George L. Atkins Jr., 82, a Hopkinsville native and former mayor, died Sunday, April 14.

Atkins was born July 10, 1941, the son of George L. Atkins Sr. and Frances Shaver Atkins. His family owned and ran Atkins Dairy next door to their Walnut Street residence and across the street from the old Hopkinsville High School.

A 1959 graduate of HHS and a 1963 graduate of the University of Kentucky, he played college basketball for Coach Adolph Rupp.

In 1972, Hopkinsville City Council appointed Atkins, a Democrat, as mayor to fill a vacancy in the office — a decision that helped launch a political career that took him to Frankfort.

While still serving as mayor, he ran for Kentucky state auditor. He won that race in the 1975 general election at age 34.

Atkins ran for governor in 1979 but pulled out of the race early and threw his support to the eventual winner, John Y. Brown Jr. He served as Brown’s finance secretary and then as cabinet secretary.

In 1983, Atkins ran for lieutenant governor but lost to Steve Beshear.

The memorial service for Atkins will be Friday, April 19, in Louisville. A Hopkinsville visitation is planned from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 20, at Hughart, Beard & Giles Funeral Home.

This story may be updated.?

This story is republished from Hoptown Chronicle.

The Barnes family (from left) Katherine, Shane, Amelia and Samantha. (Photo provided)

The remains of Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shane Barnes, of Hopkinsville — and two other special operations soldiers who died when their Blackhawk helicopter crashed on Nov. 10 — have been recovered from the Mediterranean Sea, U.S. military officials and the Barnes family said.

A team of Navy and Army personnel, along with deep-ocean salvage experts, recovered the downed Blackhawk with the soldiers’ remains, Naval officials said in a press release issued on Thursday.

The remains were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Barnes’ wife, Samantha Barnes, and his parents, Michael and Kelly Barnes, also of Hopkinsville, traveled this week to Dover to begin the process of planning final arrangements. They were returning to Kentucky on Friday, said Kelly Barnes.

“We are grateful for Army and Navy leadership in their commitment to bring our son, Sammy’s husband, and his Brothers in Service home,” Kelly wrote in a Facebook post. “This journey continues to be incredibly difficult, yet we are surrounded by love and kindness. Shane will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The date is pending. Please continue to hold all five families and the 160th SOAR in your prayers.”

Five soldiers, including Barnes, died in the crash during an in-flight training exercise. The crew was conducting an aerial refueling exercise when the helicopter went down. The crash was not the result of hostile fire, according to a Department of Defense report.

All five soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, at Fort Campbell. In addition to Barnes, they were Stephen Dwyer, 38, of Clarksville, Tennessee; Tanner Grone, 26, of Gorham, New Hampshire; Andrew Southard, 27, of Apache Junction, Arizona, and Cade Wolfe, 24, of Mankato, Minnesota.

The remains of two soldiers were recovered in the initial rescue efforts immediately after the crash. The military has not officially named the soldiers who were initially found and those who were recovered this week.

“The success of this mission can be attributed to highly trained Sailors, Soldiers, and civilians from the combined Army-Navy team who came together and displayed extreme skill to safely recover the helicopter,” Navy Commander John Kennedy said in the press release. “Everyone onboard was humbled by the opportunity to play a small role in helping to bring closure to grieving families.”

A memorial service for Barnes was conducted Dec. 9 at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Hopkinsville.

This story is republished from Hoptown Chronicle, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit news outlet committed to covering local issues that are often overlooked or misunderstood and providing fact-based reporting that gives local people information they need to make good decisions about Hopkinsville and Christian County.

Shane and Samantha Barnes with their daughters, Amelia, second from right, and Katherine. (Photo provided)

HOPKINSVILLE — More than 6,000 miles from home, U.S. Army helicopter pilot Shane Barnes texted with his wife, Samantha, about her weekend plans in Hopkinsville with their girls, Amelia, who is 5, and Katherine, who will be 2 in a few months.

It was Friday, Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day. Samantha told Shane that his parents, Michael and Kelly Barnes, wanted to help her pull out decorations so they could get the house ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

They had been to Amelia’s school, University Heights Academy, earlier that day for a ceremony honoring veterans. Hundreds of current and former service members, including Shane and Samantha, were featured in photographs that lined the school’s hallways. Samantha had also been in the Army and flew helicopters before leaving the service as her family grew.

