WQXE NEWS

The Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame is getting ready to celebrate its latest class of inductees.

The Hall of Fame will honor the Class of 2024 in a ceremony at the State Theater this Saturday.

Hall of Fame Board Member Rick Walters said each year the organization reviews and approves 12 to 14 members for induction.

“For coaches, they look at their overall records and things that they won,” Walters said. “District and region titles, and how many state titles, and were they Coach of the Year, stuff like that. For players, it’s whether they were All-State players, their scoring records, and how many districts or regions they won and state championships.”

Among the inductees is former Central Hardin High School coach Terry Buckles. In a career that spanned 24 seasons, teams under Buckles posted a record of 548 and 171, winning six region championships and finishing state runner-up in 1996. Buckles was named Region 5 Coach of the Year six times.

“I’ve known Terry Buckles since he went to East Hardin and I did too, so I’ve known Terry a long time as a player and a coach, and he’s just an all-round good person, a great teacher and coach, and his players liked to play for him, I think.”

Visit the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame’s website for ticket information on Saturday’s ceremony.

Lincoln Trail Area Development District Executive Director Daniel London said each county pays 39 cents per citizen to be part of LTADD.

“You don’t want to hear about the 39 cents, you want to hear about the return on investment, because that’s what we look for,” London said. “The average return on investment last fiscal year was $270 from the ADD, so think about this: you buy a 39 cents stock, but you get $270 back, we would all buy that stock, and so the AD district is providing great support to local governments and communities as a result of that.”

London was the featured speaker at the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce’s June general membership luncheon, held at Phillips Grove banquet hall Wednesday. London discussed the major priorities of LTADD including community and economic development and workforce development.

London said the area right now is “bursting at the seams” with economic development opportunities, but major infrastructure improvements are needed to prepare for what is coming.

“What we came up with is almost $1 billion in infrastructure that is needed over the next six years to make this a soft landing,” London said. “That is an incredibly staggering number. This is not even all the infrastructure that’s needed for our region. We have another over $1 billion that’s not on this chart that our CED department is tracking.”

London said he wanted to clarify that the cost was not directly tied to major developments like BlueOval SK in Hardin County and Nucor in Meade County.

“We have significant issues with our infrastructure all across the state that can’t keep up,” London said. “Now, has the BlueOval project as well as others moved that timeline up? That’s when we’re replacing it? Absolutely. That is absolutely fair, but at the end of the day, this is all spending that has to happen at some point to continue the growth that we have.”

London touched on some of the recent studies that LTADD has been a part of, including a look at the lack of available childcare in the area that shows more than 2,000 work-willing adults would be able to return to the workforce with an increase in available childcare services and a housing study that shows Hardin County is about 4,500 housing units short of current needs. A transportation study that is looking at possible public transportation options for Hardin and Meade counties should be completed by September. Those studies and more information can be found on the Lincoln Trail Area Development District website.

The East Hardin Middle School Beta Club is returning from the National Beta Conference in Savannah, Georgia, with some hardware.

The Beta Club raked in 15 total awards recognizing placement in the top 10 in several competitions, and Beta Club sponsor and East Hardin art teacher Molly Hazle said one of the crowning achievements capped an effort the students put into the entire school year.

“Our biggest thing we do, where we have about 90 kids participating, is our very big Large Group Talent performing arts, and that’s supposed to showcase any kind of talent for singing, dancing, or speaking,” Hazle said. “We put on a show about BETA through the ages, and we just got national champions for that.”

The club also won the national championship for the solo/duo/trio competition.

Hazle said she is very proud of a well-deserving group of students.

“The last two years, Group Talent is what we pour our heart into the most, and we were national runner up two years in a row, so this is really rewarding for all of us,” Hazle said. “It was a long time coming. We really wanted that national title.”

The Beta Club asks students to strive for achievement in and out of the classroom.

“It is a service organization, but you also have to make certain grades to stay in,” Hazle said. “We ask our students to maintain all As and Bs throughout the year. They have to do 24 hours of service in their community throughout the year, and the four pillars are “achievement, character, leadership, and service,” so it is for students that embody all four of those pillars.”

Hazle said the club will take all students that are willing to put in the effort, and if interested in joining they can reach out once the new school year begins.