Money in Politics

Pizza king Schnatter leads 10 Kentuckians kicking $100K into state Republican party’s coffers

The Papa John’s founder and CEO John Schnatter and his wife Annette headlined a group of well-heeled donors to the state Republican Party last month, boosting its treasury by $151,000 and possibly pushing it even further ahead of the Democratics, according to its monthly Federal Election Commission report filed yesterday.

The party had $1.6 million on hand at the end of the month, after spending $188,000, the report said.

The Democrats have not filed their July report yet. But in June, they raised just $48,000 to the Republicans’ $155,000. That left the Democrats with only $48,000 in the bank.

The Schnatters and just eight other $10,000 donors accounted for 66% of all the party’s receipts during in July, underscoring the role of a handful of wealthy residents in this year’s elections. Among them, Schnatter especially can afford do be generous: His stake in the pizza chain he founded in 1984 soared above $800 million less than two weeks ago after a run-up in the stock’s price.

The others $10,000 Republican donors were:

  • John W. Landrum of Harrodsburg, retired.
  • Henry R. Saufley III, owner, Builders Supply.
  • Pam Stephens of Russell Springs, bookkeeper and accountant at Stephens Pipe and Steele.
  • James Stuckert of Prospect, partner at investment firm Hilliard Lyons, Diane Stuckert, retired.
  • E. Duncan Taylor of Lexington, horse breeder, Taylor Made Farms.
  • William Wilburn of Eubank, president, Cumberland Security Bank, and Sherry Wilburn, a homemaker.
Latest Headlines

KFC calamity? Chicago newspaper claims to have seen culinary world’s Loch Ness Monster

It’s the original recipe Colonel Harland Sanders developed in 1939 for his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Ky., the one with 11 herbs and spices that launched today’s 20,000-location KFC. The Chicago Tribune has published what it says is the top-secret recipe, which a freelance writer got during a visit with Sanders’ nephew, Joe Ledington, a 67-year-old retired school teacher outside Corbin.

Harland Sanders
Sanders

Ledington told writer Jay Jones he’d found the recipe, handwritten in blue ink, tucked inside a photo album he inherited from his aunt, Sanders’ second wife. The newspaper included a photo of it with a story today about the Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum in Corbin.

But as even the daily points out, many others have claimed to have seen what KFC calls one of America’s most valuable trade secrets. “But no one’s ever been right,” the company told the Tribune.

KFC keeps the original recipe, on a yellowing piece of paper, in a Continue reading “KFC calamity? Chicago newspaper claims to have seen culinary world’s Loch Ness Monster” →

RSVP

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be horses that are underdressed for black-tie events

Champagne smallerBig smiles, big personalities and big business networking — yes, it’s everyone’s favorite feature in The Voice-Tribune: party photos! Boulevard picks through the pics, choosing our favorite coverage.

Imagine the following:

One morning in your bathroom, brushing your teeth as you ready for work, you suddenly stop, mid-brush, and ask yourself: “I wonder where I could get a tuxedo for a horse?”

This might seem like an implausible scenario, even if you own a horse. And yet someone at the Kentucky Humane Society faced this very real question before last weekend’s annual Tuxes & Tails Benefit Gala fundraiser, where the theme was Hollywoof and the Cats’ Meow. “The highlight of this event,” the society-newsweekly Voice-Tribune reports this week, “is always the special furry guests who mingle with the crowd during cocktail hour.”

And yet Boulevard thinks the highlight was, in fact, a mini-horse named Abner, who posed with guests outside — in his tuxedo. It’s our party pic of the week. (View the photo gallery.)

Given his stature (height, not social), we wonder: Was he named after Li’l Abner Yokum, the main character of the long-running comic strip about a fictional clan of hillbillies living in dirt-poor Dogpatch, Ky.?

Lil Abner 200
Li’l Abner and Salomey.

We don’t know.

But we do know, thanks to the Internet, that we can buy a horse tuxedo for Continue reading “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be horses that are underdressed for black-tie events” →

Diversions

Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Speed Cinema: that charming French classic ‘The Red Balloon.’ (And it’s free!)

For its Global Speed program highlighting French culture, the museum is showing one of the most beloved children’s films of all time, 1956’s “The Red Balloon.” The Speed says: “What seems like only the story of a young boy and his balloon reveals itself to possess strong religious subtext as the boy fights to save his toy from danger.” Directed by Albert Lamorisse. 16-mm, 34 minutes.

Playing Sunday at 2 p.m., and every Sunday through Sept. 25. Check out the trailer:

Admission is free as part of the Owsley Sunday program. The free Sunday admission series through March 2021 is named in honor of the late Brown-Forman CEO Owsley Brown II.

Speed Art Museum logoThe 142-seat movie theater is part of the newly renovated museum’s expansion. It’s equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including 16-mm, 35-mm and DCI-compliant 4K digital projection systems.

Cops and Courts

Reward offered in Ohio robbery death of Navy Veteran at Taco Bell drive-thru

The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants*.

Crime scene tapePolice are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of a suspect who shot and killed a 49-year-old Navy veteran at a Taco Bell drive-thru on Sunday in Lorain, Ohio.

Robert Gnizak of Lorain was found dead in the car when police arrived at the restaurant at 11:03 p.m. He was riding in the car with a female friend when the robbery occurred, according to the Chronicle newspaper.

Robert Gnizak
Gnizak

While they were pulled up to order food, a man came up to the passenger side of the car and tried to rob the occupants, before fatally shooting Gnizak, the newspaper said today. It wasn’t clear from the newspaper’s account whether Gnizak was on the passenger side or behind the wheel. Another customer  in a car behind them called 911, police said.

It was the second killing Sunday at a Louisville-based restaurant chain. In Fort Wayne, a 28-year-old man was killed and another man was injured during a shooting outside a Texas Roadhouse in Fort Wayne. Police and court records said the victim had gotten into a fight with members of a motorcycle-riding group he once belonged to. A suspect has been arrested and charged with murder in the case.

* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 outlets in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants across the U.S. and in five other nations. With that many locations, crimes inevitably occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.