Samantha sent Shane photos from the school. She told him a teacher wanted both of them to come speak at the program in 2024. He responded with a smiley face in sunglasses.

In a flurry of messages between the Middle East and Kentucky, Shane told Samantha she ought to go find a restaurant that would treat her to a meal on Veterans Day.

“Make sure you get thanked for your service,” he texted.

Tragic news

The next day, Samantha and the girls joined Shane’s parents for a late lunch at Camo Caravan, a veteran-owned restaurant in Hopkinsville that was serving free cheeseburger sliders and fries to veterans and active-duty military.

Shane hadn’t been responding to text messages since the previous night. Samantha thought his unit with the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment had temporarily lost cell service — or maybe he was too busy to respond.

As she sat in the restaurant with her daughters and in-laws, Samantha received a phone alert from the Ring doorbell at home a few miles northwest of town.

She looked at the live video and saw berets.

Two men in Army uniforms stood outside her front door.

She turned the phone toward her father-in-law.

As fear spread from Samantha to Michael to Kelly, she stepped outside the restaurant to use the audio feed connecting her phone to the doorbell camera. The men asked her to come home immediately.

At the house, Michael took the children inside and waited while Samantha and Kelly received the news.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shane Barnes, 34, died Friday, Nov. 10, during an in-flight training exercise over the Mediterranean Sea. He was among five Fort Campbell soldiers who were killed.

“The MH-60 Blackhawk was conducting aerial refueling training when the aircraft experienced an in-flight emergency, resulting in the crash,” the Department of Defense would announce days later. Military officials said there was no indication of hostile activity.

When they told Michael that his son’s body was not recovered, he wondered if Shane was still out there. Maybe he was in his life preserver, adrift at sea. Was he possibly alive, waiting to be rescued?

He was not, said the Army officials who went to Shane’s house to notify the family.

An early calling

Shane grew up in Sacramento, California.

Early on, he showed an interest in military service. He wore a flight suit from his paternal grandfather, who served in the Air Force, for Halloween in the fourth grade.

By the time he was in high school, Shane was one of the biggest kids on the football team at Jesuit High School. His brother and best friend Josh, two years younger, also attended Jesuit. Their mom worked for the school, helping direct campus ministries. Their father was a correctional officer.

Shane graduated from high school in 2007 and went to Gonzaga University on an ROTC scholarship. He turned down an opportunity to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in favor of a more traditional college experience. He majored in English but his focus was on military studies. As it became more evident he was headed for a career in the service, his mother worked through her fears.

“I realized that we need men and women of character, integrity and faith in those leadership positions,” she said. “And if God was calling Shane to that life … I wouldn’t stand in the way.”

Kelly also never forgot her son’s generous nature, a trait she saw when he was very young.

She recalled a day when she was driving in Sacramento with the windows down. Shane was about 4 years old. They came to stop beside a man on the street holding a sign. Shane asked his mom, what did the sign say? She told him the man was homeless and wanted help.

Suddenly, Shane tried to get the man’s attention through the open window. He wanted to talk to him. Kelly was worried for their safety and drove away quickly. She turned and asked Shane what he was trying to tell the man.

“We have an extra room at our house. He could live with us,” Shane said.

In the days after they learned Shane wasn’t coming home from his last deployment, his parents and his wife told stories about Shane to people who had never known him. It felt important to them to make others aware of how he lived and what he valued.

His priorities for his career and his daughters had everything to do with four generations of his family coming to live in Hopkinsville, Kentucky — a place none of them had known a decade earlier.

Getting started

Shane Barnes lifts his wife, Samantha, in an embrace on her return to Fort Campbell from an overseas deployment. (Photo provided)

After graduating from Gonzaga in 2011, Shane began training to be an Army aviator at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

That summer he had his first date with another ROTC graduate learning to fly helicopters. Samantha had graduated from the University of Portland in Oregon, where she majored in philosophy.

Before he asked Samantha out, Shane called his brother for advice. Where should he take her? Give her choices, said Josh.

It was around the Fourth of July in Enterprise, Alabama, and Shane asked Samantha if she’d like to go out to eat at a fancy restaurant. Or would she rather do something fun?

Fun sounded better, she said. So he took her to play miniature golf and then picked up a sack of burgers and headed to a drive-in movie in his truck. Samantha said it was a Disney double feature, probably “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Cars 2.” She laughs now and says she is a little fuzzy on what they watched.

