Boosters

Nearly a year after the inaugural VisitNich.com Bowl, the Nicholasville Tourism Commission voted to donate money to boosters to make up for concession profits that boosters say they lost to free food in a hospitality area. During discussions about this year's bowl games last Thursday, July 19, commission member and school-district athletic director Ken Cox said the hospitality tent set up at last year's event fed many more people than intended. Commission treasurer Roberta Warren made a motion to donate $500 to the East Jessamine football boosters.

Nearly a dozen parents and athletes turned out for the Jessamine County Board of Education meeting Monday, spurred by the board's decision to not allow a basketball fundraiser with Turf Catering at Keeneland. Former East High volleyball coach Steve Schweitzer spoke on behalf of the booster parents of the boys and girls basketball teams, girls softball and girls volleyball. "This is one of the best fundraising options available," he told the board. In September, the board denied a request by the East High boys and girls basketball teams for the fundraiser, citing the district's policy against gaming, and the fact that alcohol is served at the racetrack.

Tickets for the Lincoln County High School Patriot Football Booster Club's annual pig roast on Saturday, Aug. 18, are on sale now. The pig roast, which will be held at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds, will begin at 6 p.m. Visitors to the pig roast will also have the opportunity to meet the 2007-08 LCHS football Patriots. The cost is $5 and includes the pork and all the fixin's as well as homemade desserts. In addition to the food, there will be a silent auction and some games.

Imagine driving up almost to the gate before a home game of the Boyle County Rebels football team. After parking with ease, it's time to enter a hospitality tent and snack on food catered by one of Danville's finer restaurants. This is the special treatment in store for people who decide to join the Boyle County Quarterback Club at the premier level. For $250, people who join at this level also receive an all-sports pass, which is a $110 value, decal, calendar and newsletter. Todd Tiller, who has stepped into the role of co-president with Sue Donlon, says the club hopes the new offerings attract members.

STANFORD - Lincoln County's playoff run has been heard far outside this area thanks to a webcast provided by booster Jon Logan Smith. "The Internet broadcasts are used as a fund-raiser for the Lincoln County football boosters. I provide the equipment and pay for the streaming costs and the boosters sell advertising and keep 100 percent of the money generated. Tim Estes, Kevin Bandura and David Smith donate their time to the broadcasts," Smith said. The webcasts have generated a series of e-mail and text messages from fans during the games, as well as some phone calls.

LCHS boosters set meeting STANFORD - The Lincoln County High School Soccer Boosters for boys and girls will meet at 6:30 p.m. July 25 at the school. The boosters will elect new officers and discuss fundraisers. Open house set at Crab Orchard CRAB ORCHARD - An open house for students and parents will be 6-8 p.m. July 28 at Crab Orchard Elementary School. Commodities to be given in Casey LIBERTY - Commodities will be distributed to income-eligible Casey County residents from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday at the recycling center, 1175 Campbellsville St. Recipients are asked to bring containers.

Jessamine students and parents will not be allowed to raise funds for teams and clubs by working at gambling establishments or serving alcohol, the Jessamine County Board of Education decided 3-2 Monday, with JoAnn Rohrback and Arnold Prewitt dissenting. "This policy would not allow for the Keeneland project," Superintendent Lu Young said, referencing an East Jessamine High School basketball fundraiser with Turf Catering at Keeneland that came under board review in September. The district's fundraising policy previously prohibited door-to-door sales and sales quotas for students.

July 9, 1984 Doug "Pickle" Rose threw a one-hitter against Lexington Turfland Sunday in the second round of the 13-year-old Babe Ruth All-Star Tournament to keep Winchester's 13-year-olds alive 10-0. Winchester will meet Lexington Dixie today at 8 p.m. at Athens Field in Lexington. Overall champions in the Winchester Country Club's first annual Gayle Yeiser Memorial Grandmother's Championship held July 5-6 were Thelma Fox and Bettye Guy, gross; Jeanette Green, net, and Alice Barnes and Dorothy Brooks, putts.

To some people, Boyle County school officials and boosters deserve the Medal of Honor for putting up a valiant but ultimately losing fight in the cause of trying to land a high-profile candidate to become the new head coach for the Boyle County High School football team. To these people, the officials and boosters battled bravely to bring a guy named Guy Morriss to head the BCHS football team. To these supporters of the effort, all the officials and boosters were doing was pursuing a rare opportunity that had fallen into their laps.

