BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT B1 Your Community Recorder newspaper serving the communities of southern Campbell County Tom Funke and Oliver Comstock of Funke Fired Arts
Volume 4, Number 41 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
E-mail:kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, A u g u s t
6, 2009
cmayhew@nky.com
See photos of where your neighbors have traveled with their Alexandria Recorder this summer. LIFE, B1
Share your vacation photos
Whether you’re headed to the beach or the mountains this summer, we want to publish your vacation photos. To get started, go to NKY.com/Share and follow the steps there to send your photos to us. Be sure to identify everyone in the photo and what community they live in. Photos will appear on your community page and may even make it into your local newspaper, so start sharing today!
Charge it
The Campbell County’s Circuit and District court clerk’s office has started taking credit card payments for driver license fees, traffic fines and court costs. Credit card machines went into use July 27 in the circuit and district clerk’s offices in Newport and the driver license offices in Newport and Alexandria. NEWS, A2
Web site: NKY.com
B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
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Board members wary of facility politics By Chris Mayhew
Readers on vacation
RECORDER
Campbell County School District leaders were puzzled when Grant’s Lick Elementary School was listed as a renovation project that would be funded with about $4.4 million if legislators approved a statewide gambling measure this spring. District officials weren’t unhappy with the idea of fixing up the elementary school, but the building is in relatively good shape, and it wasn’t one of the priorities listed in the district’s own facilities plan, said Superintendent Anthony Strong. Plus, the cost for the renovations was about $1 million more than the district estimated, Strong said. “When I saw those dollar amounts in there I was like, ‘What in the world? Where did they come up with this?’” he said. Legislators pushing for gambling to pass had taken the dollar amount the district had approved for its facilities plan for Grant’s Lick two years earlier and asked Kentucky Department of Education officials to estimate what it would cost to do the project now, Strong said. The legislators had taken the worst and second worst-rated schools in terms of age of the building and what it would require to renovate the school, he said. The legislators’ plan also didn’t provide facilities funding for all districts, and it didn’t take into account districts who have taken care of their older buildings. “They were saying if we tied some of this money to school construction, maybe somebody would vote for gambling,” Strong said. It’s more important for the state to adequately fund education through the funding formula
“When I saw those dollar amounts in there I was like, ‘What in the world? Where did they come up with this?’”
Superintendent Anthony Strong
that’s in place, he said. Campbell County and other public school districts in Northern Kentucky are all near the very bottom in funding per student in state-wide rankings across, Strong said. Legislators continue to fail to address the real problem of fixing the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) formula, said board member Rich Mason. As property value assessments go up, growing districts like Campbell County have gradually received less state funding yearly, he said. Some districts, including Fort Thomas, can envision the day that local property taxes will have to pay for about 100 percent of school funding, Mason said. The seek formula was supposed to be an equalizer because most of the rural schools were at a disadvantage, but now districts in this part of the state are being put at a disadvantage, he said. “We need them to look at changing the formula, not just throw out a few buildings here (and) there,” Mason said. While it would be nice to have a newly renovated elementary school in Grant’s Lick, there is a question of whether that would be a wise decision that wasn’t considered by legislators, said board member Mike Combs. “The bigger question is why wouldn’t you ask the superintendents or the local boards before you pondered up this which amounted to hundreds of millions in school spending,” Combs said.
Flying in
CHRIS MAYHEW/STAFF
Zac Holtkamp, 16, of Alexandria takes the final step across the finish line to take first place with a winning time of exactly 18 minutes in the Blue Jay 5K/Run at St. Joseph Parish in Cold Spring Saturday, Aug. 1. Holtkamp is a member of Bishop Brossart High School's cross country team. The second place winner, Andy Wolfer, 16, of Alexandria is also on Brossart's track and cross country teams, and finished with a time of 18 minutes and 11 seconds. Brad Dunlevy, 35, of Newport finished in third with a time of 18 minutes and 17 seconds. In the front of the picture below are Karen Toll of Wilder wearing No. 1264 and Tom Rawe of Cold Spring wearing No. 1242.
Fair board preparing for spotlight By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
Camp Camel
With help from the Girl Scouts, the unfamiliar world of a new and bigger school becomes a little less daunting during the annual Camp Camel for students preparing to enter sixth grade at Campbell County Middle School About 300 students, or almost 75 percent of the incoming sixth grade students, attended this year’s Camp Camel. SCHOOLS, A6
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With a new stage and covered seating area for audiences to watch pageants and listen to live music and karaoke, the 153rd Alexandria Fair and Horse Show is being planned with a “That’s entertainment” theme. This year’s fair starts with the annual parade down Washington Street to the fairgrounds in Alexandria at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2. Country singer and nightclub owner Bobby Mackey will be the grand marshal, and parade floats will keep with the entertainment theme, said Valerie Sanzenbacher, an associate member of the fair board who organizes both the parade and the baby contests. The new stage will help pageant contestants and the audience stay out of the sun, she said. “The audience, they’re going to
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Pageant sign-ups
Registration for all baby, beauty and other fair pageants will be conducted at the offices at the Alexandria Fairgrounds on two dates. The first registration date will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, and the second date will be from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27. be under cover with this stage, it’s going to be a lot cooler,” Sanzenbacher said. The fair will continue through Monday, Sept. 7, but besides the new stage, most everything else will remain the same as in past years at the fair, said fair board member Rick Fugate. There will be a “Back Seat Driver” blindfolded cart driving contest, and wheelbarrow races immediately after the parade Sept. 2, Fugate said. And Friday, Sept. 4 will feature hat contests in categories including hats made of food, western hats, and “craziest” hats. The annual fair also features
beauty pageants, horse shows and contests, judged livestock contests, an exhibit hall for homemade foods, handmade textiles and crops, and a midway full of rides. “People just enjoy the fellowship and having a good old time for a week,” Fugate said. Fugate has become known in recent years for his parade antics while wearing a set of bib overalls and straw hat. “I rode the stick pony one year, and one year I was collecting the horse manure at the end of (the parade),” he said. Fugate pushed a wheelbarrow through the parade with a Bank of
Kentucky representative riding in the bucket who tossed out candy. “The cat isn’t out of the bag what I’m going to be or do this year,” Fugate said. “That’s got to be the surprise.” There are 15 elected fair board members, and about 50 associate members who do much of the grunt work of really making the fair happen, Fugate said. “You know when the fair is nearing the board members are all stressing out up at the Spare-Time Grill trying to plan it,” he said. “Trying to make sure everything falls into place.” The Spare-Time is also where a running joke about the fair’s nickname of “The World’s Fair” has its roots, Fugate said. “All the locals will say ‘Well how’s The World’s Fair coming today?’” he said. The fair is a point of pride for everyone, Fugate said.
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