Coronavirus puts brakes on traffic issues

As Marion residents continue to emerge from the pandemic lockdown, behaviors will change and policing will certainly pick up, but for the past three months criminal activity and other problems like car crashes have predictably been way down.

Marion Police Chief Ray O’Neal said it has been the “quietest three months” in his 21-year career on the police force.

His officers wrote no traffic tickets during the month of April. That ties a record, at the very least.

“I don’t ever remember us having a month where .... for the rest of this article, see this week's printed edition of The Crittenden Press.

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UPDATED: OPEN: Winds close Cave In Rock Ferry

UPDATE: Cave In Rock Ferry reopened at 7pm Wednesday evening.

ORIGINAL POST
Cave In Rock Ferry is temporarily closed due to high winds.

Winds pushing up the Ohio River are at about 20 mph out of the west at the ferry crossing.

When the wind runs upstream like it is today, it can create hazardous river conditions.

The ferry halted operations at 10 a.m., and based on the forecast of high winds throughout the day, it's unknown when it might reopen.

If the ferry is unable to resume service today, operations will resume at 6 a.m., Thursday, on the normal schedule.

The annual HogRock biker rally starts Thursday, which generally means high ferry traffic.

HogRock Across the River this Week

The motorcycle rally in Cave In Rock, Ill., known as HogRock will be held this week.

The event runs from Thursday through Sunday. It customarily draws a large crowd, including bikers and bike enthusiasts from all over the United States.

Motorists here should be aware of additional motorcycle traffic on roads in Crittenden County as bikers converge on the southern Illinois town across the Ohio River.

Community Christmas needs help now!

Yep, it’s already that time and volunteers are needed each Friday through July.

Call Crystal Wesmoland at 270-965-3525 or CLICK HERE to sign up if you can help on Fridays.

Poles and Barrels at Fairgrounds

Crittenden County Fairgrounds will host a NBHA Jackpot Barrel and Pole Show on Friday, June 19.

The sanctioned event will open for training at 4:30 p.m., and the show will begin at 7 p.m.

There will be warmup barrels and poles, pee wee and youth divisions and adult and open classes.

For more information, call Mandy Hunt at 270-871-9957.

City street paving starts this week

About 20 city streets will be getting some much-needed attention over the next few days.
 
  Read this week's full edition of The Press to find out which streets are getting the attention

Paving projects will temporarily disrupt traffic in some areas.

Improvement projects will be conducted in several parts of the city. Some of the work is connected to the ongoing sewer system upgrade. Construction last fall and winter on the sewer collection system left some streets damaged. Those will be fixed and then others will be repaired as part of local and state-funded projects.

Marion received $150,000 last fall from the Kentucky Department of Transportation to pave Country Club Drive. The city completed base repairs there earlier this spring. The new pavement will go from U.S. 60 West to U.S. 641 along Country Club and Industrial drives.

Additionally, there will some state mutual aid street repairs. Marion received about $60,000 for this summer’s work.

Marion City Administrator Adam Ledford says paving by Rogers Group will begin on Tuesday and take about a week if weather cooperates.

Tourism will introduce budget for passage

Social distancing at tourism meeting.

Marion Tourism Commission spent almost three hours at its recent meeting working through the first draft of a budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

The group discussed developing a new part-time job description and some cost-cutting measures, including the elimination of its funding for Marion Main Street, Inc. The Main Street director, Susan Alexander, had also served as an office assistant to the tourism commission.

The commission’s spending plan which will be introduced for final passage at a meeting on Tuesday, June 9. For more details on the commission's proposed budget, see our full edition of The Crittenden Press.  You can subscribe online to the full version of the newspaper for only $2.95 a month. Click here to subscribe.

Smithland Bridge Restrictions Start Tuesday

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans a daytime work zone lane and load width restriction on the U.S. 60 Cumberland River Bridge at Smithland starting Tuesday, June 9.

This daytime work zone is to allow a detailed inspection of U.S. 60 Cumberland River Bridge.

Motorists should be prepared to encounter one-lane traffic with alternating flow controlled by flaggers between approximately 8 a.m., and 4 p.m., each day. Due to the placement of equipment on the bridge deck required to facilitate the work, this work zone will include an 8-foot maximum load width.

Motorists should use appropriate caution where equipment, flaggers, and inspection personnel are on the bridge in close proximity to traffic flow. The inspection team will use climbers to help speed completion of the inspection process.

This work zone lane restriction is expected to be in place during daylight hours through about Friday, June 12.

All Kentucky bridges get a detailed inspection every two years with long-span river and lake bridges getting an extra walk-through inspection annually.

The U.S. 60 Cumberland River Bridge at Smithland, also known as the Lucy Jefferson Lewis Memorial Bridge and the Smithland Bridge, is at U.S. 60 Livingston County mile point 12.348. The 1,817 ft. through truss structure was opened to traffic in 1931. About 5,100 vehicles cross the bridge in an average day.

The bridge is at Cumberland River navigation mile point 2.7.

Eighth COVID-19 case confirmed here

Crittenden County has another positive case of COVID-19, bringing the county’s total since the pandemic began to eight cases.

The latest case is a 65-year-old man.

Since May28, there have been three new confirmed cases announced in Crittenden County.

Since COVID-19 testing started here in March, one person who tested positive has died. Five of the remaining eight have recovered.

Of those testing positive here to date, four have been women and four have been men. A 37-year-old woman is the youngest, and first under 40, to test positive. The female who died was 59 and had underlying health issues.

School Board Working Session Tuesday

Crittenden County Board of Education will have a work session at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 9 at Rocket Area.

Working sessions are informational only and no action can be taken during these meetings.

