WQXE News

The Lincoln Trail Area Development District board took steps to support regional emergency management with the transfer of the district’s underwater drone to the Nelson County Emergency Management Agency, along with investments to expand that agency’s existing dive team.

“We have a ROV underwater drone that is basically used for emergency management, for response and recovery, emergency scenarios, to where we can support our region,” said LTADD Community Development Specialist Leslie Ashlock.

The underwater drone is part of a fleet of 10 drones LTADD has acquired through grant funding and private partnerships to support district counties in responding to disasters and emergencies, along with a more high-tech drone used for mapping, GIS, and search and rescue.

Ashlock said supporting the growth of the Nelson County EMA dive team gives LTADD the opportunity to support emergency response across a growing region.

“Nelson County has an additional five individuals that have joined the dive team, so with equipment and with water suits we were able to help them build that out some, so they’ll be able to respond throughout the entire Lincoln Trail region,” Ashlock said.

The region saw high-profile examples of the importance of quick and efficient emergency response with disasters this past February and April.

“As we’re building out this team, it’s going to make us stronger,” Ashlock said. “It’s going to make us be more prepared, and back in April and in February, we had to call in teams from out of state,” Ashlock said. “Hopefully, as we’re building this and we’re training and we’re bringing on more capacity and bodies, we won’t have to do that. We’ll be able to respond within our eight-county region.”

Visit www.ltadd.org for more information.

Several area organizations were included in the latest round of funding aimed at helping prevent sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and staking in Kentucky.

Governor Andy Beshear on Thursday announced that 29 agencies and organizations across Kentucky would be receiving $2.1 million in federal grant funding through the Violence Against Women Act.

According to a release from the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, the funding comes from the federal VAWA Services, Training, Officers, Prosecution (STOP) Formula Grant Program, which allows state agencies to allocate funding for law enforcement, prosecutors, victim service organizations, and state and local courts. The program encourages a focus on projects that serve victims of intimate partner violence.

Area organizations included in the funding announcement include the Baptist Health Hardin Foundation, which received $80,475 for the sexual assault nurse examiner and forensic team program in Elizabethtown, as well as SpringHaven Inc., which received $51,019 to employ a victim advocate to provide outreach services. Silverleaf Sexual Trauma Recovery Services received $50,000.

More information on the funding program and a complete list of recipients can be found at justice.ky.gov. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence and needs assistance, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or online at www.zerov.org.

The City of Elizabethtown will host its final mobile food pantry event of the year Saturday at Freeman Lake Park.

According to a post on the city’s Facebook page, area residents in need of food should enter through the Freeman Lake Park Road entrance, which is the park entrance closest to Planet Fitness. The food distribution event will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday and continue until noon or until supplies run out.

The three mobile food pantry events the city organized are part of a $50,000 commitment the city made in partnership with Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland.

“At the last two distributions, we handed out food to a thousand households in each distribution,” said Elizabethtown City Council Member Julia Springsteen during Monday’s city council meeting. “We’ll have food for another thousand households this Saturday. We’ll have it similar to what we’ve handed out the last two weeks, but there will also be a protein box this time. Usually there’s a bag of chicken breast and some other things in there, so it will be a little extra in this distribution this week to hopefully help people have a better Thanksgiving.”

Volunteers will be on site Saturday to guide participants once they enter the park.