Governor Ernie Fletcher and the Governor's Office for Local Development (GOLD) on May 2 recommended for funding a $250,000 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant for the Lewis County Sanitation District #1. Funds will be used for the Tollesboro Sewer Extension Project.

"Infrastructure is an important component for a high quality of life," said Governor Fletcher. "The residents who live in the Tollesboro area will have improved services thanks to this project."

ARC funds will be used to extend sewer service to the Tollesboro Industrial Park as well as to 38 households in the Pine Valley area of Lewis County.

"Sanitary sewer systems are imperative to the growth and development of a community," said Senator Charlie Borders (R-Russell). "This project will encourage development in the Tollesboro Industrial Park area."

The proposed sewer project will consist of approximately 1,500 linear feet (LF) of gravity sewer, 11,400 LF of force main, one new pump station, one pump station upgrade and 38 grinder pumps. The project will extend a low pressure sewer collection system approximately 1.5 miles in order to serve the industrial park and area residents. The project is also expected to eliminate health hazards associated with failing septic systems in the Pine Valley area.

"In order for Kentucky's families to be healthy, they must have decent wastewater disposal," said Representative Robin Webb (D-Grayson). "This funding moves us in that direction, and we'll continue to do everything we can to make sure projects like the Tollesboro Extension get the support they need."

Governor Fletcher is the current ARC States' co-chair. As states' co-chair, Governor Fletcher is responsible for representing the 13 ARC governors before Congress and the Bush Administration; serve as a member of various ARC committees; and provide guidance on policy and administrative issues concerning the commission.

ARC is a federal-state economic development program used to meet infrastructure needs as well as to support education, workforce development, leadership and civic capacity building, entrepreneurship, asset-based development and affordable and accessible health care. ARC is federally funded and available to Kentucky's 51 most eastern and south-central counties. 

Applications for ARC funds are submitted to GOLD. The funding status of the project is pending approval from the federal level.

Can you recall your first date? Were you just a little nervous?

I bet you answered yes to both those questions. I can also bet that your first date and your nervousness can’t hold a candle to poor Brad’s, one of the characters in "The First Date" and "Another First Date", two short one-act plays set in a themed restaurant.

Join the Lewis County Theatre Guild for a hilarious evening of dinner theatre at the Victorian Rose Tea Room on Saturday, June 3, at 6:30 p.m.

Now, let's meet the cast that guarantees to fill your evening of dinner theatre with side splitting laughter.

Bridget Satkowski (Delia and Celia) is a native of Lewis County and now lives in Mason County with her daughter, Samantha. Bridget is a member of Vanceburg Christian Church and has been for the past eight years. 

She is currently working with the Public Defenders Office for Lewis, Bracken, Fleming and Mason counties. In her spare time, Bridget enjoys spending time with friends and family, participating in plays and skits, volunteering at her daughter's school, and of course, shopping.

Matt Hall (Jack) is the fifth grade teacher at Laurel Elementary. He is a veteran of over a decade of church, school and community theater. He has done everything from act to direct to write and everything in-between. He was most recently seen as a Roman soldier in Bivens Chapel's Easter Drama. He is a 1999 graduate of Lewis County High School and lives near Garrison.

Luke Bentley (Brad) has been an attorney for 16 years in Lewis County. He is married to Sherrill, the Lewis County 4-H agent, and they have one daughter, Chelsea, and two sons, Zachary and Joel.

Call the Victorian Rose Tea Room at 606-796-2069 to make your dinner theatre reservations today!

By Al Owens

Meeting in a brief regular session last Monday the Vanceburg City Council moved to enter an agreement with Brandstetter-Carroll, Inc., of Lexington.

The architects would help the city in the schematic design for the renovation of the old hotel commonly known as the Avery Stanley Building and would also assist the city in obtaining a CDBG grant of $200,000 for the project. The historic site sets diagonally across from the Citizens, Deposit Bank and Trust Company on Main Street in Vanceburg.

Mayor William T. "Bill Tom" Cooper said that the total project cost would probably reach $1,600,000. The city would apply for grants to fund the hotel renovation.

He told the council that a convention room would be attached to the hotel if the project goes through.

Cooper explained that often state officials meet with local officials in town but really have no appropriate place for such meetings. A convention room would meet that need.

He also said that with the completion of the Depot and the old Commercial Hotel project scheduled to be completed this year tourists could be attracted to the city, and if American Electric Power builds the new power plant at Carrs the city would need a place to house all the visitors.

Cooper told the council that he had not completed the new budget yet but was nearly finished with it and would call a special meeting for the first reading before the month is over. He said that the city council could have the second reading in June and have the budget in place by the beginning of the next fiscal year that begins on July 1.