The school board will meet in regular session at 5:30 p.m., on Tuesday,  June 18 at Rocket Arena.

Yard Sales, Auctions coming back

Yard sales are back!

Local residents are already hosting and planning yard sales. See this week's Newspaper Classifieds for yard sales in your area.

Contact The Press today to advertise your upcoming yard sale. Call us at 270-965-3191 or do it online under the My Ads menu bar at The-Press.com.

City and county leaders urge residents to continue exercising caution and obeying social distancing and sanitization protocols as yard sales and auctions restart.

Read more about yard sales and public auctions in this week’s full edition of The Crittenden Press. Subscribe now for the full e-Edition or our traditional printed edition, starting as low as $2.95.

Candidates file for fall; primary voting today

Machine voting for the June primary election may begin today during normal business hours at the Crittenden County Courthouse.

Due to COVID-19, Kentucky’s May primary election was postponed until June 23. On Election Day, there will be only one voting precinct open in Crittenden County. Generally, there are a dozen precincts scattered around the county, but because of fears of spreading the coronavirus, Kentucky has decided to allow absentee balloting for everyone, which it hopes will cut down the number of people voting on Election Day.

Crittenden County Clerk Carolyn Byford said voters should bring a driver’s license or some sort of identification to the courthouse if they’d like to machine vote between now and June 23. A voting area has been set up in the clerk’s office.

While voting gets underway for the primary, a filing deadline passed on Tuesday for the fall election. School board incumbents Chris Cook, Tim Grau and Bill Asbridge each filed to run in the non-partisan race during the general election in November.

Also, six city council incumbents Dwight Sherer, Mike Byford, Donnie Arflack, D’Anna Browning, Phyllis Sykes and Darin Tabor have filed to seek re-election. A seventh candidate, Casey Winstead, will also be on the ballot. Winstead is a local hairdresser. Six of the seven will be elected.

What will Back to School Look Like?

CrittendenPress NewsTalk : Back to School

Today's show is sponsored by Marion Tourism Commission MarionKentucky.org. 

Our guest is Crittenden County School Superintendent Vince Clark who discusses preliminary planning for the fall semester. Your host is Press editor Chris Evans.

Go to the Marion Kentucky Facebook Page, Like and Follow!

Dycusburg theft investigation

Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the theft of several items from a van parked at a residence in Dycusburg.

The incident happened last Thursday night. Deputy Ray Agent said someone broke out a window and took tools and numerous other items from the vehicle which was parked off of Spring Street.

Anyone with information can call 270-965-3500 and remain anonymous.

Fitness Anytime reopens with safety guidelines

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Exercise enthusiasts will be happy to know that Fitness Anytime is open after more than two months of closure due to COVID-19.

Social distancing is required and diligence with sanitizing is expected, but the facility returned to 24/7 access June 1. Sanitizing spray and towels are provided; however, gym members are encouraged to bring personal sweat towels, as they are not provided at this time.

The tanning booth is also open. Masks are encouraged in the facility but not required.

To learn more about the gym or membership rates, call (270) 965-5803.

Water issues in Marion

UPDATE
The water situation has been rectified and a boil water order will NOT be required.

ORIGINAL POST
There is a water distribution issue in Marion and customers are experiencing low water pressure.

City officials say they are assessing the situation at this time.

Stay tuned for further details.

Back to School Survey

The start of school in the fall will likely look different than ever before. Crittenden County School District say it continues to receive guidance from the governor's office and the Kentucky Department of Education, but it also values input from the communtiy. The district has made available online a very short anonymous survey about possible scenarios for the 2020-2021 school year.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE SURVEY

Your responses will help can help the school district plan for the new school year.

“We realize that your answers are likely to change as the summer evolves, so we will be sending out another survey in July,” the district said in an annoucement about the survey. “This early survey will help us develop tentative plans, however, so we would appreciate your feedback. As always, our students' health and safety remain our top priorities, and we thank you for partnering with us to achieve those goals.”

Driver Testing Resumes in Area

Kentucky State Police Driver Testing Branch announced today that it will resume permit testing in select counties where the required CDC/Healthy at Work guidelines can be adhered to.

While Crittenden County is not among the sites where license testing is available, nearby Lyon and Livingston will be restarting.

In an effort to ensure the safety of permit applicants and staff, we have implemented a registration process where everyone will be required to schedule a specific date for their permit test. KSP will begin taking appointments, by phone, on Tuesday, June 2, 2020.

For a listing of counties currently offering permit testing and the contact information, click the link below.

http://kentuckystatepolice.org/drivers-testing/

There you will find a list of current open test locations and the phone number for the KSP Drivers Test Administrator or clerk at each location. Please be patient as phone lines are limited and we anticipate high call volumes.

More information will be distributed as additional counties are added to our list. Please visit the KSP website periodically to see when your county will begin permit testing. We anticipate an announcement at a later date regarding road tests to begin in July.

Shred Day Saturday in Marion

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On Saturday, Farmers Bank & Trust will be offering a free shredding service. The practice of shredding documents is suggested rather than simply throwing personal information into the trash to protect you from identity theft.

Between 9 a.m.-noon, individuals can bring up to 100 pounds of documents to be shredded.

Social distancing will be observed, and workers will be wearing masks and gloves.

The service will be offered rain or shine.

Seventh Positive COVID case

The department of health has confirmed a new case of COVID-19 in Crittenden County. This is the seventh confirmed case since the pandemic began.

Judge-Executive Perry Newcom says the new case is a 37-year-old Marion woman, who is self-isolating at home.

Newcom also said that at least one individual associated with a previous positive case, and required to be under quarantine, is not abiding by prescribed restrictions. He said the county is exploring is legal remedies to deal with the matter.