Bonds, Justice System Protested at Edmonson County Courthouse

A handful of people showed up to protest low bonds and the justice system August 14th in Brownsville.

Edmonson Voice Report:
​Around a dozen people showed up downtown Brownsville on Thursday, August 14th to protest in front of the Edmonson County Courthouse in the wake of a recent indictment.

While the number of protestors was low, it is the first time a public protest has been performed at the courthouse, according to multiple lifelong residents of the county.

At first there was only one protestor.

Kentucky State Police, Brownsville Police, and the Edmonson County Sheriff's Office were all on scene before any protestors showed up, and for most of the morning, outnumbered protestors.

There was some scuttlebutt about people coming in from out of town to protest, and with the threat of outside agitators, local authorities were not going to take any chances.

A handful of people showed up to protest low bonds and the justice system August 14th in Brownsville.

​The first protestor on the scene was a woman named Sara Hennion, 35, from Edmonson County. Though she lives closer to Park City these days, she said. She does have kids in the Edmonson County School.
 
Like a lot of people saying online, she is upset with the situation as it has unfolded.
 
“I am fed up with people in areas of power, using that to get away with things that normal people would get drug under the bus for,” Hennion said. 
 
Hennion was protesting in part of the Tyler Skaggs case, who was recently indicted ​on 11 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a minor-victim less than 16 years of age, as reported previously by the Edmonson Voice. Skaggs' bail was set at $2,500.
 
“I’m just here to hopefully see some changes and see other people in the community that are wanting to see those changes as well,” Hennion said.

A handful of people showed up to protest low bonds and the justice system today in Brownsville.

 
Another protestor came, and she had a sign.
 
Candi Alford held up a sign with a picture of a marijuana leaf next to the number $25,000, and below the two images, a hand next to the number $2,500.
 
A person with a marijuana charge has bail set at $25,000 and Skaggs, with 11 class B felonies was granted bail for 2,500, she explained.
 
“That’s always the thing,” Alford said. “As soon as somebody says, well he had a $2,500 bond, well he had a private attorney, other people don’t have that means.”
 
“All of us are here for different reasons, and personally I am here for the family to show them that we are behind them, and we care about them,” Alford said. 
 
The woman who organized the event with an event-page made on Facebook, Christie Baker, had to leave the state the morning of to travel to Colorado, she said via Facebook.
 
“I started this effort to bring awareness and a voice to survivors in our community,” Baker said. “This wasn’t just about one case. It’s about standing up against patterns of injustice and making sure survivors know they are seen, heard, and supported.”
 
The name of the event was “Edmonson County Kids Matter: Rally and Ribbon Campaign for Justice."
 
The most ribbons seen were two red, white, and blue ribbons, worn dangling off the wrists by one man who showed up across the street in what looked like air-soft armor borrowed from a small child, shorts, crocs, and socks with a helmet and holding a sign saying “No snacks? No Peace!”
 
When asked what his presence was for, he left.
 
Asked if there has ever been a protest at the Edmonson County Courthouse, “Not since I’ve been sheriff,” Edmonson County Sheriff James Vincent said.
 
Vincent has only been sheriff for three years.
 
“I have not heard of one,” he said.
 
Asked to comment on the protest, Vincent only had kind words.
 
“People, that’s what America’s for,” Vincent said. “They can protest all they want to. It is their right as an American to protest. I am for it. Whatever they want to do.”