County fair starts Saturday
For the kids, the real fun won’t start until Tuesday when the midway opens, but this year’s Crittenden County Fair actually starts this weekend.
Crittenden County Lions Club is trying something different this year, starting the fair a couple of days early in order to include more events than in recent memory. A horse show, typically a Monday event running at the fairgrounds while the Miss Crittenden County Beauty Pageant takes place across town at Fohs Hall, will be held Saturday, kicking off the fair. The beauty contest will still take place Monday at Fohs Hall, with 19 contestants, double last year’s number, vying for the crown to succeed last year’s winner, Meredith Lanham. The show begins at 6 p.m.
For anyone who still enjoys a stomach-churning ride, the best part of the fair starts Tuesday with family night. While a talent show takes place center stage at the arena starting at 7 p.m., the midway will already be under way, offering all-night riding with the purchase of a wrist band. Entry to the fairgrounds, thanks to Conrad’s Food Store and Farmers Bank sponsoring the night, is only $2, no matter the age.
The midway opens at 5 p.m., daily beginning Tuesday with wrist bands costing $10. Perry Newcom, a Lions Club member and fair organizer, said the rate is set by the midway operators and may be subject to change without the club’s knowledge.
At the exhibit barn, 4-H entries will be accepted Tuesday from 11:30 a.m., to 2:30 p.m. The following day, entries for the open division exhibits and contests will be taken during the same time.
Beginning next Wednesday, entry to the fairgrounds will be $8 for adults, $5 for youth 6-15 and free for anyone 5 and under. Next Wednesday’s featured event will be the garden tractor pulls at 7 p.m. However, a youth pet show and bicycle rodeo will be conducted earlier that afternoon.
At 7 p.m., the next night, July 30, one of the biggest draws of the fair begins. Organizer Jared Belt said that the number of entries already taken for the truck and tractor pulls should ensure another good show. Also, the exhibit hall will open at 6 p.m., for viewing of 4-H and open division entries, and a youth goat and sheep show will be held that morning.
The Friday night event on July 31 will offer one of two new events at this year’s fair. Mud bogs, open to modified and stock vehicles, will pit four-by-four drivers against one another for the first time at the fairgrounds. The mudding starts at 7 p.m., but spectators will need to bring a lawn chair, as the event will take place below the arena in a newly-dug mud pit.
The fair’s finale, as usual, will be the demolition derby on Aug. 1. The derby begins with what may seem a strange heat – riding mowers. The lawn tractor derby starts off the metal crunching at 7 p.m., and will be followed by the automobile portion of the derby. Belt said there will likely be a truck heat, for the second time in the last three years.
The fair, recently little more than a break-even event for the Lions Club, is the primary fund-raiser for the civic organization. Belt said, because of the sagging economy, he once again expects attendance to be somewhat down.

Par 4 nearly back to full staff
Par 4 Plastics has called back nearly all of its employees laid off late last year and early this year when the economy was at its lowest point.
Company President Joe McDaniel said sales are picking back up and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.
"We are seeing schedules increase some as it relates to the automotive industry and we are working with some new accounts," he said.
Par 4, an injection plastic molding company that normally employs about 150, is heavily reliant on the automotive industry. Its automotive parts are mostly used in Toyota vehicles and that automaker seems to have weathered the economic downturn better than others. Par 4 also manufactures plastic snuff containers, shotgun stocks and other items.
Charlie Hicklin, vice president of operations at Par 4, explained that the Marion plant has been able to pick up business from new areas because some competitors did not survive the economic disaster in the automotive industry.
"We're doing a lot of work to bring in new business," Hicklin said. "So far we've been awarded one job by a new customer, but I am not sure when we will kick off production."
The new product lines are parts for the after-market oil and air filter sector, Hicklin said.
In the first quarter of this year, Par 4 had 43 workers on the employment rolls as its sales dipped to 58 percent of where they were just six months earlier. Now, only seven remain laid off and they will likely be called back in the next two to three months.
Hicklin said sales in June were the best they had been this year, but still lagging behind the third quarter of 2008.
