WQXE News

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their second meeting of the month Tuesday.

A public hearing was held for a cemetery relocation. Nell Johnson requested permission to relocate graves of her family members in the Niceley Cemetery on Gaither Station Road to the Elizabethtown City Cemetery, per family wishes.

“Prior to my father’s death in 2005, he bought the burial plots and was in the process of getting everyone to be moved,” Johnson said. “There’s two graves, my mother and my grandmother, and then he passed, so it just never happened, so I think this will be the best way and then all of the family members are going to be up in the Elizabethtown Cemetery.”

County Attorney Jenny Oldham noted the relocation is of no cost to the county. A resolution approving the relocation was approved.

The court approved the first reading of an ordinance for a zoning text amendment that adds medical cannabis operations to the permitted uses in Light Industrial (I-1) or Heavy Industrial (I-2) zones in unincorporated Hardin County. The amendment was recommended by the Hardin County Planning Commission following their public hearing on the matter. Some of the magistrates objected to including dispensaries in the amendment. District One Magistrate Chris Yates said the amendment undermines the decision to put the medical cannabis decision on the ballot, and Second District Magistrate Kenny Saltsman said in addition to safety concerns the requirement puts an undue burden on law-abiding patients.

“Placing these facilities in industrial zones reinforces the outdated stigma associating them with unsavory or undesirable parts of town,” Saltsman said. “This can hinder the normalization of cannabis as a legitimate medical treatment and perpetuate negative stereotypes.”

Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul issued a proclamation recognizing EMTs Shawn Thomas, Kelly Gibson, and Riley Black for going above the call of service. 

“They made a run on an elderly female in the Radcliff area who couldn’t take her medication because her water had been turned off, and they made arrangements to work with the water district to get her water turned back on so that she could take her medicine,” said Hardin County EMS Director Mark Peterson.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet October 8.

The Kentucky State Police honored 55 troopers from across the commonwealth during their 2023 Sworn Awards.

The KSP says the awards recognize the dedication, bravery, and extraordinary efforts of the more than 1,000 sworn personnel serving in the agency, the highest number of troopers employed since 2017.

Awards presented at the ceremony highlight the efforts of troopers during the year as well as individual acts of service.

From the local post, Detective Casey Keown was named Post Four Detective of the Year, and Trooper Chase Shouse was named Post Four Trooper of the Year.

Post Four Detective Anthony Hardin II was named the West Drug Enforcement and Special Investigations Unit Detective of the Year, as well as the overall KSP Detective of the Year.

Post Four Trooper Dillon Spencer, Detective Issac Atwell, and Sergeant Blake Owens received Citation for Bravery awards, while Trooper Blaine Miller received the Lifesaving Medal.

The KSP says in 2023 personnel responded to more than 407,000 requests for assistance and served other duties such as conducting wellness checks, assisting local law enforcement agencies, and continued to fight against the drug epidemic. 

A full list of award recipients can be found on the KSP website.

The Elizabethtown City Council and the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau met for a joint meeting Monday to hear an update on the 10,000-seat amphitheater to be constructed at Buffalo Lake.

Brad Boaz with CMW Architects and Engineers walked through the design process for the venue to this point including decisions on location to lessen interstate and train noise, rigging to allow for flexibility in acts performing, and the arrangements for seating and facilities. Boaz says his catchphrase for the project is “It’s a walk in the woods.”

“We hope that as we go through this design that you’ll see that that’s really what we pushed, and we’re taking this piece of land out there in this undeveloped portion of E-Town and that even though we’re going to do a lot of construction, we’re going to change it so that at the end of the the day it really feels like you’re walking in the woods and you’re in this park even though it’s a venue that hosts a 10,000 seat concert experience,” Boaz said.

E-Town Tourism Executive Director Janna Clark said Elizabethtown is what the music industry would consider a “suburb venue,” so rather than directly competing with smaller venues in the area the goal is attract big-name talent in between shows at the larger venues in metro areas.

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said he hates to lose the current mountain biking trails at Buffalo Lake, but pursuing the music venue allows the city to allow for likely development while having a say in what is to come, including new trails.

“Eventually, because that land is owned privately, and if we cut that road through there like what needed to be done probably 15, 20 years ago, then we were going to lose those trails regardless, so what this does is it gives us the opportunity to control that somewhat by purchasing the property and putting this facility on that site so we can have some say so of what it turns out to be,” Gregory said.

Hardin-ETown Stampede mountain bike team coach David Haines said he would like for the design team to meet with a national mountain biking expert, and with 4 to 5 miles of new trails incorporated into the design the buffalo lake site could have the potential for national-level competition.

The current design of the venue includes 4,000 seats and space for 6,000 people in the lawn, with restroom and concession facilities that would be available year-round.