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Crash in Breckinridge County leaves one dead

94.3 The Wolf

A man from Vine Grove is dead following a crash in Breckinridge County Friday night.

The Kentucky State Police says at approximately 7:30 p.m. on September 20, the Breckinridge County Sheriff’s Office requested troopers from KSP Post Four investigate a two-vehicle collision near the 7,000 block of KY 333.

The KSP says the preliminary investigation shows that 18-year-old Kenenth R. Miller of Vine Grove was driving north on KY 333 when for unknown reasons he lost control of his vehicle, overcorrected, and crossed the centerline, traveling into the path of a truck being driven by Dennis Barnes of Vine Grove.

Miller was pronounced dead at the scene by the Breckinridge County Coroner’s Office. Barnes did not report any injuries. 

Miller’s obituary from the Alexander Funeral Home in Irvington notes that he was a 2024 graduate of Breckinridge County High School. 

KY 333 was closed for several hours to allow for accident reconstruction. The investigation into the crash is ongoing.

Portal open for absentee ballot requests for November election

94.3 The Wolf

Election Day is November 5, and voters looking to request an absentee ballot may now do so as the state’s absentee ballot request portal opened Saturday.

“It will be open now through October 22, but don’t wait,” said Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith. “If you qualify for an absentee ballot, you can visit govote.ky.gov or you can call our election hotline at 270-765-6762.”

Qualifications for an absentee ballot are available on the Go Vote website.

There is still time to register to vote or to update your registration ahead of the election.

“That deadline is 4 p.m. on October 7,” Smith said. “We encourage everybody to visit govote.ky.gov and make sure everything is up to date – your address, your party affiliation, all of that is up to date by 4 p.m. on October 7.”

Ahead of the election, Smith says the clerk’s office has been reaching out to area schools in order to help teach about the importance of the right to vote.

“We’ve done voter registration drives,” Smith said. “We’ve helped with the student council elections in some schools, and we’ve held mock elections. We want to get the young people in our community excited about voting, so we hope when parents or grandparents vote, take your kids with you. It’s a great lesson that you can teach them.”

Contact your county clerk’s office for election questions.

KYTC will require vision screenings for license renewals beginning in 2025

94.3 The Wolf

It’s always important to keep your eyes on the road when operating a vehicle, and come the new year the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will be ensuring that your eyes are up for the challenge.

Beginning January 1, all Kentucky drivers must undergo a vision screening in order to renew their license. The requirement was enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2021 in order to “promote highway safety by ensuring that all drivers maintain good vision throughout their driving career.”

Based on House Bill 439, vision screenings can be completed at no cost at any Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Driver Licensing Regional Office at the time of renewal. The KYTC expects the average vision screening to take less than a minute to complete.

In addition to the regional officeS, drivers may conduct a vision exam with their vision specialist or with a KYTC-credentialed osteopath, physician, or advanced practice registered nurse ahead of their license renewal. These specialists will complete a form the driver will take to their renewal appointment.

If a driver does not pass the screening at a regional office, they will need to see a vision specialist for corrective measures before getting their license renewed. Online renewals will still be available. Drivers will just need to upload the form from a specialist when they renew.
More information is available at drive.ky.gov/visionscreening.

Group looking to build skatepark in Grayson County still seeking support

94.3 The Wolf

Casey Keown is a detective with the Kentucky State Police, but he remembers the many days and nights he spent skateboarding growing up in Grayson County, something that motivated him and others to create the Twin Lakes Skatepark Project.

“The skatepark is horrible here in Grayson County,” Keown said. “We need something new, somewhere to take our kids. My daughter recently found my skateboard in the shed. So I rode with her in the driveway a few times, and that kind of sealed the deal for me, so I decided to spearhead this and just take it on.”

The group is raising funds and bringing in community partners to construct a 10,000 square foot concrete skate park in Grayson County, with a mission of creating positive experiences for youth and bringing the community together for a common goal.

“Any partners in the community that support this or want to help us out, you can visit our website,” Keown said. “It’s TwinLakesSkatePark.org. We’re looking for donations. We’re looking for volunteers. We’ve got a concert coming up on October 12. We’re going to have some great music, so we’d love to see as many people that we can get out there. Tickets are available on our website.”

