Students honored for anti-drug essays
BY STAFF REPORTS
The Great Bend Police Department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Eduction program teamed up with local businesses at Monday night’s City Council meeting to recognize six fifth-grade students for writing outstanding essays as a part of their D.A.R.E. classes.
Honored were: Carmen Jones, teacher Kacie Kilgore, and Haley Torres, teacher Jodi Schumacher, from Eisenhower Elementary; Julio Herrera, teacher Leann Miller, and Chloe Gibson, teacher Donna Rusco, from Jefferson Elementary; and Alex Smith, teacher Jaime Kuhlman, and Kayli Shull, teacher Karen Smith, from Lincoln Elementary.
As a part of the contest, students and their teachers were escorted in a motor home provided by Harper Camperland and treated to dinner at Applebee’s Restaurant before receiving recognition and an award from Mayor Mike Allison. CPI Qualified Plan Consultants Inc. funded the essay contest and reward.
Also present for the awards were other D.A.R.E. officers Brian Dougherty and Jacob Harlow.
One requirement of the 12-week D.A.R.E. curriculum is for each student to write an essay explaining what they have learned and why they have decided to make wise decisions concerning friendships, alcohol and drug use, said GBPD D.A.R.E. officer Jefferson Davis. The student’s essays were chosen as the most outstanding essay from their respective schools that hosted the D.A.R.E. Program this past semester.
Davis said D.A.R.E. also teaches students important lessons and encourages a healthy lifestyle that can bring personal achievement and benefit society as they grow up and become involved members and leaders in our community.
“I see a bright future for our community,” Davis said. These students will become leaders and “we’re proud of them.”
The essay winners will also be treated to an airplane ride sponsored by the Great Planes Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 1134 in conjunction with the Young Eagle’s Program in May.
For more information on the program, call Davis at 620-793-4120.
With only two weeks before the City of Great Bend takes over management of the contentious city-owned Convention Center, the City Council Monday night learned that the cost of razing it and starting from scratch would cost about the same as remodeling the existing facility.
With this in mind, the council decided to put on hold the renovation while examining other options. The current center will remain open and in operation in the interim.
In the meantime, the council instructed City Administrator Howard Partington to contact Kemper Management out of Chicago, a firm that specializes in managing such centers including the one in Newton. It also asked him to look into the cost comparison of building new on the existing site or building new at another location, perhaps just west of Wal-Mart on Grant Street or at 10th and Patton.
He will report back to the council in January.
“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the Convention Center,” Partington said. He told council members they could be defined by their actions on this issue, and what they do will influence the community for years to come.
Initially, the council looked at remodeling the center, which was donated to the city by a group of private investors, at a cost of $1 million. However, the architect hired for the project said it would more realistically cost between $2.5-3 million.
“That’s a lot of money to fix up an old Convention Center,” he said. This is a good use of funds.
To build a comparable building new would cost about $2.6-2.8 million. That doesn’t include a parking lot of full kitchen, nor does it include land acquisition.
“I think you should step back to project what you see in the Convention Center for the future,” Partington said.
“The idea of remodeling the Convention Center is not really a good one,” said Mayor Mike Allison. Allison and Partington visited new centers in Hutchinson and Newton and came back with a renewed prospective. Partington was also in Dodge City.
“At one time, we probably had the best convention centers in the state,” Allison said. But, the convention landscape has changed drastically in the decades since the Great Bend center was built.
So, now, “we’re getting ourselves a little behind,” he said.
But, whether the city remodels or builds a new center at the existing site, “you still have the albatross of the old hotel hanging around your necks,” Allison said. The hotel, which continues under private ownership, has fallen into such a state of disrepair that it repels those planning meetings.
And, it was agreed, in order to be successful as a convention center, there needs to be an associated hotel. There are parties in Great Bend that might be interested in such a development, Partington said.
It could be a matter of time before the owners of the existing hotel, which is operating at a loss, may want to sell.
Council members were concerned about a return on the city’s investment. They were also concerned about how those who donated the center to the city would respond.
They also discussed the need for a community center versus a convention center
Down the road, public meetings may be scheduled to glean input from residents.
“The Convention Center is extremely important to the community,” Allison said.
The takes possession of the center Jan. 1. The council had wanted to close it down at that point for renovations with hopes of having it reopen in late summer 2013.
The center has been the subject of vocal council discussions for several months, including debate on hiring an architect.
In other action, the City Council:
• Recognized city employees who have served 10 or 25 years. The 10-year honorees included Michele Hitschmann, department secretary, Gaylen Clawson, assistant mechanic, Thomas Holmes, assistant sanitarian, Cecilia Heikkila, Municipal Court assistant, Dustin Spore, firefighter IV, Cynthia Esfeld, Municipal Court clerk, Karl Otter, engineering technician II, Joyce Suchy, police records clerk, Heather Smith, police detective, Megan Cates, administrative assistant, and Martin Miller, airport manager. The 25-year honorees were Eugene Finch, operator II, Walter Reynolds, operator II, and Charlie Suchy, utility superintendent.
• Approved abatements at: 200 Pine, owned by Jaimie and Robert Barlow, for accumulation of refuse and a motor vehicle nuisance; and at 701 Third, owned by Toby Leech, for a motor vehicle nuisance.
• Adopted a resolution that adopts the Tax and Securities Compliance Procedures for our municipal bonds. The procedures were recommended by the city’s bond legal advisors, Gilmore and Bell of Wichita.
• Approved a request from Thomas Energy of Wichita to lease 62.63 acres at the Great Bend Municipal Airport. They have leased other areas at the airport. The lease is for $15 per acre for three years with the option to renew at $10 for two more years. The city would get a 1/8 royalty. Because of the proximity to the airport infrastructure and possible interference with aircraft, rig towers are prohibited, but the company said there may be the potential for horizontal drilling. They will meet all the Federal Aviation Administration requirements.
• City Administrator Howard Partington presented an update on what is happening within the city.
