New athletic complex will open this summer
Henderson Assistant City Manager Dylan Ward said the city’s new athletic complex will open this summer, though there isn’t yet a firm date.
He said artificial turf will be put down in April on the four baseball/softball fields and one multipurpose field at the complex.
Bermuda sod will be put down on two other multipurpose fields later and will take about a month before it’s able to be used, Ward said.
Ward was in front of the City Commission Tuesday with numerous requests for change order approval, which the commission granted. The approved additions totaled $118,377. The current total amount of city money spent on the project is $15.1 million.
The project has a price tag of more than $18 million. The city is pursuing other money through naming rights and grants to pay what is not being covered by bonds. That includes a $1 million gift from Henderson County Fiscal Court to pay for lighting at the complex.
Fire Chief commends staff for demanding three months of work
Henderson Fire Department Chief Josh Dixon praised his crews for the above-normal amount of work they’ve taken on so far this year.
Dixon told the Henderson City Commission Tuesday that city fire crews have gone on 903 runs since the beginning of the year. He also said that they’ve responded to 18 structure fires and the average for the time span is 6-9 structure fires.
In one 48-hour span, city fire crews responded to five structure fires. They’ve also responded to a water rescue in which five people were in the Ohio River and a grain bin rescue of Corydon resident John Southard, who was at the meeting.
Man involved in escaped inmate hunt last May is sentenced
James Lee, escapee of the Allen-Oakwood Prison in Ohio, was sentenced to 8-12 years in prison for escape in an Ohio court, according to a news release from Commonwealth’s Attorney Herbie McKee, Jr.
Lee will serve this sentence, plus the 8-year sentence for fleeing/evading police in Henderson and an 18-year sentence he received in 2021 for burglary in Auglaize, Ohio, said the release.
McKee negotiated a deal with the Ohio Governor’s Office for Lee to serve his Kentucky and Ohio sentences in the state of Ohio, saving Kentucky taxpayers his housing costs, said the release.
Lee and another inmate Bradley Gillespie escaped from the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima, Ohio, on May 22. Media reports say the pair hid in a Dumpster to evade prison staff and make the escape.
After the escape, the pair stole a car and traveled 350 miles to Henderson before local law enforcement spotted the Mercury Capri at 3:16 a.m. on May 24 and attempted to pull the vehicle over.
A chase ensued, and the car crashed on Camaro Drive, a street off North Elm near the river. Lee was caught quickly after the crash.
Gillespie, 50, got away. The hunt for him started immediately. His body was found days later in the Ohio River.
Two Henderson men charged in meth trafficking conspiracy
Two Henderson men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Bowling Green for involvement in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, says a release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.
Both Elijah J. Roberts, 25, and Jeremy J. Frey, 49, were charged with conspiring to possess and intent to traffic more than 500 grams of methamphetamine between April 2023 and August 31, 2023, in Henderson County, said the release.
Roberts appeared before a federal judge on March 8, and Frey made an initial appearance before a federal judge on March 21, said the release.
