Local News

Elizabethtown Mayor Tim Walker presented a budget proposal Tuesday evening that could pose as a doppelganger to the 2010-11 budget, separated by only $200,000.

The $57.5 million budget dips just under the $57.7 million plan approved last year and includes a $3.8 million deficit in the general fund that will be offset by reserves, which Finance Director Steve Park estimated at $22 million.

It started with classic rock giants Foreigner, and it begins anew this Friday as the Heartland Music Festival overtakes Freeman Lake Park for a weekend of tradition steeped in musical waters.

“I think the biggest change for us this year is we’ve changed focus,” said René Bell, festival chairwoman.

Bell said festival staples will return again this year, including the Heartland Festival’s annual Saturday morning parade, which starts at Elizabethtown’s Public Square and proceeds north up Dixie Avenue. 

Despite heat above 80 degrees Tuesday morning, Radcliff Police Sgt. Mac Slack intended to run his department’s full eight miles in the Special Olympics Torch Run.

“We’ll see what happens,” Slack said about running in the heat.

Many police officers across Hardin County participated in the torch run. The Hardin County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police started the event, said Darrell Brangers, Hardin County coordinator of the run.

David Hedges of Vine Grove rose from his collapsible chair on North Miles Street in Elizabethtown to attention as the American flag led the annual Memorial Day parade along the road.

His hand was pressed into a salute against a hat that declared him to be a Vietnam War veteran as the flag was marched in front of him with the John Hardin High School band playing a rendition of “America the Beautiful” in the background.