Oldham County TCB

Ya gotta check this guy out…his name is Glen Jusczyk.  He goes “Old School”  when he competes in Ironman races.

Its mid August, so it must be time for my annual Ironman post.  As we all know (and we all do know correct) Ironman Louisville is Sunday August 29^th. The streets around the LaGrange Ironman Festival will be very active with local and out of town visitors alike lining the sides of Hwy.146 hoping to get a glimpse of their Ironman participant or just to cheer on and experience one of the most amazing sporting events on the planet.

It’s tough to imagine training for no less than 10 months for an Ironman distance event that will have the athletes swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and then running a full 26.2 mile marathon…all in one day… in under 17 hours.  Of course race day is not the only day we see cyclists out and about on the roads of Oldham County, there have been many training camps coming into the area for the past few months riding the course.  Granted not all the cyclists out on the roads are training for an IM.  Some are training for shorter distance races, some are out riding to keep fit, and some are out riding simply just to enjoy the sights of the county on two wheels and a slower pace.

I think for the most part, motorists and cyclists in O.C. get along pretty well.  I’ve ridden in the county for many years, and knock on wood have only had 1 time where a motorist came a bit to close for my comfort while riding on Hwy. 42.  There really is nothing like feeling the “whoosh” of a car as it passes within inches of you at around 50 mph.  It’ll flat take your breath away and elevate your heart rate big time.  Yeah, it was only 1 time…but had it turned out bad for me, it could have been the last time.  Could’ve been curtains, my final ride, my last breath, no more hugs from my Wife, no more tucking my Son in at night, no more licks to the nose from our dog, no more chocolate ice cream… all because some idiot thought it would be funny to buzz a cyclist, or maybe they thought they would be “sending a message” to those darned cyclists on THEIR road and in THEIR way. [Read more →]

Click here to check out the LaGrange Farmers Market on Facebook.

Apparently there’s some bellyaching going on in regards to the person the Oldham Co. Republican party chose to fill the ballot for county attorney in the November general election due to the untimely passing of Mr. Fendley.

Some folks are “furious”, others mention a bit of “home cookin” in the manner in which potential candidates were or were not selected.  Reckon there is only one who really knows and they ain’t saying much and really…they don’t have to.  It’s their ship to sail whichever way they choose.  The “they” in this is the Chairperson of the O.C. GOP, Ann Gernstein.  I’m not taking a for or against side in all this, but from what I understand and according to KRS 118.105, legally…the Chairperson did what the statute requires.  There’s no rule that you “have” to interview potential replacements, there’s no rule that say’s ya gotta listen to what others have to say about who you choose.  All the chairperson has to do is make sure the replacement is qualified, submit the forms to the Secretary of State within 10 working days and that’s that.  Which I believe is what was done.

So why are some folks in a hissy about this…I reckon because they didn’t get their way.  Because they wanted their input to be considered, they wanted “their” person to be considered.  Golly…how many times have WE as citizens wanted OUR input considered in matters of government, but know darn good and well a decision has already been made in the backroom?  How many times do we hear that “well, the federal government mandates” or “the conditions have been met on the traffic study” and we get stuck with another tax…umm I mean fee, or another development on an all ready overcrowded road?  But because of the laws or regulations or statutes we feel like we get the shaft.  We complain and bellyache to our local elected officials, but it’s not going to do any good, heck many times they agree with us, but because the EPA woke up on the wrong side of the bed, we are the dog they kick.

If we don’t like the way the Feds or the State have their laws or statutes written, then THEY are the ones we need to address about them, THEY are the ones that can change it…but good luck with that battle.  The state wrote the statute about how to fill this vacancy; the OC GOP followed the rule.  Oh sure, they maybe could have handled this differently, but they chose to only follow the law.  Don’t like it?  Then vote the Chairperson and Executive committee out next time those elections roll around…I hear there’s been a lot of that going on around here lately.

