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Group Term Life Insurance Protection : Life insurance protects loved ones if something happens to you. Financial Stability : Prevents immediate financial hardship due to the loss of income and allows family to meet financial obligations.

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vol. 89 no. 5 THIS ISSUE OF THE KENTUCKY BAR

16 General Assembly Takes on Local Zoning in Quest for More Housing BY JAMES P. DADY FEATURE: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE CONTENTS 2 President’s Page BY TODD V. MCMURTRY 8 Q & A with Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert BY JAMES P. DADY AND JOHN M. GHAELIAN 12 Book Review BY JAMES P. DADY

ASSOCIATION’S B&B-BENCH & BAR WAS PUBLISHED IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER.

COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE EILEEN M. O’BRIEN chair , lexington PAUL ALLEY florence ELIZABETH M. BASS hendersonville , tenn . JENN L. BRINKLEY pensacola , fla . KYLE R. BUNNELL lexington FRANCES E. CATRON CADLE lexington ALLISON I. CONNELLY lexington JAMES P. DADY bellevue JOHN M. GHAELIAN lexington P. FRANKLIN HEABERLIN prestonsburg JESSICA R. C. MALLOY louisville SANDRA J. REEVES corbin JOHN SCHAAF georgetown GERALD R. TONER louisville ZACHARY M. VAN VACTOR louisville SAMUEL W. WARDLE louisville LITANY L. WEBSTER cincinnati , ohio MICHELE M. WHITTINGTON lexington

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22 Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law 24 University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law

30 Lawyer Wellbeing BY DR. ERIC Y. DROGIN 20 Young Lawyers Division BY KYLE R. BUNNELL Effective Legal Writing BY MARCIA M. ZIEGLER 23 University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law 37 KBA Student Writing Competition Winner 38 Judicial Conduct Commission 34 Portrait Ceremony BAR NEWS 54 Who, What, When and Where 26

KATHRYN D. WILLIAMS louisville MARK A. WINSOR lawrenceburg

PUBLISHER JOHN D. MEYERS EDITOR EILEEN M. O’BRIEN

32 Ethics Corner 28 Law Practice Management BY STEVE EMBRY

MANAGING EDITOR SHANNON H. ROBERTS DESIGN & LAYOUT JESI L. EBELHAR

BY SHELDON G. GILMAN

THE B&B - BENCH & BAR (ISSN-1521-6497) IS PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY BY THE KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION, 514 WEST MAIN STREET, FRANKFORT, KY 40601-1812. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT FRANKFORT, KY AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. ALL MANUSCRIPTS FOR PUBLICATION SHOULD BE SENT TO THE MANAGING EDITOR. PERMISSION IS GRANTED FOR REPRODUCTION WITH CREDIT. PUBLICATION OF ANY ARTICLE OR STATEMENT IS NOT TO BE DEEMED AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE VIEWS EXPRESSED THEREIN BY THE KENTUCKY BAR ASSOCIATION, ITS BOARD OF GOVERNORS, SECTIONS, DIVISIONS, COMMITTEES, OR MEMBERS. ANNUAL DUES AND IS NOT LESS THAN 50% FOR THE LOWEST SUBSCRIPTION PRICE PAID BY SUBSCRIBERS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL (502) 564-3795. POSTMASTER SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO: B&B - BENCH & BAR 514 WEST MAIN STREET FRANKFORT, KY 40601-1812 SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: $20 PER YEAR. MEMBERS SUBSCRIPTION IS INCLUDED IN

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bench & bar

PRESIDENT'S PAGE

A GUIDE FOR ATTORNEYS THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REVOLUTION:

BY TODD V. MCMURTRY KBA PRESIDENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE BOTTOM LINE: Attorneys using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools save an average of 240 hours annu ally while delivering services at lower costs. Firms that fail to adopt AI risk losing competitive ground to those embracing this technology revolution. KEY FINDINGS FROM THOMPSON REUTERS' FUTURE OF PROFESSIONALS REPORT 2025: • AI will have the "biggest impact" on legal profession over next 5 years • Larger firms are outpacing smaller firms in AI adoption

As I stated in my July president’s page, “Attorneys who do not adopt AI will lose the economic competition with attorneys who embrace the coming AI revolution.” The purpose of this page is to help you start down the path to AI literacy so you can win the coming economic competition. It is an imperative you should not ignore. Here is why: Thompson Reuters recently pub lished the Future of Professionals Report 2025 . The report predicts that AI will have the “biggest impact” on the legal profession over the next five years and suggests that AI “laggards” face serious risks in the competition with firms and attorneys who adopt AI. The report surveyed attorneys and found that on average those using AI tools expect to save 240 hours per year when completing their work. The net effect of this type of savings is that the AI literate firms will accomplish more at a lower cost than will an attorney not using AI. The problem is that not everyone is adopting AI at the same rate, which

will put laggard firms at an economic disadvantage. The report states that larger law firms are ahead of mid size law firms, which in turn outpace smaller firms. The bigger the firm, the more it can invest in AI capabili ties. In my view, smaller firms should not be intimidated, as they can use available and reasonably priced AI tools to immediately turbocharge their practice. This report, however, misses a strategic point: AI will level competition by pro viding smaller firms with more bandwidth to compete in labor intensive tasks. Firms that innovate and adopt AI early will be able to gain a strategic advantage over competitors by doing more at a lower cost. AI has the potential to level the playing field and reconfigure the legal business model. Now smaller firms will be able to use AI to review documents, draft dis covery, summarize depositions and draft legal memoranda, all of which will pro vide time savings. In my view, mid-size and smaller firms will be able to afford AI

• AI "laggards" face serious competitive disadvantages

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september/october 2025

When it comes to coverage , make sure you’re playing with a full deck.

