Fiscal Court: Alcohol sales at golf course on ballot, new county position created, anti-ICE activists

Alcohol sales at a Grayson County golf course will be on a precinct’s ballot in May.

Grayson County Fiscal Court on Thursday approved placing alcohol sales on the 2026 Primary Election ballot at the South A Leitchfield voting precinct in the 5^th Magisterial District.

Magistrates approved the move after County Attorney Jeremy Logsdon informed the court that the petition calling for alcohol sales at Lafayette Golf Club had the necessary number of signatures and all paperwork was in order.

New position created

Magistrates approved Emily Gibson as the new County Addiction Reduction Officer. She will lead the County Addiction Reduction Services office and will oversee the disbursement of opioid abatement funds within Grayson County.

“In 2022, Kentucky finalized a national settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers, securing more than $900 million to address the opioid crisis,” according to the Kentucky Association of Counties. “These funds will be distributed over several years, with 50 percent going directly to counties and cities and 50 percent managed by the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission.”

The criteria for awarding opioid abatement money are regulated by Kentucky Revised Statute 15.291.

Anti-ICE activists

During the final 10 minutes of the meeting, magistrates heard from three people protesting the Grayson County Detention Center’s (GCDC) agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service to house federal inmates — with the protestors specifically upset with the GCDC housing those arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — and the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office’s (GCSO) agreement to work with ICE, if and when necessary.

The protestors have been present and spoke at many of the monthly fiscal court meetings over the last several months.

While no county official responded to the protesters on Thursday, Sheriff Norman Chaffins told Spectrum News in November 2025: “My job as sheriff is to uphold and protect our citizen’s rights according to the United States Constitution. Upholding the Constitution includes assisting ICE agents in removing criminal illegal aliens from our county. I will proudly continue that course until my time as sheriff is over.”

He added that the only time the GCSO has assisted ICE is to remove “an illegal person who has committed a crime.”

The ICE program the GCSO participates in — the 287(g) Program – “delegates state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight,” according to ICE.

Chaffins noted that he first signed a 287(g) Program agreement in 2015.

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com