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Anybody read this book, “The Bluegrass Conspiracy”?

gollumcat

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The Bluegrass Conspiracy by Sally DentonThe Bluegrass Conspiracy by Sally DentonIt presents a very interesting picture of Central Kentucky in the last half of the 20th century.
 
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I grew up with Detective Jack Hillard's kids. Played baseball with his youngest son, Roger.

@CatinIL knew them too.
 
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I can't believe they've never actually made a movie about it all. Great story, shows how Lexington was run by those with connections.

I know several of the people in that book. My aunt and another uncle were running with some of that crowd.
 
I grew up with Detective Jack Hillard's kids. Played baseball with his youngest son, Roger.

@CatinIL knew them too.
My best friend in High School used to live about 2 doors down from a house where a couple of people tied to that whole conspiracy were murdered.
 
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Maybe I'm out of the loop, but did they ever find Doug Flynn's sister's body?
 
Roger struck me out 3 consecutive times up at Kiwanis Field. And was laughing at me the entire time. LOL

(Hopefully you took him yard. You were one of the best players up there anyway (and Ben Hulette))

I was just there for the Sno-Cones and the cup ball. (DId you ever play baseball with David Vest, the Lexington Lip? LOL)
 
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If at first you don't succeed, so much for skydiving with bales of cocaine, I

If at first you don't succeed, so much for skydiving with bales of cocaine, I guess.
Lawyers aren't as smart as they think. It was 1974 at EKU police training. I remember thinking at the time I'm working for the wrong police department. He showed up in a 3 piece suit, $300 dollar boots and a Rolex (I think)
 
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Roger struck me out 3 consecutive times up at Kiwanis Field. And was laughing at me the entire time. LOL

(Hopefully you took him yard. You were one of the best players up there anyway (and Ben Hulette))

I was just there for the Sno-Cones and the cup ball. (DId you ever play baseball with David Vest, the Lexington Lip? LOL)
David Vest, that name rings a bell. That's going to bug me all day now.

I was probably 18 when I saw Ben last. He was catcher for a team we "Man-o-War" were playing.

Unfortunately I never took Roger "yard" but I wish I had just so I could have teased him about it.
Speaking of BB back then, I don't know if you remember Van Wade but I hit they guy almost every time I pitched against him. I never did it on purpose but man he'd get mad. My control was not very good and I threw it hard enough to hurt.

Hated using the "new" cupballs. Those waxy Pepsi cups needed to be softened a little bit before smacking it with your barehand.
 
Conspicuous consumption. The first sign of a stupid criminal.
That guy had early versions of night vision before it had even been publicly acknowledged by the US government, iirc, that was almost certainly supplied by Uncle Sugar as part of the arms for coke deals they were running.

I'm sure he thought he was absolutely untouchable. And he was, other than by effing gravity.
 
David Vest, that name rings a bell. That's going to bug me all day now.

I was probably 18 when I saw Ben last. He was catcher for a team we "Man-o-War" were playing.

Unfortunately I never took Roger "yard" but I wish I had just so I could have teased him about it.
Speaking of BB back then, I don't know if you remember Van Wade but I hit they guy almost every time I pitched against him. I never did it on purpose but man he'd get mad. My control was not very good and I threw it hard enough to hurt.

Hated using the "new" cupballs. Those waxy Pepsi cups needed to be softened a little bit before smacking it with your barehand.
The same Vest that is a retired banker from Louisville/Shelbyville?
 
David Vest, that name rings a bell. That's going to bug me all day now.

I was probably 18 when I saw Ben last. He was catcher for a team we "Man-o-War" were playing.

Unfortunately I never took Roger "yard" but I wish I had just so I could have teased him about it.
Speaking of BB back then, I don't know if you remember Van Wade but I hit they guy almost every time I pitched against him. I never did it on purpose but man he'd get mad. My control was not very good and I threw it hard enough to hurt.

Hated using the "new" cupballs. Those waxy Pepsi cups needed to be softened a little bit before smacking it with your barehand.
LOL!

