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The Elizabethtown Fire Department is expanding its training opportunities with the construction of their new fire training facility.
“We’ll be able to do live fire burns,” said Elizabethtown Fire Chief Mark Malone. “There are three rooms that are designed. One’s designed like a kitchen, one’s designed like a bedroom, and then there’s just a general purpose open room for burning. We have the ability to repel.”
The facility is constructed using modular units which allows for a diverse range of options.
“We have forceful entry doors, forceful entry windows,” Malone said. “The interior walls are movable so we can have different configurations for scenarios. It has a Nance Drill, which is a firefighter rescue drill, and also a Denver Drill mockup, which again is a firefighter rescue drill.”
Malone says the Elizabethtown Fire Department strives to be as prepared as possible to best serve the community.
“In Kentucky, it is required that they get 100 hours of training a year,” Malone said. “Elizabethtown tries to shoot for 200 hours of training a year. We’re a small department, so we have to do basically jack-of-all-trades. We do all the rescue disciplines, plus regular firefighting, plus we run first responder EMS, so we do a lot of different things for the community, and that takes a lot of training.”
The modular facility is being constructed next to the existing State Fire Rescue Training Area 5 tower on College Street.
North Hardin High School hosted Academic Signing Day Friday, an opportunity to celebrate with seniors that have committed to a post-secondary education institution, the workforce, or the military. The event also gave Elizabethtown Community and Technical College the chance to present North Hardin High School College Coach Annette Neblett with their 2024 High School Teacher/Counselor Pathfinder Award.
ECTC says each KCTCS institution selects a recipient each year. The award is presented to a faculty or staff member that encourages students to attend a KCTCS college, assists students in identifying career and postsecondary paths, provides mentorship, and maintains contact with students.
ECTC President and CEO Dr. Juston Pate said he appreciates Neblett connecting students to the college, but her work ultimately benefits everybody.
“Her willingness to spend her time investing in these kids is really an investment in all of our futures, but to have the ability to work alongside someone like Annette for our college, for North Hardin High School, it’s really special to see these people doing this work and to be a part of it,” Pate said.
Neblett said the award was nice, but seeing her students celebrating their futures was the real prize.
“It makes my heart feel so great because it’s getting better,” Neblett said. “The kids are starting to listen more and they’re starting to really pay attention to what I’m saying, so I really appreciate all of them coming out today and just enjoying themselves, and this is all about them. It’s not about me. It’s all about them.”
ECTC says nearly 320 Pathfinder nominations were received statewide.
North Middle School will have a new principal for the 2024-2025 school year, and it is somebody with previous experience at Hardin County Schools.
HCS has announced that Traci Hunt will be moving into the principal’s office. Hunt comes to NMS after serving as assistant principal and principal at Marion C. Moore School in Louisville, principal at Bloomfield Middle School in Nelson County, and assistant principal at Bullitt East High School. The Western Kentucky University and University of the Cumberlands grad started her education career as a teacher and secondary instructional specialist at North Hardin High School.
HCS Superintendent Teresa Morgan said in a release: “Ms. Hunt brings valuable experience as she returns home. She knows how to ensure student growth in and out of the classroom. She has a strong work ethic and she will help lead North Middle School in a tremendous fashion. Our community is growing and Ms. Hunt’s experiences will help her prepare North Middle for that growth.”
Hunt replaces Jeff Lowan, who retires as principal at the end of this school year.
Voter registration in Kentucky saw another surge ahead of the deadline for the primary election.
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams says more than 8,300 new voters got registered between April 1 and the pre-primary registration deadline on April 22.
In turn, about 4,600 voter registrations were removed. About 3,300 removals were for deceased voters, 543 for felony convicts, and 562 for voters who moved out of state.
Adams says Republican registration in the state rose by a little less than 2,700 voters, and independent or other registrations went up by more than 1,700. Democratic registrations decreased by about 700 voters.
Voters that qualify for in-person excused absentee voting may do so Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Hardin County Clerk’s Office. Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith says the same qualifications for a mail-in absentee ballot apply to in-person absentee, but voters can cast a ballot as they would on Election Day.
“Some of those qualifications are if you’ll be out of town or scheduled to work all dates and times of in-person voting,” Smith said. “The law uses the phrase ‘age, illness, and disability.’ Sometimes those words ring a little harsh on our ears. There is no definitive age, illness, or disability. We don’t ask. You just attest to it.”
Early voting for all will run at the clerk’s office and at the Colvin Community Center this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The primary election will be held on May 21. Find more election information at govote.ky.gov.