When they finished flight school, Shane was stationed at South Korea. She went to Fort Lewis, Washington. But Shane saw his future with Samantha.

Establishing roots

In December 2012, Shane was on leave for the holidays and back in the United States. He took Samantha with him to Sacramento and proposed to her in front of the Christmas tree at his family’s home.

It would be another year before they could be married at a church in her hometown in Oregon.

But wanting to seal their marriage ahead of the ceremony, they found the only state that allows for a double-proxy marriage. On Jan. 22, 2013, the state of Montana declared them officially married while she was on the West Coast and he was overseas.

By August of 2013, they were both stationed at South Korea. It would take more than two years to get back to the U.S.

In February of 2016, they were sent to Fort Campbell and picked a home in Clarksville, Tennessee. Soon after they arrived, she was deployed to Iraq for nine months and missed his graduation from “Green Platoon,” a training program for any soldier seeking to enter the 160th SOAR.

Members of the 160th are known as the Night Stalkers because the aviation regiment was formed to carry out stealth operations, sometimes in the cover of darkness. Shane saw his work with the 160th as protecting people he loves from evil.

The 160th grew out of a failed attempt in April 1980 to rescue American hostages held in Tehran, Iran. U.S. officials decided to train an elite group of helicopter pilots and crew members to carry out a second attempt. Although Iran released the hostages on the day President Ronald Reagan took office, the new unit that would eventually become the 160th was taking shape. Its first combat mission was during the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983, six years before Shane was born.

Shane and Samantha’s first daughter, Amelia, was born in February 2018. They call her Millie. Katherine was born four years later. She goes by Katie.

A new hometown

In between the two births, the family moved to Hopkinsville. They bought a home just outside the city limits from a member of Shane’s unit who was leaving for another assignment.

“Shane called dibs on the house,” Samantha said. They had visited the place for parties and loved the rural setting. It had a pool and a pool house. Shane thrived with room to smoke meat and cook homemade pizzas every Friday night.

And he took more steps to make Kentucky their permanent home. He gave up his commission as a captain and became a chief warrant officer, ensuring that he would be able to remain in the 160th. Had he not done that, he would have earned promotions and been forced to take on new assignments, his family said.

He never wanted to “ride a desk,” said Michael.

Next, Shane and Samantha worked on getting his parents to relocate. During visits, Samantha would seemingly take them down random county roads to have a look around. In fact, she was hoping to get them interested in a new home.

When they did decide to move, it took more than they might have expected — selling an RV, giving household goods away, packing up his parents, too, to join them. And Kelly needed to retire from a job she loved but one that had changed during the pandemic.

In August 2021, they moved into a home near Shane and Samantha. Suddenly, there were four generations of Barneses in Kentucky.

Shane had already taken to life in his new hometown when his parents arrived. He was always up for a community event — Summer Salute in Hopkinsville, the Ham Festival in Cadiz, a distillery on the weekend. His favorite restaurant was The Local Irish Pub in downtown Hopkinsville. He said they knew how to do a “proper Guinness pour.”

Kelly said she felt “embraced immediately” by the community. She got involved with the Newcomers and Neighbors club. Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church became their new church.

There were adjustments, though. They were not used to a slower pace, where a grocery store clerk might carry on a casual conversation with customers while slowly slicing a special order at the deli counter. Michael jokes that Sacramento had one and a half seasons all year while Hopkinsville has “six seasons in a few minutes.” And not many outsiders are prepared for Western Kentucky’s humidity in August.

But because of Shane and the decisions he made about his career, his family has a place that feels like home even though he will no longer be with them.

“Because we were invited and because we said, ‘yes,’ we have more than two years of memories with Shane and his girls that we otherwise wouldn’t have had,” said Kelly.

Samantha can’t know what the future holds long-term. But for now, she says she cannot imagine living anywhere else.

Shane gave her the kind of place where a person feels comfortable hanging their photos on all the walls because they know they are staying.

“He made that possible,” she said.

When military officials announced the deaths of the five Fort Campbell soldiers, they listed Shane as being from Sacramento. Kelly says her son would want people to know that he was from Hopkinsville.

