to see it. It takes a really special, powerful, strong individual to be able to do that. Everyone on Team Kentucky has been rooting for Milo throughout this competition, and we are so proud, not only that he's the winner, but it's that he turned out such an inspirational piece that speaks to all of us, and now it gets to be on a global platform. Even more important, it honors his dad's memory. He gets to be in this very special place while recognizing a very special person. Milo, thank you for pouring into our young people so much that you do, from your artwork to in a minute I want to talk about your charity. And I know that they, those individuals that you've been helping, are proud of you today, your family, your friends, your teachers, your school leaders, everybody is here because of how excited we are about this young but very tall man's work. You know, sometimes our young people, when they are willing to have the courage to do what Milo did, Sometimes they participate and they lose, but they win for being a part of it. And sometimes they win big, no matter what. Being here to support them and help them through the process is so important. And that's what Milo has been doing for so many. My administration has always put education first because of its life-changing ability. When you are the first, the second, or even the third in your family to graduate from high school, from college, from a trade school, you pick. It changes not only your life, but every generation's to come. It's how we end poverty. It's how we become better people. It's how we move forward to who we're supposed to be and not just who we are right now. And that's why here at the end of this month and then for each of the next months, we're gonna be giving out 15 full scholarships to Kentucky students who get their COVID-19 vaccines. You can learn more and sign up for the drawings at shotamillion.ky.gov. Milo, I hope you'll sign up for that drawing too. But you've already gotten a pretty good start on your education because of your accomplishment today. Google, thank you for investing $30,000 in Milo's education. And to Google, thank you for donating $50,000 in a technology package to his school. And just like Milo, this win today is truly selfless in that his classmates are winning too with that package and what it's going to mean for them. Helping other kids and teenagers like him isn't anything new to Milo though. It's what he's already been doing through his non-profit, now help me, the Sanguine? Sanguine. Sanguine Path. See, he even pronounces words better than I do. The organization's mission is to bring love and hope to children 18 and under affected by challenging experiences through the provision of resources such as care packages and back to school kits. He wants to keep helping people in the future as a cardiologist. I thank Milo today for reminding us what values truly are. Reminding us that they are not any position on political issues, but things like generosity, kindness, and love that he is showing through his art and through his nonprofit. As COVID-19, as our crisis comes to an end after 15 difficult months, we're coming together to build a better Kentucky for all our families. and there's people like Milo that are going to be leading the charge. Now, I've talked a little bit lately about the fact that I think we're moving from a time of great difficulty to a time of great opportunity, and I think we're seeing the talent that is going to lead us in that opportunity right here today. So with that, I'm going to sign an acclamation in honor of Milo and his achievement. Well, I'm going to be presenting an acclimation. Milo, if you'll join me up here. All right. Whereas Milo Golding, an 11th grader at Lexington Christian Academy, is the 2021 national winner of Google's Doodle for Google contest, and millions of users will see his winning artwork featured on Google's homepage for a day. And whereas as the national winner, Milo, you, will receive a $30,000 college scholarship, which is amazing, along with Google Hardware. His school, Lexington Christian Academy, will receive a $50,000 technology package. And whereas Google received tens of thousands of submissions from students across the United States from kindergarten to 12th grade for this year's contest, then Milo's award-winning artwork was selected in May as one of five national finalists. And whereas Milo's doodle creation, Finding Hope, was in response to the prompt, I am strong because. The intricate doodle featuring a caring parent and small child speaks to the resilience and hope that lives in all of us. It was inspired by his late father's advice to find inner strength through hope despite the obstacles one may face in life. And whereas Milo's artwork represents his father's words and his personal and incredible journey to find hope and remain strong after suddenly losing his father to a sudden heart attack when Milo is 13 years old. He is hopeful for the future and his aspirations to become a cardiologist demonstrates his resilience and desire to honor his father's advice and not on here, but I learned he is about to go to the Governor's Scholars Program. And whereas Milo also founded a charity called the Sanguine Path to help provide hope for children ages 18 and under who've lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Now, therefore, I, Andy Beshear, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do hereby pay tribute to Milo Golding as the first young Kentuckian to win the national 2021 competition. Congratulations. Thanks so much, Governor. Thank you. Governor Beshear, thank you so much. We so appreciate that you're here for this exciting news. And I want to make sure to recognize our council members who are with us. We have council member Whitney Baxter, there you are, council member James Brown, council member Liz Sheehan. Are there other council members here? Don't want to miss anyone. And we also want to thank a very supportive team of members from Lexington Christian Academy. They were not going to let you come here without them. So we have head of school, Dr. Scott Wells and Julie, his wife. High school principal, Dr. Cassandra Kett and Dan Kett. Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Lisa Bacon. teacher, Robin Eiler, college counselor, Heather Riley, we might have even more. They love you just as we do and honor you. Thank you all for being here from Lexington Christian Academy. And we want to make sure to thank Google for supporting the creativity of our youth with this contest. Milo, congratulations again on this amazing honor. Your doodle for Google, here it is. is amazing. And tomorrow, people all over the world will click on Google and Milo's doodle will show up all over the world. It's awesome. So I know that we all feel the emotion that you put into this and the heartfelt story that it tells. I also want to recognize and honor Yanya, Milo's mother, who you must be so very proud of your son. Yes, thank you. Lexington has so many fantastic youth. Milo is a perfect example of this. and all of you from Lexington Christian Academy know this. You see these youth every day. And out of the tens of thousands of submissions for the Doodle for Google contest, one of our very own right here in Lexington rose to the top. I'm so impressed by Milo's thoughtfulness, His dedication to supporting our community with his charity, Sanguine Path. There are not too many rising seniors who have their own charity that supports youth who have lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Milo is truly an exceptional young man. Now, the first thing I want to do is, on behalf of the city, I want to show our support and love for Milo as the 2021 Doodle for Google winner. Yay! And I have a few things for you. First, I want to pin the official Lexington logo pin on you, if you will. We talked about this. This is how it goes. See, we're the same height. Thank you. Thank you. And we chatted earlier, and he knows that this is the representation. It is the great racehorse Lexington. And Lexington received permission several years ago to color it blue and become our logo. So next, I want to thank Visit Lex because Visit Lex helped us in accumulating some very special items that are Lexington-centric to show our Lexington pride for you. So we have a basket of things here, a bag, and I think there could be a doodle pad in there. I'm not sure, so congratulations. Thank you. Yes, you're welcome. So congratulations, we are all very proud of you. Yay, let's hear it for Milo. All right, Milo, do you wanna say a few words? Yes, I'd love to. Let's put it right here. Okay. Thank you, Governor, and thank you, Mayor. I'm very honored to be here. First, I would love to thank my community and my school for all the support and encouragement I've received throughout this entire process. Throughout this entire process. I'd also love to thank Google for providing this opportunity to kids like me who want to share their message and their story through their artwork. I am very and truly proud to be able to represent the state of Kentucky in this competition. Regardless of the uncertainties or fluctuations in life we may face, hope is always there. It is just our job to find that hope in order to move forward. I believe in hope. Hope has allowed me to move past life obstacles and overcome adversity during times of hardship. Thank you all for allowing me to be here today and I am truly honored and humbled to have the opportunity to share my story and the message of hope with you all. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you all so much. If the media has questions, we can do one-on-ones. I know you'll want to talk to this fabulous young man. So thank you, congratulations. All right. Thank you. that down as a condition of granting permission for this new structure. With that, I'm open to any questions that the board may have. Thank you, Mr. Cudi. Does anybody on the board have any questions to the applicant, Mr. Cudi, about this property or anything else, Mr. Clark? I was wondering about the business that's operated here. Well, I believe for the staff report, that was investigated and determined to not be a business. I believe it was a full support. I don't think anything came to fruition on that. Autumn may have a little bit better clarification. All I can speak to is that the complaint was investigated and that there was no business found to be operating on the property. I would think that the applicant would be the best person to answer that question. That is correct. It was investigated and there was no operating business to be found. So it's true that there is no business being operated in the property, Mr. Schutte? Mr. Whalen, can you verify that fact? As I know it, yes, there is no operating business. Okay. That is correct. What kind of vehicles are being stored? My question. I've got a 40-foot RV that's sitting, that's there. My father lives in the guest house. I'm not sure. I don't mean to interrupt you, but I'm not sure who we're speaking to. Yes, Chair, this is Mr. Rob Whalen, who is the applicant on behalf of Rodale Properties LLC. He is the individual property owner. uh mr layland could you uh turn on your camera so we can see or are you calling in well i've got a camera i'm just for some reason i can't get it to come up which it tested good but now i can't get it to come on okay i'm sorry that's all right go ahead and answer the question you said you had what kind of vehicles uh we've i've got a 40 foot rv that i was wanting to try to get to get inside. And then my father lives in the guest house and he has a pull-behind camper and that's what the building was put there for was to be able to put those inside and keep them out of the weather. Okay. What other structures are on the property? I saw from the map or from the overhead that there were some other structures that looked like there were temporary structures. Yes, I have some storage containers set there right now that's got the remaining parts that I need to get the building finalized in it. And those would be gone if I can finish up the building. what is the building made of it is it is metal okay is it a prefab metal building yes sir all right i mean it they shipped it to me and then we had to piece it together i understand and what are the dimensions of the building it's a 40 by 60 it's just fully enclosed or is it more like a shed well the the front is not on it at the moment where the doors go but it is it is intended to be fully enclosed yes it would be fully enclosed yes sir okay if i can thank any other questions yeah i'm gonna quit this may autumn i may have just missed this um i guess was what was one building already taken down off this property yes there was a there was a small uh building that we did tear down i believe is there still the the other barn the 1500 square foot barn that that's correct it's still there. There's the main house, the guest house, and the 1,500 square foot existing barn. Those three buildings are still there. One of those is the one that we've discussed that we would potentially take down if the newer barn was able to remain. The existing barn that's 1560? Yes, ma'am. So this is the guest house, I believe, and then this is the first barn. Yes. The 1,500 square foot barn. Uh-huh, yep. Gotcha. I thought that second building was a house with the dormers on it. It's tough to see it on that aerial with the shade from the tree and see the first house. I have trouble seeing it as well. Yes, and they were built, I think, in the early 40s, so that's why there's so many on the property. Autumn, what does that math work out to if they do take that building down? Since they were already over on square footage with the existing accessory structures on the site, they would be able to if they took the that barn is 1560 square feet so they can essentially replace that barn at 1560 square feet and not increase their non-conformity so they would still have a non-conforming amount of square footage but it would be the same amount so that it would be acceptable and so they and so they'd be wanting to trade taken down a 1560 square foot barn for a 2400 square foot new barn. Is that right? Correct, Chair. I got you. Well, Autumn, my math doesn't work out the same way. So the existing house, that square footage is 2320? Yes. Okay, so even the new existing structure, the new structure is 2400, correct? Correct. Yeah, larger than the existing house. So even by removing the existing barn. We're already open. Even if no structures are removed right now and the new barn wasn't placed on, we would still be over. Right. So they would normally be allowed to have... Sorry. The maximum size of accessory structure should only be 1,160 square feet. That's what they, according to the ordinance, should only have that. So without adding the 2,400 square feet new barn, they're already over by 1,328 square feet. since that was an existing circumstance they would be able to tear one down and replace a light structure essentially so if they i was going to say but it's a but it's it'll be more still right because we're talking new structures 2400 right old non-conforming was 1560 so we've got 840 additional square feet that would be non-conforming. Correct. Okay. I thought we were saying that they were netting out, but if they're not netting out, we'd be increasing the square footage of non-conformity. Right. We're netting out total buildings. The number of buildings. Okay. Okay. Still a problem. as I see it because, well, if they were to take down that 1,560 square foot barn and put up one with the same footprint, would that be permitted? That would be permitted. Okay. But the fact that it exceeds that barn by 840 square feet, that's the principal problem. Correct. then the issue was in a building permit before the purchase i mean before the construction correct that's how it how that is how this came to our attention and we will say not as that none of that was done maliciously or with an intent to deceive the city or or try and get around the permitting process at all and if it was we probably wouldn't be here today and it'd be torn down if we move along but it was an honest mistake and unfortunately it's put us in this position now and that's why we're here. Autumn, how much of the structure could be left and not torn down right now? Right now none of it because that existing barn has been removed but if the plan is to remove the existing 1,560 square foot barn, they could construct, the new barn could be reduced down to 1,560 square feet. Okay. Is the roof allowed to remain? I do not think so. I think the roof would, since it would be an enclosed structure and the roof would count for the total square footage for the accessory structure. I think what she's asking is could the roof remain the same and you just take down the walls for that 800 square feet and essentially make it like a patio? Yes, correct. Thank you, Brandon. Right. I don't think that that would be allowed. That would essentially be like a carport situation and those do count as accessory structures as far as the where it's cat peppered. And do you measure that by the footprint or by the roof area? It would be by the area under roof. Area under roof, okay. So that's still a problem. Any other questions to either Autumn or the applicant? Are you ready to decide, Ford? Any other questions or suggestions? If the board would like, one thing we could look at is a resubmission with a new site plan kind of showing the new square footage and taking the existing barn out and kind of talking through that with staff to see if that would change anything if you wanted to bring it back up in a month. I'm sorry, explain that again, Mr. Schuette. Just to kind of maybe even clarify on the site plan and the letter sent in to kind of highlight that we removed the existing barn, the 15-6 square foot barn, to highlight that on the site plan. If that would provide you all any more type of clarification or guidance on that issue, we'd be happy to do that and come back in a month or you all can vote today. Let me ask you, this is a prefab building that you construct on site. I don't know how, it's been a while since I've dealt with prefab buildings. I've seen quite a few and I've been involved in some litigation involving them as well. but I don't know whether they can be modified at all. And I don't know who the, what brand this is or anything like that. So I don't know what Mr. Schutte, I don't know what, what good it would do to try to re configure the barn. In fact, I don't know whether you could build this prefab barn to make it small enough so it would fit the footprint, the existing footprint of a 1560 square foot. Is that why you're asking for more time? I'd say you're probably more likely than not correct that the prefab building would likely not be able to be altered. Rob, do you have any clarification on that? Yeah, I don't believe it would be possible to be able to do that. Yeah, I mean, these come with specific and sometimes fairly detailed instructions on fabricating it on site. And I've never seen one that you could alter either the footprint or the walls or anything like that. They're to be built as planned. So it continues to be a problem. Any other questions for the applicants on the board members? If not, I'll entertain a motion. I move for disapproval for PLN BLA 21-20 Rodale Properties LLC's request for administrative appeal to increase the allowable size of an accessory structure from 834 square feet to 2400 square feet in order to allow a newly recently constructed accessory structure to remain as constructed in a single-family residential zone on property located at 523 Kingston Road, based on the staff's recommendation. And the testimony that we've heard today? The testimony from today. Thank you, Ms. Carter. Is there a second to that motion? Ms. Whitman, I second. Ms. Whitman, second. All those in favor, raise your hand. Motion to disapprove the application carries. Application for this administrative review is denied. So sorry about your luck, Mr. Chudy and Mr. Whelan, your application is denied. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Okay. that concludes the uh the agenda that i have on my docket is there any uh uh matter that the board wishes to bring the attention of the board itself any other matters the board wishes to air discuss any staff items that need to be presented at this time to this meeting Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Jim Duncan, Director of Planning joining your meeting. Yes, sir. Thank you. I wanted to, when you're ready, Mr. Chair, I'd like to provide an update to you and the board about the status of our future meetings and in-person meetings. Well, good. I will hear you now because the last item on my agenda is to announce the date of the next meeting is July 12th. And I think that this is something that's related. So, Jim, go right ahead. Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. The mayor has cleared our boards and commissions to start meeting in person. Our offices are open now to the public again, so you're certainly welcome to visit us in our building, and our staff is fully back in the office. So we have, to all intents and purposes, returned to pre-pandemic processes in our work. And so what we wanted, but some of those announcements were coming out late and breaking. So we had already made arrangements for the July meeting to be held via video teleconference, just like we're doing here. And when I say arrangements, that's the instructions that we had given our applicants for them as they were preparing their notification letters. So that's the information that was prepared and is being sent to those concerned about the July meeting. So at this time, just as the chair was about to say, we will continue with our VOA hearing on the next meeting, which is July the 12th at 1.30 through Zoom video teleconference, just as we have been doing for the past year. We propose, if you all are ready to do so, for the August meeting that we would return to in-person meetings, which means we're meeting in the council chambers, that we're live on GTV3. We no longer will receive any of our applicants or any of the citizens through Zoom video teleconference. So everyone who participates in the meeting, once we go back to in person, will have to be in the council chambers just as you were before. That hasn't changed. And we are proposing to start that for August, which would be Monday, August 9th at 1.30. That same week, the council returns from their break, although council has already been meeting in the council chambers, but they will be returning from break. And unless something changes, we'll be fully engaged in the council chamber as well. So you will be our first board to return to the council chambers. Later that week, we'll have the first planning commission meeting back in the council chambers. Mr. Chair, I wanted to bring this to your attention and just to see if there are any questions about that, particularly since we weren't going to be going back in person for July, just because of the timing of the notifications, we feel it would be best to to kick that off and get plenty of time to promote it for the August 9th meeting. Thank you, Mr. Director. Any questions, Brandon? Well, Tommy, if I could, and Jim, one thing that, you know, during the Zoom period, I think that's been helpful, and maybe helpful going forward, would be the ability of John Q. public to somehow be able to attend meetings in Zoom, not the applicants themselves, but possibly neighbors and other citizens who, to be honest with you, taking off, you know, one to three hours on a workday in the afternoon is difficult, especially when they're only going to be speaking for three to five minutes normally on an application. So I would suggest maybe that's something that City Council Planning Commission and or staff discuss on whether or not we could allow some way for the public to participate through a Zoom process to allow them greater access to our body without them necessarily needing to take off and come downtown for it. Just a comment. Mr. Chair, Mr. Gross, I couldn't agree more. And I will tell you, before we even heard of the word pandemic, this was a priority for the staff was to identify a new way that citizens could participate in meetings, that citizens could submit comments in advance, so that the board members could review them and wouldn't be trying to go through sheaps of paper at the meeting. And there are other states that have these processes in place. And we were working on that pre-pandemic and that kind of got sidelined. There are some statutory restrictions to us having this so-called hybrid model where we are in person and then receiving comments from without the body. But I do know, Mr. Gross, that the council has raised this issue as well, knowing that it does accrue a benefit to citizens to be able to participate in democracy. without having to take a day off or having to drive to an unfamiliar part of town and all the expenses associated with that. And I do believe that the council will continue to look at this and we will certainly continue to bring this up because we believe we agree with you. There is a benefit to the citizenry to be able to broaden the way they participate in these public meetings. But at this moment, Mr. Groves, that is not an option, but it is something that we are still interested in and we believe the council is as well. I appreciate that, Jim, and I wholeheartedly support your guys' efforts. Thank you. Mr. Duncan, if that was true for one board, it would have to be true with all meetings like this. Isn't that not correct? Yes, Mr. Clark. I think that the focus will certainly be as far as having us back live will be to the statutory boards. And that is the Board of Adjustment and the Planning Commission, because you all exist because of a much larger issue, not just Fayette County. It may very well be that some of our non-statutory boards will continue to meet by video teleconference. teleconference. We even provide staff to do those ourselves. I'm sorry, three of those. And so some of those will probably continue on. But they also are the kind of boards that don't generally draw as many individual applicants and certainly not as many interested citizens. So it seems to be a dichotomy, doesn't it, that the boards that draw fewer participants are going to be able to allow to meet in the broadest way of participation. But that's kind of the way we find ourselves, just the way the statutes are written and the way that we understand that we can hold open meetings. But, Mr. Clark, you may notice that some of our other boards that we support will continue to meet by video teleconference, and it will really be at the decision of the board what they decide to do. But it is going to be our recommendation that the Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment will return to be fully in person in August. Thank you much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Duncan. Given the professional expertise of the planning office, it doesn't surprise me that you're all way ahead on this and have already thought about this, even though it's something that may or may not occur down the line. I do understand that because of the long lead times, you can't meet in person in July, so we'll try to look forward to our August meeting. Our next meeting is July 12, 2021 at 1.30. And unless there are any other questions or comments from the board or staff, I will declare this meeting adjourned. Well, I wish everyone a happy Independence Day in a few weeks. We'll see you next month. Got it. Thank you. We'll be right back. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. Forever and ever. Every little thing that you do, baby, I'm amazed by you. The smell of your skin The taste of your kiss The way you whisper in the dark Your hair all around me Baby, you surround me You touch every place in my heart. Oh, it feels like the first time, every time. I want to spend the whole night in your eyes. I don't know how you do what you do. I'm so in love with you. It just keeps getting better I want to spend the rest of my life With you by my side Forever and ever Every little thing that you do Baby, I'm amazed by you Every little thing that you do I'm so in love with you The chest keeps getting big I want to spend the rest of my life With you by my side Forever and ever Every little thing that you do Every little thing that you do Every little thing that you do Baby, I'm amazed by you Maybe we can talk all night But that ain't getting us nowhere I told you everything I possibly can There's nothing left inside of here Maybe you can cry all night But that'll never change the way that I feel The snow is really piling up outside I wish you wouldn't make me leave here I poured it on and I poured it out I tried to show you just how much I fit I'm tired of words and I'm too hoarse to shout But you've been cold to me so long I'm crying icicles instead of tears And all I can do is keep on telling you I want you, I need you But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you Now don't be sad, don't be sad Cause two out of three, baby Now don't be sad Cause two out of three ain't there You'll never find your goal on a sandy beach You'll never drill for oil on a city street I know you're looking for a ruby in a mountain of rocks But there ain't no coup de bill Hiding at the bottom of a crackerjack box I can't lie I can't tell you that I'm something I'm not No matter how I try, I'll never be able to give you something, something that I just haven't got. Well, there's only one girl that I will ever love And that was so many years ago And though I know I'll never get her out of my heart She never loved me back Ooh, I know Well, I remember how she left me on a stormy night Oh, she kissed me and got out of our bed And though I pleaded and I begged her not to walk out that door She packed her bags and turned right away And she kept on telling me She kept on telling me She kept on telling me I want you I need you But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you Now don't be sad Don't be sad Cause two out of three ain't bad I want you I need you But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you Now don't be sad Cause two out of three ain't bad Now don't be sad Cause two out of three ain't bad Maybe we can talk all night But that ain't getting us nowhere I used to be a rolling stone, you know If a cause was right I'd leave to find an answer on the road I used to be a heart beating for someone But the times have changed The less I say the more my work gets done Cause I live and bring this ill-dead to be a leader From the day that I was born I waited for a night Then the donkey feeling took me knee high To a man Yeah Give me a piece of my My daddy never had Oh, baby, I'm just a little real Shine on me I love you Shine a light Through the eyes of the one left behind Shine a light, shine a light Shine a light, won't you shine a light Feel like you'll be afraid I love you Yes, I do. If you choose to, you can live your life alone. Some people choose the city. Some other choose a good old family. I like living easy with our family ties It's your whip or will of freedom Right between the eyes Cause I live to be Missed in the death of freedom From the day that I was born I wave a fly Well, I doubt the feeling To make me high to a man In that peace of mind My daddy never had Oh, fella, tell me a friend Shine on me I love you Shine a light Through the eyes of the world that we're high Shine the light, shine the light Shine the light, won't you shine the light Feel the doubt that you're free I love her Yes I do I'm out. Shine the light, won't you shine the light Cause I'll be your friend I love her You know I love her You know I love you Yes I do I'll be free I love her I'll be free I'll be free I'll be free I love her I love you I love you Don't you know that I love her I'll be free I'll be free Don't you know that I love her I love you Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey I'm sorry. I got something to say to you. It's late September and I really should be back at school. I know I keep you amused, but I feel I'm being used. Oh, Maggie, I couldn't have tried anymore. You led me away from home Just to save you from being alone You stole my heart And that's what really hurts The morning sun when it's in your face Really shows your age But that don't worry me none In my eyes you're everything I laughed at all of your jokes My love you didn't need to cope Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried anymore You led me away from home Just to save you from being alone You stole my soul and that's a pain I can do without All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand But you turned into a lover and mother What a lover you wore me out All you did was wreck my bed And in the morning kicked me in the head Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried anymore You led me away from home Cause you didn't want to be alone You stole my heart I couldn't leave you if I tried I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helping hand Oh Maggie, I wished I'd never seen your face You made a first class fool out of me But I'm as blind as a fool can be You stole my heart, but I love you anyway Thank you. guitar solo Never seen your face. I'll get all that home one of these days. It was a beautiful day Sun beat down I hit the radio wall I was driving Trees went back Me and Del were singing Little runaway I was flying Yeah, running down a dream That never would come to me Working on a mystery Going wherever it needs Running down a dream I felt so good Like anything was possible Hit cruise control And rubbed my eyes The last three days The rain was unstoppable It was always cold No sunshine Yeah, running down a dream Never would come to me Working on the mystery Going wherever you need Running down a dream I rolled out The sky grew dark I put the pedal down To make some time There's something good Wading down this road I'm picking up Whatever is mine I'm running down a dream It never would come to me Working on a mystery Going wherever it leads Running down a dream Yeah, I'm running down a dream It never would come to me Working on a mystery Born wherever it leads Running down the drain We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Thank you. She grew up on the side of the road Where the church bells ring and strong love grows She grew up good, she grew up slow Like American honey Steady as a preacher, free as a weed Couldn't wait to get going But wasn't quite ready to leave So when I see Pure and sweet American honey There's a wild, wild whisper Bowling in the wind Calling out my name Like a long lost friend Oh, I miss those days as the years go by. Oh, nothing sweeter than summertime and American honey. Get caught in the race of this crazy life. Trying to be everything can make you lose your mind. I just want to go back in time to American, honey. There's a wild, wild whisper blowing in the wind, calling out my name like a long lost friend. Oh, I miss those days as the years go by Oh, nothing sweeter than summertime And American honey I've gone for so long now I gotta get back to her somehow To American Honey Yeah Ooh, there's a wild, wild whisper Bloating in the wind Calling out my name Like a long-lost friend Oh, I miss those days as the years go by Oh, nothing sweeter than summertime An American honey An American honey Thank you. Well, there's my easy chair. Just sitting there. I've spent a lot of time Thinking of this perfect Thanks for joining me. I'm First District Councilman James Brown with another council comment. Today we're talking about housing insecurity and eviction prevention. Early in the pandemic, we knew that was going to be a challenge that a lot of the folks in our neighborhoods and our community faced in regards to the pandemic. So council acted swiftly to get money in place to address some of those housing insecurity issues. Today I have with me Polly Ruddock, who is the director of the Office of Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, or maybe Prevention and Intervention. And then also Charlie Lantern, our director of grants and special programs here with the city. Thanks for joining me today. Once, I think the council's initial action was to put $1.9 million towards housing insecurities. Can you tell us a little bit about how that played off and how you had to work to create a system to get that money in the hands of families? Sure. So when the pandemic first hit and everything was shut down, you know, council quickly realized that people can't pay rent if they can't work. So in August of 2020, council moved $1.9 million out of budget stabilization to basically, I think we called it housing assistance. And $1.4 million of that was geared towards rental assistance for those who have been impacted by COVID-19. And we were given a swift turnaround by council. We had two weeks. Pressure, pressure. We had two weeks to get a program up and running. Now, we were very lucky at the beginning. We had a partner here in town that had a really good list of those that had reached out for rental assistance. We were able to partner with Lexington Fair Housing Council and eight other community partners to get the money out as fast as possible. So let me, and I don't want to interrupt you too long. So Fair Housing, Art Crosby at Fair Housing, I remember being on a call or getting an email about this pending crisis that we knew was coming. And I think that's the partner that you're referencing that created that list, which, you know, thankfully they seen what was coming and kind of got ahead of the curve. And we kind of took that over. So they started getting phone calls in May, June. And so they were able to work with the faith community initially. and just you know as those calls came in as people filled out kind of an apple well it was an initial kind of contact application through the Lexington Fair Housing Council at COVID-19 renterhelp.org so he had established that in his agency at partner with the faith community to really try to shore up as much as they could but it be soon became very overwhelming and so we were all kind of you know we were all very thankful when council stepped in with that additional funds and we were able to use utilize those funds and really get them out the door the first part of September, I believe. And we worked with those partners September, October, November, and December. And in January, we received notice that the feds had kind of stepped in and were giving us a lot of millions of dollars worth of rental subsidy for our folks. So we moved kind of what we call Housing Stabilization 1.0, which is what council was able to provide. We moved that to Housing Stabilization 2.0 out of Charlie's office with federal funds, and it's worked out really well. The initial program that was stood up in those first two weeks, the community partners are still on board helping us out, even with the federal money. So it's been really good. Well, it sounds like, you know, the need was obviously there and recognized. And, you know, I know one of the first programs that was thought about was the RISE program, and I think it came online probably pretty close to the same time that the housing assistance program has come online. But now with the flexibility with the federal funds and the increased amount of funding, how is it transitioning to be more accessible for more folks in the community? I think the biggest difference is the scale of the program. we received in January $9.6 million for what the Department of Treasury calls the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. For us, we still brand it as the Housing Stabilization Program because that's what our community knows, that's what council created, and we were fortunate that the requirements of the federal program were very similar to the program we were already operating. So really all we had to do was transition from a locally funded program to a federally funded program and put in place, you know, some of those federal controls that you have to do with grant funding, and then start scaling up. And so we've been really fortunate. We reached out and were able to partner with Community Action Council here in Lexington to process the applications because they already had an existing infrastructure of staff and neighborhood centers and the ability to interact with folks and process applications quickly because what we had was an overwhelming number of applications. As we know, that need is significant. It continues to be significant. and we continue to have a wait list, to be honest with you, because it's just such a tremendous number of applications that we have to process, thousands, really, of applications. Yeah. But we've been busy and we've made a lot of progress. Well, let me ask you this. You know, a lot of times the community looks for the city to lead, and I think we have kind of led and kind of jumped out and tried to address the housing and security issues. Can you recognize and talk about some of the partnerships that we have throughout the city that is making this happen and then also kind of you know what you had to do internally to make it more accessible because I understand you had to set up a call center for folks to be able to call into and get assistance. Yeah I mean I could probably mention some of the partners from previously and then currently we're working daily with Community Action, we're working with Urban League of Lexington, we are in court every day in in eviction court, trying to capture those folks who are at risk of eviction, immediate risk of eviction. So we're working with the judges. All of the judges are our partners in this program and the landlords. We are interacting regularly with landlords. We've gotten to know a lot of them and a lot of their attorneys and trying to help meet their needs because we know this impacts them just as much as it impacts the tenants. They have their own bills to pay. And we also have a lot of support from Catholic Action Center. They were a big partner in the first iteration of the program. They continue to be a big partner in the second iteration of the program. They provide a lot of volunteers who help reach out to people who aren't showing up for eviction court or you know maybe have other challenges to getting their assistance and getting the documents that we need to pay. One thing it's important to know is there's so much assistance available and we have so many great partners with the judges and the nonprofits. The only way folks are getting evicted in Lexington right now is if they don't show up for court. Can you say that again? Yeah. It's worth stressing. The only way that folks are getting evicted in Lexington right now is if they get an eviction nerve, if they get served, and they don't show up for court. It's very important if you have a court date to show up for court because if we haven't already helped you at the point that you have a court date, we are there in court, and we can swoop in and help you. The judge will defer the eviction until we can get you paid, get you help, and get that case resolved. I can't promise that will always be the case, but as of today, that's where we are. And we are very lucky here in Fayette County. We have a great relationship with our judges, and our judges know that housing is very important. So if you can't get on the Zoom calls to do court, you know, they've opened up their courtroom for people to actually come in in person, which some other cities and counties haven't done yet. They're really pushing the Zoom, but I think our judges really took it to heart that this is important and people need access. And so if you can't get on the Zoom and you need to come in person, that's okay. They'll allow that, especially for eviction court. Yeah, and I think we're going to talk to Judge Murphy about the role the courts are helping to play in keeping people in their houses. But I think the important thing is to know that there are resources out there. show up to court and it's not to avoid paying but you know there are resources in place to make sure that the landlords are getting their rents and you're able to stay in place. Thank you both for all y'all do for our city. Thank you for your role in making this housing stabilization program a success and hopefully if we need more money from the feds we'll get it. Early during the pandemic in 2020 Lexington Fayette Urban County Council knew it was imperative that we act to address some of the issues facing our community. As we waited on help to come from state and the federal government, we locally put millions of dollars towards eviction prevention. Our Department of Grants, our Department of Social Services, and our Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention worked with outside agencies to get these funds distributed to individuals and families that need them. One of the other vital partners in this effort was our judges and our local court system. Today I'm joined by Judge Melissa Moore Murphy of the, what court are you, Judge Murphy? Say it, District Court, and I'm in the fourth division. I'm one of five judges here in the District Courthouse. Okay, thank you for your role on the bench. And then can you tell us a little bit about the role that you all play in regards to eviction prevention and how some of the resources that we've made available at the local level has made its way to to help families from being evicted. So for us it was a moving target because evictions were kind of on a moratorium through state executive orders from the governor. However, we knew when those were lifted for us we have to be impartial on both sides to the tenants as well as the landlords. And the law was the law. If they had not paid their rent, we didn't really have much of a way to keep people inside their homes. But we also recognized that we're in the middle of a pandemic. So the first thing that helped us is that the Center for Disease Control entered a moratorium that was federally backed that basically said, if a tenant, if they signed this declaration, and if they were able to obtain all government assistance that they've applied for. If they were actively searching for it, then we were able to kind of continue their cases while they were waiting for that assistance to be provided to their landlords for their rent or their utilities. Well, the problem was, is where was those assistance funds coming from? And thankfully, the city did come through. We first had some initial funds that came through in the fall, but then there was also additional money that I believe came through this past spring. And I, along with my fellow judges, we spoke with individuals, Polly Ruddick, the Director of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention, Commissioner Ford, and the Department of Social Services, and also Director Lanter, and said, how can we make people aware that this is where they go? Now, let me ask you a question. Before they actually got involved and you all resumed your role in the courts, was there a stockpile of evictions waiting on you when you came back in the courtroom initially? Yes. So there was, the governor had put a executive order in place that the clerks could not accept any evictions for a period of time. And that was pretty much from March until June. So there weren't any that were there. There were ones that predated the pandemic when you say stockpile. So there were those that predated the pandemic. But then as soon as we were able to start accepting those app those evictions in june they just came rolling they came in and um so much so that we pretty much had to put a a kind of a each docket a limit on how many we could we could have and and i will say that we thought that there would be a whole lot more because i our landlord community did the best that they could at the time a lot of them were working with their tenants and showing them where they could apply for assistance giving them the numbers and the email addresses and the websites, but at some point money dried up. Like the Healthy at Home funds through the state, there was no more money left. The RISE funds through the city, there had to be specific parameters that people met and some people didn't have those that they met. Some people just did not have work at all and they didn't know where their next paycheck was coming from and how they were going to pay their rent. Now, the cabinet explained to me, if you will, how is it working out in court when somebody when someone comes before you with an eviction notice and they, you know, it's because they really don't, aren't working or practicing healthy at home and want to stay in that place that they're renting. And then the landlord is also expecting rent and compensation for them staying there. How does that play out? And how does, how is the Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention and Grants assisting in that process? And so the first thing, as I stated, The CDC moratorium, so it started September 4th, and that moratorium lasted until the end of December 31st, 2020. It has been extended twice over, extended until January 31st and again to March. Now it's been extended to June 30th. And that moratorium says you can't evict anyone if they've signed for a nonpayment of rent reason, for nonpayment of rent if these people are meeting these certain specific tenants within this declaration that they've signed. And once they've done this, this this CDC declaration, they then will then avail themselves of funds that are available through the city through covid19 renter help dot org. I know it by heart because we have the pleasure of having Jonathan Wright from the Office of Homelessness, Homelessness Prevention and Intervention and early on polyuretic. They actually are attending our court. Each one of our judges has a docket every day of the week, Monday through Friday. So at 930, they're on the Zoom link, and they are looking through the rolls to tell the landlord, this tenant has applied for assistance. So we're going to continue it out a month, and hopefully that landlord will have been paid by the time we get back on the docket, and then the landlord can dismiss their case. So it's safe to say that that process between application and actual execution of paying takes about a month? It takes about a month, maybe a little bit longer because there's different things they have to wait for from the tenant, landlord side. But it's been about a month. If we continue out a month, we're able to say landlord's been paid. We've had a lot of grateful people to say that they've been taken care of. One thing that we, and I want to make sure I note this, is that the only reason why it goes a little further sometimes is that everyone doesn't show up. And we need our tenants to be sure whenever they've been served with any court process, even if they don't know where to go and they don't know where to turn to, show up for court. Because once they show up for court, then we're able to get the assistance to them and information to them. But Catholic Action Center has actually been very vital in searching for individuals that don't make their court date. So we've continued cases out for that reason as well. So I guess one real strong point to make sure that we note here is that if you get served with an eviction and have a court date show up to court. Yes. Not only is it going to be beneficial for you to be part of the legal process, but there's also resources available. Yes. So I would just say thank you, Judge Murphy, for your service on the bench. Thank you for your advocacy for folks in regards to housing insecurities. And we appreciate the work that you do. Well, thank you. And I think, you know, on behalf of my fellow judges, we thank you all for coming through with that and also for lending your person to show up our court our court dates each day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do the hustle. Do the hustle. We'll be right back. Do I see? Do I see? Do I see? Thank you. Thank you. Do your hands up. Do your hands up. I Wake Up Every Morning To baby knees together Then the stars can fly Cause the moment that he's with me Time can take a flight The moment that he's with me Everything's alright Nighttime is the right time We make love That is his or my time We take up My baby takes the morning train He works from nine till five And then he takes another home again To find me waiting for him My baby takes the morning train He works from nine till five And then he takes another home again To find me waiting for him He takes me to a movie or to a restaurant I want to go slow dancing, better than I want. Only when he's with me, I catch a life. Only when he gets me, makes me feel right. My baby takes the morning train. He works from nine to five. And then he takes another home again to find it. Waiting for him All day I think of him Dreaming of him constantly I'm the craziest man for him And he's the craziest man for me When he steps on the clay I'm busy for the fight I work all day to earn his pain So we can feel now My baby takes the morning train He works from 9 to 5 And then he takes another home again To find me waiting for him My baby takes the morning train He works from 9 to 5 It takes a night I hope it To find me Waiting for help My baby It takes a night To watch From night to night It takes a night I hope it To find One, two, one, two, three. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh And miracles made real. Like a pretty night on a hot sweet night. You know you're right, just to hold your tight. He suits it right, makes it out of sight. And everything's good in the world tonight. When smoky sins, I hear violins. When smoky sins I forget everything Ashes packed in the veins Ashes spread in the veins The front door might turn But the back door it rings And smoky sins He sins Elephants And elephants For sale or rent or hire Should I say yes I match his best Then I would be a liar Symphonies It's still the rage When lovers' hearts catch fire I can play any play On a hot sweet night You know you're right Just a bald head tight It seems it right Makes it out of sight. And everything's good in the world tonight. When smoky sins, I feel violence. When smoky sins, I forget everything, yeah. Ashes fighting the things, ashes spreading the wings. Smashing the pill with the heaven she brings. And smoky sins He sings Would it be true to say I need you so bad I need you so bad Today Would it be true to say I need you so bad I need you so bad Again I'm a man. When Smokey sings, I forget everything. As she's backing up her wings, as she's spreading her wings. She threw back the wings when Smokey sings. Smokey sings. Smokey sings. I'm the first, the last, my everything And the answer to all my dreams You're my sun, my moon My garden star My kind of wonderful That's what you are I know there's no Only, only one like you There's no way They could have me too You're all I'm living for Your love I'll keep forevermore But you're the last My everything And with you, I found so many things. Our love so new only you could bring. Can't you see it, you? You make me feel this way. You're like a French morning dew on a brand new day. I see so many ways that I can love you till the day I die. You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a dream. You're the first, the last, my everything. Thank you. There's only, only one like you There's no way they could have made two Girl, you're my reality But I've lost your dream You're the first, you're the last Power and respect You're moving. It's a lantern for the love with you I ain't got a single thing to do I've come for a new what was going on I know I knew that I was gone Stages, people changing Stages, we are raging I feel you're lucky standing all alone I couldn't even get you on the phone Were you just confused and didn't know If you should stay or if you had to go Stages keep on changing Stages rearrange your life Thank you. We'll be right back. Raging love I'm out. Thank you. Let's dance. Put on your red shoes and dance the blues. Let's dance. To the songs they're playing on the radio. Let's swing. While color lights up your face. Let's swing. Sway through the crowd to an empty space If you say run, I'll run with you If you say hide, we'll hide If my love for you would break my heart Thank you. All Let's dance The fear to cry is all Let's wave You could look into my eyes Let's wave Under the moonlight The serious moonlight And if you say run, I'll run with you And if you say hide, we'll hide Because my love for you would break my heart in two If you should fall into my arms and crumble like a flower Let's dance Put on your red shoes and dance the blood Let's sway A love of life A serious moonlight Let's play Let's play I'm out. Thank you. Fetch another round She serves them whiskey and wine The sailors say, Brandy You're a fine girl What a good wife you would be Such a fine guy Yeah, your eyes could steal a sailor From the sea Brandy wears a braided chain Made of finest silver From the north of Spain A locket that bears the name of the man that Brandy loved. He came on a summer's day, bringing gifts from far away. But he made it clear he couldn't stay. No horror was his hope. They say, listen, Brandy, you're a fine girl. You're a fine girl. What a good life you would be. But my life, my lover, my lady is the same. Yeah, Brandon used to watch his eyes when he told his sailors story. She could feel the ocean falling rise. She saw its raging glory. But he has always told the truth Lord, he was an honest man And Brandy does her best to understand it The night when the bars close down Brandy walks through a silent town And loves a man who's not around She still can't hear him say She hears him say, Brandy You're a fine girl What a good wife you would be Such a fine girl Got my life, my love and my lady In the sea In the sea Brandy You're a fine girl What a good wife you would be Some people stay far away from the door If there's a chance of it opening up They hear a voice in the hall outside And hope that it just passes by Some people live with the fear of a touch And the anger of having been a fool They will not listen to anyone So nobody tells them a lie I know you're only protecting yourself I know you're thinking of somebody else Someone who hurt you but I'm not above Making up for the love you've been denying you could ever feel I'm not above doing anything to restore your faith if I can Some people see through the eyes of the old Before they ever get a look at the young I'm only willing to hear you cry Because I am an innocent man I am an innocent man Oh yes I am Some people say they will never believe Another promise they hear in the dark Because they only remember too well They heard somebody tell them before Some people sleep all alone every night Instead of taking a lover to bed Some people find that it's easier to hate than to wait anymore I know you don't want to hear what I say I know you're gonna keep turning away But I've been there and if I can survive I can keep you alive I'm not above going through it again I'm not above being cool for a while If you're cruel to me, I understand Some people run from a possible fight Some people figure they can never win And although this is a fight I can lose The accused is an innocent man I am an innocent man Oh yes I am an innocent man You know you only hurt yourself out of spite I guess you'd rather be a martyr tonight That's your decision but I'm not low Anybody I know If there's a chance of resurrecting a love I'm not above going back to the start To find out where the heartache began Some people hope for a miracle cure Some people just accept the world as it is I'm not willing to lay down and die