By Chris Harris, New Era Staff Writer

Tuesday night’s storm left Hopkinsville with damaged roofs, downed power lines and at least one man with a wrecked truck.

Joe Parrino | Kentucky New Era A storm-toppled tree at 405 Country Club Lane crushed the truck’s cab and trailer Tuesday night.

Building developer Chad Parmley got a phone call at 6:30 this morning and learned that a tree had fallen on his utility truck parked on a construction site at 405 Country Club Lane.

The tree pierced the cab of the truck and damaged the trailer. The custom-built trailer held tools and construction equipment for a house Parmley is remodeling on the lot.

Parmley estimated a new trailer of the same type would cost about $25,000. He sent workers to other sites this morning to check for damage and found no other problems.

Christian County was under a tornado warning Tuesday night, and a severe storm passed through the area. The National Weather Service reported winds of 10 to 14 mph with gusts of 24 mph shortly after midnight.

The heavy winds also tore part of the roof off of the Sandy’s Corner Family Resource Center at Indian Hills Elementary School. Employees were setting up shop this morning in a classroom that was being used for storage and small instructional groups.

“Right now, they’re kind of displaced,” Joan Drury, curriculum specialist at Indian Hills, said. “But they’re working in the building.”

Drury said no classes were affected and “It’s business as usual.”

The storm also took down a power line on Donna Drive, a dispatcher at the Emergency Operations Center said.

Chris Harris can be reached at 887-3262 or charris@kentuckynewera.com.

By Blair Dedrick, New Era Staff Writer

Actions by Hopkinsville City Council Tuesday night smooth the way for a new cable television company and allocate more money for the Boys and Girls Club addition.

In back-to-back actions, council members voted to approve the cable television franchise transfer from Charter Communications to NewWave Communications, authorized NewWave’s provider franchise and accepted the franchise bid from NewWave.

After Charter Cable moved some channels to the more-expensive digital tier and customers began having problems with the system being down, the Cable Television Oversight Authority began to look for a solution, said Councilman Larry Radford, who is also a member of the authority.

“We finally found a way to get results,” he said, referring to the provider switch, which should be complete in mid- to late May.

In addition to talking with live people when he has called the customer service line, Radford said he is happy thus far with NewWave’s willingness to work with Hopkinsville. The company has already done some work locally with extending the cable service to Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School without receiving any revenue from the service.

“I think it’s going to be a good thing for Hopkinsville,” Radford said. “It’s a small company that’s growing fast, and they’ve really been trying to work with us.”

Hopkinsville will be the biggest market for NewWave, which serves much of western Kentucky. The provider intends to return Style, Hallmark and ESPN Classic to the expanded basic tier, while adding Women’s Entertainment, the Outdoor Channel and the Game Show Network. Prices should remain the same, officials said.

The council also approved transferring more than $18,500 for the addition at the Boys and Girls Club at the Walnut Street Center. The money will go to finish a 900-square-foot program room that was originally funded by Community Development Block grants a year ago, said Boys and Girls Club Director Jim Wille.

Since the block fund grants are state money, the project has had to be built to state standards, including adding a fire wall that was not in the original plans.

“Without this money, the project will grind to a screeching halt,” said Mayor Dan Kemp.

In other action, the council approved the stormwater utility credit policy for entities that manage their own water run-off at standards that meet or are better than the city’s and authorized funds for the Tie Breaker Park sign.

Blair Dedrick can be reached at 887-3240 or at bdedrick@kentuckynewera.com.

By Blair Dedrick, New Era Staff Writer

The city-mandated Stormwater Utility fee brought displeasure to Christian County officials Monday at the first of three days of budget request hearings.

While not on the agenda, the fee was brought up during the meeting with the Hopkinsville-Christian County Planning Commission.

“People out in rural Christian County don’t pay city taxes, but when those people pay their county taxes, they are indirectly paying this,” said Judge-Executive Steve Tribble after the meeting. He added that since schools also have to pay the tax, residents may also be affected if the school board decided to raise the school tax.

