WQXE NEWS

The Hardin County Fiscal Court heard reports on Animal Control and Emergency Management during their regular meeting Tuesday.

Animal Care and Control Director Mike McNutt said the animal shelter took in 84 dogs and 91 cats during the month of July. 76 dogs were adopted out, 12 were returned to owners, 8 were secured, and 15 were euthanized.

McNutt said while the euthanasia rate is up, it is not due to time and space in the shelter, and stressed that the adoption rate has also increased. He also said the biggest drop off has been in the number of dogs getting returned to their owners.

“Not as many people are coming and getting their animals back from the shelters, and that’s a nationwide problem going on now,” McNutt said. “For the second quarter it was up to a 26 percent increase over the past two years. We’re hoping that stables off eventually because the shelters can’t handle much more.”

The live release rate for cats in the shelter is 95 percent, and 268 spay/neuter surgeries were performed on dogs and cats in July.

Hardin County Emergency Management Director Joey Scott discussed some of the incidents his department responded to in recent months. King also praised members of his staff who have developed strategies for responding to incidents on the Nolin River.

“This year we’ve had quite a few incidents coming down there,” Scott said. “I think we’re just trying to be more efficient in our response to that, so with Nick (Douthitt) and Richard (DeWitt)’s work on a mapping process for us down there I think it’s going to really speed up our response time to lost people on the river location-wise.”

Ahead of their next regular meeting, the fiscal court will host its first town hall forum at the former West Point School on August 27 at 5:30 p.m. Magistrate Fred Clem said he wanted to correct a previous report that topics at the forum had to be submitted ahead of time.

“We’ll have a little bit of an agenda, and then it’s just going to be opened up to where the folks can have a dialogue back and forth with county officials, so the formality of it is going to be disposed of,” Clem said. “Just come with questions, comments, and suggestions.”

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet for a regular meeting on August 29.

Hardin County Schools will recognize five graduates with Distinguished Alumni Awards.

HCS will honor the distinguished alumni during a luncheon at the Hardin County Schools Early College and Career Center on September 27.

HCS Community Relations Specialist John Wright says the five selected graduates are a great representation of district alums.

“We are truly thankful for all the nominations that we received, and we are so proud of all of our HCS alums and the success that they have achieved,” Wright said. “These five people are a true representation of how our district’s graduates use their curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular experiences to excel in their chosen career fields and in their communities.”

The five selected alumni are:

• Robin (Fulkerson) Boggs, 1997
• Jason Booher, 1992
• Vincent Holloway, 1980
• Jeff Key, 1985
• Monica (Kuykendoll) Quarterman, 2007

Nominations were accepted during June and July. Any nominee must have graduated from a current or former HCS high school no less than five years ago.

The Buttermilk Falls Trail is a joint city-county venture that leads visitors to downtown Brandenburg through a wooded, scenic area along Flippins Run Creek.

Brandenburg Mayor Bryan Claycomb says the city wants to make sure the experience is available to everybody.

“What we’ve decided to do is on the first Saturdays of the month during the summer we will provide ATV/side-by-sides for folks who otherwise might not be able to get to experience the trail,” said Claycomb. “They might not be physically able to walk it, so we will provide people with their motorized tour of the Buttermilk Falls Trail.”

Claycomb says the city park has a lot to offer, and vehicle access to the trail is another way of showing that off.

“We recognize that there are people that might not otherwise have an opportunity to experience them, so we want to do that so that we can help them,” Claycomb said. “There’s a lot of activities going on at our city park on any typical weekend, but this is just a little something extra that some folks who are involved with the Buttermilk Falls Trail Committee have decided to lend a hand and to make sure other folks have a chance to try it.”

Anybody who would like to take advantage of the opportunity can go to Brandenburg’s Riverfront Park this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.