It was a raucous Tuesday morning in the lobby area of the Henderson Circuit Court Clerk’s office where several residents converged to file petitions for protective orders against each other.
Some employees in the clerk’s office said they’d never seen such a scene. Those involved were jawing at each other and eventually court security moved them to separate rooms, officials said. Further, court officials said from their understanding the group meeting hadn’t been planned
Much of the anger stemmed from a Labor Day weekend full of both in-person drama and that which was manufactured via social media, including posts made by the Facebook page Henderson LIVE, which is run by Adam Blythe, who was one of the people at the courthouse Tuesday morning. Also entangled in the Tuesday morning fracas are Jay Randolph, Larry Majors, Edward Hickerson and Kacee Campbell.
By the end of the day:
- Randolph filed a petition for a protective order against Majors, and a temporary interpersonal protective order was granted by Family Judge David Curlin.
- Majors filed a petition for a protective order against Randolph, and a temporary interpersonal protective order was granted by Curlin.
- Edward Hickerson filed a petition for a protective order against Blythe, and a temporary interpersonal protective order was granted by Curlin.
- Blythe filed a petition for a protective order against Hickerson, and a temporary interpersonal protective order was granted by Curlin.
- Randolph also filed a petition for a protective order against Blythe, and a temporary interpersonal protective order was granted by Curlin.
- Kacee Campbell filed a petition for a protective order against Blythe, and a temporary interpersonal protective order was granted by Curlin.
- Blythe filed a petition for a protective order against Henderson Mayor Brad Staton, but Curlin did not grant this one.
The three people who filed against Blythe—Campbell, Randolph and Hickerson—all claimed cyberbullying and harassment by Blythe and wrote that they are afraid of what could come next.
Hickerson wrote that Blythe conducted a smear campaign on the Facebook LIVE page, and then after Hickerson said he was done dealing with the back-and-forth over the Labor Day weekend, Blythe texted him over 42 more times. He said after he asked him to stop, Blythe just kept sending them.
Campbell, the executive director at Audubon Kids Zone, wrote that Blythe stated he has photographs and videos of her and that she doesn’t know how he obtained them.
“His obsession, public posts, mental stability and obvious hatred has made me feel like I am constantly being watched,” she wrote. “He has parked outside AKZ on multiple occasions causing fear and anxiety among AKZ staff.”
Meanwhile, Randolph wrote he was in fear of death from Blythe.
“I am in fear that he might go to an extreme level possibly resulting in the death of myself or a family member,” Randolph wrote.
In Blythe’s petition for a protective order against Hickerson, he claimed that messages sent by Hickerson said he was going “to knock our ass out.”
“We are scared for our lives,” Blythe wrote.
A different strain of Tuesday’s protective orders involved Randolph and Majors. Randolph was arrested on Saturday, Sept. 6, on a charge of third-degree terroristic threatening after coming to Majors’ apartment and confronting him, police said. Randolph was also charged with resisting arrest then.
Randolph and Majors have had an ongoing feud going on Facebook, and Randolph said in a post before the incident on Saturday, Sept. 6, that he was going to take matters into his own hands after official agencies had let him down in dealing with Majors.
But it was more than just a Facebook feud, according to Randolph. In the protective order he filed against Majors, Randolph said Majors has engaged in stalking, cyberbullying and intimidation against him, his family and his deceased daughter. And this has been ongoing since August 2022, Randolph wrote.
Randolph also wrote that he was worried that Majors’ progression—a growing obsession—could lead to serious bodily harm of him or his family.
“I fear that if the court doesn’t take immediate action the situation will continue until he commits acts of bodily harm,” Randolph wrote.
Majors’ petition was based on Randolph’s visit to his apartment on Sept. 6.
“When I opened the door and saw who it was, I immediately shut the door and locked it,” Majors wrote. He said Randolph stayed outside for a while cussing before returning to his car when police arrived.
Finally, Blythe filed for a protective order against Staton claiming stalking because the mayor wrote a highly critical Facebook post about Henderson LIVE. The post has received more than 800 likes and many of the comments are from people who are now cyberbullying “us,” Blythe wrote.
Curlin denied this petition by Blythe because it fails to meet the requirement for stalking under KRS 508.130.
Curlin will be the judge for hearings on these IPOs on Sept. 21.
Update: This version includes a clarification that the judge granted temporary interpersonal protective orders. It also deletes the phrase ’emergency protective order’ that was used in a previous version; the petitions were all for interpersonal protective orders.
