WQXE NEWS

Nolin RECC President and CEO Greg Lee told those in attendance at the co-op’s annual meeting Thursday that in their 88th year the organization is proud of the role it plays in the community, and the co-op holds its employees to a high standard.

“We place tremendous value on our community connections and the goodwill we establish with our members,” Lee said. “We strive to achieve this by keeping your reliability high and your costs low. We hope to earn your respect through the qualities we exhibit: fairness, perpetual effort, attention to detail, and an emphasis that you, our members, come first.”

Members of the co-op board during the meeting shared on activities such as recipients of Operation Round Up grants, the work of energy provider East Kentucky Power, and the results of the board election which saw Mark Cochran win in District One and David Brown win in District Two.

During the financial report, Board Member Rick Thomas said “inflation, tariffs, and the general state of affairs” has caught up with the electric business.

“The 2025 revenue is at about $93 million, with a cost of about $94 million,” Thomas said. “It doesn’t take long to figure out we’re about $1 million short there on the cash side of things. We show some capital credits primarily from East Kentucky Power that brings us above the line on paper to $2.6 million, and then if you look on down the report, you will see costs and reserves of $9.8 million.”

The annual report shows the co-op ended 2025 with 39,315 active accounts, and manages just over 3,000 miles combined of overhead and underground lines. Find more information at www.nolinrecc.com.

Nicholas Houck, the brother of the man convicted for the murder of Crystal Rogers, appeared in Nelson Circuit Court Thursday for arraignment on a Class D Felony Perjury charge.

When Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III initially called Houck’s case, Houck said his attorney was Patrick Renn, who was not present but Houck said was supposed to be there. Simms gave Houck time to contact Renn, but when he called the case again Renn was still not present. 

Houck said Renn had told him to “proceed on without him.” Prosecutors told the judge they contacted Renn and he said he has not been retained, and the prosecutors said he has not entered an appearance in the case. When Simms asked Houck how long it would take him to get an attorney, Houck said Renn is going to be his attorney “but this is something I can deal with.” Simms said the commonwealth said Renn has not been retained. 

 “He wants to know what you guys are getting at before he kind of makes a decision,” Houck said.

“He wants to know what you guys are- doing what now?” asked Simms.

“Yeah, I’m being charged with perjury, and I have no idea why you guys have charged me with that,” Houck said

“First of all, I don’t charge people with perjury,” Simms said.

Houck said he has had several conversations with Renn, but the attorney wanted information on the case before he made a decision. Simms appointed a public defender to stand in for Houck in order to proceed with the arraignment.

The public defender waived formal indictment and entered a plea of not guilty. Simms scheduled a hearing for July 2 to set the case for trial and pre-trial. Simms told Houck to have an attorney present at that time, and said he would review the commonwealth’s motion to correct the record on the indictment at that time.

The outdoor music venue under construction at Buffalo Lake in Elizabethtown officially has a name.

The City of Elizabethtown and Elizabethtown Tourism on Wednesday announced the venue will be called the SteelGrove Amphitheatre.

“I’m excited about the new announcement for the name SteelGrove for our outdoor concert venue,” said Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory. “We batted around a lot of names and there were many that were good, but for multiple reasons some just didn’t fit like we had hoped, but for the vision that we’ve always had out there, SteelGrove kind of captures the essence of what we were looking for. It is a grove of trees, and it’s going to be wooded out there, and that’s always what we had envisioned with a big, beautiful steel stage that is going to bring the production and bring the concerts and the music to life, so we thought that it was a good fit and we’re really excited about it.”

Elizabethtown Tourism Interim Executive Director Krysta Souleyrette said in a release: “This project represents an exciting new chapter for tourism and quality of life in Elizabethtown. The excitement surrounding this venue continues to grow, and we look forward to welcoming residents and visitors alike when SteelGrove Amphitheater opens in spring 2027.” 

The venue is designed to host concerts, festivals, and community events. At a recent city council meeting, Tim Mattingly with Congleton Hacker said construction is about 40 to 45 percent complete. Additional information regarding the logo, programming, booking opportunities, and opening celebrations will be announced at a later time.