My mantra, as many long-time readers know: There’s always a Logan County Connection. The recent death of former Kentucky governor John Y. Brown Jr. is a prime case in point.
Many of the throng of prominent politicians who were in Logan County for the 1977 Tobacco Festival were running for state office in the 1979 Democratic Primary, some 19 months later.. George Atkins, Harvey Sloane, Lt. Gov. Thelma Stovall, and Congressman Carroll Hubbard were all candidates for governor.
The favorite when it all started was Terry McBrayer, one of the most likable politicians you’ll ever know. He was Gov. Julian Carroll’s choice to succeed him, and the Logan County political machine led by Judge Bob Brown supported him. His lieutenant governor was supposed to be Bill Cox of Madisonville, a long-time Democratic operative. But he had several good candidates running against him, including Martha Layne Collins, Wayne Rutherford, and Jim Vernon.
Atkins, who was state auditor, did a very good job calling out the Carroll Administration for alleged corruption. It was effective in damaging McBrayer’s campaign. Atkins, who had the personality and good looks of a television star, was perceived as being too negative, though.
Meanwhile Vernon made assertions that Cox would be indicted for his role in the Carroll Administration. He never was, but it the unfounded accusation derailed his campaign. It didn’t help Vernon either, however. Collins, a former school teacher, was elected lieutenant governor, giving us two women in a row in that office, since Thelma Stovall was lieutenant governor under Carroll. That paved the way for Martha Layne to become Kentucky’s first—and so far only—female governor four years later.
Think about it: these people had been actively campaigning for these offices for years. But just before the filing deadline, businessman John Y. Brown Jr. entered the race. He was handsome and personable, the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and the Kentucky Colonels professional basketball team. Even more than that, he was married to Phyllis George, a former Miss America who was an Emmy-winning sportscaster and the first woman co-host of the NFL on CBS. They were glamorous and swept the state off our feet. I heard It told that Kentuckians didn’t like our image as barefooted Dukes of Hazzard and Beverly Hillbillies. John Y. and Phyllis made the commonwealth cool and sexy.
Just 10 days before the primary election, John Y. and Phyllis flew into Russellville on a helicopter and spent an hour here. While he courted ’ county chairman, County Clerk Kenny Chapman, and Jailer Fred Browning, others of us were enjoying visiting with the beautiful Phyllis. Charlie Ray was her escort, and the 20-year-old became John Y.’s county chairman.
Brown didn’t bother to meet with the county Democratic chairman, Judge Brown. That didn’t come until two months later after John Y. became the Democratic nominee. He came to Logan to speak at a luncheon at the armory. He met with me and Courier-Journal West Kentucky reporter Bill Powell for an interview in Al Smith’s office at the News-Democrat. Al wasn’t there. Kenny Chapman brought Bob Brown over to meet him, so Bill and I got out of that office and let them talk behind closed doors for about five minutes.
At the luncheon, John Y. told the crowd that he was glad Judge Brown and Russellville Mayor Everett Daniel were there, but he didn’t call them by name. I wrote that he probably didn’t remember their names.
But when former governor Ned Breathitt, who was supporting John Y’s candidacy, spoke at the luncheon, he called local Democratic legends Bob (Mrs. Doc) Beauchamp, Joe Wheeler, Rayburn Smith, Karl Dawson and Bob Brown by name. That was the difference in politics as we had known it and the JYB Jr. style.
In fact, when John Y. was inaugurated in December of that year, celebrities got a lot more attention that did the former governors. Outgoing Gov. Carroll was in the 35th slot in the parade. Symbolically, the former governors in attendance—Bert Combs, Happy Chandler, Lawrence Wetherby, Earle Clements and Breathitt--had to ride in a horse-drawn wagon in slot number 45 of the 94 in the parade.
Among the celebrities in attendance were singer Andy Williams, comedian Foster Brooks, Mr. and Mrs. Muhammad Ali, Col. Harland Sanders, football legend Paul Horning, star horse jockey Steve Cauthen, and, most memorably, 13 members of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.
Very few Logan Countians attended. County Clerk Chapman and Circuit Clerk Jim Nealy (who had been Martha Layne’s county chair), state troopers Jackie Strode and Bill Henry Starks, who guarded the top officials regularly, highway officials Rayburn Smith and L.C. Kees, PVA Karl Dawson, Christin Helstsley, and Harris Dockins, who had been county chair for Louisville Mayor Harvey Sloane, who finished second in the primary.
I enjoyed seeing the celebrities, but I was also glad to see all those ex-governors. I had covered a rally for Sloane in Louisville much earlier in the year, which included Ali, Col. Sanders and education leader Ed Pritchard.
Barney Goddard and Lauren Wilkins were early supporters of the John Y. candidacy.
Overall, Logan County wasn’t particularly excited about the Brown administration. In fact, the Republican candidate, former governor Louie Nunn, had gotten more votes in the general election in Logan County that did John Y.
Judge Brown not only did not attend the inauguration, but both Logan Fiscal Court and Russellville City Council held their regularly scheduled meetings that day instead of rescheduling for the doings in Frankfort.
A personal note: My dad, James Turner, was not a fan of the Browns. Doc Beauchamp had many years earlier dispatched him and my mother, Marie Turner, to be Logan County’s representatives at a rally in Princeton for John Y. Brown Sr.’s highly unsuccessful campaign for state office. On the way home, my parents had an automobile accident that cracked a bone in my dad’s neck. It pained him the rest of his life. In fact, he considered the John Y. Browns a pain in the neck.
John Y, and the origins of Logan Aluminum
In February 1981, some Logan Countians were flown to Frankfort in private planes for an announcement by Gov. Brown and Commerce Secretary Bruce Lunsford that Anaconda Aluminum would build a massive aluminum plant in North Logan at Epley Station.
Among those making the trop were Circuit Judge William Fuqua, who headed the Chamber’s economic development committee, Lewisburg Mayor Warren McReynolds, Russellville Mayor Everette Daniel, County Judge Bob Brown, attorney Joe Gran Clark, Russellville City Attorney James Milam, Chamber of Commerce President Tom Noe, Commonwealth Attorney Jesse Riley Jr., County Attorney Fred Greene, County Clerk Kenny Chapman, PVA Karl Dawson, State Representative Lewis Foster, and businessmen Bob Kemp, Buck Anderson, R.L. Kirkpatrick Jr. and Doug Shoulders and journalists Don Neagle and Jim Turner
SKIDA’s Jim Catlett was there, as was TVA Director Richard Freeman and Anaconda President R. Van Horne.
The W.W. White farm at Epley Station was chosen as the site. Daniel Construction of Greenville, S.C. would do the building. Jim Earley headed the Daniel operation. Tom Thomas was the startup manager for Anaconda, working closely with John Gatlin. Corporate executive Fred Mudge worked closely with the setup. Mike Harris of Franklin was Human Resources Director. Mudge and Harris were the first two CEO’s of what is now known as Logan Aluminum.
Lunsford called this “the most exciting announcement since we’ve come on board.” Gov. Brown, who had run on a pro-business platform, noted that it was “the single biggest investment by a private firm in Kentucky in a decade.”
Over four decades later, we are blessed to benefit from the enormous economic effect Anaconda, Arco Metals and Logan Aluminum have had and continue to provide Logan County, Logan Countians, Southcentral Kentucky and all of the Commonwealth.