Memorial service

The memorial service for Shane Barnes will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. His brother Josh will give the eulogy. The service is open to the community, his family said. There will be another service later when a headstone for Shane is placed at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The family has suggested these organizations for anyone wanting to make a memorial gift:

• Big Sky Bravery: It provides post-deployment decompression programs for active duty special operations forces. www.bigskybravery.org

• St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital: Its mission is lifesaving work to find cures and means of prevention for childhood cancer and other pediatric, life-threatening diseases, as well as providing treatment and housing for families served. www.stjude.org

• Jesuit High School: A Sacramento Catholic high school that provides young men with a life-building experience and delivers an academically rigorous college preparatory education to prepare graduates for lives of leadership and service.? 2023 Hoptown Chronicle | All rights reserved

This story is republished from the Hoptown Chronicle, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit news outlet committed to covering local issues that are often overlooked or misunderstood and providing fact-based reporting that gives local people information they need to make good decisions about Hopkinsville and Christian County.

Terri Redwine, president of the local NAACP chapter, right, addresses, from left, Hopkinsville Police Department Chief Jason Newby, Hopkinsville Mayor James Knight and Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam during a meeting on Aug. 21. (YouTube screenshot)

In the wake of an officer’s controversial social media post that drew both support and outrage from community members and tens of thousands of TikTok users, Hopkinsville Police Chief Jason Newby says he’s coordinating plans for all officers to undergo diversity training.

Officer Jerimiah Kline came under fire early this month after posting a TikTok video of him lip syncing “Try That in a Small Town” by country musician Jason Aldean. The song was described by critics as a call to racist vigilantism after the July 14 release of its music video, which was filmed at the site of a historic lynching and included news clips of violent clashes between police and protesters at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020.

As debate stirred in the weeks following the video’s release, the song rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list, ignited widespread criticism, and had its video pulled by Country Music Television. It was later replaced with a version that omitted the most violent images.

In Kline’s TikTok video — posted the week after Aldean’s video release — he’s in uniform and next to a Hopkinsville police cruiser with emergency lights flashing. It prompted responses from critics who questioned why Kline would post a video featuring the Aldean song after the recent controversy surrounding it.

The concerns carry added significance in a diverse community. Approximately 27% of Hopkinsville residents are Black.

The video, which received more than 150,000 likes, was shared by dozens of supporters who posted videos of themselves lip syncing alongside Kline. Often, the posts included the hashtag #standwithjasonaldean.

Local officials first began receiving complaints about Kline’s video after TikToker Michael McWhorter — who has amassed 5.8 million followers under his handle @TizzyEnt by denouncing apparent racist, homophobic and violent behavior — drew attention to Kline’s take on the Aldean song.

As of Aug. 25, McWhorter’s response, which also points to other Kline videos that he argues are homophobic and unprofessional, had 1.8 million views and nearly 8,000 comments.

Kline, who uses the handle @nlc_gunsanddonuts, has since deleted the video and made his account private. However, his original Aldean video is the sole post under an account using the handle @nlc_gunsanddonutss. The description for the account says “Not agency affiliated. All Toks made off-duty.”

Police department responds, ‘addresses issue’

After receiving complaints about the video, Newby posted a statement to Facebook on Aug. 3 assuring the community that the “issue has been addressed and will not be an issue moving forward.” He went on to note that he was working with city officials to modify policies regarding employees’ use of social media.

In a brief interview with Hoptown Chronicle, Newby declined to identify Kline as the subject of complaints he received. But in an Aug. 4 letter obtained through a Kentucky Open Records Act request, he wrote the following to Human Resources Director Kenneth Grabara:

“Officer Kline had no ill intention when he made the video. He was simply suggesting that Hopkinsville Police Department is not going to tolerate criminals coming into our community and putting our citizens in harm’s way.

“Officer Kline acknowledged that even though he had no ill intention, he understands now how being in uniform while posting on social media can cause issues and it will not happen again.

“Officer Kline did not violate any Hopkinsville Police Department policies, however; I do feel there is a need to adjust our social media policy to better guide our employees in the use of social media and the reflection it may have on our city and agency.”

Newby also told Grabara that Kline would complete diversity awareness, workplace positivity and harassment prevention training.?

On Aug. 4, 10 and 15, records show that Kline took three online courses — Creating a Positive Work Environment; Diversity, Inclusion & Sensitivity; and Preventing Discrimination & Harassment: US Employees. The three classes — provided by online compliance training company Traliant — lasted a combined 1 hour and 25 minutes, Grabara said.