Sure, there is a chance you’ll never need us. But why take that chance? Lawyers Mutual is dedicated to Kentucky lawyers and makes your work our priority. Call (502) 568-6100 or visit LMICK.com for more information on how you can cover and protect your practice. We want you to focus on what matters.

PRESIDENT'S PAGE

tools and implement an AI strategy that will continuously give them a competitive advantage, driving profits and efficiency. In my small 10-person firm, we use Lexis + AI and either Claude.ai or ChatGPT-5 as our primary AI tools. Together these tools can do nearly anything. I save an hour or two every day with these tools. As a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, you can use Decisis for free and obtain a 15% discount on Lexis+AI. (https://kybar. org/For-Members/Member-Services/Mem ber-Benefits-and-Discounts) Claude and ChatGPT cost $20 per month. These two tools will immediately turbo charge your practice. In addition to these tools, there are other more specific applications that help with other areas: research (Lexis+AI, Westlaw Precision, CoCounsel), contract analy sis (Kira, Luminance, and Ironclad), and litigation analytics (Lex Machina, Premo nition). There are also Forward Deployed Engineers who can help leverage AI for specific functions. Another reason to incorporate AI into your practice is that your clients will demand it. I already have clients sending me AI gen erated content for evaluation. We discuss how to incorporate AI into our plans. We also discuss its shortcomings and the need to carefully check all its work product. In the end, AI does save time and reduce legal fees. We also have a professional responsibility to keep up with technology. Kentucky Rule of Professional Conduct 3.130(1.1) Competence states: “To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal edu cation requirements to which the lawyer is subject.” cmt 6. While this rule does not mandate adoption of AI, it requires us to consider the benefits and risks of adopting AI tools. At this point, I suspect you are thinking this all sounds fine, but where do I start? Let’s start with curiosity. Watch some YouTube videos on how to effectively use Claude.ai or ChatGPT-5. Download one of these to

your phone. (It intuitively opens on your desktop when you try). Keep in mind that if you use the free version of one of these tools that the information you provide is not confidential. So, do not share any client information unless you use a paid version. Watch a YouTube video on how to prompt AI. Then get started. For example, I can drop a lengthy letter from opposing counsel into Claude.ai. I then tell it that I am opposing counsel representing the plaintiff/defendant. I tell it how I want to respond, key facts, or other relevant infor mation. I then ask it to draft a responsive letter. You will be surprised. You can then ask it to modify the letter to be more firm or less aggressive. It takes seconds. Your next step in adopting AI into your practice is to sign up for one of the upcom ing CLE programs. In January, the KBA’s AI Task Force will host a CLE webinar each week geared towards helping lawyers adopt AI. Additionally, the June annual convention in Covington will host an “AI Bootcamp,” which will be a hands-on introduction to how to use AI. There will also be an “AI Track” that will discuss the dynamics of the AI revolution covering ethical issues, business transformation, strategic planning, AI implementation, and the future of AI in the law. We intend for anyone who attends convention this year to leave fully versed in AI. Once you leave the convention as a “KBA AI Bootcamp Graduate,” you will then need to stay abreast of developments in the legal AI space. You can read publications such as Artificial Lawyer, Law.com, Legaltech News and, of course, the Bench & Bar. This whole endeavor has the potential to become a fun adventure. In advance of attending the annual conven tion, I recommend you begin to contem plate the AI revolution. As a part of this, you should begin the process of creating a firm-wide AI adoption strategy. A successful AI adoption strat egy for law firms begins with a comprehensive assessment of cur rent workflows and identifying specific

pain points where AI can deliver measur able value. Start by cataloging repetitive, time-intensive tasks like document review, contract analysis, legal research, and client intake processes that are prime candidates for automation. Include your partners, associates, and IT support in this process. Prioritize data security and client confiden tiality by conducting thorough vendor due diligence, ensuring AI tools comply with attorney-client privilege requirements and relevant bar regulations. Review existing malpractice insurance to confirm coverage extends to AI-assisted work product. Begin with pilot programs in low-risk areas to build institutional confidence and expertise. Train staff extensively on both the capabilities and limitations of AI tools, emphasizing the continued need for human oversight and professional judgment. Develop updated policies addressing AI use, including guidelines for client disclosure when AI assists. Consider ethical obliga tions around competency and the duty to stay current with beneficial technologies. Finally, create a phased rollout plan that allows for learning and adjustment, ensuring the firm can adapt its AI strat egy based on early results and evolving technology capabilities.

