Matt Weafer online portfolio

Dire Straits of the East Asia Slave Trade

2009-05-08T15:32:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer

David says he's 10 years old.

His caretakers say he's probably only seven or eight.

No one knows for certain.

David is an orphan in East Asia, and Pastor Brian Gibson of River City Church and a few members of his congregation took a missionary trip to the orphanage in February. While they were there, they took some of the kids to a carnival.

David laughed, played and ate cotton candy like any young boy.

But just six days before that, he was a house slave in Burma, probably sold by his family for around $20 with the hope that he would have a better life than his parents.

His story is a common one among children in East Asia; the difference is that David was rescued. Most of these children remain house slaves, sex slaves or prostitutes for the rest of their lives, which are usually cut short from AIDs, malnutrition or murder.

Gibson, his wife Jessica Gibson, Bill Mayfield and Ryan Staples spent 10 days in Thailand with Lana, the founder of Life Impact International. For Lana's safety, we cannot publish her last name. Corruption runs rampant in the area and rescuing children from slavery makes Lana an enemy to the slave trade. "Their butts are on the line," Gibson said.

Gibson and his crew's mission was to learn more about the tragedies of the area—genocide, severe poverty, slavery, and other destitution—and to film a documentary for Life Impact.

Around 900,000 to one million people are sold into slavery a year, Gibson said. "The sex traffic industry—illegal slave trade—it makes more money than any corporation you can think of in a year."

And while slaves are captured or purchased from all over the globe, a majority of them are children sold by desperate parents hoping they will not only provide their children a better future but also to have one less mouth to worry about feeding each day.

In the documentary, Lana said that most of these parents don't know that they are condemning their children to a lifetime of torture and degradation. Slave traders tell parents that the children will sell flowers, go to school and learn a trade.

They do sell flowers initially as the first phase of breaking the child's spirit. In the second phase, the slave traders, molest, beat and starve the children—just like taming a wild horse—to remove their desire for freedom, their ability to question authority, and their hope for a decent life, transforming them into complacent robots obeying instructions until set free, usually by death.

The four missionaries spent their time getting to know the rescued children and touring the area to see how Americans—Owensboroans, specifically—can help.

Little David was still acclimating himself to a life outside of forced labor and destitution. David suffered from malnutrition; his stomach had swollen and he had to visit the hospital every three days for blood transfusions. However, his owners forced him to walk the two miles there and back.

While Gibson and his crew spent time with David, they took him to a restaurant.

"This was the first restaurant he'd ever been to," Gibson said. "We took him to a nice restaurant, which was something else for him. He thought we were kings."

While at the restaurant, Gibson took him to the restroom. "He goes to the bathroom and tries to wash his hands in the urinal," he said.

Staples said, "They have fish ponds in the restaurant and he's reaching in trying to catch fish. Then he's gone for a minute and he comes back with a lizard."

"The girls are like look he's got a lizard as a pet," Gibson said. "And I'm like I don' think that's a pet. He's got a rock and he's going to cut its belly open and eat it. He's a scrapper. He's learned to take care of himself."

Not all of the children were that lucky. Gibson said when they walked through the red light district, they were approached by pimps pointing to prostitutes standing emotionless in windows and doorways. "There were signs listing prices for different sex acts and types of prostitutes," he said.

"The average age of a prostitute is 14," Gibson said, "and they'll have to sleep with up to 20 people a day. Stats are one in 10 people in Thailand are HIV positive. So, you're sold as a slave, and you have to sleep with 20 people a day when you're a young teenager. It's a death sentence. You're going to die of AIDs."

A popular myth in Asia and Africa, he said, is that sleeping with virgins will cure you of AIDs.

Once a prostitute becomes too sick, pimps will send them to border villages to die.

"The people are so uneducated," Gibson said, "packs of kids will come by and rape them, and then those kids get AIDs."

"Lots of Chinese businessmen come to Thailand," he said. "They hold a belief that the younger a child you sleep with, the more blessing it brings on your business. There are even doctors in Bangkok that will take a one or two-year-old baby and perform surgery on it to make it possible for a male to have intercourse."

A number of variables combined to create this horrifying environment, including government corruption, genocide, poverty and greed.

The influx of Burmese refugees into the area has drastically affected the number of impoverished families in the area. And local residents discriminate against the culture of the Burmese people, known as the Karen.

Nearly 50,000 registered Burmese refugees live on a four-square-mile refugee camp along with at least 30,000 unregistered refugees. Gibson said Burmese dictators have terrorized the Karen by pillaging villages, kidnapping children, raping women and forcing young boys into the military. The government and drug dealers also sell Yabba, a version of crank, at half price to the Karen to help destroy their culture.

"These Burmese people are all over Thailand and they see them as a problem," Gibson said. "So the Thai people exploit them: sell kids to the sex trade; hire them, work them for three months, and not want to pay them, so they kill them, put them in the river. And nobody cares. It's just another dead Karen."

Tens of thousands of impoverished families struggle to find food each day and the culture and local government support—or at least don't attempt to impede in the—exploitation of the lowest class in East Asia.

The Life Impact Web site, www.lifeimpactintl.org, says, "In India, a buffalo costs $350 . . . and a child costs $12." The Web site also says more than 165 million children between five and 14 are involved in some kind of forced labor.

Lana and Life Impact are working to rescue children, educate parents and help families work toward a sustainable living.

River City Church will be sending another group of missionaries to the region soon to teach trades and help educate workers in the orphanage on how to properly care for young children.

One of the best ways for Owensboro residents to offer assistance is through donations. Visit www.lifeimpactintl.org.

A Web-friendly version of the documentary composed by Staples will be available on Life Impact's Web site. River City Church will also host another viewing of the full documentary in the future.

"We live in the safest place on Earth, and so many of us don't even know it," Gibson said. "We don't realize how much we can really accomplish."

"I got back and just realized how many of my friends just hang out at Starbucks," Staples said. "There's so much more you can do, so much more rewarding than being insular."

One of the most noticeable things that Staples noticed upon his return was "how ethnocentric a group of people we are in this region—really in America—how insular we are and not in a horrible neglectful kind of way. It's just people don't think about the other side of the world. You hear about it but it seems like trendy causes. Let's wear a wrist band or listen to Bono talk about AIDs, but no one really thinks about it until you go see it."

"It's not that they're bad people," Gibson said. "It's just that they've never seen it."

Gibson and Staples both said their most memorable experiences of the trip were with David, who is now healthy and happy along with more than 50 other children Life Impact has rescued.

Lighter Living: Fragrances are evil

2009-05-08T15:31:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer

VENT Magazine

Sure they smell nice sometimes. But they are one of the most common carcinogens exposed to humans on a daily basis.

"Fragrances" refers to the ingredient listed in thousands of non-perishable cleaning and hygienic products on the market.

Manufacturers use fragrances in laundry detergents, window cleaners, oven cleaners, furniture polishes, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, body soaps, and deodorants and, of course, in its most concentrated forms, perfumes, colognes, body sprays, scented candles and air fresheners.

Ingredients commonly found in manufactured fragrances have been linked to cancer and asthma and pose serious risks to young children and unborn babies.

In 2007, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) tested household air fresheners and found phthalates in more than a dozen brands out of 14, including some marked "unscented" or "all-natural." Phthalates damage the reproductive system and interrupt normal development by mimicking the body's hormones.

The two products that contained no phthalates were Febreeze Air Effects and Renuzit Subtle Effects.

In 2005, Greenpeace funded a study of 36 random perfumes and colognes, which concluded that all of the fragrances contained significant amounts of known hazardous chemicals, including synthetic musks and phthalates.

The California Air Resources Board released a 2006 study of household cleaners and air fresheners; the report found chemicals classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous air pollutants in the products.

The University of Washington in Seattle determined that six popular brands of air fresheners contained nearly 100 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that were not listed on the ingredients lists; ten of the VOCs are regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws.

Fragrances are difficult to regulate because of the variety of products on the market and because ingredients in fragrances are protected as trade secrets, so manufacturers do not have to list ingredients.

The EPA reports, "No single federal agency has jurisdiction over all products that have a fragrance or the different types of fragrances (chemical mixtures) that may be used in particular products."

The Greenpeace study reported that "regular use of perfumes could substantially contribute to individuals' daily exposure to these chemicals, some of which have already been recorded as contaminants in blood and breast milk."

The EPA's current stance on fragrances is that the issue is controversial; some consumers complain that fragrances irritate skin, complicate breathing and cause other discomfort while other consumers report pleasant experiences and attribute health benefits such as reducing stress to the fragrances (aromatherapy).

In spite of the controversy, the EPA continues to monitor research on the subject.

As most fragrances cover up existing odors, the best way to avoid toxic fragrances is to not use air fresheners or products with fragrances at all, but to eliminate the odor by cleaning or increasing air circulation.

Many natural and home-made cleaning products are easy to mix or are inexpensive.

Baking soda absorbs acidic odors and vinegar defuses alkalinic odors. The Internet offers a profuse supply of recipes for home-made cleaning products.

Fresh fruit, flowers and herbs emit powerful aromas. Slice open an orange or place some freshly clipped mint or spearmint in a vase.

Use laundry detergents and fabric softeners without scents and avoid air fresheners altogether, including oil diffusers, plug-ins, sprays and gels.

Research perfumes, colognes and deodorants to find safe alternatives.

In a world plagued by cancer and consumed by artificial ingredients and man-made chemicals, why increase your exposure to harmful toxins by squirting more of these pollutants around your home?

We Are Downtown

2009-05-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine Messenger-Inquirer

As advocates of the future of downtown Owensboro, We Are Downtown is a group of business owners and downtown residents that meets monthly to discuss promoting downtown businesses and events, and to encourage the growth of the area.

Patty Acquisto, chair of We Are Downtown and owner of Patti’s Place, said, “What our organization is trying to do is promote the businesses that are here and encourage other businesses to consider downtown.”

When Acquisto opened Patti’s Place at 105 W. 2nd St., more than two years ago, she spent some time walking around downtown, meeting with other business owners and talking about how to improve business.

“I just started organizing and talking to other people,” she said. “The few of us got together and we grew from there.”

Members of We Are Downtown band together to promote various downtown events, such as the Holiday Stroll during the Christmas holiday season in 2008, which Acquisto said was a huge success.

“You would be amazed at the people who come into my shop here on Saturdays and say, ‘We just drove down from Bardstown, Jasper, E-town, or Henderson,’” she said. “That’s what people do. The first place they go is downtown. We try to have something for them when they get downtown. We make sure that they know about Memories on Main, The Crown, the restaurants and the coffee shop.”

“Downtown is the heart and soul of Owensboro and Daviess Co.,” she said.

Members of We Are Downtown are currently preparing for the eighth-annual Bluegrass Returns to its Roots on April 2, 3 and 4. Musicians will perform at the RiverPark Center, the Bluegrass Museum and other venues, including local retailers.

Some of the performers not scheduled to appear at any of the shows will be performing at different businesses such as the Famous Bistro and The Crème.

Acquisto said they are expecting at least 1,000 people for the weekend of music.

We Are Downtown meets the last Tuesday of every month in the Commerce Center at 5 p.m. Anyone interested in promoting downtown is welcome.

We Are Downtown Active Members:
Chair: Patti Acquisto
Chair-Elect: Charlie Schertzinger
Secretary: Renee Beasley Jones
Treasurer: George Skiadas
David Atkinson
Rodney Berry
Bob Bowers
Martha Clark
Larry Conder
Rosemary Conder
Sy Deane
Sue Fowler
Kim Johnson
Bruce Kunze
Carole Mac Quarrie
Karen Miller
Murry Morris
Ava Morris
Kathy Olson
Joel Osborne
Larry Peech
Fred Reeves
Gavin Roberts
Becky Stone
Russ Wilkey
Jim Zabek

Reprinted with permission from Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Downtown business owners support transformation

2009-05-08T15:21:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer

Greater Owensboro Business Magazine Messenger-Inquirer

In a few short years, downtown will transform into Owensboro's hub of economic activity, tourism and entertainment. At least, that's the hope.

For now, city and county officials are busy organizing data and drawing plans while downtown business owners and Owensboro residents anxiously wait to see if this major investment pays off.

Confidence in the plan and the officials guiding the plan is the common denominator among downtown business owners while many city and country residents have voiced opposition against the emphasis placed on downtown and the tax hike implemented to fund the transformation.

"I am very optimistic about the Gateway plan and so proud of city and county governments in coming together and making this a reality," Rosemary Conder said. Conder and her husband Larry own The Crème Coffee House and The Crowne. The Conders also recently purchased the Smith-Warner Building on the southeast corner of St. Ann and W. 2^nd Sts.

"I think the development for downtown will put Owensboro back on the map," Larry Peech, co-owner of Peachtree Antique Gallery, said. "It is awesome for the residents of the area and the future of this area.

It shows we are still pioneers and still developing."

"I think it's going to be good not only for businesses but for the city," George Skiadas, owner of the Famous Bistro, said.

While many businesses, residents and officials support the push for developing downtown, they — city and county officials, especially — have received harsh criticism.

"I am bewildered," Skiadas said, "that for the last couple of months there have been people that have spoken out in a very hateful and somewhat derogatory manner towards our city and county government because of the decision they made for the improvement of downtown."

Conder said, "I think (officials) did try to respect the wishes of the city. It makes me sad to see so much negativity."

Given the global economic slump that has made many individuals weary of tax increases of any kinds, Conder said, officials "agonized" over whether or not this was a good time to raise taxes.

"But I think we're at the sweet spot of our economy," she said. "I think we're in the sweet spot to buy the things we need. I think the tax hike is a really progressive step in making our city not stagnant. And that's where we were, really stagnant, no growth. I think we really needed this boost. I think the tax hike was really well thought out."

"No one likes more taxes," Skiadas said, "myself included. The county officials and city officials aren't delighted about paying more taxes. They're going to have to pay it, too. So it's not something that was easy to do."

Peech said, "For progress, we all have to bite a little bit of the expense. This is about improving the city and county. That we're going to be taxed is minor to what we're going to receive not only for us and our families but people coming into the city . . . and the next generation."

"If someone can come up to me and tell me how else to finance the project, then they should approach city and county government and tell them," Skiadas said, "and if it's a better idea, let's do it. Instead of just criticizing it, come up with a better idea. But a better idea is not to just do nothing. A lot of people say we don't have to do anything. That's not the answer. We will remain stagnant and in doing so we will regress."

But the vision is progress, transforming downtown Owensboro into the "jewel of the city," Skiadas said.

With such a major overhaul planned for downtown — transforming the river front, developing a market square and events center, and converting Veteran's Blvd. into a pedestrian priority street — construction sites will be a common scene downtown possibly for several years.

But Skiadas, Conder and Peech agree they don't expect that to affect business.

"I'm hoping that (construction) will bring out the curious people who want to see changes happening," Conder said. "And I think the city and county are working to make it as efficient as possible where when one area is closed, other areas will be open."

"(New construction) is a sign of prosperity," Peech said.

Part of that work will be the demolition of the Executive Inn.

Conder said she understands the need to tear down the former hotel, but hopes the city can reopen the convention center and Mitch McConnell Plaza.

"The Executive Inn was a wonderful concept and did its job for the time," Skiadas said. "That area will be more valuable to us as a city for residential development."

"I think if I could have a voice it would be to somehow try to help people be a little more positive about the changes and what the future's going to hold," Conder said. "Come and watch things change and have some hope. The citizens really can see that it's going to be such a good thing. Local economy is going to improve."

"If (city and county officials) act quickly on what they're doing," Peech said, "this progress will benefit us so greatly all of us will welcome it. Progress sometimes hurts but once it's done, people benefit from it and (they are) proud."

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer Owensboro, Ky.

Bishop McRaith’s life of ministry guided by Holy Spirit

2009-04-07T10:49:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer

Western Kentucky Catholic

For Bishop John McRaith, retirement won't be much different than the past 26 years. He'll have fewer responsibilities, especially when the new bishop takes his seat as administrator of the 32-county diocese, but those responsibilities were just a part of God's calling.

Bishop McRaith's main job was to let the Holy Spirit work through him to spread the Good News, the love of Jesus Christ, which he will continue to do in retirement.

Even as the leader of the diocese, Bishop McRaith said he never felt like he was in control.

"When I think that I'm in charge," he said, "I'm in trouble. . . . We have to go back and remember that the Holy Spirit is in charge of the mission of the church."

And he defined that mission simply as spreading God's love.

"When I realize through my faith that I know God is in charge then I know I only have to do the best I can," he said. "And that doesn't mean I don't make mistakes. We all make mistakes."

For just more than a quarter of a century, Bishop McRaith dedicated his life to spreading the Good News in the Diocese of Owensboro, reaching out to the people that needed it most.

Sister Joseph Angela Boone, Director of Administration, said "He has started a lot of ministries in the diocese that had never been here before."

Some of the ministries the bishop helped found include the Family Life Office, the Social Concerns Office, the Religious Education Office, the Office of Wisdom, the Stewardship Office and the Safe Environment Office.

"He has also been a very strong advocate for Hispanic ministry," Sr. Joseph Angela said. "Another big thing that he has accomplished was getting just wages for the employees in the diocese, including staff and teachers."

But his most admirable trait, she said, was his patience with the people of the diocese, especially in administrative positions.

When he founded the Diocesan Pastoral Council, which currently has about 30 people from eight deaneries, Sr. Joseph Angela said, organizing the body into a coherent focus was difficult at its inception in the late 80s.

"His patience in trying to get that started was unbelievable," she said.

The Bishop's goal for this council was to bring forth concerns and suggestions from the grassroots level from parishes and deaneries.

"(But the members') reasons for being there was to carry out the mandates of the bishop," Sr. Joseph Angela said. "But he did not mandate things. He wanted solutions to come from the grassroots."

Sr. Joseph Angela recounted her first meeting with the Diocesan Pastoral Council: "It was prior to 1989 when I came. One member said, 'Bishop, just tell us what you want us to do and we'll do it.' That's not what he wanted. He wanted the people in the pews to come up with ideas. He wanted the body of the church to be aware of what needed to be done. He was very very collaborative."

Fr. John Vaughan said, "He's a great listener and believes in broad consultation. That's one of his trademarks that has served us well."

Bishop McRaith treated consultation not as a challenge but as a necessity to truly let the Holy Spirit work through the Diocese.

"We are a people with diverse abilities and diverse roles with a lot of questions," Bishop McRaith said. "And the Holy Spirit or God or Jesus expects us to live as one body. That will always be the challenge, not to let petty differences get in the way of serious work that needs to be done and to bring the Good News to all the people of God."

Catholic Schools Superintendant Jim Mattingly remembered Bishop McRaith saying in one of his homilies at CPC morning Mass, "We don't have to have all the answers. But if we have faith in God, the Spirit will lead us to the answers."

While Bishop McRaith accomplished much during his time with the Diocese, he takes credit for very little.

"I just have immense gratitude for how the people have accepted me and how they have worked with me and how they have helped me grow in the model of God," he said. "There's a real sadness in leaving the ministry that I did have as the bishop, though I'll still be a bishop."

For the next year, Bishop McRaith will still help with confessions and the Chrism Mass or "whatever they want me to do," he said. "I'll wait to be asked."

With so many years invested into the dioceses, Bishop McRaith said picking out a favorite memory was too difficult. "There are so many things that have happened over those 26 plus years," he said, "some of it very very exciting and challenging, but generally we've had some great celebrations."

He said some of his favorite celebrations were when people traveled from across the diocese to celebrate as one. He also said one thing he wished he could have devoted more time to during his ministry was ecumenism.

"We've tried to put a great emphasis on the need for unity and oneness both in how we live out our lives whether bishop or priest or laity," he said, "but also it's an absolute essential to carry out the mission of the church. So there's been great effort put into building a sense of unity and culture of unity, if you will. How effective it's been only God can judge that."

The group of people that will directly feel the effects of the Bishop retiring the most is the staff that works with him every day.

"I'm going to miss working with the staff and working closely with the priests and the consultative bodies, and the laity I'll miss a lot," he said.

Sr. Joseph Angela said, "He has great devotion to the liturgy and is generous in celebrating the Eucharist with the staff here as often as he possibly can whenever he is available. That was one of his great contributions, I thought, that made him so great. He wanted to celebrate the Eucharist everyday. I appreciated it and a lot of other people did too."

For the future Bishop McRaith said he will say mass where he's invited or in his chapel. He also said that while he has lived at his house on 5^th St. his entire career with the Diocese, the new bishop has the choice to live their. "If he would want the house," Bishop McRaith said, "he would have the right to have it. If he doesn't, I would probably remain here."

And while he has too many fond memories to single any out, he also had many trying times.

"The sexual abuse scandal was probably the most trying time because you're working with hurting people, trying to do the best you can to reach out to those who are hurting and help them in ways that we could," he said. "I certainly learned the pain of those who have experienced sexual abuse and those who have experienced any kind of abuse that affected their lives."

While the Owensboro Diocese was just one of many dioceses mixed in the scandal, the image of the entire Catholic Church suffered in the public eye. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops worked along with many others to redeem the sanctity of the Church.

"It depends on who you ask of course, but I think the bishops have done a great job of helping the diocese put together programs, safe environment programs which will hopefully not only be helpful to the church but as well as any entity that is dealing in particular with children," Bishop McRaith said. "I think that a tremendous amount of effort was put in on the part of many people to make the programs we have. The sexual abuse policies are probably some of the first since 1985. We've had a policy but it hadn't been updated."

But for the individuals directly affected by the scandal, there were more important things than the Church's image.

"(Bishop McRaith) was a perfect model of listening to people and not making them feel that it was all their fault," Sr. Joseph Angela said. "If you listen to someone sometimes that's all they need. Someone to listen to them and believe they are telling the facts as they really are."

She said the Bishop even offered to pay for counseling for anyone involved in the scandal.

"That's when we set up the safe environment office," Sr. Joseph Angela said. And all the employees and volunteers had to have a criminal background check."

"The many people I have talked to made me much more aware of the seriousness of the problem, the magnitude of it," Bishop McRaith said.

Former editor of the Messenger-Inquirer Dan Heckel said, "When the church was struggling to get through the abuse scandal, I was always impressed that the Bishop never avoided any of the reporters at the Messenger-Inquirer. Anytime a reporter called him, even though he knew it was going to be an unpleasant question, he always made himself available. That's rare these days, but Bishop McRaith has always stood a bit taller than the rest of the crowd."

Bishop McRaith's calm composure and gentleness permeated every aspect of his ministry.

"He was very very collaborative," Sr. Joseph Angela said. "He had extreme patience. He would listen to you and maybe if you were completely on the wrong track, he would very gently say 'but' and you would see the Holy Spirit coming out of him. He had a gentle way of educating you to the real thing and not what you thought it ought to be."

His dedication to the Holy Spirit was his constant guide and his compassion helped form his and the Diocese's argument against abortion, another difficult issue during the bishop's ministry.

"I think we need to see that Roe v. Wade was just one of the great injustices and the most serious injustice that was ever perpetrated on the people," Bishop McRaith said. "We're very much a church that believes in the dignity of the human person, the right of every human person to be treated with dignity the dignity that a child of God should have."

The bishop said that while there are many global issues the Catholic Church is hoping to impact, abortion is the first.

"Only in working on all of those issues will we make strides toward success," he said. "But the first issue is abortion because you have to be born before you can receive any injustices. This is the most defenseless group of people that deserve our best efforts to be their voices because they don't have one."

Perhaps surprisingly, the bishop's argument against abortion stems from stewardship.

"It really comes down to the question of who owns what, and God owns everything, which is the truth, and we are stewards of him," he said. "Once we get it through our heads that God owns everything, we'll begin to divide up resources and we'll play a major roll in shaping the future of the world and never to forget two things: how much God loves us, and from scripture, never to forget (that God said), 'You have not chosen me; I have chosen you.'"

As good stewards, good choices become obvious.

"It's very misunderstood when you talk about stewardship," he said. "People think you're talking about trying to give money, and that's the furthest from the truth. It's the question of where do we get our gifts from, and they came from God and they were given to us not for our own honor and glory but for the building up of the body of Christ, which means reaching out to everyone who's being treated unjustly and unfairly and who are not being able to use their gifts to the fullest."

For Bishop McRaith, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Good News of the Lord, and stewardship all role into one. "It's so simple people don't listen to it," he said. "To live out the answer is going to mean suffering and pain. It's going to mean a close loving relationship with Jesus and truly carrying out the great commandment to love each other as Jesus has loved us."

As for his hopes for the future bishop, Bishop McRaith said he hopes to see "someone who truly loves the wonderful faith-filled people that are here, and that includes the laity and priests, religious and the deacon. I just pray that he will find them as faith-filled as I have found them to be."

Sr. Joseph Angela said, "It will be hard for anyone to follow him. His generosity is great."

Lighter Living: Tap Water Saves the Environment and the Pocket Book

2009-03-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
VENT Magazine

Millions of Americans crack the tops to bottles of water at least once a day (if not more often) while they exercise, during a commute to work, a lunch break, a business meeting or at the movies as a healthy alternative to sugary sodas, sports drinks and tap water.

But there’s another element to the story — the environment.

Producing and packaging bottled water requires three to five times more water than will fit in the bottle, according to Calif.-based Pacific Institute.

And while recycling water bottles helps reduce the impact, only 12 percent of bottles were recycled in 2003, according to a 2007 MSNBC article. That number has likely risen in the past six years, but recycling plastic also requires a significant amount of energy and non-renewable resources.

According to a report on the Pacific Institute’s Web site, “More energy is needed to fill the bottles with water at the factory, move it by truck, train, ship, or air freight to the user, cool it in grocery stores or home refrigerators, and recover, recycle, or throw away the empty bottles. The Pacific Institute estimates that the total amount of energy embedded in our use of bottled water can be as high as the equivalent of filling a plastic bottle one quarter full with oil.”

Americans purchased 31.2 billion liters of bottled water in 2006. The Pacific Institute estimated that the energy required to produce those bottles equals approximately 17 million barrels of oil.

On top of the energy required to create, fill, package, ship and recycle the bottles, and the tons of non-recycled plastic bottles sitting in landfills, waiting 1,000 years before they start to decompose, the chemicals in the plastic bottles are potentially harmful to consumers as well.

Though the Food and Drug Administration regulates water before it enters bottles and once a year as it sits in the bottle, certain harmful contaminants such as phthalates or Bisphenol A can leach into the water as the bottles age, especially if the bottle is reused by the consumer.

Debating the health benefits of bottled water compared to tap water is difficult considering the number of water sources, state regulations, types of bottles and the amount of time a bottle of water sits on a shelf.

Bottled water is monitored by the Food and Drug Administration and tap water is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Both organizations apply stringent standards to water quality prior to marketing.

However, municipalities, such as Owensboro Municipal Utilities, monitor water quality daily, typically the same day a resident consumes the water.