scott

Ever since the reconstruction of KY 393 South (the section between I-71  & KY 22) there’s been this issue with turning right at the bottom of the ramp coming off of I-71 North (exit 18).  This is where 393 morphs into two lanes, if you’re headed south on 393 towards Centerfield, passing under I-71 you have one lane until you get to just past the exit ramp and then ya got two lanes and the lane you are most likely in becomes the left lane.  Now…if you were coming off the exit ramp of I-71 north, and making a right there was a STOP sign there…but in order to stop and look safely back to your left for oncoming traffic, you had to inch up and inch up until lo and behold, your front end was already half way out into the right lane.  So really, that stop sign made absolutely no sense at all.  There should have been a MERGE sign there instead,  (just like the one at the bottom of the I-71 N off ramp at the Crestwood exit).  So since that stop sign made no sense to me, I became a daily lawbreaker.  I did what common sense told me to, I slowed and merged into an empty lane and proceeded on up the hill…along with a whole bunch of other folks.  Yeah, there were still some that would stop and inch up and be halfway out in the road before they realized it, but for the most part at that particular junction we read STOP as MERGE.  I always figured that it was just a matter of time before an officer of the law would observe me merging instead of stopping and therefore doing what they are sworn to do, would issue me a citation.  And I would have accepted responsibility for not obeying a stop sign, and paid the fine.  But not anymore…I won’t have to.  I no longer break the law on a daily basis.  A MERGE sign has replaced the STOP sign.

This should do a couple of things, (1) reduce the number of fender benders of inattentive drivers at that junction and (2) keep my driving record clean.

Now I’m not one to believe in the dark arts or telepathy (unless Kreskin is in the room) so I doubt the transportation cabinet picked up on any telepathy from me that this little irritant of a stop sign come down.  So I don’t know whom to thank for getting this fixed, or who brought it to the attention of whoever got it taken care of.   BUT THANKS!

I also noticed at this very same exit ramp when making a LEFT onto 393 that the 4 foot tall weeds under the I-71 overpass that were impeding the sight line when looking for oncoming traffic have been cut down.  I do know the guy’s that did this but they want to remain anonymous since technically what they did could be considered trespassing and since one is a minor, I’d hate to seem him get sent to “juvie” over something he was helping his dad do.

scott

There’s no definition for the word “workaround” in a standard dictionary, but it’s likely most of us have used or heard the word at some time in our lives.  In the world of computers a workaround is used to bypass or avoid a bug in a system or application when a fix for the issue would just take to long, or you cannot get anyone to admit or acknowledge the bug exists in the first place.

I wouldn’t expect to use the word “workaround” in the same breath as farmers market, but when I was up at the LaGrange Farmers Market (LFM) a couple of weeks ago, I did just that.  Reckon I should give you the backstory on this; you might want to grab a mason jar full of sweet tea, it could end up being a long post.

A couple of years back while we were up at the LFM, I noticed this one fella had some pineapples for sale at his stand.  Our son (being the bright kid he is) asked me how he grew pineapples in Kentucky.  You see, before we got up to the Courthouse lawn, sonny boy got the rundown on what a farmers market was all about.  I told him it’s where local growers & farmers set up a stand and sell fresh vegetables, fruits, and the like.  We talked about how there are not as many farms around the area as there used to be and that it was important to support the local folks who still take the time to grow their own food.  So when the pineapple question came up, we stopped and looked a bit closer.  It was obvious that the stand we were now staring at was NOT selling local produce.  Along with the pineapples on the table were big shiny waxed apples, a few different kinds of berries, some mangoes, avocados…etc.  Well ding dang, this dude went and kidnapped the produce section of a big box grocery store and sat it plumb down on the Courthouse Lawn amongst all the local growers.  Well, before I knew it my knees jerked and I was asking the fella how he grew those pineapples in KY, or how he got those apples so shiny, and then proceeded to tell him that he was no farmer but merely a reseller of stuff he bought at the regional produce market.

