Local News fom March 4, 2010 issue

The Crittenden Press Full Version (PDF)

Tourism draws writers' bloc to area
Together Crittenden and Lyon counties have landed a major marketing opportunity, being selected as the 2011 spring destination of the Association of Great Lakes Outdoors Writers.
Michele Edwards, director of tourism in Marion, and two Lyon County representatives traveled to Michigan City, Ind., last weekend where they made a final presentation to host the writers’ proposed outdoor adventure for next year. They learned early this week that their efforts have been successful.
As part of the deal, 40 to 50 outdoor writers, plus additional media and corporate sponsors will converge on Crittenden County for turkey hunts and Lyon for fishing trips April 19-21, 2011. Each will have one year to publish an article in a national magazine or produce a television segment about their adventures on Barkley Lake and afield in western Kentucky.
“What these folks can do for us is unbelievable,” said Edwards. “They can put us on the map.”
Crittenden and Lyon beat out Niagara Falls, N.Y., to host the 2011 event.
Steve Vantreese, longtime outdoor writer for The Paducah Sun, validates Edwards’ claims.
“That is a pretty substantial group. There are some heavyweights of outdoor journalism affiliated with AGLOW,” Vantreese said. “From a tourism interest, this is an ideal group of scribes warm up to.”
Vantreese said many lakes area tourists come from the North, and AGLOW should provide immediate and long-term interest for the area.
Edwards said hunting and fishing are the primary drawing cards, but that the writers will be taking notes and doing articles on a variety of attractions.
“The last time they were here, one writer stopped at a little winery and did an story that really put them on the map,” she said.
AGLOW is in Branson, Mo., for this spring’s annual outing.

Conrad head of Hoptown development group
Marion native Lee Conrad, 30, has been named the executive director of the Hopkinsville-Christian County Economic Development Council.
He previously served as economic director for the Crittenden County Economic Development Corp., from 2005 to 2007.
Conrad has been the interim director in Hopkinsville for the last 10 months and was recently named the permanent head of the four-person economic development team.
As the economic development director, Conrad is responsible for recruitment and retention of industry and business in Kentucky’s sixth largest city.
Conrad holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Kentucky. He is a 1998 graduate of Crittenden County High School.

Crittenden among counties seeking broadband
Crittenden and a few other area counties are involved in a grant application process that could eventually lead to countywide wireless Internet.
Crittenden, Muhlenberg, Todd and Hopkins counties with assistance from the Pennyrile Area Development District and Norlight, Inc., of Evansville are seeking federal stimulus grant funds through the USDA. Norlight, the proposed Internet Service provider for the project, is the primary applicant for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.
“There are $7.9 billion out there for rural broadband and we don’t want to miss this opportunity,” said Chris Sutton, director of the Pennyrile Area Development District.
Several counties, including Webster, recently completed a similar project in the Green River Development District. Officials in Webster County say the coverage and signal are very good from the wireless service.
Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown attended a meeting last week in Owensboro in regard to initiating the grant application.
Brown said that if Norlight is succussful in acquiring the grant funds, Crittenden would be responsible for putting up as much as 30 percent of the cost to install the service. That share, which could be between $100,000 and $200,000, could come from a variety of sources. Brown acknowledged that such a sum of money would not be available through conventional sources such as the county’s general fund.
“Each county may have to come up with 30 percent, but those funds could come from other grant sources, other state sources or be financed,” said Brown.
There are even possibilities that Crittenden and the other counties could qualify for a grant from the Delta Regional Authority, a federal-state partnership that works to stimulate economic development in the eight-state Mississippi Delta area.
Also, if the county decided to finance its cost of installing wireless broadband, a portion of the monthly subscription fee could be used to retire the debt, Brown said.
The county would receive a small percentage of the subscription rate as a franchise fee. Once the debt is paid off, those dollars would go into county coffers.
Subscription rates would range between about $30 to $40, Brown said, depending on the speed of the connection.
Brown joined various other officials from the area last week as they toured the wireless coverage area in Daviess County. He said transmission towers have a range of about 4-5 miles in relatively flat terrain.
“Hilly terrain like we have in Crittenden County cuts the range down considerably,” he said. “You would never be able to cover 100 percent.”
The price to Crittenden County would depend largely upon how many towers are needed. The county has already been mapped by the company proposing to install the service, but Brown said details about the exact costs are not available at this time.
He said it could be a couple of years before the service would be available.
“It’s all contingent on whether they get the grant and when it comes,” Brown said.
“We may get it or we may not,” Sutton said. “We know that for Crittenden and Todd and some of the other small counties, it would be difficult to come up with a 30-percent match. So we’re trying to figure something out.”