WULF News

American Legion Hardin Post 113 invites everybody to learn more about the American Legion at their open house, happening Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m.

“We are hosting an open house event to try and show members of the community and some of the younger active duty and recent vets and their families what American Legion is really about,” said Post 113 Adjunct Drew Chitty. “This event is open to all veterans, sons and daughters of veterans, grandchildren, spouses of veterans. You’ll really be surprised who qualifies as a member.”

He says Post 113 wants the public to see that the Legion isn’t just a place for veterans to sit and talk.

“The American Legion is the largest veterans organization in the world, and Post 113 here in Elizabethtown is the largest American Legion in the state of Kentucky,” Chitty said. “We offer so much more like porch parties, trivia nights, Pictionary, live music, karaoke, special events, dances, dance lessons every week. We have charitable gaming and bingo.”

The open house is also an opportunity for service members and families to connect with services they may not have known were available.

“Whether you served 40 years ago or you just recently got out or you’re still serving, we understand and we will do what we can to help,” Chitty said. “We also have one of the only nine accredited Veteran Service Officers in the state of Kentucky on site that will help with transitioning out of the military or for those who need help with filing or updating their VA benefits, free of charge.”

The open house will be followed by a free comedy show, and Chitty noted while the open house is family-friendly the comedy show is not. American Legion Hardin Post 113 is located at 1251 Ring Road in Elizabethtown.

Fort Knox is announcing gate closures ahead of Labor Day weekend.

According to the U.S. Army Fort Knox Facebook page, while the Chaffee Gate will remain open 24/7, the Brandenburg Gate will be closed Friday through Monday and the Wilson Gate will be closed Saturday through Monday. Additionally, the Chaffee Avenue on-ramps to U.S. 31W will be closed Saturday through Monday.

As Fort Knox celebrates Labor Day, an experience typically reserved for Memorial Day weekend will take place Sunday.

“The installation’s long-standing tradition of opening the post’s 121 cemeteries to the public annually has been rescheduled for Sunday, September 1, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” said Fort Knox Garrison Commander Colonel Chris Ricci. “Fort Knox is going to open several access points around the installation perimeter, welcoming visitors who wish to pay their respects to friends and family members that are interred here.”

Inclement weather Memorial Day canceled the usual cemetery visit day in May. Visitors are encouraged to pre-register online for their required pass onto Fort Knox. A cultural resources representative will be available at the Fort Knox visitors center to provide cemetery and access point information.

State officials say Kentucky schools are continuing to make progress towards statewide school safety goals.

The Kentucky Office of the State School Security Marshal on Wednesday released the annual School Safety Risk Assessment Report. According to the report, 1,325 schools across the commonwealth are in compliance with the School Safety and Resiliency Act, a compliance rate of 99.81 percent.

State School Security Marshal Ben Wilcox said in the report that the number of school resource officers assigned to school campuses is 790, a 28 percent increase from last year and a 61 percent increase since House Bill 63 which requires every public school to have a SRO was signed into law.

The State School Security Marshal’s Office compiles the report based on unannounced visits to public schools. This year’s report indicates schools are complying with “mandated access control requirements regarding electronic-locking front doors, surveillance, locked classroom doors, classroom-window coverings, and a threat-assessment team.” Recommendations in the report include education of school staff on social media safety, ensuing up-to-date emergency operations plans, and ensuring training for front office staff on security measures.

Assessments for individual schools are not made public due to safety concerns. Kentuckians are encouraged to report possible threats against school safety to the STOP! Tipline at 1-866-393-6659 or online at safeschools.ky.gov.

After lower temperatures were seen across the area the past few weeks, the heat appears to have returned with a force.

“It sure did rebound here in the opposite direction,” said Meteorologist Mike Kochasic with the National Weather Service in Louisville. “Strong high pressure over the area has resulted in temperatures around 10 degrees, 13 degrees above average, and near record-setting here for the next couple of days.”

 Kochasic says the heat runs through the rest of the week.

“Normal high temperatures for this time of year are in the upper 80s, so when you’re pushing upper 90s to close to 100, that’s definitely well above average,” Kochasic said. “We’re looking at temperatures returning to near average, say, by the weekend. We have a cold front coming in that should bring things back down into the upper 80s.”

The heat prompted Breckinridge County Schools to cancel outdoor after school activity Tuesday. Kochasic says residents should remember to take precautions.

“Especially in direct sun,” Kochasic said. “If you can, if you’re outdoors for any length of time, make sure you take shade breaks, hydrate well, and try to find indoors where it’s cool. That’s all good to prevent heat illness.”

Kochasic also says to be mindful of pets and children, and to always check the backseat to make sure they don’t get left in a locked car.

The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday evening.

City Public Works Director Don Hill gave an update on projects the city’s Public Works Department has been working on. Hill said investment from the city has helped with efficiency in the Sanitary Sewer Department, which completed several installation projects.

“On the sewer construction side, they installed 985 feet of sanitary sewer line, they installed 500 feet of water line at the nature park for the orchard, we just got that completed,” Hill said. “New taps installed: 20. Main line repairs: 33. Cleanouts installed: 9.”

Hill discussed changes in the department such as bringing maintenance of the Elizabethtown City Cemetery in-house, and reviewed other stats such as city paving projects.

“To date, 4.9 miles of city streets have been paved,” Hill said. “They have the schedule and they started on that this week, and there’s 6.63 miles in this next paving schedule, but we also will issue them another one around the end of September, so our target is to get between 12 and 15 miles of paving done.”

Hill said 1,897 loads of brush have been picked up since January, 675 bags of clippings have been collected from residents, and 5,480 bags of litter have been collected along 231.6 miles of city streets. With such a burden already on brush collection equipment and employees, Hill said the department is proposing setting limits on tree removal.

“We’re not saying we want to eliminate picking up trees,” Hill said. “We’re not saying we want to eliminate contractor-cut trees, but what we’re saying is because of the dollars, because of the lead time on parts and the difficulty of getting parts, because of the lead time on buying new equipment, we’re proposing, up for discussion is we’d like to reduce the size of what we pick up and kind of limit that.”

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory supported Hill’s call for limits. He said brush collection is an important service the city provides but he feels some people may be taking advantage of it.

“I would even be willing to bet that some of those contractors figure in, on their bill, removal, and use us as a service to do it, and so they’re making money off of what our services provide, and it’s absolutely destroying a lot of our equipment on the pieces that you’re talking about that are extremely large, so we have to set a standard somewhere,” Gregory said.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet September 3.