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Lush Landscapes On Display At June 8 Garden Walk

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Rim hillsides, big yards and small, as well as the large Payson Community Garden are features of the June 8 Garden Walk.

The Rim Area Gardeners will present their 2013 Garden Walk from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, June 8.

Participants are invited to visit some of Payson’s outstanding gardens. Each garden reflects the individual homeowner’s taste and gift for working with nature. At each site a RAG Club member will greet and guide guests through the garden. Several sites will feature artists and one will have live music.

Tickets are $5 each and may be purchased at Ace Hardware, Plant Fair Nursery, Rim Country Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Payson and Pine public libraries, Sweet Nostalgia and at the participating gardens.

The “Green Thumbs” around town will guide you to the gardens opened for the walk, including:

1501 W. Mesa Drive, Payson — owner Julie Coleman will host artist Donna Rokoff and her clay work in this hillside garden with golf course and lake views. The front patio and entry color scheme shows off red blooms and accent pieces, bird feeding areas and birdhouses, plus a butterfly garden all fitting among pines and aspens. Tomatoes and rhubarb grow near the back deck. A gray water system, plus water from gutters, keep many of the plants thriving. Native cactus, datura and rustic wagon wheels add to the charm.

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Photo by Andy Towle

Some of the Rim Country’s most gifted gardeners will offer tours of their properties during the annual Garden Walk taking place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 8.

612 Coronado Way, Payson — owner Dr. Joe Falkner’s large backyard has many exotic and delightful plantings and water features. A hammock suggests dreamy afternoons in a shady, relaxed setting. There is room to stroll and discover hidden nooks and unique art. The sunken front garden has a variety of annuals and perennials.

510 N. Maranatha Road, Payson — owner and designer Jill Ridley will host artist Georgia Thorne and her fiber works at this family hideaway, reached by a curved driveway. This sprawling, six-acre ranch has animals, barns, corrals and outdoor entertainment space. Ridley enhances the natural setting of the home with potted plants and cozy seating in a romantic, curtained outdoor room.

2017 N. Verde Circle, Payson — owner Gayle Goodwin will host musician Linda Abbot on the viola in this well-designed small yard with a shaded back patio that is perfect for Arizona summers. Native plants and trees combine with landscaping for a pleasing impression. Bird feeders attract colorful visitors. A 350-gallon cistern ensures vigorous blooms and owner-crafted stained glass window panels decorate the entry.

1618C N. McLane Road, Payson — Martha and John Teubner have combined her artist’s eye and his strong back to build a haven showcasing nature’s bounty in a charming hillside area with rock gardens, water features, arbors, walkways, shaded patios and a large vegetable garden.

Payson Community Garden on Tyler Parkway — this young site (opened in 2012) has 165 plots rented to the public for seasonal gardening and each plot is an individual garden with flowers as well as vegetables. There is even a hydroponic garden on site. The participants in the garden share their excess produce with local food banks, helping their neighbors with limited resources eat healthy.

To view more images and purchase pictures, click here Garden Walk

Cocktail gardens put a new twist on edible landscaping

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Shake things up in the backyard this summer:

Fresh herbs and fruit have long been the key ingredients in some of summer’s most refreshing libations, and when they’re within easy reach of the backyard bartender, every cocktail becomes a flourishing signature drink.

Making a mojito with homegrown mint is only part of the picture, though. A successful cocktail garden should be a comfortable and inviting place to be.

“You can’t just translate the indoors to outdoors,” says J’Nell Bryson, a landscape architect in Charlotte, N.C. “An outdoor room needs more space to be in scale with nature.” Postage-stamp patios in big backyards don’t look right, Bryson says, but if a small space is all you have, there are lots of ways to make it work as a cocktail garden. “Even if you live in a condo and just have a tiny patio, you can do a vertical garden, or use pots,” she says.
Amy Stewart, author of “The Drunken Botanist” (Algonquin, $20), turned the challenging side yard of her home in Eureka, Calif., into a lush and colorful cocktail garden worthy of her book, which delves deep into the horticulture and lore of hops, rye, barley, grapes and dozens of other plants used to make and garnish the world’s greatest drinks.

