#WolfCountry

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their first meeting of the month Tuesday.

Hardin County Animal Care and Control Director Mike McNutt reported that during the month of September the animal shelter adopted out 52 dogs, returned 37 to owners, and euthanized 15. McNutt said the hard work of the animal control officers can be seen.

“The return to owner rate is at 30 percent,” McNutt said. “That’s the highest it’s been in five years. I think there’s a lot of different reasons for that, but mainly it’s because they’re doing it in the field as much as they can.”

The year-to-date shelter live release rate is at 91 percent, and McNutt said the struggle to maintain no-kill status only gets harder.

“The no kill status that we’ve received twice nationally, what it’s been for the past five years is a ratio, so it’s 90 percent of our animals leave alive,” McNutt said. “ We’re at 91 percent for the year-to-date and it’s a battle every day to make it to that.”

Due to the remnants of Hurricane Helene, the annual rabies clinic at the Hardin County Fairgrounds was rescheduled to Saturday, October 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. McNutt said the county has a goal of expanding their rabies services.

“It’s not something we’re mandated to do, but it is something we want to do to keep the public safe and healthy,” McNutt said. “The judge and I have been talking about it, and we have some plans. We’ll have one large major one on a Saturday and then we want to have little ones at different locations.”

In other meeting news, Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith reminded voters the absentee ballot request portal is open.

“It will be open through October 22,” Smith said. “If you will be out of the county all days and all hours of voting, or you qualify due to age, illness, or disability, please get in those requests early. To request those, it’s at govote.ky.gov or you can call our election staff at 270-765-6762.”

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet October 22.

Attorneys for Penney Property Sub Holdings LLC, which owns the Elizabethtown JCPenney, and for Linnick Investments LLC, which owns the Towne Mall, were in Hardin Circuit Court Tuesday morning.

Zachary VanVactor with Stites and Harbison PLLC, representing Penney Property Sub Holdings, asked the court for a hearing on a temporary injunction along with an emergency restraining order to stop work on renovations at the Towne Mall property. VanVactor said the change of the design of the mall from an indoor to an outdoor retail space violates JCPenney’s lease. The attorney said the lease gives JCPenney the rights as an anchor tenant to have input on the design of the facility, and the store’s access to the rest of the mall has been walled off. VanVactor said the restraining order is necessary as each day that progresses with more work means more damage to JCPenney’s anchor rights.

Corky Coryell with Wyatt, Tarrant, and Combs LLP, representing Linnick Investments, said the JCPenney company has known about the redesign plans since the beginning of the year, and Coryell said at the time they were informed the company said they were thrilled with the potential the design offered for the property. Coryell said the wall blocking the entrance to JCPenney went up in July, and the store has installed shelving on the wall and is selling merchandise on it. The attorney said no objection was raised on the construction until a rent concession request was denied two weeks ago. Coryell said stopping the work on the mall now potentially jeopardizes nearly $10 million in possible commitments from future tenants.

Hardin Circuit Judge Larry Ashlock denied the request for a restraining order, as the judge said the work that JCPenney wanted stopped has already taken place, and both parties would still have the potential to seek damages through a later breach of contract case. Judge Ashlock did grant the request for a hearing on an injunction, which was scheduled for Thursday, October 17 at 1 p.m.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has several resurfacing projects under way in Hardin County this week.

KYTC District Four says flaggers will direct traffic around milling and paving operations on North Mulberry Street from just east of Elizabethtown High School to Ring Road. Operations will run daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Saturday.

Work is also taking place on North Miles Road from just north of Pear Orchard Road to Ring Road, with flaggers directing traffic around operations from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Saturday.

Crews will also be working Tuesday on New Glendale Road from the U.S. 31W Bypass to U.S. 31W. That work should wrap at 5 p.m.

The projects are part of the push to get area paving completed ahead of winter. The KYTC says with several schools on fall break, areas around school buildings should be less congested, but drivers should still expect short delays and be prepared for slow or stopped traffic.

Meanwhile, KYTC District Four will also have crews this week along KY 245 between Bardstown and Clermont conducting drilling for core samples. Lane closures will be set up at various points along the roadway both westbound and eastbound.

Drivers should always use caution and watch for signage when approaching work zones.

Fire officials are reminding residents to be prepared as Fire Prevention Month is observed in October, with Fire Prevention Week observed now through October 12.

“The work we’re doing in making people aware of fire safety and things like that, it is working,” said Radcliff Deputy Fire Marshal Tommy Crane. “Our statistics, if you look back to 1977, show 7,395 people died in fires. In 2021, it was 3,800 in residential fires, so we are making a difference.”

Crane says medical runs and responses to vehicle accidents are prominent parts of fire department duties today, but responding to fires remains vitaly important.

“A fire department responds every 21 seconds to a fire in the United States,” Crane said. “One home structure fire was reported every 88 seconds and one home fire-related death occurred every 3 hours, 14 minutes.”

The results of a fire can quickly turn devastating.

“In 2022, the national estimates for residential building fires and losses showed that there were 374,300 fires, 2,700 deaths, and almost $11 million in dollar loss,” Crane said.

The theme for this year’s Fire Prevention Week is “Smoke Alarms: Make them work for you.” Visit the National Fire Protection Association’s website to learn more.

Crystal Rogers investigation suspects Joseph Lawson and Steven Lawson were back in court Friday. 

Attorneys for Steven Lawson told Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III that their client will not be waiving evidentiary protections, meaning recordings of Lawson’s interviews with investigators during the plea process will be admissible in Lawson’s trial. Grand jury testimony from Lawson, however, will be permitted.

The trial for the Lawsons and fellow suspect Brooks Houck is scheduled to begin in February. Judge Simms said the case will be tried in either Warren County or Christian County. Judge Simms said he had spoken with judges in both counties and they felt their facilities could handle the case. The prosecution and defense counsels had previously submitted a proposal to move the case to Christian County that Judge Simms declined.

Friday’s hearing had been delayed a month in order for Steven Lawson’s new defense attorneys to get up to speed on the case. They informed Judge Simms that Lawson’s previous attorney, Ted Lavit, had still not turned over the entire case file. Judge Simms issued an order Friday that gave Lavit fourteen days to turn in the entire case file or he would have to appear in court to face a possible Contempt of Court charge.

The next status hearing in the case is scheduled for October 25.