The day before Newby published his statement on the Hopkinsville Police Department’s Facebook page, Kline posted a TikTok that included an image that stated, “Disliking me is one thing. Being able to whoop my ass is another story. Stay safe.”?

The post included an audio clip that looped in the background. It said, “I just want to say this from the bottom of my heart. I’d like to take this chance to apologize … to absolutely nobody.” Still viewable on Aug. 16, the post has since been removed.?

Kline, 26, has been a sworn officer with HPD since March 2020. Previously he was a public safety officer, a position that can lead to sworn officer status after completion of the state police academy’s 20-week course.?

Hoptown Chronicle, in messages sent to the City Clerk’s Office and to Newby, requested to interview Kline. He has not responded.

An Aug. 2 email from Hopkinsville-Christian County Human Rights Commission Director Raychel Farmer to Newby and Hopkinsville Mayor James R. Knight expressed concern for the sentiments in Kline’s video and the negative attention it brought to Hopkinsville. In the email, Farmer urges the officials to “make a public statement of non-support of Officer Kline’s actions and that some disciplinary action will be taken.”

No disciplinary action or recent change in employment status is indicated by the records the city provided to Hoptown Chronicle. City officials said there were no records of citizen complaints involving Kline.?

The city denied Hoptown Chronicle’s request for Kline’s employee evaluations, citing a privacy exemption to the open records law. Hoptown Chronicle filed a second request, asking the city to reconsider based on a substantiated public interest that outweighs the privacy interest in this case. The city again denied the request for Kline’s evaluations.?

Community members express outrage, support?

The debate surrounding Kline’s social media messaging dominated the Aug. 15 meeting of Hopkinsville City Council. Fifteen people spoke before a packed council chambers, and of those, 10 were critical of him. Some said HPD should fire the officer for his online behavior.?

Kline, in civilian clothes, was present but did not speak.

While the video featuring “Try That in a Small Town” initially generated most of the pushback against Kline, the criticism heard at the council meeting centered around his use of the “OK” hand signal throughout social media.

The gesture has been adopted in recent years by white supremacists as a “white power” symbol. Kline’s supporters at the council meeting said it has a different, benign meaning to them. They described it as a game many have played since they were children, where the symbol is flashed to make someone look — similar to a “gotcha” game.??

In July 2018, four police officers in Jasper, Alabama, were suspended for flashing the same hand symbol in a photograph.?

“One of the issues was the picture with the hand sign. I don’t actually care what he thought it meant. It doesn’t matter,” Hopkinsville resident Becky Dearman told city council members.

“He is supposed to protect and serve all of us, and I feel not that protected,” she said. “The contents of his TikTok were not just racist, they were homophobic. One of the things that I told Mayor Knight was, ‘I’m going to be honest I wouldn’t feel super secure if I had a call to the police in the middle of the night and a cop that had put blatantly homophobic material up showed up to my house.’”

Nancy Askew, who is Dearman’s fiancée, said, “There wasn’t just a symbol on a photo. … There’s a clear pattern of behavior for his public image and the image that he portrays with his badge on.”

Jeff Taylor, a former state representative and economic development official for Tennessee Valley Authority and the state of Kentucky, asked for the “immediate dismissal” of Kline. He said the council should consider how many employees of a store, a factory, bank, hospital or school would keep their job if they flashed a symbol that community members view as racist.??

“He’s ruining it for a lot of good officers,” said Taylor. “And there are good officers.”

Taylor later told Hoptown Chronicle, “I truly don’t believe there’s (another) police force in the entire nation that would allow this.”

Cherry West, who previously owned a liquor store in Hopkinsville, spoke to council about negative views of Hopkinsville and the police force for past allegations of aggressive behavior toward soldiers and minorities. The perception persists, and it’s why? Clarksville, Tennessee, has vastly outpaced Hopkinsville in population growth, she said.

Robert Bussell, a Black man who described a longtime friendship with Kline and his family, said the meaning of the hand symbol has been blown out of proportion.?

“It’s as simple as, ‘I got you,’ or ‘Made you look,’” he said, adding, “It’s not about race.”

Bussell said he has personally seen Kline helping Black residents in distress.?

Former Hopkinsville Police Chief Clayton Sumner, who stepped down earlier this year, said retirement allows him to speak with no filter. He described Kline’s TikTok videos — which frequently appear with the hashtag #humanizethebadge — as a light-hearted approach to help the community see police officers as people. He said those criticizing Kline are trying to cause controversy rather than trying to fix things.

