Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Fort Thomas E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, D e c e m b e r 2 4 , 2 0 0 9
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
Rossford Park plan OK’d
Volume 10, Number 31 © 2009 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Lighting up the Levee
By Amanda Joering Alley ajoering@nky.com
Newport on the Levee is shining bright with more than 1,200,000 LED lights this holiday season thanks to Northern Kentucky husband and wife Michael and Karralea List, owners of Christmas Decor of Northern Kentucky. LIFE, B1
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
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Above: Fort Thomas Recreation Department employee Sandy Wagner (right) helps Nate Arentsen with his craft project during Fort Thomas’s Breakfast with Santa event Tuesday, Dec. 15. Left: Recreation Department employee Catherine Ampfer reads a story to children while they wait for Santa to arrive.
Plans for the New Year
Trying to decide what to do this New Year’s Eve? Reporter Amanda Joering Alley rounds up the events being hosted by local businesses to help you ring in 2010. NEWS, A2
AMANDA JOERING ALLEY/STAFF
Rotary Club fellowship builds community ties By Chris Mayhew cmayhew@nky.com
Merry Christmas from Campbell County children
To celebrate the holiday the Fort Thomas Recorder talked with local students about their Christmas memories, traditions and plans. See what they had to say in this week’s school section. SCHOOLS, A6
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People from a cross-section of professions in the community meet for one hour each week with one mission in mind, putting “Service Above Self” as members of Rotary International. The Campbell County Rotary Club was founded Nov. 1, 1920, and is one of the oldest in the Eastern Kentucky region of Rotary, said Jerry Schneider, of Bellevue, a Rotary member. “Most Rotarians are successful in their profession, and the way I look at it, we can do more as a group than we can as an individual,” Schneider said. Schneider, who retired from Cincinnati Bell with 40 years of service, said he has gone on Rotary trips including to Africa to help build water wells, and his family has hosted four people in their home through Rotary’s youth exchange program. The local club raises money both for international causes, including Rotary’s world-wide Polio eradication program, and also for local programs. In 2009, the club bought and donated a defibrillator to the Bellevue Vets, he said. Most importantly, Schneider said he has built lasting friendships during the 27 years where
Joining Rotary International
The Campbell County Rotary Club meets at noon each Wednesday. Meetings are typically at the Highland Country Club in Fort Thomas, and visitors to meetings are welcome. For information about joining or attending a meeting contact Hans Tinkler, president, at h.tinkler@ insightbb.com or 513-703-4974. he hasn’t missed a single weekly Rotary meeting. “Fellowship is very important in Rotary,” he said. Rotarians, if they miss a meeting, or are out of town, are encouraged to attend a Rotary meeting. Schneider said he has traveled the world, as far away as Tasmania, and still been able to link up with Rotary clubs. Hans Tinkler, 41, of Fort Thomas, an attorney and the club’s current president, said the club is always looking for service opportunities and starts each meeting by repeating the Rotary Four-Way Test of four questions that form a foundation for the “Service Above Self” mission statement. “It’s kind of evaluating the decisions you make by the Golden Rule, is it good for everyone involved,” Tinkler said. There are women, men, bankers, lawyers, city administra-
tors, and school district employees that are members of Campbell’s Rotary club, not just retirees, he said. “We actually are trying to recruit younger members and continue to have a dynamic and meaningful impact in the community,” Tinkler said. The local club also offers college scholarships between $500 to $1,000, and awards to local teachers each year, Tinkler said. Each weekly lunch meeting features programs ranging from U.S. Census Bureau employees explaining how federal funding allocations formulas are tied to the population count to military officers explaining what modern warfare is like in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said. “We try real hard to keep our meetings to an hour to be respectful of people’s time,” Tinkler said. Mick Vank, the city administrator for Cold Spring and Rotary member since 1982, said after a women’s shelter representative attended the weekly meeting and expressed a need for diapers during the presentation, the group took up a collection at their next meeting. “We’re not missionaries, but you’re doing good, and you’re having a little bit of fun,” Vank said. “We’ve always been a fun laid back kind of club,” Vank said.
The Fort Thomas City Council has approved a design team’s master plan for improvements at Rossford Park. After examining the site and getting input from city and school officials, property owners and other interested parties, the design team has developed a master plan for the park. Councilman Tom Lampe, chair of the parks and recreation committee, said the city, Human Nature, CDS Associates and other partners involved in The plan the project includes an put a lot of improved arrival time and plaza, a half field effort into and full-size field developing the plan. for football and “I can’t soccer practice, t h a n k a park hub with everybody restrooms, e n o u g h , ” L a m p e storage and a said. “This park map, a is a fun shelter, new project, I playground can’t wait to see this equipment, through.” double the The plan parking spaces, includes an about a mile in i m p r o v e d walking trails, a a r r i v a l plaza, a sled riding hill, a half field half basketball and fullcourt and two size field for upgraded youth football and soccer pracbaseball fields. tice, a park hub with restrooms, storage and a park map, a shelter, new playground equipment, double the parking spaces, about a mile in walking trails, a sled riding hill, a half basketball court and two upgraded youth baseball fields. The plan also includes various reforestations and stream restorations in the park. The architecture in the park is meant to reflect the architectural styles found throughout the city, said Joey Hood, project manager with Human Nature. “We want something that feels like Fort Thomas,” Hood said. Chris Manning, the principalin-charge with Human Nature, said the detailed cost estimate for the project includes a total value of $3,635,994. Of that, $2,383,624 would be bid out to contractors, with the remainder coming from city labor and other sources. Now that council has approved the plan, the finance committee will look at funding options to decide whether the project should be done all at once or in phases. For a detailed look at the master plan, visit www.ftthomas.org.