Stewart worked with garden designer Susan Morrison on the plans for her limited space, which relies heavily on container plantings and includes an outdoor bar, where Stewart stirs up garden-fresh cocktails. Most of the garden is only 7 feet wide, with a wider patio at one end. Stewart grows hops on a trellis and raspberries and blueberries in pots. She keeps a romping clump of mint in check by growing it in a raised planter that also serves as a bar, and she installed shelves on a garden wall for pots full of herbs, with room for bottles and party glasses. Colorful liqueur bottles inspired the lively palette of the garden and the painted planters.
Stewart’s cocktail garden is furnished minimally with one chair and a bench; it’s basically a standing-room-only space. If you have a little more room, comfortable garden furniture makes guests feel right at home, Bryson says. Built-in seating with lots of pillows will encourage guests to relax with their drinks and enjoy the garden around them.

Before you decide where to place a patio, study the terrain and the sun and shade patterns in your yard, Bryson says. Pull up some garden chairs and check on the views from several angles. “Choose an expansive view, not a view right into the back door,” she says. “If you have the house walls on one side, a fence on the other, and in the third you can look up into the trees, that’s what I would choose,” she says. “Focus on a view away from the house.”
Bryson suggests hanging strings of lights to suggest “a sense of a ceiling,” but “don’t dare turn on the spotlights,” she says. “You really want soft, muted lighting.”

Clients are always eager to talk about flowers in a garden’s design, but you should not neglect foliage texture, Bryson says. Thyme and oregano are both good groundcovers with interesting texture; she also likes purple basil, lemon thyme, lavender and other aromatic plants.

Gardening Tips: Many perennials to choose from for your garden

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Posted: Friday, June 7, 2013 11:29 am


Gardening Tips: Many perennials to choose from for your garden

By Matthew Stevens

RR Daily Herald

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June is Perennial Gardening Month in the United States.

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Friday, June 7, 2013 11:29 am.

Edible Garden Tips

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Turn Your Balcony into an Edible Garden

Tips for Growing Farm-fresh Herbs Veggies in the City

Improvements in container gardening equipment and techniques have cleared the way for even the most “brown thumb” city dwellers, and anyone without a yard, to grow their own groceries.

“There’s nothing to stop anyone who wants a garden from having one,” says Roy Joulus, CEO of Greenbo, www.greenbo.co, a company that designs award-winning innovative products for urban gardening including the new Greenbo XL flowerbox.

“Plants add a great deal to our quality of life – from cleaning the air we breathe to keeping us in touch with nature. Fresh, home-grown herbs and vegetables not only taste so much better than supermarket produce, they’re convenient, and you know exactly where they came from and what was used, or not used, on them.”

While hydroponic and vertical gardening systems have been developed to maximize the yield in small spaces, Joulus says starting a balcony garden needn’t cost much. Start with the right materials and choose plants that are right for your conditions, and you’ll soon be eating from the pots on your porch.

He offers these tips especially for balcony gardeners:

Plant the right plants for the amount of sunlight you have:

Most herbs and vegetables require six to eight hours of direct sunlight a day. So what do you do if you have just one balcony and it doesn’t get that much sun?

• Choose edibles that can take partial sun/shade (three to six hours of sun in the morning or early afternoon) or light shade (two to three hours of direct sun or lightly shaded all day.)

Some partial shade herbs: cilantro and parsley (both prefer cooler weather); dill, bee balm, spearmint chamomile.

Some light shade herbs: garlic chives, peppermint, rosemary.

Some partial or light shade veggies: lettuce, broccoli, green onion, collards, cabbage, peas, carrots, strawberries, beans, sweet potatoes.

• Remember, pale-colored surfaces increase the light your plants receive. Plants in regions with short growing seasons usually need the full six to eight hours of light per day. 

Choose the right pots:

• Bigger pots require less water and are less likely to blow over on high-rise balconies where the winds can be fierce. Terra cotta allows moisture to escape fairly quickly, which is helpful for people who like to water a lot. Non-porous plastic or glazed pots hold water longer and are better for windy balconies, where soil dries out quickly. Use brightly colored containers to add style and visual interest to your garden.

• Most vegetable plants require even watering – don’t let them dry out completely and don’t keep them soggy. Apply water directly to the soil.

