Graves Dug Up for a Secret Data Center? Kentucky Town's Cemetery Scandal Explodes in Court

In Cave City, Kentucky, near the southern boundary of Mammoth Cave National Park, an abandoned cemetery on the former Branstetter property in the Mid-South Industrial Park was exhumed in 2025 ahead of industrial development. That same land later became central to a proposed data center, triggering public opposition, a one-year moratorium, and a June 2026 lawsuit.

2025 Cemetery Relocation

Approximately 20 to 25 graves belonging to members of the Shaw, Overstreet, and West families were relocated from an overgrown, abandoned site on the Branstetter property, west of the CSX railroad and east of Interstate 65 near Highway 90. Genealogists Scott and Ann Fife identified the graves and traced descendants. Nonagenarian Margaret “Peggy” Hill, the last known Shaw family descendant, confirmed her grandmother was buried there and consented to the move after speaking with attorney Bobby Richardson. She supported relocation to the Cave City City Cemetery.

Barren County Fiscal Court heard the initial request on March 18, 2025. The Cave City Cemetery Commission consented on June 16, 2025, and the Fiscal Court authorized the relocation on June 17, 2025, under a licensed funeral director and state guidelines. Kentucky Industrial Alliance LLC covered costs at $500 per grave. Later court filings listed the total cemetery relocation expense at $65,555.

KIA Land Assembly and Data Center Proposal

Kentucky Industrial Alliance LLC, formed in May 2023 with ties to Michael D. Jones, Jared W. Whitworth, and Joseph R. Crist, secured an option on the 381-acre Branstetter farm in 2023 and completed the purchase in 2024 for industrial park development. In late 2025, representatives of an unnamed data center developer contacted KIA about a self-powered facility with closed-loop water cooling on the site. On April 28, 2026, KIA bought an additional 75.8 acres adjoining the property for $2 million. The combined tract totals about 456.8 acres, including land at 2001 Doyle Avenue.

May 2026 Zoning and Moratorium

On May 1, 2026, the Joint City-County Planning Commission approved text amendments to regulate data processing centers at the request of Mayor Dwayne Hatcher. On May 11, 2026, KIA filed a preliminary development plan application for the 2001 Doyle Avenue site. That evening, the Cave City City Council rejected the zoning amendments and supported a 12-month moratorium on data center applications to study infrastructure, environmental, and land-use impacts.

The moratorium received first reading on May 18, 2026, and second reading on May 20, 2026. Council members Leticia Cline, Clifton Parsley, Andrew Bagshaw, and Ronald Coffey voted in favor; Denny Doyle voted against. Cline argued a data center does not fit the comprehensive plan or Mammoth Cave region identity due to risks to cave systems, sinkholes, underground waterways, tourism, and community character. Packed meetings reflected strong resident opposition over resource demands, noise, light pollution, and environmental effects.

June 2026 Lawsuit and Ethics Questions

On June 9, 2026, Kentucky Industrial Alliance LLC filed suit in Barren Circuit Court against the City of Cave City, City Council, and Joint City-County Planning Commission. Attorney Scott Bachert argued the moratorium was unlawful, procedurally flawed, arbitrary, and enacted after KIA’s vested May 11 application in violation of due process and state law. The suit seeks to invalidate the moratorium or require review under prior zoning rules. KIA cited expenditures including $2 million for additional land, $50,000 for site planning and engineering, $65,555 for cemetery relocation, $41,806 for civil design, and $19,962 for an archaeological survey.

KIA had previously sent a letter to City Attorney Bobby Richardson raising ethics and disclosure concerns related to the zoning debate and the attorney’s prior representation of the company in the cemetery matter. Leticia Cline announced she was ending involvement with the Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum due to connections to KIA management.

The case remains pending as of June 2026. It highlights tensions between development interests and local efforts to protect history, sensitive karst geology, and the character of the area bordering Mammoth Cave National Park. The end-user data center operator has not been publicly identified.

References

• Bowling Green Daily News, June 9, 2026

• Glasgow News 1, April 17, 2025; June 17, 2025; May 1, 2026

• WBKO reports, March-June 2025 and May 2026

• WCLU Radio, June 17, 2025

• Barren Circuit Court filing by Kentucky Industrial Alliance LLC, June 9, 2026

• Additional contemporaneous local coverage from Spectrum News 1 and community records