WQXE News

Kentucky State Police Post Four is investigating a two-vehicle fatal collision that occurred on Interstate 65 in Hardin County Monday.

According to KSP Post Four, at approximately 9:46 a.m. on February 16 troopers responded to a collision at the 103-mile marker on I-65 North near Lebanon Junction. The preliminary investigation indicates traffic on I-65 North had slowed due to a previous collision near the 106-mile marker. A vehicle operated by 29-year-old Drew Cookenmaster of Hodgenville struck the rear of a northbound tractor-trailer.

Cookenmaster was pronounced dead at the scene by the Hardin County Coroner’s Office. The operator of the tractor-trailer was not injured.

The northbound lanes of I-65 at the Joe Prather Highway exit were closed for approximately three hours to allow for collision reconstruction. The KSP’s investigation remains ongoing.

Meanwhile, the KSP is also investigating a collision on the Bluegrass Parkway that shut the highway down for several hours.

KSP Post Four says at approximately 9:26 p.m. on February 16 troopers responded to a collision near the 7-mile marker. The preliminary investigation indicates two commercial vehicles were traveling east when the operator of the first tractor-trailer, Manual Ostos Paxtian of Moss, Tennessee, attempted to make an illegal u-turn using an emergency turnaround to attempt to travel west. A second eastbound tractor-trailer, operated by Charles Penn of Union Springs, Alabama, attempted to avoid the first vehicle but was unable to do so and struck it.

The KSP says one of the tractor-trailers caught fire and was completely destroyed after the collision. The second tractor-trailer then overturned in the westbound lanes of the Bluegrass Parkway. Paxtian sustained minor injuries and was transported to Baptist Health Hardin for treatment. Penn was not injured in the collision. 

Both eastbound and westbound lanes of the Bluegrass Parkway were closed for several hours as the tractor-trailers were recovered and for roadway cleanup. All lanes were not fully cleared until about 6:30 a.m. on February 17.

The 2026 Kentucky General Assembly regular session is now in week seven, and among the proposed legislation local officials have their eyes on is House Bill 557, which the Kentucky Association of Counties says aims to rebalance state and county responsibilities for correctional facilities.

Hardin County Jailer Josh Lindblom said during last week’s Hardin County Fiscal Court meeting that the bill “incentives regionalization” on the county level.

“At a county level, not a state level, you as a fiscal court should decide where your money goes to with the taxpayers, correct?” Lindblom said. “Not the state. You see how the driver’s license system went? That’s the same thing that would go with regionalized jails at a state level. County level regionalization is where it’s at just for the fact that you would have a say in where your tax dollars go.”

The bill also reforms county reimbursement for housing state prisoners held on felony charges at county jails.

“This is upon conviction in the bill, not sentencing,” Lindblom said. “We get paid retroactively since day one, so it’d be more than just what the other bill has talked about. Before it was at 60 days, and they were talking about going forward with it. Now it’d go all the way back to day one.”

Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul said counties have been subsidizing jail budgets due to the lower reimbursement rate, which he said is unsustainable for local taxpayer dollars.

“When I took office, we were somewhere around a $2 million or $2.5 million subsidy, which I thought was a lot of money, and in just a few years it’s grown to almost $6 million,” Taul said. “We bring in about $11 million in property tax.”

The bill was introduced in the House Committee on Committees on February 4 and has been assigned to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee. As of Monday, the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission says the bill has 42 co-sponsers including local representatives Steve Bratcher, Josh Calloway, Peyton Griffee, Samara Heavrin and Nancy Tate.