ATV Park Event Brings Opposition, Fiscal Court Looking to Take Action Countywide

County Attorney Says KRS Requires County To Enforce Entertainment Permits

Lincoln resident Thomas Bratcher speaks to the Fiscal Court about problems the community faces with a local ATV park's events.

Darren Doyle, story and photo:
Several residents from the Lincoln community attended yesterday's Edmonson County Fiscal Court meeting in opposition to an event that's regularly held at Blue Holler ATV Park, called Redneck Rave. The hugely popular event brings thousands of people to the small community of Lincoln, and while event attendees have plenty of fun, the residents there say it isn't the same for the rest of the community.

One of residents, Thomas Bratcher, spoke to the court last night about the problems he says the event brings to the county, and even said he is bringing a class action lawsuit against the park as a result of the issues Lincoln faces.

County Attorney Adam Turner first spoke during the meeting and presented a Kentucky Revised Statute, (KRS) specifically 231, which provides all the guidelines for places of entertainment. The section of KY law outlines the instructions that counties must take in order to legally allow places of entertainment, something that Turner said the county has never done, mainly because no one was aware of the law.

Turner said local officials met after the event at Blue Holler, which took place on the weekend of May 4th to discuss the "destruction and problems" the county saw from the event.

A post from the Edmonson County Sheriff Facebook Page on May 9th regarding the Redneck Rave at Blue Holler stated the following occurred at the event:
"1-Assault 3rd Police Officer/EMS Arrest
2-DUI Arrests
1-Public Intoxication Arrest
A total of 10 side by sides, trucks and other all terrain vehicles were towed during the event.
As far as the mayhem that followed, the condition the roadway was left in was unacceptable and shameful.
We stayed until the last person was towed from the park to assure no property was damaged.
There are many issues that must be addressed prior to ever allowing this type of event of happening again. We support the community and will not condone the lack of respect for our county."

"We were just trying to proactively go forward and prevent that from happening again, because I think in the past, several promises have been made from the people who run the rave about cleanup and stuff like that, that haven't been met," Turner said. He turned to Judge/Executive Scott Lindsey and asked, "Is that fair?" to which Lindsey replied "Yes."

Turner said the county does not want to target specific businesses, so they wanted to find a way to solve the issues while being fair to every similar type of business in the county. During his research, he said he discovered KRS 231, which focuses solely on places of entertainment.

"In my legal opinion, we should have been requiring not only Blue Holler, but all other campgrounds, horse parks, and everything else to have a permit. Because if you're a place of entertainment, which includes a tourist camp or a place where you go for amusement, you're supposed to have a permit. (Actually) not supposed to, the statute says you 'shall' have a permit."

He then summarized the statute that states:
(.010) As used in this chapter, "place of entertainment" means a roadhouse, place offering intoxicating or nonintoxicating drinks for sale, tourist camp or place of public entertainment at which people assemble to eat, drink, dance, bathe, or engage in any game or amusement...

He also then discussed the process that a place of entertainment must follow in order to obtain a permit from the county, which includes requesting an application from the County Clerk, it then being reviewed by the County Attorney, then the Judge/Executive would make the decision as to whether or not the business would be granted the permit.

In addition, Turner also read from KRS 231.110, pertaining to required conduct that included the following:
No person who has been granted a permit shall allow: (1) Drunken, disorderly, or boisterous persons, or persons of lewd or lascivious reputation to congregate in or about the premises;

Turner also said the county could also revoke a permit if required conduct is not enforced, law enforcement would be allowed to visit to premises in the event of a violation within the permit, and that persons objecting a business to obtain a permit could oppose their request, if they could provide proof that the business or type of entertainment was unsuitable for operation as pertaining to the specific KRS.

Other residents spoke of the noise, the mess, the traffic, and those who had property damaged as a result of the event, which took place in the midst of heavy rainfall, causing more issues than normal.

Another resident said she felt like Blue Holler would be singled out specifically because of the issues that people don't like, but Turner said that wasn't the case, as the KRS requires the same for any place of entertainment.

"If we're going to do this, we have to do it countywide, and we haven't been doing it so far," Turner said.

The female resident spoke again and said, "I wasn't saying that you all wouldn't be neutral, it's the community that won't be neutral. People that nit-pick, and nit-pick, and nit-pick at one place, and that makes it unfair. That's where that comes in, because they're going to be sitting, and watching, and picking."

Turner replied with "Ok, I understand that, but part of the application process for getting a permit, is you have to listen to the people that are affected by that venue. So, if everyone in Lincoln except the business owner says they're destroying our property or something, you have to listen to them. I'm not the one who makes the decision. I have to file a report, but I don't make the decision."

During the meeting, Sheriff James Vincent announced that he had just received a text message from Blue Holler owner Kevin Nelson, who said the Redneck Rave would not return to Blue Holler.

Mr. Bratcher spoke later in the meeting about the issues faced by residents when the event comes to the community, like big trucks and trailers running people off the road, driving through or parking in other private properties, and he referenced the arrests, indictments, and medical emergencies as a result of the events at the park.

"To be honest, the safety hazards our community faces is not just during the rave for our community," Bratcher said. "I don't see how, well there's an argument that there's a financial benefit, but how do we measure, how do we quantify that? We can certainly quantify the damage done by Blue Holler Off Road Park, but I see no benefit, no financial benefit. We have two small business that potentially benefit from it, but I'd be willing to bet their annual revenue is not equal to the amount of damage that's done every year."

Mr. Bratcher then told the audience that he was planning a class action lawsuit on behalf of the people of the community and invited anyone who wished to be part of it to contact him and he would provide the proper documentation. We spoke with Mr. Bratcher today and asked him about the planned lawsuit.

"Nothing has been filed yet, but I feel there has been significant damages from Blue Holler Off Road Park in order to proceed." Bratcher said he is in talks with his attorneys but did not discuss much other than the damages he and the community have experienced as a result of the park.

"People at the meeting reached out to me and said they want to be part of it, so we're in the process of defining the class and going from there."

Resident Nelson Sanders also spoke of the mess and trespassing on his property that he said resulted in the forced removal of a truck and trailer by the Sheriff's Office, but he also said there was a way for both the park and residents to come to an agreement.

"If that owner down there, Mr. Nelson, if he'll do and work with the community and things, there's not a reason that things couldn't survive and everybody be happy," he said. "But right now, it's all in his favor and the heck with the community."

Turner said the Fiscal Court would continue exploring the proper process to ensure they were compliant with the KRS he referenced.