BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT B1
The ACT Bootcamp
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Fort Thomas E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, F e b r u a r y 1 7 , 2 0 1 1
Volume 11, Number 39 © 2011 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
All that jazz
The NKU Department of Music and the NKU Jazz Ensemble are proud to present the fifth annual Gordon Brisker Memorial Concert. The concert takes place at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, in Greaves Concert Hall. The Gordon Brisker Memorial Scholarship assists aspiring jazz studies students enrolled at NKU. Donations to the scholarship are accepted in any amount, and are 100 percent tax-free.
RECORDER W e b s i t e : N K Y. c o m
B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S
Fort Thomas to hold second deer count By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
The Fort Thomas city council has voted to hold another deer census throughout the city. The census, which is scheduled to take place later this month, will be conducted by Vision Air Research using thermal infrared imaging while flying over the city. The same company conducted the city’s first deer census in January 2010 and counted 205 deer in city limits. City Administrator Donald Mar-
The first census was conducted after the city adopted a program in 2007 allowing the hunting of deer by bow and arrow on pieces of land that met certain requirements in an effort to manage to deer population and reduce vehicular crashes involving deer. tin said the company has an 85 percent detection rate, meaning the true number of deer was estimated to be about 238, which equals about 37 deer per square mile. The first census was conducted after the city adopted a program in 2007 allowing the hunting of deer by bow and arrow on pieces of
land that met certain requirements in an effort to manage to deer population and reduce vehicular crashes involving deer. Councilman Roger Peterman said he is in favor of holding another deer census because the city needs to see what the numbers are like now to see if the pro-
Feeling blue
By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
Autumn Geer-Vignes has spent months working on her Teddy Bear Project, collecting teddy bears to give to the residents at Carmel Manor in Fort Thomas.
Implementation of a new state law requiring inspection of all new heating and air conditioning systems starting on Jan. 1, has led Campbell County to authorize its existing inspectors to perform the the service and collect the associated fees that will go into the county’s general fund. The inspections are for all new Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems installed, and for the replacement of certain parts, said Peter Klear, director of planning and zoning for Campbell County. Replacement parts requiring an inspection include the condensing unit or fan coil chiller on an air conditioner and a heat pump on a furnace, Klear said. Routine repairs for HVAC units do not require an inspection, he said. State inspectors will send the fees they collect to the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, but fees collected by Campbell County’s inspectors will go into the county’s general fund, Klear said. “I understand that nobody wants to pay a new fee, but if they’re going to have to pay it, rather to pay it here than send it down state,” he said. The inspection fees for one- or two-family residential houses are $75 for the first system inspected, and a $50 fee for each additional HVAC system that needs to be inspected. For commercial customers, the fees range from $75 for inspecting an HVAC system valued at $2,000 or less to the maximum fee of $3,450 for inspecting any system valued at $1.5 million or more. Systems valued at $1.5 million are
For more about your community, visit www.nky.com/fortthomas
See HVAC on page A2
That’s odd
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gram and working and what needs to be done in the future. Mayor Mary Brown said if the census shows that there are fewer deer, they city will know the program is working and it should stay the way it is currently. “If there are a whole lot more deer, we’ll have to do something more aggressive,” Brown said. The report from the first deer census is available on the city’s website, www.ftthomas.org. For more about your community, visit www.nky.com/forrthomas
County will do state HVAC inspections
When Gene Thompson was a child growing up in Casey County in Kentucky, he was intrigued enough with music to trade a rifle for his first banjo, which he taught himself to play. Because of his history of music and bluegrass, Thompson started the Northern Kentucky Bluegrass Music Association to have a venue for people to meet and talk about and play what is dear to their hearts – bluegrass music. It also allows the music form a chance to thrive, whereas before it was in danger of dying out. NEWS, A3 The students in the Campbell County High School Drama Club have been busy making a slovenly mess of an apartment set and memorizing comedic lines to make audiences laugh at their three performances of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” Feb. 18-20. The comedy is the second of three performances for the school year in a live training ground where aspiring thespians and students with a passing interest in theater alike, learn by doing both behind the scenes and on stage. SCHOOLS, A4
50¢
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
Coat of many colors
Members of the children’s choir sing a song during during the Fort Thomas Community Theatre’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Fort Thomas teen collects teddy bears for Carmel Manor residents By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
Fort Thomas teen Autumn Geer-Vignes is honoring the memory of two lost loved ones while spreading cheer to others. Late last year, Geer-Vignes came up with the idea to honor her great-grandmother, Lorena Belford, by starting the Teddy Bear Project to benefit the residents at Carmel Manor nursing care facility in Fort Thomas. “When she was sick, I gave her a teddy bear to cheer her up, so I thought I could cheer up the people at Carmel Manor by giving them all teddy bears too,” said Geer-Vignes, an eighth-grader at Highlands Middle School. Geer-Vignes contacted her church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, and began working with Reverend Mann Valentine VI, known as “Chip,” to collect dona-
tions for the project. Her goal was to get 130 teddy bears to pass out to all the Carmel Manor residents. “Chip suggested Carmel Manor because we have some church members that live there,” GeerVignes said. “We made announcements at the church and members donated money and bears.” A couple weeks after she began the project, Valentine passed away, making the project even more meaningful to Geer-Vignes. “Now the project is in memory of my great-grandmother and Chip,” Geer-Vignes said. “He was a great friend.” Geer-Vignes and several volunteers from the church delivered the bears Sunday, Feb. 13, right in time for Valentine’s Day. “This all came together so fast, and I’m really excited to do it again in the future,” Geer-Vignes said. “I really just like to make people smile.”
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
She ruled the men who ruled the world.
Opens February 18
cincymuseum.org CE-0000444365