Constable a no-show in court

GLASGOW – A man who was re-elected, unopposed, last month as the constable for Barren County's District 7 was scheduled to appear in court Friday for a pretrial conference in a case in which he is the defendant.

After more than two hours from the start time for the morning docket, the case was called in which George “Buddy” Houchens Jr., 70, was charged with violation of a Kentucky emergency protective order/domestic violence order, a misdemeanor, in Barren District Court, and neither he nor anyone else approached the bench on his behalf.

District Judge Gabe Pendleton told Assistant County Attorney Mike Richardson that an emergency guardianship hearing had been scheduled for Houchens a couple of weeks from that day, and the person who had procured the emergency protective order Houchens is accused of violating was the one petitioning for the guardianship.

Pendleton suggested they continue the pretrial conference to January and see what happens with the guardianship case in the interim.

An emergency protective order had been issued against George “Buddy” Houchens Jr. on July 21 after he allegedly had been verbally abusive that morning and then went to a third party's home, where the adult female who later became the petitioner for the EPO had gone, and threatened to shoot that woman and possibly another individual apparently not present at the time, according to the petition for an order of protection.

Just after midnight the following morning, Houchens was served with the EPO by Barren County Sheriff's Office Deputy Adam Bow, who verbally read and explained it to Houchens, according to the misdemeanor citation. Bow wrote that he followed Houchens to a friend's residence where he was going to spend the night, but shortly after the deputy left there, so did Houchens. Bow went to where he believed Houchens might have gone.

“Upon arrival in the area, I discovered that [Houchens] was [there], which was a protected location,” Bow wrote on the citation. “I then got out and spoke with … the protected party in the EPO. She stated that [Houchens] had already been to the door and tried to get in the residence.”

The narrative of the events on the EPO petition indicates that a health issue may have contributed to Houchens' alleged behavior.

Houchens was released from the Barren County Detention Center on a $500 bond later the same day of his arrest. The EPO/DVO case was later dismissed by the petitioner.

The Glasgow Daily Times does not identify alleged or confirmed victims of domestic or sexual abuse.

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Constable a no-show in court