WQXE News

The Elizabethtown City Council met for their second meeting of the month Monday.

The council approved two ordinances that were on their second readings. The first amended the zoning for 1151 Ring Road from Neighborhood Commercial (C-2) to Regional Commercial (C-3). The second amended the city’s 2024-2025 budget ordinance to include a change in pay classifications for the city’s fire department.

A municipal order was approved that awarded a contract to 5253 Design Group for professional design services on the Elizabethtown Police Station expansion project.

“These professional services shall include programming the project, design plans for the facility and site, a cost opinion, schematic plans, architectural design plans, contract bid documents, and construction administration,” said City Attorney Ken Howard reading from the order. 

The contract was awarded at an amount not to exceed $350,000.

Elizabethtown resident Steve Swan asked the council for an update on resident concerns with traffic control in the Bewley Hollow/Pine Valley Drive area. Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said speed radar signs were placed in the neighborhood to collect traffic data, and Public Works Superintendent Don Hill said the traffic study showed an average of 3,400 vehicles using Pine Valley Drive each day, with an average speed of 36.6 miles per hour and an average violation speed of about 40.8 miles per hour, so additional measures will be taken to slow traffic.

“What we’re going to do on Pine Valley Drive is prior to St. Andrews, and there’s a 25 miles per hour sign at that intersection, we’re going to go up Pine Valley Drive and put a warning sign that says reduce speed ahead, then when we get past the intersection of St. Andrews Way before Kensington, we’re going to set a speed hump,” Hill said.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet July 22.

CASA of the Heartland received support from the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels for their mission of serving children navigating foster care and the family court systems.

“Every year the Kentucky Colonels grant allows us the opportunity to get some type of project funded that is associated with our mission,” said CASA of the Heartland Executive Director Michelle Kail.

The grant this year was for $2,909.

“So this year we applied for a grant to purchase stuffed animals that correlate with several books that we have that are related to children navigating the court system, children having to testify, various family structures, having CASAs, different things like that that we know that the children that we’re advocating for might encounter,” Kail said.

You can help support CASA of the Heartland’s mission this Friday by heading to the movies. The organization is partnering with Crowne Pointe Theatre for a special showing of The Goonies.

“It is at 6 p.m. this Friday, July 19,” Kail said. “Tickets are $7 and can be purchased on our website at CASAheartland.org, and $5 of the $7 goes directly to CASA and then part of the ticket purchase is that you get a 30 percent off coupon for concessions.”

Find more information on the CASA of the Heartland Facebook page.

The Kentucky State Police is investigating a fatal collision that occurred in Hardin County Sunday evening.

According to the KSP, shortly after 8 p.m. on July 14 a trooper on patrol came upon a collision at the intersection of the U.S. 31W Bypass and westbound ramp to the Western Kentucky Parkway.

The KSP says the preliminary investigation indicates that 67-year-old Billy Edwards of Elizabethtown was operating a motorcycle on the bypass when a vehicle operated by Cameron Harris “attempted to make a sharp right turn onto the WKP exit ramp, causing him to collide with the motorcycle.” The collision caused the motorcycle to lose control and exit onto the shoulder of the ramp.

Edwards and a passenger, his wife 58-year-old Kathy Edwards of Elizabethtown, were ejected from the motorcycle. Billy Edwards received fatal wounds in the crash, and Kathy Edwards was pronounced dead at the scene by the Hardin County Coroner’s Office. Harris and a passenger in his vehicle reported no injuries.

Billy Edwards was a deputy with the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff;s office said in a Facebook post that Edwards was a 24-year veteran of the Elizabethtown Police Department and was working as a school resource officer at the time of his death. He was off duty at the time of the crash.

The KSP says the affected portion of the U.S. 31W Bypass was closed for nearly four hours for accident reconstruction. The KSP’s investigation of the crash is ongoing.