From A to B

Rail-trail could reduce dependency on cars

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

Some winter days, Jane Hall, 83, puts on long johns and a sweater and two coats before going out. Ignoring the wind, she walks to the grocery store, Dollar General, her bank or her doctor’s office.

Hall walks everywhere. Her habits were forged in the 1930s and ‘40s, in rural parts of the county, when the roads were dirt and mule-driven wagons were common.

Hopkinsville has sped up around her. Now most streets are paved, have high speed limits and are mainly for automobiles. She admits her routes are unsafe, as they lack sidewalks, but she never learned to drive.

“People just too lazy to walk,” she said in her living room. “They’d drive their cars to the mailbox if they could.”

But like most people, she takes infrastructure for granted.

Health dept. could bankroll rail-trail

Director urges board to OK spending $100,000 on project

By Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer

The director of the Christian County Health Department wants to give $100,000 from the reserve fund to Hopkinsville’s rail-trail project.

But most members of the Board of Health fear the health department can’t afford it.

They need to save enough for a “rainy day,” said Dr. Wade Northington, the board’s new chairman. Several board members noted the budget shortfall in this fiscal year, financial troubles with the school nurse program and ongoing delays in Medicaid reimbursement.

The reserve fund has nearly $2.4 million.

Some $650,000 of that will go into the general fund by this summer, but more will come in too, Health Department Director Mark Pyle said.