And while bottled water companies use buzzwords like pure and natural, accompanied by images of free-flowing streams and picturesque mountains, many bottles of water are filled from the municipal water providers in the manufacturer’s city. The water is then, though not always, filtered.

Owensboro’s water source is an underground aquifer. The water filters naturally through the earth and is then pumped out, monitored and sent to homes in the city.

With some high-end bottled waters costing close to $10 per gallon, a mark-up of nearly 10,000 times, tap water is a more environmentally- and economically-friendly option.

According to OMU’s Water Quality Report for 2007, there was only one violation of water quality during the year. The presence of coliform bacteria, a natural contaminant, rose to 5.88 percent. The standard is no more than 5 percent. And once, noticed, the system was flushed, refilled and retested, showing no signs of the contaminant.

The International Bottled Water Association touts bottled water as “one of the safest and most regulated food products on Earth.”

This statement does not mean that bottled water is of better quality or safer than tap water. With the emergence of inexpensive home water purifiers hitting the market, tap water is a better environmental and economical option than bottled water. And with a sturdy thermos, it’s just as convenient.

Did you know?

The FDA reported that bottled water sitting in the sunlight does not leach chemicals linked to breast cancer into the water, unlike recent articles and viral emails have reported.

Lighter Living: Slouching economy hurts recycling opportunities

2009-03-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
VENT Magazine

The green movement permeates our society so thickly that the average consumer has bent their focus from buying the newest trendy item to curbing their carbon footprint.

Reduce, reuse, recycle has been the moniker of environmentalists for years. And regardless of the newest environmentally-friendly car or energy-saving appliance, recycling remains one the most beneficial activities for an eco-conscious lifestyle.

But Owensboro residents are limited.

The recycling center now located at the Public Works Building on W. 5th St. only accepts newspaper, cardboard, aluminum cans, steel cans, clear plastic and opaque, colorless plastic.

What about the other five types of plastic? Or glass? Or even computer products, fluorescent lights and hazardous wastes?

Unfortunately, Downy Ward, manager of the Owensboro Sanitation Department, said, currently, there is not a market in the area for glass and other recyclables. And hauling the material would not only put out a significant amount of particulate matter from the trucks but would also be fiscally irresponsible as the city’s trucks cost $4 to $5 per mile.

The recycling industry as a whole has taken a hit along with the rest of the economy.

“Everybody wants to do the right thing,” Ward said. “People’s hearts are in the right place . . . (but) the bottom has dropped out of the market.”

Owensboro sells its recyclables to local recycling distributor Resource Recycling.

“They dictate the amounts and quantities of what we recycle based on the industry that will accept it,” Ward said.

Glass and the other types of plastic are “tremendously hard to recycle,” Ward said. And there are no industries nearby to which Owensboro can sell its post-consumer product; therefore Resource Recycling does not accept those items.

And the industry is struggling so much that Resource Recycling has suspended payment on newspaper and cardboard, so the Sanitation Department collects those at a loss.

The largest buyer of recyclable paper product is China, Ward said. And along with the rest of the global economy, China’s production of recycled paper products has either slowed or stopped, which means Resource Recycling cannot sell the recyclable newspaper and cardboard.

In the meantime, Resource Recycling is stock-piling paper waste until it can find a buyer, Ward said.

“We’ve tried to talk to local paper companies like Scott Paper Co. about purchasing recycled paper,” Ward said. But the city can’t produce enough product at the purity level the companies request in order to create a viable relationship.

With the economic slump, businesses and industries trim excess costs and in many cases, industries can purchase virgin resources significantly cheaper than recycled.

Regardless of the troubled market, the Sanitation Department is still accepting the same six items, including agricultural waste such as leaves and grass clippings at the Sports Center.

Home Depot offers recycling drop-off for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). GreenWorks Recycling, located at 101 E. 9th St. recycles e-scrap such as old computers, cell phones, game consoles and other technological hardware.

Ward said that he’s waiting to hear from the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex about purchasing recycled, glass cullet to use in refilling culverts and other applications. The Sanitation Department would then begin accepting glass.

For the other recyclable products, the solution, Ward said, is to increase demand for recycled material.

“If people say, I want to do what’s right and pay that extra cost, then there’s a market and a factory that can sustain itself,” Ward said.

While the motto is reduce, reuse, recycle, there’s another unspoken step, buy recycled products to maintain the demand.

As the recycling industry continues to grow, more options will become available to Owensboro, but in the meantime, Ward said, “The best thing you can do is try to reduce the amount of virgin product you consume,” and when you can, buy recycled products.

Registered Builder / Remodeler program protects consumers

2009-03-09T10:26:00.004-07:00

By Matt Weafer
For the Messenger-Inquirer Home and Garden Show catalogue.

Whether you are looking to build a new home or renovate your current home, finding a contractor you can trust can be difficult.

But with the Home Builders Association of Owensboro’s Registered Builder / Remodeler program, consumers gain a little independence.

As a free consumer protection program, the Registered Builder / Remodeler program is an organization designed to set professional standards for builders and remodelers so consumers know their contractor can not only complete a job, but has insurance to protect the consumer and the crew and the references to back him up.

“In today’s time, all you have to do is call yourself a builder and the consumer assumes that (you have) experience,” HBAO President-elect Randy Hayden, with Image Builders, said. “That’s simply not the reality.”

“The foremost purpose of Registered Builder / Remodeler is consumer protection,” Mark Schmidt, of Mark Schmidt Remodeling, said. “There’s not police out there policing the industry. (Registered Builder / Remodeler) polices the industry pre-consumer.”

Registered builders and remodelers in the program must meet certain criteria, including workers compensation insurance and liability insurance; the contractor must be in business for at least two years and have completed a certain number of jobs; the contractor must supply references from previous customers and the contractor’s bank; the contractor must also provide a written contract and at least a one-year warranty.

Once the contractor is accepted as a registered builder or remodeler, he must complete at least six hours of continued education per year in a field related to construction or business, including anything from safety lessons to accounting.

“We check all your references, make sure you’re not just operating out of the back of your truck with Skil saw and hammer,” Neal Tong, of Neal Tong Building & Remodeling, said.

The Registered Builder / Remodeler program started with the Home Builders Association of Kentucky and 14 cities have adopted the program. The HBAO initiated its program in 1994.

“I think it’s of utmost importance,” Hayden said. “It’s not an easy program to get into. It takes a little bit of time to become a registered builder. You have to have a proven track record and a list of people that you have built or remodeled for. They check with those people and talk to them about their experience.”

“It’s a program that has worked very well for builders in our association,” Tong said.

The Registered Builder / Remodeler program also serves as a mediator during disputes between contractors and customers.

“If there is an issue regarding someone’s work,” Hayden said, “rather than it going to court and costing a lot of money for both the builder and consumer, (the mediators) can save you thousands of dollars.”

“We’ve had very few complaints,” Tong said, “but whenever they do occur, we have a registered builder committee to get rolling whatever needs to be done to get it resolved as quickly as possible so the client is satisfied. That doesn’t always mean the client is right. Sometimes the builder has done all they possibly can.”

One of the greatest advantages of the Registered Builder / Remodeler program, though, is consumer protection. Ascribing to guidelines from to the National Home Builders Association, registered builders and remodelers are some of the most dependable contractors in Owensboro.

Schmidt said to find the perfect contractor for you job, interview several companies.

“(The consumer) needs to get recommendations from other clients or their friends,” he said. “Interview a remodeler just like you would an employee. How long’s a job going to take? When are my payments due? What should I expect? It can be treacherous on customers if the don’t prepare themselves.”

And that is what the Registered Builder / Remodeler program is designed to accomplish.

Contact HBAO at (270) 688-0353 for the current list of registered builders and remodelers or visit the Web site www.hbao.com.

Reprinted with permission from Messenger-Inquirer.

Build the backyard of your dreams

2009-03-09T10:26:00.003-07:00

By Matt Weafer
For the Messenger-Inquirer Home and Garden Show catalogue

The new trend is backyard living.

At the Home and Garden Show this year, several booths will be dedicated to creating an outdoor living space complete with sofas, refrigerators, fireplaces, grills and swimming pools.

A backyard is a haven from traffic, work and weekly routines. Kicking back on an easy Sunday afternoon, under the warm sun with a cool breeze on your face is the perfect reprieve from a busy week.

But now backyards are transforming from just a rusty charcoal grill with a few lawn chairs to an outdoor living space with a stone floor, fireplace, refrigerator, canopy and outdoor couches as comfortable as indoor couches but with weather-proof fabric.

Christopher Thompson, president of operations with Integrity Nursery, said, “Outdoor kitchens have been a real big thing.”

Integrity Nursery will devote their entire booth to outdoor living as a result of the shift in the industry.

“Within the display we’ll be showing off a neat pergola defined as an outdoor room,” Thompson said.

In that outdoor room, Integrity will feature new furniture lines “that look very indoor — they’re definitely an indoor style — but as outdoor furniture,” Thompson said.

Integrity will also display outdoor custom fireplaces.

“They are out of the box fireplaces,” Thompson said. “We want to show our ability in custom fireplaces.”

Thompson said Integrity’s emphasis at the show this year will be the company’s ability to customize an outdoor space into the perfect backyard.

“The display will really show you what you can do in defining a space outside and creating a livable space or room,” Thompson said.

Integrity recently opened a store in Evansville and between the two locations, Thompson said, he has more than 100 sets of outdoor furniture.

“And one thing that does set us apart as well is we have very professional, talented . . . designers with education and experience with the whole landscape of an outdoor living space,” he said.

For Henderson-based Tri-State Landscaping, the Home and Garden Show is a chance to display a range of opportunities for outdoor living.

Owner Adam Farley said the family-owned business has grown since he and his younger brother mowed 20 yards a year at ages 11 and six, respectively.

Now, Tri-State Landscaping covers customers in Henderson, Madisonville, Evansville, Owensboro and more.

At the Home and Garden Show, the family-owned business will detail the many options it offers, from small jobs such as trimming hedges and mulching flower beds to big jobs, such as full outdoor kitchens with in-ground swimming pool, fence and deck.

Tri-State Landscaping will share the booth with some associates, including an architect to help design the landscaping of the full outdoor living rooms and a fence and deck company, Jonathon Dixon with Fence Pros.

While Tri-State Landscaping offers an array of options for outdoor living spaces, Farley and his family work with other contractors to provide the full package, not just the furniture and flower beds, but the deck and swimming pool as well.

Tri-State Landscaping will display retaining walls, man-made stone as well as natural stone, columns, lighting, fire pits, grills and greenery.

The company will also offer giveaways and promotions to start work on a customer’s dream backyard, and they will be grilling shish kabobs.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer.

Home Builders Association of Owensboro ensures quality, safety and customer satisfaction

2009-03-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
For the Messenger-Inquirer Home and Garden Show catalogue

Until the birth of the National Home Builders Association, home construction had only one guideline, customer satisfaction.

But what happened when there was an injury on the job site? Or the customer was unhappy with the quality of craftsmanship?

The Home Builders Association of Owensboro is designed to ensure local contractors provide honest work and a quality product.

“We are a group of builders that strive for all builder members to be registered,” HBAO President David Clark said. “And registered means they use a written contract, carry insurance and continue their education every year.”

The HBAO has 333 members, including contractors and suppliers. And each member is dedicated to professional performance.

According to the HBAO Code of Ethics listed on the organization’s Web site, “Home ownership can and should by within reach of every American family. American homes should be well-designed, well-constructed and well-located in attractive communities with education, recreational, religious and shopping facilities accessible to all.”

Members of the HBAO ascribe to a list of principles that define their goals as responsible contractors; the first of which lists the members’ primary responsibilities as customer, community and country. And the second principle states, “Honesty is our guiding policy.”

The other policies create a standard of safety, fairness and legality. The members of the HBAO are a virtual brotherhood dedicated to creating a quality housing market and happy consumer-base in Owensboro.

“(For the) general public or someone that would be interested in building a house, the major benefit (of HBAO) is they can call and get a list of registered builders,” Clark said. “And those are the (builders) that in my opinion are more reputable.”

The HBAO also provides education seminars and safety training throughout the year.
“That goes along with part of the continuing education,” Clark said, “and also makes for a safer workplace for employees and all concerned.”

On top of dedication to consumer-satisfaction and quality control, the HBAO is also a networking organization for contractors.

With the 333 members in Owensboro, the HBAO offers a large network of businesses accessible for contractors.

Clark said members include contractors as well as suppliers. And many of the contractors use member suppliers for orders.

“And we provide a meeting 11 months out of the year where there is networking available to all the builders and associates,” Clark said.

Another benefit for members is discounted rates for workers compensation insurance.

To maintain a progressive level of quality control and new ideas, each year, the HBAO announces a new president. Board members are named according to a ladder system.

“Once you become involved,” Clark said, “you start out at different positions and just qualify as you go. It takes about four years once you’re on the ladder to actually become associates council president, which gives you a better understanding of how everything works.”

As the president for 2009, Clark said, “This year we just hope to survive.”

While tight economic times have drastically hurt some industries, Clark said Owensboro has suffered a little but not as bad as some cities.

In fact, the HBAO is still moving forward.

The new HBAO building has been completely paid for, Clark said, and the organization recently purchased a plot of land near the new building.

Clark’s goal is to pay off that plot of land by the end of the year.

But HBAO funds do not all stay within the membership.

As part of the HBAO’s dedication to the community, each year, the organization hosts a reverse raffle to raise money for different charities.

Last year, the HBAO donated $5,000 each to Friends of the Children and the Daviess County Lions Club.

The reverse raffle takes place each fall.

For more information about the HBAO, call (270) 699-0353 or visit www.hbao.com.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer.

The Home and Garden Show emphasizes eco-friendly

2009-03-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
For the Messenger-Inquirer Home and Garden Show catalogue

While the venue may be smaller than last year, the Home and Garden Show will not lack in quality.

This year the Home Builders Association of Owensboro’s annual Home and Garden Show will start at 5 p.m. March 6 at Mid-America Jet at the end of Tamarack Rd. in the Mid-America AirPark.

“This is our first time in the venue,” Associates Council President John Sublett said. “We feel really good about the show. We did have to downsize a little bit but we feel like the quality of our vendors has increased as our actual size decreased.”

Expecting at least 69 vendors so far, the show will feature the newest trends and techniques and services available from local businesses in the home and garden industry.

“I think the Home and Garden Show is a great avenue for consumers to go out and look at the products available in Owensboro,” Mark Schmidt of Mark Schmidt Remodeling said. “(People) see products on HGTV and want those for a project, but in reality it takes longer for products to be ordered and received than it does to do the job.”

The Home and Garden Show is an opportunity for vendors to advertise their new products and services, and for consumers to research the market before they build their new privacy fence, in-ground pool or dream house.

“A lot of these products (on HGTV) are pricy, too,” Schmidt said. “Make sure you’re looking at products that are easily accessible to the community. And that’s what’s good about the Home and Garden show.”

For this year, Sublett said vendors are focusing heavily on environmentally friendly services and supplies.

“I think we’re going to see an emphasis on the green building and green cleaning (industry),” he said. “We’re seeing an increase in availability of environmentally friendly products and services here in the Owensboro area for our community.”

Sublett said the influx of environmentally friendly options at the Home and Garden Show is due to a combination of local interest and the national trend of eco-friendly living.

“That was unplanned,” he said. “As we were looking at some of our vendors, that’s what we were noticing. Our vendors are reflective of a national trend of environmentally friendly building and products.”

The environmental options available at the show range from recycled materials for home building and décor, Energy Star appliances, and other energy-saving and eco-conscious items.

“Specifically,” he said, “we have a new vendor bringing in new solar technology that hasn’t been readily available in the area.”

That vendor is World Class Renewable Energy, and will be located at booth 127.
Carpets Unlimited will also display recycled carpeting.

There will also be several new vendors this year.

“Especially with the economic downtown, we’re seeing a lot of newer vendors who are coming into our show who are vary eager to show off what they do for the folks in Owensboro,” Sublett said.

And many of the new vendors are from outside of Owensboro but offer services in the city and the area.

“We’re attracting these visitors outside of Owensboro because we put on a good show,” Sublett said. “They wouldn’t be coming back if they weren’t generating business from people.”

Sublett said the show also attracts residents from other counties as well.

“I think we always do a quality show,” he said. “Per size, we have probably the best show in the state.”

The Home and Garden Show is open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, March 6; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on March 7; and noon to 4 p.m. on March 8.

Tickets are available at the door, $3 for adults; children 12 and under enter free.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

Owensboro builders and suppliers offer energy-saving alternatives

2009-03-09T09:07:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer
For the Messenger-Inquirer Home & Garden Show Catalogue

Go green.

If the new millennium had a moniker, that would be it.

The trend of green construction has filtered into Owensboro. Now, not only have residents’ interests in recycling grown, but so have their interests in building to reduce their carbon footprint and save a dollar or two.

And the hero that makes this all possible — Energy Star appliances.

Energy Star, an organization stemming from the Environmental Protection Agency, sets a standard for energy efficiency in home appliances, conserving electricity and water and reducing greenhouse emissions.

Energy Star also sets a standard of tests during construction to ensure a home is sealed tight to minimize loss of energy through the heating and cooling system.

“The thing about green building that I see more than anything is (people) talk about the green building products you use,” Rick Bivins of JMJ Construction said. “This is green. That’s green. The problem is they don’t see the whole picture. What we’re putting in this building is important, but if you use all green materials but it’s not energy efficient, you’re defeating the purpose.”

Energy efficiency in a home is achieved by reducing energy consumption through appliances including heating and air conditioning units, and by reducing loss of energy through weak insulation, windows or leaky air ducts.

Ray Chambers of Green River Appliances said the biggest energy-savers are Energy Star refrigerators and washing machines.

He said, some of the new refrigerators reportedly “use less electricity than a 60-watt bulb.”

Executive Officer of the Home Builders Association of Owensboro Richard Stallings said, “The technology is out there to make sure you have the most energy efficient home possible, and we have contractors to counsel customers on new homes and existing homes.”

While many recycled and eco-friendly products dominate the housing market currently, Bivins and Chambers agreed the best way to create an environmentally friendly home is to decrease energy-consumption.

“These houses are going to be around for 100 years,” Bivins said. “I think it’s as important or more important to build energy-efficient homes by using good windows — the best windows you can find — good insulation and good heating and air.”

Chambers said some of the new French door refrigerators can save homeowners up $800 in energy savings over a five year period, and front-load washing machines can save up to 8,000 gallons of water annually.

Also, the new washers use around 14 gallons of water per load compared to the 40 gallons used by top load washers.

“The average front load washer will spin out about a quart more water out of the clothing which will require less drying time,” Chambers said. “Less time is less energy, and that protects our water supply as well.”

Stallings said the state currently offers a $500 tax credit for homeowners who upgrade insulation, windows or doors for more energy-efficient models.

“If you have a lot of duct leakage, it’s going to take more energy to heat and cool your house,” Bivins said.

With JMJ construction, he said, the company uses an Energy Star certified heating and cooling installer to make sure the ducts are as tightly sealed as possible to minimize leakage.

“We use several products that they say are green,” Bivins said. “But they call everything green. They a call a car green because it’s a midsize car and not an SUV. What we do is we build as energy-efficient as possible within financial reason. There’s other ways you can build tighter and more energy-efficient but most people couldn’t afford to build that house.”

And while building energy-efficient is an investment, the benefits pay off.

“It’s pretty amazing how energy star products will pay for themselves,” Chambers said.

More than a billion and a half products carrying the Energy Star label have been purchased, Chambers said.

“That’s going to obviously prevent some greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “Those products that have been purchased are equal to taking 20 million cars off the world. And we will all benefit from it and our grandchildren, too.”

With more than 1000 manufacturers building products for the Energy Star program, the options in design and performance range to suit any need.

“There are a lot of green products out there,” Neal Tong of Neal Tong Building and Remodeling said. “Some of them better than others, some of them more economical than others and will pay you back sooner. But the green building practices are a good thing.”

And according to Chambers, “Energy Star is here to stay.”

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

Owensboro builders and suppliers offer energy-saving alternatives

2009-03-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Make your spring cleaning green

2009-02-20T00:07:00.001-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Owensboro Today

This spring when you’re pulling out the couch to attack the annual aggregation of dust bunnies, emptying out the garage and wiping down the shelves of your refrigerator, consider the environment.

Every year, we break out the Pine-Sol and the vacuum cleaner attachments and go to town for spring cleaning for a fresh start to the new life of the new year. Why not make that fresh start even better by transforming your home into an eco-conscious living space?

The trick to establishing a greener home that is both easy to maintain through the year and functional is to create an infrastructure that supports recycling and a lighter eco-footprint.

Organize a recycling center in your home

Recycling is a breeze with a designated home recycling center that contains bins to separate and store waste until you take them to the city’s recycling center.

Clear out a space in your home, such as a corner in the garage, a broom closet or even the trunk of your car to store recyclables.

Owensboro only offers recycling for seven items at the recycling center: clear plastic, opaque non-colored plastic, cardboard, newspapers, magazines, steel cans and aluminum cans.

Some local retailers, including Wal-Mart, offer recycling for plastic grocery bags.

Make your trip to the recycling center an activity as regular as going to the groceries.

Avoid harmful cleaning products

Most household cleaning products contain harmful chemicals including carcinogens, endocrine disruptors (which can cause ADHD, infertility, challenged immune systems, miscarriages, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers) and neurotoxins (which affect brain activity, causing headaches and loss of intellect).

While many cleaning products tout “natural” and “organic” in their names, those terms are not clearly defined to mean safe for you or the environment. And manufacturers are not required to list every ingredient in the product.

Researching safe cleaning products can be overwhelming, time consuming and frustrating. So look for cleaning products that don’t contain the warning signal words “caution,” “warning,” “danger” or “poison.” These terms indicate that the product is harmful or fatal.

Instead of reading ingredient lists, look for cleaning products that say on the front “contains no . . .” volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Alkylphenolethoxylates (APEs), Formaldehyde, Organochlorines (OCs), Styrene or Phthalates.

Also, though this may be disappointing to many people who love the smell of fabric softener, look for fragrance-free products.

In 1986 the U. S. National Academy of Science identified the ingredients in many manufactured fragrances as carcinogens and neurotoxins that are the primary cause of disease in humans along with insecticides, heavy metals, solvents and food additives.

Start a compost pile

When you chop lettuce and peel onions while fixing dinner, don’t throw the waste in the trash.

Start a compost pile in your backyard — or side yard if you don’t have a back yard. Or consider starting a community compost bin if you live in an apartment.

The compost pile can be kept neat and is easy to manage if started properly. Discard waste into a small area on the ground contained by some two-by-fours or some chicken wire about two to three feet high.

Keep the pile damp but not soggy, and cover it with a thin layer of dirt.

The best compost contains 75 percent brown material (leaves, saw dust, dye-free paper towels and napkins) and 25 percent green material (vegetable and fruit scraps, grass clippings in small amounts, egg shells, tea bags, and coffee filters) with a thin layer of dirt on top. Toss a couple of earth worms in there to speed up the process.

Rotate the pile with a pitchfork or shovel every two weeks. The bottom layer of the pile is ready to use every few months.

Minimize utility consumption

While you power through the house with your vacuum cleaner and dust rag, look for any electronic appliances that sit unused for significant intervals and unplug them.

Virtually every electronic appliance draws phantom power even when turned off. DVD players, TVs, computers, radios and cell phone chargers when not in use still draw electricity.

Desktop computers are one of the biggest energy leaches in your home.

If your entertainment center plug-ins are stashed behind a shelf unit, consider plugging them into an easily accessible surge protector so you can turn it on and off when you go to sleep or leave for school or work.

If you haven’t already, go ahead and switch you incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents (CFLs). They have decreased in price significantly since they first hit the market and you will earn your money back quickly as they last longer and use less electricity.

And when you hit the bathroom and kitchen, screw an aerator onto your faucets. They decrease water consumption and are easy to attach. Shower head aerators are available as well but may require a little more to install them.

Reprinted with permission from Messenger-Inquirer.

Good style is personality with practicality

2009-02-20T00:03:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Owensboro Today

The décor of a home is the reflection of the owner’s personality and lifestyle.

Laura Ruth Edge, owner of her new design business, L. Ruth Interior Design, recognizes her clients’ uniqueness and embraces their style to design the most practical and attractive area possible.

With spring blossoming, Edge said, many people want to shed the drab gray that clung to them over winter and redecorate for the new year.

L. Ruth Interior Design specializes in residential and commercial interior design, which includes product specification, space planning, project coordination, window treatments, floor coverings, wall covering designs and creative ideas for interior and furniture.

Inspired by her namesake, her Aunt Ruth, Edge focuses on cutting edge style; but more importantly, she focuses on pleasing her client.

“I was named after my Aunt Ruth,” Edge said. “And I always looked up to her. She was the epitome of good taste and class.”

Over the years, her aunt always signed Edge’s name as L. Ruth to emphasize that they shared a name.

So, Edge chose L. Ruth as the name of her business and had her aunt sign L. Ruth one more time so she could copy that for her logo.

With her aunt as an inspiration to produce practical designs with stylish appearance, Edge dedicates herself to satisfying her clients’ tastes.

Edge uses local suppliers for a wide selection of quality furniture styles, flooring options, fabric patterns and much more.

“I listen to my clients’ needs and wants,” Edge said. “I want the designs to reflect their taste, not mine.”

With a Bachelor’s degree in Interior Design, Edge said she developed knowledge of many styles and an appreciation for designs that may not be her own taste.

“My interest in doing this is solely to make interiors look and work better for my clients,” Edge said.

Edge said she never wants an individual to walk into one of her clients’ rooms and say, “I bet you had Laura Ruth Edge design this.”

“That means I’ve become boring and redundant,” she said. By decorating according to her clients and with new styles that emerge daily, she strives for something unique with each project.

“There’s too much out there to reproduce the same design over and over,” Edge said.

Many people say, “I know what style I like, I just don’t know how to do it,” she said. Edge focuses on aiding those people.

“I learned to appreciate so many types of styles and designs that allow me to understand what a person wants,” she said. “I want to make it work for them with as little maintenance as possible.”

As an educated designer and a freelancer with Hubbuch & Co., Edge maintains a large selection of resources to help guide clients to their ideal designs.

“I want to be an efficient interior designer,” she said. “I’m wasting people’s time and money if I’m not doing what they need me to do.”

For more information or to schedule a consultation with Edge, contact her at 270-240-4932 or 270-314-8895. Or email her at LREdge@hotmail.com.

Reprinted with permission from Messenger-Inquirer.

The Crème Brews Comfort Downtown

2009-02-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Owensboro 2009

The Crème brews comfort downtown

By Matt Weafer

The aroma of coffee and chocolate hangs in the air at The Crème Coffeehouse at 109 E 2nd St.

