News

Over a year ago, we began our work release program at the Rowan County Detention Center, allowing qualified inmates to work at local businesses. We have had over 40 inmates involved in the program, and we’re incredibly grateful for the positive feedback from businesses and the lasting impact we anticipate it will have on participants’ lives post-release. The work release program gives these individuals the means to build a better life, with a paying job, work experience, and the influence of community-minded folks who also benefit from the expanded workforce.

This month, we celebrated the groundbreaking of our new secondary ambulance service facility, the John "Pete" B. Hamm Station. The site will serve as a hub for emergency medical services in the eastern half of the county and dramatically cut response times for our people in need. Rowan County EMS makes over 5,000 runs yearly and serves a regional medical facility. To respond to the needs of our growing county, it is essential that we grow our services. This will help set us up for the future, with an impact felt by Rowan Countians long after we’ve all moved on.

The pictured check for $1,000 was presented to Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter 1525 for their Flight Training Scholarship Program: “Giving Wings to our Next Generation”. Funding for this donation comes from the estate of member Steve Fouch who recently passed away and asked the Legion to devote a portion of his estate to a worthy community cause. Major Fouch was an Air Force Veteran, and it was thought that a program supporting aviation training for youth would be most appropriate to honor his legacy. This check is the first that will be donated from Major Fouch’s estate to the EAA Flight Scholarship fund over the next 10 years.

We invite all citizens of Rowan County to join us for the 30th annual City- County Christmas Dinner! The dinner will be held at the Carl Perkins Center on December 1st and will begin at 4:30pm.

We are thrilled to announce the Historic Hickory Flats Fire Tower and Cabin owned by the Route 377 Fire Dept. is now available for overnight stays! Hike into the location and take your Morehead-Rowan County, Kentucky adventures to new heights!

The National Weather Service has recognized Rowan County as a StormReady Community. This indicates that Rowan County Emergency Management has done everything possible to improve emergency first responder and community preparedness in the event of a natural disaster. With communications and infrastructure in place, along with severe weather awareness, it is no doubt that loss of life and property will be minimized in the future.

This month we were joined by Governor Andy Beshear and Senior Advisor Rocky Adkins to honor several first responders whose heroic efforts in the Eastern Kentucky floods resulted in the rescue of approximately 100 Kentuckians. These individual’s exceptional performance, professionalism, and dedication to duty reflect great credit upon themselves, the first responder community, Rowan County, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Morehead is looking forward to a new opportunity for everyone in the area to enjoy public art and for businesses to attract visitors to their location: the Morehead Kentucky Turtle Walk.

In addition to the fire, rescue, and road maintenance resources and crews we have sent to support our fellow Kentuckians to the southeast, Rowan County will be collecting essential supplies in cooperation with the RCDC and Jailer Wes Coldiron at the Detention Center (1075 S. Tolliver Road) between 8 AM and 4 PM.

Thanks to these helpful grants from Governor Andy Beshear, we’re building a secondary ambulance service, improving accessibility and facilities at Cave Run Lake, and resurfacing all of Bullfork.

Read about how one woman’s story shows that it’s truly possible to turn your life around.

In these trying times where we face both a pandemic and winter weather events, the importance of our Emergency Medical Services is clear. We are grateful for all our first responders and their coordinated efforts to serve our community. Our Rowan County Ambulance Service is proud to announce a scholarship program that will help train a new generation of paramedics, with $36,000 in total being utilized for the paramedic training of three individuals who will be staying right here at home to help our local community.

Read about the history of Freestone, home to one of the many rock quarries in the area that is now Farmers, and the benefits it brought to our community during the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Rowan County Fiscal Court is proud to announce an exciting new development in our community: fiber-to-the-home broadband access. Broadband is an important utility for all, and we are improving infrastructure in our county to allow more people the ability to access faster internet with a larger bandwidth. Fiber is already being laid across Rowan County as part of this initiative.

Fiber is the gold standard for broadband and will help create more accessibility to internet for everyone in the county.

For the second year in a row, Judge Harry Clark would like to invite all the people of Morehead and Rowan County to participate in our Halloween Decoration Contest. You have the opportunity to win bragging rights, some really nice prizes, and to be featured in the November edition of our county newsletter, the Rowan Review. Any resident or business is welcome to join in on the fun by uploading a picture to www.rcky.us/halloween.

Kentucky’s Judge-Executives play a unique role in municipal and state government, a position not present in many other parts of the country. There is a rich history behind this, going all the way back to when our state was first formed. Read about it here.