From Saturday morning until afternoon, with live music, muscle cars, exercise courses and food trucks, a community came out to support their first responders.
The event was conceived as a fundraiser for wounded Scott County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jaime Morales, who was shot in an exchange with an armed fugitive in October.Morales, who appeared at the event but declined to make a statement, asked before the event that half of T-shirt and other merchandise sales go to Johnnie Jacobs, the former Georgetown Fire Department battalion chief who is now in UK Hospital’s ICU. Jacobs, a 20-year veteran of the GFD, is in stable, but critical condition, according to Eric Colson, assistant fire chief. Jacobs, who was recently diagnosed with Desquamative Interstitial Pneumonia (a degenerative lung disease which has been linked with extensive exposure to smoke), is awaiting a double lung transplant.
Colson, who has known Jacobs for 18 years, spoke appreciatively of Jacob’s contributions to Georgetown Fire and Rescue.