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Portal open for absentee ballot requests for November election

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Election Day is November 5, and voters looking to request an absentee ballot may now do so as the state’s absentee ballot request portal opened Saturday.

“It will be open now through October 22, but don’t wait,” said Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith. “If you qualify for an absentee ballot, you can visit govote.ky.gov or you can call our election hotline at 270-765-6762.”

Qualifications for an absentee ballot are available on the Go Vote website.

There is still time to register to vote or to update your registration ahead of the election.

“That deadline is 4 p.m. on October 7,” Smith said. “We encourage everybody to visit govote.ky.gov and make sure everything is up to date – your address, your party affiliation, all of that is up to date by 4 p.m. on October 7.”

Ahead of the election, Smith says the clerk’s office has been reaching out to area schools in order to help teach about the importance of the right to vote.

“We’ve done voter registration drives,” Smith said. “We’ve helped with the student council elections in some schools, and we’ve held mock elections. We want to get the young people in our community excited about voting, so we hope when parents or grandparents vote, take your kids with you. It’s a great lesson that you can teach them.”

Contact your county clerk’s office for election questions.

KYTC will require vision screenings for license renewals beginning in 2025

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It’s always important to keep your eyes on the road when operating a vehicle, and come the new year the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will be ensuring that your eyes are up for the challenge.

Beginning January 1, all Kentucky drivers must undergo a vision screening in order to renew their license. The requirement was enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2021 in order to “promote highway safety by ensuring that all drivers maintain good vision throughout their driving career.”

Based on House Bill 439, vision screenings can be completed at no cost at any Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Driver Licensing Regional Office at the time of renewal. The KYTC expects the average vision screening to take less than a minute to complete.

In addition to the regional officeS, drivers may conduct a vision exam with their vision specialist or with a KYTC-credentialed osteopath, physician, or advanced practice registered nurse ahead of their license renewal. These specialists will complete a form the driver will take to their renewal appointment.

If a driver does not pass the screening at a regional office, they will need to see a vision specialist for corrective measures before getting their license renewed. Online renewals will still be available. Drivers will just need to upload the form from a specialist when they renew.
More information is available at drive.ky.gov/visionscreening.

Group looking to build skatepark in Grayson County still seeking support

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Casey Keown is a detective with the Kentucky State Police, but he remembers the many days and nights he spent skateboarding growing up in Grayson County, something that motivated him and others to create the Twin Lakes Skatepark Project.

“The skatepark is horrible here in Grayson County,” Keown said. “We need something new, somewhere to take our kids. My daughter recently found my skateboard in the shed. So I rode with her in the driveway a few times, and that kind of sealed the deal for me, so I decided to spearhead this and just take it on.”

The group is raising funds and bringing in community partners to construct a 10,000 square foot concrete skate park in Grayson County, with a mission of creating positive experiences for youth and bringing the community together for a common goal.

“Any partners in the community that support this or want to help us out, you can visit our website,” Keown said. “It’s TwinLakesSkatePark.org. We’re looking for donations. We’re looking for volunteers. We’ve got a concert coming up on October 12. We’re going to have some great music, so we’d love to see as many people that we can get out there. Tickets are available on our website.”

In addition to the Twin Lakes project, the group was able to move ramps from the former Highway 54 skate park to behind the Purple Flash Community Center in Caneyville to create a skate spot.

“We all coordinated together, came up with a design, and all but two of the ramps are there now,” Keown said. “We’re still waiting on two more, so if anybody has a crane and is willing to donate some time, we do need a crane to move the last two, but we do have somewhere now where kids can go and ride bikes, skateboards, scooters, and just have fun.”

Visit the Twin Lakes Skatepark Project Facebook page or website for more information on how to donate, how to get involved, and ticket information for the October 12 concert.

Car show in memory of Breckinridge County man will benefit another

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Caitlyn Burden says she has known the McKellar family since she was in middle school, so she has been looking for a way to honor the memory of Timothy “Junior” McKellar.

“Last year he passed away in a plane crash in Whitesville, and ever since then the community’s been coming together and remembering him, and I hadn’t done anything for him yet because everybody else was doing stuff for him, and I knew a year was coming up so I figured now would be a good time to do something,” Burden said.

Burden and other organizers will be hosting Junior’s Show and Shine Saturday, September 28 at Breckinridge County High School, beginning at 2 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

“We’ve got free entry for the show,” Burden said. “It’s just basically a show in remembrance of Junior. We’ve got vendors like food trucks, we’ve got trophies, and we’ve got bouncy houses for the kids, music, so we’ve got pretty much everything.”

When Burden reached out to the McKellar family, they said the event should benefit another Breckinridge County resident, Braxton Criss.

“We had seen a bunch of stuff posted around Facebook saying prayers, that he was having a rough time, and Tim McKellar, Junior’s dad, called me yesterday, and we were going to donate all the money from the show to an aviation school or a welding school, and we had been seeing that go around and he called me yesterday and he kind of mentioned it to me and I was like ‘yeah, that’s a great idea,’” Burden said.

Find more information on the Junior’s Show and Shine Facebook event page.