Fiscal Court: Road department employees receive new radios

 Chris Jackson, LaRue County emergency management/911 coordinator, told magistrates meeting at the courthouse in Hodgenville Jan. 22 that 12 new VHF-band radios have been installed in county road department vehicles, greatly enhancing communication over the airways.

“Before we installed these, we leased our frequency on a trunk line, which can be compared to the old party lines that telephone service used to have,” Jackson said. “Other users on the same frequency as us would interfere with our transmissions.”

Now, however, the road department has its own frequency, like a private phone line Jackson said, that allows clearer transmission and reception. 

“By using our own equipment and tower, we’re also saving about $200 each month,” Tommy Turner, LaRue County judge-executive told members of fiscal court.  Jackson said that the radios cost about $340 each.

Clyde Veirs, county road department supervisor, said his employees were pleased with the efficiency of the radios.

Veirs reported crews sprayed brine on some of the county roads in anticipation of the Jan. 15 ice storm. He said the county has about 450 tons of salt in reserve.

Crews filled potholes on Talley Oak Hill, Jenkins, Knob Schoolhouse, Blanton, Walter Reed, Raine, St. Jochin, Peake, Spaulding and Whelan roads; graded Historical Lincoln Trail, Lewis Lick Hill, and Wayne Ennis roads; cleaned ditches and drains on Peake, Peppers, Airline and Cantrell roads; cut limbs and brush on Wonderland, Historical Lincoln Trail and Wayne Ennis roads, and hauled rock to Historical Lincoln Trail, Wayne Ennis, Farris and to the LaRue County Environmental Education and Research Center on Leafdale Road.

Second district magistrate Ricky Whitlock and third district magistrate Ronald Dale Nunn reported spots on roads in their districts holding water and icing over during the recent cold weather. Whitlock mentioned King’s Road and Nunn, Miller road. 

The court re-appointed Robert Enlow Jr., to a four-year term (January 2013-January 2017) on the Land of Lincoln Planning and Zoning Board.

Magistrates concurred with Planning and Zoning’s approval of one acre of ground belonging to Eugene King at 2480 Old E’town Road from A1 to R1A and three acres at 693 Pleasant Church Road belonging to Dennis Evans from A1 to R1B.

Mike Cottrell, county emergency medical services director, reported 130 ambulance runs for December. The department totaled 1,834 runs for 2012 compared to 1543 the previous year.