Customers watch the downtown bustle from their window seats, sipping lattes as they shut out the day with a book or talking to friends in the lounge or the courtyard.

Crème owners Rosemary Conder and her husband Larry didn’t plan on opening a coffeehouse when they bought the building.

In fact, they already owned the building next door at 107 E 2nd St. and they planned to expand their antique store, The Crowne, into it.

“We wanted to open the wall between the two and make a big area,” Rosemary Conder said. “But it was a different area and in much worse shape.”

But they had already purchased the location.

“I said this building says coffeehouse,” she said.

While decorating, she said, she was trying to capture the atmosphere of Central Perk from the TV series Friends.

“It looked like a fun place to hang out. Really cool,” Conder said. “We had been to a few places in New York City that had that old world eclectic mix.”

Peter Malliaras, a regular at The Crème since the summer of 2008, said, “I come here with my computer and with the free internet, beautiful décor and beautiful coffee, it’s fun. It’s a great day.”

The comfort of the building, which used to be an antique shop, helped create that atmosphere, too.

“It’s a beautiful sitting area,” Malliaras said. “It’s almost like one of the rooms in your house, very comfortable.”

Conder purchased some of the antiques left in the building to furnish the coffee shop and create the funky décor that alludes to downtown Owensboro nearly a century ago.

“We believe in downtown,” Conder said. “We believe there is a possibility and probability of resurgence downtown.”

The character and charm of the older buildings create an ambience while promenading along some of the first roads in Owensboro.

“A lot of people are tired of big box stores,” Conder said. And a private-owned coffee shop in the heart of unique Owensboro retail is the direction the trend is leaning.

After Malliaras moved to Owensboro from Australia with his family, he said the first thing he wanted to do was find a good coffee shop. He said The Crème was “absolutely exactly what I was looking for. If you came in here and opened up your eyes you would think you were in a coffee shop in Australia.”

He said Melba is Australia is considered by some the capital of coffee shops. “We’re big espresso drinkers,” he said.

“I couldn’t find a good espresso,” he said. “No one makes espresso other than the big chains. When you have a big chain you don’t have that personal attention. There’s no love that goes into the coffee.”

“There’s a way to make espresso and there’s a way not to make it,” Malliaras said. “And it seems they know how to make it.”

As downtown Owensboro continues to grow with restaurants and retailers, The Crème is settling comfortably into what Conder expects to be an even busier part of Owensboro.

“The Mystery Writer festival was amazing for us in 2008,” she said. And so was Winter Wonderland.

“We are in the sweet spot,” Conder said.

And they have the right attitude toward customer service to help them succeed.

“When you come in here,” Malliaras said, “you don’t tell them what you want because they already know and they make it when they see you. They know your name they know a little about you.”

Kelly Creed, a barista and night manager at The Crème, said, “We have good people that work here that are willing to do whatever it takes to make the customers happy and make people feel welcome here.”

With some fresh baked cookies and scones and a passion for quality espresso drinks and customer service, Conder hopes for a fruitful future downtown.

View the article in its published form.

Trendy Excursions Evolves with the Trends

2009-02-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Owensboro 2009

The fashion trend rises and falls as frequently as the ocean tide, bringing in new styles and recycling old.

Staying ahead of that trend and catering to customer’s needs and desires requires a constant state of awareness, fashion sense, business savvy and compassion for customers.

At Excursions in Wesleyan Park Plaza, owner Jaye Moseley-Evans balances these traits in an effort to excel at customer service.

Offering more styles and options than most ladies’ department stores, Excursions has defined itself as a unique clothing boutique over the past 25 years.

Moseley-Evans has owned the store for 20 years and expects to be doing the same thing 25 years from now.

Her attraction to the retail industry began when she was a senior in high school working at Sublett’s which also used to be in Wesleyan Park Plaza.

“Bobbie Sublett took me under her wing,” Moseley-Evans said, “and I wanted to grow up and be as successful as her and I’m still working at it. She was a fine lady a legend in her time.”

With Sublett as her role model, Moseley-Evans worked hard, to establish a regular customer base that depends on Excursions for every event.

“Customer service is our main mission,” Moseley-Evans said. “I do think we excel in that.”

While researching, shopping and maintaining an inimitable inventory, Moseley-Evans also commits herself to “spoiling” her customers. “I can almost call every customer that walks in the door by their first name,” she said. “They can run in here and in 15 minutes be out with what they need.”

Excursions’ employees create relationships with their customers so that they know what customers like in clothing.

“After being here for so long, we’re friends with all our customers,” Moseley-Evans said.
Creating an enjoyable shopping experience for her clients was a primary goal.

Angie Woodward, an Excursions customer for the past 20 years said, “It’s always a fun place they’ve become friends of mine over the years.”

The first time Woodward shopped at Excursions she was finishing high school.

“I like funky but classy pieces and they helped me find my style,” she said. “They have something for everybody to express their style.”

“We wanted to set ourselves apart from department stores and big women’s stores and try to give our customers what they need,” she said. “We dress our customers for weddings, parties and all aspects of life.”

“I wore a jacket yesterday that I bought at Excursions 12 years ago and it’s still gorgeous,” Woodward said.

Despite turbulent economic times across the globe, she said, Excursions will remain strong.

Moseley-Evans said she had to learn to “roll with the punches” over the years. “You try to put yourself in a position where you can adapt to whatever is going on with the economy.”

Though things seem rough, she said, “We’ve seen this before. I know we’ll come out of it and be stronger because of the things we learned.”

By learning to adapt to the constantly changing fashion retail industry, she created a mix of merchandise with consistently new items. “I had to be able to change and be open to new things every three months,” she said.

Moseley-Evans said she learned her shopping sense from her mother and her business sense from her father, who own Holiday Drive-In in Rockport, Ind. She said, “You just have to keep an eye on overhead in general, small things such as the wattage of light bulbs and every day expenses.”

As a business woman, she said she has not encountered any obstacles because she never approached anything as an obstacle.

“I’ve always attacked things,” she said. “I wouldn’t let things be an obstacle. I elbowed my way through. I’m not one to take ‘No’ or objections.”

These days her main competition is the Internet, but she’s not concerned. “We are a home town store that cares about their customers,” she said. “Our customers would rather come in, touch things and get our opinion.”

Though Excursions does have a Web site at www.shopexcursions.com, Moseley-Evans currently has no intention of selling clothes on the Web.

Five years ago Excursions expanded by opening a store in Evansville, Ind.

By adapting and tackling all challenges and focusing on customer service, Moseley-Evans has helped Excursions evolve with the times and create a unique boutique prepared to run another 25 years and more.

See the article in its published form.

Targeted mobile communication is the next big thing

2008-10-01T13:49:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine

An electric guitar sits in the corner of Ankur Gopal’s office beside an amplifier and effects pedals. The video game Rock Band sits idle next to a large plasma screen that Gopal and his employees use for Web cam meetings with clients and colleagues across the globe. The office establishes the tone of Gopal’s two businesses as high-tech, relaxed and creative.

Gopal, CEO of Revasyst and COO of Agent 511, is an Owensboro native seeking to create a number of successful businesses, help further develop Owensboro’s economy and create an innovative business model unique to his hometown.

And he’s able to accomplish these goals with the popularization of immediate, mobile communication.

“The whole key to Agent 511 is instant communication that’s relevant, that people want,” Gopal said. “And Owensboro as a whole has accepted it.”

In only four months, Agent 511 has blossomed with clients jumping on board, including real estate agencies, radio stations, banks, restaurants, schools and many other local businesses.

“We present ourselves as a text messaging solutions company,” Gopal said. “We also build a brand. It’s easy to remember our number 511-511. It’s basically a local Google search; you can find out the weather, coupons and information about political candidates.”

Consumers text a command to 511-511 and receive an instant response from the Agent 511 server.

Text “OWB Dining Deals” and receive a list of sales and specials at local restaurants.

Don Moore now assigns each automobile a four-digit code that consumers can text to Agent 511 and receive the rock bottom price for that vehicle.

Gene’s Health Food sends out a daily health tip to users who opt in to receive the tip.

Though targeted communication and marketing are popular among businesses, consumers have the option choose to receive texts from businesses, which protects the average cell phone-user from text spam.

Gopal and his colleagues attended the 2008 CTIA Wireless conference this spring where Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Mobile, said “mobile technology and text messaging is the next Internet ... the next big thing,” Gopal said.

“We like to think we jumped on it early,” he said, “and not only that; we brought it to a community that is looking for something cool and innovative and something that is a new, innovative business — not your typical factory or your typical service firm. It’s completely new, uncharted territory.”

Gopal and his partner, Jay Malin, launched Agent 511 in Owensboro and Chicago.

“We wanted to see the big city dynamic versus small city,” Gopal said.

So far, Gopal said the biggest difference is the amount of competition in Chicago between other advertising agencies.

“In Owensboro it was mostly about acceptance and adoption,” he said. “Would Owensboro accept this new technology? Would they use this technology for applications more than just texting messages?”

The answer is “yes,” he said. Currently Agent 511 receives more than 10,000 connections a day just from Owensboro.

Technology has become so advanced and cost-effective that both Revasyst and Agent 511 perform large tasks on simple applications, which his clients love, Gopal said.

Consumers simply text a command and receive instant information. Clients instruct Gopal and his crew about the functions they want to perform, and Agent 511 builds a model to suit each customer.

Revasyst is a supplemental service to doctors’ offices and hospitals, helping them collect money more efficiently.

At Revasyst, Gopal uses a combination of purchased software, free software and software that his company built to simplify tasks.

Plus with instant communication through the Internet and mobile technology, Gopal can speak directly with his clients and employees — even the ones located in New Jersey or India — on a daily basis.

“Our office is always looking for the next best application to help make the office more efficient,” Gopal said.

One of the main reasons, both Revasyst and Agent 511 have grown so quickly is because of the simplicity of the technology and the freedom of innovation that new technology allows — and encourages.

Gopal also models his office after Google, which is known for its offices looking more like a playground and arcade than the traditional vanilla labyrinth of cubicles. The idea is to create an atmosphere that encourages creativity.

Employees create their own hours and refer to a board of scheduled tasks and deadlines to stay on target. Gopal believes that allowing that freedom inspires better productivity and innovation among his employees.

With Agent 511 in its infancy as Revasyst carries on at a successfully steady pace, Gopal focuses most of his energies on spreading the word about targeted communication.

“Targeted communication is the key,” he said. “95 percent of all text messages are opened and read regardless of who sends them.”

The market is there and Owensboro has accepted the new use of an existing technology. Now Gopal just has to wait for Agent 511 to grow.

The Creative Catering family opens new stores, offers new services

2008-08-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer
Business News and Review

For Lori and Charlie Feldpausch, owners of Creative Catering, the past 10 years in business have been a series of setbacks and successes.

“But it was more fun than the Voyage roller coaster at Holiday World,” Charlie Feldpausch said.

Now, as the family prepares to open two new stores and embark on even more opportunities in the future, Feldpausch said business is on the upside, and he plans to keep it there.

“We have made mistakes like anyone,” Feldpausch said. “But we have learned from them. We are family-owned and operated. If it wasn’t for family we wouldn’t be in business.”

By Aug. 8, Creative Catering will open The Sweet Shop and Wedding Wares.

The Sweet Shop, located 121 E 9th St., will be he new home for Creative Catering’s cake shop. Feldpausch said moving the cake baking element of the catering business to a separate location will not only make business easier for him and his family, but will also allow customers the freedom to purchase a wedding cake without full catering services or vice versa.

Feldpausch will also set up wedding décor rentals and do-it-yourself cake decorating tools in The Sweet Shop.

The Sweet Shop will sell cakes for birthdays and other events and will eventually carry birthday balloons, including Hispanic balloons, making The Sweet Shop the only carrier of balloons with Hispanic messages in Owensboro.

Wedding Wares, located in the same building as Creative Catering, 320 W. 8th St., will sell new and gently used formal gowns for mothers of the bride. Every dress will sell for less than $100, Feldpausch said, and will include a certificate for a free cleaning from Harold’s Cleaners.

As business picks up, Feldpausch said, they will probably start consigning dresses, including brides maid gowns.

The Creative Catering family also works with the Dallas Room at 1308 Triplett St., serving hot dinner on Thursday nights while J. R. Bradford and his wife Linda perform music from the ‘50s and ‘60s. On Friday nights, a live country band will perform classic country songs. Saturdays are open for weddings and parties.

Sunday nights at the Dallas Room are Ohio Valley Singles and Couples Dance night, sponsored by WBIO 94.7. Steve Horn will DJ.
“The Dallas Room is like a second family to us,” Feldpausch said. “You just walk in and everybody knows each other’s names. It’s just a really, really neat place -- with no alcohol in a Christian environment.”

The Sweet Shop will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Creative Catering and Wedding Wares are open by appointment only at this time. But Feldpausch said appointments can be made on short notice.

Contact The Sweet Shop at 270-926-0800. Contact Feldpausch about Creative Catering, Wedding Wares or The Dallas Room at 270-926-1614 or visit www.charliescreativecatering.com.

Friday the 13th’s Jason visits Second St. Bar

2008-06-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

This Saturday night Jason will be at Second St. Bar & Grill. Yes, Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th — or at least the actor that played him in Friday the 13th II.

Also on Saturday, Beaver Dam band U-Turn will perform.

Warrington Gillette, the actor who played Jason, will spend the entire day at Second St. Bar, signing autographs, posing for photos with fans and promoting his new movie Bloody Social, due out October 2009.

Gillette will start off the day outside Second St. Bar around 6:30 p.m. under a tent — weather permitting — so that under-age fans can meet him, Second St. Bar owner Tom Lavery said.

97X will cast a live remote from the bar from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Then U-Turn will take the stage.

U-Turn wrote the title song for Bloody Social, which Gillette wrote and directed.
The band will also be promoting their new CD In Your Face, which went platinum in the UK.

Lavery and his wife Kim, purchased the building at 820 W. Second St. to revitalize the nightlife and business of the downtown area.

“I try to do things on the big scale to revive downtown business,” he said. “Kim and I are pretty excited about what we’re trying to do down here.”

Thursday, June 26, rap artist Casper performed for Nikky B’s Birthday Blowout.

Lavery said Nappy Roots has also contacted him about performing at Second St. Bar.

“I’m pretty excited,” Lavery said. “I’m really hoping to get a nice turn out. If this turns out fine, I’m working on bringing in something huge later this summer.”

Bringing in big name entertainers will continue to be Lavery’s goal to help boost the downtown nightlife.

“It’s pretty cool knowing we’re bringing in a big movie screen actor,” Lavery said. “Fans can actually come face to face with Jason. For any Friday the 13th fan, this will a thing they’ll want to come and see.”

Mr. Zion will come to Second St. Bar on July 12 for Reggae night.

Second St. Bar is the largest club in Owensboro, Lavery said. With 7,000 square feet, the bar offers a dance floor, pool tables, restaurant, stage and full service bar.
Every Wednesday night is Karaoke night.

Monday and Wednesday nights are home to APA Pool Tournaments. Saturday and Sundays feature in-house pool tournaments on the bar’s eight Diamond pool tables.

“They are the Cadillac of pool tables,” Lavery said.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

Testing their Metal

2008-06-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Posters of Metallica, Pantera and Lamb of God vibrate on the wall of Dying Breath’s practice room as the band jams, preparing for a metal show tonight and Saturday night at Chubby’s Bar.

Vocalist Noah Richeson growls lyrics into the microphone, cupped with both hands, as veins bulge on his temples and a ceiling fan whirs dangerously close to his scalp.

The guitarists and bassist rock back and forth, bobbing their heads, eyes closed, pummeling heavy down strokes on guitars tuned-down a whole step.

With relaxed precision, the drummer works his massive kit like a machine, as the double bass thumps like a helicopter and the music resonates through the house.

The band practices, not just to prepare for the show but to indulge in the passion of adrenaline-fueled heavy metal.

This weekend isn’t just any show, though; it’s a test to determine if Chubby’s will host metal shows once a month. If the four bands slated to perform attract a large crowd, Gary Bray, owner of Chubby’s, said the bar at 2210 W. Second St. will start hosting metal shows every four to six weeks, providing one of the only regular, over-21 venues for heavy metal bands.

The four bands performing on both nights are Dying Breath, LTC, 10 Fathoms Deep and new band Vengeance by Death.

Dying Breath shares a common story with other Owensboro metal bands: a struggle to find local venues that allow original music and welcome the metal scene.

Since the Wildcat Saloon, 1108 W. Ninth St., closed, metal bands have been forced to look elsewhere for venues, mainly out of town.

“It’s harder now to find a show in town than it used to be,” guitarist Brandon Oost said. “It’s almost impossible.”

With the exception of the occasional battle of the bands at Frankie’s Sports Bar and Grill, metal bands rarely secure timeslots at Owensboro bars on the weekends.

Two of the biggest struggles for a metal band performing at a bar are convincing the owners that fans will show up and that they won’t demolish the place when they, and then getting exposure, Richeson said.

“This town really wants cover bands,” Bray said. “When they’re dancing, they want to hear what they’re hearing over the radio. And the majority of this town would accept a DJ over a live band.”

“People who listen to metal don’t go to bars because they don’t want to hear cover bands,” Richeson said. So spreading the word that a metal band will perform is imperative to attract the crowd.

The social networking Web site MySpace.com has become small town bands’ best friend.
Bands set up free Web sites, post music and promote upcoming shows.

Dying Breath has made more than 7,000 friends on MySpace, several of which are from out of the area and international.

But MySpace only hits a percentage of local fans, Richeson said.

“Advertisement is a big big thing,” Dave Crabtree, guitarist for LTC said. “When we played at the Wildcat, they had radio spots about the show and advertisement in the paper. We would have a much bigger crowd as opposed to just posting something on MySpace.”

But bands have no say in whether a bar advertises. So, the burden falls on the band members.

Dying Breath drummer Joe Murphy said, “At most shows we’re paying to play.”

The bands pay out-of-pocket to print fliers or buy advertisements, bassist Chris Armstrong said.

And most bands are willing to pay for that hour or forty-five minutes or even half-hour to rock out on their art that, though often misunderstood as angry noise, is the foundation on which a brotherhood has formed.

“These little guys self promote more than any other local band in the area,” Bray said. “And I guess they have to because of that style of music. It is like a brotherhood. It’s the underground. They all know each other. They all take care of each other. They’re tighter than most families I know.”

“All the bands, for the most part help each other out,” Richeson said. When one band finds a venue, it calls other bands and invites them to play, too, which is why most metal shows have at least four bands performing, he said.

“They are so close knit that if two of those bands are playing Illinois one night, boom they’ll all fire over there,” Bray said.

That camaraderie carries over to the fans as well.

“The crowds are really good,” Bray said, “I believe they out dance the dancing crowd. They’ll hit the floor and they don’t come off. There’s moshing and everything.”

And as long as the crowds show up this weekend, Chubby’s will continue to cater to the metal genre once a month.

“I’m just glad they came to me and I hope it’s a good venture for all of us,” Bray said.

The show starts around 9 p.m. tonight and Saturday night with a $5 cover charge.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

Family All Together

2008-06-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

When Jeff and Tonya Ratliff drafted plans for their new home in 1999, they decided to create not just a house but a method of entertainment for themselves and their three boys.

For the past eight years, the Ratliffs have lived in that house at 4828 Pleasant Ridge Rd. Just a few minutes off of Ky. Hwy. 54, their home offers them the space to live and the opportunity for entertainment without having to travel into town or pack the kids off to another friend’s house.

Most kids spend their summers and afternoons being taxied by their parents from sporting events to practices to teammates’ houses. But with a game room downstairs, a basketball court in the driveway, an above ground swimming pool in the backyard and a soccer field under construction out back, the Ratliff’s three sons, Jordan, 14; Justin, 11; and Ty, 9; have plenty to occupy their time.

Since all three boys play soccer, Jeff Ratliff decided to provide his sons with the ability to play anytime. So he started building a soccer field in the backyard by digging out the hillside and leveling the ground enough land for the boys to play.

“My favorite thing about the house is that we have so many places to go and have our own peace,” Tonya Ratliff said.

While the boys shoot pool or watch movies in the walkout basement, she can enjoy a peaceful evening upstairs in the family room with some girlfriends.

“It’s perfect for entertaining. The kids go downstairs. There’s no noise, no conflict. It’s quiet,” she said. “And we have the backyard for the kids with plenty of things for them to do, and to keep them home.”

The game room in the basement is decorated with remnants of Jeff Ratliff’s hunting days with his father. Deer heads adorn one wall while a wild boar, a wild turkey and a fish hang on other walls. A bear that Jeff Ratliff’s father shot in Canada lies quietly as a rug under the pool table.

In the living room portion of the basement, a china cabinet displays Jeff Ratliff’s collection of small trucks and NASCAR cars.

The house was also designed to entertain guests. The kitchen opens into the family room, furnished with large, comfortable couches.

A second kitchen in the walkout basement made cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 48 people a little easier, Tonya Ratliff said.

Using the oven in the basement to keep food hot, the family created time to finish cooking the rest of the meal.

The Ratliffs lined up tables through the basement and the 48 friends and family members dined together.

Luckily the house had enough room for the guests to wander and stretch out after the fact, she said.

With space for 48 guests to relax comfortably, there is also space for storage.
“We have storage, storage, storage,” Tonya Ratliff said. “Any place you can make a place for storage Jeff made it.”

She opened a closet beside the refrigerator to display a less-than-one-foot deep closet that housed a broom and cleaning supplies.

Four bedrooms occupy the home. The master suite sits upstairs with a deep, Jacuzzi tub and sky lights in the hallway separating the bedroom and the bathroom.

The younger boys put their own tastes into decorating their rooms. A red drum set sits in Justin’s room along with sporting accoutrement. Ty’s bedroom is like a jungle with animals painted on the wall and a safari style ceiling fan. An electric guitar sits in the corner.

Jordan’s room in the basement is being remodeled into another game room and he’ll move into another bedroom in the basement.

Though each family member has his or her own personal space, the home is designed for togetherness and activity. Sports and music occupy their lifestyles, but they are able to indulge in those hobbies in home’s comfort only a few feet away from family.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

International Acts to Appear at ROMP

2008-06-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

4 p.m. – Hamilton County Bluegrass Band
Friday June 27 at the Bluegrass Museum

Formed in the 1960s in New Zealand, as Alan Rhodes and Paul Trenwith tried to emulate Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band has evolved over the past four decades into an internationally popular Bluegrass Band.

The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band was the first to popularize bluegrass music in New Zealand and broadcast its music on the TV show Country Touch from 1968 to 1970.

With a distinct sound that eventually crossed the ocean to the U.S., the band became the first and only New Zealand group to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn.

Over the years, the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band performed with Slim Dusty, Julie Felix and Bill Monroe.

By 1975, after several tours, TV appearances and albums, band members decided to take a break. But in 1994 the majority of the original members reunited for a new album, Encore and have been touring Europe and the U.S. since.

Current members include Alan Rhodes, Paul Trenwith, Dave Calder, Colleen Bain Trenwith and Tim Trenwith.

Saturday June 28 at Yellow Creek Park
1:30 p.m. – G2 Bluegrass Band

In Sweden, 2005, five friends jammed bluegrass just for fun. But during their jam, they realized they were creating something more than just a friendly weekend of music.
After a few months of developing their sound, the five guys formed G2.

Bluegrass arrived in Sweden in the 1960s and 70s. So performing the music of their fathers, G2 is Sweden’s second generation of bluegrass.

Only a few years old, G2 won the award for Number One European Bluegrass Band at EWOB, held by the European Bluegrass Music Association in Holland, May, 2007.

Members include Christoffer Olsson (guitar), Erik Igelström (mandolin), Jens Koch (banjo), Jimmy Sunnerbrandt (bass) and Tobias Strömberg (dobro).

Each member grew up listening to and playing bluegrass, influenced by Earl Skruggs, Jerry Douglas, Stanely Brothers, JD Crowe, Sam Bush and Ricky Skaggs.

3:30 p.m. – Red Wine

One of the premier bluegrass bands in Europe, Red Wine blends bluegrass with an Italian flavor. Touring since 1978, Red Wine has performed across Europe and the U.S. in major international festivals and venues.

Red Wine has also been featured on many TV and radio broadcasts.

The Italian take on bluegrass includes traditional string music with unique melodies, harmonies and some Italian lyrics, such as the song “Il cielo d’Irlanda.”

Members include Silvio Ferretti on banjo, guitar, dobro and harmony vocals; Martino Coppo on mandolin and lead vocals; Luca Bartolini on guitar and harmony vocals; and Stefano Cavallo on bass and harmony vocals.

Members have performed music in many capacities and genres with such msuciians as Tony Trischka and Barbara Lamb, Beppe Gambetta, the Kathy Chiavola Band, Paolo Bonfanti, Freewheelin’ and many more.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

2008 River Of Music Party Schedule

2008-06-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Thursday June 26 RiverPark Center’s Canon Hall

11 a.m. – King's Highway
The creation of Craig Benelli and Frank Di Minno, King’s Highway performs rock and gospel music meant to inspire listeners. Their first CD All Year Long features rearrange and composed Christmas songs, with a different vocalist for each song. Other band members include Jon Cobert, Tony Tino and Chris Benelli.

Noon – Up-N-Gone
“The Up-N-Gone Bluegrass Band is a new band with an old sound,” the band’s Web site said. The band members’ love of traditional bluegrass music brought them together to perform the timeless sounds of the early days of bluegrass. The band is Mike Hobson, Alan Beck, Cody Beck, Kim Beck, Ken Ehlschide and Joe Bob Pierce. Their CD Live and Kickin’ is a collection of bluegrass classics.

1 p.m. – Sweetgrass
From Indiana, Sweetgrass performs traditional bluegrass with influences from Bill Monroe, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Sweetgrass performed at ROMP in 2006 and 2007. Members are Mark and Tiffany Spriggs, Danny Young, Dave Fulford and Mark Stonecipher.

2 p.m. – Bob and Sheila Everhart
Bob and Sheila Everhart were honored in 2005 by the Smithsonian Institue for their CD The Renegade. The Everharts toured New Zealand in 2006 and 2007 and will tour Europe in 2008 and 2009. Performing the music of the Monroe Brothers, Uncle Dave Macon, the Carter Famiy, Roy Acuff, Jimmie Rogers and other bluegrass greats, Bob and Sheila Everhart specialize in rural America’s old time classics.

3 p.m. – American Flyer
New England band, American Flyer is comprised of musicians from varying backgrounds. Members Randy and Denice Filliger, Kevin O’Connor, Rick Horton and Joe Cardoza melded their unique styles to form American Flyer performing bluegrass classics as well as originals. Their third and latest CD My Grandmother’s Table features all original music.

