Cory Cooley Cory Cooley announced his candidacy for Mayor of Versailles with the filing of his nomination papers last week. A graduate of Woodford County High School, Cooley served in the U.S. Marine Corps, is part of the local work force, has worked as a volunteer and has served in leadership positions with many civic groups and events. Cooley and his wife, Katie, have one daughter, Avery, who is in the fifth grade at Southside Elementary. Cooley told the Sun that his late m

By Sherry Smith-Carl Guest Columnist Hi. It’s me. The car you decided to practice your breathing exercises on the bumper of this morning. Just a friendly reminder. The speed limit on Midway Road is 55 mph. I know, shocking. It’s almost like we’re not on the Autobahn. Also, there are deer out here — big ones, fast ones and the occasional “I have no idea what I’m doing” deer that will absolutely ruin your day if you’re treating the road like a racetrack. If you’re running late,

SONGS BY THE BEATLES come to mind on a drive in the Wooldridge Gardens neighborhood. New streets and roads in residential and commercial developments in Versailles and Woodford County are named by the developer of a property, who receives a list of street and road names that have already been taken. (Photo by Bob Vlach) Streets and roads are sometimes named for a family member or a prominent person in American history. Or they can have a theme such as a subdivision’s streets

THE 2025 CHAMBER LEADERSHIP ACADEMY held its graduation on Dec. 1 at the Woodford County Courthouse. The participants meet weekly through the fall, gaining insight and training in leadership through the lens of Woodford County. From left, YEP Coordinator Cole Grannis, lead instructor Lori Garkovich, Elizabeth Edwards with City National Bank, Allie Patrick with Frontier Nursing University, Brooke Trompler with Rail Explorers, Woodford County Judge-Executive James Kay and Versa

MARC BRADLEY read from his book, Imagining All the People: Poetry Inspired by the Characters in the Lyrics of The Beatles, during his Author Spotlight at the Woodford County Library on Dec. 4. (Photo by Bob Vlach) Versailles author Marc Bradley began by reading poems in his book, Imagining All the People, before taking questions at the Woodford County Library on Dec. 4. The second poem that he read was the first in his book of poetry inspired by characters in the lyrics of so

With the demonstrable increase in client families using the Food Pantry for Woodford County and the feeding program operated by Spark Community Cafe since mid-summer, which was magnified by the recent threat of loss of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the shutdown, the Nonprofit Roundtable of the Woodford Chamber of Commerce’s release of its “Food Insecurity in Our Community” report on Nov. 11 was timely. The work of the Roundtable on this iss

Penny Baker Incumbent Woodford County Coroner Penny Baker has filed for re-election as Woodford County Coroner. Baker, a Republican, is seeking a second term. Baker is a 1984 graduate of Woodford County High School, is a licensed funeral director at Blackburn & Ward Funeral Home in Versailles, and serves as a board member for the Woodford County Senior Citizens Center. Baker is the mother of two sons, Justin (Savannah) and Austin (Colby), and four grandchildren, Grant, Zoey,

In a shorter-than-usual Woodford County Fiscal Court meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 25, the meeting opened with an issue that has been batted back and forth between the court and the Versailles-Midway-Woodford County Planning Commission (Commission) since December 2024 – proposed changes to the ordinances regulating in-family conveyances of agriculturally zoned land. As the Sun has reported, the issue was teed up by the Commission in December 2024, when it requested the court order

The Board of Adjustments (BOA) voted 4-0 on Monday to approve a conditional use permit (CUP) allowing a Gray Hawk Court resident to operate an in-home gunsmithing and firearm repair business. Applicant Christopher Baker agreed to place several conditions on the CUP to address concerns raised by a neighboring property owner during a hearing last month. Another neighbor voiced his support on Monday for Baker having this business, but Baker’s next-door neighbors again raised saf

Lynn Pruett Woodford County farmer and guest columnist I live on Troy Pike/US 33, a narrow road with an extraordinary speed limit of 55 mph. It is a state road that winds through a pleasing landscape of farms, houses, trees and barns. Clear Creek curves under it four times. Roughly 600 cars pass my farm every day, a number that seems high until you consider that 3,500 people live in South Woodford County, and Troy Pike is the main north-south thoroughfare. In 1901, Sun co-e

MISS KENTUCKY 2025 Ariana Rodriguez shared her story of being homeless and how the power of community can be life-changing during the annual Woodford County High School Thanksgiving Food Drive Assembly on Nov. 25. (Photo by Bob Vlach) STUDENTS SHOWED ENTHUSIASM for participants in an annual tradition – making “complete fools of themselves” while trying to sound like a wild turkey – at the Woodford County High School Thanksgiving Food Drive Assembly on Nov. 25. (Photo by Bob V

A wrong name was included in the cutline of the Woodford County Woman’s Club photograph that was published in the Nov. 26 edition of The Woodford Sun on Page 5. The correct person’s name is Delia Spurgeon, not Kora Kovacovsky. The Sun apologizes for the error.