Three temporary protective orders against the founder of Henderson LIVE were extended to a maximum of three years in Henderson Family Court on Monday.
Hearings for two others against Adam Blythe were moved to a later date—one so that a special appointed judge will hear the case and another so that an attorney can gather electronic evidence for the hearing.
Additionally, a protective order petition that Blythe filed was also extended.
In all, it was an all-day affair for the family court’s Monday docket, with most of the afternoon taken up by the cases involving the Henderson LIVE founder.
A case of dueling IPOs—one petition filed by Edward Hickerson and the other by Blythe—centered on a text message exchange between the pair over Labor Day weekend.
On Blythe’s side of this one, he testified that Hickerson made threats toward him and also hinted that Blythe would be hurt when some of Hickerson’s military friends visited Henderson. Blythe in answer to a question from Henderson Family Judge David Curlin said that he felt like he had received direct visual threats from Hickerson but not direct verbal threats.
The back-and-forth message exchange and how it progressed was a point of contention between Hickerson and Blythe, with both saying he was the one who quit messaging first and the other kept up the text messages that day.
Hickerson, meanwhile, said that he and Blythe had been friendly towards each other—with Blythe giving him free chicken bowls from the business he runs with his wife, the food truck, Acme Chicken Bowls – Western Kentucky—before Blythe posted an article about him with a mugshot of Hickerson from six years ago. That article, posted on Sept. 5, Hickerson said was a “smear campaign.”
Later, Hickerson entered into the record a stack of papers that he said were copies of the messages sent back-and-forth that day. Blythe objected about the messages, saying that they appear to have been edited. Hickerson said it was all the original messages. Curlin accepted the documents into the record.
Hickerson testified that he is a humble man who only works at the farm and then comes home. Since the posting, he said he’s scared to the world.
“Just as much as I may have been talking noise, this man was talking noise, too,” Hickerson said.
Each said they were scared that the other would kill him.
Curlin ordered no communication of any form whatsoever, which includes social media posts, and if one of them believes the other has attempted communication—including through a third party—then he should ask law enforcement to investigate. The judge warned the pair that if law enforcement determines there was communication, criminal charges could come.
They were also ordered to stay 500 feet from the other.
Curlin asked each how long they wanted the IPO to last. Both responded three years, which is what the judge ordered.
Another IPO hearing involved Blythe and Kacee Campbell, who is the executive director of Audubon Kids Zone. Campbell filed a petition against Blythe on Sept. 8, seeking a temporary interpersonal protective order.
Campbell testified that since Aug. 5 when a story about a corn-giveaway at Audubon Kids Zone was posted on Henderson LIVE, Blythe has continually made comments on social media that have progressively become more personal. Those involve comments, she said, that talk about his having personal photos and videos of her. Campbell was concerned that if Blythe has videos and photos of her, then he has them of her children, who are always with her, she said.
Blythe testified that he believes Campbell’s request for an IPO is an act of retaliation because of the Henderson LIVE article that was critical of the method that the corn was given away—in trash cans, which he said was demeaning to those who received it.
Additionally, Blythe said a later article on Henderson LIVE in which no names were written couldn’t be construed as being directed at Campbell. The article, however, was personal in nature. It came out just days after Blythe said he spoke to a person with direct information about Campbell and whom Blythe said wanted an article posted about her personal life.
Blythe claimed the article was not about Campbell. He said Henderson LIVE is satire and not a news media page. “Yes, we totally made everything up on this page,” he said.
The judge, meanwhile, wasn’t buying it. He ruled that the article was about Campbell because after receiving information about Campbell on Aug. 29, there was an article posted on Henderson LIVE soon thereafter using that information—though without naming names. Two days after the article was posted, there was a comment from Blythe about the article using the correct spelling of her first name, “Kacee,” which the judge said was not the common spelling and indicated Campbell.
“I believe the post was about her,” Curlin said.