That set me in motion to find out more about how the LFM was set up, their rules and regulations etc. (you can find those here) I contacted the person who was the director at the time and expressed my displeasure that she would allow a reseller in with the local farmers and growers but I pretty much got the brush off.  I tried to explain that resellers violated the very essence of what a farmers market was supposed to be about.  It was amazing that she did not want to see that it was a slap in the face of the local members who pay a fee to belong to the LFM and abide by the rules and regs, but then you have “Pineapple Man” who does not.  When I approached some of the local growers about this, it appeared that some were hesitant to say anything negative about it, but there were a few that were more than happy to speak out against the poser from pineappleville.  I tried to get some answers from Fiscal Court, but was told that they had nothing to do with it or any control over it.  I sent an email to the mayor of LaGrange but well…never got an answer.  About the only thing I was able to find out from the lady who was the director of the LFM at that time was that the pineapple outfit out of Indiana had been setting up a stand on the Courthouse Lawn for a very long time and that they had a following.  Well hecks bells!  So that’s it?  Just because they have been there for years and years, you cannot tell them to scram?  Evidently that’s the reason…never mind that they do not have a peddler’s license, or a business license or belong to the LFM.  Since they have been there for so long we’re just gonna let them stay around and the heck with everything else.  It was like there was/is a lack of spine from some of the local leaders or elected officials, or maybe they just didn’t care, you know bigger fish to fry and all that.  I know it’s crazy, but the lack of cooperation or answers about this is what led me to start this blog.  I was thinking that if no one (county/city leaders) could give me a straight answer on this issue, what other issues were out there that no one was talking or writing about.

(I do need to insert a note here that I did get my concerns heard from Magistrate Voegele in 2009 and that he did try to get something done, but hit the same wall with the rest of Fiscal Court)

Since your sweet tea is getting low, let’s fast forward a bit to current day.  The LFM has a new director, Russ Morris.  Russ understands what a farmers market is about and along with the members of the LFM they created a workaround to differentiate the farmers market from the poser.   When you visit (AND YOU WILL VISIT WON’T YOU) you’ll notice that the folks who are members of the LFM have their stands set up on the half of the Courthouse Lawn that is closer to 2^nd street, the street that the History Center is on.  They’ll have those KY Proud signs somewhere on their stand.  These are the folks you will want to spend your money with; these folks are the real deal.  Now, not only is the setup different, but also to further mark where the LFM begins and ends, they have installed some nifty new banner signs on the 2^nd street side along the sidewalk closest to Main St. and then where the center sidewalk and Main St. sidewalk intersect.  One side reads Welcome to the LaGrange Farmers Marked and when you are leaving the REAL FARMERS MARKET AREA the sign reads Thanks for Shopping.

As you can probably guess, that other dude is banned from this area.

Oh, if you find yourself in need of some tropical produce…skip the pineapple poser and just head down to your local Supermarket.

scott

While sitting on a bench on the O.C. Courthouse Lawn one evening, my Wife, Son and I started talking about what type of business or restaurant we would like to see open up on Main Street in LaGrange.  One of our favorite things to do sometimes is to head up to LaGrange in the evenings and walk around a tad, maybe grab some dinner or ice cream, or just sit on a bench and watch the evening go by.  Yeah I know…we live a big time exciting life.  There is something neat about town squares on a spring or summer evening, the look and feel is just different.   For me, it’s almost as if the craziness of the world stops for however long I’m up there.

I’m quite certain my fondness for Main Street was acquired a long time ago when I was a kid and myself & other kids in the neighborhood would ride our bikes “up town” to Heads Drugstore for some candy or pop, maybe drop by Kincaid’s Hardware for a new spring for whatever we thought we could fix with a spring and maybe Jerry’s Corner Store for some cards to stick in our spokes for the ride home.

Anyway, as we were talking about stores or restaurants we would like to see on Main Street, I thought it might be interesting to find out what kind of ideas other folks might have.  With all the talk about Oldham Reserve lately, we cannot forget…must not forget about what we already have.  For a community to stay alive, and preserve its identity, it is vital Main Street remain a focal point.  Not trying to be critical, but strip centers and business parks can be recreated anywhere in the country.  There’s only one Main Street LaGrange KY with a train running down the middle of it.

As our discussion continued, we found ourselves second guessing our ideas and had to establish some rules.  We kinda made it a game where there was no real limit for ideas as long as it fit within the boundaries of common sense and decency, hence none of “those” kind of establishments where the words table and dancing are used together.  The ideas had to be doable, maybe not by us, but by someone or some group.  I think we ALL have ideas floating around in our brains about some type of business we would like to open IF we had the money.  I know we do, but the reality of it is that I either don’t have the expertise or knowledge or the money it would take to do so, all I have is the idea.  But wouldn’t it be neat if someone were to read your idea and think to themselves “hey that’s a great idea and I just happen to be sitting on a boat load of money”.  Far fetched…maybe…maybe not, besides, it’s ok to dream.  So how about it, play along, comment with your ideas on what type of business you would like to see on Main Street in LaGrange.

