WQXE News

Area residents are invited to help address the need for blood and support area first responders during the Battle of the Badges Blood Drive, which will be held at the Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown on Friday, June 20 from noon until 5 p.m.

“It’s just kind of a friendly competition between our police, fire, and EMS to actually raise awareness about the need for blood and to see how many community and family friends will come in, and who will they support,” said American Red Cross Account Manager Tammy Ritchie.

Participants will select which department they wish to support when they sign in. Special incentives are available to participating donors.

“As our way of saying thank you, Amazon is going to give a $15 gift card to every donor that comes out and participates, and they will be able to get a Battle of the Badges t-shirt,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie says the need for donations is urgent, especially from Type O donors.

“With the summer months beginning, we are here,” Ritchie said. “People are traveling so people aren’t donating. Our high school and college donors are between 25 and 30 percent of our blood supply. Most of them are not in, so we will see a dip here very soon.”

Schedule an appointment for the Battle of the Badges Blood Drive by visiting www.redcrossblood.org and entering sponsor code BOBElizabethtown, or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Don’t forget to head out to the Historic State Theater for their Summer Movie Series, which continues Tuesday afternoon and evening.

“We try to make it very affordable for families, and it’s great fun,” said Priscilla Scarborough with the City of Elizabethtown’s Events staff. “The movie selection this year has been great because it is ‘The Summer of Sequels.’”

Tuesday’s movie is Moana, with showings at noon and 7 p.m. Other movies on tap for the summer series include Moana 2, Sing 1 and Sing 2, Paddington 1 and Paddington 2, and Inside Out 1 and Inside Out 2.

Admission is only $1 with special concessions available.

“We like to call them ‘the world famous $3 Kids Pack,’ so that gives you this fantastic little tray with popcorn, a beverage, and fruit snacks,” Scarborough said.

Tickets and more information are available at www.thestate270.org.

The trials of the next two suspects charged in the Crystal Rogers investigation will begin next week at the Warren County Justice Center in Bowling Green.

Brooks Houck, who was dating Rogers at the time of her disappearance, was arrested on September 27, 2023 on two charges: one for Murder and one for Tampering with Physical Evidence. The Murder count in Houck’s indictment reads that on July 3 and/or on July 4, 2015, in Nelson County Houck “acting alone or in complicity with another, committed the offense of Murder by intentionally or under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life wantonly causing the death of Crystal Rogers.”

Houck’s arrest came about three weeks after the arrest of Joseph Lawson, who is charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence as part of the investigation. Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III ordered for Houck and Lawson’s trials to be consolidated in November of 2024. The trial date of June 24 was also set that November.

The trials come about four weeks after a jury in Warren County found Lawson’s father Steven Lawson guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence. Steven Lawson’s trial was separated from the other two suspects due to concerns with the use of Lawson’s grand jury testimony as evidence in his case creating undue prejudice against Joseph Lawson and Houck.

Crystal Rogers was last seen on July 3, 2015.