Transparency, cooperation sought

During an NAACP meeting Aug. 21 in Hopkinsville City Council chambers, Newby told local chapter president Terri Redwine that he wants her to review changes that are coming to HPD policies in light of recent criticisms.

“We are changing nearly every policy that the Hopkinsville Police Department has. Once we have those in place … I would like for you and whatever committee to go over those with us for any recommendations for changes,” Newby told Redwine.

The meeting included several NAACP members who observed while Redwine questioned Newby, the mayor and Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam on several race-related issues. The city taped the meeting and published the video on its YouTube channel.

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A few days before the NAACP meeting, Redwine and Newby met to discuss the controversy over Kline’s social media, she said.

Newby declined to elaborate on their discussion during the meeting. “The concerns were heard. It has been addressed and it is still being addressed. And that’s about as much as I can say,” he said.

While Redwine said the NAACP “will not continue to debate the Jerimiah Kline debacle,” she also spoke about race relations more broadly and what is at stake in Hopkinsville.

“I feel that too many of our Black people are moving out of the city of Hopkinsville because they are being racially profiled,” she said, adding her siblings won’t even come to the city because they believe it is “blatantly racist.”

Local officials cannot control everything, but others pick up “the vibe that you portray,” she told Newby, Knight and Gilliam.

“We do not want another Breonna Taylor here in Hopkinsville. We don’t want division. We want this community to remain our community as a whole. We don’t need outsiders here telling us how to run our community,” she said.

But if outside help is needed, it will happen, she said.

Redwine said her approach is to go straight to local officials for answers. But others won’t do that, she warned.

She also addressed members of the community. Prayer, transparency and communication are key, she said, adding “stay off social media and the madness.”

Complaining on social media is useless, she said. If someone has a complaint, they ought to file a formal complaint. “We must have a paper trail,” she said.

Redwine, who became the chapter president earlier this year, encouraged local residents to join the NAACP. The organization is not a “secret society,” she said.

“I don’t want it to be us versus them. I want it to be we the people,” she said.

She also said, “I live here in Hopkinsville. I will not be harassed by no police officers because of what I said, because you are going to hear it if I do.”

Looking forward

Newby told Hoptown Chronicle in an Aug. 22 email that the city’s human resources office is working with Hopkinsville Community College to provide diversity training for the officers. The details are pending.

Since Newby became chief earlier this year, HPD has made several hires and now has 79 officers. It is the first time in about 10 years that all of the department’s positions have been filled, officials said at the Aug. 1 city council meeting.

“It is my plan to have all officers attend the training,” Newby said in the email

This article is republished from Hoptown Chronicle.

MIcrovast would have been adjacent to Ascend Elements, which is currently under construction in Commerce Park in Hopkinsville. (Hoptown Chronicle photo by Jennifer P. Brown)

Microvast Holdings Inc.?has announced it won’t proceed with plans for a battery technology plant in Hopkinsville — a project that would have brought a $504 million investment and more than 500 jobs to Commerce Park II.

A press release issued Friday from the Texas-based company says the project is off “at least for now.”

The announcement follows reports in early June that put the project in doubt after the U.S. Department of Energy halted a $200 million grant to Microvast and Kentucky economic development officials paused $21 million in state incentives.

The federal package unraveled when Republican lawmakers criticized Microvast and its CEO,?Yang Wu, for alleged ties to China.?Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s office confirmed negotiations with Microvast were canceled, according to an Associated Press?report.

The company’s press release did not address the concerns federal officials raised about Wu’s tie to China. Previously, Wu, said he is a U.S. citizen and denied charges of improper connections with China.

Microvast is continuing construction of a plant in Clarksville, Tennessee.

“Microvast is finding significant demand for its lithium-ion battery solutions,” Wu said in the release. “We are concentrating on our core business efforts, including completing our first large-scale battery cell, module, and pack production plant in Clarksville, Tennessee. This project will ensure that our products are manufactured in America.”

The announcement confirms what was already largely understood about the Hopkinsville project. Carter Hendricks, executive director of the South West Kentucky Economic Development Council, previously told Hoptown Chronicle that local officials were still open to working with Microvast but said the EDC was again marketing the 100-acre site that Microvast had planned to develop in Commerce Park II.