• Make sure your containers have drainage holes or a drainage system. If they have an attached tray to catch excess water, don’t allow the plants’ roots to sit in the water, which promotes rot and fungus. Either empty the tray regularly, or use a design that holds the water away from the roots.

Use the right dirt:

• It’s important to use dirt that allows for good drainage. Most edible plants don’t like to sit in wet dirt, and soil without good drainage tends to become compacted – a difficult medium for plants that like to stretch their roots out. You can buy a sterile soilless potting mix, a soil-based potting mix, or mix up your own batch using 1 part compost, 1 part perlite and 1 part potting soil.

• Don’t use garden soil or top soil, which won’t allow adequate drainage.

• On windy balconies, top-dress your container with small rocks to keep the soil from drying out so quickly.

Joulus offers one more tip for high-rise dwellers: Rely on self-pollinating plants, or plants that don’t need pollination by insects, unless you’re willing to hand-pollinate.

“You likely won’t see many bees buzzing around the 40th story,” he says.

Don’t worry about pollination for root vegetables, like carrots and potatoes. Some self-pollinators include beans, peas, tomatoes and peppers.

About Roy Joulus

Roy Joulus is CEO of Greenbo, which was founded in 2012 in Florida with a focus on simplicity, efficiency and innovation in creating urban agricultural products. Its Greenbo XL flowerbox, designed to hang securely on any balcony railing up to 6 inches wide, won the prestigious 2012 Red Dot Design Award. Greenbo products are manufactured in a multi-cultural Israeli-Arab setting using sustainable and recyclable materials, and with safety the No. 1 priority. Find Greenbo products at garden centers and independent nurseries in the United States and Europe, and online at amazon.com.

All sun, no heat: Tips to help you get the upper hand on Calgary’s challenging …

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One of Canada’s most famous gardeners once told me that Calgary was the toughest place in which to garden. The usual complaints are the fleeting frost-free season, punishing hails, bone-sucking semi-desert conditions and the diabolical Chinook winds. These are wicked challenges for sure, but I think the most overlooked challenge is the combination of bright sun with too little heat.

Sun but no heat? Sounds like someone’s been in the sun too long. The altitude is the key to understanding this seeming contradiction. During the main part of the day, Calgary is exposed to relentless rays of sun penetrating a thin atmosphere at an altitude of more than 1,000 metres. But the heat fades quickly as the sun sets, as anyone who has lingered in the garden after dusk knows.

The lack of night time heat shuts plant growth down. So, even if we experience a nice long stretch of warm days, our plants shiver through the cool nights, and maybe warm up enough to start growing again in late morning. So, they grow more slowly than in other Canadian cities of similar latitude.

The secret to success with heat-loving plants like tomatoes involves trapping as much daytime heat as possible and harnessing it through the night. One way to do that is to grow tomatoes in large black pots or in special bags designed to trap daytime heat that will keep roots warm all night.

Cut the bottoms off two-litre pop containers and place them over young transplants at night before things cool off to trap cosy warm air around the tender stems and leaves.

Some gardeners cover all their heat-loving veggies in small portable greenhouses. The trick is to keep the sides open during the heat of the day and to close it up at night, thus trapping valuable BTUs inside.

It’s a little trickier to grow some of the flamboyant tropical beauties such as callas and cannas. These bold patio enhancers will accept all the heat you can give them, but even though it rarely gets as hot as it does in tropical places, the intensity of our high altitude sun can scorch their large tender leaves.

As with tomatoes, growing tropicals is more successful in containers than in the ground. And containers situated on warm patios have a further advantage.

I have found moderate success avoiding leaf scorch while still providing heat by slowly introducing plants started indoors to warm shady areas, and eventually bringing them into areas with morning sun and light afternoon shade. But it’s always a race with Jack Frost.

In the garden, place large dark stones around plants that need a boost to cope with cool nights. Dark coloured mulches will absorb more heat than light coloured mulches. But avoid using black plastic over root zones. Plastic does not allow for air or water circulation and heat could build up to killing levels.

If you think of heat as something to conserve, as you do water, your efforts in the short months we have to grow stuff are more likely to be fruitful.