4 p.m. – Hall of Fame Unveiling

5:30 p.m. – Supper Break

The ROMP Legends Concert RiverPark Center’s Canon Hall
Host: Ron Thomason

7 p.m. – The Sullivan Family
In 1949 the first radio station in Jackson, Alabama, invited the Sullivan Family to perform on a regular program. Though the members of the family had been playing traditional bluegrass music before then, that was the birth of the band.

8 p.m. – The Lewis Family
Performing bluegrass gospel music since 1951 throughout the U.S. and Canada, the Lewis Family is influenced by the Chuck Wagon Gang, the Louvin Brothers, Bill Monroe and Martha Carson. The Lewis Family’s latest CD We Are Family features Grammy nominated and Dove Award winning Jeff and Sherri Easter and the Easter Brothers.

9 p.m. – The Isaacs
From New York City to Eastern Kentucky, The Isaacs have been creating a unique sound, fusing bluegrass, gospel and country, for more than 21 years. The Isaacs have wone several awards including Gospel Voice Awards Song of the Year 1993 and three Dove Awards. Their 30th album is titled Big Sky.

Friday June 27 at the Bluegrass Museum

10 a.m. – Legends Forum

LUNCH & TRAVEL BREAK

Friday June 27 at Yellow Creek Park

Noon – Lost and Found
This quartet born in 1973 enjoys a wide fan base across the country and in Canada. Allen Miles, Scottie Sparks, Ronald Smith and Scott Napier comprise the band, which plays mandolin, acoustic guitar, bass and banjo. Some of the band’s songs include January Rain, Wild Mountain Flowers for Mary, Ride through the Country, The Rabbit Song and Whitehouse Blues.

1 p.m. – Country Ham
Performing all over the country, Country Ham has been creating old-time country and bluegrass music since 1975. The band includes Judie Pagter, Carl Pagter, Pete Vigour, Ellen Vigour, M.D. Mallory and Wanda Shelton. Country Ham’s latest CD is Songs from The Blue Ridge Mountains.

2 p.m. – Larry Stephenson Band
Bluegrass Unlimited said Larry Stephenson has “one of the finest voices in Bluegrass today.” Performing gospel bluegrass since 1979, Stephenson was joined by Kyle Perkins on upright bass, Kristin Scott Benson on banjo and vocals and Jason Barie on fiddle and vocals, as well as many guest artists. The new album is Thankful.

3 p.m. – Sauber & Graham
Tom Sauber, on guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin, and harmonica virtuoso Mark Graham released their latest CD Thought I heard it Blow. Sauber plays traditional old-time, bluegrass and Cajun music. Graham is known as the “King of Mongrel Folk.”

5 p.m. – Supper Break

5:30 p.m. – Don Rigsby & Midnight Call
Growing up listening to Ralph Stanley and Ricky Skaggs, Don Rigsby has been performing similar music with his own personal touch since he was 12 years old. The band Midnight Call includes Partick McAvinue, Robert Maynard, Dale Vanderpool and Clyde Marshall. Rigsby’s latest album is Hillbilly Heartache.

6:30 p.m. – Hazel Dickens
From a 1950s coal mining community in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, Hazel Dickens has written songs about her life experiences. Influenced by Woody Gutrhie and Kitty Wells, Dickens’ albums include It’s Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song, By the Sweat of My Brow, A Few Old Memories and Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People.

7:30 p.m. – Dry Branch Fire Squad
The Dry Branch Fire Squad is comprised of four musicians that covered the gamut in Bluegrass and country music, performing with a number of bands and playing a number of instruments. The band includes Tom Boyd, Dan Russell, Ron Thomason and Brian Aldridge. The band celebrated its 30th anniversary with the release of the CD 30th Anniversary.

8:30 p.m. – Dale Ann Bradley
From southeastern Kentucky, Dale Anne Bradley popularized her gentle, yet distinctive voice performing covers of U2, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce and Stealer’s Wheel. Now she performs original music solo and with Coon Creek. Her latest album with Coon Creek is Catch Tomorrow.

9:45 p.m. – Mike Snider
Born in Gleason, Tenn., Mike Snider made his name on TNN’s Nashville Now and a seven-year stint on Hee Haw playing banjo. He has also performed at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry and been a member since 1990. The Mike Snider String Band performs “real, heart-felt American fiddle tunes,” his Web site said.

Saturday June 28 at Yellow Creek Park

11 a.m. – Tom, Tina, and U. S. Express
This trio does more than play music, they entertain. Combining music with humor, Tina Gard (on mandolin), Linda Farmer (on bass) and Tom Gard (on acoustic guitar) blend their voices and their senses of humor to perform for the crowd. Originally from Pig, Ky., Tina, Tom and U.S. Express have traveled around the country performing.

Noon – Kentucky Bluegrass AllStars
The Kentucky Bluegrass AllStars is a lessons program through the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, teaching ages 3 to 78 how to play traditional bluegrass instruments. With lessons every other Saturday starting in the Fall, students end the season with a performance at ROMP.

12:30 p.m. – Buddy and Tina Wright Group
Winner of the 2007 Rising Legends Award from the National Traditional Country Music Association, the Buddy and Tina Wright Group were inducted into the Gatesville Jamboree Country Music Hall of Fame on Jan. 19, 2008. The Buddy and Tina Wright Group play traditional American music. The band’s most recent CD is Wichita Falls.

2:30 p.m. – Claire Lynch
Winner of the Female Vocalist of the Year in 1997 from IBMA, Claire Lynch has been performing bluegrass music for years, starting with Alabama’s Front Porch String Band. Her “hillbilly angel voice,” her Web site said, is what landed her spots on recordings with Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and many others. The Claire Lynch Band’s newest CD is Crowd Favorites.

4:30 p.m. – Cadillac Sky
A group of young, creative musicians, Cadillac Sky’s music video “Born Lonesome” is featured on CMT. Members include Bryan Simpson, Matt Menefee, Mike Jump, Ross Holmes and Andy Moritz. The band’s latest CD is Blind Man Walking.

5:30 p.m. – Supper Break

6 p.m. – Crooked Still
Mixing rock energy with old-time mountain soul, Crooked Still includes banjo, cello and double-bass, creating a futuristic bluegrass with a traditional foundation. The band has performed in 23 states and several countries at concert halls, festivals, nightclubs and coffeehouses. Members include Aoife O’Donovan, Rushad Eggleston, Dr. Gregory Liszt and Corey DiMario.

7:15 p.m. – Cherryholmes
A high-energy Nashville, family band, Cherryholmes, won 2005 IBMA’s Entertainers of the Year. Their performances include twin fiddles, Irish step dancing, classic country yodeling and old-time claw hammer as well as dynamic bluegrass, the band’s Web site said. Cherryhomles’ new album is Black and White.

8:30 p.m. – Dailey & Vincent
Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent lead illustrious musical careers performing with Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs and many many more musicians before forming Dailey & Vincent along with Jeff Parker, Joe Dean and Adam Haynes. The band’s self-titled album debuted on Jan. 28, 2008.

9:45 p.m. – Infamous Stringdusters
The Infamous Stringdusters, a fairly new band, took home three IBMA awards in 2007 for Emerging Artist of the Year, Best Album (Fork in the Road), and Song of the Year (“Fork in the Road”). Members include Andy Hall (dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), Jesse Cobb (mandolin) and Travis Book (upright bass). The band’s newest, self-titled album came out on June 10.

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

The Bakers Rack named Small Business of the Year with less than 10 employees

2008-06-27T06:37:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine

In October 1974, Mary Dixon Baker opened The Bakers Rack, planning to sell small plants. But one day, a customer asked if she sold containers for plants. Then another customer asked if she had a lamp to accompany the container. Then another asked for candlesticks. Then more customers requested more and more until customer requests finally sculpted The Bakers Rack into the unique gift boutique it is today, 34 years ago.

That dedication to customer service not only helped The Bakers Rack to succeed through three decades and a major fire, it also helped the shop to earn the title of Small Business of the Year with less than 10 employees.

“The Bakers Rack represents some of the best Owensboro offers in long-established, successful, locally-owned companies,” Jody Wassmer, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce said.

Through the history of The Bakers Rack, the store evolved with customer demand, adding more gifts, crystal, china, décor and collectibles that their customers, friends and family sought.

“Owensboro built us to what we are,” manager Ann Baker said.

After the fire in 2002, The Bakers Rack suffered extensive damage, losing virtually everything in the store.

“We didn’t have to come back, but Owensboro has been too good to us not to,” Baker said. “There were customers here asking ‘What can we do?’ We can’t go out of business. There are too many people asking us to stay in business. It was our friends, our family.”

The support of the town that built The Bakers Rack rebuilt the same store, only better.

“We incorporated everything in the new store that customers said we needed,” Baker said.

That dedication to pleasing their customers rooted The Bakers Rack into the city, not just as a nice boutique to peruse on occasion, but as a regularly tapped resource.

With just a phone call, regular customers can call in orders for bridal showers, birthday parties or random occasions; have the gifts wrapped and then shipped.

Some customers, Baker said, have walked into the store and saw an item, picked it up and then walked out telling an employee to “Put it on my account.”

“If you walked through another store with an item and said ‘Put it on my account,’ it would be shoplifting,” she said.

That level of trust and service exceeds the normal call of duty for retailers. “Owensboro created this,” Baker said. “We’ve done what our customers wanted, the gift wrapping and delivery — even with gas prices rising — because our customers are so good to us.”

The Bakers Rack creates memories with many of its gifts. The famous brown and white polka dot wrapping paper is known well outside the Owensboro area as The Baker’s Rack’s.

During Christmas, the red and white polka dot packages stand out from under the Christmas trees, kindling excitement.

That excitement and pleasure is mutual in The Bakers Rack’s relationship with Owensboro; the employees are happy to offer superb customer service, and customers are thrilled to receive a gift in that unmistakable wrapping.

“When you start a small business you’ve got to love it, love the business not the hobby and treat it as a business and still give customer service.”

The future will be much of the same for The Bakers Rack, though Baker said the store will go online soon. The bridal portion of the store should be online by the end of the year.

“I absolutely love my customers,” Baker said. “I would like to think that every one in here is a friend.”

That attitude is how The Bakers Rack has thrived for the past 34 years and why the store was named Small Business of the Year.

“Customer service is out specialty,” Baker said. “We just happen to sell gifts.”

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

Old Hickory BBQ named Small Business of the Year with more than 11 employees

2008-06-27T06:32:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine

Ninety years of success as a restaurant is virtually unheard of. But at Old Hickory Bar-B-Q, the Foreman family has been serving quality food at low prices for nine decades, which is why it was named the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the year with more than 11 employees.

Owner John Foreman is the great great grandson of Charles “Pappy” Foreman, an Owensboro blacksmith who began barbecuing mutton in 1918.

Nearly a century later, with the same recipe and technique, his family continues serving the food of the local person to local people, anywhere from 400 to 750 of them a day, Foreman said.

“Old Hickory BBQ has prospered through three generations of the Foreman family and that’s a real testament to the business’ success,” Jody Wassmer, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce said.

With hungry diners flocking to the door for three generations, the Foreman family hasn’t changed much in the restaurant. “Basically it’s the same as it’s always been,” Foreman said. “We try to keep things simple. Our main thing is quality.”

Of those hundreds of diners a day, most of them ate at Old Hickory when they were kids, Foreman said. Now they’re bringing in their kids and grandkids and the food is almost the exact same.

In an industry that turns over restaurants like pancakes, 90 years is evidence of a successful equation. That equation in its plainest form is quality food at cheap prices.

“I hate to raise prices,” Foreman said, which is fresh on his mind given rising gas and food costs, and the fact that many of his colleagues are changing menus to offset or recoup costs.

“My dad always said it’s better to make two nickels than one dime,” he said. “When your average ticket price is low and the food is good, customers come back.” And that’s the goal in the restaurant business, retention.

While other restaurants in town are adding new items and raising prices, customers are sitting at home budgeting checkbooks and trimming costs, too. So a low ticket price to feed a family seems much more appealing, especially if that low price buys them an evening of entertainment in dining and quality, familiar food.

“Everybody is worried about rising costs,” Foreman said, “In times like these, people do without a lot of things, but they keep dining out as entertainment.”

Foreman said his regular customers eat in his dining room five to seven times a week. The most expensive item on the menu is $11.75. “That’s the combo plate,” Foreman said, “and it’s a lot of food.”

But the average ticket price is about $7 or $8 per person.

“I’d rather treat people fair and have them come back,” Foreman said. “I think people in Owensboro appreciate that.”

Foreman said that employees know many of the regulars on a first name basis. When he needs work done at the restaurant, he’ll usually seek out one of his customers.
“We try to do business with people that do business with us,” he said.

And to keep business as local as possible, Foreman also strives to purchase his food supplies from local vendors.

Though Old Hickory Bar-B-Q has been honed to a finely oiled machine that pumps out good food, quickly, Foreman said he doesn’t see many changes for the future. The family has avoided franchising to maintain consistency.

“We may expand one day,” Foreman said, “but I don’t want to get stretched too thin. We don’t try to make the big sale.”

If there’s a secret to Old Hickory’s success aside from quality food at cheap prices, it may be the family’s tenacity and dedication to treat its regular customers, its friends and neighbors fairly, consistently.

“We concentrate on local people,” Foreman said. “We always consider ourselves the local place where all the locals go.”

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer.

Zev Buffman and Kevin Schwartz tie for Entrepreneur of the Year

2008-06-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

Buffman transforms RPC into Mecca for performing arts

By Matt Weafer
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine

In 1993, Zev Buffman found himself exhausted in Owensboro’s RiverPark Center between flights, about to take a nap during a free symphony by the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra. He had driven to Owensboro from Louisville to check out the new performing arts center that was built in a small western Kentucky town.

But as he stretched out in Cannon Hall prepared to catch some shut-eye, the orchestra struck the first note.

“I hear this sound coming off the stage,” Buffman said. “It was a great sound — not what you expect from Owensboro.”

He listened to the entire performance then strolled out to the balcony while the sun began to set. “It was a big ball of a sun in fluffy white clouds,” he said. “I leaned on the concrete and watched the whole thing disappear. And I thought, I would really like to settle down in a place like this.”

That was 15 years ago when Buffman was running 14 performing arts centers, half of which he had built, and was involved in many other projects around the country.

Now, as Buffman has settled comfortably into his new position, and with a fresh contract extending his stay until 2012, he has tied with Kevin Schwartz at Schwartz CPA group as the Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

“Zev Buffman has done more with the RiverPark Center than I think anyone ever imagined possible in the past five years,” Jody Wassmer, President of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, said.

Buffman started work as CEO at the RiverPark on October 1, 2003, and has transformed the non-profit performing arts complex into a factory that not only creates its own successes with Broadway shows and festivals but shares that success with the rest of the city as the RiverPark brings in thousands of tourists a year — a western Kentucky Mecca for the performing arts.

“I thought this theatre was a fabulous factory,” Buffman said about his initial reaction when taking his position. “I saw endless opportunity.”

And he has capitalized on many of those opportunities.
Now the RiverPark Center builds more Broadway shows than any other city on the Broadway market, Buffman said. “We’re building Broadway shows at half the price as my colleagues in New York.”

The RiverPark Center has also added Winter Wonderland, the International Mystery Writers’ Festival and increased activity in the Young Adult Theatre Academy.

The success of Winter Wonderland has brought the RiverPark to extend its duration for the 2008 – 2009 season, staying open through the first few weeks of January.

“We’re raising the stock of Owensboro by doing extraordinary projects like Winter Wonderland,” Buffman said.

The International Mystery Writers’ Festival brought in several thousand tourists from all over the country and Canada. Of the Mystery Festival attendants, Buffman said, 50 percent were from cities outside the Kentucky region that never would have come to Owensboro.

The Young Adult Theatre Academy has grown over the past four years and will continue to grow in great strides, including a new four-story classroom/studio complex on the RiverPark’s campus that will offer hands-on experience and college classes to theatre and broadcasting students at local colleges.

For the next four years, and hopefully more, Buffman said, the RiverPark Center will continue to grow, cultivating more festivals and programs, further developing downtown’s attractions and the Owensboro economy.

Buffman said that when word spread in 2003 that he took a position in Owensboro, Ky., many of his colleagues and acquaintances called to ask why he moved to such a small town.

Buffman replied, “Just wait. You’ll hear all about us.”

Kevin Schwartz uses success to serve community and create opportunity

By Matt Weafer
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine

As a track star at Apollo High School in the early 90s, Kevin Schwartz learned the importance of endurance. Then after graduation, he saw the importance in supporting one’s community and country as he served in the Air Force.

After moving back to Owensboro, Schwartz applied those values to his new business, Schwartz CPA Group, which led him to a tie with Zev Buffman, CEO of the RiverPark Center, for the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

“Kevin Schwartz took a chance by leaving a nice position with a large company to start his own firm because of his entrepreneurial spirit,” Jody Wassmer, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce said. “He should be an inspiration to others who dream to grow their own business.”

Schwartz left Pricewater House Coopers in St. Louis, Miss., and returned to Owensboro with no clients; a small office; a computer loaded with software; and a fear that despite his newspaper ad, his phone would never ring.

“Fear is a great motivator,” he said. “It really gave me a feel for what it means to be a small business.”

For the next six months, Schwartz devoted his time to learn software and meet people, developing a client base and deepening his knowledge about small businesses, both through experience and education.

“I understand where (small business owners) are coming from because I’ve been there,” he said.

Establishing that foundation required the tenacity and endurance he trained for with his track team at Apollo.

“As a long distance runner that consistency becomes a part of your being,” he said.
With a cot in his office in the Midtown building, Schwartz worked for days as his only employee. But slowly his client base grew as did his personnel.

Now Schwartz has moved his office to a larger complex with rooms for his many employees to 1735 Frederica St.

“We are probably one of the faster growing firms in Kentucky,” Schwartz said. Clients span as far north as Indianapolis and Detroit and as far south as Texas and Florida, he said, representing more than 500 corporate and independent clients.

In just a few years, Schwartz grew his infant practice into a successful firm with a knack for giving back to the community.

At Schwartz CPA Group, Schwartz requires every employee to donate 20 hours of work back to the community a year. Schwartz pays his employees for that time, too.

Some employees join organizations or work on boards or with CASA. “I do not tell them what to do as long as the put in 20 hours,” he said.

Schwartz takes part in the community service as well, serving on many boards in the community, donating time when possible. He also oversees that the office recycles.
“I’ll take the cans and soda bottles to the recycling center,” he said. “In leadership, it’s important to serve. Small businesses really do put a lot back into the community.”

Though success seems to be sitting at Schwartz’s door step, he is still moving forward to create opportunity, give back to the community and further his role as a leader in his field.

“I’m by no means where I want to be,” Schwartz said. “I’m not resting on my laurels yet. I want to build an organization that provides opportunity.”
Schwartz said he prefers to hire graduates out of school and train them, mentor them to function on a team.

“It’s not about financial rewards as it is to provide opportunity to help people improve on themselves. Then I feel like I’m being successful. To me that’s more than a big paycheck.”

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer

Facilitating job searches free of charge

2008-05-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Searching for a job is stressful, especially if you’re unemployed or working at a job you can’t stand. And the longer you search for a job, the more stress weighs on you.

The Green River Area Development District Career Center is designed to assist job seekers, helping to craft the perfect resume and prepare them for an interview.

Michelle Drake, GRADD employment specialist, said, “The Owensboro Career Center is the hub if you’re looking for work.”

The Career Center not only provides a daily listing of jobs available in the Owensboro area, it also provides daily services to hone your job search, free of charge.

These services are available in a classroom setting or independently in the computer lab lobby.

When searching for a job, composing the perfect resume is often a challenge for many people.

“A resume should provide a picture of what work skills you can provide employers,” Drake said. “Employers don’t want to know what your hobbies are. They don’t want to know things personal in nature bout your family situation.”

The Career Center can help job-seekers construct a clear, professional resume with software on the computer or in person.

Unlike an application, which is cut and dry, she said, resumes offer the opportunity to promote yourself and your work experiences.

“It’s a perfect time to toot your own horn,” she said. “When you’re talking about a resume, you can talk about some of the changes you made and some of the improvements you made at your previous employer.”

And anytime an employer asks for a resume, send a cover letter as well. Cover letters allow job-seekers to respond directly to employers, relating job requirements and qualifications back to the resume as proof of what you can offer a company.

The Career Center also teaches job-seekers to completely fill out applications.

“You really need to be very thorough and make sure you have the address of former employers and supervisors’ names and be able to quickly describe what you did at that job,” Drake said. And more importantly, list the correct dates of employment. “Most employers are checking to see that you did really work during these times.”

The next step in the job hunt is the interview. The Career Center offers classes to teach how to dress, behave and answer questions during interview.

During mock interviews, GRADD employees ask questions an employer may ask and they help guide job-seekers to clear, appropriate answers.

The main points Drake teaches are be on time, dress appropriately, be honest and sell yourself.

Drake said men should wear a suit or at least a pair of clean, pressed slacks with a shirt and tie, and women should dress conservatively — dresses and skirts reaching below the knees and no revealing tops.

But more importantly, answer questions, honestly, confidently and positively.

“It’s not the time to be negative about any work situation you may have had in the past,” she said. “If you were fired, be honest. Say you were terminated, and if they ask for an explanation, explain.”

She also emphasized that job-seekers review their resume prior to an interview.

“The employer remembers what you said you have to offer on your resume,” she said. “Review your resume so that you are positive and that you are concentrating on what assets you have to offer this employer.”

Mock interview software and resume building software are available on the computers in the Career Center free of charge, as well.

Career assessment is available to help guide job hunters to the career for which they are best suited.

The daily job listings are also available online at www.oet.ky.gov.

GRADD offers a job bank at www.greenriverworks.com to post resumes.

Visit the Career Center at 121 E 2nd St. The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, which helps disabled people find new careers, and the Owensboro Office of Employment and Training are also located in the same building. Applications to jobs on the daily list are available through the Office of Employment and Training.

GRADD Career Center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Office of Employment closes on Fridays at noon, therefore applications for specific jobs are not available after noon on Friday.

For more information, contact GRADD Career Center at (270) 687-7297.

Age 55 and up find job-seeking help in AmeriCorps

2008-05-08T07:17:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

This is the age of the Internet, the fast-paced era of instantaneity in which we must communicate through Web-based facilities and adapt to new situations and technologies without hesitation.

So in a competitive job market filled with young college graduates and future young professionals, where do aging Baby Boomers fit in?
Some are retiring.

Some are losing their spouses to mortality.

Others are fighting for social security.

And many of them are looking for new jobs. Some of them — widows who only took care of the house while their husbands earned the dough — are looking for their first job.

As the paradigm continues to shift, life expectancies extend and the financial demands of society grow, some senior citizens are looking for help.

That’s where AmeriCorps comes in.

Working through GRADD Career Center Services, volunteers such as Rose Bowlds, AmeriCorps member, senior advocate and job specialist for GRADD, help train an aging generation to adapt with the constantly changing technology and the demands of this evolving workforce.

From the age 55 and older — and even some younger seeking help — AmeriCorps offers job search assistance, resume and cover letter preparation and support programs.

“It’s a really challenging market for them,” Bowlds said.

But there are options. Some individuals re-enter the job market in full-time or part-time capacities in various fields. AmeriCorps is also seeking companies to create a partnership and mentoring program to help secure the futures of an aging generation, and to help companies utilize an older work force.

And even if AmeriCorps can’t offer the assistance someone needs, they’ll try to find an organization or individual who can.

“The older generation’s greatest challenge is finding marketable skills for the high demand jobs,” Bowlds said.

The major skill many older job-seekers lack is computer-savvy.

Through the Career Center, AmeriCorps offers training seminars and computer tutorials to introduce individuals to basic computer functions, Microsoft Word and the Internet.

Bowlds said after completing the introductory course, she recommends job-seekers continue to practice the programs.

“We encourage them to continue to practice off software tutorials to work at their own pace,” she said.

That software is available at the Career Center as well as more advanced tutorials for Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.

Classes are held every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and Thursday from 1 a.m. to 3 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome.

Bowlds said many people she works with were individuals that found a job 25 years ago and never switched careers. But now they are retired or laid-off and either have financial responsibilities or weren’t ready to retire. But they only knew one type of work.

“Today the average person changes jobs three to five times and doesn’t think a thing about it because of all the options available,” Bowlds said. But that wasn’t always the case.

Now some of the Baby Boomers must learn to adapt.

For instance if an individual has never or rarely used the Internet, simply applying for a certain job may be impossible because employers are largely switching to email and Internet applications only.

AmeriCorps recognizes the need for assistance and offers it through the Career Center at 121 E. 2nd St. Call GRADD for more information at 685-0210.

St. Gerard Life Home aids young unwed mothers-to-be

2008-05-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Western Kentucky Catholic

Pregnancy at a young age is stressful enough. But when the girl doesn’t have a family to depend on or a home to sleep in safely, pregnancy can seem like the beginning of the end in more ways than one.

The St. Gerard Life Home is designed to aid homeless, unwed mothers, older than 18 — offering a safe, comfortable home for the girls to reside in during their pregnancy and up to three months after the birth of the baby.

“St. Gerard Life Home was started because Birthright is no longer housing girls,” Rita Heinz, director of programs for Catholic Charities, said.

Catholic Charities will operate the home.

The house, which was donated anonymously, is currently under renovation and should be open by June.

Heinz said the address will not be published for future residents’ safety.

Sister Joseph Angela Boone, OSU, director of administration for the Owensboro Diocese, said the St. Gerard Life Home will offer unwed mothers a place to stay, provide clothing and prenatal care.

“It’s going to be absolutely well worth the time and energy that goes into it if we can save one life,” Sr. Joseph Angela said.

The home will hopefully help prevent young women from aborting the pregnancies or from living in unsafe environments.

Named after the patron saint of pregnant women, the St. Gerard Life Home will offer pregnant girls the time and counseling to help them prepare for motherhood and independence.

“In addition to providing shelter we want to assist girls in obtaining healthy pregnancies,” Heinz said. “We want to provide them information on parenting and budgeting and assist them in finding employment and housing after the child is born.”

Many young women after becoming pregnant are either abandoned by parents or boyfriends, or their home life is — or becomes — abusive.

In such a vulnerable situation, the young woman often has no place to retreat.

“Basically our purpose is to help them obtain shelter and proper nutrition and facilitate independence and their ability to parent after the baby is born,” Heinz said. “They can stay there with their babies for up to three months after the baby is born. We want to help them get back on their feet.”

Through a variety of programs such as counseling and education, the St. Gerard Life Home will hopefully help save the lives of many unborn babies and help the young mothers find a firm foothold in the workforce, hopefully creating a stable, happy and healthy new family.

For more information contact the Owensboro Pastoral Center at 270-683-1545.

