Local News The Crittenden Press Full Version (PDF) Couple closing doors to bed and breakfast A comfortable bed, hot coffee and anything you want for breakfast. That has been the 15-year calling card at Myers Bed and Breakfast on Depot Street in Marion.
At the end of November, however, the beds will be made for the last time, the coffee pot scuttled and the smell of sausage and biscuits will be snuffed out. The red Victorian style home that has been a beacon for travelers is closing its doors for good at the end of deer hunting season.
Owners Jim and Merle Myers say they’ve contemplated retirement – Jim’s third – for a good while, but will finally make it official after their hunters are gone.
Hunters, businessmen, bicyclists, families and travelers of all shapes and models have filled the rooms at Myers for a decade and half. Their doors have welcomed family reunion goers, genealogy researchers, funeral attendees, concert goers and bikers. Destinations from the Amish community to the Juggalo Gathering in Cave In Rock and the Little Sturgis Motorcycle Rally have been among the attractions that have drawn guests to the area.
Both over 75, the Myerses say the rigors and routine of operating the bed and breakfast inn are too much.
“It’s getting too hard. We’re having to hire everything done,” said Merle.
Jim grew up in Marion but moved away in 1950 for a stint in the U.S. Navy and then for a job in the steel industry. They raised a family of four children and spent many years traveling from job site to job site.
“We were on the road for 11 years straight,” says Jim.
From those travels, the couple learned how important a comfortable sleep could be.
“We slept in some yucky beds,” admits Merle.
So when they finally settled down and purchased a two-story house a couple of blocks off the courthouse square in Jim’s hometown, it was natural that they go into the lodging business.
“Over the years there have been a lot of good people who have helped us. We tried to do the same for others,” said Jim, recalling many instances of kindness and good will shown to his family while in Canada, Japan, South America and all over the United States.
An Iowa doctor once treated one of his daughters and didn’t charge a dime. A woman once stopped at their inn en route to Oklahoma. She didn’t have enough money for a room, but said she’d mail it later when she got on her feet. She did, and so did others in similar situations throughout the years.
“It’s the people I will miss,” said Merle.
The bed and breakfast offers a much more intimate setting than a motel. The lives of their guests sometimes found their way into their own family photo album. A sketch drawn by a six-year-old guest still hangs on the refrigerator. The girl, now 18, still comes by each year with her family and is always amazed that the picture remains.
Christmas gifts, holiday cards, letters and regular phone calls all come from guests who have developed a unique bond with the Myerses. One man who comes to hunt calls Merle, mom.
“Everybody needs a good bed to sleep in with good pillows and a good breakfast,” said Jim.
That is one thing that hasn’t changed over the years. Many other things have. When they opened in 1994, everyone wanted a phone in their room so they put in three lines and switchboard. Now, everyone wants wireless Internet. They have cell phones. People used to always come to the dining room for breakfast. Now, many forego the meat and eggs, satisfied with a cup of coffee and maybe a slice of toast.
Performers at many of the Fohs Hall productions have stayed with the Myerses.
“They were always keyed up after their show, so we’d have breakfast for them at midnight,” said Merle.
Those little touches of hominess have been the hallmark of their success in the overnight business. They expanded to seven rooms and an apartment then downsized a couple of years ago, back to the original five rooms in the main house and lodge out back. Through it all, they’ve maintained an occupancy rate of around 70 percent.
Jim says there’s good money in the lodging business in Marion, but you can’t pay for an expensive asset.
“You can make a living, but you couldn’t pay for a home from what you make. If you have the money to buy it, it will work.”
Their bed and breakfast is for sale, but it’s not on the market. They are willing to sell, but if not, they will keep the home and live there seasonally. Starting in a few weeks, they’ll spend winters in Texas. On the road again.
City launches free WiFi at eateries It’s now official, the City of Marion has free wireless Internet for anyone who wants it – as long as they’re within range of a signal.
The free WiFi is available along Main Street from just south of the courthouse to Jones’ 88 Dip. The range will be extended farther to the south and north once more transmitters are installed, said City Administrator Mark Bryant.
Eventually, there will be transmitters located at The Front Porch, Darben Plaza and Conger’s Country Kitchen, extending the service to virtually every eatery in town.
“The signals are concentrated at restaurants,” Bryant said.
The city will end up paying around $19,000 for the service once it is completely installed. By that time, users should be able to log on with a wireless capable computer or handheld device anywhere from The Front Porch to Pizza Hut, Bryant said.
“We’ll be monitoring the service during these early stages to make sure all of the bugs are worked out,” he added.
County joins battle against buffalo gnats Crittenden has joined five other counties along the Tradewater River to battle pesky black flies known as buffalo gnats which show up in the springtime.
The gnats are especially troublesome around the Tradewater River bottoms. Crittenden, Caldwell, Union, Hopkins and Webster counties are joining forces to pay for a contractor to treat the river late this winter with a larvicides that attack and kill eggs before the gnats hatch in the early spring.
Cost to Crittenden County is $7,560. Each county is paying the same amount to have the larvicide injected into the river at strategic locations.
Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown said the five-county coalition tried to get the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to pay for the larvicide treatment. However, their repeated requests for assistance were quickly declined.
“The state says it’s not in the budget and there is no money available for these type things,” Brown said. “We can pay for it, but we’re going to have to look around and try to find the money somewhere.”
Last year, trucks drove the roads in the infested areas spraying an insecticide, said Magistrate Dan Wood, whose district includes part of the Crittenden County shoreline of the Tradewater.
“That didn’t do any good at all,” Wood said. “You have to get these things before they hatch.”
The gnats are a real nuisance to farmers and residents, and they do have an economic impact on farmers and ranchers, Wood said. He said cattle and horses retreat to dark places, such as barns, and don’t come out even to eat.
“If you drive down the road from here to Providence in the spring, these things cover your windshield,” he said.
The gnats are one-eighth of an inch long, hump-backed, dark flies with wide, clear wings. Females use their sharp blade-like mouthparts to slice the skin and feed on blood that wells up. The bite may bleed for some time after feeding has stopped and it may itch intensely for several days. Black flies are most closely related to mosquitoes but their feeding habits are most similar to miniature horse flies.
“We’re going to have to work with the legislature to get something in the state budget to help us deal with these things,” Wood added.
For now, magistrates figure it’s worth a few thousands from their own coffers to fight the pesky flies.