WQXE News

Area residents looking to spruce things up with some spring cleaning have several opportunities to receive help from their communities.

Hardin County will be accepting waste tires from all Kentucky residents Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon at the old Springfield Road landfill, located at 3870 Rucker Road in Elizabethtown.

“This one only comes around every three years, so it’s very, very important for you guys to get all those tires together and get them and bring them out to us because it’s free as long as you’re living in the state of Kentucky,” said Hardin County Director of Public Works Stephanie Givens. “This is not a county-wide event. This is a statewide event.”

Find the flyer on the Hardin County Government Facebook page for more information.

Grayson County residents will be able to take waste tires to the Leitchfield transfer station on April 3, 4, and 5, and the Meade County Recycle Center will accept tires at the Meade County Fairgrounds on April 10, 11, and 12.

Elizabethtown Director of Public Works Don Hill is reminding residents to take advantage of the upcoming E-Scrap Recycling event sponsored by AGC Automotive, Tri-State E-Scrap, and Hardin County Government.

“That will occur on May 10, 2025, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and you would take your e-scrap to AGC Automotive America’s plant,” Hill said.

The City of Elizabethtown will begin their clean-up event March 31, ending April 30. The last week of the month will include appliance collection. Contact the city’s public works office to schedule a pick-up.

The City of Radcliff will also be doing their clean-up collections during the month of April. Have your items curbside away from trash, limbs, and leaves. Visit the City of Radcliff Government Facebook page for a complete list of accepted items.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their second meeting of the month Tuesday.

Jeff Stone with ESCI presented findings and recommendations from the emergency services study commissioned by the county to evaluate current county services and projecting needs based on anticipated growth in the county, with a primary focus on fire and EMS. Stone said most of the county volunteer fire departments are not currently ready for 24-hour service, the majority of the fire apparatuses need to be replaced, and EMS likely needs additional units to cover demand. ESCI recommended immediate goals such as a collective strategic plan and evaluating of funding, and provided a recommendation on a potential levy to cover funding for emergency services.

“We delineated doing three cents for residential, five cents on the farm, and six cents commercial, and that would produce about $3.5 million, so just over three times as much funding right now, and what that would allow is the county could divide that money how they wanted,” Stone said.

Magistrate Chris Yates introduced a written resolution stating that the county does not wish to alter its current lease agreement on the Pearl Hollow Landfill or sell or transfer any landfill property. Judge/Executive Keith Taul said he was frustrated the resolution was presented in a way that he was not able to discuss it with the magistrates ahead of time, and said the county has been exploring options involving property near the landfill in order to fund county parks efforts. Taul said there is interest from potential stakeholders but the resolution ends discussion.

“I believe that’s the purpose of this, is to end that process, and I feel bad for the citizens of the county that we’re not going to be able to utilize the lands,” Taul said. “It’s going to sit there like it is right now, not used. And for what purpose? I have no idea.”

Yates said the magistrates have had time to review the proposed plan and were not interested in pursuing it. Magistrate Aaron Pennington said he agreed with Yates and said it was time for the county to focus on other tasks.

“Instead of kicking the can down the road and saying ‘hey, let’s try to figure this out in a few months’ when we’re going to make a decision that we’ve already expressed that it’s not a good idea, let’s not continue to go through,” Pennington said. “I think it’s important. Let’s go ahead and end it and let’s focus on things like the budget and other things that we need to focus on.”

The resolution was approved on a 6 to 3 vote.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet April 8.

The Kentucky State Police is investigating a fatal crash that occurred in Grayson County Monday. 

KSP Post Four says at around 3:30 p.m. on March 24 the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office requested troopers investigate a two-vehicle collision near the 4,000 block of Grayson Springs Road.

The KSP says the preliminary investigation indicates 42-year-old Charles E. Cann of Clarkson was driving a vehicle east on Grayson Springs Road when for unknown reasons the vehicle crossed the center line and struck a tractor-trailer operated by Bennie T. Sims of Clarkson.

Cann was pronounced dead at the scene by the Grayson County Coroner’s Office. Sims was transported to Owensboro Twin Lakes Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and was later released.

The KSP says Grayson Springs Road was closed in the area of the crash for several hours for accident reconstruction. The investigation of the crash remains ongoing.