Steve Nunn Arrested in Graveyard

Back in March, a judge ordered Kentucky Republican politician Steve Nunn to have no contact for a year with his ex-fiance Amanda Ross, (division director for the Kentucky Department of Insurance). The restraining order was placed because of a domestic-violence charge against Nunn in February, in which it was alleged Nunn punched Ross in the face and held her arms while slamming her against a wall. Nunn also smashed a lamp and threw a cup of bourbon at her.

In August, Nunn was in trouble again. Ross asked a family court judge to hold Nunn in contempt of court over embarrassing photos of her. The judge required Nunn to "return to Ross all photographs of her and to take steps to destroy photos outside of his possession but provided by him to a third party".

On Friday, September 11, approximately 6:30am, Amanda Ross was found shot to death in the parking lot of her condo at 541 W. Short Street, Lexington.

Nunn, being the logical first suspect, became the subject of a manhunt. He turned up three hours later, when Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton found him disoriented in Horse Cave's Cosby Church Cemetery, where his parents are buried. He had slashed his own wrists and was bleeding profusely. He also had a handgun and stated to Eaton that he'd tried but failed to shoot himself. (Some news reports are contradicting this and saying he did indeed have a gunshot wound.) At this writing, it has not yet been determined if the gun is the same one that was used to shoot Amanda Ross, and currently no murder charge has been filed against Nunn.


The son of former Governor Louie B. Nunn, Steve Nunn ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 2003. Oddly, he was chosen by the allegedly Democratic Governor Steve Beshear for the post of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' Deputy Secretary. Nunn was forced to resign after the domestic violence/stalking charges.

Kentucky Ice Cream

Sadly, a remnant of a now-departed ice cream store at the also-now-departed Midway Cafe in Horse Cave, KY.

Kangaroos in Kentucky

Kentucky Down Under is a nature preserve/theme park located in Horse Cave, KY (take exit 58 off I-65). Like Henry's Ark, it presents its visitors with the cognitive dissonance of seeing exotic animals roaming semi-openly (as opposed to a constrictive zoo-like environment).

Kangaroos are what Kentucky Down Under is best known for, but there are many other odd Aussie critters creeping around: Emus, Green Tree Pythons, Bettings, Kookaburras, Lorikeets, Swamp Wallabies, etc.

But wild Kangaroo sightings in Kentucky have occurred over the years as well.

In 1899 there was a spate of reports of wild Kangaroos being sighted all across North America, including in Northern Kentucky. I hate to invoke the debunker's term "mass hysteria", but in this case, surely a lot of people thinking they were seeing Kangaroos pop up simultaneous across the continent were mistaken (On the other hand, maybe it was just your standard run-of-the-mill quantum temporal timespace displacement vortex).

In 1974, Kangaroos were reported running wild in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. There is apparently some truth to this flap, because the Kangaroos were reportedly photographed in Lansing, IL. Further verified sightings occured in 1978 in Wisconsin.