Chrism Mass homily, the Bishop calls us to spread the Good News

2008-05-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Western Kentucky Catholic

Hundreds of people slowly filed into the Sports Center for the Chrism Mass on March 18.

As the procession of clergy ambled toward the altar, I noticed something missing in the congregation, youth.

With the exception of a swath of grade-schoolers sitting in the benches, a dozen or so babies and a handful of kids, the congregation was populated by older generations.

The church sang “One in Christ” as the gathering song, symbolic of the parishes uniting under one roof for an evening of prayer and consecration. I sang along quietly, reminding myself and the people around me that I can’t sing.

Vases of what looked like olive oil stood on the altar as the church signed the cross in unison.

The ceremony started out as any average Sunday morning mass — only with twenty times the amount of people and forty extra priests.

The biggest difference, though — at least for me — was how powerful some of the readings were; the one’s spoken in English that is. The second reading in Spanish demonstrated the growing diversity of our diocese.

The gospel and Bishop John McRaith’s homily were packed with insight. The words were nothing I hadn’t heard before, nor was the message. But something struck as a little more meaningful.

I’ve been attending Catholic masses since I wore diapers 24 years ago and for some reason this mass spoke to me, stood out from the hundreds of others masses I’ve attended.

Perhaps I got more out of this mass because I jotted notes in my notepad, preparing for this story. I don’t know. Either way, this was no ordinary mass, at least for me.

The carafes of oil stood waiting to be blessed and the congregation sat relatively peacefully listening to the first reading from Isaiah, which read like poetry and set the stage for the Bishop’s homily.

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61:1)

The Bishop started off the homily with, “What a great night. What a great sight.” He then segued into a sermon sighting the significance of our gathering, thanking anyone associated with the church and imploring us to live up to God’s call, our mission, the mission Jesus gave to his disciples.

“To proclaim the Good News wherever they go,” Bishop McRaith said. “Proclaim the love of God, the risen Lord. Can you imagine how the world would change if that were taken seriously?”

I tried to imagine it, a world of peace, a world of plenty in which we share wealth, we feed the poor until they need to buy bigger pants, we forgive neighbors and offer assistance rather than threaten war, and we love one another because part of proclaiming the Good News is living it.

Then I realized how far from reality that world really is, though many of us try.
“Each of us in the building and diocese — rich, poor, young, old — everyone has a job,” he said. “No one is too young, uneducated or too old to have a call.”

Then he reflected on the state of our status quo: “While the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we have a lot to think about tonight.”

The Bishop then spoke of deeds we should all strive to achieve, and they reminded me of a growing trend in America, the push for social responsibility. Similar to Americans’ fight for a greener world, a cleaner world, a more loving world, the Bishop implored us to reach out through our stewardship, time and talent to spread God’s love, provide liberty to captives and sight to the blind — proverbially, of course.

“Captives of material things, pleasure,” he said. “The stronger our relationship with Jesus, the less we are apt to become captives to anyone or anything.”

One of the toughest things to adjust to is dependence, he said. “People have to admit we are dependent upon God before he will heal them.”

And all this, which on paper looks like common sense, words we’ve read a thousand times, weighed heavy in my mind that night as I thought of our society: war, greed, poverty and indulgence in excesses.

He spoke a few other gems in the homily such as: “The will of the world would have us under its thumb.” And: “Oppression is a disrespect for life — abortion, murder, capital punishment.”

And then he challenged us: “Look at our lives and see where we show disrespect then set out to change how we treat one another. Free the oppressed. Love one another as Jesus loved us.”

His final words settled on the congregation like a refreshing mist: “Jesus came to save the world from sin and death. United with one another and him and each other we can have a better world from here to eternity. Pray we’ll take that seriously for a better world for all of us to travel on our pilgrimage. God bless you all.”

He plodded back to his seat and the congregation sat in silence. Perhaps awe struck them into contemplation, perhaps his words provided a glimpse at how they may disrespect life, perhaps they weren’t paying attention at all and were falling asleep, or perhaps it was a little of all three. But then a baby started to cry, someone coughed, the air conditioner hummed, programs flapped as make-shift fans and a chair scooted before mass continued.

And even though the Chrism Mass was a celebration of the anointing of oils and the priests’ renewal of their commitment to service, the Bishop’s words stood out like neon at night in a world where common sense and love seem lost in the amalgamation of media hype, political disturbance and greed that seems to dominate our society.

But perhaps, in God’s blessing, as the Bishop said, we may learn to love and spread the Good News.

David Morris’ Love for Music a Gift from God, Family, Friends

2008-05-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Western Kentucky Catholic

A steady buzzing noise travels down the hallway of St. Mary of the Woods Elementary School in Whitesville emanating from the door labeled Mr. Morris, as though a giant bee hive stood in the classroom.

Though no bees buzz in the classroom, a swarm of fourth graders plucks, strums, hammers and bows string instruments. The students concentrate on the sheet music on the stand in front of them and try to find the rhythm to “Drunken Sailor,” the English sea shanty song popular at Ho-Downs.

Meanwhile, music teacher David Morris walks from student to student, coaching, snapping beat and correcting finger placements.

For David Morris, music is not just a hobby or something he bops along to on his commute to work; it is his work, his life and his passion.

Next to his family, playing and teaching music occupies most of his time.

Since he was a 13-year-old student in Whitesville, Morris has been infatuated with music, more specifically string instruments.

Morris grew up around music. His mother played guitar and so did a few of his siblings. Naturally, he picked up the guitar.

“I started playing the guitar with my brother Barry when I was in eighth grade,” Morris said. “If it wasn’t for Barry, I wouldn’t be playing. And he doesn’t even play anymore.”

When Morris was 14, his mother bought a fiddle from Lewis Edge, a family friend. But before she had the chance to practice, Morris had swiped the fiddle, started playing and fell in love.

“My mom had been playing the rhythm guitar behind fiddle players my whole life,” Morris said. “And that’s the best thing for a fiddle player is to have a rhythm guitar player to keep the beat.”

So, over the next several years, Edge taught Morris all of his first songs and his mother helped him practice as he discovered his passion for the fiddle.

“When I started playing that fiddle,” he said. “I found what I wanted to do.”

Edge, 88, celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with his wife Nora this year. But Edge is now on his death bed, Morris said.

“I can’t be thankful enough for all that he taught me,” Morris said.

Morris said his first audience outside of his house was with Edge and Whitesville Ho-Downers. “They were good to me,” he said.

After graduating, Morris moved to Eastern Kentucky and worked in the Floyd County school system and with the Kentucky Opry.

Morris and other musicians traveled around to 17 high schools in the area, demonstrating and teaching music to children.

Along with a few other instructors and artists in the area, Morris helped found the Mountain Arts Center.

But once Morris married his wife Monica, they moved back to Whitesville to start a family. To support this family, Morris started working at a factory.

Five years later, Don Ralph, the principal at St. Mary of the Woods Elementary School called Morris and asked him to teach.

“We worked up a contract and I left my factory job and never looked back,” Morris said.
Now Morris has been teaching music at both St. Mary of the Woods and Mary Carrico Elementary Schools for almost six years, and he is right where he belongs, surrounded by music and its students.

Since Morris moved back to town he has also been performing music at St. Mary of the Woods masses.

With several of his six children old enough to begin their journey in music, they also join him in performing.

Morris’ children are Charlotte (12), Cecilia (10), Reuben (8), Blaise (7), Xavier (6) and Gianna (6 months).

“The biggest thrill for me in the last few years is when my kids finally got old enough so that we can sing together and lead the music at mass,” Morris said. “Before then, when I got up there to sing at mass, my wife was stuck in the pew with five squirrels.”

The Morris family performs at St. Mary’s mass on Sunday at either the 7 a.m. or 8:30 a.m.

“It’s the Johnny Cash mass,” Morris said “because it’s so early everything has to be dropped down a key or two.”

Morris teaches various types of music in his classes and performs any hymn at mass as long as it’s good.

“There is a great treasury of hymns in The Bible,” Morris said. “A lot Christians since our Lord have been putting truths to music. Some of these pieces of music go back 1500 years or even later than that.”

The students at both elementary schools will perform their music at school masses, so they also learn hymns. But Morris also introduces them many other types of music including bluegrass.

“If somebody asked me to pick out my favorite song, I’d have to pass,” he said. “I don’t care when something was written or when something was built; if it’s beautiful, it’s beautiful. If it’s not, it’s not. I have no problem playing something that’s 1500 years old if its truths are still applicable. But if it’s a hymn that was written yesterday and it’s beautiful, I want it.”

Over the past 27 years, Morris has not only taught music, but he’s also performed in a number of mediums. He has played on several CDs and recorded a few solo albums. He’s also working on another solo album tentatively titled Turquoise Moon.

Morris is also a member of the Backstage Band, the house band at Goldie’s Opry House.
“Sometimes a guy gets tempted, if I could just go and do something,” Morris said, “and then you realize, I am doing something. It’s God’s will. I’m a husband and a father and that’s all that matters.”

And with his family rooted in music, Morris will continue to follow his passion and share it with his neighbors.

“I can’t think of anything that I can do better,” he said. “I’m not the best at it. I’m still learning, but I teach and give a lot of private lessons — just passing it on.”

Press Release for Creative Catering and The Dallas Room - Owensboro, KY - March 19, 2008

2008-03-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Charlie Feldpausch
320 W. 8th St.
Owensboro, KY 42303
270-993-4327
Fax 270-926-1614
creativecat16413@bellsouth.net
www.charliescreativecatering.com

The Dallas Room and Creative Catering unite to form full-service reception hall

Charlie and Lori Feldpausch, owners of Creative Catering, is slowly taking over management of the Dallas Room at 1308 Triplett St., converting it into a fully functional reception hall for weddings, dances, meetings, banquets and charity events.

J. R. Bradford, owner of the Dallas Room and Singer Sewing Center, will maintain ownership, but will turn over management to Charlie Feldpausch within a year.

For the past several months, Bradford has not rented the building out for weddings. But, he hopes that under Feldpausch’s guidance, and with Creative Catering’s 25 years of experience, they will rejuvenate the Dallas Room.

The new Dallas Room will include a work room with a stove, refrigerator and prep tables for caterers to warm foods and add finishing touches.

“The main function of the Dallas Room is going to be wedding receptions and bridal showers and just anything that someone has a need for,” Bradford said.

Although Feldpausch owns Creative Catering, the Dallas Room will allow other caterers to use the facilities.

Feldpausch also plans on donating the hall for charity events, charging non-profit organizations only the cost of utilities.

“We will offer the Dallas Room to any non-profit organizations during the weekday or weekend if not booked,” Feldpausch said.

Bands perform every Thursday and Friday night. Bradford and his wife Linda perform 50s and 60s hits on Thursdays. Don Cartwright and Cartwright Country perform Fridays.

Saturdays will be open for weddings and other events.

Creative Catering will serve food on Thursdays and Fridays during the concerts.

“For the first year I’m still going to play on Thursday nights,” Bradford said. “And Don Cartwright will still play on Fridays. Charlie will book weddings for anytime other than that.”

# # #

First impressions help sell homes

2008-03-11T12:11:00.002-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

To sell a home, buyers must first be drawn into the home. You accomplish that with curb appeal.

Although the adage says don’t judge a book by its cover, when a buyer is preparing to drop several thousand dollars on a home, and hundreds of homes sit on the market for sale, that is exactly what buyers do.

First impression is key in selling a home. A poorly manicured lawn, dirty siding, cracked paint or dangling gutters speak volumes about a home’s condition to a buyer.

Even if your home isn’t for sale, but you want to make sure it looks nice, the front yard and façade of your home are often times the only thing people ever see.

David Jones of Fosters AAA Siding said there is a great deal of variety in vinyl siding. And color is an important factor in giving your home the pop to make it stand out.

The most popular colors at the moment, Jones said, are gray, linen, clay and white.

Updating porch railings and posts can add a fresh look to a home as well.

Another popular trick to help create contrast in color is accenting with gutters, trim and shutters. “Some people do the siding and guttering in one color,” Jones said, creating a seamless flow between the two.

Shingle style siding is also available. “(Shingle siding) is very attractive and can be used in combination with other styles of siding to accent a wall or an eave,” Jones said.

Jamie Carrico of A-1 Windows, Siding and Gutters said, “Without gutters, the house looks incomplete.”

The functional aspect of gutters is a necessity as well. Not having gutters can “tear up the foundation of your home,” she said. Plus they are good for landscaping and they keep water away from the building and the basement.

With a manicured lawn and clean flower beds a home is one step closer to achieving eye-catching curb appeal.

But one aspect many home-owners overlook, Chris Mitchell, general manager of NiteLiters, said, is how the home looks at night.

“People that spend all this money on all these things that are important for curb appeal,” Mitchell said, “but then it gets dark and it’s gone. Without light, there is no curb appeal at night.”

But lighting is not just a matter of sticking some little lanterns in the ground in your flower bed, he said. It’s about drama.

When manipulating the spread of light and the focal point, Mitchell said, “people are only seeing what you want them to see — creating drama, controlling things. That’s what you can do with lighting an outdoor space.”

When lighting a home, Mitchell first looks for a focal point, which is not necessarily the front door.

“You can put a couple 1000-watt halogens and let them see everything or put hundreds of one-watt bulbs and let them see what you want to see,” he said. “But when somebody drives by, if you put light everywhere it can be confusing. You want to draw people in driving by the home.”

And lighting a home can be as simple as 10 lamps. “You want a fixture that disappears into the landscape during the day but shows off at night,” Mitchell said. “It’s not the quantity of fixtures or the brightness of the lamps. It’s how you use them both.”

Curb appeal does not depend on the amount of money spent on products or the type of products; the important factor is the first impression.

“A lamp is a lamp is a lamp,” Mitchell said. “It just depends on what you do with it.”

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer.

Transform concrete to granite

2008-03-11T12:11:00.001-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Concrete is a basic building block in modern construction. Whether it’s a basement floor, garage or driveway, concrete is the starting point for millions of homes.

Despite its economic and structural benefits, concrete is not all that attractive in its raw form.

But new trends such as concrete stamping and staining have moved into Owensboro.

Ward Pedley, Jr. offers an unlimited amount of options to decorate concrete. Pedley can do anything from etching and staining the floor to resemble cobblestone to using a diamond polish and acid staining to convert a basic concrete basement into an elegant granite-style floor.

For both indoors and out, concrete stamping and staining enhances the appearance of concrete and the home.

Rather than just painting concrete with glossy gray for the basement or tiling over it, Pedley’s 600-pound diamond polishers can transform an old but sturdy floor into a gleaming work of art.

Refurbishing an old concrete floor is more economical than pouring a new floor and enhances the look and value of the home.

“(Polishing) is an economical alternative to granite flooring by all means,” Pedley said.
It has nearly the same durability and appearance of granite.

“As if concrete is not hard enough, diamond polishing will make concrete harder,” he said.

The polished concrete will resist scratches and requires less maintenance.

“It’s not maintenance-free,” Pedley said, “but it has very reduced maintenance. Nothing is maintenance-free. Everything’s got to be cleaned.”

The options in concrete embellishment are limitless, Pedley said.

With stamping and stenciling he can mimic cobblestone, brick, slate or random stone. With sealer and dye, the designs look realistic and much more elegant than plain concrete.

With pattern stamping or stenciling, after the polishing and staining the concrete is “probably better than cobblestone,” Pedley said.

Diamond polishing makes existing concrete more durable. When laying new concrete, Pedley reinforces it with wire.

Concrete is a much better option than loose stone, Pedley said. “It’s a better method because you don’t have any erosion or weeds growing up through rock,” he said.

Concrete is also cheaper than loose stone and composed of recycled material.

For the exterior a number of options are available as well. A recent trend, Pedley said, is people stamping and staining patios and sidewalks.

Another popular trend is acid staining.

Pedley polishes the concrete with the diamond polisher which opens pores in the concrete. He then adds an acid stain, which creates a chemical reaction between metallic salts, reacting with lime producing unpredictable patterns usually in earth tones — brown red and green. He then neutralizes the acids and seals the concrete.

The diamond segments in the diamond polisher “bring back a new floor,” he said.
Acid staining also works on smaller pieces of concrete for countertops. And the acid staining is much cheaper than granite.

The diamond polishing and acid staining are available for outdoors as well, but the concrete will not be polished as well, Pedley said, otherwise the concrete would be too slick.

Since diamond polishing refreshes the concrete and makes it sturdier, the concrete is actually comparable to the durability of granite.

Any other patterns or pictures can be added to the concrete, as well.

“I’ve got saws that cut anything,” he said, “flagstone or medallions.”

Color and pattern are limitless as well. “Any pattern,” he said. “I know that sounds broad but it’s true.”

Some businesses he said apply logos to the concrete and then add sealer.

“There’s no end to what you can do,” Pedley said. “We can produce any pattern anybody can want.”

Reprinted with permission from the Messenger-Inquirer.

Add bliss to the backyard

2008-03-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Comfort exists in many forms. But during early summer in Owensboro, for many families, relaxation lies in the backyard under shade with a cool drink.

So why not revamp the backyard this spring? Convert the grass into lush, verdant life and transform your porch or patio into an outdoor retreat.

Todd West, branch manager of Evergreen, said the first thing a homeowner needs to do to add life back into a weed-choked backyard is the early spring clean-up.

Rake up leaves, sticks and dead weeds. Expose the grass and let the new grass seeds reach the top soil.

A layer of dead leaves will smother out the new seeds, West said.

In the first few weeks of March, West said to put out spring fertilizer with at least 50 percent slow release to continue feeding the yard over the next several weeks.

The next most important step is to put down weed control with pre-emergent for crab grass before April 15.

“Once crab grass starts to grow,” West said, “you can’t go back and control it.” But crab grass won’t germinate until the temperature warms, which is typically mid April.

From that point, basic yard maintenance is all that is required along with weed treatments and fertilizers. Most Evergreen customers treat the lawn with a total of six applications through the summer, four fertilizers and two weed controllers.

But for more pristine grass, such as a golf course, more treatments are necessary. “A golf course typically does eight to 11 applications,” West said.

At the end of fall, extra preparation will help your grass grow back more healthy next spring. Fall aeration, seeding and weed control will set up a beautiful landscape in spring.
For mowing, West said to alternate mowing patterns and never cut the grass more than one third of its length.

The most common mistake is cutting the grass too short, which dries it out and adds stress, he said. Let the grass grow to 4 ½ inches and mow it to three. Then stay on a seven-day mowing schedule.

Mowing the same pattern every time trains the grass and it will lie over. And always mow with a sharp, mulching blade. “Ninety percent of the grass blade is water, so you’re just putting moisture back in the grass,” West said.

John Maurice of Maurice’s Pools and Spas said some of the newest things for pools and spas are lighting and audio. LED lighting inside and on the exterior of the spa, create a unique atmosphere at night.

And with 50 jets and new stereo speakers, a backyard spa experience will be quintessential culmination of summer relaxation.

Colored fiber optic lighting for swimming pools transforms a typical in-ground pool into a work of art.

Another new, popular pool feature is electric pool covers that open and close at the push of a button, protecting the pool and keeping debris from the water.

Kenny Miller, owner of All Decked Out, said the most popular item in decks is composite wood. Comprised of different woods, treated and dyed through the entire piece, these decks are nearly maintenance free.

With a lifetime warranty and several different color options, these customizable decks fit every yard and eliminate the hassle of staining and repainting traditional wood decks.

Linda Boarman co-owner of Bluegrass Natural Stone said a new popular item is a manmade flagstone material that looks natural and can be customized to different sizes.

Also new sealers are available for natural stone to add shine and to protect the stone. For instance if grease drips from an outdoor barbecue, the sealer would protect the porous stones from absorbing the grease and staining.

Natural stone boulders also make beautiful land markers and landscape additions.

At Barns-N-More, owner Carol Herring said a number of different Amish gazebos and storage buildings are available.

Gazebos range in shape and size, but the most popular gazebos are the rectangles which have room for a swing and spa.

Many owners install fans to create a breeze while lounging in their spa on warm summer evenings.

Reprinted with permission from Messenger-Inquirer.

Holy card swap deepens students’ understanding of faith

2008-02-27T06:11:00.001-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Western Kentucky Catholic - March, 2008

Saints are models of Catholic Faith — teachers and examples of devotion and sacrifice.

At the OCES K-3 Campus, learning about saints is more than educational; it’s fun. Students trade saint cards like baseball cards or Pokemon and hunt for new and different saints, earning cards by performing good deeds and achieving academic milestones at school.

During Catholic Schools Week in February, teachers hosted spin-off games from popular television shows, such as Deal or No Deal or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The only difference was students won holy cards by answering questions based on religion.

First-grader Sarah Englert had never watched Deal or No Deal before, but was the big winner of the K-3 Deal or No Deal. In Diane Fulkerson’s classroom, as the “cases” hung on the chalkboard and one of the student’s moms hid behind a screen and played the banker, the students took turns picking cases and making deals to win holy cards.

Fulkerson even fashioned a buzzer out of a bell and a little box that students could hit if they wanted to make a deal.

During Englert’s turn, she picked her first case and held on to it until the end of the game, never wavering, never making a deal. And when she opened her case, she saw the number 25, which was the highest number of holy cards in the game.

Englert now has collected 166 different saint’s holy cards. She collected them through good deeds at school, good grades and games, and some she purchased at stores.

Some of the other games during Catholic Schools Week were Bible Jingo, Bible Jeopardy and a religious version of Wheel of Fortune.

Principal Lori Whitehouse said holy card collecting was popular 50 years ago but has lost popularity lately. “At the K-3 campus, we wanted to bring the tradition back while teaching about the saints,” she said.

Every morning before class, Whitehouse reads a paragraph about the saint of that feast day over the intercom.

“Our goal is for all the children at the K-3 Campus to learn about the saints, the holy men and women who were models for us on how to live our Catholic Faith,” Whitehouse said. “We also emphasize that the saints are powerful intercessors for us. They don’t answer our prayers, but they pray for us and since they are already in heaven, we hope they have an inside connection.”

And the children love it. They love the collecting, trading and learning about new saints.
Fulkerson said most students can tell you who his or her favorite saint is and explain why.

On Saint Day, when students dress as their favorite saints, Englert dressed as St. Elizabeth of Hungary because she helped the poor, she said.

“Teaching about the saints was already part of the religion curriculum,” Whitehouse said, “but by adding holy card collecting to that, it has given the children a hands-on way to learn more about them.”

Parents join in the collecting, too. Whitehouse said many parents have reported enjoying flipping through the students’ binders where they store their cards and refreshing their memories off saints.

Also, parents purchase large collections of holy cards and donate them to the school to help provide a wide selection of cards for the students.

Fulkerson said the classrooms are stocked with a few saint books as well so students can learn even more about new saints.

“The children love the stories of saints,” Whitehouse said. “Some had ordinary lives and some were heroes and martyrs, but the one thing they all had in common was their belief in their faith.”

On parent told Whitehouse that her son and daughter — both of whom attend the K-3 campus — spent the entire summer playing with their collection of cards. They would hold them up like flash cards and see who could guess the saint first, she said.

“In today’s society, our children need good role models,” Whitehouse said. “The saints are perfect role models that our children can look to as examples of how to live their lives and their faith.”

Printed first in the Western Kentucky Catholic.

Wine List for Famous Bistro - Owensboro, KY

2008-02-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Red Wines

TOMMASI “Ripasso” VALPOLLICELLA
The result of refermenting Valpollicella, Classico Superiore on the warm grape skins from which Amarone has been processed, imparts a rich, unfiltered character and personality, transforming a great wine into a superior wine.

MENAGE A TROIS
Exposing the fresh, ripe, jam-like fruit, this forward, spicy and soft alliance of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon makes a perfect accompaniment for grilled meats or chicken.

P. JABOULET Cotes Du Rhone
The leathery scents of plum, chocolate and dark roasted meat deliver big flavors of mixed berries that echo and expand, balanced by citrusy acidity and tannins.

KLINKER BRICK Old Vine Zinfandel
Grown in Lodi, California, this blockbuster Zin is drawn from grapes hanging well into October on vines from 35 to 110 years old. The longer “hang time” produces more intense sugars, color and concentrated flavors with a better balance and structure.

BANFI Chianti Classico Wicker Basket
Intense aromas with sensations of vanilla, licorice and chocolate, this Tuscan Chianti is round on the palate, spicy, elegant and well structured.

RODNEY STRONG Pinot Noir
Supple in texture with rose petal and red fruit aromas, this lively, medium bodied wine was aged in predominately French oak, which adds a subtle toasty vanilla character.

NORMA JEANE Merlot
Before Marilyn, before Hollywood there was Norma Jeane. A young California Merlot, Norma Jeane is a bright, fresh wine brimming with rich, deep, dark fruit and lush texture.

MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN
A blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Monastrell made in Southern Spain yields soft berry and white pepper flavors with the backbone and round mouth feel of a Cabernet.

BOUTARI Nemea
A light, ruby wine from southern Greece with a nose of plum and cinnamon offers a velvet taste with structure and a long, aromatic aftertaste.

MORGANTE Nero D’Avola
Underlying hints of ripe apples, blackberries and myrtle accompany delicate licorice and spice notes in this dry, fairly soft wine with well-integrated tannins and savory character.

BOARDING PASS Shiraz
From Southern Australia, aged in 100% American and French Shiraz oak, this lively, dense ruby red hints of black cherry, cinnamon and mocha with a juicy palate and finishes with fruited tannin warmth.

White Wines

BERINGER White Zinfandel
Infused with strawberries, citrus, melons and floral notes, rounded out with nutmeg, cloves and youthful exuberance, this wine appeals to anyone seeking uncomplicated accompaniment.

CLEAN SLATE Riesling, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
From the steep hills of Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany, this well balanced white hints of ripe peach, tart apple and crisp mineral notes with a long, clean finish.

MONTINORE Sweet Reserve Riesling
A Washington State, golden wine with a pineapple and grapefruit nose, accented by floral and honey, finishes slightly sweet, crisp and clean.

TOMMASI “Le Rosse” Pinot Grigio – Italy, 2005
Grapes from the incomparable Valle dell’Adige, planted in 1977, the Vineyard “Le Rosse” produces grapes considered to be of exceptionally high quality. This Pinot Grigio’s nose is clean and spicy, suggesting tropical fruits with a medium body and a clean, soft finish.

MOILLARD Sauvignon Sur Lie
French wine from the Nuits St. George and 100% Sauvignon Blanc, this crisp, aromatic wine hints of citrus and melon with perfect balance. Zoe’s choice!

BOUTARI Santorin
From the Greek island Santorini, this pale gold wine offers a nose of mint and pine with a taste of bright, white fruit — dry, balanced and acidic with an long, aromatic aftertaste.

