COMMUNITY RECORDER
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER B1
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Bellevue, Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Newport, Southgate E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, A u g u s t 1 3 , 2 0 0 9
Hailey Daniel and Halie St. John
ajoering@nky.com
Young ‘explorers’
The appeal of a career fighting fires and saving lives draws young people into Alexandria Fire District’s explorer program where they learn from the boots-up about the profession. For ages 14 to 21, the program is in its third year. “What kid when they were little didn’t want to be a firefighter and ride on the big red trucks?” said Lt. John Seitz, adult adviser of the district’s 14 explorers. “I know I did.”
B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
Monmouth Street in Newport is a hot spot for new businesses these days. In the past few months, six businesses have opened on the street, the heart of the Newport Downtown Renaissance District. “We’ve had some businesses close in the past six months, but to have six open is great,” said Bob Yoder, Newport’s Main Street Coordinator. “We have some businesses relocating from other cities and some brand new businesses opening up.” Yoder said these businesses, which serve a wide variety of needs, are just the beginning and other businesses are talking about moving into town also. In the 600 block of Monmouth, patrons can get their fresh fruits, vegetables and other food items at Peluso’s Produce & Plants, owned by the Peluso family.
After selling their goods at the local farmer’s market, Louis Peluso said the family decided to open the store on Monmouth Street to serve more people. “This is something we’ve talked about for a while,” Peluso said. “We want to have a storefront where we can bring homegrown items back into the city.” A couple blocks away, patrons can get personalized nutrition plans, get into shape and buy nutrition supplements at Wiefit. Wiefit, owned by Brian Wiefering, began about two years ago in a basement developing personalized diets for people, said David Pertuset, manager at Wiefit. When they found the empty space on Monmouth Street, they decided to open up a public shop. “We decided to get some exercise equipment to expand our services,” Pertuset said. “Soon, we’re going to be featuring Wiefit Approved Meals at local restaurants.”
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
Louis Peluso from Peluso's Produce & Plants on Monmouth Street arranged a display of fresh tomatoes. The store, which opened in July, is one of six businesses that recently opened on Monmouth Street.
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
David Pertuset, a manager at Wiefit, works on a personalized diet plan in the business's new location on Monmouth Street.
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 which community they live in. Photos will appear on your community page and may even make it into your local newspaper, so start sharing today!
To place an ad, call 283-7290.
Wiefit, which is located at 842 Monmouth St., is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Peluso’s Produce & Plants, which is located at 627 Monmouth St., is open from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Monmouth Street’s other new businesses include Knit On! at 735 Monmouth St., Rick Lohre Photography at 842 Monmouth St., Fan Mail Marketing at 844 Monmouth St. and Purple Trout at 336 Monmouth St.
Bellevue residents want post office to stay By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
After hearing that the United States Post Office is looking at closing some offices in Northern Kentucky, including the one in Bellevue, residents are speaking out. From joining Facebook groups to filling out questionnaires, Bellevue residents are doing what they can to stop the office from closing. “We just think that our community would be adversely affected if they were to close our post office,” said City Councilman Tom Ratterman, who started a group on Facebook called “Save the Bellevue, KY Post Office.” Ratterman said the group, which currently has more than 190 members, is dedicated to doing what they can to stop the closing, which he heard could be as early as September.
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
The Bellevue post office, located at the corner of Taylor Avenue and Center Street, is one of four Northern Kentucky post offices that may be closing. “We have elderly people and businesses in our community that depend on that post office,” Ratterman said. “I always see people
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Six new businesses open on Monmouth By Amanda Joering Alley
Volume 13, Number 25 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Web site: NKY.com
coming in and out of there.” Jeff Sharp, owner of Sharp Technologies, Inc. in Bellevue, said closing the post office would
negatively affect his business because they use it a lot to send invoices and receive payments. “Having to notify all of our clients that our post office box is closed would cost money and be a hassle,” Sharp said. “Over the years, we’ve had problems getting mail at our physical address and when you’re depending on a check to come, you don’t want it to be blowing down the street.” Sharp, who has been in Bellevue most of his life, said everyone he has talked to hasn’t had anything negative to say about the post office and doesn’t want to see it close. “I don’t think they realize how much it will affect the people who live and work here,” Sharp said. Ratterman said the other city officials are also against closing the office and are looking at what they can do to stop it.