After Curlin explained his ruling, Blythe objected and began arguing with the judge, one of several instances of raised voices between the two. Bailiffs told him to quit talking and listen to the judge, again an occurrence that happened several times throughout the day.
This interpersonal protective order will be in effect until Sept. 20, 2029. Campbell asked that the judge specifically protect her home and place of work, AKZ on Powell Street, with a 500-foot distance to be kept between them. Blythe can drive the Acme Chicken Bowl truck on Powell Street, but can’t stop within 500 feet of AKZ, the judge ruled.
Near the end of the afternoon, the judge heard from Abby Dixon, the executive director of the Henderson Tourist Commission, who also filed a petition for a temporary IPO against Blythe earlier this month.
Dixon, like the others, testified that the IPO was filed because of posts that were made on Henderson LIVE. She said the posts have escalated and grown more frightening in recent months.
Dixon, through questioning from her attorney Davis Hunter, said that some post topics were about Dixon’s husband, an alleged misuse of funds claimed by Blythe, and another which said she needs to go.
Dixon said that she’s had only one in-person conversation with Blythe about the possibility of boating on the river being a part of tourism. She characterized him more like a stranger than an acquaintance.
She said the posts about her are “scary.”
“It’s an eerie feeling I have not felt in my life,” she said.
Blythe argued that he did know Dixon, having met her through the Henderson Leadership Initiative. He also said that he has had many exchanges with Dixon via email and messenger.
Blythe also said he considers the articles about some of Dixon’s professional activities as “developmental feedback,” including one about a high school popularity contest that he said was representative of the businesses in town he says that the tourist committee doesn’t support.
With this IPO request, Curlin also granted Dixon a three-year interpersonal protective order against Blythe. He can’t park the Acme Chicken Bowl truck at the Depot Building, where the Tourist Commission has offices and which has dedicated spots for food trucks and something that has occurred in the past. He, however, can drive past the Depot Building on Water Street without stopping.
Some of the more interesting pieces of the day in court consisted of the back-and-forth between Blythe and Curlin, who warned Blythe more than once that he would hold him in contempt if he didn’t quit arguing.
Some of Blythe’s objections revolved around his attempts to get Curlin to recuse himself from the hearings. Blythe made a personal claim against the judge about his behavior when Curlin was in college, which could not be supported in the courtroom and which the judge said he had no recollection of.
Blythe also said Curlin should recuse himself because the judge’s wife had made personal attacks about Blythe and his wife’s business, the Acme Chicken Bowl food truck.
Curlin asked for proof, and Blythe said he could find it on his phone but phones had not been allowed in the courtroom Monday. Curlin allowed Blythe to go to his vehicle to retrieve his phone, and when he returned, he found only one comment which the judge said did not appear to be a personal attack.
He later said that because Curlin donated to AKZ in the past and his wife had been on the organization’s board, the judge should recuse himself.
Finally, Blythe said that because Henderson LIVE had recently posted an article critical of Curlin about his law license being suspended—which occurred in 2023—that the judge should recuse himself.
Curlin said each of the instances did not constitute a need for him to recuse himself and said that because he is an elected official, people have a right to be critical of him.
Earlier in the afternoon, Curlin did recuse himself from a hearing for an IPO request from Kristie Randlph against Blythe. Because Kristie Randolph regularly appears in the family court in her role as the executive director of the Chloe Randolph Organization, Curlin said he believed a special judge should preside in that case.
Additionally, Jay Randoph appeared for his request for an IPO against Blythe. His attorney, Jonathan Danks, of Evansville firm Danks & Danks, requested a continuance so that he could gather electronic evidence. Blythe didn’t agree to that and asked to hold the hearing now, but Curlin allowed for one continuance and set the date for the hearing at Oct. 19.
Earlier in the morning, the Randolphs sought IPOs against Larry Majors, while Majors sought an IPO against Jay Randolph.
Before the hearing, Danks told Curlin that all involved had reached an agreement that all IPOs requested be granted for three years.