ROBERT MONDAVI Private Selection Chardonnay
Crafted from grapes grown in California’s cool climate, this sensuous white delivers aromas of crisp apple, citrus, and melon enriched by spicy French oak, with a creamy palate reminiscent of rich tropics and toasty oak.

Curb appeal and comfort sell homes

2008-02-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer

Selling a house is tricky.

A buyer needs to be able to picture his family living in the home and that’s difficult when it’s filled with another family’s stuff.

Paula Hedden and Benny Clark of Homes by Benny Clark said one of the most important aspects of a home for sale is curb appeal.

“More than 90 percent of home buyers will drive past a home and not even go inside,” Clark said.

So fixing the home to immediately catch attention and create a good first impression is paramount.

Clark recounted one instance with a seller whose home sat on the market for more than a year. Then the seller sought Clark’s assistance. Clark put a finish on the bricks, trimmed hedges and put down fresh mulch. The house sold one week later.

In Clark’s Lake Forest model home at 4568 Lake Forest Dr., he designed two brick arches over the front porch, and then painted the door black to stand out from white and sand colored bricks, and to match the black shutters. The dramatic architecture and simple landscaping create attractive curb appeal.

That first impression is the most important, Clark said.

But once inside, a buyer needs to feel comfortable.

Hedden said sellers must de-personalize the homes and remove clutter.

If a house has beautiful hardwood or tile floor in the foyer, a potential buyer won’t notice if there’s a pile of shoes lined up against the wall, Hedden said.

On the same note, a key selling point for buyers is closet space. Clean out closets junk stored on top shelves and move them to the garage or off site to let the true size of the closet show.

The biggest struggle for some families, Clark said, is the emotion they’ve attached to decorations and wall paper. A lot of memories are stored in the walls of homes, but when selling, a family must be prepared to strip down the home and paint over them.

When painting, Hedden said, stick with neutral colors. Some buyers may not be able to see past the red kitchen or pink bedrooms.

Take down family photos and replace them with more eclectic pieces of art. At the model home, wooden sculptures decorate the family room on the first floor. A giant carved fish sits behind the armchair, while a smiling Buddha stands by the stairs.

Lighting draws attention to different aspects and areas of the home. In the Lake Forest model, a lamp sits on the kitchen counter. The light not only acts as an accent, it also draws attention to the depth of the counter and the fine granite counter tops.

Swatches of greenery accompany the accent lamps through the home. Hedden a touch of greenery can add color and coziness.

During open houses, turn on all lights in the house, Hedden said. And in bedrooms install 40-watt bulbs to create a more relaxing environment.

Comfort is essential in helping potential buyers feel welcome.

Also, set the table, but not with the expensive China, Hedden said. Using your everyday plates and cups works as long as they look nice.

To further establish that cozy atmosphere during an open house, Clark suggested finding a nice scented candle. At the Lake Forest model home, a Hot Maple Tottie candle burned on the island in the kitchen and the home smelled like Grandma just baked delectable desert.

Hedden also said that if you have the time before an open house, bake a batch of cookies or bread and that aroma will fill the home with the essence of comfort.

In bathrooms, Clark never installs tissue holders or towel racks. He sets a bowl with rolls of tissue paper near the toilet and Hedden rolls or folds towels and then wraps a bow around them and sets them on the vanity or the edge of the tub.

In the first floor bathroom of the model home, Hedden set a small, artificial potted plant with long limbs on a shelf inside the tub. Sunlight through the window above the shower bathed the tub and the plant.

And during an open house, Clark said print out a flier with a photo and facts about the house. That way potential buyers don’t have to depend on their memory when considering a home, he said.

Reprinted with permission from Messenger-Inquirer.

Replace hazardous household cleaners with safe alternatives

2008-01-10T15:22:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Special Publications
Real Estate Inside Out: Lighter Living
Dec. 22, 2007

Holidays mean food, family and parties, which means a messy house after the fact. Dirt and snow were ground into the carpet, candy and sweets congealed to the table, pathogens abound in the guest bathroom and havoc left a mess in the kitchen.

Needless to say, you cleaned the house before Christmas and now you have to clean it again just a few days later.

So why use cleaning supplies harmful to you and your loved ones?

More carcinogens and deadly chemicals sit under your kitchen sink in name brand cleansers than most families realize. Or if they do realize the danger, they consider it a worthwhile sacrifice (risk) to obtain a cleaner home.

But here’s the dirty little secret: You can clean your home just as well with a few common, mild and most importantly safe items.

More frequently, chain stores carry "eco-friendly" cleaning products. Most of which come with high price tags. So a consumer should be educated before wasting money on a product. Many of the expensive cleansers touted as "non-toxic" aren’t any safer than other products.

When shopping for cleansers avoid any products with warnings such as "Danger," "Poison," "Caution" or "Warning." These indicate anything from combustible contents to potential skin and eye irritants to serious injuries such as acid burns.

Use caution when purchasing cleansers with vague claims such as "eco-friendly" or "non-toxic." Seek out products with specific claims, such as "no sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate," "solvent-free," "TEA-free" or with specific explanations, such as "biodegrades 90 percent in seven days." The term "biodegradable" is irrelevant unless backed with specific data. Over time most matter biodegrades.

Cleaning products are not required to list ingredients, but here is a small of list of some hazardous ingredients to avoid:

o Butyl cellosolve (also known as ethylene glycol monobutyl ether): a nerve-damaging chemical easily absorbed by the skin;

o Chlorine or Ammonia: produce highly irritating fumes and when mixed with other chemicals can cause severe and permanent damage to skin, lungs, nose, throat and eyes;

o DEA and TEA: a sudsing agent that can produce carcinogens easily absorbed by the skin and irritate nose, throat and skin;

o Fragrances: can contain a number of hormone disrupting compounds, irritants, carcinogens and chemicals that can become dangerous when mixed with other chemicals;

o Petroleum-based ingredients: an eco-damaging material that further depletes a non-renewable resource;

o Triclosan: the most common ingredient in antibacterial and antimicrobial cleaners, increases risk of dangerous bacteria and pathogens by weakening the bodies natural defense and strengthening bacteria, according to the World Health Organization in 2000.

Even "organic" cleaners are potentially harmful. The USDA’s definition of "organic" grocery items differs from the chemical definition. "Organic" in reference to chemicals simply means carbon-based, which includes a number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

When using any cleaning product, specifically any containing harmful materials, use caution. Work in a well ventilated area. Keep cleaners out of reach of children and pets.

Follow directions closely and adhere to warning labels. Leave all products in original packaging and NEVER mix cleaning products.

Wear gloves, goggles and mouth and nose protection when using harmful chemicals. And to help reduce packaging waste, purchase cleaners in bulk, recycle and rinse out containers before disposing to prevent further contaminating soil and ground water.

Seek out legitimately safe cleaners or try making your own with some of these recipes from www.thegreenguide.com.

ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER

1/2 cup borax
1 gallon hot water

Mix in pail (or use smaller amounts in a spray bottle: 1/8 cup borax to 1 quart of hot water) dissolving the borax completely; wipe clean with rag.

ANY ROOM

Wood
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 gallon warm water

Linoleum
1 cup white vinegar
2 gallons warm water

Mix in mop bucket. Rinse afterward.

Furniture Polish
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil

Mix and apply with a clean rag to dust and polish. Reduce the olive oil if wood looks too oily.

BATHROOM

Toilet Bowl
Baking soda
White vinegar

To clean and deodorize, sprinkle toilet bowl with baking soda. Add white vinegar and scrub with a toilet brush.

Tub and Tile
1/2 lemon
Borax

Dip the face of the lemon half in borax to create a hand held scrubber for dirty areas. Rinse and dry the surface afterward.

KITCHEN

Countertops
Marble: Mix one Tbsp. castile soap with a quart of warm water, rinse well and then dry with a warm cloth.

Other surfaces: Halved lemon dipped in baking soda to scrub off residues; follow up by spraying with glass cleaner mix (below).

Dishwashing
Castile soap
White vinegar

Wash dishes in one dishpan filled with a mix of water and castile soap, then rinse in a separate pan containing a mix of water and vinegar (3-to-1 water-to-vingegar ratio works well).

Drains
1 cup baking soda
1 cup vinegar

Add baking soda and vinegar to a pot of boiled water and pour down the drain, then flush with tap water. For more stubborn clogs, use a "snake" plumbing tool to manually removed blockage, or try suction removal with a plunger.

To prevent clogs, install a mesh screen, available at home improvement and hardware stores.

Glass
1/4 cup vinegar or 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2+ cups water

Fill a clean spray bottle with water and either white vinegar or lemon juice; wipe with a rag or old newspaper.

Oven
Baking soda
Water

Sprinkle baking soda on surfaces, spray water, then let soak several hours or overnight. Rinse with water.

Stovetop and Oven Grease Remover
1/2 tsp. washing soda
1/4 tsp. liquid soap
2 cups hot water

Add washing soda and soap to hot water in spray bottle. Since washing soda is caustic, wear gloves.

LAUNDRY ROOM

Laundry Detergent
1 oz. liquid castile soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
1/4 cup baking soda or 1/4 cup white vinegar

Using the liquid soap as a base, combine with washing soda, borax (for stains and bleaching) and either baking soda (reduces static and softens fabrics) or white vinegar (softens fabrics, reduces static and bleaches clothes). If you feel like your clothes aren’t clean enough, play around with the amount of liquid castile soap, using from 1 oz. to 1 cup.

Bleach Alternative
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide

For more information visit www.thegreenguide.com.

Reprinted with permission, Messenger-Inquirer.

Homegrown power

2008-01-10T15:15:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Special Publications
Real Estate Inside Out: Lighter Living
Nov. 24, 2007

Jack Frost’s frigid fingers tighten their grip on Owensboro as winter draws near. Gas prices loom near $3 and many individuals have resorted to public transit, bicycling and carpooling. Global Warming has become a household term that strikes an ominous chord, conjuring mental images of civilization degrading the landscape into desert.

For some the damage civilization has caused to the Earth is heart-wrenching. And those people will take whatever steps feasibly possible to do their part to right them.

A recent growing trend is alternative energy for the home including wind and solar energy. But there lies a series of problems: What if the power is unreliable? Can I remove my home from the local power grid? Are there state regulations? Isn’t a photovoltaic system really expensive?

The solution many states have adopted to supplying alternative, reliable energy is net metering. At the customer’s expense the home-owner installs solar panels and a meter that measures both the input and the output of energy to and from the home.

With solar power, energy is abundant at peak hours, but during a stormy winter week when the sun barely pokes its transcendent rays through the atmosphere, the energy is intermittent.

With net metering, during the low times, the home would draw from the local power grid. During peak times, the energy would go to the home and then flow back to storage on the energy grid and essentially sell energy back to the energy company.

In successful areas at the end of a month, when a customer would normally receive a bill, he or she may pay only base fees and at the end of the year receive a check for roll-over credits. But that’s an extremity — an ideal location with a profuse supply of energy and minimal consumption.

Requirements for net metering vary in each state.

Kentucky state legislature, as of April 22, 2004, "require(s) all investor-owned utilities and rural electric cooperatives to offer net metering to customers with photovoltaic systems of 15 kW or less."

However other states such as Iowa allow systems as large as 500 kW, though the majority of states allow only systems lower than 100 kW.

According to Joshua Bills, installer of solar systems and owner of Sunbelievable, "15 kW is a pretty big system." On average 15 kW can produce 1,800 kW hours per month. "And that’s quite more than most people have," he added. "Most people have maybe 800 kW."

John Robbins, energy consultant and solar home designer for Northern Kentucky, said a 15kW hour system in four hours of direct sun light could generate 60kW hours, which is more than an average home uses at one time. So the excess would overflow back to the grid.

For Owensboro, Kenergy Director of Member Services David Hamilton said, net metering is available for Kenergy customers. But no one has taken advantage of the opportunity yet. "It’s the kind of thing someone really must want to do," Hamilton said due to the cost of the photovoltaic cells and installation. "The cost return may not be there because of the low cost of electricity in Kentucky," he said. "(But) we’d be willing to work with anyone that’s interested in trying this."

Owensboro Municipal Utilities does not have a formal policy regarding net metering, OMU Public Relations and Communications Specialist Sonya Dixon said. "But we do plan to have one by 2008," she said. Dixon said, OMU is still researching PURPA requirements, recommendations and the Kentucky net metering tariff.

PURPA or Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act — enacted in 1978 — requires utilities to purchase whatever amount of energy is available from qualifying facilities. Developed by President Jimmy Carter, PURPA sought to decrease the Nation’s dependence on foreign oil by promoting local alternative sources. PURPA may be overturned.
But in the meantime, Dixon said, she is not aware of any requests by customers for net metering.

Reprinted with permission, Messenger-Inquirer.

Airline Departing, flights expected to continue

2008-01-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

By Lee Denney and Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Special Publications
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine

With little fanfare, a 19-seat Beechcraft turboprop airplane touched down on the east-west runway at Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport. It was around 8:30 on a mostly cloudy Sunday in mid-November. There were only three passengers on board when the plane landed, but it marked the return of regularly scheduled commercial air service to OWB for the first time since early March.

Its arrival couldn’t have come too soon for a number of local business leaders, but their excitement was short-lived. Just one day after Big Sky Airlines announced it would expand from one daily Owensboro flight to two beginning Dec. 20, the company abruptly announced it would fly its last flight out of Owensboro on Jan. 7. The move is part of a plan to cease all flights east of Montana, according to a Big Sky press release.

Big Sky’s departure will again leave the Owensboro airport without commercial air service. But service is hopefully only months away. Tim Bradshaw, Owensboro airport manager, said the U. S. Department of Transportation issued an emergency request for proposals to find another airline to serve Owensboro. It will most likely be one of three, Bradshaw said: Colgan Air of Pinnacle Airlines, Air Midwest or Great Lakes Airlines.

Great Lakes Airlines was the community’s second choice during the first bidding that took place when the airport’s service came up for renewal, Bradshaw said.

In an e-mail to the Messenger-Inquirer on Dec. 20, Bill Adams, spokesman for the federal Department of Transportation, said the agency will "use our statutory authority" to require Big Sky to continue service until a replacement service begins.

If Big Sky is unable to continue service because of planes being repossessed or pilots leaving the company, Adams wrote, "the department will do everything in our power to speed up the process of getting replacement service."

Bradshaw also confirmed that the airport board was talking with a Las Vegas-based airline about launching Owensboro service in the spring. If the discussions result in an agreement, Allegiant Air would create twice weekly non-stop flights to Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla. He said one-way tickets on 130 seat jets would cost $89 each.

"I had rather spend the time I would use driving to and from other airports at home with my family," said Joe Lowe, part of the ten-member airport board and a frequent flier. In addition to his daily morning radio show on WOMI-AM, Lowe is a live events announcer for monster truck shows and freestyle motorcycle races around the United States, Canada and Europe.

Lowe’s concern goes to the employees recently hired at the airport. "(Big Sky) sort of pulled the rug out from under us," he said. "My immediate concern is for those people. I really feel for them."

For Tony Gholson, factory manager for Swedish Match North America, flying out of the local airport benefits the local economy. "In 2006, we had 268 flights in and out of Evansville. That was probably about $150,000 worth of airline tickets that, if the connections were right, should come to Owensboro."

Swedish Match owns a quarter share of a "net jet," a kind of time share plan for corporate jets. Gholson said commercial versus charter is a lower cost alternative.

RegionsAir had served the local airport since 2001, flying between Owensboro and the American Airlines hub in St. Louis. But after repeated flight delays and cancellations the marriage turned sour. The FAA grounded the Smyrna, Tenn., airline on March 8 because of pilot training issues. That’s when the Airport’s board decided it was time for a business divorce.

Ankur Gopal is the CEO of Revasyst, a small but rapidly growing Owensboro-based medical billing agency that has business clients in the U.S. and abroad. Gopal who spends 30 to 35 percent of his time traveling was excited about the return of daily flights into Owensboro.

"When reliable service comes (to Owensboro) with more options," Gopal said, "we’re going to see more of an impact. Business people here are pretty well resigned to just know when they need a flight, they have to go to Louisville, Evansville or Nashville. Until something dramatic happens in the Owensboro airport, people are going to stay resigned with the status quo." When Owensboro offers flights to Chicago, Memphis, Nashville or some other city with more options, "I will be there with bells on," he said.

Reprinted with permission, Messenger-Inquirer

Evolving transportation reflects community changes

2008-01-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Special Publications
Greater Owensboro Business Magazine

The Owensboro Transit System is a service to the public and an amenity for the city. Public transportation is a keystone for developed societies. And OTS offers the service that many citizens depend on as their sole source of transportation.

Receiving 50 percent of its funding from federal taxes and the other 50 percent from the Federal Transit Association, OTS offers inexpensive transportation throughout the city. For only $1 individuals can ride the bus. People more than 60 years old, students or people with disabilities ride for only 50 cents.

Owensboro’s economy has changed rapidly over the past several years, expanding into a commercial metropolis. With those changes, OTS has increased its service area and intends to increase its number of buses and further develop routes to accommodate major changes in the city’s infrastructure — primarily the relocation of many businesses and organizations from the center of town to the outskirts, such as the new hospital off Pleasant Valley Rd.

When the Social Security office moved to Lucky Strike Loop near J.R. Miller Boulevard and Salem Dr., the transit system readjusted its routes to accommodate the change. In 2007, OTS redesigned routes to better serve students traveling to Owensboro Community and Technical College. To further ease student passage, OTS will be installing a shelter to protect them from the elements outside OCTC’s Frederica St. campus, along with other new shelters to be installed outside the Health Department and the Daniel Pitino Shelter.

Recently OTS added a route to travel to the detention center on Kentucky 60.

"Everything is moving out," Louis Lindsay, OTS manager, said.

Soon Lindsay expects to change more routes to better serve individuals located and traveling to the south side of Carter Rd., including the MidAmerica Airpark, Daymar College and Cliff Hagan Boys & Girls Club, Lindsay said.

A major change Lindsay is keeping in the back of his mind is the new hospital scheduled to open in November 2011. Currently slated for construction on Daniels Lane off of Pleasant Valley Road, OTS would have to expand its coverage much further than before. And Lindsay expects that expansion to include more buses and at least two additional routes within the next four or five years.

By 2009, OTS will receive new vehicles to replace its aging fleet. The oldest bus in operation was built in 1999. The heavy duty buses OTS uses are designed to last up to 10 years. For the new buses, 80 percent of the funds come from the federal government and the remainder from FTA.

The new buses will not only be more fuel-efficient with lower emissions but will be larger, seating at least four more people. Currently, OTS uses 26-foot buses with a 24-person capacity. The new 30-foot buses will be wheelchair accessible and ride on an adjustable chassis that can be lowered to level with the sidewalk for easier entrances and exits.

Expanding coverage area and adding more shelters at bus stops, OTS hopes to not only increase its service for riders that depend on public transportation but to also increase the number of choice riders — riders that have other transportation options. Almost all of the 1,000 passengers OTS conveys daily are commuters that have no other transit options.

"We really don’t have a large percentage of choice riders," Lindsay said. "We’re definitely interested in increasing choice riders, but our first focus is to take care of people that need transportation."

Reprinted with permission, Messenger-Inquirer

Think ahead to save time in the kitchen

2008-01-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Special Publications

The culinary arts have gained popularity lately with thicker television and media coverage focusing on global cuisine and healthy dining. While over night shipping and the globalization of foods via the Internet have made the average kitchen a medium for gastronomic experiments.

But a factor that is also prevalent in the average kitchen is a lack of free time.

There are a number of tricks and techniques one can employ to facilitate celerity in the kitchen — primarily preparation. The majority of time lost in the kitchen is spent preparing foods for cooking. So plan meals ahead and make sure all the ingredients are cleaned, thawed and prepared before cooking you start cooking.

Create a menu for each week and stock up in one trip to store. And skim time from other projects to create slack in the kitchen.

Take an extra 15 minutes after grocery shopping to clean lettuce and other leafy vegetables and store in a Ziploc bag with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Too much water will brown and rot the leaves in a matter of days. Similarly, asparagus and broccoli wilt and rot when in contact with condensation. Change out paper towels as they soak through.

Wash other produce as soon as you bring it home as well. Many "fresh" vegetables from the grocery store filter through an industrial cleansing and ripening process before hitting grocery shelves. Wash all produce before using. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other similarly waxy vegetables and fruits are coated in a food-grade — often petroleum-based — wax for preservation.

If you buy fresh meats and freeze the extra, cut and trim the meat before freezing. A package of three boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be pounded to 1/4 inch and cut into nearly a dozen filets. These thaw and cook quicker than a whole 6-ounce breast.

While cleaning the kitchen, start a batch of marinara or some other sauce or soup that requires several minutes of simmering and only occasional stirring.

If working with frozen meat or produce, pull the victuals out of the freezer the night before and thaw in the refrigerator. If you need to thaw something more quickly, submerge it in a bowl with cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes, or set it in the sink under slow running water. This does waste more water, but defrosts meat quicker. If under running water, make sure the meat is wrapped in plastic, otherwise the friction of the water will damage the meat. The defrost setting on the microwave works quickly, but will start the cooking process of the meat, which you don’t want.

Another time-saving tip is to cook in larger batches. When preparing a casserole, double the ingredients, pour them in two pans, freeze one and bake the other. The same can be done with sauces, pastas and rice.

Although the health benefits of whole grain pastas and rice abound, they also require more time to cook. Whole grain rice takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes. So rather than using 30 minutes to cook enough for one dinner, double it. The rice will keep in Tupperware in the refrigerator for about a week. The same goes for pasta.

When baking chicken breast or fish, add a few more filets. The extra meat won’t affect cooking time by much and can be used in various capacities over the course of the week such as chicken salads, soups, casseroles or pizzas.

Here’s a quick, easy and flavorful recipe for two:

Chicken Quesadillas for two

1 boneless, skinless, diced chicken breast
1 fresh, peeled tomato, diced
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 sweet medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
1/3 cup chicken stock
vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. fresh ground coriander or 1 tsp. fresh cilantro
1 tsp. oregano
1 package blended, shredded Mexican cheese
2 10-inch flour tortillas

o Sauté onion, peppers and garlic in oil for 5 to 6 minutes or until garlic starts to brown. Add diced chicken and sauté, tossing regularly until chicken sears on all sides. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, chicken stock, salt, pepper and seasoning. Simmer for about 6 to 8 minutes or until chicken mixture reduces to a thick consistency. Reduce heat to low.
o Lightly coat a non-stick skillet with vegetable oil and set on medium high heat. Lay tortillas flat and liberally cover with cheese. Add chicken mixture to each tortilla and then fold in half, pressing firmly. Fry each quesadilla in non-stick skillet, turning once, careful not to dump contents. Remove from heat and slice in thirds.

On the side — how about a quick salad? Mix fresh spinach with romaine lettuce, top with salsa and a dollop of sour cream.

Matt Weafer, (270) 691-7237 or maweafer@messenger-inquirer.com

Reprinted with permission, Messenger-Inquirer

In the Kitchen: Serve a safe holiday feast

2008-01-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer Special Publications

Holidays create moments that families will remember for years. With family piled in the house, presents to wrap, babies to pass around and eggnog to drink, the easiest opportunity to create unpleasant memories lies in kitchen. The potential for food poisoning should never be neglected.

But holiday distractions make it easy to do so. This year—and every year after this—follow these guidelines to ensure a safe and sanitary holiday feast.

Clean as you go.
The first step in preventing E. coli and salmonella poisoning, among many others, lies in cleanliness. Always wash hands with hot, soapy water before handling foods.

Wash hands throughout the cooking process as well after handling raw meats or items that have come in contact with raw meat or any other potentially contaminated utensil.

Avoid cross contamination by using multiple cutting boards—one for meats and another for fruits, vegetables and cheeses. Always wash cutting boards, utensils and countertops in hot, soapy water after handling food. Sponges and towels are breeding grounds for harmful pathogens. Replace them frequently with freshly washed towels and new sponges.

Over time, cutting boards may develop deep grooves, scratches or cuts where bacteria may be present.

Keep meat up to temperature.
After safely thawing meat in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave—never on the counter—monitor the temperature of the meat regularly.

Pathogens run amuck in all factory farms and slaughterhouses and the only definite way to serve safe meat is reaching an appropriate temperature to kill certain bacteria.

Keep a food thermometer handy in monitoring temperature. Since turkey contains both dark and white meat, temperature must be taken in both the thigh and the breast. Dark meat takes longer to cook thoroughly.

Turkey must reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the turkey stand 20 minutes before serving. When cooking stuffing inside the turkey, place turkey in the oven immediately after stuffing. Do not buy pre-stuffed turkeys. Stuffing must also reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit when cooked inside turkey.

Fresh ham must be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roast beef and steaks may be safely cooked to medium rare at 145 degrees Fahrenheit, 160 for medium and 170 for well done. Raw beef should be refrigerated at 40 degrees Fahrenheit and cooked or frozen by "use by" date.

Left over marinades must be boiled before contacting cooked beef. Beef may marinate in the refrigerator for up to five days.

Always wash the thermometer after each use and wash any areas with hot soapy water that raw meat or juice from the raw meat may have contacted.

Serve food safely.
In a buffet-style dinner, hot foods must be kept above 140 degrees Fahrenheit and cold foods should be kept under 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Perishable food should not be left out for more than two hours.

Drinks can be harmful as well.
Unpasteurized apple cider and eggnog can contain harmful pathogens if served under 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Apple cider and eggnog sold in groceries are usually pasteurized, but homemade eggnog may contain salmonella from the raw eggs, and apple cider can carry dangerous bacteria. When making home-made eggnog use pasteurized egg products or gradually heat the eggnog to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat cider as well.

Last but not least—storing (and reheating) leftovers.
Even—and especially—when storing foods, safety is key. Store warm foods in shallow containers in the fridge immediately after use. Do not let them cool uncovered on the counter. To avoid cross-contamination, cover all prepared foods. Turkey should be carved off the bone and separated from gravy and stuffing.

Also avoid overloading the fridge to allow circulation of cold air. Be cautious of the containers used to store foods. Some plastics contain chemicals that may seep into food, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic wrap. Wraps such as Glad Cling Wrap are safe. Similarly, when reheating use microwave-safe containers.

Eat turkey leftovers within four days and stuffing and gravy within two.

For more information on food safety visit foodsafety.gov.

As printed in the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer Dec. 22, 2007.

Post-holiday shopping (and exchanging) stress

2007-12-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer

The holiday season is over, but that doesn't mean you're finished shopping.

Now you have to return that sweater that's too large and that toy that your son already owns. And while you're there, you may as well check out the after-Christmas sales.

Anyone that's returned a gift at a department store after Christmas knows what to expect this season -- disgruntled customers waiting in the ridiculously long line of a disheveled customer service representative. Minutes tick by, fingers and knees cramp and someone forgot their receipt.