In addition to the Twin Lakes project, the group was able to move ramps from the former Highway 54 skate park to behind the Purple Flash Community Center in Caneyville to create a skate spot.

“We all coordinated together, came up with a design, and all but two of the ramps are there now,” Keown said. “We’re still waiting on two more, so if anybody has a crane and is willing to donate some time, we do need a crane to move the last two, but we do have somewhere now where kids can go and ride bikes, skateboards, scooters, and just have fun.”

Visit the Twin Lakes Skatepark Project Facebook page or website for more information on how to donate, how to get involved, and ticket information for the October 12 concert.

Car show in memory of Breckinridge County man will benefit another

94.3 The Wolf

Caitlyn Burden says she has known the McKellar family since she was in middle school, so she has been looking for a way to honor the memory of Timothy “Junior” McKellar.

“Last year he passed away in a plane crash in Whitesville, and ever since then the community’s been coming together and remembering him, and I hadn’t done anything for him yet because everybody else was doing stuff for him, and I knew a year was coming up so I figured now would be a good time to do something,” Burden said.

Burden and other organizers will be hosting Junior’s Show and Shine Saturday, September 28 at Breckinridge County High School, beginning at 2 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

“We’ve got free entry for the show,” Burden said. “It’s just basically a show in remembrance of Junior. We’ve got vendors like food trucks, we’ve got trophies, and we’ve got bouncy houses for the kids, music, so we’ve got pretty much everything.”

When Burden reached out to the McKellar family, they said the event should benefit another Breckinridge County resident, Braxton Criss.

“We had seen a bunch of stuff posted around Facebook saying prayers, that he was having a rough time, and Tim McKellar, Junior’s dad, called me yesterday, and we were going to donate all the money from the show to an aviation school or a welding school, and we had been seeing that go around and he called me yesterday and he kind of mentioned it to me and I was like ‘yeah, that’s a great idea,’” Burden said.

Find more information on the Junior’s Show and Shine Facebook event page.

Elizabethtown Mayor Gregory discusses road grant funding at Team Kentucky Update

94.3 The Wolf

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear discussed the latest round of funding for the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program during his Team Kentucky Update Thursday.

Included in the $28.5 million awarded was an $11.1 million grant matched by $2.3 million in state funds for the Envisioning a Safer Elizabethtown project.

“This grant money is going to be huge for us because it identifies two different corridors that probably are our most at-risk statistically with injury accidents and accidents just in general, and we’ll be able to put this money for the aforementioned sidewalks and lighting and road diets and roundabouts that we’ve seen have great success in Elizabethtown,” said Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory. 

The funding is for projects targeting Ring Road, Leitchfield Road, and U.S. 31W.

“We’re working really hard to make sure that our infrastructure stays ahead of the game in Elizabethtown,” Gregory said. “BlueOval SK, four miles south of Elizabethtown, which immediately brought us three other companies in our industrial park in Elizabethtown, has caused us to look at the way that we’re looking at our infrastructure as far as roadways, sewer lines, gas lines, and everything that comes with that.”

Visit the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet online for more information.

Kentucky labor market sees slight increase despite slight unemployment increase

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Unemployment in Kentucky saw a slight increase in August. 

The Kentucky Center for Statistics says the state unemployment average for August was 4.8 percent. That is an increase from the 4.7 percent rate reported in July as well as from August 2023 when the rate was reported at 4.2 percent.

Kentucky’s unemployment average also came in higher in July than the national unemployment rate, which the U.S. Department of Labor reported at 4.2 percent.

The Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet says the state’s civilian labor force, which includes people currently employed and people actively searching for work, saw an increase of just over 7,300 people from July into August, bringing the civilian labor force to about 2,061,000.

The Education and Labor Cabinet says while manufacturing jobs saw an increase in August, companies have been reporting fewer jobs over the last few months. Employment in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector and the leisure and hospitality sector saw slight drops. The mining and logging sectors were mostly unchanged.

Visit the Kentucky Center for Statistics to learn more about labor market information.