A recently promoted Hopkinsville Police officer completed a law enforcement academy this week.

A news release from HPD says Sgt. Seth Meek graduated from the Department for Criminal Justice’s Academy for Police Supervision, which is a three week program.

Sgt. Meek finished the program for recently promoted officers that focused on the role of a supervisor, leadership, resolving conflict, managing diversity, monitoring officer performance, professional image, legal issues, ethics and more.

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03/30/2012/am

As March comes to a close and it becomes almost certain the area won’t see any more frozen precipitation for several months, transportation officials can look back at this winter as one of the best ever as far as the pocketbook goes.

Christian County Road Department Superintendent Chuck Chambers says he’s been treating county roads for 25 years and this past winter was the least treacherous of his tenure.

Not only is 80 dollars per ton of salt brine expensive to the county, Chambers cited rising gas prices and the cost of labor that would have had to have been spent, had we had more snow.

This winter was a stark contrast to last year when Chambers had a hard time re-stocking his salt supply while most of the country was demanding more during one of the worst seasons in recent memory.

Some money saved thanks to the warm winter are more difficult to quantify, such as the lack of wear and tare to trucks and other equipment.

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03/30/2012/am

Perhaps a greater awareness of thefts and burglaries in the region has spurred a greater interest in crime prevention, with officials saying membership in local neighborhood watch programs is growing by the day.

Christian County Sheriff’s Captain Chris Miller has been instrumental in helping to organize neighborhood watch groups in communities such as Crofton and Trenton and recently spoke about those endeavors at the Pennyrile Regional Citizens Corps Council meeting.

Captain Miller says the groundwork couldn’t have been laid locally without the help of that organization, which is made up of emergency managers and volunteers with a vested interest in having safer communities.

Captain Miller says the same people volunteering for Community Emergency Response Teams, also known as CERT, are often the same ones interested in being part of a neighborhood watch.

Other communities have recently shown interest in training for their own watch programs, including Dawson Springs and parts of Trigg County.

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03/30/2012/am

A recent audit of Christian County government showed no major problems.

The official audit report released by Kentucky Auditor Adam Edelen says the county’s financial statements fairly present the county’s assets, liabilities and assets.

The only non-compliance issue the audit cites is 15 invoices for food purchases at the jail which weren’t paid for within the required 30 days. State law requires such purchases to be paid in full within that time frame, unless there is a dispute between the county and vendor.

The official county response says invoices are paid from the jail fund as cash flows permit, and that every effort possible will be made in the future to see the county is in compliance.

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03/30/2012/am

Hopkinsville Police are investigating a major burglary on Bryan Street from Thursday.

The incident happened at 311 Bryan Street, where 32-year old Leigh Simpson of Hopkinsville told Officer Edward Eastman that someone broke into the house and took 17-hundred dollars worth of property.

The items included a television, a computer, video game system and several other electronic items. No suspects are listed on the report.

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03/30/2012/am