WULF News

The Campbellsville University student charged with the murder of another student was in court Wednesday morning.

Charles E. Escalera appeared via Zoom in Taylor County District Court for a preliminary hearing. Escalera is charged with Murder in the death of 18-year-old Josiah Kilman on February 24.

Detective Jeremy Burton with the Campbellsville Police Department was called to testify. Burton said Escalera was interviewed at the police station at around 6:30 p.m. the day of the murder, and after being administered his Miranda rights admitted to taking a life and fleeing the scene. Burton said an audio and video recording of the interview, which lasted about an hour and ended when Escalera requested a lawyer, was recorded.

Burton said surveillance video from the dorm building both Escalera and Kilman lived in showed Escalera enter wearing a backpack and exiting without it, and a backpack belonging to Escalera was found in Kilman’s room.

Burton said there were no known problems between Escalera and Kilman, and there were no other persons of interest in the case. When asked if police had responded to any other incidents at the university involving Escalera, Burton said the CPD was contacted on February 20 regarding an incident in the cafeteria in which Escalera was reportedly acting strangely. Burton said Escalera was taken to the hospital for observation and believed he was released later that day. Burton said the CPD’s investigation is ongoing.

The judge said probable cause existed to present the case to a grand jury. Escalera remains in custody at the Taylor County Detention Center where he is being held on a $2 million bond.

An impact study conducted by the Kentucky Career and Technical College System shows that Elizabethtown Community and Technical College had a positive impact of $176.5 million on the Lincoln Trail District.

“Every dollar that a student spends with us, they get an annual return of $5.90 because of that dollar, and that’s a great annual return on that,” said ECTC President Dr. Juston Pate. “The region actually sees a $10.90 addition for every dollar that is spent at ECTC.”

The college’s annual report for 2023 states that ECTC provided more than 15,800 hours of training for more than 3,100 regional employees. Pate says the impact of ECTC is evident in individuals and the community.

“We think a lot about the individual value that the college adds, and that is our mission,” Pate said. “Our mission is to add value to the lives of our students and then return that value to the community, but it doesn’t stop there, and that’s what I think this impact study kind of shows is through that additional value all of those students do go back out into the community and what is returned to the community is exponentially greater than that individual value.”

ECTC supported students with more than $185,000 in scholarships and $1.5 million in Work Ready Kentucky scholarship funds. More than 1,000 students benefited from more than $28,000 in support through Family Scholar House.

Pate says there is still time this week for anybody looking to begin, continue, or start again on their education to sign up for the second eight-week session of the spring semester, and staff at ECTC are ready to help.

“Things are really getting streamlined,” Pate said. “We still have Work Ready Kentucky scholarship money available, a lot of other scholarships in the college, so really there’s no barrier to anyone who would want to start right now. There’s no barrier that would keep them from starting.”

Visit www.elizabethtown.kctcs.edu for more information.

The Elizabethtown City Council met for their first meeting of the month Monday.

The council approved an inter-local agreement with Hardin County in which the city’s enforcement officer for recovery residences will serve in the same role for the county. Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said city and county officials met to discuss the creation of the city’s recovery residences certification ordinance, and both entities felt it was important to stay ahead of possible problems.

“We didn’t want to implement our certification process and then they move just outside the city limits and continue to operate if they’re not doing what they’re supposed to, and we still have the same problem, so we thought it was in everybody’s best interest for them to pair it or mirror exactly what our ordinance stated in the county, and then it was foolish at the time for them to go hire an inspector with one place,” said Gregory.

Council Member Cindy Walker asked about the city’s ability to renegotiate the agreement if more recovery residences appear in the county. City Attorney Ken Howard said he and County Attorney Jenny Oldham discussed this.

“We kind of intentionally did not include a level of service that the city is going to provide to the county here because it depends not only on how many residences are in the county, currently two, but how many residences we have to deal with,” Howard said.

Council Member Marty Fulkerson ultimately voted in favor of the agreement, but said his previous frustrations almost made him vote no.

“I’ve had my fill with the county not coming to the table,” Fulkerson said. “When we went through this whole thing with this annexation, we couldn’t get any reasonable conversation from county government on this deal, but again the city of E-town comes to the table once again to partner and do what’s right for our community.”

In other meeting news, the council approved a $220,517 bid from Dirt Works Unlimited for the Ridgestone Drive culvert project. RFH CPAs and Associates was hired on a $69,000 per year contract to conduct audits for the city and the Elizabethtown Airport. Gregory also said Andrea Sue Percell and Neelam Patel were re-appointed to the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau board.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet for a work session on March 12.

The Fort Knox Area chapter of the Military Officers Association of America encourages eligible students to apply for their merit-based scholarships for graduating seniors.

“Our scholarship is available to graduating seniors attending the local high schools,” said Fort Knox Area MOAA Scholarship Chairman Dick Ardisson. “That would be Fort Knox, Hardin, Meade, and LaRue counties, Elizabethtown Independent, Faith Homeschool, and North Hardin Christian School. So we cover all the high schools in our service area.”

Applicants must be a family member of an active duty, Guard, or reserve military service member; a family member of a 20-year or medically retired or deceased active duty, Guard, or reserve service member; or the grandson or granddaughter of a retired active duty, Guard, or reserve service member. Rank of service member is not a factor.

Ardisson said the available scholarships are a great opportunity.

“We’re giving out $14,500 in scholarships this year, and that includes one for $3,000, one for $2,500, two for $2,000, and two for $1,500, and as we did a couple years ago one of our sister organizations, the Military Order of the World Wars, is also putting up a $1,500 scholarship, so we’ve got a grand total of $16,000 in scholarships available spread across eight scholarships.” Ardisson said.

The deadline to apply for the MOAA scholarships is coming up near the end of this month.

“The scholarship applications were sent to the high school counselors at those high schools that I mentioned early in January, and the suspense date to have them postmarked is the 29th of March,” Ardisson said.

Check with your guidance counselor’s office for more information.

The first week of March is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Kentucky, an opportunity for residents, schools, and businesses to review plans and prepare for the possibility of severe weather.

“Severe weather can occur at any time of the year and brings a variety of hazards and impacts to Kentucky from tornadoes to flooding and high winds, but this is the perfect time to plan and prepare before severe weather strikes,” said Meteorologist Evan Webb with the National Weather Service in Louisville. 

Part of Severe Weather Awareness Week is the statewide tornado drill, which will take place Wednesday, March 6 at 10:07 a.m. Eastern and 9:07 a.m. Central.

“This is a great opportunity for everyone to practice your tornado safety plan, whether you’re at home, school, or work,” said Webb. “If there is a threat of actual severe weather that day the drill will be postponed to a fair weather day so as to not cause confusion, but it is a coordinated statewide test for all of us to collectively have a chance to prepare for severe weather. It’s a chance to practice for a tornado and it’s not as often you get a chance to practice for something like that.”

Residents can find more information on creating safety plans and other tips by visiting the National Weather Service in Louisville’s website.

“We have a link at the top of our page on Kentucky Severe Weather Awareness Week so that folks can go to that page,” Webb said. “You can find a wealth of safety information on how to receive warnings, and on all sorts of different hazards from tornadoes and flooding to lightning, hail, recreational safety like while you’re boating and camping, even beach safety.”

In the event of severe weather, be sure to follow emergency responders and area media, including Quicksie and The Wolf, to stay up to date on weather conditions.