COMMUNITY
RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Northern Kenton County
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014
SOCCER CONTENDERS A8 Notre Dame welcomes back 15 players from last year’s state champs.
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BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS
Many mayors to hand over reins, other races heat up By Melissa Stewart mstewart@communitypress.com
Arnett Elementary fifth-grade students Greg Alread, 10, and Tyler Burk, 10, both of Erlanger, pose for a picture on the first day of school. MELISSA STEWART/THE COMMUNITY RECORDER
Back to school in Erlanger Melissa Stewart mstewart@communitypress.com
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ith backpacks on their shoulders and lunch bags in hand, students headed back to school Aug. 13. Arnett Elementary first-grade student Lexington Wordeman, 6, of Florence, is dressed for success for the first day of school. MELISSA STEWART/THE COMMUNITY RECORDER
Many mayors in Kenton County will be handing over the reins come January 2015. Incumbent mayors of Crescent Springs, Fort Mitchell Fort Wright and Independence are not running for re-election. Many of these incumbents had already announced their retirement form their posts, however Fort Mitchell Mayor Chris Wiest kept his lips sealed on the matter up until the 4 p.m. deadline, when he did not file. “The time has come for me to devote myself to my family and the demands and opportunities of a growing business,” said Wiest, who operates his own law practice. “I humbly thank the people of Fort Mitchell for giving me the wonderful opportunity to serve as their mayor.” Wiest was elected to office in 2010. For the past four years, he said he has dedicated 20 to 30 hours a week to the city in a volunteer capacity. “I’ve been honored to work side-by-side with our police, commonwealth attorney and City Council in shutting down the blighted, crime-infested USA Hotel, replacing it with a $20 million Mercedes Benz dealership that brought jobs and needed revenue to our community, schools and region.” He’s played an active role in expanding the city’s business base,
Wiest
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bringing in St. Elizabeth Physicians to the Chamber Center and recruiting and retaining small- and medium-sized businesses. “We laid the Hummeldorf groundwork for a $200 million development with Christ Hospital and the Drawbridge, with a preeminent mixeduse development that will include high-end jobs, office, retail, new restaurants and, it appears, a unique grocer,” he said. “At the same time, we planned for the future by renovating a city building, providing key space for our public safety personnel, at a fraction of the $12 million cost proposed by the City Council in 2004, and we did so without incurring any debt by managing our budget to come several hundred thousand dollars under budget each year to save for the project.” Competing for the helm this November are current Councilman Jim Hummeldorf and former See RACES, Page A2
Website provides info for Kenton drivers By Amy Scalf ascalf@communitypress.com
COVINGTON — Kenton County Circuit Court Clerk John Middleton knows that getting a driver’s license is tough enough, so he’s giving county residents one place to go for the most up-to-date information. At www.DriveKenton.org, residents can find out how to replace a lost or stolen license, renew a driver’s license, obtain a permit or state identification card and other driver testing information. The site also includes information of the Kentucky Circuit Court Clerks’ Trust for Life, an organ donation organization.
BATTERY HOOPER DAYS Historical actors bring the Civil War era to life. B1
The site was developed by Steve Kitchen, supervisor of the drivers license division in the Kenton County Circuit Court Middleton Clerk’s office. Middleton encourages residents to visit the website before visiting the Covington or Independence locations, at 230 Madison Ave. and 5272 Madison Pike, respectively, to clarify hours of operation and to make sure they have all the required documents to successfully complete their visit. Although drivers can visit the Independence or Covington
Circuit Clerk offices for permits, licenses and state identification cards, written testing for permits and road tests are done at the Kentucky State Police at 645 Stephenson Road, Erlanger. Middleton moved his employees out of the Stephenson Plaza location after a flood in September 2013 and is still looking for another location. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. It wasn’t a good idea to stay there. Unfortunately, moving is a slow and arduous process,” he said. “Getting a license is already difficult for 16-yearolds who are going through this for the first time. I hope the DriveKenton.org website allevi-
RITA’S KITCHEN Preserve summer in a jar with blackberry jam. B3
ates some of the back-and-forth issue for them.” Middleton said people have a lot of questions about his office in general. “Although it says Kenton County, my office is actually a state office, under the auspices of the Administrative Office of the Courts. Another purview is driver’s licenses,” said Middleton. “The county government is not involved. It’s a state office that is in the county. A lot of people get that confused.” The site also incorporates links to the Kenton Circuit Court Clerk’s information on Facebook and Twitter, as well as an email link, and Middleton’s Twitter feed. He said his official site
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through the court system, under www.courts.ky.gov, “has little space for driver’s license information, and little space overall. It’s one of 120 counties, and it’s hard to break out our information.” Middleton said he is working on a new courts site for Kenton County as well, which he hopes to release before January. “Although the courts are part of a pretty complicated system. There are different levels at work.,” he said. “We’re currently working on that. Completing the driver’s license website was a more finite project, in terms of the levels of information needed.” He’s still hoping to move to a new location in or near Independence. Vol. 18 No. 43 © 2014 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
See page A2 for additional information
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