Because I am an innocent man I am an innocent man Oh yes I am An innocent man Oh The End The love I need It's the beginning of the end for me Cause you're taking away all my reasons for living When you pushed aside all the love I've been giving Now wait a minute Didn't I treat you right now baby Didn't I? Didn't I do the best I could? Now didn't I? So don't you leave me standing in the shadows of love I'm getting ready for the heartache to come Don't you see me standing in the shadows of love Trying my best to get ready for the heartache to come All alone I'm just a relief With misery is my only company It may come today and it might come tomorrow But it's for sure I ain't got nothing but sorrow Now don't your conscience kind of bother you? How can you watch me cry after all I've done for you? Now hold on a minute Gave you all the love I had and I didn't I? When you needed me, it was always there and I wasn't there I'm trying not to cry out and out You know, crying, it ain't gonna help me now What did I do to cause all this grief? Now what did I say to make you want to leave? Now wait a minute, I gave my heart and soul to you Now didn't I? And didn't I always teach good? Now didn't I? I'm standing in the shadows of love I'm getting ready for the heartaches to come Don't you see me standing in the shadows of love Time to best get ready for the heartaches to come Standing in the shadows of love Well, the men come in these places And the men are all the same You don't look at their faces And you don't ask their names You don't think of them as human You don't think of them at all You keep your mind on the money Keeping your eyes on the wall I'm your private dancer A dancer for money Do what you want me to do I'm your private dancer A dancer for money And any old music will do I want to make a million dollars. I want to live out by the sea. Have a husband and some children. Yeah, I guess I want a family. All the men come in these places. And the men are all the same. You don't look at their faces And you don't ask their names I'm your private dancer A dancer for money Do what you want me to do I'm your private dancer A dancer for money And any old music will live I'm your private dancer A dancer for money You and you will meet your view Just a private dancer A dancer by funny And any old music will do Dutch marks are dollars American Express will do nicely, thank you Let me loosen up your collar Tell me, do you wanna see me? Do the shimmy again? I'm your private dancer, a dancer for money I'll do what you want me to do I'm your private dancer, a dancer for money And any old music will do And you're proud of the dancer Dance of my money Do what you want me to do And you're proud of the dancer A dancer for money And any old music will do And you're proud of the dancer Dance of my money I hitchhiked up to Memphis A young boy in my prime I thought that big old city Could ease my Georgia mind After just one hour I met this southern girl She said to call me the queen of Memphis Then she took me around the world And I saw stars dancing on the water I heard Elvis singing blue suede shoes That old muddy river was my witness The night I fell in love with the queen of Memphis I woke up the next morning A prisoner of her charm She showed me things I'd never seen Back there on that farm She set my soul on fire She filled all my dreams A boy became a man that night In the arms of the Memphis queen And I saw stars dancing on the water I heard elves singing blue suede shoes That old Murray was my witness Tonight I fell in love with queen of Memphis Just like that old man river, she keeps rolling through my mind. And you know I want to get her, cause she was one of a kind. I saw stars dancing on the water. I heard Elvis singing blue suede shoes. That old muddy river was my witness The night I fell in love with the Queen of Memphis And I am still in love with the Queen of Memphis Thank you. You call and wake me up the way you always do. Say you miss me and you're sorry. Deja vu. You push the button in the heart you know somewhere. The wall starts coming down And I remind myself Every time I think you might have changed Put aside the anger and the blame Make myself believe that there's a way To work it out Every time you say let's try again Begging me to let you back in Every time I do Every time you lie Every time I cry If only promises could just erase the past I could open up my heart enough to take you back But we've been down this road time and time again. I've learned the hard way how the story always ends. Every time I play. On this edition of Lexington Now, wildlife at McConnell Springs, the Bluegrass 10,000 and eSports. I'm Neil Noah and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of June 14, 2021. We begin this week with part one of a new series, Wildlife at McConnell Springs. This week, Stephen Rogers talks about the snakes and insects that can be found there. My name is Stephen Rogers. I'm recreation manager. I've worked at McConnell Springs for seven years now. I have a background in parks and recreation and outdoor education. My degree is in Parks and Recreation Administration. My first full-time position was as an interpretive park ranger, which involved a lot of environmental education and a lot of outdoor programming, and that really fit in well with the position here at McConnell Springs. And so in my current position, I get the opportunity to work with people in the public, manage the park, and do a lot of environmental education programming. Most commonly, the snakes that we see at McConnell Springs are garter snakes, black rat snakes, and then actually even earlier today, we saw a milk snake. So all those snakes are constrictors. We've never identified or positively identified a venomous species of snake at McConnell Springs. So in Fayette County, the only venomous species of snake that we should have here is going to be the copperhead. Copperheads have been identified in more rural areas. They don't do as well in areas like McConnell Springs that are surrounded by a lot of development. So they need larger areas, larger populations to hunt, larger spaces. So the animals that we see here, the snakes that we see here are all constrictors, non-venomous. I always tell people, even if you think you know what species it is, you want to leave the snake alone, just observe it from a distance. Typically when people see a snake at McConnell Springs, they see it very quickly just going across a trail. Maybe it's basking and you spook it and then it goes off into the woods and pretty much disappears once it gets under the tree line. But the snakes are pretty abundant here. mostly the garter snakes are smaller species so they they survive by eating small insects slugs any small animal they could catch black rat snake is our largest snake that we have in Kentucky lengthwise so they can be about eight feet long and so they're they're a pretty long snake so they're mostly going to survive off of catching mice rats small rabbits even a small squirrel we see probably thousands of species of insects more than I'm qualified to identify and a lot of the more interesting insects that you're going to see at McConnell Springs will be in the even time fireflies, butterflies during the day, moths. So we have a couple of areas designed for pollinators. So we have our rain garden, we have a few landscaped areas, and our meadow area that have pollinator plants to try to attract insects. And so you can have a really good opportunity to see dozens and dozens of species of pollinators around those areas. We do have an active beehive at McConnell Springs, so we have a honey beehive that's managed by a volunteer from the Friends of McConnell Springs. We're anticipating getting a second hive soon, and hopefully if that works out well, then we'll actually be able to produce honey from McConnell Springs within the next year. And so the beehive's very active. We see natural bees that you would find here, like mason bees, wood-boring bees, and just dozens and dozens of species of insects. We regularly have programs that focus on the wildlife at McConnell Springs. A lot of our junior naturalist programs, regular reoccurring programs, will focus on different animals and different species of animals and wildlife in the park because it's so abundant here and it's one of the more interesting topics that people want to know about. And so that's what we typically try to focus on and make sure that we're teaching people about what's going on at that specific time of the year as far as the wildlife goes. So in June, our Junior Naturalist program will focus on pollinators because it's June is Pollinator Awareness Month. And so it's a good opportunity to learn about monarch butterflies, other pollinators, obviously the bees that we have at McConnell Springs. So we've got a lot of interesting things that we're going to be able to show and a lot of cool things that kids can take away from that program. For more information about the park that you may want to find about the wildlife, you can check out lexingtonky.gov and the McConnell Springs page. And then the Friends of McConnell Springs website has some really good, interesting information about the wildlife. And I would recommend people check out the McConnell Springs Flickr page. We have some beautiful shots on our Flickr page. So if you just search McConnell Springs Flickr, there's some beautiful shots of plants, wildlife, and even some of the events here at the park. Be sure to tune in in the coming weeks for this continuing series. The Bluegrass 10,000 is back with a few modifications. Here's what to know. Bluegrass 10,000 began in 1976, so this is our 45th year. Last year, the 44th year, we only ran virtual, so this year we really missed it. We wanted to bring it back, and in previous years we've had many spectators. We've had an award ceremony down at that classic loop on Richmond Road where you do a U-turn to come back in downtown. We usually had the Young at Heart band playing some bluegrass music to kind of cheer on participants. But this year, because we still want to do in person, but we need to remain socially distanced and safe, we will not have spectators, we will not have the awards ceremony, we will still give out the awards. And we will still get to run in person on Saturday, July 3rd. and we are capping it at 2,000 people. We normally have about 4,000 runners that run through downtown at the Bluegrass 10,000. So we are also doing 12 waves of 175 people approximately to continue our social distancing. It's spaced apart three minutes apiece in order to socially distance the runners, but we still get to run downtown and do our classic loop all the way out Richmond Road, turn back around to get our 10K in. We also have our one-mile fun run, which we will run around downtown as well, and runners or walkers can participate in that fun run. So we have runners from elite, six-minute, five-minute miles, all the way to people that are more like my pace that are 12 minute, 13 minute miles. But right now we also have in our first wave wheelchair and hand crank runners. And so we do have awards for all of those divisions as well. The awards are divided by age and also device. If they do a wheelchair, hand crank, we have awards for those. And then every five years we have the age groups. beginning at 16. The cutoff date is actually the 29th of June for in-person running, but I think it will probably fill up before then. And virtual can sign up all the way to 4th of July weekend. Good Times Racing is our timer and John's Run Walk Shop is also doing a 10k training program. So you can sign up through them as well, gtraces.com, or lexingtonky.com will take you to that run sign-up page. Everybody gets a T-shirt, and the T-shirt design this year is retro to flashback to that 1976 year that we started running. So it has kind of a retro, muted colors feel. They're really cool. Everybody from virtual, fun run, and in-person Bluegrass 10,000 racers will receive a t-shirt. So you can go to runsignup.com and look for the Bluegrass 10,000. You can also look on our Facebook page. We have a Bluegrass 10,000 event there. When we come back, esports. Thank you. Welcome back to Lexington Now. Parks and Recreation is offering a new activity that has been exploding in popularity, eSports. Here's Clyde Dean. Esports are the competitive version of video games. So what we're doing is we're looking to take video games to the next level. We're trying to give people an outlet for competition but indoors. So we are going to start off with sports games. We're looking to start with Madden, NBA 2K, FIFA, and Rocket League. League and again we're just looking to give people, students, adults, anyone really an outlet to compete in video games. Right now we do have Xbox One, we have Playstation 4, Playstation 5 and we're going to introduce some computer games. It's just based on what games are on each console. So we are going to have games like League of Legends. We are going to do a lot of MOBAs and a lot of strategy style video games in our later seasons. So we have three age divisions. We have 6th grade through 8th grade. We have high school, which is 9th through 12th. And then we have a 18 plus for all adults. So right now, the leagues will be an eight game season with a tournament afterwards. And that's for the sports games. When we introduce League of Legends and some of the other strategy-based games, we will run more tournaments rather than leagues. Since we are in COVID restrictions, everything is going to be online-based. So you would have to have the video game, the console, in order to register and play that game. Post-COVID, hopefully, we are moving towards trying to get a game room. and with that location we want to give people an opportunity to come play who don't have the games and consoles or can't afford the games and consoles. I want this esport program to appeal to everyone. It doesn't matter if you're physically athletic or not. You know a lot of video games you're using your mind and your thumbs and I think that's something that everyone can do. You know, I want the middle schoolers to be able to say that they're, you know, doing something competitive, even if they're not doing something physical. Same for high schools, same for adults. I want the eSports program to eventually encompass, you know, a lot of the Internet safety. I just want it to be a safe space. You know, I want middle schoolers, I want high schoolers who are being graded a lot on certain, you know, things in school. I want them to use esports as an avenue to get better grades, to encourage them to be better in life. If you want more information, go to our website, lexingtonky.gov, and just search esports in the search tab. Just click on the esports tab, and we'll have all current information for you. You can find all the parks information you need on the city's website, lexingtonky.gov slash parks. Did you know that in Lexington, most construction projects need to be dewatered? So what exactly is dewatering and why is it necessary? We asked Roy Berger. In construction, you have excavation of pits and you have excavation of trenches, which normally is below the groundwater table and also floods during the time of stormwater events, and it has to be dewatered. The dewatering of that creates sediment, and you cannot discharge that sediment directly to the stream, so therefore you have to do some type of treatment. A typical dewatering is what we have set up here. You dewater from the trench or the excavation into some type of filter bag, sediment pond, or straw bale barricades. And that filters water out and takes the sediment out and lets it go back to the stream naturally. Sediment bags is a geotech bag that you pump the water in and it filters the water out and then lets the clean water either go through the vegetative strip or back to the stream. Silt fence you can put that into a basin type setup and line it with straw bales and so forth and you can pump into that and it filters out the sediment. it's a pond and you pump the water into the pond which is the most common method and it spreads out slows down allows the sediment to settle out in the clear water to run out the other end sometimes one sedimentation pond to do it there may be a series of sedimentation ponds what a sedimentation pond does is lets it spread out settle and then discharge out the other end you can either run them in single or series sediment bags you can run them in series they're more conducive to linear projects like line-like work so work because they're easier to move you can use them in conjunction with straw bales, vegetative strips and so forth and much easier to maintain. That is an area that's got a lot of vegetation that allowed the water to spread out and settle out and in the vegetative area and then clean the water before it goes back to the stream. They have to be maintained. They cannot be just put in and forgot about. What is the number one option for construction sites? No one option will work for any one particular construction site. You may have to use a series of these options for construction sites because most of the line work is moving and you can't a permanent structure in for any type of sailing and on a moving project. Music Under the RMP, each resident project representative has to note on his daily reports that he's looked at the dewatering operations and everything is working properly. If there's any variation where it's not working properly, that has to be documented. and also they do a weight inspection for ESC. All these methods can be found on the Lexington Stormwater site and the forms can be found in the project construction section of the website. It varies from project to project. The worst thing you can get into is a project where you've got a tunnel going on or grinding rock and so forth because the rock dust is harder to eliminate. The best thing we found is sedimentation ponds for the rock. We're just trying to keep the Lexington streams clean and safe and unpluted. Many urban county government meetings are still happening virtually, but we bring most of these meetings to you live. Check out our website for the most accurate and up-to-date coverage of city business. And we continue to keep you up to date on how the city is handling the pandemic via our official COVID-19 response site, including testing and vaccination sites. Simply click on the banner at the top of our homepage. That's all for now, but as always, you can keep up with us on social media, check out the latest traffic updates on Twitter at LexRex, or catch our live traffic cams on LexingtonKY.gov. For all of us at LexTV, I'm Neil Noah, and that's it. for now. Well, good afternoon. This is one of those afternoons where we can be so proud of one of our own, who is an inspiration and lifts us all up through his talent, through his personality. I got to meet Milo again just a few minutes ago. We had met each other several years ago in Moorhead. And let's all start by saying what we want to. Milo, congratulations. Milo is an inspiration not just for bringing honor to Kentucky, but what he was able to do through his art. Milo has taken one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, losing his dad at just 13 years old. And he has turned his pain into hope and inspiration for people around the world. It'll be on a platform where everybody around the world gets to see it. It takes a really special, powerful, strong individual to be able to do that. Everyone on Team Kentucky has been rooting for Milo throughout this competition, and we are so proud, not only that he's the winner, but it's that he turned out such an inspirational piece that speaks to all of us, and now it gets to be on a global platform. Even more important, it honors his dad's memory. He gets to be in this very special place while recognizing a very special person. Milo, thank you for pouring into our young people so much that you do, from your artwork to in a minute I want to talk about your charity. And I know that they, those individuals that you've been helping, are proud of you today. Your family, your friends, your teachers, your school leaders, everybody is here because of how excited we are about this young but very tall man's work. You know, sometimes our young people, when they are willing to have the courage to do what Milo did, Sometimes they participate and they lose, but they win for being a part of it. And sometimes they win big, no matter what. Being here to support them and help them through the process is so important. And that's what Milo has been doing for so many. My administration has always put education first because of its life-changing ability. When you are the first, the second, or even the third in your family to graduate from high school, from college, from a trade school, you pick. It changes not only your life, but every generation's to come. It's how we end poverty. It's how we become better people. It's how we move forward to who we're supposed to be and not just who we are right now. And that's why here at the end of this month and then for each of the next months, we're gonna be giving out 15 full scholarships to Kentucky students who get their COVID-19 vaccines. You can learn more and sign up for the drawings at shotamillion.ky.gov. Milo, I hope you'll sign up for that drawing too. But you've already gotten a pretty good start on your education because of your accomplishment today. Google, thank you for investing $30,000 in Milo's education. And to Google, thank you for donating $50,000 in a technology package to his school. And just like Milo, this win today is truly selfless in that his classmates are winning too with that package and what it's going to mean for them. helping other kids and teenagers like him, isn't anything new to Milo though. It's what he's already been doing through his non-profit, now help me, the Sanguine? Sanguine. Sanguine Path. See, he even pronounces words better than I do. The organization's mission is to bring love and hope to children 18 and under affected by challenging experiences through the provision of resources such as care packages and back to school kits. He wants to keep helping people in the future cardiologist. I thank Milo today for reminding us what values truly are. Reminding us that they are not any position on political issues but things like generosity, kindness, and love that he is showing through his art and through his nonprofit. As COVID-19 as our crisis comes to an end after 15 difficult months we're coming together to build a better Kentucky for all our families. and there's people like Milo that are going to be leading the charge. Now, I've talked a little bit lately about the fact that I think we're moving from a time of great difficulty to a time of great opportunity, and I think we're seeing the talent that is going to lead us in that opportunity right here today. So with that, I'm going to sign an acclamation in honor of Milo and his achievement. Well, I'm going to be presenting an acclimation. Milo, if you'll join me up here. All right, whereas Milo Golding, an 11th grader at Lexington Christian Academy, is the 2021 national winner of Google's Doodle for Google contest, and millions of users will see his winning artwork featured on Google's homepage for a day. And whereas as the national winner, Milo, you, will receive a $30,000 college scholarship, which is amazing, along with Google Hardware, his school Lexington Christian Academy will receive a $50,000 technology package. And whereas Google received tens of thousands of submissions from students across the United States from kindergarten to 12th grade for this year's contest, then Milo's award-winning artwork was selected in May as one of five national finalists. And, whereas Milo's doodle creation, Finding Hope, was in response to the prompt, I am strong because. The intricate doodle, featuring a caring parent and small child, speaks to the resilience and hope that lives in all of us. It was inspired by his late father's advice to find inner strength through hope, despite the obstacles one may face in life. And whereas Milo's artwork represents his father's words and his personal and incredible journey to find hope and remain strong after suddenly losing his father to a sudden heart attack when Milo is 13 years old. He is hopeful for the future and his aspirations to become a cardiologist demonstrates his resilience and desire to honor his father's advice. And not on here, but I learned he is about to go to the Governor's Scholars Program. And whereas Milo also founded a charity called the Sanguine Path to help provide hope for children ages 18 and under who have lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Now, therefore, I, Andy Beshear, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do hereby pay tribute to Milo Golding as the first young Kentuckian to win the national 2021 competition. Congratulations. Thank you so much, Governor. Thank you. Governor Beshear, thank you so much. We so appreciate that you're here for this exciting news. And I want to make sure to recognize our council members who are with us. We have Councilmember Whitney Baxter. There you are. Council member James Brown, council member Liz Sheehan. Are there other council members here? Don't want to miss anyone. And we also want to thank a very supportive team of members from Lexington Christian Academy. They were not going to let you come here without them. So we have head of school, Dr. Scott Wells and Julie, his wife, High school principal, Dr. Cassandra Kett and Dan Kett. Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Lisa Bacon. Teacher, Robin Eiler. College counselor, Heather Riley. We might have even more. They love you just as we do and honor you. Thank you all for being here from Lexington Christian Academy. And we want to make sure to thank Google for supporting the creativity of our youth with this contest. Milo, congratulations again on this amazing honor. Your doodle for Google, here it is, is amazing. And tomorrow, people all over the world will click on Google and Milo's doodle will show up all over the world. It's awesome. So I know that we all feel the emotion that you put into this and the heartfelt story that it tells. I also want to recognize and honor Yanya, Milo's mother, who you must be so very proud of your son. Yes, thank you. Lexington has so many fantastic youth. Milo is a perfect example of this. And all of you from Lexington Christian Academy know this. You see these youth every day. And out of the tens of thousands of submissions for the Doodle for Google contest, one of our very own right here in Lexington rose to the top. I'm so impressed by Milo's thoughtfulness, his dedication to supporting our community with his charity, Sanguine Path. There are not too many rising seniors who have their own charity that supports youth who have lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Milo is truly an exceptional young man. Now, the first thing I want to do is, on behalf of the city, I want to show our support and love for Milo as the 2021 Doodle for Google winner. Yay! And I have a few things for you. First, I want to pin the official Lexington logo pin on you, if you will. We talked about this. This is how it goes. See, we're the same height. Thank you. Thank you. And we chatted earlier, and he knows that this is the representation. It is the great racehorse Lexington. And Lexington received permission several years ago to color it blue and become our logo. So next, I want to thank Visit Lex because Visit Lex helped us in accumulating some very special items that are Lexington-centric to show our Lexington pride for you. So we have a basket of things here, a bag, and I think there could be a doodle pad in there. I'm not sure. So congratulations. Yes, you're welcome. So congratulations, we are all very proud of you. Yay, let's hear it for Milo. All right, Milo, do you wanna say a few words? Yes, I'd love to. Let's put it right here. Okay. Thank you, Governor, and thank you, Mayor. I'm very honored to be here. First, I would love to thank my community and my school for all the support and encouragement I've received throughout this entire process. Throughout this entire process. I'd also love to thank Google for providing this opportunity to kids like me who want to share their message and their story through their artwork. I am very and truly proud to be able to represent the state of Kentucky in this competition. Regardless of the uncertainties or fluctuations in life we may face, hope is always there. It is just our job to find that hope in order to move forward. I believe in hope. Hope has allowed me to move past life obstacles and overcome adversity during times of hardship. Thank you all for allowing me to be here today. and I am truly honored and humbled to have the opportunity to share my story and the message of hope with you all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you all so much. If the media has questions, we can do one-on-ones or, you know, I know you'll want to talk to this fabulous young man. So thank you. Congratulations. All right. Amen. But if I had to do it all again I wouldn't change a thing Cause this love is everlasting Suddenly Life has new meaning to me There's beauty up above And things we never take notice of You wake up and suddenly you're in love Ooh, yeah Girl, you're everything a man can want and more One thousand words are not enough To say what I feel inside Holding hands as we walk along the shore Never felt like this before Now you're all I'm living for Suddenly Life has new meaning to me There's beauty up above And things we never take notice of You wake up and suddenly you're in love Each day I pray This love affair would last forever Suddenly Life has new meaning to me There's beauty up above And things we never take notice of Wake up suddenly You're in love There's beauty up above Things we never take notice of You wake up and suddenly You're in love Ooh Ooh. The night was clear and the moon was yellow. And the leaves came tumbling down. I was standing on the corner when I heard my bulldog bark. He was barking at the two men who were gambling in the dark. It was Stagley and Billy, two men who gambolade. Stagley threw seven, Billy swore that he threw eight. Stagger Lee Stagger Lee Joe Billy I can't let you go with that You've won all my money In my brand new Stocks and hats Stagger Lee Went home And he got in his 44 And I'm going to the farm Just to pay that Debt I owe Go Stagger Lee Look out, then. Come, Slag. Hey! Hey! Slag-a-lee went to the barum And he stood across the barum door Said, now nobody move And he pulled his body forward Slag-a-lee Oh, stag-a-dee, bad belly Oh, please don't take my life I got three little children and a very sickly wife Oh, stag-a-dee, oh, stag-a-dee Shot belly Oh, he shot that poor boy so bad Till the Buddha came to fill it It broke me far, tend to glass Oh, stag-a-dee, oh, stag-a-dee Oh, stag-a-dee, oh, stag-a-dee Go Stephanie! Get out of the Stephanie! Go Stephanie! Go Stephanie! Go Stephanie! Go Stephanie! Go Stephanie! You and me, we used to be together Every day together, always I really feel that I'm losing my best friend I can't believe this could be the end It looks as though you're letting go And if it's real, I don't want to know Don't speak, I know just what you said So please stop explaining Don't tell me cause it hurts Don't speak, I know what you're thinking I don't need your reasons Don't tell me cause it hurts All memories, they can be inviting But some are altogether mighty, frightening As we talk, you and I With my head in my hand, just give me cry I don't speak enough to what you're saying So please stop explaining Don't tell me cause it hurts Love to love, love Don't speak, I know what you're thinking And I don't need your reasons Don't tell me cause it hurts It's all ending You gotta stop pretending Who we are You and me I can see us dying Oh please Don't speak I know just what you said So please stop explaining Don't tell me cause it hurts No, no, don't speak I know what you're thinking And that I'll need your reasons Don't tell me cause it hurts Don't tell me cause it hurts I know what you're saying So please stop explaining Don't speak, don't speak, don't speak I know what you're thinking And I don't need your reasons I know you're good I know you're good I know you're real good Oh, la-la-la-la La-la-la-la No, no Ooh, ooh Push, push me down I'm out. A winter's day In a deep and dark December I am alone Gazing from my window To the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow I have a rock, I have an island I've built walls A fortress deep and mighty That none may penetrate I have no need of friendship Friendship causes pain It's laughter and it's loving I disdain I am a rock I am an island Don't talk of love But I've heard the word before It's sleeping in my memory I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that I've died If I never loved, I never would have cried I am a rock, I am an island I have my books And my poetry to protect me I am shielded in my armor Hiding in my room Safe within my womb I touch no one and no one touches me I am a rock I am an island And a rock feels no pain And an island never cries Thank you. Headin' into twilight, spreadin' out her wings tonight She got you jumpin' off the deck, shovin' into overdrive Highway through the danger zone I'll take you right in through the danger zone You never say hello to you, but you just get it on the red light, no, no. You never know what you can do until you get it outside, until you get to go. I'm going to take it right in. To the danger zone Highway to the danger zone Riding through the danger zone Highway to the danger zone I'm going to take it right into the danger zone. Highway to the danger zone. Highway to the danger zone. Highway to the danger zone. Gonna take you riding through the danger zone Highway to the danger zone Riding through the danger zone Highway to the danger zone I was the lonely one Wondering what went wrong Why love had gone And left me lonely, God I was so confused Feeling like I'd just been you Then you came to me And my loneliness left me I used to think I was tied to a heartache That was the heartbreak But now that I've found you Even the nights are better Now that we're here together Even the nights are better Since I found you Even the days are brighter When someone you love's beside you Even the nights are better Since I found you You, you knew just what to do Cause you had been lonely too And you showed me how to lose the pain And you did more than mend a broken heart Cause now you've made a fire start And I, I can see That you feel the same way I never dreamed there'd be someone to hold me Until you told me And now that I've found you Even the nights are better Now that we're here together Even the nights are better Since I found you Even the days are brighter When someone you love's beside you Even the nights are better Since I found you I never dreamed there'd be someone to hold me Until you told me and now that I found you Even the nights are better Now that we're here together Even the nights are better Since I found you Even the days are brighter When someone you love's beside you Even the nights are better Since I found you Even the nights are better Now that we're here together Even the nights are better To tell my dear She said it's lonely here tonight She's always sad when she's alone She said I need you here tonight She couldn't wait till I get home She loved me And that's all I need to know She's part of my life Just a part I won't let go She said, love me tomorrow Won't you please promise me Love me tomorrow I'm no lie today Love me tomorrow Pull it back Can't you see I need you more Than yesterday Oh no it's always Cold at night It's always lonely Till the dawn And though it's not what we both want I know when she's there I'll carry on Because she loves me And that's all I need to know She's part of my life Just a part I won't let go Thanks to say Love me tomorrow Won't you be promised me Love me tomorrow Like today Love me tomorrow Everything Can't you see I need you moving Any words you can say Thank you. She loves me And that's all I need to know She's part of my life Just a part I won't let go And she said Love me tomorrow Won't you please promise me Love me tomorrow like today Love me tomorrow Bring it back, can't you see Need you, my father, yesterday Love me tomorrow Love me tomorrow like today Love me tomorrow I need you much more than yesterday Love me tomorrow Love me tomorrow Thank you. You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain Too much love drives a man insane You broke my will, but what a thrill Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire I landed in love while I thought it was funny You came along and moved now, honey I've changed my mind This world is fine Right on the fire Kisses, baby Mmm Feels good Hold me, baby Well, I want to love you like I love you should You're fine So kind I want to tell this world that you might, might, might That you might, little Dungeon, that's what all I come I'm real on earth, but it's no way It's fun. Come on, baby. It drives me crazy. And this girl, it's just great. Balls of fire. Yeah. Hi everyone, it's Jody from the Lexington Senior Center with a World of Dance class for you today. Our World of Dance class uses a variety of music from around the world with easy choreography to give you a great workout for your body and your brain. Before we get started, make sure the area that you're dancing in is free of any trip hazards. If you're dancing on carpet today, you might want to dance in your stocking feet or your bare feet as sometimes the tread on the bottom of your shoe will get caught in the carpet and make it difficult to move. Also, have some water nearby so you can take a water break. And I will be stopping between each song to give you a heads up on the choreography for each dance. So let's get started. Our warm-up, we're going to do just some basic warm-up moves. but we are going to include a grapevine, which is just step, cross, step, and touch, and to the left, the same thing. And then we're going to do a V-step, which is two steps up and two steps back with the right leg lead. Here we go. Give me a nice, easy march. We're just warming up, getting that blood flowing. Keep marching. Move those arms. Now take that march wide Here we go Backs are nice and tall Bellies in, shoulders pressed down Good posture Keep going Alright, plant those feet We're going to do some shoulder rolls Here we go Up and around Squeeze at the top Up, around, good job Now squeeze, release Squeeze, release Press down when you release. Good job. One more. Now reach across. Step and tap and reach. Nice and easy. Now reach up if you can. Or just keep reaching across. That's perfectly fine. How about some heel taps to the front? Here we go. Keep going. Now toe behind. Tap that tummy heart, step to tap. Perfect. Great fun, right? Here we go. With your clap. Step, cross, step. Again. Now give me a V-step. Up and back. Up, up, back, back. There you go. Pump those arms. V-step. Great fun. We step up and back. Keep going. One more. Now lift the knee. Now if you don't want to lift just yet, you can have it. That's fine. Or lift it. Push those arms down. Now give me a hamstring pull. Step and pull. Squeeze those shoulder blades in the back. Keep going. Good job. Nice and easy. How about a great front leg? And left. Again. V-step. Up and back. Pump those arms. Raise one right. With a clap. Keep going. V-step up and back. Now shake your hips. Front and back. Push, push. Push and pull. Side to side. Front and back. Good job. Circle around. Go back and stop. Circle back and stop. Keep going. Good job. Loosen up those hips. We're going to be using them all the way around. Again. One more. Great line. Again. Be step. Up and back. Great vibes. Back to toe. Pick up those feet. B-step. Good job. Now hips. Back to side. Front to back. Front, back. Push. Cool. Side to side. front and back half circle here we go with the hips all around again one more big circle around good job nice warm up alright we are gonna get on with our first song and this one is called let's get loud so we're gonna take a triple step forward triple step and pump the arms the arms right and left and then we're going to walk it back now if you don't have a lot of room you can do these pumps in place okay you don't have to travel if you don't have the room then we're going to take side salsa so you're just touching out right and left right together left together we're going to cross it over cross step cha cha cha cha cha cha is just three little steps cross step cha cha cha then we're gonna push our hips out to the side to the right first so you're using those hips and then we're going to the left we'll also have some other in here which is just a walk in but you got to use those hips okay so pushing outside to side and we're gonna pump it up come forward and walk back again all right this is let's get loud So walk this place. Now, then, then. Move those hips. Get ready to come forward. Ready? Here we go. And pump. Now, you're playing. Now, walk it back. Eight counts. Push it up and pump. There you go. Walking back. One more time. Come on. Rock it down. Rock it back. All right, soft to side to side. Here we go. Right and left. Good job. Nice and easy. You can just tap it if you want to. You don't have to do all those little steps in there. All right, cross that right leg over. Cross, step, cha-cha-cha. Cross, step, one, two, three, or cross, step together. Cross, step together. Keep going. Now you can use your shoulders here too. Up or down. Side to side. Good job. Keep going. Now we can tap it out. Alright. Cross it over. Cross it. Use your shoulders and kick hands. Good job. Keep going. Cross. Last time. Bring it forward. Pump it. Walk it back. Pump it. Pump it. Walk it. Get ready with those hips. Push your leg. Two, three. Keep pushing. Come on, let me see them. Other side to the left. Just jump. Watch the hips. Where they gain place. You're just walking, but you're moving those hips too. Pump it up. Pump it up. Pump it up. Pump it up. Triple step. Keep going. Walk it back. Good job. Keep going. Ready? Right and left. Good job. Keep going. Cross it over. Go. Cross it over. Chop, chop, chop. There you go. Keep going. You're doing great. Come forward. Rock it back. Come forward. And back. Pump it up. Come on, raise the root. Keep going. Take it back. Looking good. Pump it over, here we go. Keep going. Use the shoulders. Walk the stand. Jump forward. Jump it. Jump it back. Pump it up. Good job. Strong arms. There you go. You did it. All right. We're going to slow it down just a little bit, and we're going to do a mambo cha-cha. So, on this one, we're going to take forward on the right, back on the left, forward, cha-cha-cha, back, cha-cha-cha. Now we're going to step behind, so right leg first, right behind, cha-cha-cha, left behind, cha-cha-cha, right behind, and left behind, cha-cha-cha. Now we're going to cross over again, except this time we're going to push our hips. So we're going to go cross, push, push, cha-cha-cha, and cross and push. Push those hips forward and back, or you can make them go in a circle, whatever way you want to do it. Then we have taps to the front, six taps. On the seventh, we're going to reach up and come down and go back to cross. And then we have some toe taps to the front, reaching forward, opposite arm, opposite leg. If you have good shoulders, we'll reach up then too. All right? This is Pia La Canela, and it's a cha-cha. So just get the beat. We're going to start with that right foot forward. Back on the left foot. Ready? Here we go. Face it forward. Cha-cha-cha. Back. Cha-cha-cha. Cha-cha-cha. On that cha-cha, move those hips. Backs are tall. Step behind with the right foot. Back behind. Cha-cha-cha. Cha-cha-cha. One, two, three. Breathe. Just step in. Step. Same thing. Last time. Cross that right leg over. Push and push. Now cha-cha-cha. Cross and push and push. Reach out and push. Push and push and push. One more. Tap to the front. Two, three, four, five. Life one, reach out. Cross it over. And chop, chop, chop. Cross it over. So push and push and push. Last line. Tap to the front. Now, shoulders are free. One. Reach it up and begin. Or you can keep reaching forward. Whatever works for you. Throw it on the right foot. Cha, cha, cha. Here you go. Looking good. Let me see those hips. Cross it over. Push and push and push. And chop, chop, chop. Push and push. Push and push. Back to the front, tap it. Five, last one, reach it up. Cross it. Push it. Good job, but again, cross it. Last time. Now tap it to the front. Reach up. Last one, big reach. Good job. All right, get a drink. Hope you're doing okay. Don't forget, you can sit out any dance you want to if you want to take a break. This next song is Cheeky Tom, and it's a little bit faster. So we're going to start out walking forward with a shimmy. Now shimmy is just shaking your shoulder side to side, okay? So we're going to go one, two, three, four, drum, one, two, three, four, and then we're going to walk back and pump our arms, okay? Pump, eight, count, okay? You can pump your arms. You can also contract and release your abs while you're walking backwards. We're then going to do side touches or side salsa, okay? Then we're going to do stomp and drag, stomp and drag, or just stomp, pick it up, whichever way you want to do it. And again, we've got hips in here, so we take it side, side, side, and then around, big circle. Side, side, side, and then around. All right, here we go, cheeky tongue. Get ready, raise them up. Four steps with a shake. Here we go. Two, three, four, and go. Two, three, four, come back. Eight counts. Good job, side to side. We're gonna come forward again with those shimmies. Come on, shake it. Take the shoulders, come in. Pump it. Side to side. Remember, you can just tap it nice and easy. If you wanna take a little break. Are you gonna step each time? Good job. Stomp it. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Speed stomp. Stomp forward. Go. Puppet. Again, shimmy. One, two, three, four. Jump, two, three, four. On the back. Get ready with those hips. Here we go. Shake, shake, shake. Take it around. Again, shake, shake, shake. Take a more wrist. Arms up, shake it. Take it around. Shake it. There you go. Side to side. You're doing great. Keep going. Remember you can just tap it. Make it easier or harder. Listen to your body. Let's stomp it. Stomp and pull. Perfect. Deep down. You're doing great. Bring it forward. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, pump it. Forward. Stomp, jump, pump it. Hit, here we go. Take it around. And hit, hit, hit, take it around. Again, arms up. Around. All right, we're going to stomp, back to stomp. Right and left. No. Don't care about it. Keep going. You're doing great. Side to side. Back to toe. Good posture, always. Remember, step in two and two. Bring it forward. Drum it. Come on. Hit those drums. Jump forward. Jump. Take it back. Grab the hips. Take it around. Side to side. Good job. Looking good. Arms up. Side to side. One last shake. Good job. All right. Grab his drink. We're going to slow it down a little bit. And this is an all-time Dean Martin song. This is Mambo Italiano. So we're going to take Mambo, like we did before, forward, together, back, together, forward, together, back, together. Then we have a bouncing hip circle, which is just your hips are going to go around in a circle. but you're gonna bounce on your heels, okay? And take them around. We also have our arms, we're gonna slide them single, single, double. So you're just sliding, sliding, double. And then we're gonna do mambo right and left, side to side. And at the end we have a little hip, wash the window, hip, wash the window, hip. So this is Dean Martin with Mambo Italiano. I'm going to slay the ring. This is a fun song. Keep slaying. Nice, easy mambo. All right, we're going to start with that right foot going forward. Ready, and here we go. Forward on the right, back left. One more. Bounding hip circle. You got it. Do it again. Forward, right, back, left. Back and forth. Good job. Hips. Now your arm's gonna slide. Single, single, double. Single, single, double. Keep going. Reach them up. Hits. Forward on the right. Back on the left. Again. One more. Good job. Hit circle. Tap to the front. Right and left. We're going to go right and left. Here we go. Out to the right. Out to the left. Good job. Push those hips. Hit circle. Slide those arms. Single, single, double. Single, single, double. One more time. Hit circles. Board on the right. Back to 12. Hips circle. Now tap to the front, right and left. Keep tapping. Now hips are going. Circle around. Circle. Circle. Pushing it out. There you go. Good job. All right. Get a drink. Hope you're doing okay. Don't forget, you can always take a break if you need one and then join back in. Also remember, you don't have to do things exactly as I do, just keep moving and have fun. That's the main thing. Okay, our next song is Three Little Birds. In this one we're gonna start with a stomp, one, two, three. Stomp, stomp, a syncopated clap, and then we're gonna push back. Just little low punches, right and left, okay? Then we're gonna take our right foot, we're gonna touch front, side, back, together. left, front, side, back, together, front, side, back, together. Now we have a new step in here, it's called smash the bug. So what we're going to do is we're going to stomp, stomp, stomp, smash the bug. So all you got to do, the ball of your foot's on the floor, take that ankle in and out. Okay, that's when you're smashing your bug. So stomp, stomp, stomp, smash the bug. Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, smash the bug. You can also, when you smash your bug, make your hip go up and down. Okay? Then we're going to have knees, knee lifts, single, single, double. Okay? Single, single, so you're just pushing down with the arms. This is three little birds. Get ready, stomp and clap. You might recognize this song. Here we go. Stomp and clap. Stomp. One, two, three. Stomp. Take it back. Push. Stomp forward again. Stomp. One, two, three. Take it back. All right. Right leg. Front, side, back. Here we go. Front, side, back. together. You got it. Keep going. Side, back. Get ready. We're going to stomp that butt. Here we go. Stomp, stomp, stomp. Stomp, stomp. Stomp, stomp. Come on. Stomp, stomp. Stomp, stomp. Good. Last one. Lift up. Double right. Single, single, double. Keep going. Last one. Right leg, front, side, back. Front, side, back. Legs are heavy low, that's why we dance. Stomp and clap. One more. Push back. Good job. Stomp and clap. Push it. Alright. Stomp, stomp, smash the buzz. Stomp, stomp, stop. Smash it. Lift the knees. One, two, double. Single, single, double. Good job. Front side back. Tap, tap, tap. That's all you're doing there. Stop and clap. Don't worry. Push it. Everything's gonna be alright. Stop and clap. Push it. Let's get the buzz again. Ready? Here we go. Stomp. Smash the buzz. Good job. Go in for the lead. Come on. Get them up. Stomp. Push back. Stomping fast. Push it. Come on, strong push it. Front slide back, here we go. Doing great. Keep it going. Good job. Nice job, guys. All right, you get a drink. Okay, our next song comes from India, and this is a Bhangra, and it's called Shant. So there's a couple different sections to it, but it repeats. So these are all new kind of moves for you. So we're going to start, we're going to cross at the heel. So cross, step, cross, step. You can keep your hands on your hips or you can add the arms, cross, open, cross, open. okay you don't have to add the arms until you get your feet you can just keep them right here the second move is going to be a knee a heel up down so you're going to take heel up down heel up down heel up down heel up down again hands can be here or if you want to add the arms we're going to change the light bulbs so we're going to pull down and flick the wrists okay if you got back shoulder you can do it right here okay or you don't have to do it all so it's heel up down heel up down and the arms it looks like this okay all right we also have a scoop in here so we're gonna scoop we're gonna do a little vine scoop step step says three steps or you can just step step step together if you don't want to do the vine then our last section we're gonna hit the thighs hands come up over your eyes and open so it's down up close oh And you can add a bounce here. You'll hear the music, and you'll want to bounce. Up, close, open. And in the last section, we're going to take little steps to the right and left. And our arms are going to be up, and we're going to sort of put them up and down, and walk, two, three, four, five, six, seven, other way. Now, you can go down in plie and make it a little bit more difficult, or you can stay up here. Okay, so this is a bhangra, and this is shant. We're going to start with those heels across. Here we go. Heel across. Just tap it. Now, if you want to add the arms, you can. Just keep them right here. Cross. Open. Good job. Keep going. Now I'm going to do heel up, down. Ready? Here we go. Heel up, down. Heel up, down. Heel up, down. Heel up, down. Keep going. Up, down. Back, on top. Now take it to the right scoop. One, two, three, left. One, two, three. Good job. Again. And heel up, down, you can add the arms. Change those lightbulbs with the rest. Scoop it up, here we go. One, two, three. One, two, three, keep going. Good job. All right, get ready, slap those thighs. Down, up, cross, open. Down, up, box, open your hands down, it's a few by two. Last time, walk it to the right, lift the steps. And left, one. Again, right. Left, back to the beginning, cross the heels. Good job, Rory, you can stay here. Keep going Cross, open, cross, open Keep going You're doing great Heel up, down Heel up, down Good job This one really works your brain Ready? Let's go One, two, three One, two, three. Keep going. Heel. Heel up, down, heel up. You don't have to put a bounce in there. You can do it without a bounce. Doing great. Heel it up. One, two, three. Keep going. Slap those thighs. Close, open, down, up. Close and open. Again. One more. Walking to the right. Bounce those arms to the left. One, two, three, four. Again. One more. Slap those sides. Up, cross, open. Good job. Cross the ankles. Keep going, we're almost there. Good job, nice job. That one made you think a little bit because of all the different moves and the different music. So now we're gonna do mumbo number five. This is Lubega and we're gonna start out with some toe taps to the front. Just a nice easy toe taps. Then we're gonna take a V step with claps. Up, up, back, back, up, up, back, back. Then we're going to walk. We're going to walk, cross, step out, hip, hip, hip. So step, step, hip, hip, hip. Step, step, hip, hip, hip. Then we're going to do a little Charleston. Then all we're going to do is touch the right foot front, step back, touch the left foot behind, step up. touch, step, touch, step. Some of you probably already know this. Touch back, Charleston step. And then we're going to have some kicks. We're going to go single, single, double, kick, single, single. If your balance is a problem, just tap it out to the front. You don't have to lift it, okay? And then there's one little section in there. We're going to step and slide and shake our hips step and slide shake your hips this is mambo number five We're gonna get ready with the toe tap to the front. Here we go. Tap. E tap. Now we're gonna do that V step with the clap. Here we go. Back, back. Up, up. There you go. T's going. Now we're gonna walk to the right and we're gonna go to the right and we're gonna go to the right. Now we're going to walk to the right. And walk, walk, shake your hips. And walk, walk. Step, walk. Knee go. And the arms are going to heaven. Knee go. Last time. We're going to do that challenge. Touch with the right. Half, step, half behind. Tap, swing knee on. You got it. Tap, step. Easy. You're doing great. Don't get it up. Last time. We're going to do those kicks. Here we go. Single, single now, double. Single, single. You can tap it out. Single, single, double. Keep it going. Kick, kick, double. Good job. Stay ballistic. One more. Knee step with the clap. You got it. Walk to the right. Here we go. Step, squat, step. One, two, three. That's it. Trust in. Tap. Step. Tap and step. Good job. Now. Keep going. Press the shoulders down. One more. Take it, here we go. Single, single, double. Single, single, double. Keep it going. Last one. Now we're going to slide to the right. Step and slide. Shake your hips and step and slide. Shake your hips again. Shake. Again. Step and slide. Now hold it here. Tap this one. There you go. Right step, left, step. Here you go. You got it. Walk to the right. Here we go. Step, hop, hit, hit, hit. One more. Kick it. Here we go. Kick. Kick. Double. Perfect. Keep going. Again. Woo. Keep going. Down your hips. There you go. Nice job, everyone. Get a drink. All right. Now we're going to do one that you probably remember. It's the Macarena. So in this one, our arms are going to go down, down, flip, flip, shoulder, shoulder, head, head. Cross at the hip, cross at the hip, bum, bum, and then you shake around. around. That's the Macarena part. Okay, let's try that again. Down, down, flip, flip, shoulder, shoulder, head, head, hip, hip, bump, bump, and shake around. Then we're going to have four taps, three, four, out to the right, out to the left, and one, two, three, four, out to the right, out to the left. And then the other section we're just going to go step behind, behind. So you're rocking behind, stepping behind. All right this is the Macarena. Here we go. Start with that right hand. Here we go. Down, down, flip, flip, shoulder, shoulder, head, head, hip, hip, bum, bum, and shake it. Again. Flip it. Shoulders down your head. And hips. And bum now. Shake it. More tap to the front. One, two, three, four. Now out to the right. Now to the left. Front. Right and left. Again, tap it. One more time. Right and left. Now right for big time. Back behind. Looking good. Forecast to the front. Right and left. Back to the front. Keep going. On your left, knock it up. Back to the floor. Here you go. Side to side. Again. Macarena, here we go. Flip, flip, shoulders, head. Hip, bum, shake it. Again. Okay, shoulders, head, you gotta think on this one. Shake it, tap it, side to side. Tap it. Looking good, tap it, side to side. Step behind. Good job. Are you breathing? Are you thinking too far to open your breath? Make sure you're breathing. Last one. Hands. Lift it. Shoulders. Head. Hip. Bum. Shake it. Down. Lift it. Shoulders. Hits, hips, down hips, bum, shake it. Out to the side. Just keep going. Now tap to the front. Just tap. Shake one more time. Good job. That was a little trip down memory lane. Alright, we are going to start and we're going to do another slow mongo. So we're going to bring your heart rate down a little bit. We like to mix it up, get your heart rate up and bring it down and up again. So this one is tragedy. and we're going to take forward, cha-cha-cha, and back. Okay, now when you go back, if you want to make it fancy, you can look over that left shoulder and turn a little bit. And then we're going to have cross, cross, cha-cha-cha, cross, cha-cha-cha. You've seen this before, cha-cha-cha, cross, cha-cha-cha. Then we're going to walk to the right and left, one, two, three, four, make sure you use your hips two three four and then there's a small section we're going to step behind cha cha cha make sure on that cha cha cha you're moving those hips okay this is a nice mambo All right, lots of hits, nice low hips in this one. We're going to start forward on the