WQXE News

The situation at the Hardin County Animal Shelter is getting hairy.

“A lot of other shelters refer to it as Code Red,” said Animal Shelter Director Mike McNutt. “What that means is they are going to have to make decisions that involve their current ‘No Kill’ or ‘Pro Life’ status.”

McNutt says the shelter is well over capacity.

“We currently have 124 pets in the shelter, and 86 of those are dogs,” said McNutt. “We have completely run out of kennel space and are having to house strays in our recovery areas because there is nowhere else to put them.”

In order to alleviate the strain, the shelter is running a Dog Days of Summer Special, where adoption fees are being waived for all dogs five months and older. The dogs will still be spayed or neutered, will be microchipped, and will receive their first round of shots.

McNutt says the special, however, is complicated by competition from other shelters facing similar issues.

“All shelters in the state of Kentucky, and most shelters across the nation right now, are running specials because we know that the first quarter of this year we took in 14 percent more stray dogs than we did the past three to five years,” McNutt said. “If that trend continues we’re looking at a horrible, horrible year for us.”

While shelter staff work to take care of the dogs, Animal Control officers are working hard to help found dogs find their way home instead of coming to the shelter.

“A lot of people think they’re being helpful by stopping and picking up a stray,” McNutt said. “If you want to be helpful, call us and give us an exact address of where the stray or roaming dog is and let us do our job.”

The shelter is located at 220 Peterson Drive in Elizabethtown, and is open from 12 to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. You can call the shelter at 270-765-3428.

More than 500 students at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College benefited last school year from a state program designed to get students started on the path towards high-demand careers.

According to a release from the college, ECTC students received $1,504,959 from the Work Ready Kentucky scholarship, which is available to Kentucky residents who do not have an associate’s degree or higher and enroll in an eligible high-demand program.

“The scholarship is about five or six years old, and each year we are seeing more and more students take advantage of the funding,” said ECTC Financial Aid Director Michael Barlow.

Barlow says the school has many available options that qualify for the scholarship.

“Currently advanced manufacturing, business information technology, construction, healthcare, transportation, and logistics, so a lot of our programs fit into those categories,” Barlow said.

With new development such as Blue Oval SK on its way to the area, Barlow says students have a chance to get a head start.

“This is such a wonderful time for students to get prepared for all of the industry that’s moving into the Hardin County area, and with the Work Ready Kentucky scholarship they can do it tuition free,” said Barlow.

Students who want to learn more about the scholarship can visit www.workreadyky.com, or students can visit the financial aid office at ECTC for more assistance.

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

The first reading was held on ordinances for three zoning changes: one for 108 East Memorial Drive from Neighborhood Office to High-Density Residential, one for 1031 Ring Road from Future Development Holding to Regional Commercial, and one for 2800 Rineyville Road from Future Development Holding to Regional Commercial and High-Density Residential. All three ordinances were recommended for approval by the city’s Planning Commission.

Mayor Jeff Gregory issued a proclamation recognizing the month of July as Parks and Recreation Month. The mayor had high praise for the city’s parks facilities and staff.

“Our parks, in my opinion, are some of the finest that we have in the state of Kentucky,” Gregory said. “We have a tremendous Parks and Recreation Department that works extremely hard under good leadership with all of the supervisors and obviously Seth’s (Breitner) ability as director.”

Gregory also praised the city’s lifeguards for their role in saving a pool visitor that had a reported medical issue and went under the water on June 28.

In other meeting news:

• Mark Malone was reappointed as the city’s search and rescue coordinator, with a term that runs to 2027.
• A bid by Phillips Brothers Construction Inc. not to exceed $977,700 was approved for phase three of the Meadow Lane project. Councilman Virgil Willoughby said he had been hopeful the work could be started prior to the school year to help limit traffic disruption. The city is working on communicating construction schedules with area schools.
• The donation of property on Miller Street to the Hardin County Habitat for Humanity for the construction of affordable housing was approved. Utility connection and other construction fees will also be waived for new homes built on the property.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet July 24.