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The Elizabethtown City Council met for their second meeting of the month Monday.
An ordinance approving a zoning change for 1505 North Miles Street was approved on its second reading. The zoning was changed from R-2 to R-3, which fits developments such as duplexes.
The council approved several municipal orders, including the appointment of H.Y. Davis IV to the Board of Zoning Adjustments. The council also approved a contract not to exceed $200,000 with Palmer Engineering for professional design services for the upgrading of Commerce Drive for the city’s outdoor music venue.
“These services shall include surveying, final roadway design plans, permitting, preparation of bid documents, bidding assistance, and construction administration to be completed in coordination with the design of the outdoor music venue site,” said City Attorney Ken Howard reading from the municipal order.
An order approving the acceptance of $1,250,550 from the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority was approved. The city entered into a partnership agreement with the Authority for sanitary sewer upgrades for Leitchfield Road and South Ring Road to help support development on that end of the city.
Mayor Jeff Gregory and members of the council presented a portrait and plaque recognizing former Council Member Bill Wiseman, who passed away in June, to Wiseman’s wife and children. Patricia Wiseman said the portrait was a nice honor.
“I am very emotional, so this is really hard for me, but thank you, and I don’t think I realized until he passed away how many people really did love him, so he’d appreciate it very much,” Wiseman said.
The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet August 26.
Drivers should be aware of work happening at the Interstate 65/Western Kentucky Parkway interchange happening the next two nights.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says crews will be placing a microsurface on the southbound I-65 ramps at Exit 91 to the WKP and U.S. 31W Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Work will also be taking place along the parkway between the interstate interchange and the U.S. 31W Bypass interchange.
KYTC District Four Public Information Officer Chris Jessie says the work is being moved to the evening to best get out of people’s way.
“We’re doing this work at night,” Jessie said. “It minimizes traffic disruption, obviously, when traffic volumes are lower on I-65 and the parkway. Folks will have to follow those detours signs closely to get to where they need to go, but just follow them. You may have to do several loops on the clover leaf interchange there, but you’ll be able to get to your destination if you’ll just follow those signs.”
Ramps will be closed and lane closures will be in place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday Signs and message boards directing drivers to a short detour will be in place. Work is weather permitting.
Officials are investigating an area water issue.
According to a press release from Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul’s office, the Kentucky Emergency Response Team and the Kentucky Division of Water are investigating to determine the source and substance of contamination of Big Spring in the Upton area.
The judge/executive’s office says: “There is confidence that no drinking water is affected, and no public health warnings are in effect.”
Concerns about well water should be directed to the Kentucky Division of Water at 502-564-3410.
UPDATE 8/20/24: The Elizabethtown Police Department has confirmed that Christopher Elder died Monday evening as a result of injuries he sustained from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head during a standoff with police.
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Two people are dead and another is injured following a shooting in a parking lot across from the Hardin County Justice Center Monday, and the suspect is hospitalized after a vehicle pursuit ended with him shooting himself.
The Elizabethtown Police Department said Christopher Elder is currently hospitalized in critical condition.
Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompsion said during a press conference that shortly before 9 a.m. Monday 911 calls came in reporting the shooting.
“We were on scene within a minute, and located three victims while we were down there, and the suspect had fled the scene, obviously armed and dangerous,” Thompson said. “We began working to find that individual. We later identified him as Christopher Elder.”
The EPD said 37-year-old Erica Riley of Elizabethtown was pronounced dead at the scene. Her mother, 71-year-old Janet Riley of Hardinsburg, died as a result of her injuries at an area hospital. A third victim is currently hospitalized in stable condition.
Thompson said Elder had been in a relationship with one of the victims, later identified as Erica Riley.
“At no time was this a threat to anyone other than the individuals that were involved,” Thompson said. “This was a domestic-related incident. There was a hearing at the courthouse this morning stemming from previous incidents, and we believe it was isolated to the individuals that were involved.”
Thompson described the shooting as an ambush-style attack, and Elder’s vehicle had been seen waiting around the area ahead of the shooting.
The Hopkinsville Police Department said in a Facebook post that their officers along with officers from the Christian County and Muhlenburg County sheriff’s offices and the Kentucky State Police pursued a male subject, identified by the EPD as Elder, after he fled the Elizabethtown area. The HPD said that at multiple times during the pursuit Elder pointed a rifle at pursuing officers. Elder then pointed the rifle at himself after pulling into a church parking lot near the intersection of Greenville and Judges Chapel roads, and after about 90 minutes of negotiations with police he shot himself in the head. Elder was transported to Vanderbilt Hospital.
The EPD is investigating the shooting, while Kentucky State Police Post 2 is investigating the pursuit and standoff.
The staff at the Hodgenville Police Department are enjoying their new digs.
“The city had the opportunity to purchase the old DWE building located at 1250 Old Elizabethtown Road at the corner of KY 210 and Northridge Circle here in town,” said Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson. “It’s a big building. We have an administrative portion of the front and a large warehouse in the back along with an impound lot area that’s fenced in next to the building.”
That’s Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson. The new location was an opportunity for two city departments to get more space.
“It was a little bit too big for us, and a bit too big for maintenance, but together we’re going to share it, so we’re in the front and we share the back portion of the building with the Maintenance Department,” Richardson said.
