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Elizabethtown City Council hosts work session

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday.

Elizabethtown/Hardin County Industrial Foundation President Andy Games gave an update to the council. He said there are two lots left in the T.J. Patterson Industrial Park, and the foundation has been working on developing a new industrial park at Ring Road and the Western Kentucky Parkway.

“That park is officially named the Gil Nicely Sr. Industrial Park, so that is where we are working towards, and we’ve applied for a PDI grant,” Games said. “We were unsuccessful the first time, but we’re getting ready to go through that process again.”

Games said the grant would help pay for infrastructure improvements at the industrial park site.

City Clerk and ABC Administrator Jessica Graham gave an update on the city’s available quota retail package licenses based on population increase in the city.

“We’re at 13, and that’s where we’ve been at for quite some time, and with our new number it would take us to 15 licenses, and if the state allows us and if you all want me to do this (to go to 1 to 2000), it would take us up to 17 licenses, so four additional licenses,” Graham said.

Graham said the city could theoretically request changes to allow for more licenses, but the city does not want to expand things too much.

City Planning and Development Director Joe Reverman gave an update on proposed residential zoning text amendments along with new policies on short-term rentals and signage. Reverman said the proposed changes are in line with the city’s comprehensive plan but create more options to help increase the city’s housing supply.

“What we really wanted to do here was not to discourage the new types of residential developments in our community that the market is asking for, and we also want to provide flexibility for these developments, so we don’t want to hem developers into certain types of developments,” Reverman said. “We want to give them some flexibility, within reason, to develop and be creative.”

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet June 16.

Crusade for Children receives strong support from Elizabethtown and Hardin County

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WHAS in Louisville says the 72nd annual Crusade for Children was one of the most successful, with the fundraising effort for children with special needs in Kentucky and southern Indiana raising $5.89 million over the weekend, beating last year’s total by more than $189,000.

Efforts in Elizabethtown raised more than $154,000, and efforts elsewhere in Hardin County raised just under $146,000. WHAS says the Crusade for Children works to “advance opportunities for all children with identified needs to reach their full potential.”

“It’s just one of the very few charities in this entire country that 100 percent of everything that you give, your gift goes to the special needs children in that community, and there’s not many charities out there like that,” said 94.3 The Wolf radio personality and longtime Crusade volunteer Bobby Jack Murphy. 

Murphy said he has seen the deep roots of Crusade for Children firsthand.

“I grew up with the Crusade in Lebanon, Kentucky, when I was about six or seven years old,” Murphy said. “We used to get excited every year because the fire trucks would come down the street and the firemen would have their boots and were taking money up, and you got to see the fire trucks and the lights and everything else, and then when I went to work in Louisville at WHAS Radio, you just kind of fell into it.”

Learn more at www.whascrusade.org.

Voter registration for independent or other continues to increase

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Voter registration in Kentucky in May saw continued growth for the number of independent or other voters. 

The Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office says for the third straight month new registration for independent or other voters outpaced registration for Republican and Democratic voters.

Independent or other party registration increased by 1,352 voters in May. Republican registration increased by 1,026 voters, while Democratic registration fell by 838. Republican registration makes up 47 percent of the state electorate, Democratic registration makes up 42 percent, and independent or other party registration makes up 11 percent.

The Secretary of State’s Office says 4,157 voters were removed from the rolls in May. 3,173 were deceased, 440 moved out of state, and 402 were convicted felons.

Kentuckians can register to vote or check their registration status by visiting govote.ky.gov, or by contacting their county clerk’s office.

Summer Reading Program under way at Hardin County Public Library

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The Hardin County Public Library invites kids, teens, and adults alike to participate in their 2025 Summer Reading Program, which runs now through July 26.

The theme for this year’s Summer Reading Program is “Color Our World”, which focuses on the arts.

“I’m offering on Mondays a lot of artistic programs,” said HCPL Children’s Librarian Amy Rivera. “Some of them are going to use paint sticks, and so we’re going to paint a birch forest with a lot of colorful leaves. The following week we’ll be painting. It’s called Paint Like Monet. We’re going to paint one of his sunsets with a silhouette of a lot of buildings.”

That’s HCPL Children’s Librarian Amy Rivera. These activities supplement the goal of the Summer Reading Program, which Rivera says is “to encourage literacy and to keep kids thinking, to keep their minds thinking about subjects so that they don’t go back to school having at least completely forgotten everything they learned.”

Families can stop by the library to pick up reading logs for the program.

“They will complete sections of their reading log to get tickets for the weekly prize, which each week we’re having a giveaway of a nice big art set, so eight different art sets over the course of the summer,” Rivera said.

Kids who complete the reading log will be entered for the grand prize drawing. Separate logs are available for teens and adults, with prizes and entries in the grand prize drawing for those programs available.

Stop by the library, located at 100 Jim Owen Drive in Elizabethtown, or visit hcpl.info for more information.

Be safe around the grill when cooking out this summer

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Summertime is in full swing, so as the temperature gets hot make sure things don’t get too hot as you take steps to practice summer fire safety.

Radcliff Deputy Fire Marshal Tommy Crane said make sure to take precautions when you bring out the grill for a cookout.

“If you are going to use your grill, make sure you’re at least 10 feet away from your house, your overhangs, anything like that,” Crane said. “Do not use your grill in a garage or an enclosed area, whether it’s a gas or charcoal grill, because it will build up carbon monoxide.”

Similar to cooking in the kitchen, keep a safety area around your grill, and be mindful of children and pets.

Make sure everything is in working order before getting started.

“If it’s a gas grill, check for gas leaks,” Crane said. “You can take a soapy water solution and spray around the connections and the hoses. Make sure the hoses haven’t dried out. Make sure your connections are good. If you turn it on and you hear a loud hissing sound or any loud strange noises, go ahead and turn it off and just check and see what’s going on.”

And make sure you take the proper precautions when you are done.

“When you’re getting ready to put it up, just make sure that everything’s turned off, everything’s good,” Crane said. “Make sure you clean your grill periodically. Grease can build up on your grill and has the potential for a flash fire there.”

With charcoal grills, make sure you are using proper materials, and make sure you are disposing of ashes properly when they are fully cooled.