WQXE News
The Elizabethtown City Council met for their second regular meeting of the month Monday.
The council approved, on second reading, an ordinance establishing text amendments to the city Zoning Code related to data centers. City Attorney Ken Howard read the summary of the ordinance, which amends the code in nine sections “to update the text relating to regulations for data centers to include definitions, zoning district restrictions, square footage limitations, and specific design and operational standards to be allowed as accessory uses only.” The ordinance was approved by a 6-0 vote.
The council also approved a municipal order approving a lease agreement for Heartland House at 1117 Woodland Drive. Reading from their mission statement, Paige Hardin, Heartland House’s organizer, said the organization aims to assist individuals and families facing a life crisis by offering short-term housing, mentorship, and practical support. Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said the Woodland Drive property is the former Signature Healthcare facility.
“We were glad to be able to buy that piece of property and house some of our nonprofits in that building together, which we think is going to be an advantage,” Gregory said. “Heartland House being one of them and one of the new ones, also Mission Hope for Kids and then eventually Warm Blessings, and we’re really excited about that.”
Shellie Washer, who serves on the boards for Heartland House and Mission Hope for Kids, said infrastructure set up for the property will allow for the organizations to be separated to ensure safety of program participants.
In other meeting news, the council approved executive orders approving bids from Dirt Works Unlimited ($491,873) for the relocation of a water main on Pear Orchard Road Northwest and Superior Technologies LLC ($32,497.50) for the extension of a gas main in the Magnolia Farms Section 2 subdivision. The council also approved an update policy for public speaking at city meetings which allows participants to ask to have their name and address redacted from the meeting minutes, only asking for their name and whether or not they are a city resident to be stated.
The council voted to reject bids on the SteelGrove Amphitheater ice rink. City Administrator Ed Poppe said $400,000 was budgeted for the outdoor music venue project to purchase materials for an ice rink in order to provide for year-round use for the facility, but when only one bid came in for $716,000 the city decided to cancel the ice rink plan and explore other winter opportunities.
The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet August 24.
A report of a stolen vehicle led to a multi-agency, multi-county vehicle theft investigation.
“Shortly after 7 p.m. Friday evening, our officers received Flock alerts involving vehicles being stolen from the Lexington area,” said Elizabethtown Police Department Public Information Officer Chris Denham. “A short time later, Radcliff Police located one of those vehicles and took the driver into custody.”
The EPD says Flock notifications indicated a stolen vehicle travelling south on Patriot Parkway and another near Ring Road and North Dixie Highway. The EPD said a coordinated investigation conducted with the RPD and the Lexington Police Department revealed that a total of seven vehicles had been reported as stolen Lexington-based dealership Freedom Dodge.
The dealership told police the vehicles had been sold to “Verdigris Botanica Tribal Nation”, a nonprofit organization with an address listed in Radcliff, but the vehicles were never paid for.
“Information developed during the investigation, leading our officers to a residence on North Miles Street, where two additional vehicles were recovered,” Denham said. “A fifth vehicle was recovered Saturday by the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office, and on Sunday afternoon our officers recovered a sixth vehicle.”
Denham later said the final vehicle was located Monday morning at the McDonald’s located on West Dixie Avenue in Elizabethtown as the result of a call from a citizen.
The female driver arrested by the RPD was later identified as Alaina Padgett. She was charged with Receiving Stolen Property $10,000 or More and First Degree Possession of a Controlled Substance. She was lodged in the Hardin County Detention Center and is due to appear for a video arraignment Monday.
The EPD says the investigation is ongoing.
An Elizabethtown woman faces federal charges after allegedly vandalizing a memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Melissa Farris, also known as Melissa Lovewell, is charged with Willfully Injuring or Committing a Depredation against Property of the United States and Destruction of a Veterans’ Memorial.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Farris was charged by criminal complaint Friday after allegedly vandalizing the Atlantic Theatre Pavilion of the World War II Memorial Thursday.
The criminal complaint states that U.S. Park Police responded to the memorial on August 13 for a report of a disorderly person. A witness told police they saw a woman spray painting graffiti on the memorial. A U.S. Park Ranger arrived on scene and observed foam in the fountain area of the pavilion, and saw multiple people watching the woman as she recorded video of herself before fleeing when she saw the park ranger.
A U.S. Park Police officer recognized Farris in a photo taken by a witness as Farris had been arrested on August 10 for unlawfully camping on federal property a few blocks from the memorial. Officers found that Farris had live streamed her August 10 arrest on social media, and had recorded multiple live stream videos on August 13, in one of which she allegedly admitted to the World War II Memorial vandalism.
Farris is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing in D.C. court Monday.