We will cover this at the annual convention, but if you start thinking about this now, you will accomplish more during the strategic planning process. I hope all of this helps. I am excited about the future and hope you are as well. I strongly encourage you to become a part of the AI revolution.

4 september/october 2025

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS The Kentucky Bar Association is accepting nominations for 2026 Distinguished Judge and Lawyer, Donated Legal Services and Bruce K. Davis Bar Service Awards. DISTINGUISHED JUDGE AWARD DISTINGUISHED LAWYER AWARD 2026 DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARDS

Awards may be given to any judge or lawyer who has distinguished himself or herself through a contribution of outstanding service to the legal profession. The selection process places special emphasis upon community, civic and/or charitable service, which brings honor to the profession. BRUCE K. DAVIS BAR SERVICE AWARD Many lawyers take time from DONATED LEGAL SERVICES AWARD Nominees for the Donated Legal Services Award must be members in good standing with the KBA and currently involved in pro bono

Nominations must be received by December 31, 2025. If you are aware of a Kentucky judge or lawyer who has provided exceptional service in these areas, please complete a nominating form.

their practices to provide personal, professional and financial support to the KBA. This award expresses the appreciation and respect for such dedicated professional service. All members of the KBA are eligible in any given year except for current officers and members of the Board of Governors.

Please visit the KBA website at https://kybar.org/About-Us/ Distinguished-Service-Awards

work. The selection process places special emphasis on the nature of the legal services contributed and the amount of time involved in the provision of free legal services.

TERMS EXPIRE ON THE KBA BOARD OF GOVERNORS

On June 30 of each year, terms expire for seven (7) of the fourteen (14) Bar Governors on the KBA Board of Governors. SCR 3.080 provides that notice of the expiration of the terms of the Bar Governors shall be carried in the Bench & Bar. SCR 3.080 also provides that a Board member may serve three consecutive two-year terms. Requirements for being nominated to run for the Board of Governors are contained in Section 4 of the KBA By-Laws and the requirements include filing a written petition signed by not less than twenty (20) KBA members in good standing who are residents of the candidate’s Supreme Court District. Board policy provides that “No member of the Board of Governors or Inquiry Commission shall represent an attorney in a discipline matter.” In addition, any member of the Bar who is considering seeking or plans to seek election to the Board of Governors or to a position as an Officer of the KBA will, if elected, be required to sign a limited waiver of confidentiality regarding any private discipline he or she may have received. Any such petition must be received by the KBA Executive Director at the Kentucky Bar Center in Frankfort prior to the close of busi ness on the last business day in October. PLEASE VISIT THE KBA WEBSITE AT KYBAR.ORG/ABOUT-US/ABOUT-THE- KENTUCKY-BAR-ASSOCIATION/BOARD-OF-GOVERNORS TO OBTAIN A PETITION. 6 september/october 2025

THE CURRENT TERMS OF THE FOLLOWING BOARD MEMBERS WILL EXPIRE ON JUNE 30, 2026:

2 ND DISTRICT RYAN C. REED BOWLING GREEN 4 TH DISTRICT SUSAN D. PHILLIPS LOUISVILLE 6 TH DISTRICT JENNIFER M. GATHERWRIGHT CRESCENT SPRINGS

1 ST DISTRICT JAMES A. SIGLER PADUCAH 3 RD DISTRICT DOUGLAS G. BENGE LONDON 5 TH DISTRICT AMELIA M. ADAMS LEXINGTON

7 TH DISTRICT W. MITCHELL HALL, JR. ASHLAND

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bench & bar

BY JAMES P. DADY AND JOHN M. GHAELIAN Q & A WITH CHIEF JUSTICE Q&A WITH CHIEF JUSTICE DEBRA HEM LAMBERT

You were recently selected as the seventh Chief Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court. What do you hope to accomplish as Chief Justice during the next four years?

I believe that the Kentucky Court of Justice is in a solid place. I hope to make only small but positive changes to build on the prior efforts of many talented folks. But first, in June, because of extensive reno vations to the State Capitol, we moved the entire Supreme Court and State Law Library to temporary offices at 669 Chamberlin Avenue. I will be overseeing the new multi-phase electronic case filing and management system, moving us from our in-house program to an outside vendor, Tyler Technologies. In addition, • We have a biennial budget to submit to the General Assembly and have already begun work and legislative meetings. Though our judicial branch budget is only a tiny slice of the total budget, we are responsible for about 400 million taxpayer dollars.