Richardson said after splitting some services between the old and new locations things are just about at 100 percent at the new office.
“We moved in last week, and we’ve got everything up here,” Richardson said. “We’ve got a few more minor things to get done, some housekeeping issues. We’re constructing a little bit of this, that, and the other, but everything we need is here, so we’re actually moved into the building.”
The Hodgenville Police Department plans to host an open house at the new building once things are fully installed.
An Elizabethtown factory was highlighted during Governor Andy Beshear’s Team Kentucky update Thursday.
The governor congratulated LOTTE Aluminum Materials USA for beginning the hiring process to fill 122 full-time jobs at their Elizabethtown facility.
Governor Beshear said LOTTE’s commitment to Elizabethtown is a product of the state’s strong relationship with South Korea. He said LOTTE has connections across the globe that can benefit the state.
“I got to visit the company when I was in Seoul just about a month ago, and the opportunity to have such a sophisticated company open up a facility in Kentucky gives us the opportunity for growth over time,” Beshear said. “This is a big win for us, and we’re going to make sure it’s a big win for this company, and we can’t wait for the decades to come and how this partnership grows and evolves.”
LOTTE announced plans to build a $238.7 million aluminum foil manufacturing facility in Hardin County in 2022. The facility will produce cathode foil, a core material used in EV batteries.
Production Manager Germain Smith spoke during the update and said support from the state and from LOTTE’s Korean headquarters will allow employees to hit the ground running.
“We have been fortunate to have the ability to start investing in our employees from the beginning,” Smith said. “By partnering with the local community college and Kentucky Trains, this opportunity has allowed us to build custom training programs for our employees to participate in.”
Smith said partnerships with Elizabethtown Community and Technical College have also proven beneficial, including training for Korean employees on American culture and for American employees on Korean culture.
A Hart County company was given probation and a fine for environmental violations.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky says Logsdon Valley Oil Inc., also known as Hart Petroleum, was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $100,000 for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says court documents show that in 2019 Logsdon Valley Oil discharged brine water from oil and gas production into sinkholes without a permit, threatening the quality of groundwater in the area. It was noted that the company was previously convicted of violating the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2013.
A representative from the Environmental Protection Agency said sentencing companies like Logsdon Valley Oil is important in order to demonstrate to companies that the EPA and local law enforcement will take action to protect communities and local water supplies.
Information on the Safe Drinking Water Act can be found on the EPA’s website.
A late-summer staple in Elizabethtown will return next weekend.
“The Heartland Homecoming Parade is Saturday, August 24,” said Elizabethtown Events Manager Beth Pyles. “Step off is at 10 a.m. This will be the 41st event for the Heartland Homecoming Parade. We step off on the square and travel north on Dixie Highway, ending at St. John Road.”
The theme for this year’s parade is “Hello Hollywood.”
“We are very excited about that, and some of the floats that you will see will be showing some of the latest and greatest favorite Hollywood stars, so we’re very excited about the entries we have this year,” Pyles said. “We have over 70 entries in the parade this year.”
The entertainment theme fits in well with the selection of this year’s parade Grand Marshal Betty Marsee, the former co-president of Youth Theatre of Hardin County.
“Her name is synonymous with Youth Theatre of Hardin County, and her and her late husband led the board as a team until she retired,” Pyles said. “The impact that they’ve had on our community is immense, and we could not think of someone more fitting to be the grand marshal, especially with the theme of ‘Hello Hollywood.’”
Road closures in the area of the parade began at 7 a.m. on August 24. The parade is set to begin at 10 a.m. Visit the Events page on the City of Elizabethtown website for more information.
A man wanted by the Hodgenville Police Department since late July is in custody after a multi-week search.
Conor Creekmore had warrants out for his arrest for Trafficking a Controlled Substance within 1000 Yards of a School. Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson said their investigation found that a work detail out on work release from the LaRue County Detention Center came to be in possession of nicotine products and methamphetamine, and the investigation found that Creekmore had driven the drugs to a drop-off outside the LaRue County Board of Education building.
“We applied for warrants and received an arrest warrant for Trafficking a Controlled Substance within 1,000 Yards of a School, and when we attempted to serve it we were unable to locate him the first time we tried, and then every subsequent attempt after that he fled prior to the officers actually making contact with him,” Richardson said.
The search for Creekmore resulted in additional arrests, including the arrest of Creekmore’s girlfriend Jessica Seabolt.
“We contacted his family and his girlfriend and explained to them again, ‘don’t be helping him or trying to find him,’” Richardson said. “They said they didn’t know anything about anything, and then we come to find out, a few minutes later, we located a phone that had been abandoned by Mr. Creekmore in the woodline and his girlfriend had contacted him with a message that the police were there and coming back into the woods and that he needed to run, and we were unable to locate him again that night, so she was subsequently arrested for Hindering.”
Creekmore was eventually tracked down with assistance from other area law enforcement Wednesday.
“On a tip, the Elizabethtown Police Department located him at an address on South Dixie Avenue Wednesday evening and took him into custody, and he was promptly brought back to LaRue County and lodged in the LaRue County Jail,” Richardson said.
Another suspect that was wanted for questioning in Creekmore’s disappearance, John C. Arnold, was located Thursday.