WQXE NEWS

A detective with the Bullitt County Sheriff’s Office will be honored for his work on a homicide investigation.

Chris Hill will be one of seven investigators that will be presented with the International Homicide Investigators Association’s Award for Excellence in Homicide Investigations.

Bullitt County Sheriff Walt Sholar says the award is a testament to a dedicated and experienced law enforcement professional.

“Chris is always ready to step up and help in any and many fashions that we’ve needed him,” Sholar said. “He serves as a firearms and tactics instructor for our office. He’s one of our drone pilots and is teaching other people here at our sheriff’s office how to operate drones.”

Hill is being recognized for leading the investigation into the disappearance and murder of a Bullitt County resident in 2020, ultimately resulting in two guilty pleas and 30-year sentences for the perpetrators. Hill constructed the case despite the victim’s body never being found. Sholar said Hill had participated in training for such cases.

“He brought those tools back with him, put that together, made a presentation, an outstanding presentation to the Commonwealth Attorney, and then ultimately to the grand jury,” Sholar said. “I’ve been around here for 40 years and it’s the first homicide case that I can recall in Bullitt County ever being presented where we were not able to find the body.”

Sholar said Hill’s award is well-deserved, and is also a tribute to the hard work the rest of the staff at the sheriff’s office puts in each day.

“It shows the professionalism that is going on,” Sholar said. “Chris just epitomizes it, but he is only one cog in the wheel of a very professional organization that all the people that I am blessed to have around me have put together.”

Hill will receive the award at a ceremony in Washington D.C. on August 15.

Whitney Ballou says her former co-worker and teammate Jessica Mills, who was killed in a crash on Lincoln Parkway in June, had deep connections to the local soccer community.

“She’s been very involved from a personal training aspect all the way up to assistant coach and head coaching of some of the compete teams here in town,” Ballou said. “She has been a lot more involved as her daughter has gotten older. She’s kind of followed her through her leagues as she’s grown up, but she has affected a lot of their lives from a very young age all the way up to these girls that are teenagers in high school.”

In honor of Mills, Central Hardin soccer alumni will be hosting an alumni soccer game at the Central Hardin soccer field on Friday, August 2.

“It may not be the best game to watch, but we’re hoping to all get together and just have some fun and kind of tell some stories about Jessica, and the good thing is just spending some time together too,” Ballou said. “A lot of our team that was playing when she was in high school should be coming back to the alumni game, so that’ll be good.”

Ballou says organizers are looking for as many Central Hardin women’s soccer alums as possible to participate.

“You can go to the CHHS Lady Bruin Soccer Facebook page,” Ballou said. “There is actually a Google document that you can fill out. You don’t have to fill it out in order to kind of play in a game. We’ll take walk-ins all the way up until the start time, which is 6 o’clock.”

All are welcome to attend the game on August 2.

The Radcliff City Council met for their second meeting of the month Tuesday.

Susan Mouser with Clauson Mouser and Company PSC/CPAs reported to the council on the city’s annual audit. Mouser said the audit is mandated by state law in order to show that the city’s finances are fairly stated. Mouser said the city’s revenues exceed the expenditures and the city has little long-term debt. Radcliff Mayor JJ Duvall said the city keeps a close eye on the finances.

“Just about every purchase order that’s done in the city, (Radcliff CFO) Chance Fox and I both, or (City Clerk) Ashley Russo will sign, and it’s sometimes to the point where Chance is calling me, asking me if a $164 pair of boots is justified,” Duvall said. “I mean, that’s how tight we run our budget.”

The council approved the rezoning of 155 Morgan Street from R-7 to Planned Unit Development Zone, which makes way for the construction of 19 single-family units on the property. The council also approved one new and five amended policies and procedures for the Radcliff Police Department.

The first reading was held on an ordinance approving the operation of medical cannabis facilities in the city. Duvall again stressed that the ordinance does not ban the use of medical marijuana, but it would make a Radcliff-based operation eligible to apply for a facility license.

“This is just regulating whether or not we’re going to have the sale or the cultivation here in our community,” Duvall said. “If you have a medical card, you can still go into E-Town and get it, or you can go into the county and get it, and still bring it back to our community.”

John Hardin High School sophomore Kenneth Richie addressed the council on concerns he sees with the Radcliff community that he said he thinks begin with a lack of civil discourse.

“I’ve seen the people become more negative over this time and stop looking inwards,” Richie said. “I’ve seen human decency begin to fade, and I’ve seen other people attack each other without knowledge or patience for a civil confrontation, and that’s built a negative reputation in towns outside of here.”

Richie said he hopes to see more communication between the government and the community, and more civic engagement. Duvall said he had spoken with Richie about his ideas and hoped to speak with him further.

The Radcliff City Council will next meet for a work session on August 12.