Spot on about those wax cups. Haha

I definitely remember Van Wade. When I was playing Pee-Wee football, he was the QB, IIRC for the Cardinals (coach Durbin), and Allen Douglas was the tailback. I was playing LB for the Redskins, and Allen went up the middle. I was out of position (as always) and grabbed anything I could (which, in this case, was his facemask), anyway, he trucked me and scored. I looked down, and my left hand was a mess. My pinky was literally touching the outside of my wrist. LOL Broke my hand in about 6 places.

I'm facebook friends with Allen, and reminded him of this incident, and that bastard said, "I hope we got 10 penalty yards on the kickoff, for the facemask." Hahaha
 
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that left hand, BTW, still bothers me, especially if it's going to storm. Aches like a mother, and the pinky is still screwed up. LOL
 
LOL!

Spot on about those wax cups. Haha

I definitely remember Van Wade. When I was playing Pee-Wee football, he was the QB, IIRC for the Cardinals (coach Durbin), and Allen Douglas was the tailback. I was playing LB for the Redskins, and Allen went up the middle. I was out of position (as always) and grabbed anything I could (which, in this case, was his facemask), anyway, he trucked me and scored. I looked down, and my left hand was a mess. My pinky was literally touching the outside of my wrist. LOL Broke my hand in about 6 places.

I'm facebook friends with Allen, and reminded him of this incident, and that bastard said, "I hope we got 10 penalty yards on the kickoff, for the facemask." Hahaha
Van, Allen and I played together on the Cardinals. Van was the QB and I was a WR.
 
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There were 3, maybe 4 Vest brothers. They lived right near Southland Park, on Wichita. David was a year older than us. Really good dude. He played football at Georgetown College with Gary Durbin IIRC.

(Gary's little sister, Shirla, was my first "crush/girlfriend" LOL

Other than skateboarding, I wasn't a very good athlete. I remember you used to come by the house on Pasadena after school sometimes, and absolutely wear me out in basketball (remember, we had that killer halfcourt patio/setup behind the house) LOL

Funny thing that popped into my head, didn't your older brother have a killer sports car, back in the day?
 
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Is this one of those things where everyone in central Kentucky claims to know people from the book? Kind of like how every Lafayette student for two decades somehow was in class with Jim Varney?
I beat the living shit out of all 4 Vest brothers, then met a hot woman who is now my hot wife. Btw, I’m killing it in my career —and talked to Jim Varney just last week.
 
I KNOW you're full of crap, because if you KNEW the Vests, there is ZERO chance you beat the crap out of any of them. LOL I doubt David Vest EVER lost a fight, and he got into a lot of them. LOL

But, in all honesty, Jack Hillard, who was a policeman (retired by the time the Bluegrass Conspiracy stuff went down) DID actually live a stones throw from my house growing up. (And Mrs. Varney was my first grade teacher at Clays MIll Elementary, LOL)
 
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That guy had early versions of night vision before it had even been publicly acknowledged by the US government, iirc, that was almost certainly supplied by Uncle Sugar as part of the arms for coke deals they were running.

I'm sure he thought he was absolutely untouchable. And he was, other than by effing gravity.
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Didn't one of those guys steal weapons & equipment from China Lake Naval Center in California? It's been a long, long time since I waded through that god awful "tome".
 
I KNOW you're full of crap, because if you KNEW the Vests, there is ZERO chance you beat the crap out of any of them. LOL I doubt David Vest EVER lost a fight, and he got into a lot of them. LOL

But, in all honesty, Jack Hillard, who was a policeman (retired by the time the Bluegrass Conspiracy stuff went down) DID actually live a stones throw from my house growing up. (And Mrs. Varney was my first grade teacher at Clays MIll Elementary, LOL)
Beat the crap out of all of them. Then I threw all their garbage cans and lawn furniture into their pool.

I really had nothing against them. I didn’t even know them or anything about them. I just showed up out of the blue at their house as I was tipped off.

I nailed Ms Beeler later
 
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I will NOT have Thelma Beeler disrespected! She was a saint, and I'll kick your ass if you don't keep that dear woman's name out of your mouth. LOL

(what year did you graduate LHS?)
 
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