Gov. Andy Beshear’s office announced in late March that Microvast had chosen Hopkinsville for construction of a 350,000-square-foot facility and would employ 562 workers.?The governor’s office typically does not follow up to announce when large economic development projects fall through. However, in this case a spokesman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development did confirm the state would not pay out incentives until the company addressed why the Department of Energy halted the federal grant.

This article is republished from the Hoptown Chronicle.

MIcrovast will be adjacent to Ascend Elements, which is currently under construction in Commerce Park in Hopkinsville. (Hoptown Chronicle photo by Jennifer P. Brown)

Two new manufacturing plants, one making material for electric vehicle batteries, will be constructed in Hopkinsville, creating more than 700 jobs over the next couple of years, Gov. Andy Beshear announced on March 30.

Microvast Advanced Membrane Inc. will invest $504 million in a 350,000-square-foot facility and employ 562 workers at Commerce Park II on John Rivers Road. Using a patented process, Microvast will produce polyaramid base film for lithium ion batteries used in electric vehicles. Construction is expected to begin this year and be completed by March 2025, according to a press release from the governor’s office.?

In a separate announcement, Beshear said Toyota Boshoku America Inc. will invest more than $225 million for an automotive sector plant employing 157 workers at South Park off Fort Campbell Boulevard near Interstate 24. A press release from the governor’s office said construction will start this June and be completed in August 2024.?

The two projects are expected to require incentives from city and county governments, which have not yet been approved. However, on Thursday the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved state incentives for both.

KEDFA approved a 15-year, performance-based incentive that can provide up to $18 million in tax incentives based on Microvast’s investment of $504 million. It must create and maintain 562 full-time jobs over 15 years for Kentucky residents, and it must pay an average hourly wage of $25, including benefits, across those jobs.?

For Toyota Boshoku America, KEDFA approved a 15-year, performance-based incentive that can provide up to $6 million in tax incentives based on the company’s planned investment of $225 million. It must create and maintain 157 full-time jobs over 15 years for Kentucky residents, and it must pay an average hourly wage of $40, including benefits, across those jobs.?

KEDFA also OK’d up to $3 million in tax incentives for Microvast through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act, which allows companies to recoup state sales and use taxes on “construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing.”

The same incentive for Toyota Boshoku America will be good for up to $500,000.

Microvast will be constructed on a parcel of roughly 100 acres adjacent to the Ascend Elements plant that is under construction in Commerce Park II, which is itself under development. Ascend, projected to be a $1 billion facility, will produce lithium-ion materials for electric-vehicle batteries.

With its first operation in Kentucky, Microvast “intends to build the world’s first mass production facility for its cutting-edge polyaramid separator technology,” the governor’s press release states. “Polyaramid is a high temperature-resistant, fire-retardant aromatic polyamide, which is commonly used in firefighting garments and insulating papers. … Unlike the current widely used polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) based separators in lithium-ion batteries, which melt at approximately 135 degrees Celsius and 165 degrees Celsius, respectively, Microvast’s patented polyaramid separator is capable of resisting temperatures in excess of 300 degrees Celsius.”

Beshear hailed the Microvast announcement as “another major investment in the state’s rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) sector.”

Ford in 2021 announced plans to manufacture advanced lithium-ion batteries in Kentucky to power Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles at BlueOval SK Battery Park n Glendale In Hardin County. The plant is expected to open in 2025 and employ 5,000 people.

Ford also is building BlueOval City in west Tennessee where the company will build next-generation electric F-Series pickups and advanced batteries.

Microvast is based in Stafford, Texas. The company has three production sites worldwide, including the 2 gigawatt-plus site in Clarksville, Tennessee, that is expected to start production late this year.?

“Kentucky continues to position itself as the top EV-related manufacturing location in the country,” said Beshear. “We are committed to creating an environment where the industries of the future can grow and thrive right here in the commonwealth, and Microvast’s investment is a huge step toward that goal.”

Mayor James R. Knight Jr., Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam and South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council Executive Director Carter Hendricks each praised the Microvast and Toyota Boshoku America announcements.?

Toyota Boshoku America, also called TBA, will build a 365,000-square-foot plant on a 49-acre parcel in South Park near the Walmart Distribution Center on Crenshaw Boulevard.?