Sidebar: Growing a hot bank account

Horticulturists and farmers use a measure called growing degree days (GDD) or growing degree units (GDU) to measure the accumulated heat over a season. Usually, this is the number of hours in a day that the temperature is over some minimum temperature, below which the plant does not grow. Different plants need different amounts of accumulated heat over the season to grow, flower and set seed. These are known for most plants, and keeping track of growing degree days helps gardeners and farmers predict when bloom or fruit ripening might occur.

5 Tips for an Enchanting Summer Garden

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Being in nature is one of the most healing and inspirational gifts we can give ourselves. If you are fortunate enough to have a garden, you have an opportunity to create a magical and healing place that will lure you into spending time there. You may want to create a shade structure and plant it with fragrant vines, add a swing and other whimsical objects. (See my article Feng Shui for an Inspiring Garden.)

If  you don’t have a garden, join or create a community garden like my sister did, and enjoy the added benefits of creatively collaborating with like-minded people and bring home your own fresh bounty!

Start or join a Community Garden if you don’t have your own plot of land

I interviewed my sister Bridget Brewer, Sausalito, CA Landscape Designer and Architect, about tips she would recommend for the mid-summer garden. Here are some of her recommendations. Be sure to check your local climate zone information to be sure what is best for your area.

1. What to Plant Now

In June and early July, plant beans and summer squash from seed. In the next two to three months plant cool-season vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, chard, lettuce, spinach, potatoes and onions.

In terms of flowers, look around your garden and notice what colors or fragrance you feel are missing. It is hard to resist buying plants in full bloom, but if you can wait until next spring and plant younger plants, they will hit the ground running and out-bloom and out-perform almost anything you plant now. It is fine, however, to add color to your garden pots and borders with smaller colorful annuals such as petunias and lobelia.

2. Fertilize and Water

This is the month to focus on keeping everything well fed and watered.

Feed by using organic fertilizers and top dress with good compost with micronutrients. Keep the ground covered. Soil builds from the top down, you are keeping the worms and micronutrients in the soil happy by covering it.

3. Slow Down Weeds Organically

Weeds grow fast during the hot months of summer and plants dry out quickly. To slow down your weeds, enrich the soil and keep it moist at the same time, apply a thick layer (2 to 3 inches) of compost and/or straw around the plants. Leave a small gap for air circulation around the stem or crown.

Tired of mowing and watering a greedy lawn? Make a “lasagna mulch” right on top without having to dig out the lawn. In 8 to 10 months the lawn, weeds, cardboard and mulch will be a rich healthy soil ready for planting. The steps are: 1) mow or cut down the weeds, but leave them in place and add more green mulch (grass clippings, green leaves and stems) until it is 2 to 3 inches thick; 2) Add cardboard sheets (avoid white cardboard as it has bleach) overlapping the edges by 6 inches. Wet down the cardboard thoroughly; 3) Cover the cardboard with arbor mulch (tree chippings).

At Home: A favorite designer tells all

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If I could download any designer’s brain into mine, I would tap the head of award-winner Betty Lou Phillips. I would like to mainline her design sense, her eye, her sensibility, her shopping acumen, heck, I’d even like her wardrobe.

But you and I just got the next best thing.

Phillips, also the author of the most sumptuous design books you could ever lust over –just check out “French Impressions,” “Inspirations from France Italy” and “The French Connection” – has her approach in a how-she-does-it design guide: “Interiors by Design,” just out from Gibbs Smith Publishers.

Her 13th book is the first one in which the Dallas designer takes readers behind the soie curtains of her gorgeous spaces and explains how she pulls it off.

In the 114-page, binder-style book, Phillips channels hundreds of tips and design principles. She puts her finger on the elusive magic that great spaces have.

Tab dividers separate photo-filled sections that focus on design secrets of color, fabric, furniture, lighting, window treatments, rugs, art and more. The three-ring binder feature lets users add pages for their own project plans.

When Phillips sent me her book, she included a note explaining that she wrote it because of the changing industry. One in which, thanks to the Internet, far more “fledgling decorators” are creating “striking settings on their own.”

Although some “design aficionados will still leave the task to the professionals,” she wrote, “the Web has been a game changer.”

So she offers some rules of the road, so we fledglings have more to go on than unschooled intuition.