8 september/october 2025

As Kentucky’s first female Chief Justice, are you a sym bol, a milestone your gender has achieved in Kentucky? Being chosen by my fellow Justices as the Chief Justice is one of the greatest honors of my professional life. So many women came before me in the profession that I don’t see myself as any symbol. I do hope to serve as an example that gender, socioeconomic status, and regionality aren’t overly restrictive. I suppose my selection is a historical gender note to those outside our small group of col leagues. But I can assure you that none of the Justices think about our work in terms of gender. Since 2022 you have served as the Chair of the Kentucky Judicial Mental Health Com mission. How are mental health issues impacting the judiciary and how can the legal profession as whole best address these problems? When I was elected Chief Justice, I stepped aside as Chair and appointed Deputy Chief Justice Robert Conley as Chair of the Commission. But I remain actively involved in the work. We know that one in five adults in the U.S. expe riences some form of mental health issue each year, and our court system is called upon to address mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellec tual and developmental disabilities because many Kentuckians show up in every courtroom with one or more of these needs. The Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health recommends and implements transformational changes meant to improve the judicial system's response to individuals involved in the justice system who are then experienc ing mental health needs, substance use issues, or intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Commission includes members of the judiciary; the juvenile, criminal, and child protection systems;

MBREE

• KCOJ occupies approximately 5.4 million square feet of facility space. We are engag ing in long-term planning to ensure the structures and systems that support 3,300 judicial branch employees are adequately maintained, and that new, efficient facili ties are constructed where objective criteria show the greatest need. • I am very proud of the work that is being done by the Judicial Mental Health Com mission and its sub-committees. Over 500 volunteers are working across disciplines to coordinate best practices where the judi cial system is called upon to handle cases involving substance use, mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities. And our Specialty Courts, including the Mental Health Court, Drug Court, and Veterans Treatment Court do amazing work and save millions of dollars with very limited resources. I encourage those who might want to get involved with the work

to reach out by sending an email to jcmh@ kycourts.net. Over 500 citizens are working productively on various committees. • Four years ago, at the joint request of the Supreme Court and the Kentucky Bar Association, the American Bar Association undertook an extensive study of Ken tucky’s attorney discipline process. The ABA submitted 25 recommendations for modernizing Kentucky’s attorney discipline practices, including changes to structure, resources, public access and outreach, pro cedures, training, diversion, and sanctions. We hope to be able to have new rules for members to publicly comment upon at the next Annual Convention. When the pro posed rules are released for comment, I ask that the Bar speak up and help us make the needed changes.

9 bench & bar

Photo by Mark Cornelison.

Q&A WITH CHIEF JUSTICE

legislative and executive branch members; representatives of the business and legal communities; representatives of founda tions or organizations with a substantial interest in mental health matters; and other state and local leaders who have demon strated a commitment to mental health matters affecting Kentuckians. Mental health and substance use disorders are often primary drivers of Family Court and Criminal Court matters, and members of the legal profession play many parts in the process: advocate; guardian; mediator; confidant and decisionmaker. It is often through the judicial process that previously undiagnosed mental health conditions are discovered, and treatment can finally be accessed. Members of the legal profession should educate themselves to recognize the hall marks of mental health and substance use disorders and respond effectively, given their role in the process. Attorneys can reassure clients and help direct them to appropriate treatment. Because attorneys are often considered trusted advisors in their community, it is very important

what was then called a Family Drug Court to try to reunify families separated by drug use. I also volunteered many hours in an in-school truancy prevention program. It was those special court programs that I missed most when my term ended. In my current role as Chief Justice, I hope to help create a Judge-led, truancy prevention pro gram that can be implemented by Judges in their local district, in cooperation with local schools. I also enjoyed my time on the Court of Appeals and being able to focus on the broader review of the work of the Trial Court below. I well understand that Trial Judges have very little time in comparison to consider their decisions. It felt almost luxurious to be able to ponder something for days before I decided whether the Trial Judge made the correct call under pres sure! Appellate Judges with trial experience understand the luxury of that difference. And I do know that each bankers’ box of appellate record is filled with controversies that mean much to the litigants and some times have broader ramifications across many lanes of life.

for attorneys to know what resources are available. If unsure and a client is in crisis, anyone may quickly get information about mental health treatment by calling 988, the national mental health number. Kentucky’s 988 number is managed within the state, regionally, and the operators can provide useful information in times of great need. Before serving on the Supreme Court, you served as a Family Court Judge and on the Court of Appeals. What were the partic ular challenges of each position and what did you enjoy the most about serving in those positions? I loved being a Family Court Judge but was the first to serve in that role in that juris diction. Though no one realized it at the time the new court was created, the case load was overwhelming. There are now two Family Court Judges doing the same work I did. So obviously, caseload was a big problem. But, even still, I was able to start the first Drug Court in the area, a Juvenile Drug Court, and, shortly thereafter, started

Photo by Mark Cornelison.

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What advice would you give to attorneys about the appellate process? Read the Rules of Appellate Procedure many times over, and often. Find a way to make a habit of regularly reading, at least a summary of, both the Court of Appeals cases and the Kentucky Supreme Court cases. Lastly, make sure you consider whether the state constitution is implicated in your case initially and, if so, pursue it throughout the litigation. Have there been any particular people that have significantly impacted your career? If so, who were they and can you describe their impact? Like everyone, there have been many people who have influenced me over the years. But my parents, who were bright but modest and without much formal education, taught me to work excessively and to follow the rules without expecting any special favors. Those lessons served me well. I also had many neighbors and teachers who showed me they cared about me. I try to model their efforts and offer up help and advice to young people I encounter. What do you currently believe are the biggest challenges facing the legal profession? Mental health remains a big challenge for the legal profession. We see that in our review of attorney discipline cases. Law yers feel relentless pressure to show up, to always be “on,” and to maintain an unshake able image of reliability and competency. Clients expect perfection and, often, expect it to be done pro bono. Consider practicing in a small town. Espe cially if your roots are in rural Kentucky, think about the impact you can have on the community that raised you. Regard less of where you practice, make yourself an invaluable asset, not just for your skills as a lawyer, but also through your capac ity to improve the lives of those who may not otherwise have the same opportunities. What advice would you give to new lawyers?

