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Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Florence E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, J u l y 1 6 , 2 0 0 9
Marty Herbert at the Boone County Senior Center.
jbduke@nky.com
Thanks for voting
Northern Kentucky residents have made their choice for the very best in The Community Recorder’s first annual Readers’ Choice Awards. We’re counting thousands of votes and will announce the winners in a special publication in August. Winners of the Kings Island tickets won’t have to wait, however. Those local residents will be announced in next week’s Florence Recorder.
More than 100 new jobs may be flying into Florence. City Council will vote next week on the first reading of a tax credit through the Kentucky Jobs Development Act (KJDA) for ASTAR Air Cargo Inc. According to ASTAR’s Web site, ASTAR is a charter airline that provides expedited freight service. If approved, ASTAR will
July 13-20, we're giving away $75 a day and two grand prizes of $500 each. Check the site to see if you're a winner! More info: MomsLikeMe.com/ cincycontests.
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 Cincinnati.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 paper, so start sharing today!
Cook featured
Tracey Bright, of Florence, is featured in the fourth Cincy MomsLikeMe.com cookbook sponsored by bigg’s. The cookbook features 27 recipes from local chefs ranging from summertime appetizers and entrées to desserts. Bright’s contribution to the book is her cranberry summer salad with homemade balsamic dressing. – LIFE, PAGE B1
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B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
set up its regional headquarters in the Turfway Ridge office park on Turfway Road. Through KJDA, ASTAR would receive a 5 percent tax credit from its employees’ payroll taxes, 4 percent from the state and 1 percent from the city. “The money actually goes back to the employer from the employee,” said Mayor Diane Whalen. ASTAR is expected to employ 150 with an average wage of $68,640. They’ll only get the tax
Smiling 10-yearold full of talent Contributor
Ten-year-old Rosa Mejia of Florence has a dream – she wants to sing on Broadway. Rosa is not just spending days daydreaming about it, though, she is treating it as a goal, and almost everything she does is working toward that goal. “Rosa decided she wanted to sing on Broadway when she was 5,” said her mother, Bethany. “We put her in a pageant at Anchor Baptist Church when she was 5, and that’s when we found out how good she could sing. She sang ‘Think of Me’ from ‘Phantom of the Opera.’” Rosa truly enjoyed being in the pageant and asked to be in others. “I like being in competitions,” she said. “It’s fun, and I get to sing, and I make new friends.” Three years ago, Bethany signed Rosa up for Kids Got Talent, and Rosa won the competition held at Old Coney. She went to Texas to compete in a national version of the competition, and though she didn’t win, she was
signed by the Shirley Grant Talent agency of New York. Through them she has tried out to be the voice of Dora the Explorer, which she was too old for, and Alicia, Diego’s older sister, which she was too young for. “We went to New York and auditioned for the play ‘Les Miserables’ but three days later they canceled the play,” said Bethany. They have other irons in the fire, though. Rosa sang the “Star Spangled Banner” for the opening day game of the Florence Freedom, and again just recently for Webkinz night at the Freedom. She is auditioning to be one of two dozen children who’ll be picked to sing “America the Beautiful” at the Kings Island Golf Tournament this summer. In addition, Rosa belongs to the University of Cincinnati children’s choir, called Jubilate, and is hoping to be part of their touring choir Bel Canto. “Mom put me in the Boone County Fair pageant when I was little,” said Rosa. “I really liked it, and I am going to be in it again this year.” Bethany added that when Rosa was 5, she was first runner-up in the Boone County pageant, when she was 6 she took second runner-up, and at 7 she was back to
credits for employees that are Kentucky residents, which will be about 77 of the 150 jobs, said Community/Business Development Director Josh Wice. ASTAR is moving to Florence from Wilmington, Ohio. The company deals heavily with DHL, and when it pulled out of Wilmington to set up shop at the Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport, DHL asked ASTAR to come with them, Wice said. The tax credit does make the
Florence business climate an “unequal playing field,” said Council Member Mel Carroll. “We have long-standing companies in the area who don’t get to take advantage of it,” Carroll said. While some loyal companies won’t get special tax incentives, Florence should be doing what it can to bring jobs into the area, he said. “We see this as a substantial investment in our community,” Carroll said.
PATRICIA A. SCHEYER/CONTRIBUTOR
Rosa Mejia, 10, of Florence, shows a couple of the drawings she does in her spare time. first runner-up. Last year, she competed in the Sweetheart pageant, and she finished in the top 10. Even though she has never won first place, Rosa is not discouraged. She will be in fifth grade at Florence Elementary School next year, and fills her time with a dance troupe, Latino Horizons, and basketball in the winter. Her favorite musical right now is ‘Wicked,’ which she hopes to see next year, and her operatic heroes are Sarah Brightman, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.
Bethany says if Rosa would get a break in the form of a part or a singing opportunity, they would move wherever they needed to in order to get her started. In the meantime, she lives with two younger brothers, and a brand new baby sister, but she never lets go of her dream. “We are always telling her that with her art talent, she could be a designer, but she just smiles, and says she wants to sing,” said Bethany. “I believe her. Within the next 10 years, I think she will be a star.”
McEvoy named Rotary district governor By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
A Rotarian is helping put Florence on the map. Dennis McEvoy, a former president of the Florence Rotary Club, took his position as district governor for the 6740 Rotary district. McEvoy, a retired banker, will oversee 42 clubs in the eastern half of Kentucky including clubs in Ashland and Lexington. “Here it is, so I better run with
it,” McEvoy said. As the district g o v e r n o r, McEvoy will be the only officer from the district that is recognized by Rotary McEvoy International. “When you’re working as a governor, you work on all levels – local, national and international,” McEvoy said.
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Florence singer a rising star By Patricia A. Scheyer
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W e b s i t e : N K Y. c o m
Tax credits draw firm to Florence By Justin B. Duke
Volume 14 Number 43 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
RECORDER
To get into the position, McEvoy was nominated by Rotary members then had to spend two years training for his one-year term. “It’s a process – a lot goes into it,” he said. As governor, he’ll have to visit every Rotary club in the district and meet with the directors of each club. “It’s very, very time consuming,” McEvoy said. The work pays off because of
the attention that comes to the hard work the Florence club is doing, he said. “In the history of this club, there’s never been a district governor from Florence, and it’s one of the biggest clubs,” McEvoy said. As governor, McEvoy gets to take an even larger role in Rotary International’s effort toward worldwide eradication of polio. “Once you get really into it, you can really see all the good things,” he said.