The regional band competition that Boyle County High School fought to host will still come to the area in October, but it will be hosted by Danville High School. Boyle Board of Education turned down the high school's request, saying that the football field was a muddy mess, and couldn't withstand a regional Kentucky Pageantry Arts Association competition. The one-day event would involve 25 to 30 bands. At one point, Boyle and Danville high schools talked about co-hosting the event, but Danville declined.

Davis Hawn said when he first met Booster, his golden labrador service dog, the animal was just a puppy, trapped in a car and near death. It was a mirror of his own life, because Hawn said he was at one of the lowest points in his life and he was contemplating suicide. Both were near death, but both got a second chance. Suffering from severe anxiety, battling alcohol abuse and contending with post-traumatic stress disorder, Hawn said he never knew that it would be this dog who saved his life - and in turn he would save Booster's.

Nearly a year after the inaugural VisitNich.com Bowl, the Nicholasville Tourism Commission voted to donate money to boosters to make up for concession profits that boosters say they lost to free food in a hospitality area. During discussions about this year's bowl games last Thursday, July 19, commission member and school-district athletic director Ken Cox said the hospitality tent set up at last year's event fed many more people than intended. Commission treasurer Roberta Warren made a motion to donate $500 to the East Jessamine football boosters.

HARRODSBURG - Former University of Kentucky basketball stars Josh Harrellson and Patrick Patterson are going to be at the Mercer County Senior High School gymnasium tonight to help fundraising efforts by the Mercer Football Booster Club. Harrellson, Patterson, Jarrod Prickett and Perry Stevenson headline a celebrity team in a game scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tonight, according to school official Todd Davis. Tickets for the event are $7 for adults and $5 for students.

The East Jessamine Baseball Booster Organization is holding its 11th annual golf scramble fundraiser on Sunday at High Point Golf Course, which is located at 1215 Highpoint Drive in Nicholasville. The Booster Organization is also accepting donations for prizes such as gift certificates, apparel, golf items or anything you would like to donate. Fundraisers help defray some of the team expenses and allow all players to participate in a sport that they enjoy. The goal for the upcoming 2011 year is to purchase a new scoreboard.

TODAY — Hannah McClure Elementary School book fair parent night, 5-7 p.m., in the school library. — Hannah McClure Elementary School open house, 6-7 p.m. — Celebrate Recovery, a Christian recovery group based on the 12 steps and the Eight Beatitudes, for any kind of hurt, hang-up or habit. Meetings are on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at Calvary Christian Church, 15 Redwing Drive, Entrance E. For more information, call 744-0817. — Zumba at the Winchester Opera House is canceled today.

Boyle County High School's football team won state championship rings for all four fingers and the thumb from 1999-2003, now the school's booster club is asking for help buying the first piece of hardware for the other hand. Todd Tiller, head of the Quarterback Club, said the cost of state championship rings is around $300 per person and the group wants to purchase 135 for the 104 players, along with coaches and other staff. Tiller said the club hopes to raise the money by March.

The East Jessamine High School baseball boosters will man a booth at the Jessamine Jamboree on Main Street. The booth will feature bean soup and cornbread, country ham and biscuit, hot dogs with chili, fried bologna and cheese sandwich, grilled brats with onions and peppers, chips, ballpark brownies, cookies, assorted muffins, drinks, bottle water, coffee and hot chocolate. The booth will be available Saturday and Sunday.

LIBERTY ? Desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures. In Liberty, that thinking has inspired an innovative but unproven strategy ? free rent ? to entice businesses to go against the economic tide and set up shop in empty downtown storefronts. "We are in uncommon times and we needed to do something to kind of spur things along," explained Blaine Staat, acting director of the Liberty/Casey County Economic Development Authority. "We decided we couldn't wait for President Obama to save the world.

Bowling Forest Park Lanes will have a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday for its high stakes league. The league will begin on Sept. 3. In addition, there will be a meeting for its youth league at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The youth league begins on Sept. 12. The independent church league will begin on Monday. Cheerleading The "Cheer with the Champs" cheerleaders will perform their routine before George Rogers Clark's home football opener on Sept. 4. Cheerleaders must arrive at 6:40 p.m. and wear their camp t-shirt to be admitted at the pass gate.

It's before 8 a.m. on a recent weekday and the procession of teachers filing into the Bate Middle School parking lot is well under way. They arrive in sedans and pickup trucks, stationwagons and SUVs, vans and minivans. But one teacher arrives not in a vehicle but on one ? a very small one. Debbie Lamblin, a seventh-grade math teacher, pulls up in front of the school on a sleek, black scooter. She rolls the scooter to a spot just outside the entrance to the school, removes her helmet and enters the building.