Death threats target school officials over plan to move historic Kentucky cemetery
State police are investigating death threats directed at school officials in Clay County related to an emotional controversy over moving graves from a 128-year-old cemetery.
Superintendent William Sexton and board Chairman Mark Hoskins received emails last week that contained threats over the cemetery move, said Sharon Allen, attorney for the Clay County Board of Education.
The emails came late July 16 and early July 17, Allen said.
Allen said she could not release details because of the investigation, but that the emails mentioned guns and threats to kill people.
School officials couldn’t tell who sent the emails or where they originated. Officials asked Kentucky State Police to investigate.
“We can’t afford not to address a threat,” Allen said Wednesday.
Hoskins said the emails may have been a hoax, but the school board had an obligation to take them seriously.
Other school employees also received emails related to the cemetery issue that were not directly threatening, Allen said.
Controversy arose after the school board published notices beginning in May that it intended to move graves from the Hoskins Cemetery.
The cemetery is atop a steep hill on property owned by the school system. It overlooks Manchester Elementary School and sports facilities, and is near Clay County High School.
The cemetery covers about a third of an acre and contains about 80 graves, including military veterans — two of them from the Civil War — and descendants of Native Americans.
Angela Hacker, who lives in Clay County and is related to one of the Civil War veterans, said the earliest known burial in the cemetery was in 1893.
The school board wants to move the cemetery over concerns that it poses a potential safety threat by being so close to — and overlooking — schools and athletic facilities. Allen referred to it as a potential “sniper’s nest.”
After the controversy arose, a man who was once on the state sex-offender registry before being pardoned by former Gov. Matt Bevin went to the cemetery and made a YouTube video showing how close it is to school facilities, Allen said.
Family members of some people buried at the Hoskins Cemetery have protested the plan to move the graves.
Families chose that spot for burials and the graves should not be disturbed, cemetery supporters argue. Several chanted “Educate, don’t desecrate” during a protest in Manchester on July 8.
The last burial in the cemetery was in 2005, but supporters said it hadn’t been abandoned, and that families have plans for future burials there.
The school board needed the okay of the Clay County Fiscal Court to seek state permits to move the graves. The fiscal court voted unanimously on July 14 to authorize moving the graves, saying it was in the best interest of the county.
The threatening emails started coming late the next day.
Stella B. House, an attorney in Manchester, said cemetery supporters have contacted state and federal officials, including Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, to try to stop the school board from moving the graves.
“They disagree highly with the decision by the school board and fiscal court to disturb the peace of those resting there,” House said of some cemetery supporters.
House said some people are angry, but that she did not believe any of the local people she has worked with would make a death threat over the issue. She called the threats “totally inappropriate.”
“Our goal is to fight this in a civil manner,” House said.
The school board has applied to the state for permits to move the graves, which would have to be done under the oversight of a funeral director.
House said cemetery supporters will sue to try to block the removal of the graves if necessary.
This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 3:48 PM.