Here are some tips for managing post-holiday stress and after-Christmas sales:

• Check sales in the local newspaper before your trip so you know what to expect and can cut straight to items of interest;

• Start the day early — like any business day, the later in the afternoon, the longer the queue;

• Double check that you have your gift receipt or prepare to settle for the alternatives the store policies offer you; most stores will provide a store credit in the amount the item is worth the day of the return;

• Stay calm — don't take out any frustration on the sales clerk, unless of course they're rude for no reason; then feel free to roll your eyes, snap your fingers and stomp your foot;

• Make sure to check the fine print on receipts because some stores allow 60 to 90 days to return an item, but others may offer less;

• Keep clothing and shoes in original condition before returning: Avoid contact with smoke, don't wash them and definitely don't wear them;

• Electronics — movies, CDs, iPods, etc. — make sure they are in their original packaging or most stores will not accept a return or exchange;

• Leave tags on clothing; don't rip them off before trying them on;

Most importantly, maintain the holiday cheer. People may not be singing "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas," anymore but that doesn't mean you can not have a holly, jolly Wednesday afternoon trip through the crowded mall.

Beyond the Brim Caters to a Smoke-Free Adult Palette

2007-12-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer
The Scene

Laughter and boisterous conversation erupted out of the glass doors when I opened them to let my fiancée and group of friends enter Beyond the Brim before me. The smell of coffee permeated the air, and muffled jazz melded into the laid-back din.

My friends and I had left the movie theatre and were wondering where to go next. So we had stopped by Beyond the Brim to hang out and decide.

“We could go to a bar,” my friend said. “It’s Saturday night; there isn’t really anywhere else to go.”

The four of us stood in line and I watched the groups of people, old and young, huddled around tables, playing games or just chit chatting.

The warm earth tones of the tables and walls, and the mellow, blue and tan light fixtures provided a calm atmosphere after the action-packed movie.

I ordered a soy latte and then a tiramisu to share with my fiancée. My friends ordered fruit smoothies. We sat at a round table on top of a small stage about a half a foot off the ground.

“Let’s play Scrabble,” one of my friends suggested. We, like the other mish mash of other clientele, delved into jocular competition and spent the rest of the night in the smoke-free, laid-back coffeehouse.

Unlike a bar, Beyond the Brim is a mild atmosphere perfect for catching up with friends.
According to Eric Ebling, who’s worked at Beyond the Brim for 10 months, The coffeehouse is a place where you can relax and enjoy the music. “Nobody’s getting up and fighting; everybody is agreeable.”

Jamie Alsop, an employee since July 2004, said, on the weekend, the crowd ranges from teenagers to people past their forties.

Christopher Lord, Beyond the Brim owner, said that despite the often-larger concentration of high school and college age patrons visiting the coffeehouse on the weekends, Beyond the Brim was specifically intended to be a place for adults to retreat and hang out with friends.

“When you go out to dinner, you work according to the server’s schedule,” Lord said. Once you’re finished eating, they expect you to leave. “Where do you go then?”

“That’s what we are in the night time,” Lord said, “a place for adults to shoot the bull.”
The conservative atmosphere offers people who are uncomfortable with the bar scene a place to be themselves.

Coffee is not the only thing on the menu. Beyond the Brim offers a wide assortment of hot teas, smoothies, frappes, shakes, and more. Especially with warm weather fast approaching, try one of the colder drinks. “Just because it says coffee doesn’t mean it’s hot,” Ebling said.

“Our desserts and drinks are not just coffee-based,” Lord said.

Desserts range from baked goods to cheesecakes. The baked goods are fresh and homemade by Beyond the Brim, and the cheesecakes are not just plain Jane cheesecakes — try a Crazy Carrot Cheesecake, or the Great Cherry Cheesecake.
Alsop said the Christian atmosphere and the high quality food and drink, make Beyond the Brim unique and attractive.

According to Lord, “Two week-old coffee is bad coffee. Our beans are fresher than most bread people buy at the grocery store.”

The variety of coffee Beyond the Brim offers spans from different regions across the planet.

With adult focused games, comfortable setting, and high quality food and drink, Beyond the Brim is perfect for a light dinner, an after dinner or movie snack, or a place to hang out and relax.

According to Lord, “The palette here is blended for an adult comfort … but kids are welcome.”

Gallery 412 adds local culture to downtown Owensboro

2007-12-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

From decorative furniture to metal wall hangings; from wooden ink pens to glass bead jewelry; from abstract oil paintings to studio portraits, Gallery 412 offers a wide array of local, unique art for prices suitable to every pocketbook.

18 months ago John Froehlich retired as director of Owensboro after nine years, and joined five other local artists to open Gallery 412.

According to Froehlich, “We are the first, to my knowledge, art gallery, not gift shop, in Owensboro.”

Gallery 412 is located at 412 W. Second St., the old Mischell Monument Building. The building is 125 years old and Gallery 412 is only the third inhabitant.

According to Froehlich, Gallery 412 features three types of artists, studio artists, the six founders who craft their work inside their studios in the building; exhibiting artists, artists who display their work on a portion of a wall in the gallery; and gift shop artists, the artists who make the smaller items in the gift shop, like jewelry, and stationary.

Froehlich works with pottery and ceramics–not just pots and vases, but artistic sculptures and wall hangings.

The other five founders specialize in several different areas. John Schartung paints non-representational art but also does framing. Mattie Jones’ craft is metal work, making jewelry, metal wall hangings and sculptures. Darin Evans also works with metal, but he deals more with large-scale pieces, like wrought iron decorative entrances, doorknockers, and fences, among other things. Paula Plummer works with stained glass. Al and Jenny Hancock of Hancock Photographic Designs are the other studio artists, however they are moving to a new studio in the near future. They specialize mostly in portrait photography, especially weddings.

Froehlich said, “I’ve come to realize that people think that this is a gallery like a museum, which is true; we have the original works of artists, but it’s also a gift shop.”

The prices of each one of a kind piece range from $1.50 to several thousand dollars, but the average price of a piece in the gallery is between $20 to $250.

Letting people know that Gallery 412 offers nice gifts for everyone, Froehlich said is a challenge. “We have something for everyone from Uncle Joe the deer hunter to Grandma Rose who likes oil paintings.”

Froehlich said the main reason for opening the gallery was to provide local artists with a place to display and sell their art.

“Seventy-five percent of the art is literally from local artists,” Froehlich said. “We’re not restricting it to that; that’s just the way it worked out.”

Another reason Froehlich and the others established Gallery 412 was to supply the artists with studios outside of their homes. “It’s difficult for an artist to find decent studio space,” Froehlich said. He said that studio space in your home is okay, but it is not as easy to work there.

Gallery 412 is one of the few local businesses that add a flavor slightly out of the ordinary to Owensboro. “It adds flare for the people,” Froehlich said. “It makes Owensboro a little more different, and helps revitalize downtown.”

Froehlich said that Gallery 412 is becoming a more prominent sight in downtown Owensboro. “We’re visually becoming a part of downtown with the remodeling of the streetscape,” Froehlich said.

The gallery will be celebrating its two-year anniversary on April 16 in a big outdoor event.

Gallery 412 also offers custom designed creations, tours, and classes. Classes are held for stained glass, pottery, watercolor, oils, pastels, and metal crafting. Anyone interested can attend classes; no previous experience in the area is necessary.

Thunder on the Green Commemorates Joe Barnes

2007-12-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer (and McLean County)

Wind blew in sporadic gusts of about five to ten miles per hour, creating a slightly choppy race track on the Green River in Livermore, Saturday morning, the first day of 10th annual Thunder on the Green, as racers and their crew tinkered with their boats before the qualifying races began and spectators speckled the river’s edge in lawn chairs and bleachers. A blanket of clouds threatened rain, but all attendants were hopeful for a pleasant afternoon.

Rain wasn’t Kentucky Drag Boat Association President Roger Austin’s main concern, however; wind was. After last year’s fatal tragedy when racer Joe Barnes’ boat flipped, all participants were wary of wind conditions. With two wind socks slapping in the air, Austin and his crew were able to gauge the force and direction of the wind.

At 11:00 a.m., as 12- second and 13-second boats prepared to start the day with the first qualifying races, the wind lightly blew in the opposite direction of the track, forcing racers to lower the nose of their boats.

“The weather could be a real hindering,” Mike Nadoll from Nashville, Tennessee said. Nadoll, races an 8-second boat, Here Comes Trouble. “The rain turned some people around before they got here. I wasn’t gonna drive down here if it was raining,” he said as he uncovered his boat. “Some people drive 14 hours to race here.”

“For most of us, this is our hobby,” “Jet Boat” Bob Hardison from Island, KY said. Hardison races the Kwik ‘n Easy, a 9-second boat, for B.F. Evans. “This is our golf game. We’ve all been racing each other for 20 years,” he said. “We’re like a big family, and we want safety first.”

Before any boats splashed into the water, racers met with Austin as he discussed the rules and safety regulations.

“We feel like all the security measures were in place prior to last year’s tragedy,” Austin said. “We just reiterated all the rules so everybody’s on the same page.”

“We lost some boat racers because of last year,” Austin said. “We went thirty years without a tragedy like that.”

Last year’s winnings were donated to Barnes’ family, and this year’s race was dubbed the Joe Barnes Memorial Race.

“Joe Barnes was the racer,” Paul Kane said. Kane, who races in the National Jet Boat Association, drove from California to work on Hardison’s crew. “If they want to do a one year memorial, that’s great, but Joe would’ve just wanted us to go out there and have fun.”

Despite the concerns of rain and wind for Saturday, racers and spectators alike agreed that Sunday would be a good day.

“Tomorrow’s gonna be great if the wind doesn’t pick up,” Austin said.

Lem Evans, owner of the Kwik ‘n Easy said that Livermore is a good venue for the drag boat races. Spectators can line up on the water and watch the whole thing.

“The venue is great for spectatorship,” Kane said. “The water conditions are as good as I’ve ever seen. It’s beautiful. That’s why I come out here.”

“There’s a lot less pressure here,” said Nadoll, who used to race in California and other venues in the Pacific area.

Concern for the wind waned as the 9-second boats surged through the green-tinted water.

“I hope the race’ll be better this year’” Glenn Nicoll of Livermore said, leaning against a set of metal bleachers. “The wind’s dyin’ down a little bit,” he said. Nicoll has watched the boats every year since Thunder on the Green.

Bill and Diane Delve decided to spend their 25th wedding anniversary driving from Indianapolis to watch drag boat races for the first time in over twenty years.

“We’re putting together a drag boat,” Bill Delve said. “We picked up some helpful hints.”

The Lion’s Club Thunder on the Green is the closest drag boat race to the Delves’ home in Indianapolis. Once they complete their boat, Bill Delve plans to race in Thunder on the Green.

Brescia Hosts Literary Culture and Coffee Every Third Tuesday

2007-12-08T17:20:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

The Third Tuesday Writer’s Coffeehouse provides a pulpit for local writers to tell stories, confess sins, sing songs, read poetry, and perform anything else literary.

Originally held at Fox’n Field (now American Bounty), the Third Tuesday Coffeehouse started as an outreach from the Brescia University Creative Writing Program, according to David Bartholomy, associate professor of English at Brescia, and co-founder of the Coffeehouse, to provide students with a place to present their writing to a live audience.

Now in its ninth year, the Coffeehouse takes place in Woodward’s Café in the Riverpark Center every third Tuesday of the month starting at 7:00 p.m. between September and April. Regional writers drive from as far as Lexington, Frankfort and Indianapolis, to read and perform both as featured writers or during the Open Mic segment, Bartholomy said.

The largest crowd to attend the Coffeehouse, according to Bartholomy, was over 100 people who came to hear James Baker Hall, Kentucky poet laureate from 2001-2003, and his wife Mary Ann Taylor Hall. Ed McClanahan attracted a crowd almost as large.

“The Coffeehouse is one of the under recognized delights of Owensboro,” Chris Tiahrt, Coffeehouse MC said. “It’s a great opportunity to hear a wide variety of creative endeavors.”

According to cofounder Barbara Bennett, “The Coffeehouse is an outlet and an opportunity for writers. It provides an audience, and that’s very important.” The loyal, receptive, and tolerant audience of all ages offers writers a confirmation for their work, she said.

17 year old Collin Horn, who attends Apollo High School, performs folk music during Open Mic. “It’s a good venue,” he said. “The audience doesn’t make me feel nervous.”

“The Coffeehouse has saved my life,” said Phoebe Athey, owner of the big pink house on the corner of Allen St. and Parrish Ave. “Free speech in Owensboro is so very rare, and the Coffeehouse is someplace that allows me to do it.” Athey performs stand up comedy during Open Mic. “Stand up is my way of turning my depression about living in Owensboro inside out.”

The Coffeehouse is also a benefit to beginning writers, exposing them to local authors.
Bartholomy said, “People who are interested in writing can hear fresh stuff from the author’s mouth.”

Brescia Junior Dori Howard said, “I never miss the Coffeehouse.” Howard eventually plans on reading during the Open Mic portion. “I’m too shy,” she said.

The Coffeehouse is not only a benefit for writers, but it is also an advantage for anyone interested in regional, modern literature.

Stephan Quarles, also a junior at Brescia, said, “I come to listen to the regional writers because I enjoy hearing about everyday people.”

Jesse Mountjoy, tax lawyer and poet said, “It’s a wonderful forum for that part of culture that we normally don’t think of.” Mountjoy was one of the featured writers at February’s Third Tuesday Coffeehouse. He read some Haiku’s and poetry.

The Coffeehouse will celebrate the 20th anniversary issue of Open 24 Hours Brescia’s Regional Literary Journal. 20 writers from the new issue will read some of their work.

March’s Coffeehouse will feature Frederick Smock, Jim McGarrah, and Brett Ralph, creative writing teachers from Bellarmine, USI, and Hopkinsville Community College, respectively

“The Coffeehouse has surprisingly high quality writers,” Tiahrt said. “And it’s an encouragement for those who enjoy writing.”

Mountjoy said, “I think it’s a hidden jewel. So many good things come out of it.”
Anyone with questions about performing at the Coffeehouse, contact David Bartholomy at david.bartholomy@brescia.edu.

Taylor’s offers bikers a mile of nachos

2007-12-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer
The Scene

The plastic menu was slick in my hands as my eyes surveyed the list. Appetizers was the category, and Mile High Nachos were the item I was looking for. I had heard through the bar-hop grape vine that Taylor’s Bar & Grill’s nachos were the epitome of great nachos—layers of salty, seasoned chips, with chunky chili, cheese sauce, crisp lettuce, jalapenos, and sour cream. I had decided that while I waited to find out more about Taylor’s Wednesday night Bike Night, I’d test the nacho rumor.

Taylor’s Bar & Grill’s Mile High Nachos aren’t really a mile high, I discovered when the waitress set the steaming plate of gloppy goodness on the table in front of me; they’re more like half a foot high, but they are one hundred percent home-made.

“We make the chips; we make the chili; we do everything except grow the lettuce and the peppers,” Taylor’s Bar Manager Shannon Hancock said.

From 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Taylor’s sells made-to-order sandwiches and appetizers. Try the Smothered Chicken, or Chicken Bacon Ranch.

“We can make just about anything you want with ham, turkey, bacon, burgers, and chicken,” Hancock said. “We’re famous for our Mile High Nachos, though.”

Taylor’s also offers a Pizza and a pitcher of beer for $10.

Taylor’s has attracted leagues of people to listen to bands, have a drink and bite to eat, and hang out on the Patio or inside. But now, according to Hancock, they plan to attract even more people.

“We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable,” Hancock said.

Wednesday nights, Taylor’s Karaoke Night, will soon be home to a double-header, both Karaoke and Bike Night.

Anyone that rides a bike to Taylor’s on Wednesday nights can buy a can of beer for a dollar out on the Patio.

“We are trying to attract a wider range of a crowd,” Hancock said. “With Bike Night someone can sit outside and have a cheap beer and listen to the juke box, and then go inside and sing a song. We will have two different atmospheres, and everybody is welcome.”

After Karaoke a live deejay will man the stage. The deejay will also control the tunes on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Live bands will perform on the Patio, which was recently reopened.

Taylor’s always offers buckets of beer (six cans of beer) for $5.25. During Happy Hour, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., draft beers are 75 cents and other beers are only one dollar.

After I finished a portion of the nachos, I couldn’t each much more because they were so filling. I’d say I had eaten about half a mile’s worth, but still discovered that they lived up to the rumor.

Mention this article next time you are in Taylor’s and you can buy one appetizer and get the second one free.

Dan’s Dawgs reopens in a spacious Chicago setting

2007-12-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Snowflakes fluttered to the ground like dimes through water and the wind, more typical of a Chicago afternoon than that of Owensboro, buffeted Kevin and Angela Bruner when they opened the door to the newly renovated Dan’s Dawgs for their Friday lunch ritual. Kevin Bruner drove all the way from Infoserv, located at the south side of Owensboro, just to meet his wife, who works at City Hall, at Dan’s Dawgs, now located in the old two-room Greyhound Bus Station, next door to Dan’s old location at 224 Allen St.

Kevin Bruner said they visit Dan’s Dawgs about once a month for the Italian Beef Sandwich.
The best thing about Dan’s Dawgs, according to Kevin Bruner, is “the small, friendly atmosphere and great food at a reasonable price.”

Construction worker Shawn Vinson said, “When I work downtown, I always come here. I get a smile and a ‘hello’ every time I walk in. They’re really friendly and they take care of you.”

Matt Curry, owner of Dan’s Dawgs, moved from Chicago in May 2004 to purchase the business from his parents. Dan’s had been open for three years before Curry closed the doors on December 23, 2004, to renovate and move next door.

“We were only supposed to be closed a few weeks,” Curry said. “But we ran into a few problems.” Dan’s Dawgs didn’t reopen until February 7.

“That’s what we grew up doing, was remodeling houses,” Curry said. “I wasn’t prepared for the expense or the amount of time this required.”

With fresh red, blue and yellow paint on the walls, decorated with Chicago memorabilia, Dan’s Dawgs now offers a more spacious, comfortable atmosphere for lunch, compared to the hardwood, one-room dining room/kitchen, that was the restaurant next door.

“In the old building,” Curry said, “when people were standing in line, the tables were so close you were just standing beside people while they were eating.”

Curry said the best thing about the new building is the space and central air conditioning.
“We had a small window air conditioner during the summer and it was ninety degrees in the kitchen,” Curry said.

Matt Curry and his brother, Jay, now operate the Chicago style hot dog stand.

“We try to bring the taste of Chicago to Kentucky,” Jay Curry said.

With two rooms, Matt Curry was able to expand the kitchen, which he hopes will open the possibility to expanding the menu as well, possibly including desserts.

“We’re adding to things as we can,” Matt Curry said. “Anytime we come up with a new idea, we toss it in then see how it does.”

Some of the space in one of the rooms is going to be developed into a birthday party room. “It still looks like a bus station back there now, though,” Matt Curry said.

Keep an eye out for Dan’s Dawgs Hot Dog Cart. “It’s been at Friday After 5, or set up on a street corner or an industrial park,” Matt Curry said. The cart also caters private parties, birthday parties and meetings. Dan’s also delivers.

Beginning soon, Dan’s Dawgs will be open on Saturdays from 11:00 to 2:00, for lunch.
According to Matt Curry, restaurants like Dan’s Dawgs are all over the place in Chicago.

“We try to create a different atmosphere for Owensboro – a little more laid-back,” he said.

“Dan’s Dawgs is pretty original to this area,” Jay Curry said. “It’s not your original fast food. We always strive on cleanliness, good quality food, and friendliness at a cheap price.”

The Napoleon Dynamite Hype Boosts Merchandise

2007-12-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Vote for Pedro and he will make your wildest dreams come true. You have probably seen his campaign t-shirts and buttons around town, but who, you may ask, is Pedro?

Pedro is one of the characters in the hit movie Napoleon Dynamite.

Napoleon Dynamite is a stereotypical high school loser, struggling with popularity and girls, and living with his thirty-something brother and grandmother. The movie is about the trials and tribulations in the life of a high school student.

Napoleon Dynamite merchandise has exploded in the mall and other stores around town. Hot Topic is the hub of Napoleon Dynamite paraphernalia. Displays of Napoleon t-shirts and sweat bands are stacked through out the store. Hot Topic sells anything Napoleon Dynamite—from t-shirts to air freshener to lip balm.

“We can’t keep it in the store,” Nathan Shouse, Hot Topic employee said. “We even sell the shirts he wore in the movie.”

According to Shouse, Hot Topic started carrying Napoleon Dynamite merchandise three or four months before the movie hit theatres.

“Napoleon is the ultimate loser, but he still maintains his dignity,” Shouse said, that’s why he’s so popular. “He’s gonna be the stuff of legend one day. People are already starting rumors about him.”

Nick Vessels, 18, said, “I heard the guy who played Napoleon died in a car crash, but not before he finished shooting the sequel.”

Shouse said that the town the movie was set in has developed into a huge tourist attraction since the movie’s release.

Not everyone shares in the passion for Napoleon, however.

“It’s not worth all the merchandise,” Clark Carothers, 17, said.

“They tried too hard to be random,” Paul Shively, 16, said.

“The comedy was too simple,” Georgia Cox, 16, said.

Mike Johnson, 16, Dagmar’s Board Shop employee, said he was exited about the movie when he first heard about it. “I heard a bunch of Mormon kids were trying to make a funny, clean movie without making it dirty, and I wanted to check it out.”

Johnson said he enjoyed the movie when he watched it, but that was before the hype. “People ruin everything,” he said. “I used to like it, but the fact that everyone in the entire town of Owensboro quotes it, makes me hate it.”

“There’s so many one-liners that are so catchy,” Shouse said.

“I can’t go outside without hearing someone say ‘frickin’ idiot’ at least once,” Johnson said.

The one-liners and quotes that made the movie popular are branded across the t-shirts and merchandise. Lines like “My lips hurt real bad”, “Frickin’ idiot” and “Peace out” are some of the most common.

Napoleon Dynamite like many movies before its time, has attracted a huge cult following, and will probably continue to make viewers laugh for years.

Erica Schroader, American Eagle assistant manager, said, “I loved it. It was stupid humor about the everyday annoyances of high school with ultimate actors, dude.”

The movie theater can make Friday night entertainment Dionysian proportion

2007-12-02T17:09:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer
The Scene

Like a typical Friday night my friends and I were anxious to forget about our weekday burdens and indulge in Dionysian recreation and relaxation.

We sat around our kitchen table and contemplated our possible courses of action for the night. The Granny Smith Apple clock hanging above my refrigerator read 6:00 and we were already ready to hit the town.

During winter and early spring the cooler climate, and thunder storms spontaneously erupting limit outdoor activities to sparse, infrequent gatherings. And indoor activities tend to become tiresome and worn out.

We needed a place to go where we could kill a few hours and avoid the tempest lurking outside, but also changes and will be different every time we go.

With the newspaper sprawled across the table, I spotted the movie listing section and noted a few flicks that looked interesting.

After a quick debate over which movie we wanted to watch, we filed out of the house and headed to uptown Frederica for Malco. I hadn’t been to the movies in over a year, so when the tires of my car rolled into Malco’s parking lot, I spotted an addition to the building that I had not seen before, a whole new wing.

Michele Heilers, Malco employee, said the new wing has been open since around October of 2004 and it houses four new theaters and a concession stand. Malco has also installed new seats for every theater.

“They’re a lot more comfortable, and they’re roomier,” Heilers said.

As my friends and I watched the movie, I was able to stretch my legs, rest my head on the headrest, and slightly rock the seat.

Heilers said the addition of the new theaters gives Malco 16 theaters in all, and allows it to show either more viewings of the same movie, or more movies at once.

“If it wasn’t for the new theaters,” Heilers said, “we wouldn’t have gotten Sideways.”
Just outside the new theaters, the new concession stand facilitated my refreshment acquisition. I didn’t have to wait in an insanely long line, and when my soda cup was empty, I was able to step only a few feet outside of the theater to fetch a refill.

Aside from shelling out a nice chunk of change to watch the movie, we were highly entertained and were able to pass the time before heading to a new destination to continue our Friday night festivities.

The movies are a good way to get out on the town, without having to endure weather conditions or uncomfortable bar stools or restaurant booths. Catching a flick from time to time is also relaxing; surrounding myself with a bunch of strangers, smoking and drinking, or waiting for a server to bring me a wrong order can be taxing on my nerves; and that’s not what relaxing is about.

Even the afternoon can be a good time for a movie. Any show before 6:00 p.m. is only Matinee price, and children receive discounted prices as well.

Star Wars Episode III, Heilers said, will be the next big blockbuster. Purchasing tickets ahead of time is a good idea, she said.

JW Entertainments promotes Owensboro music scene

2007-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

It's all about the music. That's the motto for JW Entertainments, a local group dedicated to establishing a thriving music scene in Owensboro. Using MySpace.com, an online profile blogging web site, JW Entertainments is trying to overcome the physical and cultural obstacles that Owensboro presents.

Sixteen-year-old Jared Wright founded JW Entertainments about nine months ago with the help of about 30 friends who now work on his Street Team, spreading the music scene message.

"I've been passionate about music since the sixth grade," Wright said. "And I'm tired of growing up in a town without a music scene. So, I have set myself on a mission — start the scene."

The key to promoting the scene, Wright said, is by spreading the word among friends. One of his media of advertising is the Internet, primarily MySpace.com, a free cyber profile website. “MySpace is one of the best promotional tools that's been invented,” Logan Howard, a member of the JW Entertainments Street Team said. “This is a MySpace generation.”

Recently JW Entertainments helped plan Shamrock Fest at Kentucky Wesleyan College on March 18.

The scene that Wright envisions would provide a place in town that any teenager can go on the weekends for a show. He's targeting teenagers not just because he is one himself, but because Owensboro offers little for people under the age of 21. "We have bars, the movies, and the mall," he said, "but for kids under age, all there is is the movies and the mall."

The mall closes at 9:00 p.m. and the movies are expensive, Wright said, so what’s a kid to do?

If there was a venue in Owensboro that focused specifically on sponsoring concerts, Wright said, "it would give kids somewhere to go to keep out of trouble."

To establish the scene, Wright is doing everything he can to promote bands, plan concerts, and spread the word that teenagers don't have to travel to Evansville, Nashville or Louisville to catch a concert; they can stay right here.

"We have the Wildcat Saloon and The Brother's Pizza," Wright said, "but you have to be 21 to get into the Wildcat, and the Brothers don't have steady shows all the time."

According to Wright, not only are music fans forced to travel out of town to attend concerts, but Owensboro bands have to do the same.

According to Logan Howard, a KWC student, and drummer for The Cleansing Fire, A lot of friends and bands are moving to towns where there are music scenes, because Owensboro doesn’t have much to offer.