Last year the Supreme Court appointed a task force of lawyers to undertake a thorough review of the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure. Can you provide an update on where things stand with the task force and the changes it is considering? Justice Pamela Goodwine is leading the Civil Rules Task Force which is chaired by David Kramer. Other members include Wil liam Pinkston, Flora Stuart, Martha Brown, Christopher Schaefer, Mindy Barfield and Richard Martin. They presented their rec ommendations to the Bar at our most recent Annual Convention and the members pres ent could comment. Our Court will take those recommendations up in the coming year. Meanwhile, members may submit com ment via ruleamendments@kycourts.net. You’re from a rural part of the Commonwealth. Can you share your thoughts about the opera tion of the courts and the prac tice of law in the rural portions of the state? How good a job is the judicial system doing in rural Kentucky? We have well-trained and talented Judges across the state. I don’t think there is much difference in the way cases are handled, rural vs. urban. But the parking is much easier in rural jurisdictions! And now with most Judges permitting Zoom appearances across the state, travel issues have lessened. How good are our rural Judges? They are just as good as urban Judges, with the same training, talent and code of ethics. Get involved in your local Bar organization, volunteer with nonprofits, and join civic groups that align with your personal values. Mentor someone. Provide pro bono services as often as you can. Challenge the stereo types you hear people commonly attribute to lawyers. Be respectful to your fellow members of the bar; zealous representation does not require antagonism, and, while you may represent your client against his or her adversary, they and their counsel need not also be your adversary. Practice kindness,

With the election of Justice Goodwine, the composition of the Supreme Court has tilted to four women and three men. Membership amongst the Court of Appeals is evenly split between seven female and seven male Judges on the bench, and women are near parity with men in the ranks of Kentucky Trial Judges. When you began your legal career, did you imagine that women would one day achieve the prominence they have in the profession? The days of using gender as a measuring stick for progress in Kentucky’s judicial system have long since passed. I will always remember that Judge Judy West was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1987, my second year of law school. That ceiling has been broken for decades. The Court of Appeals is now equally male and female, since Justice Goodwine left the Court of Appeals for the Supreme Court and Judge Will Moynahan having been appointed by the Governor. When I graduated UK Law in 1989, there was a growing percentage of women law students, perhaps about 40 percent. So yes, I did believe women were going to be necessarily big participants in the legal field, in private and public roles. We are just one of the members of the Bar, as it should be once we demonstrated our skills and competence, decades ago. for it can rarely steer you off course. Treat every day as a new opportunity; learn from yesterday but do not let yesterday define you. Lastly, quickly own and fix each mis take you make. If needed, engage others to help fix the mistake, especially if you are overwhelmed by it. You aren’t perfect and your practice of law won’t be either. But developing a good response to this human reality will help you maintain competency and good outcomes for your clients.

11 bench & bar

BOOK REVIEW

is Celebrated Lawye Kentu

BY JAMES P. DADY

T he story is told that in 1853, a young lawyer fresh out of Transylvania Law School named George Graham Vest set adrift a houseboat on the Ohio near Owens boro as a prank. The boat’s owner, a man named Whitaker, was playing poker at the time, and think ing the boat was moored, stepped off it and into the river and nearly drowned. Whitaker was bent on visiting violence on Vest. That night, Vest loaded a trunk with a few clothes and law books, a double-barreled shotgun, and a little money and climbed into a small skiff. He high-tailed it down the Ohio and across the Mississippi into the Missouri wilderness. Another story is that Vest was despondent and left Kentucky because the parents of Sally Elizabeth Sneed of Danville wouldn’t let Vest marry her, according to Stephen M. Vest, a distant relative of George Vest, who has written a biography, “George Graham Vest: The Life and Times of Dog’s Best Friend.” Vest grew up in what is now the Vest-Lind sey House at 401 Wapping Street at the Corner of Celebrities in downtown Frank fort. Once in Missouri, he eventually served in the senates of both the United States and the Confederate States of America, became a courtroom and oratorical legend, and a writer of great distinction.

Published by Acclaim Press

12 september/october 2025

er-statesman d in Descendant’s Biography ucky-born

in the final one. Vest was 5-6, 110 pounds. He had a short neck, a big head, blue-gray eyes. Mustachioed, he had a noble countenance, a wise and kindly eye. He looked, it was said, as tall sitting down as standing.