"Our load is still not back up to where it was," Hicklin said, pointing out that sales in June were 22 percent below normal trends.
Hicklin said Par 4's employees are largely responsible for its ability to get through the financial crisis in one piece.
"I think it's been our people. Many of their job descriptions changed and their shifts changed, but we've gotten through this. They adapted and contributed in a big way during the slowest times."
Some workers took voluntary time off, Hicklin said, allowing the company to manage its expenses when sales were nearly half of normal.
The recent layoffs were the first in Par 4's nearly 20-year history.
"Over the years we have continued to grow so these layoffs were quite a struggle for us," Hicklin said. "You take it personal and it's tough."

Council approves WiFi venture
Surfing and eating in Marion will be made a little easier in the next few weeks with a plan approved by council members on Monday to provide free wireless Internet to areas that include most restaurants in town.
The plan is to locate six Internet transmitters on utility poles along Main Street and Sturgis Road whose broadcast radius should reach all restaurants from the court square to Darben Plaza. The service will be free to users whose hardware is wireless capable, which should include a number of tourists and business people who may be passing through Marion.
The Internet “hot spots” at restaurants and other locations within broadcast range should be a feather in the city’s hat, said City Administrator Mark Bryant, one that the tourism commission should be able to use as a tool to attract visitors to spend their money in Marion restaurants.
“It really is a good tool for tourism,” he told council members at Monday night’s meeting.
The measure will cost the city $19,000 for equipment and installation and was approved unanimously. However, one councilman had reservations, fearing hidden charges that could occur as often as monthly.
Despite his “yes” vote, Don Arflack said he would not be surprised if future recurring costs arise from the city sharing Internet capabilities with the public. The cost of replacing equipment damaged by Mother Nature or for other reasons, too, could be burdensome he warned.
Bryant assured the council, though, that Zanson Enterprises, the Paducah company partnering with the city, told him on more than one occasion that the only cost would be for the initial set-up.
“This is nothing new,” Mayor Mickey Alexander told Arflack. “Other cities have already done this.”
To broadcast the free wireless Internet signal, or WiFi, dedicated digital subscriber line, or DSL, will be run to city hall. From there, an antenna atop the building will send a signal to a receiver on the city’s radio tower on Wilson HIll, which will, in turn, beam a signal to the six transmitter nodes placed throughout town. The work could be completed within a month, Bryant said.
While homes and businesses will undoubtedly receive the free signal, Bryant is urging regular users of the Internet already subscribed to their own service to hold on to their current provider. Outages and disruptions in service will be out of the city’s hands, with repairs made at the availability of the Internet provider.
“This is not us going into the Internet service business,” he said. “We’re just providing the equipment for the free service.”
Already, several restaurants broadcast their own WiFi service for the benefit of customers, including Marion Café, Subway and McDonald’s. They may be able to discontinue their service once the city’s WiFi is up an running, Bryant said.
In other business Monday:
• Council members approved appropriations totaling $17,500 to Marion Main Street Inc., and Crittenden County Economic Development Corp. CCEDC will use the $10,000 awarded by the city to complete its $139,000 budget for 2009-10. Exactly half of Main Street’s new $15,000 budget year will be funded by Monday’s appropriation. Another $6,000 will come from Marion Tourism Commission.
Meantime, the tourism commission presented its budget to the council for consideration. While tourism’s $217,300 budget is largely funded by Marion’s 3 percent tax on lodging and prepared foods, the spending plan must still be okayed by the city, which it was.
• How much is more than a half-acre of vacant lot worth in Marion? Only $1,800 if measured by the winning bid submitted by William Hill to acquired the land advertised by the city as surplus property.
Hill’s offer outdistanced the only other bid for the Travis Street lot council members agreed was “unbuildable” by $1,550. Hill resides on Travis Street. The property has been in the city’s possession for years, Bryant said.
Five dollars also won three faltering computer monitors, $180 landed a 1990 Chevy C-1500 truck and $250 bought a 1990 Chevy S-10 all deemed surplus property last month.