As I read through each section of “Interiors by Design,” I found good foundational pointers (don’t start unless you have a plan), along with many maxims that were complete news to me and some worthy of repeating. Here’s a sampling:

New (to me) notions

• Patterned sofas distract from the people sitting on them.

• Don’t push your chairs up to the table. Unless you want a furniture showroom look, pull chairs back about 12 inches. (When I read this, I immediately jumped up and pulled my dining-table chairs out. She was right, of course.)

• Skip the extra-long sofa. Seldom do more than two people sit on a sofa at once, so opt for one that is 84 inches, not 96.

• Curtains should brush the floor, or “break” with an inch and a half to spare. Puddles are passé. But curtains should never stop short of the floor.

Tips that bear repeating

Pick paint last: Because you have boundless paint colors to chose from, focus on the basics first: fabric, furniture, floor colorings. Then pick paint.

Fabrics should meld, not match: The same shade of blue applied everywhere is going to such extremes that the room will end up looking forced. “And a contrived look is taboo in design circles,” she says.

Seek harmony, not conformity: “Dismiss any thoughts of buying a bedroom ‘suite’ or a so-called dining room ‘set,’ ” she says. And rather than matching five-piece place settings, mix compatible patterns.

Don’t cheap out on case goods: Buy beds, dressers, sofas, tables and chairs to last. Save up and pay more for well-crafted pieces made of durable kiln-dried, hardwood frames (oak, elm, hickory, ash or maple) and eight-way, hand-tied construction on sofas and chairs. “Nowadays a throwaway mindset is passé,” Phillips writes, “though repurposing existing furniture is not.”

Make a space interesting and approachable: Passementerie – French for trim and tassels – rouses interest and can make a space more approachable by softening sharp edges. “Without looking as if it’s trying, fringe adds a custom flourish to drapery, and mitigates hard edges on throw pillows while camouflaging seams and zippers, which are hardly chic.”

Details, details: “For some, beauty is rich colors, a savvy mix of fabrics and mellow old wood. … For others, it is the luxury of perceived comfort, interesting collections and easy elegance. But for those who find these are not quite enough, it is the subtle details. … To be sure, attention to minutiae has the potential of making the ordinary extraordinary.” And the same can be said for Phillips.

Jameson: marnijameson.com

Local designer showcases her style on HGTV competition

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Three Floridians will bring their design sense to HGTV’s reality competition show, HGTV Star, when it returns for its eighth season at 8 p.m. Sunday. Striving for their own show on the network are Crisermy Mercado, 27, of Miami; Anne Rue, 41, of Lake Mary in Central Florida; and Tobin Green 36, of Tampa; along with seven other interior designers who hope to impress judges with their designs and performance in meeting unexpected challenges.

Selected from a nationwide casting call, this was the first time Mercado and Green tried out. Rue tried out last season but wasn’t chosen.

A panel of HGTV personalities will decide each week who will move to the next round of the seven-episode series and who will be eliminated.

Miami’s David Bromstad, who will serve as host and mentor to the designers, was the winner in the show’s debut season, when it was called HGTV Design Star.

Rue, owner of an interior design business for 12 years and an avid watcher of the show, said at first it did not occur to her that she could have a chance at being a contestant on the show. Then, after auditioning unsuccessfully last season, the mother of three decided to try again, certain that she could not only get on this show, but that she could possibly win.

“I can tell you that it was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting. However, I had the time of my life,” said Rue. “It’s nothing like a real design project at home that takes six months to a year to make happen. We’re doing things in two to three days. It’s an unbelievable experience.”

Mercado, who was born in New York and raised in the Dominican Republic, has had a love for designing since she was a child.

“I did not know I was falling in love,” Mercado said. “I thought I had this talent and I should develop it and here I am, competing amongst the best in the country.”

She also has a love of acting. Mercado started working on TV when she was 8 years old, singing and dancing in shows in the Dominican Republic. But she got her degree in architecture, and it was not until she went to her country’s first film festival that she decided to pursue acting seriously. She won a scholarship to studying acting in New York and landed roles on TV, including Una Maid en Manhattan on Telemundo.

“I haven’t moved from acting to design. I do both. My first love was always art and that was the reason I studied architecture,” Mercado said.

