WCHS STUDENTS represented numerous Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways and Career and Technical Student Organizations at the 2025 CTE Fair. Students in Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA); National FFA (Future Farmers of America); Future Health Professionals (HOSA); and Technology Student Association (TSA) participated in the fair by selling and giving away products and services from their CTE pathways. Students, left to right: front row, Faith H

Sen. Jimmy Higdon Sen. Aaron Reed By Sen. Jimmy Higdon (R-14) and Aaron Reed (R-7) Kentuckians, especially in rural areas, know what it feels like to take a day off work, spend money on gas and drive long distances just to renew a driver’s license. That frustration is real. It affects people across the state. We hear it every day when we talk with folks in our communities. That’s why Senate Bill 7 was filed this session. As we said on the Senate floor, this bill is not a perm

KAYLA BUSH, researcher and historian, and Lynn Pruett, writer and farmer, completed Elm Bend: Unexpected Stories, a project that earned a microgrant from the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange and the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the first awarded in Woodford County. (Photo by Brent Irvin) MATTIE JOHNSON GRAY, 89, in 1986, taught at Elm Bend School in the 1920s. Gray secured Rosenwald Funding to build a new school for her students in 1924. (Photo courtesy of the Lexington Herald

WOODFORD COUNTY’S CHAPTER OF THE NAACP made a presentation to a large group at the monthly Chamber “Coffee at the Library” on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Outgoing Chair Brenda Robinson, Larry Blackford and Silas Hart, the new co-chairs, gave a history of the NAACP, both nationally and locally. Robinson spoke of their mission statement of focusing on voting rights, education, criminal justice reform and economic justice in advocating for persons of color. Blackford noted that the NAACP

JAILER MICHELLE RANKIN, standing center-left, with Major Charlina Foster and Lieutenant Cheyenne LeMay, and the men participating in the Woodford County Detention Center’s Community Service Program. Ted Sharpe II, the primary author of the letter to editor on page two, is eighth from the left standing. The program’s dog, Coop, who is lying down in front, lives in the CSP’s residential pod in the jail and is beloved by all. (Photo by Scott White) If you have lived in Woodford

FIFTH GRADE TEACHER Kendra Wadsworth, in her 13th year at Simmons Elementary, gave one-on-one attention to one of her students, Drayton White. Drayton and his classmates were working on decimal problems in math. (Photo by Bob Vlach) SIMONE CHANNER talked to School Resource Officer Steve Sutton during lunch at Simmons Elementary School Tuesday morning. (Photo by Bob Vlach) WORKING ON THEIR ‘ART TO REMEMBER’ projects were first-graders Jude Nicewonder, left, and Ryland Hannabac

CATHY RAWLINGS was asked to direct “The Mountaintop” because playwright Katori Hall’s drama features a strong female perspective onstage, says Woodford Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Ellis. (Photo submitted) JARSHALA KAVANAUGH portrays Camae, a character who Woodford Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Ellis describes as providing “a strong female perspective” in playwright Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop” – a fictionalized story about civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

The Midway Merchants Association presented its 2026 schedule to the Midway City Council at the Monday, Feb. 2 meeting to obtain approval for Main Street closures and to let the community know what will be happening in town this year. Association President Cortney Neikirk went over each event and advised the City Council on whether just the Northside or both sides of Main Street would need to be closed. The schedule is: Fairy Day, April 25; Family Block Party, May 23; Bourbon

VERSAILLES PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT has been working tirelessly since Storm Fern hit on Jan. 24. Jamie Ward, operating the backhoe, and Petey Bravo have had little sleep trying to keep the roads safe. (Photo by Scott White) You hardly need to read this week’s Sun to be told Woodford County has had a terrible 12 days weather-wise. Though only 4.5 inches of snow and a more treacherous 3/4s of an inch of ice from Jan. 24 and 25 would always be challenging, what followed since has

HELMUT GRAETZ in uniform as a teenager with the German Army in WWII. (Photo provided by Glenn Graetz) GLENN GRAETZ in the foxhole where Helmut Graaetz was likely captured in 1944 in Italy at the end of the war. Glenn placed a photo of his father and a bouquet of wild flowers gathered on the hike in the foxhole. (Photo by Glenn Graetz) By Glenn Graetz Special to the Sun The experience of my father, Helmut Graetz, as a soldier in World War II is a bit different from the typical

The Board of Adjustments (BOA) unanimously approved a conditional-use permit (CUP) for a short-term rental on Huntertown Road during its meeting on Feb. 2. The CUP for 1132 Huntertown Road allows applicants Brian and Jami Miller to rent a three-bedroom mobile home for up to 10 people, with a maximum of six adults. Other conditions of the CUP include the renter of the short-term rental must be at least 25 years old, no outdoor music or parties/events, and the CUP runs with the

Woodford County Public Schools used its last NTI or non-traditional instruction day on Tuesday, Feb. 3, so the school year could extend beyond the end of May. “But at the end of the day,” schools Superintendent Lori Jones told the Sun, “I’m going to make the decision that keeps our staff and our students the safest.” Jones said she has met with community leaders almost daily, if not multiple times a day, since a winter storm blanketed Woodford County with snow, sleet and ice