Vest’s closing argument, “Tribute to a Dog,” made him famous the world over. There is no available transcript, but what follows is some of what courtroom observers recalled:

Burden named as defendant Leonidas Hornsby, his neighbor, brother-in-law, and employer of a farmhand who fired the fatal shot. Hornsby contended that he hadn’t shot Old Drum, and that anyway, Old Drum was get ting too close to Hornsby’s sheep. He’d lost, Hornsby testified, more than 100 head, and even some meat from his smokehouse, to roving critters. Hornsby said he had warned his neighbors to keep their dogs away from his herd. Proof was presented that when Drum had been shot, that Hornsby had tried to hide the fallen canine. The case was tried four times, with Vest serving as second chair on Burden’s side

” “ A friend and rival, T.T. Crittenden said this about him as a courtroom advocate: He was a terror before a jury to a liar of any kind …He never misled a witness by trick or device, unless it was plain to see that the witness had gone into the box with a falsehood on his lips or was guided by another’s diagram. If so, he would crush them like a worm. His voice was as musical as a chiming cathedral bell and sweet as distant murmurs of flow ing water. In 1869, he represented Charles M. Burden, who sued to avenge the shooting death of his prize hunting dog, Drum, or Old Drum, a black-bodied, tan-legged foxhound.

“The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.” “He guards the sleep of his master as if he were a prince … When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and rep utation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens...” “A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He willsleep on the cold ground where the wintry winds blow, and the snow drives fiercely if only he may be at his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer […] He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains.”

Several accounts of the trial reported that tears were running down the faces of mem bers of the jury when Vest was finished. The jury deliberated for three or four minutes and awarded Burden $50 in compensation, which the judge reduced by half.

Vest’s childhood home in Frankfort, Kentucky, known today as the Vest-Lindsey House.

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BOOK REVIEW

President Chester A. Arthur’s party at Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone Park on August 24, 1883. Seated, from left, Montana Gov. Schuy ler Crosby, Lt. Gen. Philip Sheridan, President Arthur, Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926), Sen. George Graham Vest; standing from left, Lt. Col. Michael Sheridan, Gen. Anson Stager (1825-1885), Capt. William Philo Clark (1845-1884), Surrogate of New York Daniel Gus tavus Rollins (1842-1897) and Lt. Col. James F. Gregory. (Photograph by F. Jay Haynes, Library of Congress.)

went to navigate carefully the rip tide of 19th century racial and sectional conflict. He started in politics as a Stephen Douglas sort of Democrat, moderate for the time on race and anxious to preserve the union. In 1860, he ran for a seat in the Missouri legislature, and won. He was made a committee chairman and was pledged to Douglas for president that year as a Mis souri member of the Electoral College. A Kentuckian by birth with no apparent animus toward black people, Vest was heard to make an impassioned appeal for preser vation of the Union. But Missouri was being settled by many slave-owning Southern transplants, and to survive politically, Vest moved right. Within a year, he was drafting the Vest Res olutions denouncing federal “coercion of the Southern states.” He authored Missouri’s “They can’t hold up this train” shows President Cleveland as a railroad engineer is driving a locomotive labeled “Administration R.R.” that is roaring out of a tunnel labeled “Business Depression Tunnel,” and knocking out of the way legislators who are placing “Dilitary Amend ments” and “Teller’s Dilatory Tactics” on the tracks, trying to derail the train; the legislators include Francis M. Cockrell, James Z. George, James L. Pugh, William A. Peffer, George G. Vest, James D. Cameron, William M. Stewart, Henry M. Teller, John P. Jones, and Edward O. Wolcott. This print by Charles J. Taylor was published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, October 11, 1893. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

The legend of Vest and Old Drum was launched. The three-minute summation or its best available version has been published thousands of times. A bust of Old Drum stands in the Missouri Supreme Court building. There are statues of him at the crossing of Big Creek, the site of the fatal business, and another outside the court house where the case was tried. A stage production of “Old Drum” was presented in 1958 at Central Missouri State College. Missouri-born actor Scott Bakula portrayed Vest in a 2000 made for TV movie. Future President Ronald Reagan played Vest in an episode of “Death Valley Days” in 1964. A stained-glass window at an animal shelter at a Columbus, Ohio, depicts Old Drum. When speaking against the practice of vivi section, that is, the performing of surgery on live animals without anesthetic, Mark Twain prefaced his remarks with Vest’s “Eulogy on the Dog.”

In another civil case, Vest defended the City of Sedalia from a suit brought by Albert T. Loewer, who was injured in a fall from a bridge. His story was bolstered by testimony that he’d had only one beer that day. Loewer was a slip of a guy. Vest carried the day with this dispositive thrust. “He is so slight he would get drunk sitting on a sour apple.” Mr. Vest represented a slave named Sam who had been accused of double murder in Georgetown, Mo. Vest adduced that the sole state’s witness was too young to under stand the significance of the witness’s oath, and Vest’s motion to dismiss was granted. Unsatisfied with the result delivered by the criminal justice system, a mob seized Sam from the authorities and burned him at the stake. With his gifts for rhetoric, oratory, and advocacy, it was inevitable that Vest would enter the political sphere, learning as he