After moving to Miami with her husband, Mercado got a job as a showroom assistant. Now she hopes that being a contestant on HGTV Star will showcase her design style on a grander scale.

The Miami Herald caught up with Mercado between design projects to chat about her experience on HGTV Star:

Q. How did you get your start as an interior designer?

I’ve been an interior designer for about three years. I started out with architecture back home in the Dominican Republic. Then I got a scholarship from the president of my country to studying acting in New York. My husband and I decided to move to Miami, where I started working as a showroom assistant. I went from a design consultant to a showroom manager in that time.

Q. How was the HGTV Star audition?

My husband found it online, and he was like, “you have to go.” I’ve always been involved in TV in the Dominican Republic and he was like, “This is perfect.” I went ahead and auditioned and I think because of my background and because I am so young and fresh and different is why they chose me to be a contestant on HGTV Star.

Q. How do you define your style?

I’m a very fresh and bold girl and that’s basically how I define my style. I have Caribbean fusion in my work.

Q. How was the experience on the show?

You know how you sit down at home and you’re watching reality competitions and you just criticize people like “Oh my God, why would you do that?” or “You are stupid”? Well now I have a completely new respect for everyone that has been in a reality show because it is a lot harder than what it looks like when you are sitting on your sofa. But it was worth going through this whole experience and if I had the opportunity to do it again I would.

Q. You mentioned that you consider yourself a rookie. What do you mean by that?

It’s not by experience that I consider myself a rookie; I just know that there is still a lot I have to learn. So I just felt really young in the competition just because of time, not because of experience. I realized I wanted to do this since I was 9, so I feel like I am blooming.

Q. Anything you can tell us about what to expect?

You gotta watch it. … All I can say it was a great cast. If you go look at a picture of us you will see a very diverse cast and I think that’s something that HGTV wanted to accomplish.

How to hire an interior designer

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What good are interior designers? That’s a good question.

The first thing that comes to mind is that he or she will make your home harmonious, aesthetically pleasing, with just the right color combinations, the right window treatments and all the cosmetic go-withs that are part of designing the interior of a home.

All that is true, but good designers go way beyond that. Most states have a certification process to help ensure that designers are trained, well-versed and continually learning the latest and the best there is to offer for your home, since maintaining a design license requires continuing-education hours.

So let’s see what exactly a designer does. He envisions plans and dresses spaces in ways that make them attractive and functional. A client’s lifestyle is incorporated into the home with items that complement the architecture. If the designer is brought into the project early enough, she can ensure that the details, like electrical outlets, doorway widths and heights and even air vents, fit into the scheme and design requested by the client.

There are two ways to go about hiring a designer. One is to pay an hourly fee, which ranges from about $100 to $500. If just help in arranging a room or selecting colors is what you are looking for, an hourly fee is the way to go.

Another choice, particularly if you are hiring the designer to help you from beginning to end, is to purchase the furnishings through him. The fee is included in the price of the furniture. If you were purchasing the items yourself, you wouldn’t pay any less. Now, at least, you have the benefit of a designer without extra cost.

There are several ways to find your perfect designer. You can browse through design magazines and find pictures of rooms that attract you, then search for the designer’s names in the credits. Hiring that designer works well if he is in your city but could get expensive if he’s from out of town, because you would also be responsible for travel and lodging expenses.

Another way is to interview designers in your area. After a bit of conversation and discussion about your needs and what the designer’s thoughts are, you and the designer will know if the fit is good – or not.

A third way is to call your local chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers for suggestions.

Friedmann: DesignQuest@aol.com

Seven seek Bethany Council positions

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BETHANY – Seven have declared their candidacy for five seats on Bethany Council in the town’s June 11 general election.

They are incumbent Linda Chivers of 113 Main Street, challenger Thom Furbee of 99 Logan Court, incumbent Helen Moren of 202 Pendleton St., incumbent Ted Pauls of 117 Roosevelt Ave., challenger Kerry Shaulis of 142 Pendleton St., incumbent Patrick Sutherland of 101 Point Breeze Drive and incumbent Gray Williamson of 105 Point Breeze Drive.

A graduate of Bethany High School, Chivers has worked in the food industry for 44 years. She has coached girls softball and been involved in spaying and neutering feral cats and seeking homes for them.