Officials have not come up with a final estimate of what the new fee will cost the county, but the bill is expected to be less than $20,000.

For the average homeowner, the fees add $3 to the monthly water bill. For an entity such as Christian County, which owns multiple buildings, parks and parking lots throughout the city, the fees add up quickly.

Tribble estimates that fees for Ruff Park alone will be around $250 per month.

While these fees are not directly in the Planning Commission’s proposed budget, $160,000 of all the monies collected by the City of Hopkinsville from this fee go to the commission for wastewater projects.

The Planning Commission works for both the city and the county, making it difficult, said Magistrate Bill Bruce, to know exactly what money goes toward each entity in the form of projects. Bourne’s budget, however, does not ask the county for any increase in basic funding, and the commission plans to use $12,000 out of their reserve funds to balance the budget, up from $10,000 last year.

“This may be one of the last times we come to ya’ll without (asking for) an increase in funding,” Bourne said to the committee.

The Planning Commission budget does ask for an additional $5,000 from the county to go toward the Pennyrile Solid Waste Management Plan, which must be updated every five years to meet state mandates.

In contrast to the Planning Commission’s flat budget request, the road department’s requested budget went up more than $1.46 million. The increase was expected by the budget committee as the April 2 tornado last year put the department behind in paving work, making an aggressive approach this year appropriate, said County magistrate Tom Jones.

The most substantial increase was for asphalt to overlay existing paved roads and for patchwork.

“It’s hard to tell you how much I’m going to need for asphalt patches,” said public works director Chuck Chambers. “It depends on the projects.”

Other budget increases for the road department came with increases in the price of concrete, diesel and petroleum products, along with the need to build a bridge on Cheatham Road, increase salaries in line with cost-of-living and buy a new pick-up truck.

Also presenting budget requests Monday were the Pennyroyal Area Museum, the volunteer fire department and the Pennyroyal Arts Council.

“We have to do the things we have to do statutorily, and I hope we can give people what we gave them in the past because when we give them the same (as in the past), we’re actually cuttin’ ‘em,” said Tribble.

Blair Dedrick can be reached at 887-3240 or at bdedrick@kentuckynewera.com.

By Chris Harris, New Era Staff Writer

The Tie Breaker Family Aquatic Center will be open this Saturday to a select group of area residents. The park’s marketing company, Double Diamond Design (DDD), has placed registration forms around Hopkinsville and on the Internet for a promotional photo shoot to take place after the WHOP’er Egg Hunt.

The first 500 people to turn in the form will be allowed “limited access” to the park’s facilities on Saturday, Nikki Radford, administrative assistant in the City Administrators Office, said.

Visitors will be able to swim and ride the water slides, but only when “directed to do so,” according to the registration form. The photographs and videos will be used in marketing campaign for the park.

The deadline for participation is Thursday. DDD said no one will be admitted Saturday without prior registration to ensure a controlled environment to maximize photo opportunities.

“The only way to control it is by having the registration forms in advance,” said Angela Evans, president of DDD.

The weather service predicts a high of 49 degrees for Saturday, but Evans said she is not worried the weather will keep anyone away.

“Luckily the pool is heated,” she said. “And it’s been my experience (with children) that they’re not afraid to go into cold water.”

The registration form says cold weather or a light rain will not stop the event, but a heavy rain would cancel the photo shoot.

A small staff from Langley and Taylor Pool Management Corporation will be on the set Saturday for the photo shoot. Lynn Sokol, chief executive officer for Langley and Taylor, said staffing is almost complete, but they need a few more lifeguards.

“The concessions staff is pretty much selected,” Sokol said, but the company will continue to accept applications after the opening. Langley and Taylor has not finalized the hot menu for the park.

The soft opening for the water park is still slated for May 24, with the grand opening event on May 26.

Chris Harris can be reached at 887-3262 or charris@kentuckynewera.com.