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thousands, of books published about Jeffer son. A very readerly and writerly president, scholars can luxuriate in the very readerly and writerly artifacts left by our third presi dent and second vice president. Readers of more modest ambition might want to find their way to Sen. Vest’s speech, as repro duced in ‘Dog’s Best Friend.’ It captures Jefferson’s genius as a scholar, pedagogue, diplomat, architect, farmer, political party leader, political philosopher, author of the Declaration of Independence, President, Vice President, etc., and captures Vest’s penetrating literary skills. The author Stephen M. Vest’s biography of his distant relative is a lively read and a sig nificant contribution to the historical record of a momentous epoch in American history.

worthless. “The Indians, he declared, “have been skillfully robbed.” Vest was also a champion of the national parks, Yellowstone especially, which he visited five times. He called it “a breathing place for our national lung.” He served on a Senate committee that wrote the National Park Protection Act, which forbade the hunting of animals in the parks, limited fishing, and restricted the leasing of land in the parks to 10 acres and 10 years. He opposed the running of a rail line across Yellowstone, fought off various develop ment schemes, often over the objections of powerful corporations.

Ordinance of Succession. His shift offended his wife Sally, and he was estranged from her and their children for most of the next seven years. He had gone fully native. He enlisted in the Confederate army and fought in a fierce Civil War battle at Lexington, Mo. Shaken, he resigned his commission and was heard to say, “I am not built for a soldier.” Vest was elected to the Confederate Con gress in 1862 and joined its Senate in 1865 as the climactic battles of the war were being waged. When the war ended at Appomattox, Vest seemed to bear no undue malice toward the Union, and after paying the required obse quies, made his way back to the political fray. He was forced to swear an oath of loy alty and obtained a grant of amnesty in 1868 from President Andrew Johnson. He did not become an idle mourner for the lost cause. In a striking display of political agility, he became a legislator of consequence in the government of the Confederacy’s conquerors. He lost bids for governor in 1874 and 1876, but was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1879, where he served for the next 24 years. Vest opposed the U.S. annexation of the Philippines as booty won in the Spanish-American War. He believed it hyp ocritical for a country founded on breaking away from an empire to create one of its own. Such schemes were “territorial aggran dizement.” His argument against the U.S. acquisition of the Hawaiian Islands was pre scient. Holding ocean-bound islands creates the necessity of expensive fortifications and constant vigilance against foreign adventur ers, he argued. As many politicians did in his era, Vest trod carefully along the racial divide between Black and White. He lent his political and rhetorical skills to the cause of Native Americans. He fought for Native Ameri can citizenship, for individual Indian land holdings, improved education, more effi ciency in courts with Indian jurisdiction. He visited with Indian tribes in Montana, toured Indian schools and found them to be

He earned the honorific “Champion of the West.” *****

The author provides a pair of bonus tracks in the book. Attractively reproduced are 14 full-color cartoons that appeared in Punch, a satiric political journal of Sen. Vest’s era; with him caricatured in a number of them. There is also a transcript of his tribute to Thomas Jefferson upon the unveiling in 1895 of a bronze bust of him at the Jefferson Club in St. Louis. There have been hundreds, perhaps

ABOUT THE AUTHOR A regular contrib utor, JAMES P. DADY is a member of the Communica tions and Publications Committee. He lives in Bellevue, where he is chair man of its Planning and Zoning Commission.

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FEATURE: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

IN QUEST FOR MORE HOUSING BY JAMES P. DADY Local Zoning GENERAL ASSEMBLY TAKES ON

A iming to address Kentucky’s hous ing crisis, the General Assembly has enacted a statewide law curb ing local authority to keep manufactured homes out of residential neighborhoods. This legislative reach into local zoning is a notable turn in city-state relations, zoning being a complex set of rules traditionally consigned to local authority. The new law, enacted as House Bill 160, amending K.R.S. § 100.348, acknowledges the potential conflict with local law in its first paragraph. It credits the local effort to protect property values. But the bill “rec ognizes and affirms” that the provision of quality, affordable manufactured housing serves an essential public purpose. There is no debate about the need for more housing in Kentucky and everywhere in America. Two-thirds of the just-under two million housing units in the commonwealth are at least 25 years old; one third are older than 50. 1 The housing crisis in Kentucky looks acute from every point of vantage.

Kentucky home ownership rates have declined since the 1990s. 2 The decade from 2010 to 2019 produced the lowest percent age of new housing in Kentucky since the 1950s. The need for more housing is captured in a term of planning art called the housing gap, which is the difference between identifiable need and the market’s current capacity to meet it. In 2024, the Kentucky housing gap was 206,207. Without effective intervention, the figure will swell to 287,120 in four years. Homelessness in Kentucky has increased by 28 percent since 2019. The principal driver of the Kentucky hous ing crisis is affordability, or lack thereof. Twenty-seven percent of Kentucky hous ing units are rentals, and in some counties, nearly three of four households are cost-burdened; that is, the rent exceeds 30 percent of income. One fifth of Ken tucky renters are paying more than half their income for shelter. The construction of new homes in Kentucky has fallen by 26 percent since 2000. 3 KENTUCKY HOUSING COSTS UP 49 PERCENT SINCE 2019 Kentucky housing inventory is down by 21

percent since 2018. Housing costs are up by 49 percent in the past five years. The short age of affordable housing in Kentucky hurts worst among moderate- and low-income Kentuckians. 4 A cruel irony in the statistics and an anom aly in the law of supply and demand is that 12 percent of Kentucky housing units are vacant. Kentucky’s housing crisis mirrors the national one. There are more than 771,000 homeless persons in the United States. Half of U.S. renters pay more than 30 percent of their income for shelter. There is a shortage of homes in the U.S. of between four million and seven million. 5 Twenty-eight percent of American adults live alone, often occupying dwellings built for families. 6

