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Deneen says ‘common sense’ focus of 2024 legislative efforts

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The Kentucky General Assembly is currently in its veto recess, meaning the state House of Representatives and state Senate are waiting on Governor Andy Beshear to review and take action on the more than 160 bills that passed the 2024 legislative session.

Kentucky 10th District Senator Matt Deneen sponsored four bills that passed through the general assembly. One of those, Senate Bill 18, has been signed into law. Deneen says the bill is an example of his goal for common sense legislation that benefits the commonwealth in and out of District 10.

“I’ve been able to find some things that just need to be updated and changed to avoid wasteful spending and to make sure that our school districts have the best equipment that they can for the safety of our children in the transportation realm, but at the same time we do that in a way that provides fair competition for tire manufacturers and policy alignments through the Kentucky Department of Education,” Deneen said.

Deneen says common sense was also the motivation behind Senate Bill 17, which was requested by county coroner offices in Kentucky to amend a policy requiring a five-day turnaround on the issuance of death certificates.

“With all of the different types of toxicology and ballistics tests, and all the autopsies and forensic tests that are required to truly find the cause of death, that five-day turnaround was not enough time to get those things done, to provide families with accurate information about their loved one’s passing,” Deneen said.

Another of Deneen’s bills is Senate Bill 265, which modifies Kentucky’s alternative teacher certification pathway.

“We want to make sure that those folks have bachelor’s and master’s degrees and are certified in those areas or working towards a certification in those areas, so Senate Bill 265 basically provides that framework and those guardrails to ensure that our students get the very best by those that have the experiences needed that may not have started in education,” Deneen said.

More information on the bills can be found through the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission.

Hodgenville Police Department invites area residents to sexual assault awareness event

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Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson says he was disappointed with the low turnout for a presentation on sextortion the department hosted via Zoom, so after getting community feedback on how to improve the idea and reach more people the police department is hosting an in-person event on sexual assault and related issues on April 15.

“We’re going to give a presentation,” Richardson said. “It’s going to start at 6 p.m. at the Extension Office here in Larue County up on Old Elizabethtown Road, and what we will do is we’ll start out with basically what are the issues that we’re seeing here in our community and then we will talk about how HPD investigates those.”

Richardson said the event ties into April being Child Abuse Awareness Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The event is an opportunity to hear from the HPD as well as the organizations that assist them.

“We are going to start out with just basically ‘this is what we’re seeing’ and then we’re going to introduce our community partners,” Richardson said. “We have some folks from Silverleaf, I’ve invited CommuniCare, Lincoln Trail BHH is coming, so we’ll have folks there to explain to the community this is what their role is in our investigations and what services they offer for the community.”

The ultimate goal of the event is to share information and connect residents with resources.

“If anybody wants to come, we encourage in-person, that way you can actually meet and see everybody,” Richardson said. “You’ll get to see some of the sexual assault investigators from the police department. You’ll get to ask questions. Any questions that we have from the community, they can email me questions. They can go on our Facebook page and message me questions that they want answered, and we’ll try to address those there in the presentation.”

The event will be recorded and made available for viewing for anybody unable to attend in person.

Early voting under way for May 21 primary election

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Absentee mail-in voting is now available ahead of the May 21 primary election.

Voters that are eligible may request a mail-in absentee ballot now through May 7. Those requests can be made at govote.ky.gov.

In Hardin County, in-person excused absentee voting will take place May 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 15 in the Hardin County Clerk’s office. Early voting will take place at the clerk’s office as well as at the Colvin Community Center on May 16, 17, and 18.

Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith said voters heading to the polls on May 21 will have more options this year.

“Last year we had 12 locations. This year we’ll have 15 locations,” Smith said. “The largest of those locations will also have additional check-in stations, so not only are we having more locations, but we also should be able to get people through the line faster. That was based on the feedback we got directly from the public.”

The deadline to register for the May 21 primary election is at 4 p.m. on April 22. Election information is available at govote.ky.gov or contact your county clerk’s office for assistance.

Hardin County Public Library celebrating National Library Week

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April 7 through 13 is National Library Week, and the staff at the Hardin County Public Library are excited to participate.

Hardin County Public Library Head of Adult Services Rebecca Akers says visitors to the library during each day of National Library Week will have the chance to come home with a prize by answering the daily question.

“Any patron that comes in and answers the little question, they get entered into a daily raffle, and that’s Money to Friday, and so each day we’re going to have a raffle drawing,” Akers said. “We have gift cards for Barnes and Noble, we have library totes, t-shirts, small reading posters, all kinds of fun prizes for patrons.”

Multiple libraries across Kentucky are hosting job fairs as part of National Library Week. While the Hardin County Public Library is unable to host a job fair due to ongoing construction, the library is partnering with the Kentucky Career Center to still connect with job seekers.

“We are providing take-home job fair packets, and so the Kentucky Career Center has helped us by compiling a very exhaustive list of community resources for job seekers, and we’re putting that in a library bag along with lots of little goodies and giveaways from some area businesses as well some library giveaways,” Akers said.

Career advisers will also be at the library Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Akers says the library has lots to offer, and the best way to find out is to stop by.

“Even though we’re undergoing construction, our stacks are open,” Akers said. “We have lots of stuff for patrons to look at. We have a library of things, and full programming for children and adults.”

Visit the Hardin County Public Library’s website or Facebook page for more information.

Hodgenville Police Department details recent cases

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The Hodgenville Police Department has released details on several cases their officers investigated last week.

On April 1, HPD officers conducted several controlled buy attempts of vapes to underage informants. In these investigations, underage informants go into a store and attempt to purchase vapes or vape products. Jennifer Timmer, a clerk at the Hometown Mini Mart on Lincoln Farm Road, was charged with Unlawful Transaction with a Minor.

Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson said it was worth noting that the store in this case has taken actions to prevent underage sales.

“The store went back and put in a fail-safe in the computer where the register will not let you make that purchase without scanning their driver’s license, and something the store did on their own, they were not mandated to do that,” Richardson said. “That’s just what they did, and in this instance the clerk actually scanned her own driver’s license to bypass that fail-safe to sell that product to the child.”

Later, on April 3, the HPD’s search for a fugitive led to two arrests.

Officers had been searching for Jeremy Butler for about a week as he was wanted on warrants for several drug-related charges. The investigation led officers to an address on Joe Brown Road

“We got a tip to where he was at,” Richardson said. “We went to that address, knocked on the door. The young man that rented that residence allowed us in and Mr. Butler was located inside that home, and then there was another female that was on scene and when we checked her she also came back with a child support warrant for a $2,000 warrant out of Hardin County for being behind on her child support, so she was located and arrested as well.”

The woman arrested is Savannah Moreland of Maryland. Both Moreland and Butler were transported to the LaRue County Detention Center at the time of their arrests.