News from March 31, 2005 issue

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This week, the state's independent contract property appraiser has been in town. She has been working at the Crittenden County Courthouse pouring over property maps and gathering data to begin the critical process of land valuation ­ the step just before acquisition. The state will buy 68 parcels of land to make way for Phase 1, the four-lane highway from Marion to either I-24 or the Western Kentucky Parkway.

While it's still uncertain where exactly the road will end up, near Eddyville or closer to Princeton, one thing is for sure ­ the process is finally under way.

"We are very excited," said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown. "Some thought they wouldn't see it in their lifetime, but guess what, it's going to happen. This is a project that has certainly come to the forefront in the last few years because the fiscal court recognized the need to improve the county's infrastructure with a four-lane highway.

"This is going to be a major development for the local economy," he added.
Mary Clay of Paris, Ky., is handling a big part of the appraisal process. Another appraiser will handle the rest. Clay said she will be contacting area landowners who will be affected by the highway sometime within the next month. For now, she's collecting information that will help determine the market value of each affected piece of property.

Four homeowners will lose their houses as part of Phase 1 which will take the road from Marion to just across the Caldwell County line near Fredonia. All are Crittenden County homeowners and two are just south of Marion. One of the homes closest to town belongs to Joy Hunt and Harold Hunt and the other is owned by Keith Davis. In Crayne, Curt Phelps' home will be taken by the highway and Stanley Gardella will lose his home close to Mott City.

Some farms will be dramatically affected, Clay said, while other parcels will see minimal effects.

Clay will be scheduling appointments with about a third of the property owners. She does the appraisals for the most complicated parcels, those where homes or other development are affected.

"I will make an appointment and go out and inspect the property," she said.
The inspection and interview process will take at least an hour and sometimes several hours, she said. Glay will explain to the landowners what they can expect over the next few months during the negotiation and acquisition process. Landowners whose homes are taken by the project will receive moving assistance from the state in addition to the purchase price.

Glay will inspect the homes inside and out, take photographs and walk property lines.
Once the appraisal process is complete, a negotiator will contact the property owners and make a price offer. The landowners have a right to accept or deny the offer. If both sides cannot reach an agreement on price, it may have to eventually be settled in court.

Six finalists for superintendent
A local Superintendent Screening Committee will recommend a list of six finalists for the job of Crittenden County school superintendent during a special meeting Monday night.

Phyllis Orr, chairperson of the school board and a member of the screening committee, anticipates a lengthy meeting beginning at 5 p.m., at the central office between the board and the screening committee.

Twenty-one applied for the superintendent's position and the screening committee completed reference and background checks on each one and narrowed its list down to a half dozen finalists. Orr said the school board will hear the screening committee's recommendations then determine whether it wants to add or delete any names from the list. When the board is finished Monday night, it will have the names of the candidates who will be personally interviewed by the school board.

The six-member screening committee completed its background work Friday night and Orr said the group came to a consensus in regard to its list of finalists.
Orr said of the six finalists, three are from out of state. She wouldn't disclose their names, but said the list of finalists would be made public at some point after Monday's meeting.

Orr said the screening committee will meet together with the school board for the first hour Monday, then she anticipates another two or three hours of further discussions with only the board present. During that period, she also anticipates discussing salary and contract ranges for the next superintendent.

"The names on the list may change when the board gets it," Orr said. "We may decide to add to the list or take someone off."

Orr acknowledged the screening committee's dedication and many hours of work doing background checks over the last couple of weeks as did other board members who acknowledged receipt of the screening committee's finalists.

Orr thinks the board will be ready to begin interviews April 11, if not sooner.
"I'd like to start late next week," she said.

The board has so far denied The Press' request to make public the names of the finalists chosen by the screening committee.

Local cheese hits store shelves
There's a unique, new cheese on the market hailing from Marion.

Jerry and Susan Mobley, owners of S&J Barbeque, have begun marketing four varieties of 100 percent hickory smoked cheese, including mozzarella, cheddar, Swiss and pepperjack.

Beginning last week, the Mobley's pepperjack and cheddar cheeses became available at Food Giant and Conrad's grocery stores in Marion. The couple hopes it will break into the wholesale market in Paducah in the coming months.

"We wanted to start local until we got our feet wet, and I think it will sell well," said Mobley, who also sells the 1-pound blocks at S&J Barbeque.

The secret to the hickory smoked cheese is top secret, and the Mobleys say it's quite a unique product.

"There is a lot of smoked cheese on the market, but they use liquid smoke," Susan Mobley explains. "This is 100 percent hickory smoked."

Sales have been brisk, and oftentimes Jerry can't keep it in supply at his restaurant. And if grocery store sales take off, the Mobleys are planning on dedicating more time to the craft and possibly even adding on to their restaurant building to keep up with demands. Now they sell around 50 pounds a week, more around holidays. A 1-pound block sells for $6.

"The idea to begin smoking cheese was Susan's," Jerry explains. "About three years ago, she said, 'Why don't you smoke some cheese for me?'

"I said, 'It's going to melt,' but when it was peaceful and quiet I sat down and figured out how to do it, and it didn't melt ­ in fact, the first time I did it, it came out like it is now."
The cheese business isn't the Mobleys' first experience in the wholesale business. Several years ago they sold tomatoes to restaurants and grocery stores in Marion and surrounding towns and made salsa from the leftovers.

"We had salsa in stores, but we got so busy doing barbecue festivals we didn't have time to keep it up," Jerry says. "People came from everywhere asking for it, and they still do."

All four varieties of the smoked cheese are great for sandwiches, the Mobleys say, and they especially like the mozzarella in pizzas or lasagna. Some of their faithful customers buy the mozzarella just for those reasons.