“The plant will be the first TBA location globally to be considered a ‘Smart Plant,’” the release states. “The facility will employ innovative, cutting-edge technologies such as advanced robotics, planning and automation to streamline processes, reduce waste and enhance productivity to maximize efficiency and operations. By implementing these technologies, the company will create a more efficient and environmentally responsible operation that will serve as a model for others to follow. The new facility will be the company’s fifth location in the commonwealth.”

TBA and its affiliates employ more than 12,000 workers in 22 sites in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The company manufactures “automotive interior systems, which include seat, door trim, headliner, substrate and carpet in addition to air and oil filters for a variety of customers such as Toyota, BMW and Subaru.”

There are three TBA plants in Kentucky — at Bardstown, Harrodsburg and Lebanon — and the Hopkinsville plant will bring total employment in the state to 1,100. The release does not provide specific details about what TBA will make in Hopkinsville.?

This story may be updated.?

The storm destroyed the top of The Mixer on Sixth Street. The property was originally Young Hardware and dates to the late 1800s. (Hoptown Chronicle photos by Jennifer P. Brown)

A severe thunderstorm with destructive winds — and possibly a tornado — struck late Friday night in downtown Hopkinsville, where it leveled the third floor of The Mixer restaurant on Sixth Street and tore out a brick wall below the historic clock tower on Ninth Street.?

Numerous trees were blown down across the city, blocking streets, striking homes and tearing down power lines. Early Saturday, Hopkinsville Electric System estimated that 8,000 of its 13,000 customers were without power.?

“This is really hard to take,” Mayor James R. Knight Jr. said early Saturday morning as he stood near The Mixer restaurant. “It means a lot to downtown … what they’ve put into this building and into downtown. I’m grateful no one was hurt.”

No serious injuries were reported in the city. Western Kentucky was under a tornado watch and a wind advisory Friday night. Gov. Andy Beshear had declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm.

“We’ve got trees out all over town laying across streets. Our public works has been on it all night,” Knight said.?

“Sixteenth Street got hit really hard,” he said. “A lot of the downtown businesses have glass out.”

Several streets were blocked because of fallen trees and debris from buildings. As the morning wore on, the grind of chain saws could be heard. Utility crews were out everywhere. An employee of Hopkinsville Electric said his crew was at the utility before the storm hit so they would be ready to go out as soon as damage reports started to came in.?

The storm hurled bricks, lumber, roofing material and insulation from The Mixer to Hopkinsville Brewing Co. on Fifth Street and to the senior apartment building on Fourth Street.

Brewery co-owner Kate Russell lives near downtown and heard the storm from her home around 11 p.m.

“I heard it and then we lost power, and it stopped and I thought it was over,” she said.?

An hour later, Graham Dawson, who owns The Mixer with his wife, Heather Dawson, called Russell and said the restaurant’s third floor had collapsed and there was damage at the brewery. Glass was shattered in several of the brewery’s windows and doors. Signs from The Mixer were in the street next to the brewery.

Knight, who ate dinner around 7 p.m. Friday at The Mixer, said the restaurant was closed when the storm struck but employees and the Dawsons were still in the building. They were able to get out safely, said the mayor. He spoke later to the Dawsons and the building’s owner, Hal McCoy, and said he understood they want to repair the building.

McCoy developed the restaurant property from the former Young Hardware building, which dates to the late 1800s. The restaurant, which opened in December 2019 and weathered pandemic closures, is considered a key business in the downtown revival.?

At the brewery, Russell was waiting Saturday morning for help from friends at Henderson Brewing, who offered to send a truck to pick up some of the beer that she feared would spoil before power was restored.?

Other properties that sustained storm damages included:

• Union Benevolent Society Cemetery on Vine Street, where a large tree was down and a few headstones appeared to be broken by the storm.?
• Several houses on Main Street and South Virginia Street, where trees had fallen onto houses and utility lines.?
• Cooper Still liquor store on Fourth Street had roof damage.?
• The former Marathon convenience store and Family Dollar on Ninth Street between Walnut and Campbell streets, both of which were also hit in the Jan. 1, 2022, tornado, sustained damages again.
• The Oddfellows Building at Ninth and Virginia streets had a third-story window blown out.?
• A warehouse building at Second and Clay streets was leveled.?
• The Phoenix building at Ninth and Main streets, which is condemned, had several windows blown out. The sidewalks were littered with glass.
• Blue Streak Printers, on Ninth Street adjacent to the Phoenix, had a large window blown out.

This story will be updated.

This article is republished from Hoptown Chronicle.