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A number of strategies have been developed to increase the supply of housing, all of which require recon ceptualizing local zoning, including:

The housing shortage in Kentucky and across the U.S. writ large is attributed to a complex of factors, including: • Destruction of homes by nat ural disasters; • Heightened financial stress on homeowners and land lords; • Inflationary pressures on building materials;

The old-old testament law on zoning is a U.S. Supreme Court case from the 1920s that upheld a local zoning ordinance against a challenge from an industrial developer. Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. (1926) 272 U.S. 365, 47 S.Ct.114, 71 L.Ed. 303. EUCLIDEAN ZONING FAVORS SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLINGS Zoning schemes separating development by uses came to be known as Euclidean zoning. Nothing in planning and zoning is immutable given the proper level of polit ical and economic pressure, but a central fact of zoning codes is the detached sin gle-family housing enclave, with no other uses allowed – R-1 zones in the planner’s

• Enabling development of Alternative Dwelling Units (ADUs); • Legalizing multi-family dwellings in commercial areas, especially along public transit lines; • Building code reform; • Easing parking require ments; • Enabling home sharing; • Simplifying office to res idential conversions. 8

• The rise in home prices far outstripping income growth; • Higher interest rates; • Increasing property taxes and insurance costs; • The steadily decline in the birth rate since 1950, leading to smaller families. 7

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FEATURE: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

parlance. Among uses excluded from stan dard R-1 zones are apartment buildings, senior housing, and low-income housing. It is illegal to build anything on 75 percent of U.S. residential land except single-fam ily detached homes. Some examples of how individual cities land on this metric are as follows: Minneapolis, 70 percent; Los Ange les, 75; San Jose, 94; Seattle, 81; Charlotte, 84, Portland, Ore., 77. 9 Higher neighborhood density achieved by loosening R-1 rules makes for difficult conversations before city councils and plan ning commissions. Vocal opposition nearly always is heard from those whose home equity often represents the bulk of their net worth. But the primacy in planning and zoning of protecting the single-family homeowner has been called into question by a cadre of modern planners and in city halls and state capitals across the country. Cities, the reformers argue, have become silent partners of investor-occupants in sin gle-family residential zones. 10

“Why is it the job of government to see that a housing unit accumulates as much value as possible?” asked Andrew Whittemore, a planning professor at the University of North Carolina. 11 Oregon has effectively banned single-fam ily residential zoning statewide, and the new law there eases the requirement fas tened upon developers to provide generous parking amenities. A ban on single-family residential zoning in California has been partially struck down in a constitutional challenge. 12 Minneapolis has ended sin gle-family zoning on 70 percent of the city’s residential land. Since Minneapolis did away with the bulk of its R-1 zoned ter ritory, it has added 12 percent to its housing stock in five years, with just a one percent increase in rents. 13 When Houston reduced minimum lot sizes from 5,000 to 1,400 square feet, the resulting boom in townhouse development increased the housing stock enough to slow rent growth.

Planners couch these changes in such terms as “gentle density,” building housing for the “missing middle,” and “creating more hous ing choices.” With House Bill 160, Kentucky has set out on a path to encourage more manufactured housing in cities. A standard local planning ordinance has manufactured homes cor doned off into their own zones, which will be illegal in the new regime. Contemporary thinking about manufac tured homes, whether mobile stock on wheels or factory-made construction, has evolved over the course of decades. The old epithets of “trailers” and “trailer parks,” and the dehumanizing insult for their occu pants, have slowly fallen out of use. MANUFACTURED HOME PLENTIFUL IN THE SOUTH The studies are not quite in agreement, but it is likely that at least 10 percent and as many as 14 percent of Kentucky homes are manufactured. The percentage among its neighbors is higher: South Carolina, 20 per cent; West Virginia, 16.6; Mississippi, 16.1; North Carolina, 15.8. Most manufactured homes in the U.S. conform to a 1974 federal law called the National Manufactured Housing Construc tion and Safety Standards Act, which was updated in 2000, and is called the HUD code. The standards enacted include those for roof load, wind resistance, thermal effi ciency, safety, and durability. HB 160 defines qualified manufactured homes covered by the statute as those built since enactment of the HUD code, includ ing those with or without a foundation, and narrows the definition of a covered home further: the home must not have been manufactured earlier than five years prior to installation. The home must be affixed to a permanent foundation, be at least 20 feet in height or be two stories high, oriented on its lot toward the street, and has a living area of at least 900 square feet. Materials in homes covered by HB 160 must be compatible with surrounding residential structures, so long as those materials do not

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