Recognizes Ridley, Blanford at Rotary meeting
After touring the Innovative Readiness Training mission at South Middle School Thursday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear motored over to the weekly Rotary lunch at the Henderson County Public Library, where he spoke about several statewide accomplishments while also highlighting his belief that people are tired of anger politics.
He said that most people don’t wake up thinking about the November presidential election—and the ire that goes along with it—unless they turn on cable news, and are instead concerned with everyday issues all face, including money, jobs, roads/bridges, public schools and public safety.
“These are the things that everybody worries about,” he said, adding if officials and everyday people focus on these issues “it improves life for every single family.”
These sentiments align with a political action campaign Beshear formed early this year with the goal of providing a roadmap for Democrats to win elections in more swing and red states. The formation of his PAC came on the heels of his winning his second term as governor in deep red Kentucky.
Some speculate that the governor may one day attempt a run at higher office, perhaps even the White House, but so far, he has not commented on that. On Thursday, he told a television news reporter that he was focused on being the best governor he could be. He gave the Hendersonian a similar response in March when he visited the Henderson County High School Career and Technical Education unit.
In regard to the accomplishments, he spoke of bringing jobs locally and statewide but also about what he described as tempered anger in this state compared to the rest of the nation. And he urged people to embrace people’s differences, saying they are a benefit not a deterrent.
“We can all get along regardless of the box (political party) we check,” he said, adding that Kentucky can be the example for the rest of the country.
And he told the packed Pittsburg Tank and Tower Suite that he plans to obtain funding in its entirety to complete the I-69 project “while I’m still governor.”
He said the state has submitted a federal grant application and the state has $300 million currently budgeted to add to any funding that may come from Washington.
Additionally, Beshear came to the Rotary meeting to recognize his friend, Dorsey Ridley, for being named the 2025-26 District Governor for west Kentucky.
Ridley has a long history in state politics, including stints as state representative and senator.
“He’s never stopped fighting for this community. He’s never stopped asking for this community,” the governor quipped.
Ridley will be the first district governor from the local club in 25 years, Ridley said.
Asked what work that will entail, Ridley said, “I’ll got see a whole lot of people.”
He said there are 53 Rotary clubs with 2,450 Rotarians in the west side of the state. That’s a “lot of responsibility,” he said.
He added he’ll be the fifth district governor from Henderson in the local chapter’s 107-year history.
Closing out the meeting, the governor recognized Holli Blanford, current Rotary president and city of Henderson public relations director, as a new Kentucky Colonel.
Later that afternoon, the governor was in Webster County to award Delta Regional Authority funding to local projects. Beshear was named the state’s DRA co-chair in March.
Projects receiving funding include:
- Henderson Community College will use $450,000 to support its MAINTech program. This is an advanced industrial maintenance training program that is working to address the need for skilled industrial workers in western Kentucky
- The Webster County Fiscal Court will also use $326,657 for the Webster County Workforce Training Equipment project in Dixon. The funds will be used to purchase workforce training equipment for students in manufacturing, health care, industrial and computer-aided design career tracks
- The Webster County Fiscal Court will use another $150,000 to develop a comprehensive economic development plan, focusing on creating an economically and climate resilient community that has experienced a decline in coal-industry jobs
- The city of Sturgis will use $2,024,000 to rehabilitate its wastewater treatment plant.
Dr. Jason Warren, president/CEO of HCC, said in a release that the college is “thrilled” to receive the funding.
“The MAINTech project represents the next logical progression in our efforts to increase the number of multiskilled technicians in our region,” Warren said. “We recently doubled the capacity of our advanced manufacturing labs, which support our HCCFAME apprenticeship model program, our traditional Industrial Maintenance Technician (IMT) program and customized industry training. MAINTech is designed to increase the number of individuals in the industrial maintenance talent pipeline.”
