June Redneck Rave had arrests, grisly injuries. KY sheriff braces for party sequel.
Small Edmonson County received a lot of attention last June over “Redneck Rave,” a multiday event featuring mud, music, mayhem — and arrests, assaults, injuries and at least one impalement.
Now, the event is happening again, from Thursday though Sunday at Blue Holler Offroad Park.
Four dozen people were charged and 14 were arrested during the last go around that attracted a large crowd. Some of the crimes included strangulation and drug and alcohol possession.
Edmonson County Sheriff Shane Doyle has been preparing for weeks for the return of rowdy partygoers. His plans for policing the event center on containing it since he doesn’t have enough personnel to go into the park and shut down all illegal activity. The same approach was used in June.
“Things went ... better than we expected it to go, so we have a similar plan of attack to what we had earlier in the year,” Doyle said. “The community was actually very satisfied with the law enforcement presence they got.”
Justin Stowers, the organizer of Redneck Rave, recognized the number of incidents that occurred in June but said he can only control what happens inside the venue.
“The last time that it happened, we were on every little thing that happened. It didn’t matter what it was, we were there, we were prompt about it,” Stowers said. “There were some accidents that happened ... like the guy who got impaled by the log. If we didn’t get to him as fast as we did, he may have been a lot more seriously injured than what he was.”
Stowers said he is taking precautions to ensure people are safe. For instance, a man accused of strangling a woman with whom he had argued over a blanket is not allowed back at Stowers’ events, Stowers said. And there is zero tolerance for that kind of behavior.
“Unfortunately accidents do happen when we do these events, but our job is just to make sure that we handle them very promptly,” Stowers said.
In addition to the man impaled in the abdomen by a log, the June incidents included a throat-slashing. Other people suffered lacerations, dislocated fingers, broken bones and more, the sheriff said after the event. The sheriff’s office accompanied emergency medical services into the rave whenever they had to go treat someone.
Doyle only has five deputies, plus himself, to help manage this week’s party. One deputy is a school resource officer, so patrols are left to Doyle and four deputies.
Doyle and the four deputies will work a lot of hours this week. Doyle said he will put in 70 hours and deputies will accumulate overtime. The community’s tax dollars — the only funding source available — will pay for the overtime.
Doyle has asked for law enforcement help from other state agencies, such as the Kentucky State Police and the Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources. Like his sheriff’s department, a lot of police agencies are understaffed and don’t have a lot of help to offer.
“It’s impossible to find help. Everybody’s hiring or everybody needs more manpower and can’t afford it. That’s the ship we’re in,” Doyle said. “We need two to three more full-time officers to handle the workload that we have but there’s just not any money in the budget to do it.”
Doyle hopes the previous Redneck experience will guide deputies this time. The department has researched the last event and adjusted schedules to have more well-rested officers available during peak hours of the party.
Doyle is moving the location of the general entrance traffic stop, which was very close to the fire station last June. That occasionally prevented the fire trucks from exiting the station as large crowds would frequently gather around the road check.
During the stops, officers checked for intoxicated drivers, active warrants, vehicle safety and more.
Doyle knows he likely won’t prevent all crime, but his goal is to prevent the mayhem from spreading into the community.
“My hope is that the patrons saw the presence that we had, that they saw the actions that we took and they don’t mess up in the same ways that they did before,” Doyle said.
This story was originally published October 12, 2021 at 3:15 PM.
