Home Kentucky Remembering Gatewood Galbraith, one year after his death

Remembering Gatewood Galbraith, one year after his death

Gatewood Galbraith
Ace archives 2001. By artist Zach Trenholm.
Gatewood Galbraith
Ace archives 2001. By artist Zach Trenholm.

Iconic Kentuckian Gatewood Galbraith, the Lexington defense attorney and perennial candidate, died one year ago. “A Celebration of the Life and Times of Gatewood” is scheduled for Sunday, January 6 at Natasha’s, with an open mic beginning at 6 pm, and live music ending the evening by the Blind Corn Liquor Pickers.

When the Lexington Forum met this morning, the group was addressed by Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner, James Comer, who led the conversation in support of cultivating industrial hemp as a potential cash crop for Kentucky.

It was a different environment twelve years ago when Galbraith addressed the Forum in support of hemp. “Laughter – the kind that doesn’t sound like they’re laughing with you – punctuated parts of Gatewood Galbraith’s remarks to the Lexington Forum during its August 3 breakfast with the Sixth Congressional District candidates,” according to a 2000 Ace interview. The article pointed out that even supporters “sometimes complain all they see is a political sideshow hung up on fringe issues. For example, Galbraith’s signature issue has been the promotion of hemp and many remember him as ‘the pot smoking lawyer.'”

In an earlier article that Summer, Galbraith poked holes in law enforcement’s theory that marijuana might be cultivated alongside hemp crops, famously asserting, “Cannabis is to hemp as Dennis Rodman is to Danny DeVito. They’re both adult males, but if you can’t distinguish between the two you don’t belong in law enforcement.