Oh yeah, here’s what we came up with.

I would like to see a store that was half co-op type store that sold KY grown products, organics, bulk sales of dried beans, flour, grains, spices etc. then the other half of the store would be a cafe/smoothie bar.  Not the old smelly hippie tree hugging kind of place, but a sports & fitness, healthy & vibrant kind of place.

Another idea was and surprise surprise its food focused, but dang it, we miss the Cuban inspired dishes that Norma Jeans used to serve, so how about a Cuban or Caribbean or Pacific Rim type restaurant.  We like what is up there now of course with  Irish Rover,  The Red Pepper, and Big R’s but having a variety is nice.

Your turn…What would you like to see open up on Main Street LaGrange?

Was it just me that heard the collective sound of jaws hitting the floor last night?  For some it was WOW what a night.  For others it was wow, what was that, are you sure.

Some thoughts about the results:  Hard work triumphs over money.  All through the campaign, I was beginning to wonder if some mad scientist had cloned David Voegele.  It seemed that no matter what part of the county I was traveling in, I saw David out and about.  From listening to folks who had pulled into a parking lot as he was out doing his “waving” campaign to seeing him lead a caravan of supporters.  He worked the county side-to-side and front to back, and it paid off.  I’m certain he will continue this level of commitment and work for the balance of his term as Magistrate and then as our next County Judge Executive.  Congratulations on a well run campaign and decisive victory.

We saw a whole bunch of changes happen with this election, I was only surprised by one race.  I don’t feel the “house cleaning” can be attributed to any one particular event, tax, or newspaper.  I feel there are more voters paying attention to how our county is run, how our tax money is being spent, why our taxes increase, how our elected officials conduct themselves and who (perceived or real) is in their ear.

I was only surprised by the change in one district and that is district 1, I felt Magistrate Church was a positive addition to Fiscal Court.  For me, the changes in districts 5 & 8 were expected.  Nothing against the incumbents, but the challengers were just stronger.  We will need to wait till after the November general election to find out who will represent districts 3, 6 & 7.  District 2 had no opposition, and district 4 magistrate Steve Greenwell was the ONLY magistrate to come through unscathed.  I don’t know about you, but if bombs ever start falling from the sky, I want to be standing by that guy.  Steve won his district by a wide margin against a very formidable opponent Lambert Franklin.  I would like to see Mr. Franklin remain involved in our counties future; I feel he has much to offer.

Not surprised that current county clerk Julie K. Barr won her race, as far as I can tell her office is well run and no amount of sour grapes spewed about can tarnish that.  And as expected, Mike Simpson won by a “crap” load.  (c’mon I had to work that in somewhere, even if it will only make sense to those who were at the debate)  Not sure if I should even mention the county attorney race (boy oh boy, the supporters from both camps have had a lot of fun going back and forth on here) so I will just say that Ron Winters keeps the PVA seat.   One of the races I could not cast a vote in, but was interested in was that for Mayor of LaGrange, since there were 3 candidates running, it had to be narrowed down to 2 for the general election and those will be incumbent Elsie Carter going against Bill Lammlein.  The numbers for that race were, Lammlein 864, Carter 432 & Oerther 222.  I think I can figure this one out already.

scott

I don’t quite know what to say…I have to think about this for a bit.

scott

In about 24 hours election results will be trickling in.   For some, it will be a good evening, for others not so much.  But for all the candidates in all the races, at least ya got out there and did it.  You paid your $50 and threw your name in the hat.  Some worked harder than others, some had more money, some less, some none at all.  It will be fun to see how it all shakes out.

It was nice to see folks participating in some back and forth with comments on this blog.  Thanks for reading and commenting.  It’s good to hear differing opinions.  While most comments were constructive and stayed within the boundaries, some ventured off  into the land of the lost.   But overall, this blog is doing what I was hoping it would do, which is offer folks a place to comment on the local issues.

Thanks again, and enjoy Election Tuesday.

scott