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WQXE News

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BlueOval SK opens office and recruiting center on Ring Road

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Area officials joined executives from BlueOval SK Tuesday as the company dedicated its new executive office space and recruiting center, located at  2323 Ring Road in the former First Federal Savings Bank of Elizabethtown building.

“From day one, you’ve welcomed us with open arms,” said BlueOval SK CEO Dr. Robert Rhee. “You are our neighbors, and you are friends, and like you we are proud to call the commonwealth home. I’m from Korea, and it certainly is an exciting time to live and work in Kentucky. We could not have picked a better place than Gelndale, Kentucky, to build our two plants.”

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said the city is proud to be a partner and to open the community to new opportunities.

“We appreciate the investment,” Gregory said. “We appreciate the friendship. We can’t wait to continue to work together, and Dr. Rhee, ‘welcome home.’”

Following remarks by officials, the BlueOval SK sign was unveiled in front of the building.The company said in a release that placing the office space in Elizabethtown allows the company to have better connection with “partners, suppliers, and the people of Hardin County.”

Representatives from BlueOval SK said they consider the opening of the Ring Road office to be a milestone, and the recruiting center was quickly put to use with a job fair Tuesday afternoon.

Plane One Manager Mark Haley said work at the battery park continues to progress.

“Right now, we are moving from the construction phase to the training phase, so everybody’s getting the opportunity to go through new employee orientation,” Haley said. “We’re going through safety, we’re going through other people skills, and we’re going through battery technology. We have over 100 people that have already experienced going to our partner’s plant and going to experience battery manufacturing.” 

Visit www.blueovalsk.com for more information.

Hardin County Fiscal Court talks recycling, home construction

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

Hardin County Director of Public Works Stephanie Givens reported that 58.3 tons of recyclable materials were collected from the county’s recycling trailers in September and 67.8 tons were collected in October, bringing the year to date total to 412.8 tons. Later in the meeting, the Fiscal Court voted to approve extending the county’s inter-local agreement with Meade County for recycling.

“We collect all of the recycling products in the trailers and then we haul those to Meade County,” said Hardin County Judge-Executive Keith Taul. “They’re the ones that take it from there and do the sorting and do all of the things that they do, and then they sell it whenever they can.”

Hardin County Planning Director Adam King gave a report to the court on his department’s activities. He said the county has seen growth this year in houses built.

“We are at 95 single family dwellings so far for the year,” King said. “In addition to that, we’ve done six duplexes, so that would be an additional 12 units, so the numbers are up. In 2022, we were at 98, and in 2021 we were at 110.”

King also said his department has issued 51 stop work orders so far in 2023. He encouraged anybody planning to build to contact the office.

“If you are constructing something out in the county, it’s kind of a misnomer that you don’t need a permit. You do need a permit,” King said. “Depending on the use of that structure and your acreage, it may qualify as ag exempt, but come see us and we’ll help you out. It will be easier to do things right on the front end.”

Taul said during the meeting that he had received calls from residents expressing concern with the news that the second plant at the BlueOval SK battery park in Glendale will be delayed. Taul said he was told construction on the facility will not be interrupted by the delayed opening, and said there will be no changes to the county’s work on improving infrastructure to prepare for future development. Taul said he thinks the delay could be something of a silver lining.

“Things have moved so fast that it’s hard to adjust that quickly, and so if anything it gives us a little more time, as your local government and the services that we provide, to adjust and to get prepared for a lot of people moving to this area.”

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet November 28.

Radcliff Police Department investigating fatal collision on Joe Prather Highway

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Accident reconstructionists are still investigating a fatal collision that occurred on the Joe Prather Highway Tuesday morning.

According to the Radcliff Police Department, officers responded at around 7 a.m. to Joe Prather Highway in the area between Education Drive and Logsdon Parkway.

Police believe at this time that a vehicle was traveling on Joe Prather Highway in the direction of Logsdon Parkway when an individual on a type of motorized scooter pulled out onto the travel portion of the roadway. The vehicle struck the individual, who died as a result of the collision.

The investigation by the RPD and the Hardin County Coroner’s Office is ongoing.

Funeral services for Leitchfield man killed during WWII Thursday

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A Leitchfield native killed in action during World War II will be laid to rest Thursday.

According to the U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Private First Class Charles W. Wells was reported killed in action following the siege of Myitkyina, Burma, on June 30, 1944. Wells was an infantryman who served with Company G, Second Battalion, 5307th Composite Unit, also referred to as Task Force Galahad or Merrill’s Marauders.

Wells’s remains could not be immediately identified, but his remains were accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in May of this year following laboratory analysis.

Visitation for PFC Charles Wells will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Chism Family Funeral Home. Wells will be laid to rest in a graveside service with military honors at 11 a.m. in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery Central.

Elizabethtown City Council discusses Flock Camera System, upcoming projects

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday afternoon.

Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson gave the council an update on the EPD. Thompson discussed the success of the city’s Flock Camera System, which captures vehicle and plate data from automobiles in order to assist police work.

“Of all the years I’ve been doing it, I can’t think of a better piece of technology, a more game-changing piece of technology, than what Flock has done for law enforcement,” Thompson said. “I think many of you have heard me say before that it gives us actionable intelligence in real time on what’s going on in our city when it comes to criminal behavior.”

Thompson said the department has had various success stories, from locating a stolen vehicle on the first day the cameras went up to recovering a child that was in a stolen vehicle within an hour, and said the department plans to ask for the installation of six more cameras. Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said at a time where the department faces hiring challenges the cameras have proven extra valuable.

“Technology is never going to take the place of manpower when it comes to police work, but what Flock has allowed these guys and gals to do is it’s made their job a lot easier, where they don’t have to put so much man power into a certain job in a lot cases because they’ve had those tools to lead them to who they needed to get to,” Gregory said.

In other meeting news, the city recognized the winners of the Christmas in the Park Poster Contest: 

  • G. C. Burkhead Elementary School kindergartener Maggie Coale 
  • St. James School first grader Kenley Overstreet
  • G. C. Burkhead Elementary School second grader Taylor Garrett
  • Morningside Elementary School third grader Alenea Stutz
  • Morningside Elementary School fourth grader Melody Witten 
  • Helmwood Heights fifth grader Adair Worth.

Pictures of the winning posters and the artists behind them can be found on the City of Elizabethtown Government Facebook page.

City Administrator Ed Poppe gave an update on several city projects. Poppe said bids are expected to come in soon on the sewer project on the west side of town, one of the segments of the Buffalo Lake Trail project, and new scales for the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Poppe also said the city plans to have public input meetings after the first of the year for the community-wide streets system study being paid for by the Safe Streets For All grant the city received. Poppe said traffic work will be based on data, but the city has some areas in mind.

“We have specifically talked about, because we’ve got growth on the north end and addressing some of those projects, that we may look and target some south end projects with some of this funding,” Poppe said.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet for a regular meeting on November 20.