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The American Red Cross invites area residents to celebrate Independence Day and support patients in need during the summer months by donating blood, including at an upcoming local drive.

“We’re having an Elizabethtown Holiday Hero Blood Drive that is going to be on Thursday, July 2 at Back Home Catering Event Center (444 South Mulberry Street in Elizabethtown) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” said American Red Cross Account Manager Lou Zimmerman. 

Zimmerman says the Holiday Hero Blood Drives are important as the summer season is one of the hardest times to collect blood.

“Schools are out and many regular blood drive sponsors pause for the summer, vacations and travel reduce donor availability, and at the same time hospital needs do not slow down, and the Independence Day week creates a critical drop in donations based upon holiday plans and long weekends, which leads to lower turnout,” Zimmerman said.

If you have never donated blood before, the process is a simple one.

“By the time you register and then answer a few questions, it’s probably going to take maybe 45 minutes, shouldn’t take any longer than that,” Zimmerman said. “The actual process of donating blood is probably between five to 15 minutes.”

Blood donors who donate between June 29 and July 12 will receive a Looney Tunes Red Cross t-shirt and a ticket to a Six Flags theme park of their choice, while supplies last.

Visit www.redcrossblood.org, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, or call 1-800-RED-CROSS for more information or to schedule a donation.

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

The court approved the adoption of the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget on its second reading. The budget ordinance was approved on a 7 to 1 vote, with Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul voting no as he said he was still not happy with changes made to his proposed budget.

“I believe that these cuts will reduce the quality of our services,” Taul said. “We’ll have higher turnover and continuous training of new employees, and then we also have this lack of support for fire services improvement for some future objectives here.”

Fifth District Magistrate Aaron Pennington said he thinks the idea that the magistrates do not care about fire services is “extremely inaccurate.”

“I think we believe in common sense, and I think we believe in coming up with a proper plan for how we’re going to take care of things, and blindly just throwing money left and right hoping you’ll fix something is not the proper way to do it,” Pennington said. “It’s not the way to do government. It’s not the way to spend your money personally or professionally.”

In other meeting news, Hardin County Animal Care and Control Director Mike McNutt said 44 dogs were adopted out in May, bringing the year to date total to 546. McNutt said the shelter is hovering just above a 90 percent live release rate, which would qualify the shelter for no-kill status, which he said is an important goal for the staff at the shelter.

Taul recognized three Hardin County EMS technicians and paramedics for their quick work in helping to deliver a baby during an ambulance run, joining what is known as the “Stork Club”.

“On May 24, EMT Rea Daugherty, Paramedic Kimberly Holcomb, and Paramedic Logan Savage successfully delivered a baby while on call for service, and it was discovered that while they were doing this that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the child’s neck, and the crew quickly addressed this and delivered the child without any further complications,” Taul said.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet June 23.