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Burn Ban issued for LaRue County and Hodgenville

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Due to extremely dry conditions of ground cover, LaRue County Judge/Executive Blake Durrett has issued a burn ban for the unincorporated area of the county. 

“As listed, it is no fire for recreational or ceremonial purposes, so those are your backyard fire pits or barbecues,” Durrett said. “No fire set for construction purposes, so you know how people would burn construction debris. No weed abatement, so no controlled burns for weed control. No fire training. No ag purposes. No burning of leaves. We’re not that far into the year where leaves are dropping, but obviously that’s not okay, and then some people burn their trash, so no disposal of rubbish by fire and things of that nature.”

Durrett said he issued the burn ban after hearing from the chiefs of the county’s volunteer fire companies.

The city of Hodgenville has also issued a burn ban. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet says LaRue is one of 25 Kentucky counties with burn bans currently in place.

Food drive competition at EHS and Central Hardin collects food for area families

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Students at Elizabethtown and Central Hardin high schools have been engaged in a friendly competition between schools and grades this week.

“Whichever grade brings in the most food gets popsicles, so that obviously gets a lot of kids to bring in stuff,” said EHS senior Rachel Bell. “I know a lot of freshmen have brought it in, and it’s become overall a competition that was cool to see who can bring in the most food.”

That’s EHS Senior Rachel Bell. Bell said she got the idea for the food drive while participating in the Morehead State University Governor’s Scholars Program this past summer.

“We did a food drive for my focus area in the last week of GSP, and everyone donated their snacks and stuff, so it kind of got me thinking that I wanted to do the same thing in my community because it really bonded us all as a community at GSP,” Bell said.

The winners will be announced during halftime of Friday’s Central versus E-Town football game.

Benefit planned for Hart County toddler fighting cancer

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Layna Adcock says Candace and Clinton Martin are dedicated parents, but their world was turned upside down when their one-year-old daughter Olivia was diagnosed with leukemia in July.

“You know, they’re trying to work off and on when they can, but it’s hard when you have to take your daughter to the oncologist,” Adcock said. “She’s at Norton Cancer Center, and then she’s got to go in for strong chemo in September, and they have to have a hospital stay, which means again they’ll be out of work.”

Adcock and Beverly Stone, who are Olivia’s grandmothers, and other community members have stepped up to support the family. That includes organizing a benefit for Olivia, to be held at the Hart County Veteran’s Committee Building on Saturday, September 27.

“The bike ride and the car show registration is at 9 a.m., and we’re having trophies given away, and the band Country Strong will be there,” Adcock said. “Two food trucks will be there, just a part of the community coming together to help Olivia on that day the best we can.”

The event will also include a silent auction, for which items are currently being accepted.

“Any donations are very much appreciated and needed to help this family with, you know how the bills add up with hospital stays, spinal taps, chemotherapy,” Adcock said. “She’s 19 months old. We mostly need your prayers.”

Contact Adcock at 270-501-0697 for more information or to donate an item to the silent auction.

Feeding America study shows 1 in 6 families struggle with food insecurity

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Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland recently put out the data from the latest Map the Meal Gap study, and FAKH Marketing and Communications Manager Manda Barger says the numbers show the need for support.

“Throughout our 42-county service area, 17 percent of our neighbors are facing food insecurity,” Barger said. “That means that there’s one in six of our neighbors, they could be your friends or your family, that are struggling to make ends meet to get food on the table or are facing certain challenges that get in the way of them getting the necessary food that they need.”

Barger says 21.1 percent of children in the region struggle with food insecurity, with numbers for the region and Hardin County both trending higher than national averages.

Barger says food insecurity is a problem you may not immediately recognize.

“We had a lot of this conversation when we were talking with our SNAP advocacy during the summer in that you don’t know what kind of challenges or hardships that someone can face, and I think all of us can understand that we might be a family emergency or a natural disaster away from needing support,” Barger said.

Feeding America encourages Kentuckians to support their neighbors in need during Hunger Action Month in September, with opportunities to donate or volunteer.

“A lot of people can also just advocate, get this information out there,” Barger said. “We don’t want this to be a hidden issue in our community. We want to make sure that people who need help are getting it, but also that we are aware of the problems that members of our community are facing.”

Visit www.feedingamericaky.org for more information.