right, back on the left. Ready, here we go, and forward, chop chop chop, back, chop chop chop. Good, keep going. Now nice posture here. Think about pushing their shoulders down. Sucking that belly in. Cross it over. Here we go. Cross it. Chop, chop, chop. You can use those shoulders up and down. Keep going. We're gonna walk it to the right. Here we go. One, two, three, four. With a touch, other way. Take those hips with you. Good posture. Two, three, four. Cross it over, ready, go and cross. Good cha-cha. Forward on the right, back on the left. You can look over that left shoulder when you go back if you want to. Make it a little fancy. Cross it over. Here we go. Keep going. You're looking good. Walk it to the right. Here we go. One, two, three, four. With a touch, other way. Keep going. One more. Pops it over, ready, go and cross. Walk it, here we go, walk it. Another way. All right, behind on the right foot, go. Back's nice and tall. Be done. Walk it to the right. Other way. Looking good. Here we go. One more. Cross it over. Go. Rock it. Nice and easy. Keep rocking. Keep going. Right. Don't forget those hips. Pop it over. Ready, go. Walk it to the end. There you go. Good job. All righty. We're going to speed it up a little bit. This one is called In We Blood. And we're going to take knees. One, two, three. Walk, walk, walk. Now, you can do a grapevine on the walk or you can just do regular steps. Okay? Like one, two, three or one behind three. Then we're going to have a V-step slow and you're going to push your hips forward when you walk forward and pull them back when you go back. And then we're going to drum a lot. So you're going to plant your feet in a little plie, bend your knees and use those arms and really, really, really drum. And then there's one other small part. We're going to push our hips forward and back to the right and forward and back to the left. This is In We Blood. Here we go. Get ready. We're gonna start with those knee lifts. Three at home. You can put them as high or low as you want to. Listen to your body. Ready, here we go. And lift, two, three, to the right. And up, up, up. Keep going. Last one. Walking forward, push, push. Back, back, up. Push those hips, pull them back. Come on, walk by giving it. One more. With the feet, here we come. Now you can slow it down if you want to. Or speed it up. Hold it half tight. Here come our baby knees again. Now don't forget, you can just do little lifts. Or a big lift. Up to you. Walk it up. And back. Two more. One more. Jump forward. Come in, here we go. You can jump all over the place. Or down low. Lift those knees. Up, up, up. Come. Don't give up. Step forward. Lift, lift, pull, pull. Come on. Come forward. Drop in. Keep going. Don't give up. Good arm soft. Lift those knees. Woo. Next time. Walk it. Up. Up. Again. No. Last time. Drop it. Come on. Woo. Remember. You can slow down. Come on. Push the hips to the right. Two, three, to the left. Two, right. And left. Last time. Come on, drop it. Almost there, come on. There you go, nice job. Nice job. Get a drink. And we're going to slow it down. That was a good one. We're going to bring the heart rate down. Now we're going to do a bachata. Now the basic step of the bachata is step together, step touch, step together, step touch. So we're going to do basic bachata with a step touch, step touch. So we're going to stay here. Bachata, step touch, step touch. We're going to come forward. Same footwork. Step together, step touch. Lead with the shoulder. If you don't have room, you can just do that in place. And then you walk back eight. Then we're going to have bachata in place. Same forward. One, two, three with the lift. One, two, three with the lift. When you lift, give a little um with that hip. Then we have regular basic bachata. Step together, step touch. We're going to take that basic bachata and face the right and then the left. Step together, step touch. Now make sure when you're turning, keep your face forward looking at me. That way you won't get dizzy. And then we have some sways in here. And this is a nice, slow bachata to How Deep Is Your Love. Nice and slow. We're bringing our heart right down. Remember, we're going to start with the basic bachata. With a step touch, step touch. Right and left. Ready? Here we go. Step together, step in touch. Stay here, step touch. Machata. Step touch. And again. Step touch. We're gonna bring it forward, same footwork. One, two, three, with a touch. Step, step, step. If you don't have work, just do this in place. Walk back or walk in place. Speak. Machata in place. place. One, two, three with the lift. One, two, three with the lift again. Now take making bachana right and left. To the left. Keep going. Nice and easy. Make sure you're using those hips. Back to the beginning. Bachana, step, touch, step, touch. Stay here. You know the door to my very soul. Looking good. Keep going. You're the light in my deepest time. Press those shoulders down. You might say you're when I fall. Come forward. Lean for the shoulder. Left. Step together. Step back. Walk it back. When it's me, you need to show. Pachata in place. Here we go. One, two, three. With the lift. Keep going. Keep going. Machata, basic. Step together, step in touch. Keep going. Now basic Machata. One, two, three, with a touch. Turn, double it, other side. One, two, three, keep moving forward. You won't get dizzy. Step, step, step in touch. Last one, come forward, here we go. Make it pretty. Walk it back. In place, one, two, three, with the lift. So we're gonna hit. Basic bachana, step together, step in touch. Keep going. Now sway here. Pachata in place. And one, two, three, lift it. Lift that leg. Baking pachata right and left. See your heart rate should be coming down. You did a great job today. Sway. Machado in place. One, two, three, good one. Let me see this. Come on. Basic, right and left. Good posture always. Sway. And give me a free pose at the end. Arms up. Good job. All right, we're going to stretch out and we'll be done. You did great today. I hope you had a good time I did. So give me a wide stance. Give me a big breath up. And blow it out. And again. Big breath, blow it out. Now shoulder rolls. Around, squeeze at the top. That should feel really good. Up and around. Now squeeze and release. Squeeze them up. Up, release. Now let's stretch. And up. Stretch again. This time hold it. Get a good stretch. On the side of the body. Other side. If you have a bad shoulder or shoulder issue, just reach across. No problem. Hold it here. Good stretch. One up. Alright. Right heel down. Pull those toes back as far as you can. Nice and tall backs. Now we're going to lean forward, hinge at the hip, get a stretch in the back of the leg. Now push the toes down if you can, and maybe lean them forward a little bit more. Keep your head up. Look at me so you don't get dizzy. Come on up. Let's do the other leg. Left heel down. Pull those toes back, bum out to the back. Feel that stretch. Good job. Press the toes down if you can. turn your wrist and your fingers give those a little stretch sometimes we neglect those now tap your shoulder now you're going to bring that elbow up to get a little stretch but to your comfort level okay if this is the furthest you can get up that's fine you can get up higher that's good too don't ever force it just feel a nice little stretch other side arm comes across wiggle those fingers and wrists and have the shoulder come up to your comfort level, don't push it just get a nice stretch and come back up now cross over right leg over, left arm comes up and get a stretch here too hold those abs in tight so you hold your balance and let's switch it left leg crosses in front Right arm comes up. Give me a stretch. Come on up now. Left ear to left shoulder nice and easy. Just hang out there. Take a nice deep breath. And the other side. Nice and gentle. Lean in just a little bit. Come on up. Give me a shoulder roll. Shoulder roll again. Again, roll it around. There you go. Give me a big breath up. Blow it out. One more. Blow it out. And give yourself a hand for working out today. I hope you had a great time. I did. Stay healthy and I'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Music Music On this edition of Lexington Now, wildlife at McConnell Springs, the Bluegrass 10,000 and eSports. I'm Neil Noah and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of June 14, 2021. We begin this week with part one of a new series, Wildlife at McConnell Springs. This week, Stephen Rogers talks about the snakes and insects that can be found there. My name is Stephen Rogers. I'm a recreation manager. I've worked at McConnell Springs for seven years now. I have a background in parks and recreation and outdoor education. My degree is in Parks and Recreation Administration. My first full-time position was as an interpretive park ranger, which involved a lot of environmental education and a lot of outdoor programming, and that really fit in well with the position here at McConnell Springs. And so in my current position, I get the opportunity to work with people in the public, manage the park, and do a lot of environmental education programming. Most commonly, the snakes that we see at McConnell Springs are garter snakes, black rat snakes, and then actually even earlier today, we saw a milk snake. So all those snakes are constrictors. We've never identified or positively identified a venomous species of snake at McConnell Springs. So in Fayette County, the only venomous species of snake that we should have here is going to be the copperhead. Copperheads have been identified in more rural areas. They don't do as well in areas like McConnell Springs that are surrounded by a lot of development. So they need larger areas, larger populations to hunt, larger spaces. So the animals that we see here, the snakes that we see here, are all constrictors, non-venomous. I always tell people, even if you think you know what species it is, you want to leave the snake alone, just observe it from a distance. Typically when people see a snake at McConnell Springs, they see it very quickly just going across a trail. Maybe it's basking and you spook it and then it goes off into the woods and pretty much disappears once it gets under the tree line. But the snakes are pretty abundant here. mostly the garter snakes are smaller species so they they survive by eating small insects slugs any small animal they could catch black rat snake is our largest snake that we have in Kentucky lengthwise so they can be about eight feet long and so they're they're a pretty long snake so they're mostly going to survive off of catching mice rats small rabbits even a small squirrel we see probably thousands of species of insects more than I'm qualified to identify and a lot of the more interesting insects that you're going to see at McConnell Springs will be in the even time fireflies, butterflies during the day, moths. So we have a couple of areas designed for pollinators. So we have our rain garden, we have a few landscaped areas, and our meadow area that have pollinator plants to try to attract insects. And so you can have a really good opportunity to see dozens and dozens of species of pollinators around those areas. We do have an active beehive at McConnell Springs, so we have a honey beehive that's managed by a volunteer from the Friends of McConnell Springs. We're anticipating getting a second hive soon, and hopefully if that works out well, then we'll actually be able to produce honey from McConnell Springs within the next year. And so the beehive's very active. We see natural bees that you would find here, like mason bees, wood-boring bees, and just dozens and dozens of species of insects. We regularly have programs that focus on the wildlife at McConnell Springs. A lot of our junior naturalist programs, regular reoccurring programs, will focus on different animals and different species of animals and wildlife in the park because it's so abundant here and it's one of the more interesting topics that people want to know about. And so that's what we typically try to focus on and make sure that we're teaching people about what's going on at that specific time of the year as far as the wildlife goes. So in June, our Junior Naturalist Program will focus on pollinators because it's June is Pollinator Awareness Month. And so it's a good opportunity to learn about monarch butterflies, other pollinators, obviously the bees that we have at McConnell Springs. So we've got a lot of interesting things that we're going to be able to show and a lot of cool things that kids can take away from that program. For more information about the park that you may want to find about the wildlife, you can check out lexingtonky.gov and the McConnell Springs page. And then the Friends of McConnell Springs website has some really good, interesting information about the wildlife. And I would recommend people check out the McConnell Springs Flickr page. We have some beautiful shots on our Flickr page. So if you just search McConnell Springs Flickr, there's some beautiful shots of plants, wildlife, and even some of the events here at the park. Be sure to tune in in the coming weeks for this continuing series. The Bluegrass 10,000 is back with a few modifications. Here's what to know. The Bluegrass 10,000 began in 1976, so this is our 45th year. Last year, the 44th year, we only ran virtual. So this year we really missed it. We wanted to bring it back. And in previous years we've had many spectators. We've had an award ceremony down at that classic loop on Richmond Road where you do a U-turn to come back in downtown. We usually had the Young at Heart band playing some bluegrass music to kind of cheer on participants. But this year, because we still want to do in-person, but we need to remain socially distanced and safe, we will not have spectators, we will not have the awards ceremony, we will still give out the awards. And we will still get to run in-person on Saturday, July 3rd. And we are capping it at 2,000 people. We normally have about 4,000 runners that run through downtown at the Bluegrass 10,000. So we are also doing 12 waves of 175 people approximately to continue our social distancing. It's spaced apart three minutes apiece in order to socially distance the runners. But we still get to run downtown and do our classic loop all the way out Richmond Road Turn back around to get our our 10k in we also have our one mile fun run which we will run around downtown as well and Runners or walkers can participate in that fun run so we have runners from elite six-minute, five-minute miles all the way to people that are more like my pace that are 12-minute, 13-minute miles. But right now we also have in our first wave wheelchair and hand crank runners and so we do have awards for all of those divisions as well. The awards are divided by age and also device if they do a a wheelchair, hand crank, we have awards for those. And then every five years, we have the age groups beginning at 16. The cutoff date is actually the 29th of June for in-person running, but I think it will probably fill up before then. And virtual can sign up all the way to 4th of July weekend. Good Times Racing is our timer, and John's Run Walk Shop is also doing a 10K training program. so you can sign up through them as well gtraces.com or lexingtonky.com will take you to that run sign up page everybody gets a t-shirt and the t-shirt design this year is retro to flash back to that 1976 year that we started running and so it has kind of a retro muted colors feel they're really cool everybody from virtual fun run and in-person bluegrass 10,000 racers will receive a t-shirt so you can go to run signup.com and look for the bluegrass 10,000 you can also look on our Facebook page we have a bluegrass 10,000 events there. When we come back, eSports. Thank you. Welcome back to Lexington Now. Parks and Recreation is offering a new activity that has been exploding in popularity, eSports. Here's Clyde Dean. eSports are the competitive version of video games. So what we're doing is we're looking to take video games to the next level. We're trying to give people an outlet for competition but indoors. So we are going to start off with sports games. We're looking to start with Madden, NBA 2K, FIFA, and Rocket League. And again, we're just looking to give people, students, adults, anyone really, an outlet to compete in video games. Right now, we do have Xbox One, we have PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and we're going to introduce some computer games. It's based on what games are on each console. So we are going to have games like League of Legends. We are going to do a lot of MOBAs and a lot of strategy-style video games in our later seasons. So we have three age divisions. We have 6th grade through 8th grade. We have high school, which is 9th through 12th. And then we have an 18-plus for all adults. So right now, the leagues will be an 8-game season with a tournament afterwards. and that's for the sports games. When we introduce League of Legends and some of the other strategy-based games, we will run more tournaments rather than leagues. Since we are in COVID restrictions, everything is going to be online-based, so you would have to have the video game, the console, in order to register and play that game. Post-COVID, hopefully, we are moving towards trying to get a game room, and with that location we want to give people an opportunity to come play who don't have the games and consoles or can't afford the games and consoles. I want this esport program to appeal to everyone. It doesn't matter if you're physically athletic or not. You know a lot of video games you're using your mind and your thumbs and I think that's something that everyone can do. I want the middle schoolers to be able to say that they're doing something competitive, even if they're not doing something physical. Same for high schools, same for adults. I want the eSport program to eventually encompass a lot of the Internet safety. I just want it to be a safe space. I want middle schoolers, I want high schoolers who are being graded a lot on certain things in school, I want them to use esports as an avenue to get better grades, to encourage them to be better in life. If you want more information, go to our website, lexingtonky.gov, and just search esports in the search tab. Just click on the esports tab, and we'll have all current information for you. You can find all the parks information you need on the city's website, lexingtonky.gov slash parks. Did you know that in Lexington, most construction projects need to be dewatered? So what exactly is dewatering and why is it necessary? We asked Roy Berger. In construction, you have excavation of pits and you have excavation of trenches, which normally is below the groundwater table and also floods during the time of stormwater events, and it has to be dewatered. The dewatering of that creates sediment, and you cannot discharge that sediment directly to the stream, so therefore you have to do some type of treatment. A typical dewatering is what we have set up here. You dewater from the trench or the excavation into some type of filter bag, sediment pond, or straw bale barricades. And that filters the water out and takes the sediment out and lets it go back to the stream naturally. Sediment bags is a geotechic bag that you pump the water in and it filters the water out and then lets the clean water either go through the vegetative strip or back to the stream. Silt bench you can put that into a basin type setup and line it with straw bales and so forth and you can pump into that and it filters out the sediment. Usually it's a pond and you pump the water into the pond, which is the most common method, and it spreads out and slows down. It allows the sediment to settle out and the clear water to run out the other end. Sometimes one sedimentation pond will do it. There may be a series of sedimentation ponds. What a sedimentation pond does is it lets it spread out, settle, and then discharge out the other end. You can either run them in single or series. Sediment bags, you can run them in series. They're more conducive to linear projects like line light work, so because they're easier to move. You can use them in conjunction with straw bales, vegetative strips, and so forth, and they're much easier to maintain. That is an area that's got a lot of vegetation that allows the water to spread out and settle out in the vegetative area and then clean the water before it goes back to the stream. They have to be maintained. They cannot be just put in and forgot about. No one option will work for any one particular construction site. You may have to use a series of these options for construction sites because most of the line work is moving and you can't put a permanent structure in for any type of sailing on a moving project. Under the RMP, each resident project representative has to note on his daily reports that he's looked at the dewatering operations and everything is working properly. If there's any variation where it's not working properly, that has to be documented. Also, they do a weekly inspection for ESC. All these methods can be found on the Luskin Stormwater site, and the forms can be found in the project construction section of the website. It varies from project to project. The worst thing you can get into is a project where you've got a tunnel going on or grinding rock and so forth because the rock dust is harder to eliminate. The best thing we found is sedimentation ponds for the rock dust. We're just trying to keep the collection of streams clean and safe and un-pluted. Many urban county government meetings are still happening virtually, but we bring most of these meetings to you live. Check out our website for the most accurate and up-to-date coverage of city business. And we continue to keep you up-to-date on how the city is handling the pandemic via our official COVID-19 response site, including testing and vaccination sites. Simply click on the banner at the top of our homepage. That's all for now, but as always, you can keep up with us on social media, check out the latest traffic updates on Twitter at LexRex, or catch our live traffic cams on LexingtonKY.gov. For all of us at LexTV, I'm Neil Noah, and that's it for now. Thank you. We just don't seem to have as much to lose Strange how the night moves With autumn closing in Night move I'll show remember the night moon. It'll be funny how you remember. Night moon. I'll remember. Night moon. I'll remember, I'll remember, I'll remember, I'll remember. Night moon. Night moon. We're waking. We're waking and practicing. Night moon. We're waking and practicing. Night moon. Oh, the night moon, night moon Oh, I remember Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember Ooh, I remember Lord, I remember Lord, I remember Ooh, ooh Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Uh-huh, uh-huh Uh-huh, uh-huh You are the love of my life And you are the reason I'm alive And baby, baby, baby When I think of how you saved me I go crazy I've never known love like this And it fills me with a new tenderness And I know, I know, I know You're in my heart, you're in my soul You're all I can't resist And I need to tell you, the first time I held you, I knew you are the love of my life. I spent a lifetime waiting Always hesitating Until you I was lost so deep inside my shell Till you came and saved me from myself Now all I really know is I need you You are the love of my life All the joy and tears that I cry And baby, baby, baby You don't have to say a word I see it in your eyes As we stand together I promise forever Till the day that I die You are the love of my life I spent a lifetime waiting, always hesitating until you. I was lost so deep inside my shell till you came and saved me from myself. Now all I really know is I need you. You are the love of my life You are the reason I'm alive The moment I wake up, before I put on my makeup, I say a little prayer for you Walk home in my hair now And wondering what dress to wear now I say a little prayer for you Forever, forever, you'll stay in my heart And I will love you forever and ever We never will part of how I'll love you Together, together, that's how it must be To live without you would only mean heartbreak For you. I run for the bus, dear. While riding, I think of us, dear. I say a little prayer for you. At work, I just take time. And all through my coffee, every time. I say a little prayer for you. Forever, forever. You stay in my heart and I will love you forever. And ever, we never were part of how I love you together Together, that's how it must be To live without you would only mean heartbreak for me I'd say a little prayer for you I say a little prayer for you Forever, forever You'll stay in my heart And I will love you forever And ever, we never were part Of how I love you Together, together That's how it must be To live without you Would only be perfect for you My darling, believe me For me there is no one But you, please love me too I'm in love with you Answer my prayer Say you love me too Why don't you answer my prayer You say, every day I say a little prayer I say, I say, I say a little prayer Why don't you give back to my prayer? We call them cool Those hearts that have no scars to show The ones that never do let go And risk the tables be turned We call them fools who have to dance within the flame. Who chants the sorrow and the shame that always comes with gender. But you've got to be tough when consumed by desire. Because it's not enough just to stand outside the fire. We call them strong Those who can face this world alone Who seem to get by on their own Those who will never take the fall We call them weak Who are unable to resist The slightest chance love might exist And for that forsake it all They're so hell-bent on giving Walking a wire Convinced it's not living If you stand outside the fire Standing outside the fire Standing outside the fire Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire There's this love that is burning deep in my soul Constantly yearning to get out of control Wanting to fly higher and higher I can't abide standing outside the fire. Standing outside the fire. Standing outside the fire. Life is not tried, it is merely survived. If you're standing outside the fire. Standing outside the fire. Standing outside the bar Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the bar Standing outside the bar Standing outside the bar Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the bar Thank you. Come on, baby. Let's do the twist. Come on, baby. Let's do the twist. Take me by my little hand. And go like this Yeah, twist Baby, baby, twist Ooh, yeah Just like this Come on, little bitch And do the twist My daddy is sleeping And mama ain't around Daddy's just sleeping And mama ain't around We're gonna twist and twist and twist So we'll tear the house down Come on and twist Yeah, baby, twist Ooh, yeah Just like this A little bit And you You You You You You She knows. Yeah. That's all I've got. Yeah. We're so not. Dreamers. I've been thinking about the time You walked out on me There were moments I believed You were there Do I miss you? Am I lying to my heart? I'll do these things. It's all because of you. I keep pulling on when I try. Try not to thank you. Love, don't leave me lonely. I'll be right without you. There's a sorrowless I keep telling myself I'll see you right without you Love's a empty face I can't replace You don't need me People wondering why we're both apart A great pretender here I go Oh yeah These things I do It's all because of you I'll keep holding on But I'll try Try not to let go here All I wanted was to hold you I'll be right without you There'll be someone else I keep telling myself I'll be right without you Oh, love's an empty flesh I've got to replace I'll be right without you If there's someone else I keep telling myself I'll be right, I'll be right There's an empty place I can still see your face Open your eyes guitar solo Thank you. I can't hide the way I feel about you anymore. I can't hold the hurt inside, keep the pain out of my eyes anymore. My tears no longer waiting My resistance ain't that strong My mind keeps recreating A life with you alone And I'm tired of pretending I don't love you anymore Let me make one last appeal To show you how I feel about you Cause there's no one else I swear Holds a candle anywhere next to you My heart can't take the beating Not having you to hold A small voice keeps repeating Deep inside my soul It says I can't keep reading today I don't love you anymore I've got to take a chance or let it pass by If I expect to get on with my life My tears no longer waiting Oh, my resistance ain't that strong But my mind keeps recreating I'm not with you alone And I'm tired of pretending I don't love you anymore Anymore Anymore I'm not sure what you're doing. Felt like a stranger, like I'd never been there before. And as I wandered room to room, it was silent as a tune. Could have heard a teardrop, could have heard a heartbreak. Never saw the flood come Even though I felt the rain Never heard a house sound So loud with memories Where there used to be A happy home In the house on the corner Of the lonely and gone If she talked about leaving, I wasn't listening. If she showed me a sign, well, I never saw. Did she stop believing? Did I stop giving? And put my finger on one way wrong. Now the quietest noise I'm told. Is the sound of letting go Could have heard a teardrop Could have heard a heartbreak Never saw the flood come Even though I felt the rain Never heard a howl sound So loud with memories Where there used to be A happy home In the house on the corner Of a lonely and gone Whoa, never heard a house sound So loud with memories Where there used to be A happy home In the house on the corner In the house on the corner In the house on the corner Of a lonely and gone Tonight's the night we'll make