She said if re-elected, she would work with other officials to attract new businesses that would benefit people of all ages, involve residents and the college community in efforts to draw tourists and work for the town’s beautification.

Chivers said she would seek activities for Bethany’s young people as an alternative to bicycling and skateboarding on streets at night and push for enforcement of the town’s curfew for those age 16 and under.

Furbee has been a Bethany resident for 10 years and employee for 12 years of Bethany College, where he has been a professor and director of media services and classroom technology. He has served on the town’s sanitation board for several years, during which he helped oversee improvements to the wastewater treatment system.

Furbee said if elected, he hopes “to bring my voice to the table in a helpful, collegial and community-centered way that will foster confidence in town government and move Bethany forward as a community at a pace that is comfortable to both progressives and conservatives.”

“This is a pivotal time in the Northern Panhandle, and I am excited at the prospect of being part of the process of navigating the complicated and sometimes bumpy road ahead for our town as it experiences the growing pains associated with natural resource development and the economic and social impact it is having on our small town,” he said.

A graduate of Bethany High School and West Liberty State College, Moren is a retired clerk for the postal service and worked in the local post office.

She served as town recorder for 14 years and as council member for eight years.

An active member of the General Federation of Woman’s Clubs, she served as president of the Bethany Woman’s Club for years, three separate terms as president of the GFWC- West Virginia Northern District and currently is state secretary.

Moren is a member of the Bethany Order of Eastern Star and secretary-treasurer of the Bethany Community Recreation Association.

She said if re-elected, she would push for the removal of dilapidated buildings, help to secure grants for sidewalk replacement and the enforcement of ordinances against overgrown grass and other property issues and to attract new businesses.

Pauls is a graduate of Brooke High School and West Virginia University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration and a doctorate in education.

A college professor for 20 years, he is chairman of the business department at Wheeling Jesuit University. He was employed as a marketing director for Greer Industries and as a stockbroker and is a member of the Brooke County Solid Waste Authority.

He said he brings to council exceptional understanding of financial and budgetary issues and if re-elected, would push for improved infrastructure in the town.

Pauls said, “Issues come and go without predictability; council must be able to face and make difficult decisions in the most fair and reasonable manner.”

A Brooke High School graduate, Shaulis has lived in Bethany since 1974 and was an emergency medical technician and member of the Bethany Volunteer Fire Department.

She has been employed for about six years at the Bethany College Enrollment Center and worked in the mental health field for about 16 years prior to that.

Shaulis said she remembers more community events being held when she was a child and if elected, would help to organize events for families and seniors and tied into West Virginia’s anniversary this year. She said they could be held at the town’s new community center, which she said is an asset, and she would recruit volunteers to help keep costs low. She added she will be open to new ideas from residents and bring their complaints and concerns to the attention of the proper officials.

Sutherland has been a Bethany College professor since 1989. Prior to that, he worked on air or in sales in radio and television for 21 years at stations in Wisconsin, Alaska, Florida and with Armed Forces Radio and Television in Europe. He is a veteran of the Army and National Guard.

Sutherland has served on Bethany Council since 2003 and on the town’s planning commission, serving as president twice; its Main Street improvement committee, chairing it for three years; and its zoning appeals board.

He said if re-elected, he will push for sidewalk repair, additional landscaping, picnic tables and benches along Main Street; work with others to attract more retail businesses, such as coffee or pottery shops; continue to address abandoned and dilapidated buildings; and develop and promote community events to enhance the quality of life for residents and students and draw more visitors. He said with that in mind, he’s developing a website to promote Bethany Park, the town’s community center and local trails.

Now retired, Williamson taught English and communication at West Liberty University for 40 years.

Since moving to Bethany in 2003, Williamson served three terms on Bethany Council and chaired and coordinated the committee for the town’s 150th anniversary celebration. He was an emergency medical technician, firefighter and president of the Bethany Volunteer Fire Department and acted as a liaison to the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the 2004 flood.

Williamson said if re-elected, he will work with other town officials “to improve street and sidewalk conditions while maintaining property values by developing and enforcing housing standards.

He said it’s important that “the town fosters community development and business opportunities and maintains fire, emergency and safety at high standards. Bethany Council should continue to seek out state, local and federal grants to fund such endeavors.”