WQXE NEWS

The Radcliff City Council met for a regular meeting Tuesday.

The council voted to uphold the Radcliff Planning Commission’s denial of a zoning map amendment for four properties at or near the intersection of Wingard Drive and Redmar Lane in the Redmar Subdivision from R-1 to R-4. Council member Jerry Brown said that Radcliff is a relatively young city in one of Kentucky’s oldest counties, and it is important to preserve the city’s history when possible.

“There is so little of valid historical significance, but this area, this community that these homeowners are discussing, is probably the only valid historical area in town,” Brown said.

The council did approve on second reading ordinances that annexed a property on the east side of Bullion Boulevard between Safari Trail and Oakland Circle and a property at 691 Safari Trail from the city of Vine Grove and rezoned both properties from R-1 to R-3.

An ordinance establishing an Energy Project Assessment District program was also approved on its second reading.

“By establishing an EPAD program, pursuant to the EPAD Act, eligible property owners will be eligible to finance qualifying energy projects to their properties through the imposition of assessments on their approved real property within the city,” said City Attorney Michael Pike, reading from the ordinance.

The council received an update on the Green Dot program, a violence prevention program that trains schools and businesses while promoting bystander intervention. Leadership Hardin County, Silverleaf, and the city council partnered to implement the program, and to promote it a mural was commissioned to be designed by the North Hardin High School art class, with the winning design submitted by recent grad Megan McNight.

“We wanted to resemble a breaking away of all of this negative energy, all these bad things that could be happening like bullying, just getting away from all of that, and then behind it is something beautiful where it’s just like a calm scene,” McNight said.

A location for the mural is being discussed.

The Radcliff City Council will next meet in a work session on September 12 and a regular meeting on September 19.

CASA of the Heartland held their largest annual fundraiser, the Farm to Fork event, at the Venue at Highland Sod Farm Saturday, and over 180 attendees helped make the night a successful one.

“With the team effort from our volunteers, our staff, our community supporters, and our sponsors we were able to raise $69,246 with our Farm to Fork event this year,” said CASA of the Heartland Executive Director Michelle Kail.

The event featured live entertainment, live and silent auctions, and a meal featuring locally-grown, farm-fresh dishes from local farmers, prepared by chef Tony York from Tony York’s on Main in Glendale.

Kail says the money is a big show of support for CASA of the Heartland’s mission.

“It’s about $2,800 to provide advocacy for one child for an entire year, and so we are able to continue those efforts with the funds that we raise,” Kail said.

In addition to fundraising, the event is an opportunity to provide outreach on what CASAs do, and find new people to join the cause.

“We had at least three new volunteers that maybe from hearing the testimonial at our event and learning a little bit more about the organization, we did receive three new volunteer applications following the event,” Kail said. “We’re really excited about that so that we can get those wait list numbers down because we do always need volunteers.”

CASA of the Heartland recruits, trains, and supports community volunteers who serve as court-appointed special advocates on behalf of abused, neglected, and dependent children in Hardin and now LaRue counties. For more information, visit www.casaheartland.org or call 270-982-2274.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College President Dr. Juston Pate says when students are forced to stop their academic pursuits at the college it is rarely due to academic reasons.

“It’s really and truly those non-academic life barriers that pose those problems that seem insurmountable, and just prevent continuation toward a better life,” Pate said.

Pate says a survey of students found that 38 percent of them ran out of money six times over the course of the academic year.

“That’s what we are working to overcome, and the talent level of these folks that we’re talking about is immense,” Pate said. “The talent is there. We just have to find ways to focus that talent and channel that talent to something other than survival mode.”

ECTC hopes to eliminate one of the biggest barriers, housing, as they and partner organization Family Scholar House announced Friday the Home for Hope Campaign, a fundraising effort to secure the last $1.5 million needed to construct a $14.8 million 48-unit apartment complex on ECTC’s campus. Beginning in 2025, the complex will provide student partners with housing while they complete their education and build a better life for themselves and their families.

ECTC says Family Scholar house has provided more than 700 students with services the college is not able to provide. Those services support students like Lacy Sallee, a single mother pursuing her associate’s degree in applied science.

“It’s knowing that I have people willing to be there to show me how to work through my issues and to get things done not for me but to teach me how to do it for myself,” Sallee said. “I want to become something that my children can look up to, and I want to have a career doing something I can wake up and look forward to doing every single day.”

Pate says the project will have an impact on ECTC for years to come.

“It’s not just a solution for 48 families,” Pate said. “It’s a solution for 48 families at a time until they get their degree, then we have programs to get them transitioned into stable housing. It’s a long-term, multi-phase, multi-generation, multi-participant program.”

To learn more or to donate, visit www.ectcforbetterlives.com.

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