history As sure as dogs can fly And I'll take any risk to tie back the hands of time And stay with you here tonight So take your seat and don't be late We need your spirits high To turn on these dear delights And brighten the darkest skies Here at the paradise We'll be right back. I'm crazy. Young Americans listen when I say. People putting us down. I know the saying that we've got lazy. To tell you the truth, we've all prepared today. Don't eat no fast, but blame the problems for fun. Crick, shake, plant, take the money, run. We need all the birds, go burn, get it done. And some straight-talking hard-working son of a gun So what you doing tonight? I got faith in that generation Let's stick together and futurize our attitude I ain't looking to fight But I know with determination We can challenge the schemas who cheat all the rules Come on and take pride Be wise to spot the rules Big shots, crackpots Better the rules A fair shot here for me and for you Knowing that we can't lose And we'll be Rockin' in paradise Rockin' in paradise tonight Rockin' in paradise Rockin' in paradise tonight Tonight Tonight! We'll be right back. You know we're rocking in paradise Rocking in paradise You know we're rocking in paradise Rocking in paradise tonight Everybody's on the rock Rocking in paradise Rocking in paradise Rocking in paradise Rocking in paradise Rocking in paradise tonight Come on, come on I'm alright, nobody worry about me. Why you got to give me a fight? Can't you just let it be? I'm alright, don't nobody worry about me. You got to give me a fight, why don't you just let me be? Do what you like, do it in that city. But if it's too easy You're gonna disagree It's your life Isn't it a mystery? If it's nobody's building It's everybody's game You've got to catch me Oh, now, can I put it right away? I'm sick and really can't Get it away, get you to the job! I'm alright. Nobody worry about me. Why you got to give me a bite? Can't you just let me? I'm alright. Nobody worry about me. You got to give me a bite. Why don't you just let me be? Who do you want? Who you gonna be tonight And who is the creeper Making up your mind And wanna listen to the man Pay attention to the magistrate And while I got you in the mood Listen to your heart beating Oh heart beating Oh heart beating Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I'm alright, I'm alright, I don't know how to worry about me. You got to give me a bite, why don't you just let me be? I'm alright, no matter what about me. Why you got to give me a bite, can't you just let it be? I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm alright, just let me be. I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm alright, just let me be. Thank you. I'm not one that gets around Swear my feet stuck to the ground Though I never did meet you before I said hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart Goodbye heart Sweet Mary Lou I'm so in love with you I'm in love with Mary Lou I knew Mary Lou That we'd never part So hello Mary Lou Goodbye heart I saw your lips I heard your voice Believe me, I just had no choice Wild horses couldn't make me stay away I thought about a moonlit night Arms around you good and tight And that's all I need to see for me to say I said, hello, Mary Lou Goodbye, heart Goodbye, heart Sweet Mary Lou, I'm so in love with you I'm in love with Mary Lou I knew, Mary Lou That we had a part So hello, Mary Lou, goodbye heart. I said hello, Mary Lou, goodbye heart. Goodbye heart. Sweet Mary Lou, I'm so in love with you. I'm in love with Mary Lou. I'm in love with Mary Lou. That we never part. So hello, Mary Lou. Goodbye, heart. So hello, Mary Lou. Goodbye, heart. I'm tired of playing on the team It seems I don't get time out anymore What a change if we set the pace, face to face No one even tried to score And oh, oh, I can feel the magic of your touch And when you move it close a little bit means so much And oh, yeah, you get to understand, baby Time out is what I'm here for One on one, I wanna play that game tonight One on one, I know I wanna play that one on one I wanna play that game tonight One on one, so slow You can't tell me you don't mix me, girl Oh, no, I think I might know you too. Oh, I would say if you knew that I was coming tonight. I want you, can't you tell? Oh, I want to play that game tonight. I want to play that game tonight. One-on-one, I want to play that game tonight. One-on-one so slow. Ooh, that's all you need to know now. But if it's really right There's nothing else I want to wave at me tonight Oh, I want to wave at me tonight Thanks for joining me. I'm First District Councilman James Brown with another council comment. Today we're talking about housing insecurity and eviction prevention. Early in the pandemic, we knew that was going to be a challenge that a lot of the folks in our neighborhoods and our community faced in regards to the pandemic. So council acted swiftly to get money in place to address some of those housing insecurity issues. Today I have with me Polly Ruddock, who is the director of the Office of Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, or maybe Prevention and Intervention, and then also Charlie Lantern, our director of grants and special programs here with the city. Thanks for joining me today. Okay. Once, I think the council's initial action was to put $1.9 million towards housing insecurities. Can you tell us a little bit about how that played off and how you had to work to create a system to get that money in the hands of families? Sure. So when the pandemic first hit and everything was shut down, you know, council quickly realized that people can't pay rent if they can't work. So in August of 2020, council moved $1.9 million out of budget stabilization to basically, I think we called it housing assistance. And $1.4 million of that was geared towards rental assistance for those who had been impacted by COVID-19. And we were given a swift turnaround by council. We had two weeks. Pressure, pressure. Yeah, we had two weeks to get a program up and running. Now we were very lucky at the beginning. We had a partner here in town that had a really good list of those that had reached out for rental assistance. We were able to partner with Lexington Fair Housing Council and eight other community partners to get the money out as fast as possible. So let me, and I don't want to interrupt you too long, Fair Housing, Art Crosby at Fair Housing, I remember being on a call or getting an email about this pending crisis that we knew was coming and I think that's the partner that you're referencing that created that list which you know thankfully they seen what was coming and kind of got ahead of the curve and yep and we kind of took took that over so they started getting phone calls in May June and so they were able to work with the faith community initially and just you know as those calls came in as people filled out kind of an Apple well it was an initial kind of contact application through the Lexington Fair Housing Council at at covid19rennerhelp.org. So he had established that in his agency at Partner with the Faith Community to really try to shore up as much as they could. But it soon became very overwhelming. And so we were all kind of, you know, we were all very thankful when council stepped in with that additional funds. And we were able to utilize those funds and really get them out the door the first part of September, I believe. And we worked with those partners September, October, November, and December. And in January, we received notice that the feds had kind of stepped in and were giving us a lot of millions of dollars worth of rental subsidy for our folks. So we moved to kind of what we call Housing Stabilization 1.0, which is what council was able to provide. We moved that to Housing Stabilization 2.0 out of Charlie's office with federal funds. And it's worked out really well. The initial program that was stood up in those first two weeks, the community partners are still on board helping us out, even with the federal money. So it's been really good. Well, it sounds like, you know, the need was obviously there and recognized. And, you know, I know one of the first programs that was thought about was the RISE program, and I think it came online probably pretty close to the same time that the housing assistance program has come online. But now with the flexibility with the federal funds and the increased amount of funding, how is it transitioning to be more accessible for more folks in the community? I think the biggest difference is the scale of the program. We received in January $9.6 million for what the Department of Treasury calls the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. For us, we still brand it as the Housing Stabilization Program because that's what our community knows. That's what council created. and we were fortunate that the requirements of the federal program were very similar to the program we were already operating. So really all we had to do was transition from a locally funded program to a federally funded program and put in place some of those federal controls that you have to do with grant funding and then start scaling up. And so we've been really fortunate. We reached out and were able to partner with Community Action Council here in Lexington to process the applications because they already had an existing infrastructure of staff and neighborhood centers and the ability to interact with folks and process applications quickly. Because what we had was an overwhelming number of applications. As we know, that need is significant. It continues to be significant. And we continue to have a wait list, to be honest with you, because it's just such a tremendous number of applications that we have to process. Thousands, really, of applications. Yeah. But we've been busy and we've made a lot of progress. Well, let me ask you this. You know, a lot of times the community looks for the city to lead, and I think we have kind of led and kind of jumped out and tried to address the housing insecurity issues. Can you recognize and talk about some of the partnerships that we have throughout the city that is making this happen? And then also kind of, you know, what you had to do internally to make it more accessible? because I understand you had to set up a call center for folks to be able to call into and get assistance. Yeah, I mean, I could probably mention some of the partners from previously. And then currently we're working daily with community action. We're working with Urban League of Lexington. We are in court every day, in eviction court, trying to capture those folks who are at risk of eviction, immediate risk of eviction. So we're working with the judges. All of the judges are our partners in this program. and the landlords. We're interacting regularly with landlords. We've gotten to know a lot of them and a lot of their attorneys and trying to help meet their needs because we know this impacts them just as much as it impacts the tenants. They have their own bills to pay. And we also have a lot of support from Catholic Action Center. They were a big partner in the first iteration of the program. They continue to be a big partner in the second iteration of the program. They provide a lot of volunteers who help reach out to people who aren't showing up for eviction court or maybe have other challenges to getting their assistance and getting the documents that we need to pay. One thing that's important to know is there's so much assistance available, and we have so many great partners with the judges and the nonprofits. The only way folks are getting evicted in Lexington right now is if they don't show up for court. Can you say that again? Yeah, it's worth stressing. The only way that folks are getting evicted in Lexington right now is if they get an eviction nerve if they get served and they don't show up for court it's very important if you have a court date to show up for court because if we haven't already helped you at the point that you have a court date we can we are there in court and we can they can swoop in and help you the judge will defer the eviction until we can get you pet get you paid get you help and and get that case resolved i can't promise that will always be the case but as of today that's where we are and we are very lucky here in Fayette County we have a great relationship with our judges and our judges know that housing is very important so they if you can't get on the zoom calls to do court now they've opened up their courtroom for people to actually come in in person which some other cities and counties haven't done yet you know they're really pushing the zoom but our I think our judges you know really took it to heart that people this is important and people need access and so if you can't get on the zoom and you need to come in person that's okay they'll allow that especially for eviction court yeah and i think we're going to talk to judge murphy about what the role the role the courts are helping to play in keeping people in their houses but i think the important thing is to know that there are resources out there show up to court and it's not to avoid paying but you know there are resources in place to make sure that the landlords are getting their rents and you're able to stay in place. Thank you both for all y'all do for our city. Thank you for your role in making this housing stabilization program a success. And hopefully if we need more money from the feds, we'll get it. Early during the pandemic in 2020, Lexington and Fayette Urban County Council knew it was imperative that we act to address some of the issues facing our community. As we waited on help to come from state and the federal government, we locally put millions of dollars towards eviction prevention. Our Department of Grants, our Department of Social Services, and our Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention worked with outside agencies to get these funds distributed to individuals and families that need them. One of the other vital partners in this effort was our judges and our local court system. Today I'm joined by Judge Melissa Moore Murphy of the... What court are you, Judge Murphy? Say it, District Court, and I'm in the 4th Division. I'm one of five judges here in the District Courthouse. Okay. Thank you for your role on the bench. And then can you tell us a little bit about the role that you all play in regards to eviction prevention and how some of the resources that we've made available at the local level has made its way to help families from being evicted? So for us, it was a moving target. because evictions were kind of on a moratorium through state executive orders from the governor. However, we knew when those were lifted, for us, we have to be impartial on both sides to the tenants as well as the landlords. And the law was the law. If they had not paid their rent, we didn't really have much of a way to keep people inside their homes. But we also recognized that we're in the middle of a pandemic. So the first thing that helped us is that the Center for Disease Control entered a moratorium that was federally backed that basically said if a tenant, if they signed this declaration, and if they were able to obtain all government assistance that they've applied for, if they were actively searching for it, then we were able to kind of continue their cases while they were waiting for that assistance to be provided to their landlords for their rent or their utilities. Well, the problem was, is where was those assistance funds coming from? And thankfully, the city did come through. We first had some initial funds that came through in the fall. But then there was also additional money that I believe came through this past spring. And I, along with my fellow judges, we spoke with individuals, Polly Ruddick, the director of homelessness prevention and intervention, Commissioner Ford and the Department of Social Services, and also Director Lanter, and said, how can we make people aware that this is where they go? Now, let me ask you a question. Before they actually got involved and you all resumed your role in the courts, was there a stockpile of evictions waiting on you when you came back in the courtroom initially? Yes. So there was, the governor had put an executive order in place that the clerks could not accept any evictions for a period of time. And that was pretty much from March until June. So there weren't any that were there. There were ones that predated the pandemic when you say stockpile. So there were those that predated the pandemic. But then as soon as we were able to start accepting those those evictions in June, they just came rolling. They came in. And so much so that we pretty much had to put a kind of a each docket, a limit on how many we could we could have. And I will say that we thought that there would be a whole lot more because our landlord community did the best that they could at the time. A lot of them were working with their tenants and showing them where they could apply for assistance, giving them the numbers and the email addresses and the websites. But at some point, money dried up like the healthy at home funds through the state. There was no more money left. The rise funds through the city, there had to be specific parameters that people met. and some people didn't have those that they met. Some people just did not have work at all, and they didn't know where their next paycheck was coming from and how they were going to pay their rent. Now, kind of explain to me, if you will, how is it working out in court when someone comes before you with an eviction notice and it's because they really aren't working or are practicing healthy at home and want to stay in that place that they're renting, and then the landlord is also expecting rent and compensation for them staying there. How does that play out, and how is the Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention and Grants assisting in that process? And so the first thing, as I stated, the CDC moratorium, so it started September 4th, and that moratorium lasted until the end of December 31st, 2020. It has been extended twice over, extended until January 31st and again to March. Now it's been extended to June 30th. And that moratorium says you can't evict anyone if they've signed for a nonpayment of rent reason for nonpayment of rent. If these people are meeting these certain specific tenants within this declaration that they've signed. And once they've done this, this this CDC declaration, they then will then avail themselves of funds that are available through the city through covid19 renterhelp.org. I know it by heart because we have the pleasure of having Jonathan Wright from the Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention and early on Poly Reddick. They actually are attending our court. Each one of our judges has a docket every day of the week, Monday through Friday. So at 930, they're on the Zoom link, and they are looking through the rolls to tell the landlord, this tenant has applied for assistance. So we're going to continue it out a month, and hopefully that landlord will have been paid by the time we get back on the docket, and then the landlord can dismiss their case. So it's safe to say that that process between application and actual execution of paying takes about a month? It takes about a month, maybe a little bit longer because there's different things they have to wait for from the tenant, landlord side. But it's been about a month. If we continue out a month, we're able to say landlord's been paid. We've had a lot of grateful people to say that they've been taken care of. One thing that we, and I want to make sure I note this, is that the only reason why it goes a little further sometimes is that everyone doesn't show up. And we need our tenants to be sure whenever they've been served with any court process, even if they don't know where to go and they don't know where to turn to, show up for court. because once they show up for court, then we're able to get the assistance to them and information to them. But Catholic Action Center has actually been very vital in searching for individuals that don't make their court date. So we've continued cases out for that reason as well. So I guess one real strong point to make sure that we note here is that if you get served with an eviction and have a court date, show up to court. Yes. Not only is it going to be beneficial for you to be part of the legal process, but there's also resources available. Yes. So I would just say thank you, Judge Murphy, for your service on the bench. Thank you for your advocacy for folks in regards to housing insecurities. And we appreciate the work that you do. Well, thank you. And I think, you know, on behalf of my fellow judges, we thank you all for coming through with that and also for lending your person to show up our court dates each day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, good afternoon. This is one of those afternoons where we can be so proud of one of our own, who is an inspiration and lifts us all up through his talent, through his personality. I got to meet Milo again just a few minutes ago. We had met each other several years ago in Moorhead. And let's all start by saying what we want to. Milo, congratulations. Milo is an inspiration not just for bringing honor to Kentucky, but what he was able to do through his art. Milo has taken one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, losing his dad at just 13 years old. And he has turned his pain into hope and inspiration for people around the world. It'll be on a platform where everybody around the world gets to see it. It takes a really special, powerful, strong individual to be able to do that. Everyone on Team Kentucky has been rooting for Milo throughout this competition and we are so proud. Not only that he's the winner, but it's that he turned out such an inspirational piece that speaks to all of us and now it gets to be on a global platform. Even more important, it honors his dad's memory. He gets to be in this very special place while recognizing a very special person. Milo, thank you for pouring into our young people so much that you do from your artwork to in a minute I want to talk about your charity. And I know that they, those individuals that you've been helping, are proud of you today. your family, your friends, your teachers, your school leaders, everybody is here because of how excited we are about this young but very tall man's work. You know, sometimes our young people, when they are willing to have the courage to do what Milo did, sometimes they participate and they lose, but they win for being a part of it and sometimes they win big no matter what. Being here to support them and help them through the process is so important and that's what Milo has been doing for so many. My administration has always put education first because of its life changing ability. When you are the first, the second or even the third in your family to graduate from from high school, from college, from a trade school, you pick. It changes not only your life, but every generations to come. It's how we end poverty. It's how we become better people. It's how we move forward to who we're supposed to be and not just who we are right now. And that's why here at the end of this month and then for each of the next months, we're going to be giving out 15 full scholarships to Kentucky students who get their COVID-19 vaccines. You can learn more and sign up for the drawings at shotamillion.ky.gov. Milo, I hope you'll sign up for that drawing too. But you've already gotten a pretty good start on your education because of your accomplishment today. Google, thank you for investing $30,000 in Milo's education. And to Google, thank you for donating $50,000 in a technology package to his school. And just like Milo, this win today is truly selfless in that his classmates are winning too with that package and what it's going to mean for them. Helping other kids and teenagers like him isn't anything new to Milo though. It's what he's already been doing through his nonprofit, now help me, the Sanguine Path. See, he even pronounces words better than I do. The organization's mission is to bring love and hope to children 18 and under affected by challenging experiences through the provision of resources such as care packages and back-to-school kits. He wants to keep helping people in the future as a cardiologist. I thank Milo today for reminding us what values truly are, reminding us that they are not Not any position on political issues, but things like generosity, kindness, and love that he's showing through his art and through his nonprofit. As COVID-19, as our crisis comes to an end after 15 difficult months, we're coming together to build a better Kentucky for all our families. And there's people like Milo that are going to be leading the charge. Now I've talked a little bit lately about the fact that I think we're moving from a a time of great difficulty to a time of great opportunity. And I think we're seeing the talent that is gonna lead us in that opportunity right here today. So with that, I'm gonna sign an acclamation in honor of Milo and his achievement. Well, I'm gonna be presenting a acclamation. Milo, if you'll join me up here. All right, whereas Milo Golding, an 11th grader at Lexington Christian Academy, is the 2021 national winner of Google's Doodle for Google contest, and millions of users will see his winning artwork featured on Google's homepage for a day. And whereas as the national winner, Milo, you, will receive a $30,000 college scholarship, which is amazing, along with Google Hardware, his school, Lexington Christian Academy, will receive a $50,000 technology package. And whereas Google received tens of thousands of submissions from students across the United States from kindergarten to 12th grade for this year's contest, and Milo's award-winning artwork was selected in May as one of five national finalists. And, whereas Milo's doodle creation, Finding Hope, was in response to the prompt, I am strong because. The intricate doodle, featuring a caring parent and small child, speaks to the resilience and hope that lives in all of us. It was inspired by his late father's advice to find inner strength through hope, despite the obstacles one may face in life. And whereas Milo's artwork represents his father's words and his personal and incredible journey to find hope and remain strong after suddenly losing his father to a sudden heart attack when Milo is 13 years old. He is hopeful for the future and his aspirations to become a cardiologist demonstrates his resilience and desire to honor his father's advice. And not on here, but I learned he is about to go to the Governor's Scholars Program. And whereas Milo also founded a charity called the Sanguine Path to help provide hope for children ages 18 and under who've lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Now, therefore, I, Andy Beshear, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do hereby pay tribute to Milo Golding as the first young Kentuckian to win the national 2021 competition. Thank you. Congratulations. Thanks so much, Governor. Thank you. Governor Beshear, thank you so much. We so appreciate that you're here for this exciting news. And I want to make sure to recognize our council members who are with us. We have council member Whitney Baxter. There you are. Council member James Brown, council member Liz Sheehan. Are there other council members here? Don't wanna miss anyone. And we also want to thank a very supportive team of members from Lexington Christian Academy. They were not gonna let you come here without them. So we have head of school, Dr. Scott Wells and Julie, his wife, high school principal, Dr. Cassandra Kett and Dan Kett, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Lisa Bacon, teacher Robin Eiler, college counselor Heather Riley, we might have even more. They love you just as we do and honor you. Thank you all for being here from Lexington Christian Academy. And we want to make sure to thank Google for supporting the creativity of our youth with this contest. Milo, congratulations again on this amazing honor. Your doodle for Google, here it is, is amazing. And tomorrow, people all over the world will click on Google, and Milo's doodle will show up all over the world. It's awesome. So I know that we all feel the emotion that you put into this and the heartfelt story that it tells. I also want to recognize and honor Yanya, Milo's mother, who you must be so very proud of your son. Yes, thank you. Lexington has so many fantastic youth. Milo is a perfect example of this. And all of you from Lexington Christian Academy know this. You see these youth every day. And out of the tens of thousands of submissions for the Doodle for Google contest, one of our very own right here in Lexington rose to the top. I'm so impressed by Milo's thoughtfulness, his dedication to supporting our community with his charity, Sanguine Path. There are not too many rising seniors who have their own charity that supports youth who have lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Milo is truly an exceptional young man. Now, the first thing I want to do is, on behalf of the city, I want to show our support and love for Milo as the 2021 Doodle for Google winner. Yay! And I have a few things for you. First, I want to pin the official Lexington logo pin on you, if you will. We talked about this. This is how it goes. Do you want it on your collar? Okay. See, we're the same height. Yes, we are. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. We chatted earlier and he knows that this is the representation. It is the great racehorse Lexington. And Lexington received permission several years ago to color it blue and become our logo. So next, I wanna thank Visit Lex because Visit Lex helped us in accumulating some very special items that are Lexington-centric to show our Lexington pride for you. So we have a basket of things here, a bag, and I think there could be a doodle pad in there. I'm not sure. So congratulations. Thank you so much, Michelle. Yes, you're welcome. So congratulations. We are all very proud of you. Yay. Let's hear it for Milo. All right. Milo, do you want to say a few words? Yes, I'd love to. Let's put it right here. Okay. Thank you, Governor, and thank you, Mayor. I'm very honored to be here. First, I would love to thank my community and my school for all the support and encouragement I've received throughout this entire process. Throughout this entire process. I'd also love to thank Google for providing this opportunity to kids like me who want to share their message and their story through their artwork. I am very and truly proud to be able to represent the state of Kentucky in this competition. Regardless of the uncertainties or fluctuations in life we may face, hope is always there. It is just our job to find that hope in order to move forward. I believe in hope. Hope has allowed me to move past life obstacles and overcome adversity during times of hardship. Thank you all for allowing me to be here today, and I am truly honored and humbled to have the opportunity to share my story and the message of hope with you all. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you all so much. If the media has questions, we can do one-on-ones. I know you'll want to talk to this fabulous young man. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Wake up, please, Susie. Wake up, please, Susie. We gotta go home. Wake up, please, Susie. Wake up. Wake up, please, Susie. Wake up. The movie wasn't so hot. It didn't have much of a plot. We fell asleep by goose's group, died, reputation he shot. Wake up, believe it, Susie. Wake up, believe it, Susie. Well, what are we gonna tell you, mama? What are we gonna tell you, papa? What are we gonna tell our friends when they say, ooh la la, wake up, believe it, Susie. Wake up, believe it, Susie. Wake up, believe it, Susie. We'll be right back. Wild thing. Wild thing, I think I love you. But I want to know for sure. Come on and hold me tight. I love you. Wild thing You make my heart sing You make everything groovy Wild thing Wild thing, I think you move me But I want to know for sure So come on and hold me tight You move me Wild thing You make my heart sing You make everything groovy Wild thing. Come on, come on, wild thing. Shake it, shake it, wild thing. See the stone set in your eyes See the thorn twist in your side I'll wait for you Sleight of hand, interest of faith On a bed of nails she makes me waste And I waste without you With or without you With or without you Through the storm we reach the shore You give it all but I want more And I'm waiting for you With or without you With or without you are I can't live with or without you And you give yourself away And you give yourself away And you give, and you give, and you give yourself away My hands are tied The body bruised she got me with Nothing to win and nothing left to lose And you give yourself away And you give yourself away And you give, and you give And you give yourself away With or without you With or without you I can live With or without you Without you With or without you I can live With or without you With or without you Thank you. Thank you. The End Oh, they're red, white, and blue And when the band plays pale to the chief Oh, they point the cannon at you It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no senator's song, no It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one, no Some folks are born silver spoon in hand Y'all don't to help themselves, y'all But when the tax man comes to the door Y'all, the house looks like a rummage sale, yeah It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no millionaire, son, y'all, no It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one, y'all Thank you. I'm out. There's not a lot of things to do I wouldn't rather do with you Guess I'm funny that way Lately I just sit and stare I talk to people who aren't there To get through one night a day One night a day One step away From leaving you behind I set up with the radio Sing along with the ones I know To get through one night a day I'm calling every friend I've had I wake them up and make them mad To let them know that I'm okay I used to sit and talk to you But they're all just a substitute To get through one night a day One night a day One step away From leaving you behind I stay up with a late, late show Just another way I know To get through one night a day To get to one night of May guitar solo Thank you. Any day now, I will hear you say goodbye, my love. And you'll be on your way Then my wild, beautiful bird You will have flown Any day now I'll be all alone Any day now When your restless eyes meet someone new. Oh, to my sad surprise. Then the blue shadows will fall all over town. Any day now, love will let me down. Oh, I know I shouldn't want to keep you if you don't want to stay until you're gone forever. I'll keep holding on for dear life Holding you this way Begging you to stay any day now When the clock strikes go, you'll call it off Then my tears will flow Then my wild, beautiful bird You will have flown Any day now Love will let me down Cause you won't be around Oh, river blue Shadows will fall All over town Any day now Love will let me down Cause you won't be around Any day now You won't be around Any day now No, no, no, no, no, no You won't be around I We run into the midnight sun And wheels go round and round On my mind Restless hearts Sleep alone tonight Sending all my love Oh, no. Oh, yeah. I'm forever yours Faithfully Faithfully Circus life Another piece of world We all need the crowns to make us smile Blue stairs and time Oh, where's another show? Wondering where I am lost without you And being a part ain't easy, you'll just never fail A true stranger's land to fall in love again I'll give the joy of rediscovering you Oh, girl, you're still behind me I'm forever yours With me Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh Yeah. If there's anything that you want If there's anything I can do Just call on me and I'll send it along With love from me to you I got everything that you want Like a heart that's oh so true Just call on me and I'll send it along With love from me to you I got arms that long to hold you and keep you by my side. I got lips that long to kiss you and keep you satisfied. If there's anything that you want, if there's anything I can do, just call on me and I'll send it along with love from me to you. From me To you Just call on me And I'll send it along With love from me To you I got arms that long To hold you And keep you by my side I got lips that long To kiss you And keep you satisfied If there's anything That you want If there's anything I can do Just call on me and I'll send it along With love from me to you To you, to you, to you I was listening to the radio I heard a song Reminding me a long ago Back then I thought that things were never going to change It used to be that I never had to feel the pain I know that things will never be the same I wanna go back and do it all But I can't go back, I know I wanna go back Cause I'm feeling so much younger But I can't go back, I know I recall hanging out on Friday night The first slow dance Hoping that I get it right That day I thought I'd never ever stand On this edition of Lexington Now, wildlife at McConnell Springs, the Bluegrass 10,000 and eSports. I'm Neil Noah and welcome to Lexington Now for the week of June 14, 2021. We begin this week with part one of a new series, Wildlife at McConnell Springs. This week, Steven Rogers talks about the snakes and insects that can be found there. My name is Steven Rogers. I'm a recreation manager. I've worked at McConnell Springs for seven years now. I have a background in parks and recreation and outdoor education. My degree is in Parks and Recreation Administration. My first full-time position was as an interpretive park ranger, which involved a lot of environmental education and a lot of outdoor programming, and that really fit in well with the position here at McConnell Springs. and so in my current position I get the opportunity to work with people in the public, manage the park, and do a lot of environmental education programming. Most commonly the snakes that we see at McConnell Springs are garter snakes, black rat snakes, and then actually even earlier today we saw a milk snake. So all those snakes are constrictors. We've never identified or positively identified a venomous species of snake at McConnell Springs. So in Fayette County, the only venomous species of snake that we should have here is going to be the copperhead. Copperheads have been identified in more rural areas. They don't do as well in areas like McConnell Springs that are surrounded by a lot of development. So they need larger areas, larger populations to hunt, larger spaces. So the animals that we see here, the snakes that we see here are all constrictors, non-venomous. I always tell people, even if you think you know what species it is, you want to leave the snake alone, just observe it from a distance. Typically when people see a snake at McConnell Springs, they see it very quickly just going across the trail. Maybe it's basking and you spook it and then it goes off into the woods and pretty much disappears once it gets under the tree line. But the snakes are pretty abundant here. Mostly the garter snakes are smaller species, so they survive by eating small insects, slugs, any small animal they could catch. Black rat snake is our largest snake that we have in Kentucky lengthwise, so they can be about eight feet long and so they're a pretty long snake. So they're mostly going to survive off of catching mice, rats, small rabbits, even a small squirrel. We see probably thousands of species of insects, more than I'm qualified to identify, and a lot of the more interesting insects that you're going to see at McConnell Springs will be in the even time. Fireflies, butterflies during the day, moths. So we have a couple of areas designed for pollinators. So we have our rain garden, we have a few landscaped areas, and our meadow area that have pollinator plants to try to attract insects. And so you have a really good opportunity to see dozens and dozens of species of pollinators around those areas. We do have an active beehive at McConnell Springs. So we have a honey beehive that's managed by a volunteer from the Friends of McConnell Springs. We're anticipating getting a second hive soon and hopefully if that works out well then we'll actually be able to produce honey from McConnell Springs within the next year and so the beehive is very active. We see natural bees that you would find here like mason bees, wood boring bees and just dozens and dozens of species of insects. We regularly have programs that focus on the wildlife at McConnell Springs. A lot of our junior naturalist programs, regular reoccurring programs, will focus on different animals and different species of animals and wildlife in the park because it's so abundant here and it's one of the more interesting topics that people want to know about. And so that's what we typically try to focus on and make sure that we're teaching people about what's going on at that specific time of the year as far as the wildlife goes. So in June, our Junior Naturalist Program will focus on pollinators because June is Pollinator Awareness Month. And so it's a good opportunity to learn about monarch butterflies, other pollinators, obviously the bees that we have at McConnell Springs. So we've got a lot of interesting things that we're going to be able to show and a lot of cool things that kids can take away from that program. For more information about the park that you may want to find about the wildlife, you can check out lexingtonky.gov and the McConnell Springs page. And then the Friends of McConnell Springs website has some really good, interesting information about the wildlife. And I would recommend people check out the McConnell Springs Flickr page. We have some beautiful shots on our Flickr page. So if you just search McConnell Springs Flicker, there's some beautiful shots of plants, wildlife, and even some of the events here at the park. Be sure to tune in in the coming weeks for this continuing series. The Bluegrass 10,000 is back with a few modifications. Here's what to know. The Bluegrass 10,000 began in 1976, so this is our 45th year. Last year, the 44th year, we only ran virtual. So this year, we really missed it. We wanted to bring it back. And in previous years, we've had many spectators. We've had an award ceremony down at that classic loop on Richmond Road where you do a U-turn to come back in downtown. We usually had the Young at Heart band playing some bluegrass music to kind of cheer on participants. But this year, because we still want to do in person, but we need to remain socially distanced and safe, we will not have spectators, we will not have the awards ceremony, we will still give out the awards, and we will still get to run in person on Saturday, July 3rd, and we are capping it at 2,000 people. We normally have about 4,000 runners that run through downtown at the Bluegrass 10,000. So we are also doing 12 waves of 175 people approximately to continue our social distancing. It's spaced apart three minutes apiece in order to socially distance the runners, but we still get to run downtown and do our classic loop all the way out Richmond Road. turn back around to get our 10K in. We also have our one mile fun run, which we will run around downtown as well. And runners or walkers can participate in that fun run. So we have runners from elite six minute, five minute miles, all the way to people that are more like my pace that are 12 minute, 13 minute miles. But right now, we also have in our first wave wheelchair and hand crank runners. And so we do have awards for all of those divisions as well. The awards are divided by age and also device. If they do a wheelchair, hand crank, we have awards for those. And then every five years, we have the age groups beginning at 16. The cutoff date is actually the 29th of June for in-person running, but I think it will probably fill up before then. And virtual can sign up all the way to 4th of July weekend. Good Times Racing is our timer, and John's Run Walk Shop is also doing a 10K training program. So you can sign up through them as well, gtraces.com or lexingtonky.com will take you to that run sign up page. Everybody gets a t-shirt and the t-shirt design this year is retro to flash back to that 1976 year that we started running. So it has kind of a retro, muted colors feel. They're really cool. everybody from virtual fun run and in-person bluegrass 10,000 racers will receive a t-shirt so you can go to runsignup.com and look for the bluegrass 10,000 you can also look on our facebook page we have a bluegrass 10,000 event there when we come back esports Thank you. Welcome back to Lexington Now. Parks and Recreation is offering a new activity that has been exploding in popularity, eSports. Here's Clyde Dean. Esports are the competitive version of video games. So what we're doing is we're looking to take video games to the next level. We're trying to give people an outlet for competition but indoors. So we are going to start off with sports games. We're looking to start with Madden, NBA 2K, FIFA, and Rocket League. League and again we're just looking to give people, students, adults, anyone really an outlet to compete in video games. Right now we do have Xbox One, we have PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and we're going to introduce some computer games. It's just based on what games are on each console. So we are going to have games like League of Legends. We are going to do a lot of MOBAs and a lot of strategy style video games in our later seasons. So we have three age divisions. We have 6th grade through 8th grade. We have high school which is 9th through 12th and then we have a 18 plus for all adults. So right now the leagues will be an 8 game season with a tournament afterwards and that's for the sports games when we introduce League of Legends and some of the other strategy-based games, we will run more tournaments rather than leagues. Since we are in COVID restrictions, everything is going to be online-based, so you would have to have the video game, the console, in order to register and play that game. Post-COVID, hopefully, we are moving towards trying to get a game room and with that location we want to give people an opportunity to come play who don't have the games and consoles or can't afford the games and consoles. I want this eSport program to appeal to everyone. It doesn't matter if you're physically athletic or not. You know a lot of video games you're using your mind and your thumbs and I think that's something that everyone can do. I want the middle schoolers to be able to say that they're doing something competitive, even if they're not doing something physical. Same for high schools, same for adults. I want the eSports program to eventually encompass a lot of the Internet safety. I just want it to be a safe space. I want middle schoolers, I want high schoolers who are being graded a lot on certain things in school, I want them to use esports as an avenue to get better grades, to encourage them to be better in life. If you want more information, go to our website, lexingtonky.gov, and just search esports in the search tab. Just click on the esports tab, and we'll have all current information for you. You can find all the parks information you need on the city's website, lexingtonky.gov slash parks. Did you know that in Lexington, most construction projects need to be dewatered? So what exactly is dewatering and why is it necessary? We asked Roy Berger. In construction, you have excavation of pits and you have excavation of trenches, which normally is below the groundwater table and also floods during the time of stormwater events, and it has to be dewatered. The dewatering of that creates sediment, and you cannot discharge that sediment directly to the stream, so therefore you have to do some type of treatment. A typical dewatering is what we have set up here. You dewater from the trench or the excavation into some type of filter bag, sediment pond, or straw bale barricades. And that filters water out and takes the sediment out and lets it go back to the stream naturally. Sediment bags is a geotech for bags that you pump the water in and it filters the water out and then lets the clean water either go through the vegetable strip or back to the stream. Silt fence you can put that into a basin type setup and line it with straw bills and so forth and you can pump into that and it filters out the sediment. Usually it's a pond and you pump the water into the pond, which is the most common method, and it spreads out and slows down. It allows the sediment to settle out and the clear water to run out the other end. Sometimes one sedimentation pond will do it. There may be a series of sedimentation ponds. What a sedimentation pond does is it lets it spread out, settle, and then discharge out the other end. You can either run them in single or series. Sediment bags, you can run them in series. They're more conducive to linear projects like line light work, so because they're easier to move. You can use them in conjunction with straw bales, vegetative strips, and so forth, and they're much easier to maintain. That is an area that's got a lot of vegetation that allows the water to spread out and settle out in the vegetative area and then clean the water before it goes back to the stream. They have to be maintained. They cannot be just put in and forgot about. No one option will work for any one particular construction site. You may have to use a series of these options for construction sites because most of the line work is moving and you can't put a permanent structure in for any type of selling on a moving project. Under the RMP, each resident project representative has to note on his daily reports that he's looked at the dewatering operations and everything is working properly. If there's any variation where it's not working properly, that has to be documented. And also they do weekly inspections for ESC. All these methods can be found on the Lexington Stormwater site and the forms can be found in the project construction section of the website. It varies from project to project. The worst thing you can get into is a project where you've got a tunnel going on or grinding rock and so forth because the rock dust is harder to eliminate. The best thing we've found is sedimentation ponds for the rock dust. We're just trying to keep the collection of streams clean and safe and un-polluted. Many urban county government meetings are still happening virtually, but we bring most of these meetings to you live. Check out our website for the most accurate and up-to-date coverage of city business. And we continue to keep you up-to-date on how the city is handling the pandemic via our official COVID-19 response site, including testing and vaccination sites. simply click on the banner at the top of our home page. That's all for now, but as always, you can keep up with us on social media, check out the latest traffic updates on Twitter at LexRex, or catch our live traffic cams on LexingtonKY.gov. For all of us at LexTV, I'm Neil Noah, and that's it for now. I'm away from the only thing I've ever known. Like a blind dog without a bone, I was a gypsy lost in the twilight zone. I hijacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold. I've been there, done that, I ain't looking back on the seeds I've sown. Saving times Spending too much time On the telephone Who says you can't go home Who says you can't go home There's only one place They call me one of their own Just a hometown boy Born a rolling stone Who says you can't go home Who says you can't go back Been all around the world And as a matter of fact, there's only one place left I want to go. Who says you can't go home. It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright. I went as far as I could, tried to find a new face. There isn't one of these lines that I would erase. Left a million miles of memories on that road. Every step I take, I know that I'm not alone You take the home from the boy, but not the boy from his home These are my streets, the only life I've ever known Who says you can't go home? Who says you can't go home? There's only one place, they call me one of their own Just a hometown boy, born a rolling stone He says you can't go home Ruth says you can't go back Been all around the world And as a matter of fact There's only one place left I wanna go He says you can't go home It doesn't matter where you are It doesn't matter where you go Fifteen million miles away Or just a mile off the road Take it in Take it with you when you go Who says you can't go home? Who says you can't go back? Been all around the world And as a matter of fact There's only one place left I wanna go Who says you can't go home? It's alright, it's alright, it's alright Who says you can't go home? It's alright, it's alright, it's alright Who says you can't go home? It's alright, it's alright, it's alright Who says you can't go home? It's funny how I find myself in love with you If I could buy my reasoning, I'd pay to lose. One half won't do. I'll ask myself, how much do you? Commit yourself. Oh, it's my life. Don't you forget. It's my life. It never ends. Funny how I'm blind myself, I never knew How I sometimes played upon, afraid to lose Oh, I tell myself what good do you do Convince myself Oh, it's my life Don't you forget Oh, it's my life It never ends Oh, yes. How much do you have? Commit yourself Oh, it's my love Don't you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends Who is my love? Don't you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends Who is my love? Don't you forget Caught in the crowd It never ends I'm out. I'm out. So long there was nowhere to go like a bad dream Somehow the wire got crawled, the tables were turned I never knew I had such a lesson to learn I'm feeling good from my head to my shoes Nowhere I'm going and I know what to do I tidied up my point of view I've got a two attitude I'm in control My worries are few Cause I can look like I'm gonna do Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh I've got a two attitude I'm wearing a New dress New hat Brand new ideas As a matter of fact I've changed for good. It must have been the whole night, new moon, light change. Oh, that look at your arm, I'm gonna feel like I should. Somehow the wire runs across, the tables were turned. I never knew I had such a lesson to learn. I'm feeling good from my head to my shoes Know where I'm going and I know what to do I've tidied up my point of view I've got a new attitude I'm in control, my worries are few Watch out my love like I'm gonna do Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh I've got a new attitude Oh, oh, oh, oh. Somehow the wires uncrawled The tables were turned Never knew I had such a lesson to know I'm feeling good from my head to my shoes Know where I'm going and I know what to do I tidied up my point of view I've got a new attitude I'm in control, my worries are few I got a new attitude I got a new attitude I got a new New attitude Everything about me that's not true Baby, I hate you, I hate you I gotta do I gotta do I gotta do I gotta do Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars, let me see what spring is like on Jupiter In other words, hold my hand. In other words, baby, kiss me. Fill my heart with song and let me sing forevermore You are all I long for, all I worship and adore In other words, please be true In other words, I love you Fill my heart with song Let me sing forevermore You are all I long for All I worship and adore In other words, please be true. In other words, in other words, I loved you. I'll wait a little while from now, if I'm not feeling any less sound, I promise myself to treat myself and visit a nearby tower. And climbing to the top will throw myself up In an effort to make clear to whoever what it's like When you're shattered left standing in the lurch At a church where people were saying My God, that stuff she stood him up No point in us remaining We may as well go on As I did on my own, alone again Naturally To think that only yesterday I was cheerful, bright and gay Looking forward to what I wouldn't do The role I was about to play But as if to knock me down Reality came around And without so much as a mere touch Cut me into little pieces Leaving me to doubt Talk about God in his mercy, if he really does exist. Why did he deserve you in my heart of need? I truly am indeed alone again, naturally. It seems to me that there are more hearts broken in the world that can't be mended, left unattended. What do we do? What do we do? I'm alone again, naturally Looking back over the years Whatever else dies at least I remember I cried when my father died, never wishing to hide the tears. And at 65 years old, my mother God rest her soul. I couldn't understand why the only man she had ever loved had been taken. Leaving her to start with a heart so badly broken, despised encouragement from me. No words were ever spoken when she passed away. I cried and cried all day, alone again, naturally. Alone again, naturally. Hey, where did we go? Days when the rains came No rain this year Down in the hollow It's been a new day Laughing and running Skipping and jumping In the speed morning fall Here where the hearts are run It was you My brown-eyed girl Where'd she go? You my brown-eyed girl Hey, whatever happens Tuesdays are so slow Going down in your mind with the transition radio Hiding on a slip leg leg Slipping on a rainbow spot Slipping on a slide in the air All along the water and fall It was you, my brown-eyed girl I see you You're my brown-eyed girl Let's do it Do you remember it? Please, it's like Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Sha la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la Thought about it just the other day. Where has the time all gone? Lord, take me back there now. Sometimes I'm overcome thinking about making love in the green grass. I'll be high in the stadium. We're proud of our girls. You're my brown-eyed girl That's good, girl You're the wind Please, let's sing Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Put me on that girls soccer team, I'm ready Yeah, girls rule Thank you. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la All righty. This is a little song, one of the very first ones I wrote down at Key West. We haven't played this song in quite a while, but I kind of wanted to do it. And it reminds me of my old days down in the Keys way back when. And contrary to rumors and things in the paper, I still go down there quite a bit. There's a little thing called 10 Cubs Chalice about seeing that sunset for the very first time down there at the end of Mallory Square. I'll take you there right now if I can. I heard the men saying something The captains tell they play you well And they say they need the sailing men to show the way We'll be right back. I'm up to the point of no return Your brother, he said he needs you. Your mother, she says she loves you. Your brother's the anger you want. How far, how far, how far, how far, how far. To the point of no return. To the point of your return Well, how long? How long? Today I found a message floating in the sea from you to me The road that when you could see it cried with fear The point was near, was it you that said how long? How long How long To the point of no return How long How long To the point of no return No return How long How long Hello You fill up my senses like a night in a forest, like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain, Like a storm in the desert Like a sleepy blue ocean You fill up my senses Come fill me again Come let me love you Let me give my life to you Let me drown in your laughter Let me die in your arms Let me lay down beside you Let me always be with you Come let me love you Come love me again Let me give my life to you Come let me love you Come love me again You fill up my senses Like a night in a forest Like the mountains in springtime Like a walk in the rain Like a storm in the desert Like a sleepy blue ocean You fill up my senses Come fill me again I'm not alone Friday night I crashed your party Saturday I said I'm sorry Sunday came trashed me out again I was only having fun wasn't hurting anyone and we all enjoyed the weekend for a change I was stranded in the combat zone I walked through Bedford Stuyall alone Even rode my motorcycle in the rain And you told me not to drive But I made it home alive So you said that only proves that I'm insane You made me right I may be crazy But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for Turn out the lights Don't try to save me You may be wrong For all I know But you may be right Well, remember how I found you there Alone in your electric chair I told you dirty jokes until you smiled You were lonely for a man I said, take me as I am Cause you might enjoy some madness for a while Now think of all the years you tried to find someone to satisfy you I might be as crazy as you say If I'm crazy then it's true That it's all because of you And you wouldn't want me any other way You made me right I may be crazy But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for It's too late to fight It's too late to change You may be wrong for all I know But you may be right Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Thank you. I get out on the road The Redneck Side of a Now and Then Call her my baby She comes over And the party begins If she's a slick nickel She's right on the money I wouldn't give her up For a thousand bucks of bunnies I'm her big cat daddy She's my little miss Honky ton She's got my number Knows my favorite songs On the G-Bomb Goes to getting down like crazy And the whole place rocks Yeah, we'll have a few And get the feeling right She'll be my queen bee I'll be her me all night Well, I'm her big cat daddy She's my little miss Honky-ton Oh, I love her so Stand back, give it room, boys, and watch her go Yeah, she's a rockerhead's turn when she comes through the door I sure stop her when she gets to going out on the floor Oh, we leave all our troubles and cares way behind us I feel like a king when I'm out with her highness I'm her big cat daddy, she's my little miss Honky Tom Oh, I love her so Stand back, give her room, boys, and watch her go Hey, we leave all our troublesome cares way behind us I feel like a king when I'm out with her highness I'm her big cat daddy, she's my little miss, honky-ton Yeah, I'm her big cat daddy, she's my little miss, honky-tonk Oh, I'm her big cat daddy, she's my little miss, honky-tonk I love you, baby Thank you. There's a four-sale sign on a big old rusty tractor You can't miss it, it's the first thing that you see Just up the road, a pale blue water tower I love Jenny, painted in bright green Hey, that's my Uncle Bill there by the courthouse He'll be lower in the flag when the sun goes down And this is my town Yeah, this is my town Hey, where I was born, where I was raised Where I keep all my yesterdays Well, I ran off cause I got mad And it came to blow for my old man I came back, settled down Cause where they're putting me in the ground This is my town Yeah, this is my town My town There ain't much going on here since they closed the mill But that whistle still blows every day at noon A bunch of us still go down to the diner I wonder if that interstate's still coming through But come Sunday morning service at the Church of Christ Well, there ain't an empty seat to be found And this is my town Yeah, this is my town Where I was born, where I was raised Where I keep all my yesterdays Where I ran off, cause I got mad And it came to blow from my old man Where I came back, settled down Where they put me in the ground This is my town Yeah, this is my town My town I bought and painted up that rusty tractor You ain't missin', it's sittin' right there in our yard The county came and took that water tower And that's Jeannie with a baby in the car We're off to Sunday service at the Church of Christ And if we want to see, we better leave right now And maybe later, me and Otero will show you around our town Yeah, this is my town Yeah, where I was born, where I was raised Where I keep all my yesterdays Where I ran off, cause I got mad And it came to blows with my own man I came back to settle down Cause where they put me in the ground This is my town Yeah, this is my town This is my town I'm a rocker. My tail. My tail. I'm a rocker. This is my tail. I'm a rocker. My tail. I'm a rocker. This is my tail. Thank you. Thanks for joining me. I'm First District Councilman James Brown with another council comment. Today we're talking about housing insecurity and eviction prevention. Early in the pandemic, we knew that was going to be a challenge that a lot of the folks in our neighborhoods and our community faced in regards to the pandemic. So council acted swiftly to get money in place to address some of those housing insecurity issues. Today I have with me Polly Ruddick, who is the Director of the Office of Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, or maybe Prevention and Intervention, and then also Charlie Lantern, our Director of Grants and Special Programs here with the city. Thanks for joining me today. I think the council's initial action was to put $1.9 million towards housing insecurities. Can you tell us a little bit about how that played off and how you had to work to create a system to get that money in the hands of families? Sure. So when the pandemic first hit and everything was shut down, you know, council quickly realized that people can't pay rent if they can't work. So in August of 2020, council moved $1.9 million out of budget stabilization to basically, I think we called it housing assistance. And $1.4 million of that was geared towards rental assistance for those who had been impacted by COVID-19. And we were given a swift turnaround by council. We had two weeks. Pressure, pressure. We had two weeks to get a program up and running. Now, we were very lucky at the beginning. We had a partner here in town that had a really good list of those that had reached out for rental assistance. We were able to partner with Lexington Fair Housing Council and eight other community partners to get the money out as fast as possible. So let me, and I don't want to interrupt you too long, Fair Housing, Art Crosby at Fair Housing. I remember being on a call or getting an email about this pending crisis that we knew was coming. And I think that's the partner that you're referencing that created that list, which, you know, thankfully they seen what was coming and kind of got ahead of the curve. And we kind of took that over. So they started getting phone calls in May, June. And so they were able to work with the faith community initially. and just you know as those calls came in as people filled out kind of an apple well it was an initial kind of contact application through the Lexington Fair Housing Council at COVID-19 renterhelp.org so he had established that in his agency at partner with the faith community to really try to shore up as much as they could but it be soon became very overwhelming and so we were all kind of you know we were all very thankful when council stepped in with that additional funds and we were able to use a lot utilize those funds and really get them out the door the first part of september i believe and we worked with those partners september october november and december and in january we received notice that the feds had kind of stepped in and were giving us a lot of millions of dollars worth of rental subsidy for our folks so we moved kind of what we call Housing Stabilization 1.0, which is what council was able to provide. We moved that to Housing Stabilization 2.0 out of Charlie's office with federal funds, and it's worked out really well. The initial program that was stood up in those first two weeks, the community partners are still on board helping us out even with the federal money. So it's been really good. Well, it sounds like the need was obviously there and recognized, And, you know, I know one of the first programs that was thought about was the RISE program. And I think it came online probably pretty close to the same time that the housing assistance program has come online. But now with the flexibility with the federal funds and the increased amount of funding, how is it transitioning to be more accessible for more folks in the community? I think the biggest difference is the scale of the program. we received in January $9.6 million for what the Department of Treasury calls the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. For us, we still brand it as the Housing Stabilization Program because that's what our community knows, that's what council created, and we were fortunate that the requirements of the federal program were very similar to the program we were already operating. So really all we had to do was transition from a locally funded program to a federally funded program and put in place some of those federal controls that you have to do with grant funding. and then start scaling up. And so we've been really fortunate. We reached out and were able to partner with Community Action Council here in Lexington to process the applications because they already had an existing infrastructure of staff and neighborhood centers and the ability to interact with folks and process applications quickly because what we had was an overwhelming number of applications. As we know, that need is significant. It continues to be significant. and we continue to have a wait list, to be honest with you, because it's just such a tremendous number of applications that we have to process, thousands, really, of applications. Yeah. But we've been busy, and we've made a lot of progress. Well, let me ask you this. You know, a lot of times the community looks for the city to lead, and I think we have kind of led and kind of jumped out and tried to address the housing insecurity issues. Can you recognize and talk about some of the partnerships that we have throughout the city that is making this happen and then also kind of you know what you had to do internally to make it more accessible because i understand you had to set up a call center for folks to be able to call into and get assistance yeah i mean i could probably mention some of the partners from previously and then currently we're working daily with community action we're working with urban league of lexington we are in court every day in in eviction court trying to capture those folks who are at risk of eviction, immediate risk of eviction. So we're working with the judges. All of the judges are our partners in this program. And the landlords. We're interacting regularly with landlords. We've gotten to know a lot of them and a lot of their attorneys and trying to help meet their needs because we know this impacts them just as much as it impacts the tenants. They have their own bills to pay. And we also have a lot of support from Catholic Action Center. They were a big partner in the first iteration of the program. They continue to be a big partner in the second iteration of the program. They provide a lot of volunteers who help reach out to people who aren't showing up for eviction court or maybe have other challenges to getting their assistance and getting the documents that we need to pay. One thing that's important to know is there's so much assistance available, and we have so many great partners with the judges and the nonprofits. The only way folks are getting evicted in Lexington right now is if they don't show up for court. Can you say that again? Yeah. It's worth stressing. The only way that folks are getting evicted in Lexington right now is if they get an eviction nerve, if they get served, and they don't show up for court. It's very important if you have a court date to show up for court because if we haven't already helped you at the point that you have a court date, we are there in court, and we can swoop in and help you. The judge will defer the eviction until we can get you paid, get you help, and get that case resolved. I can't promise that will always be the case but as of today that's where we are and we are very lucky here in Fayette County we have a great relationship with our judges and our judges know that housing is very important so they if you can't get on the zoom calls to do court you know they've opened up their courtroom for people to actually come in in person which some other cities and counties haven't done yet you know they're really pushing the zoom but our I think our judges really took it to heart that people, this is important, and people need access. And so if you can't get on the Zoom and you need to come in person, that's okay. They'll allow that, especially for eviction court. Yeah, and I think we're going to talk to Judge Murphy about the role the courts are helping to play in keeping people in their houses. But I think the important thing is to know that there are resources out there, show up to court, And it's not to avoid paying, but you know, there are resources in place to make sure that the landlords are getting their rents and you're able to stay in place. Thank you both for all y'all do for our city. Thank you for your role in making this housing stabilization program a success. And hopefully if we need more money from the feds, we'll get it. Early during the pandemic in 2020, Lexington and Fayette Urban County Council knew it was imperative that we act to address some of the issues facing our community. As we waited on help to come from state and the federal government, we locally put millions of dollars towards eviction prevention. Our Department of Grants, our Department of Social Services, and our Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention worked with outside agencies to get these funds distributed to individuals and families that need them. One of the other vital partners in this effort was our judges and our local court system. Today I'm joined by Judge Melissa Moore Murphy of the, what court are you, Judge Murphy? Say it, District Court, and I'm in the Fourth Division. I'm one of five judges here in the District Courthouse. Okay. Thank you for your role on the bench. And then can you tell us a little bit about the role that you all play in regards to eviction prevention and how some of the resources that we've made available at the local level has made its way to help families from being evicted? So for us, it was a moving target because evictions were kind of on a moratorium through state executive orders from the governor. However, we knew when those were lifted, for us, we have to be impartial on both sides to the tenants as well as the landlords. And the law was the law. If they had not paid their rent, we didn't really have much of a way to keep people inside their homes. but we also recognize that we're in the middle of a pandemic. So the first thing that helped us is that the Center for Disease Control entered a moratorium that was federally backed that basically said if a tenant, if they signed this declaration and if they were able to obtain all government assistance that they've applied for, if they were actively searching for it, then we were able to kind of continue their cases while they were waiting for that assistance to be provided to their landlords for their rent or their utilities. Well, the problem was, is where was those assistance funds coming from? And thankfully, the city did come through. We first had some initial funds that came through in the fall, but then there was also additional money that I believe came through this past spring. And I, along with my fellow judges, we spoke with individuals, Polly Ruddick, the director of homelessness prevention and intervention, Commissioner Ford, and the Department of Social Services and also Director Lanter and said, how can we make people aware that this is where they go? Now, let me ask you a question. Before they actually got involved and you all resumed your role in the courts, was there a stockpile of evictions waiting on you when you came back in the courtroom initially? Yes. So there was, the governor had put an executive order in place that the clerks could not accept any evictions for a period of time. And that was pretty much from March until June. So there weren't any that were there. There were ones that predated the pandemic when you say stockpile. So there were those that predated the pandemic. But then as soon as we were able to start accepting those, those evictions in June, they just came rolling. They came in and so much so that we pretty much had to put a kind of a each docket, a limit on how many we could, we could have. And I will say that we thought that there would be a whole lot more because our landlord community did the best that they could at the time. A lot of them were working with their tenants and showing them where they could apply for assistance, giving them the numbers and the email addresses and the websites. But at some point, money dried up. Like the Healthy at Home funds through the state, there was no more money left. The RISE funds through the city, there had to be specific parameters that people met and some people didn't have those that they met some people just did not have work at all and they didn't know where their next paycheck was coming from and how they were going to pay their rent now kind of explain to me if you will how is it working out in court when somebody when someone comes before you with an eviction notice and they you know it's because they really don't aren't working or and practicing healthy at home and want to stay in that place that they're renting, and then the landlord is also expecting rent and compensation for them staying there. How does that play out, and how is the Office of Homelessness Prevention and Intervention and Grants assisting in that process? And so the first thing, as I stated, the CDC moratorium. So it started September 4th, and that moratorium lasted until the end of December 31st, 2020. It has been extended twice over, extended till January 31st and again to March. Now it's been extended to June 30th. And that moratorium says you can't evict anyone if they've signed for a nonpayment of rent reason. Okay. For nonpayment of rent if these people are meeting these certain specific tenants within this declaration that they've signed. And once they've done this, this this CDC declaration, they then will then avail themselves of funds that are available through the city through covid19 renterhelp.org. I know it by heart because we have the pleasure of having Jonathan Wright from the Office of Homelessness, Homelessness Prevention and Intervention and early on polyuretic. They actually are attending our court. Each one of our judges has a docket every day of the week, Monday through Friday. So at 930, they're on the Zoom link and they are looking through the rolls to tell the landlord, this tenant has applied for assistance. So we're going to continue it out a month and hopefully that landlord will have been paid by the time we get back on the docket and then the landlord can dismiss their case. So it's safe to say that that process between application and actual execution of paying takes about a month. It takes about a month, maybe a little bit longer because there's different things they have to wait for from the tenant, landlord side. But it's been about a month. If we continue out a month, we're able to say landlord's been paid. We've had a lot of grateful people to say that they've been taken care of. One thing that we, and I want to make sure I note this, is that the only reason why it goes a little further sometimes is that everyone doesn't show up. And we need our tenants to be sure whenever they've been served with any court process, even if they don't know where to go and they don't know where to turn to, show up for court. Because once they show up for court, then we're able to get the assistance to them and information to them. But Catholic Action Center has actually been very vital in searching for individuals that don't make their court dates. So we've continued cases out for that reason as well. So I guess one real strong point to make sure that we note here is that if you get served with an eviction and have a court date show up to court, that not only is it going to be beneficial for you to be part of the legal process, but there's also resources available. Yes. So I would just say thank you, Judge Murphy, for your service on the bench. Thank you for your advocacy for folks in regards to housing insecurities. And we appreciate the work that you do. Well, thank you. And I think, you know, on behalf of my fellow judges, we thank you all for coming through with that and also for lending your person to show up our court our court dates each day. Thank you. Thank you. Well, good afternoon. This is one of those afternoons where we can be so proud of one of our own, who is an inspiration and lifts us all up through his talent, through his personality. I got to meet Milo again just a few minutes ago. We had met each other several years ago in Moorhead. And let's all start by saying what we want to. Milo, congratulations. Milo is an inspiration not just for bringing honor to Kentucky, but what he was able to do through his art. Milo has taken one of the worst things that can happen to anyone, losing his dad at just 13 years old. And he has turned his pain into hope and inspiration for people around the world. It'll be on a platform where everybody around the world gets to see it. It takes a really special, powerful, strong individual to be able to do that. Everyone on Team Kentucky has been rooting for Milo throughout this competition, and we are so proud, not only that he's the winner, but it's that he turned out such an inspirational piece that speaks to all of us, and now it gets to be on a global platform. Even more important, it honors his dad's memory. He gets to be in this very special place while recognizing a very special person. Milo, thank you for pouring into our young people so much that you do, from your artwork to in a minute I want to talk about your charity. And I know that they, those individuals that you've been helping, are proud of you today, your family, your friends, your teachers, your school leaders, everybody is here because of how excited we are about this young but very tall man's work. You know, sometimes our young people, when they are willing to have the courage to do what Milo did, Sometimes they participate and they lose, but they win for being a part of it. And sometimes they win big, no matter what. Being here to support them and help them through the process is so important. And that's what Milo has been doing for so many. My administration has always put education first because of its life-changing ability. When you are the first, the second, or even the third in your family to graduate from high school, from college, from a trade school, you pick. It changes not only your life, but every generation's to come. It's how we end poverty. It's how we become better people. It's how we move forward to who we're supposed to be and not just who we are right now. And that's why here at the end of this month and then for each of the next months, we're going to be giving out 15 full scholarships to Kentucky students who get their COVID-19 vaccines. You can learn more and sign up for the drawings at shotamillion.ky.gov. Milo, I hope you'll sign up for that drawing too. But you've already gotten a pretty good start on your education because of your accomplishment today. Google, thank you for investing $30,000 in Milo's education. And to Google, thank you for donating $50,000 in a technology package to his school. And just like Milo, this win today is truly selfless in that his classmates are winning too with that package and what it's going to mean for them. Helping other kids and teenagers like him isn't anything new to Milo though. It's what he's already been doing through his non-profit, now help me, the Sanguine? Sanguine. Sanguine Path. See, he even pronounces words better than I do. The organization's mission is to bring love and hope to children 18 and under affected by challenging experiences through the provision of resources such as care packages and back to school kits. He wants to keep helping people in the future as a cardiologist. I thank Milo today for reminding us what values truly are. Reminding us that they are not any position on political issues, but things like generosity, kindness, and love that he has shown through his art and through his nonprofit. As COVID-19, as our crisis comes to an end after 15 difficult months, we're coming together to build a better Kentucky for all our families. There's people like Milo that are going to be leading the charge. Now, I've talked a little bit lately about the fact that I think we're moving from a time of great difficulty to a time of great opportunity. And I think we're seeing the talent that is going to lead us in that opportunity right here today. So with that, I'm going to sign an acclamation in honor of Milo and his achievement. Well, I'm going to be presenting an acclimation. Milo, if you'll join me up here. All right. Whereas Milo Golding, an 11th grader at Lexington Christian Academy, is the 2021 national winner of Google's Doodle for Google contest, and millions of users will see his winning artwork featured on Google's homepage for a day. And whereas as the national winner, Milo, you, will receive a $30,000 college scholarship, which is amazing, along with Google Hardware, his school, Lexington Christian Academy, will receive a $50,000 technology package. And whereas Google received tens of thousands of submissions from students across the United States from kindergarten to 12th grade for this year's contest, then Milo's award-winning artwork was selected in May as one of five national finals. And, whereas Milo's doodle creation, Finding Hope, was in response to the prompt, I am strong because. The intricate doodle, featuring a caring parent and small child, speaks to the resilience and hope that lives in all of us. It was inspired by his late father's advice to find inner strength through hope, despite the obstacles one may face in life. And whereas Milo's artwork represents his father's words and his personal and incredible journey to find hope and remain strong after suddenly losing his father to a sudden heart attack when Milo is 13 years old. He is hopeful for the future and his aspirations to become a cardiologist demonstrates his resilience and desire to honor his father's advice. And not on here, but I learned he is about to go to the Governor's Scholars Program. And whereas Milo also founded a charity called the Sanguine Path to help provide hope for children ages 18 and under who have lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Now, therefore, I, Andy Beshear, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do hereby pay tribute to Milo Golding as the first young Kentuckian to win the national 2021 competition. Congratulations. Thank you so much, Governor. Thank you. Mayor. Governor Beshear, thank you so much. We so appreciate that you're here for this exciting news. And I want to make sure to recognize our council members who are with us. We have Councilmember Whitney Baxter. There you are. Council member James Brown, council member Liz Sheehan. Are there other council members here? Don't want to miss anyone. And we also want to thank a very supportive team of members from Lexington Christian Academy. They were not going to let you come here without them. So we have head of school, Dr. Scott Wells and Julie, his wife, High school principal, Dr. Cassandra Kett and Dan Kett. Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Lisa Bacon. Teacher, Robin Eiler. College counselor, Heather Riley. We might have even more. They love you just as we do and honor you. Thank you all for being here from Lexington Christian Academy. And we want to make sure to thank Google for supporting the creativity of our youth with this contest. Milo, congratulations again on this amazing honor. Your doodle for Google, here it is, is amazing. And tomorrow, people all over the world will click on Google and Milo's doodle will show up all over the world. It's awesome. So I know that we all feel the emotion that you put into this and the heartfelt story that it tells. I also want to recognize and honor Yanya, Milo's mother, who you must be so very proud of your son. Yes, thank you. Lexington has so many fantastic youth. Milo is a perfect example of this. And all of you from Lexington Christian Academy know this. You see these youth every day. And out of the tens of thousands of submissions for the Doodle for Google contest, one of our very own right here in Lexington rose to the top. I'm so impressed by Milo's thoughtfulness, his dedication to supporting our community with his charity Sanguine Path. There are not too many rising seniors who have their own charity that supports youth who have lost loved ones or been affected by challenging experiences. Milo is truly an exceptional young man. Now the first thing I want to do is on behalf of the city, I want to show our support and love for Milo as the 2021 Doodle for Google winner. And I have a few things for you. First I want to pin the official Lexington logo pin on you, if you will. We talked about this. This is how it goes. See, we're the same height. There you go.