Justice Bill Cunningham, of the First District of the Kentucky State Supreme Court, spoke at the 43rd Annual Southern Conference of Bar Presidents in Lexington, on Saturday, October 15. His topic was the tobacco Night Riders of west Kentucky and Tennessee. His book "On Bended Knee" recounts the story of the most violent uprising in America between the Civil War and the race riots of the 1960s. It was a tobacco farmers' revolt against the choking monopoly of James B. Duke's American Tobacco Company between 1904-1909.

The gathering addressed by Justice Cunningham consisted of past and current state bar presidents of all the southern states in their two day conference at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Lexington.

The night of that same date, Justice Cunningham was honored at Murray State University's Homecoming with the Significant Sig award by his fraternity Sigma Chi. This national award is one of the most distinguished awards in the Greek-letter world and one of the two highest awards presented to a member of Sigma Chi. The Justice joins the ranks of previous recipients John Wayne and Brad Pitt. The inscription on the back of the award read, "This Medal Is Awarded To Bill Cunningham For His Achievements Which Have Brought Honor And Prestige To The Name Of The Sigma Chi Fraternity."