Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation Makes their Annual Tour
Monday March 31, 2003
Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation’s Board of Directors, staff and special guests were treated to a tour of investee companies on Tuesday, March 3, 2003. Each year the group visits one of the counties in KHIC’s service area.
This year the entourage began their tour in London, leaving KHIC’s offices on a tour bus headed for Clinton County. The group made a brief stop in Wayne County at the ASPIRE Center and Gale Edwards, Executive Director of the Wayne County EZ Community, Inc., talked with the group about the facilities available to the public. The center contains a multi-purpose gymnasium, an activity room, and a walking track. This center also has the only public swimming pool available in Wayne County. Kentucky Highlands Empowerment Zone provided $1.6 million to the ASPIRE Center.
Next stop -- Foothills Academy in Albany. Foothills Academy is home to at-risk young people from the region as well as around the state. The residents are recommended to Foothills Academy by the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice. The group was welcomed to the academy by George Page, Director and Robin Choate, Vice Chair of the Board of Foothills Academy. The group was given a tour of the facility by several of the residents and were then treated to a delicious lunch at the Academy. The KHEZ provided Foothills Academy a $100,000 working capital loan through the Development Venture Fund and are currently working with the Academy and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati on an Affordable Housing Program grant to construct a third cottage for residents at the Academy.
After a wonderful visit at the Academy, the group made a brief visit at the Hopkins School. The group was greeted by Dr. Paula Little, Charlene King, Brenda Sexton and Norma Jean Hunter. The Hopkins School, built in the early 1900’s and in use until 1961, was a one room school where at one time as many as 60 students in eight grade levels studied together. The School sat empty for more than three decades. Then, in 1997, the Clinton County EZ Community, Inc., in cooperation with the Clinton County Schools and the Kentucky Heritage Council, restored the School. The actual classroom setting – complete with original desks, books, outhouses, and a single wood stove – has been preserved as a living museum. The school is open daily for tours and can be rented for special occasions.
From the school the group traveled a couple of doors down Rt 127 to the Clinton County 21st Century Learning Center. Ms. Charlene King served as the tour guide, which included a tour of the library, classrooms---currently used by Western Kentucky University, Campbellsville University and Somerset Community College—and a state of the art 478 seat auditorium.
The group then boarded the bus and headed to the Horizon Adult Day Center in Albany. Welcomed to the center by President Kelly Upchurch and staff, the group talked and socialized with the many clients present at the center. This service allows the primary caregiver the opportunity to continue daily activities while knowing their loved one is in a safe and socially stimulating environment. The center offers the opportunities for arts and crafts, music, field trips etc. to the clients.
After visiting with Horizon, the entourage boarded the bus and traveled back to London where they held their regularly scheduled monthly meeting at the offices of Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation.
Those board members participating in the tour included, William Singleton, Eldred Musgrove, Arvel Evans, Robert Druin and Serena Stratton. Special guests on the tour were Lonnie Lawson, Director of the Center for Rural Development, Somerset; Rebecca Webster, Field Representative for Senator Mitch McConnell and Leann Boling, Field Representative for Senator Mitch McConnell.