"Jared knows where he's going with this and I'm just trying to do what I can to help,” Howard said. “I'm working with him to help him wherever he needs it."

Howard was a key figure in planning this year's Shamrock Fest. Several bands drew a large, enthusiastic crowd. Howard doesn't have the number of attendants yet, but he's sure they were higher than last year’s.

According to Howard, the reception to an Owensboro music scene is large. "A lot of people want a bigger scene," he said. But, he also said, there are obstacles: "The scene is not happening because of the culture in Owensboro."

AnDrew Edwards, one of the brothers from The Brother’s Pizza said, "It seems like there's problems with the support of the community. There is some negative stigma associated to rock concerts."

According to Matt Edwards, The Brother’s Pizza has been accused of promoting satanic rock bands and corrupting the youth of Owensboro with rock and roll.

"I don't think kids and parents really appreciate the venue we have here," AnDrew Edwards said. The Brother's Pizza is an alcohol-free establishment that welcomes all ages. "It's not a bar atmosphere here," he said. "It's gonna be a safe environment that we're not going to let anything happen."

Only a Junior at Owensboro Catholic High School, Wright said the biggest obstacle isn’t just the Owensboro culture, but his age. “It’s hard to set up venues and have bands take you seriously when you’re only 16,” Wright said. Wright also struggles with other legal aspects of being a minor; he isn’t able to sign contracts to rent venues, and finding someone trustworthy enough to sign for him is difficult on its own.

According to Wright, he will be happy with the music scene in Owensboro when there is a place for teenagers to go every weekend and enjoy live music. In the future he plans to open his own record store where he will host live shows all weekend long. Until that is possible, Wright said, he and his Street Team will continue to pound the pavement and spread the word about the underground Owensboro music scene that simply refuses to fade into black.

Books-A-Million breaks the bar-hopping routine

2007-11-30T17:01:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer

As a college student, my weekly schedule is bulging from the seams with everything from reading Plato’s Republic to working a part-time job.

So when the weekend hits, I’m not necessarily in the mood for deejays, strobe lights, or a bar full of people. I need a quiet place to relax, finish homework, and hang out with friends.

At Books-A-Million, I can do that and more; I can plan my wedding and learn how to become a wizard all while sipping a frothy latte and nibbling a super rich chocolate dessert.

The smell of coffee from Joe Muggs coffee shop permeates the air at the massive bookstore, and the peaceful atmosphere attracts families, students, and groups of friends of all ages.

When I meandered through Books-A-Million’s aisles this past Friday, I saw a student huddled over books and papers spread across a table in Joe Muggs coffee shop. A few tables over two men in suits sipped from their black, paper cups and talked while pointing to different papers they pulled from their briefcases. A young couple sat in the fiction aisle, giggling and whispering, and all through the store groups of people walked around the store, just killing time, not necessarily shopping.

“Books-A-Million’s main demographic,” employee Jason Carrico said, “is both older and younger people.”

Unlike a bar, there is no age requirement to sit in one of the gray leather chairs sprinkled throughout the rows of literature. And unlike a restaurant, people don’t have to pay for a whole meal to sit and hang out for a little while; they can just mingle with Shakespeare, Hegel, and Hawthorne and take their time visiting with friends.

“Younger people come in here after the mall closes because it’s free and we’re open late,” Carrico said. “A lot of older people come in here during the day to spend their lunch breaks.” He also said a lot of families and college age kids come in to complete a peaceful night out.

According to Joe Muggs employee Kelly Creed, “We have a good environment, good coffee, and unlimited amount of reading material.”

Creed said the most appealing aspect of Books-A-Million, other than the coffee, is the peaceful atmosphere. She said, it’s a good place to get away from the crowd of obnoxious people at other places, especially bars.

“You can find pretty much anything in here,” Creed said.
Books-A-Million’s versatile environment is perfect for a first date, meeting a group of friends before a night out, or just killing time before a movie, or show.

Eagle Scout project sets example and donates computers to hurricane victims

2007-11-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

By donating recycled computers to Hurricane Katrina victims for an Eagle Scout project, fifteen-year-old Harrison Bryant hopes to teach fellow Boy Scout members and other young people that adults are not the only people who can make a difference.

“Kids can help out, not just adults,” Bryant said. “We can make a huge impact helping out the community.”

On Saturday March 18, Owensboro Boy Scout Troop 10 will gather at First Christian Church at 700 J. R. Miller Blvd to accept donations of old computers, functional or in need of repair.

Harrison Bryant’s scout-led project focuses on a service that benefits the community, and he acting on it and has so far received strong support from the community, especially the First Christian Church, Malcolm Bryant said.

According to Malcolm Bryant, Harrison’s father and scout master since 2001, “These young men, when they work on the Eagle project, they have to find a project that deals with service and involves other volunteers.”

Harrison Bryant has been planning his Eagle Scout project for the past six months and he will receive Eagle Scout status when he completes it. “We wanted to do something that was going to involve the twenty-first century,” he said.

If Harrison Bryant is able to rally the support he seeks, he hopes to have two to three truckloads of computers and computer equipment to drive down to New Orleans.
Malcolm Bryant said Gene Iglehart from Bowling Green has volunteered to repair or clean any computers to bring them up to speed. Iglehart, who has taken part in other computer donations for hurricane victims, has also supplied Harrison Bryant with a contact to the Capital Area Corporation Recycling Council in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to distribute the computers where they are needed most.

“They’ve been the central spot for distributing donations to hurricane victims,” Malcolm Bryant said.

“With this project,” Harrison Bryant said, “you can recycle your unwanted electronics (e-waste) and maybe help someone at the same time,” Harrison Bryant said. “There isn’t an environmentally friendly way to dispose computers in the area.”

“To our knowledge,” Malcolm Bryant said, “there hasn’t been a computer recycling event in Owensboro, so this is kind of a landmark.”

Harrison Bryant, who has been in the Cub Scouts since fourth grade said, “This can set an example for all other kids. You yourself can make a difference no matter what.”

Winter guard offers students an all-inclusive sport

2007-10-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Messenger-Inquirer

Molly McCorkle, 16, joined Owensboro Catholic High School’s Winter guard four years ago to make some friends and to join a group that wasn’t a typical sports team. When she joined, that meant her parents joined as well.

Bill and Darla Wimsatt, parents of Jessica Wimsatt, another OCHS Winter guard performer, have been helping Catholic Highs’ Winter guard team for four years. Parents help move props and load the trucks before and after shows, as well as make the costumes, flags and backdrops.

“[The performers] take it real serious and put a lot of effort into it,” Bill Wimsatt said. “It’s just kind of contagious.”

“Joining Winter guard was how I made most of my friends,” McCorkle said.

Winter guard is an offshoot from Marching Band. The Color Guard and Percussion section of the Marching Band, during the winter season, compete with local Winter guard teams from other schools with dance routines, incorporating flags and other props.

The Owensboro area is home to four Winter guard teams, Owensboro Catholic High School, Owensboro High School, Henderson County High School, and Kentucky Wesleyan College. KWC’s Winter guard team is an independent team, which means their team is comprised of students from schools other than just KWC.

According to Michelle Jones, KWC’s Winter guard director, “We will let any other high schools that do not have a Winter guard organization at their school perform with our Winter guard.”

KWC’s squad is comprised of five Wesleyan students and six non-Wesleyan students from Ohio County, McLean County, and Apollo.

According to Winter guard International’s (WGI) official website, Winter guard is a world wide sport, held in Canada, Holland, Japan, England, Korea, Germany, Ireland and South Africa as well as the United States.

Unlike other sports, Winter guard is a more artistic sport.

“It’s a little more open to interpretation,” Jones said.

“Other sports you don’t have emotion,” McCorkle said. “We present ourselves and our feelings; it’s raw.”

“The one thing that stands out to me,” Bill Wimsatt said, “is how friendly and encouraging kids are to other teams. When one squad passes another, it’s not uncommon to hear one of them say ‘good luck’.”

Winter guard is not just a girl’s sport either. Several guys compete as well. Catholic High’s team has three.

“There’s actually a lot of guys in the guard,” Paul Brown, eighth grader, said. “It’s not a lot different from band.”

The Winter guard competitive season lasts from January to mid April. According to the WGI’s official website, there are 29 regional competitions and World Championships, as well as over 600 local contests. The local Championship that KWC, HCHS, OCHS, and OHS will be attending is in Union County, KY on April 2.

KWC will not compete against the other three since it is in the independent class.

OCHS is one of the few bands at the competitions to play their own music, composed by Ed Hauser, Winter guard director, and Nick Warren, percussion instructor.

“We chose to do this for many reasons,” Hauser said, “mainly for the challenge of trying something that we have not tried before. I also had the visual image of the show before the musical image. I figured it would be just as easy to write the music as to find something that matched what I had in mind.”

“The best thing about Winter guard and band in general,” Bill Wimsatt said, “is they’re all-inclusive; they’ll take any and all students who want to be on the team.”

“I think Winter guard is a really good sport for people to get into,” McCorkle said, “especially if you don’t fit into the whole football or basketball scene.”

Enrollment down, hopes high

2007-10-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast

The final numbers are in, and according to Brescia President Sr. Vivian Bowles, the fewer number of students in some classes this semester is the result of a five percent decrease in student enrollment from last year. But the new “can do” staff in the Admissions and Financial Aid office, Sr. Vivian said, is boosting enrollment for the coming semesters.

“The cause for enrollment being down is primarily due to untimely turnover in the Admissions and Financial Aid offices,” Sr. Vivian said. “The good news is that we have new leadership in both those offices.”

With an 83% retention rate (number of returning students) 670 total students attend Brescia for the 2005 Spring semester, including graduate, undergraduate, part-time and full-time students. The total dropped from 708 students last year and 739 students in 2003, according to enrollment records.

Since Fall 1977, when 915 total students attended Brescia, enrollment experienced a rocky decline, only dipping lower than this semester’s total once in Spring 1997 with 627 total students. The records also show that the number of new freshmen this year is the lowest it has been since 1977 when 373 freshmen attended. Since then it has decreased to this semester’s 94 freshmen, which includes part-time and full-time students. Spring 1995 was one of the only semesters close to this year’s total at 95.

Decreasing enrollment’s most noticeable affect is on the budget.

“Enrollment always influences the budget,” Sr. Vivian said. “Needless to say, our operating budget is suffering from the lower enrollment and we are studying ways to cute expenses without having a negative impact on students.”

However, according to Sr. Vivian, “We are already ahead of last year in applications and acceptances. We are also ahead in recruiting for Spring ’06 and expect more students for next semester than we usually get second semester.”

Dean of Enrollment Chris Houk has been taking gregarious steps to contacting potential students.

According to Houk, admissions counselors are visiting high schools outside of the Owensboro area. The Admissions Office hosted a Preview Day for prospective students and another one is scheduled for October 29. Professional photographers visited the campus to snap photos for a new university website, future admissions publications, and future advertisements. The new Ambassador Program is also in action introducing prospective students to campus life. He said, “It is not too late for students to get involved in the Ambassador Program.”

Sr. Vivian said that although last year’s Brescia Bounty did not produce, she is open to students’ suggestions for boosting enrollment.

“Although our numbers are down,” Sr. Vivian said, “we think we have a good quality of students this year and are grateful. Our theme for this year is from our founder St. Angela Merici, ‘Be full of trust, courage, and high hope.”

Volunteers Track Traffic at Lechner Crosswalk

2007-10-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast

To some Brescia students, crossing Frederica St. is a life-threatening trek. As one of many attempts to secure safe crossing, Make Frederica Safe Committee volunteers sat on the curb of Frederica and 7th Streets October 18 and 19, monitoring the travails of a Frederica-crossing pedestrian, while Channel 25 filmed their work and traffic gushing past.

Dr. Conrad Toepfer who monitored traffic and tallied the results said, “Many of us knew that the Lechner crosswalk was hazardous but I do not think we realized just how bad it is.”

From early morning to 1:00 p.m. on both the 18th and 19th, 797 automobiles passed through the crosswalk while a students were crossing. 331 students total crossed in two days.

“During my shift,” Eva Atkinson said, “no impaired students crossed, but a man walking his bicycle across Frederica St. was nearly hit by a driver who did not seem to notice that he was crossing.”

“It seemed as if the pedestrians did not exist if the drivers did not make eye contact,” Toepfer said.

According to Atkinson, there is a law stating that traffic should stop for pedestrians in a marked crosswalk and in all circumstances, vehicles are supposed to stop for a visually impaired pedestrian with a cane or seeing eye dog. “At the very minimum,” she said, “it would seem that city officials would be aware of the law.”

However, she said, “no city vehicles stopped, or slowed while pedestrians were in the intersection.” She witnessed an Owensboro Police Department car, and Owensboro Municipal Utilities truck and a city bus drive through the crosswalk, indifferent of the pedestrian.

Toepfer said,“I saw several cases of students having to retreat back to the curb or dart forward to avoid cars that showed no sign of slowing down. I also had a student tell me after we stopped monitoring on Wednesday, that she literally had to jump out of the way of a car that never slowed.”

Atkinson contacted Gina Boaz, regional transportation planner for Green River Area Development District, who said that 7th & Frederica St. is not considered an "intersection" because the “7th St. no longer goes through across Frederica. She said that in 2003 and 2004, there was one reported accident each year on Frederica at 7th and there is no history of any pedestrian incidents at that crosswalk.”

Toepfer said, “Based on the near total disregard for pedestrians, I am actually surprised that there have not been frequent collisions.”

According to Boaz, there is a traffic counter at 10th and Frederica Sts. and at 5th and Frederica and an average of 17,000 pass the Lechner crosswalk each day.

Boaz recommended that impaired students go to the lighted intersection at 9th and Frederica or 5th and Frederica to cross. According to Atkinson, Boaz also said that drivers in Owensboro ignore the pedestrian right of way law and suggested that the OPD or the state could either improve signage or enforcement at the Lechner crosswalk.

In another attempt to draw attention to the crosswalk and petition city and state officials, Dr. Dan Kuntz sat outside the Brescia Dining Hall with letters for students to sign and send to government officials. Students signed over 150 and letters.

I’m going vegetarian

2007-10-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast
Column

Owensboro is not keen on vegetarians, nor does it support organic, healthy food. Grocery stores sell processed meat and refined grains and sugars. And everything is jammed full of sodium.

In the past few weeks I’ve decided to become a vegetarian for two reasons. The first reason is because it’s healthier. The other reason is because I fervently oppose the cruel treatment the majority of animals experience in the concentrated feed farms and in aquaculture. The process is brutal and hazardous to ecosystems across the world. And in the long run, who knows what will evolve from pumping our food full of antibiotics, steroids and other unnatural chemicals.

Maintaining my vegetarian status and still consuming a balanced diet is difficult in this town. Restaurants offer meager options to vegetarians, and what they do offer generally tastes like crap because none of the employees will eat it, so none of them can prepare it properly.

Health-conscious people in this town, like me, are chastised for their caution. On several occasions, I’ve been informed that I am too skinny and need to “get some meat on my bones.”

What people don’t realize is that the average Owensboroan’s concept of healthy is actually overweight. Part of the source of this problem falls on society’s negligence to educate itself about health. Instead, corporations focused on food preservation, presentation, and taste. Those are important, but not more important than health. It wasn’t until a few years ago that the food pyramid was adjusted to accurately display what’s healthy and what’s not. For decades the food pyramid was telling people to eat red meat. Last year, I read in a health magazine that the average American has fifteen pounds of undigested red meat in their bodies at death.

I’m afraid the mass produced, highly processed Owensboro society may have the upper hand against my fight for organic and healthy foods. With a hectic college and work schedule, I struggle to balance my diet with the appropriate nutrients.

I’m not trying to convince everyone to be vegetarians, but perhaps it’s time that as a society we can open our eyes to the fact that this city is not healthy. And out of all the restaurants in this town, probably only ten percent of them offer vegetarian options. And even less than that offer organic foods.

In Memoriam: Joseph Dominy

2007-10-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast

When Joseph Dominy was 19 months old, his parents, Rick and Polly Dominy noticed Joseph struggled when he walked. Rick Dominy told the Messenger-Inquirer in 1992, ''He had a waddling gait when he walked.''

At age two Joseph Dominy was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. In 1988, he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which only one out of 3,500 boys are diagnosed with a year. In 1989 and 1990 he was the area poster child for muscular dystrophy.

When Joseph was seven, Rick Dominy published the book Bound Up in the Child's Life so Joseph would know how much his parents loved him. ''I always want him to know that,'' Rick Dominy told the Messenger-Inquirer when the book was published.

Doctors predicted that by age eight of nine, Joseph would need leg braces, possibly a wheelchair, and he wasn’t expected to live past 18 or 19.

Joseph lived out a life-long dream in early February, by attending a University of Kentucky Wildcat basketball game. Joseph considers himself a “True Blue Fan.”
This semester, twenty-year-old Joseph cruises through Brescia’s halls in a wheelchair, always with a smile on his face and a joke on his tongue.

Senior Jessica Gentry, who has known Joseph since his grade school days at Newton Parrish Elementary School, said, “It is impossible to be in a bad mood when you are around Joseph. He won’t allow it.”

Because of Joseph’s positive attitude and presence at Brescia, along with his strength and persistence to power through his disease, he was named The Broadcast Student of the Year for 2005 – 2006.

Sophomore Arnold Lewis, an international student from Liberia, Africa, has been feeding Joseph breakfast and lunch this semester. “Joseph opened my heart,” Lewis said. “Working with him is very important to me. I never felt like that before. He’s very friendly and he is always asking how class is going or how the semester is going.”

Joseph was admitted into Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis on February 13. He was connected to a respirator to assist his breathing, but was disconnected on February 16. After a little struggle, he gained strength as the day went on.

2007-10-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

National funding cuts hurt students

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast

Next semester, you may be denied your PELL grant, which for some students is $1,000. You may be rejected from Student Support Services (SSS) tutoring. Your student loans may rise from 6.1% to 8.1%. By 2009 SSS may be eliminated from Brescia’s campus completely. Less students may be eligible for any financial aid, and the financial aid allotted will not compensate for the rise in cost of living. Southern states will find that college is less and less affordable.

All of these possibilities are genuine threats to Brescia students if Congress approves the bill to cut education funds, increase military funds, and slice taxes for the wealthy, Director of SSS Dolores Kiesler said. She and SSS have been battling the education funding cuts for years.

“The current bill focuses on changes in the Stafford Loan Program and the PLUS loan program,” Kiesler said. “What the new budget proposes is to cut $12.7 million from the financial aid for college students by raising and setting permanent interest rates for loans.”

“All of the TRiO Programs—Upward Bound, Talent Search, Student Support Services, Equal Opportunity Centers, and McNair—are in danger of losing all funding,” Kiesler said. “This year we managed to Save Upward Bound and Talent Search but we know we will have to fight for Equal Opportunity Centers next year, McNair the following year and SSS in 2009.”

SSS struggled with similar cuts under the Reagan Administration and for the last four years has been forced to work with a level budget, Kiesler said. “We have not had increases in our budgets despite increases in the cost of living.”

According to Kiesler, “Indirectly students and Brescia, in general, will also be affected by cuts in Science Foundation grants, Endowment for the Arts (less money for the RiverPark, hence higher ticket prices), loss of funding for some of the SSS programs. For example, restrictions on the amount of tutoring, reduction in staff, tutors or peer mentors; and many other such programs that have prepared students for college in the past.”

To help prevent losing SSS, and to help more students afford college, Kiesler said, “Flood your senators and representatives' offices with emails, letters and phone calls.”

Anyone can send a letter or email, or call state representatives every day.

“In Kentucky, Representative Ron Lewis for this district and both senators — Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell — voted repeatedly for the cuts to education,” Kiesler said. “Anne Northup, who represents Louisville, chairs the appropriations committee where these decisions are made and she has voted for the cuts each time they have come up for a vote.”

“These people need to hear the students' personal stories,” Kiesler said. “Make the cuts real for those who represent us. Tell them your story, your parents' stories, and why you need assistance with educational costs.”

According to Dolores Kiesler, director of SSS:
The 2005 budget had 51% of the total U.S. budget going to the military and 7% going to Education.

The 2006 budget has 52% of the proposed budget going to the military and 6% going to Education.

2006 proposed budget

Education - $166,733,000,000 (cuts of $13 billion)
Military - $970,000,000,000 (increases of $21 billion)
Tax Breaks for Wealthy - $210,000,000,000 (new tax breaks in 2005)

Craving that sugar high

2007-10-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
Column

There's nothing like waking up on a Saturday morning and fixing a heaping bowl of multi-colored, sugar-coated, whole grain cereal. The vibrant orange and yellow marshmallows dazzle my eyes, and the sugar pulses through my veins, invigorating me, juicing me up for the day.

Everyone needs a sugar rush to start the morning correctly.

At least that's the idea breakfast food companies market.

What has happened to the well balanced breakfast? When I was younger, I ate oatmeal, or bran flakes, possibly a banana, and a glass of orange juice. Now kids eat dessert for breakfast.

There is almost as much sugar in a bowl of Cocoa Puffs as there is in a 12 ounce soft drink. And parents wonder why their kids are always wired. Look at what kids shovel in their mouths.

Sweet cereals not only use boatloads of sugar, they also use artificial flavoring and dyes. There is nothing nutritious about artificial food. Would you feed your kid a plastic apple? It's an apple, right?

Although a cereal companies are now boasting "Whole Grain" products, the companies didn't change their products; they just changed their marketing techniques.

Yes some sweet cereals contain some whole grains, but they are still loaded with enriched wheat flour, and other refined carbohydrates.

Obesity, diabetes and similar diseases, and other health related abnormalities in children have risen in recent years. Largely, businesses do not look into causes, though. They seek out new products to correct the problem. So rather than produce healthy products to prevent obesity or diabetes, companies continue producing unhealthy products, but also produce products to relieve the ailments.

This is backwards. Kids are hopped up on sugar and red dye no. 5, so parents give them Ridlan to calm then down. Then after years of unnatural chemicals polluting the brain, other ailments follow – Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, just to name a few.

Why give a kids a bowl of chemically altered sugar for breakfast, when bananas and plastic apples are cheaper, and better for them?

CISA Aids Internationals’ Woes

2007-10-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast

When an international student applies to attend Brescia University, the student is required to show a savings account large enough to pay for the four years of tuition. When an international student applies for a social security number to work in the United States, the student is required to show the amount in his/her savings account. When the social security office sees the same large sum Brescia looks for, the student is often denied the social security number.

This is just one of the many concerns international students face attending Brescia. To alleviate the burden the Council for International Student Affairs (CISA) has established a monthly forum for students to express their concerns.

“We set up CISA,” SGA President Josh Clary said, “because there wasn’t a Dean of Students and we wanted some way for an international student’s voice to be heard, and to make international students feel like the university cared about them.”

At CISA’s first meeting several international students were present with several international woes.

One major concern for some international students was knowing whom to go to when they have questions about their VISA, tuition payments, social security number, or I-20 form.

“We wanted someone to be the director of international students,” Clary said. “Someone they know and can go to to tell them where they need to go. But that doesn’t exist.”

Dean of Students Erik Krauss has offered to assist international students any way he can.

“Our goal,” Clary said, “is to gather information and give international students a forum to get their concerns passed along to the appropriate people.”

At the end of each CISA meeting, Clary forwards the minutes to the chair of the Student Welfare Committee and the Dean of Students to find out the answers to students’ questions and direct them to the right people.

“Nothing is in writing,” Clary said in reference to international student procedures. “It’s kind of fluid.”

According to Clary, a lot of international students don’t acquire a social security number because they don’t need to work. Others do, however. Since some students are denied a social security number, Clary said, “it alludes that we may have students working illegally and that’s not a good situation for them to be in. It would be some violation of their VISA.” Which could possibly lead to deportation, he said.

Any student with concerns or questions, contact Clary or Dean Erik.

Budget adjusts to dip in enrollment

2007-10-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast

Despite the dip in enrollment this semester, filling in the gaps in the 2005-2006 budget is just another day at the abacus for Director of Business and Finance Dale Cecil.

“It’s the same as any other year,” Cecil said. “You make a budget and the next day things change.”

“Our real focus,” Brescia President Sr. Vivian Marie Bowles said, “is how to increase enrollment, because the revenue is tuition driven.”

The enrollment drop did affect the budget and according to Sr. Vivian, the Cabinet and other administration members are examining every department and every possible avenue.

“We’re working on plans,” Sr. Vivian said, “and there is not anything we’re doing that should have any affect on students.”

“I don’t see us coming up with one big plan,” Cecil said. “We will look anything and everything.”

According to Cecil a budget is only a skeleton or guideline for the university. “If you treat it as set in stone, you miss out on opportunities,” he said. “You spend more on things not budgeted and less on budgeted things. It never becomes worthless; you just have to adjust.”

Although there are no major cuts decided yet, Sr. Vivian said, “Division Chairs were asked to look carefully before hiring adjunct faculty.”

An adjunct faculty member is an instructor hired only when necessary. Sr. Vivian said, “When a full-time faculty member has a full load of classes, then we try to find a competent adjunct.”

By not having an adjunct instructor, she said, students will possibly benefit more, by having a full-time instructor more qualified in the area conduct the class.

“I think that everyone here is being very interested and collaborative in finding ways that we can save on our budget this year,” Sr. Vivian said, “like turning out lights and not running water unnecessarily—cutting back on utilities especially since the prices are going up across the nation.”

According to Sr. Vivian, Brescia’s budget adjustments are mediocre compared to other colleges. One college, she said, cut 17 full-time positions. “That’s not in the plans at all,” she said.

Business Department Expands with Banking

2007-10-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

By Matt Weafer
The Broadcast

The flock of banks that has migrated to Owensboro in the past few years will soon be stocked with Brescia-trained bankers.

Fall 2005 — Brescia began offering two banking courses a semester as night or weekend classes. Sally Asefa, chair of the William H. Thompson School of Business, was approached by representatives of Independence Bank in May 2005 to start a banking program designed for two different populations of students. One population is banking professionals interested in furthering their education. The other is for business students interested in the banking field.

Both populations take the same courses and adhere to the same course requirements. However, business students may pursue a banking emphasis with their major, which only requires 21 credit hours, and non-students may pursue a Certificate in Banking, which requires 48 credit hours.

Both the certificate and emphasis are recognized by the American Institute of Banking (AIB).

According to Asefa, faculty members send class syllabi to the AIB for approval.
Last semester fifteen students attended the two courses. Fifteen students attend this semester. About ninety percent of those are banking professionals and the other ten percent are Brescia students.

Asefa attributed the low percentage of Brescians to the fact that the program is new and business advisors have not had the opportunity to work the classes into students’ schedules before pre-registration.

“I’m glad we were given the opportunity to serve the community,” Asefa said.
She recommends the courses to any student “fairly sure they’re going in to banking.”