WQXE News

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

Elizabethtown Fire Chief Mark Malone provided an update on the city’s fire department. Malone said year-to-date the department has responded to about 1,560 calls. He said the department has a new pumper truck and brush fire truck now in service with another pumper truck to be in service soon.

Malone said Station Four on North Mulberry Street should be occupied by the end of January.

“We had a lot of delays this spring because of wet weather, and that’s pushed us back so they asked us for an extension, so we gave them an extension up until January, so the final completion date should be sometime in December,” Malone said. “The final punch will be after that.”

Deputy Fire Chief David Walters discussed the enhanced training opportunities the department is able to offer, and introduced the six members of the recruit class currently in training. Walters said the city’s investment in fire training, including the department’s live fire training facility, is paying off.

“We’ve probably got the most state of the art facility, and I’m not just saying that, because I’ve been all over the state for training in other facilities, other areas, other districts, and for what we have and for what Chief Malone has went through to think of the stuff that we can do in the training in there and develop that in that plan, I think that’s what’s being seen and we’re being asked if we can utilize it more,” Walters said.

Elizabethtown Planning and Development Director Joe Reverman discussed efforts to develop Roadway Improvement Funding Allocations as a viable option for the city. City Planner Aaron Hawkins discussed progress on the Envision Active Elizabethtown Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan originally commissioned by Greenspace. He said three projects identified for the plan are currently being completed.

“The goal of this plan is to enhance the connectivity, safety, and livability while promoting economic growth in the healthier community, but the overall point of the master plan was to identify a set of projects to improve both the bike and the pedestrian network in the City of Elizabethtown,” Hawkins said.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet November 3.

Baptist Health Hardin Obstetrician and Gynecologist Dr. Shannon Holt says one of her motivations to pitch the PinkDot Project to the Central Kentucky Community Foundation’s Heels Together initiative was when one of her patients asked her to stop her periods because she couldn’t afford the cost of menstrual supplies. After finding other patients were dealing with similar issues, she did more research on how deep the struggle really was.

“Of the 71 million women currently in the United States actively menstruating, 17 million live below the poverty line, and they are decimated by period poverty,” Holt said. “It affects one in four students who don’t have the ability to go to school or they use their products for so much longer than they’re intended to, risking infection and other problems.”

The PinkDot Project will allow area residents to donate period products for women and girls who cannot afford them. Period products can be dropped off at the first two donation locations, Gathering Bakery in Radcliff and HubHaus in Elizabethtown.

During a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday morning, Gathering Bakery owner Deb Suratt said when the project was first brought to her attention she was reminded of her own experiences growing up, and it was the first time she heard the phrase “period poverty” and learned she wasn’t the only one who struggled.

“I would steal,” Suratt said. “I stole feminine products, and I had a boyfriend and he stole contact lens solution, and that was a Friday night. It’s embarrassing, and until this happened, nobody knew. My daughters didn’t know.”

In addition to donating products, area residents looking to support the PinkDot project can make a donation via the Community Foundation’s website www.ckcf4people.org. Schools and non-profits who serve women and girls in need of products can also sign up for support on the website.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District Four will be hosting a public hearing in two weeks regarding the updated environmental assessment of the proposed extension of KY 3005/Ring Road from the Western Kentucky Parkway to U.S. 31W.

The KYTC and Federal Highway Administration will be “offering review of the environmental assessment and updated project information regarding the proposed extension” at 5:30 p.m. on November 18 at the Hardin County Extension Office, located at 111 Opportunity Way in Elizabethtown.

“This project was really designed and ready to go about a decade ago but never ultimately got funded, so in that timeframe when it’s sat on the shelf, so to speak, some federal approvals and guidelines we have to follow for any project just weren’t current anymore, so we’re having to kind of go back and revisit some of these things, and that’s part of this process now with the environmental assessment,” said KYTC District Four Public Information Officer Chris Jessie.

The proposed extension would be about 2 miles in length, going from the current Ring Road/WKP interchange east with a new at-grade intersection with KY 1136, a new interchange with I-65, and a new intersection with U.S. 31W.

Public comments on the environmental assessment will be accepted until December 3. A hard copy of the assessment is available for review at the Hardin County Public Library and KYTC District Four’s office. If you are unable to attend in person, find more information and the link to submit comments on the KYTC District Four Facebook page.