WQXE NEWS

The Elizabethtown City Council met for their second regular meeting of the month Monday.

The council approved three tax measures for 2023 on their second readings. The franchise tax rate on all eligible bank deposits was set at .025 percent. The tax rate on real and personal property was set at 11 cents per every $100 in assessed value. The tax rate on all motor vehicles and watercraft was set at 11.6 cents per $100 in assessed value.

The council also approved an ordinance amendment that approves the moving of city council and other city meetings from the city council chambers at city hall to the Pritchard Community Center.

“This change will allow for the requirements of KRS Chapter 61 to be met, assuring that all public meetings are held in a place convenient to the public and to include space and acoustic requirements,” said City Attorney Ken Howard, reading from the ordinance.

A change order was also approved for the city’s contract with Phillips Brothers Construction for the stormwater improvement project in the Foxborough subdivision. $6,000 was approved for the application of Flexamat to address additional erosion concerns at the Covington Ridge basin.

Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson provided additional information on the work that went into recovering a stolen vehicle that had a seven-month old child inside Sunday. Thompson addressed questions as to why an Amber Alert was not issued for the case, noting that Amber Alerts can only be issued by the Kentucky State Police.

“A local law enforcement agency has to determine a legitimate need exists,” Thompson said. “You have to have information that a child under the age of 17, it doesn’t apply if it’s over the age of 17. It doesn’t apply if you don’t have some type of vehicle information because if you are putting out an Amber Alert then you have to have something you are looking for, so we have to determine all of those factors early on.”

Thompson said an Amber Alert would have been requested had officers not located the vehicle as quickly as they did, which he credited in part to the use of social media to quickly reach the public and flock cameras, which use license plate information to identify and locate vehicles.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet for a work session on September 25.

A crash in Grayson County over the weekend resulted in the death of an Indiana woman.

The Grayson County Sheriff’s Office says the preliminary investigation indicates shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday a car being driven by 53-year-old Amy Embry of New Albany was traveling north on KY 79/Falls of Rough Road when for unknown reasons the vehicle drifted into the southbound lane.

A southbound car being driven by Jerry Walker of Caneyville attempted to avoid the vehicle, but Embry’s vehicle struck the southbound car head-on at a slight angle near the 7100 block of KY 79, coming to rest in the roadway facing north. A third vehicle driven by Jeremy Lawson of Falls of Rough also heading south struck the Walker vehicle after the initial collison.

Embry was transported by EMS to Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead. Walker and a passenger were also transported to Twin Lakes with non-life-threatening injuries, while Lawson told emergency responders he was not injured.

Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland hosted a Hunger Action Day event Friday at the Radcliff City Hall parking lot to promote the organization’s mission during Hunger Action Month and to distribute food items to community neighbors.

Feeding America says more than 139,000 Kentuckians in the organization’s 42-county region are facing hunger, and FAKH Executive Director Jamie Sizemore said the struggle may be closer to home than you think.

“Food insecurity is really a hidden issue, and so we need to make sure we’re taking care of that senior, or working families, and we need to be there for our neighbors facing hunger when they need us most,” Sizemore said.

The organization is aiming to provide one million meals to area families and seniors by December 31. Sizemore said Hunger Action Month is an opportunity to highlight the three ways anybody can help Feeding America’s mission. 

The first is to volunteer.

“We ask people to volunteer at your local agency partners, soup kitchens, or come to our facility and volunteer to pack backpack bags or senior boxes for the seniors,” Sizemore said.

The second is to advocate.

“For every meal that SNAP provides, which is nine meals, the charitable food system provides one,” Sizemore said. “If SNAP decreases. All of that comes back on the charitable food system, so we’re in this together, and we remind legislators how important that is, that they do their part.” 

The third is to donate.

“For every dollar that is donated to Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland, we’re able to take that and acquire enough food for eight meals,” Sizemore said.

More information can be found on Feeding America, Kentucky’s Heartland’s Facebook page.