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An impending face-lift to Dillon Town Park could include the construction of a pavilion, multi-purpose athletic fields or updated playground equipment, according to the most popular wish list ideas voted on by residents.
On Thursday, close to 50 locals attended the first of at least two community open houses at Dillon Town Hall to participate in drafting the town park master plan. The open house was led by consultants from Zehren and Associates, Inc., a design firm with offices in Avon and Santa Barbara, Calif., and Ceres Plus, Inc., which has offices in Silverthorne and Eagle.
Also attending the meeting were Dillon elected officials and members of the local Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.
The purpose of the two-hour event was four-fold and residents were invited to comment about a variety of park topics, including existing conditions, the appropriateness of some of the proposed improvement projects, wish list projects not yet considered and concerns about some of the existing ideas.
In addition to filling out surveys, residents were given five round stickers and asked to rank some of the proposed projects in order of highest priority. Although the data collected during the open house won’t be available until the next community meeting, tentatively scheduled for July 9, there were four projects that clearly stood out as community favorites.
Among the top votes was the construction of a pavilion, a multi-purpose athletic field or a facility to host a variety of community events, such as yoga, outdoor movies and 5k runs. The purchase of new playground equipment also ranked high among members of the community.
Despite the construction of a pavilion being the overwhelming favorite, Rick Giamanco, a Summit County resident for 20 years and member of the advisory committee, said he’d prefer to see more open space and joked that the park would benefit from fewer buildings in the area.
“I’d like to see more landscaping and grass for picnics and family-friendly events,” Giamanco said. “We have plenty of natural fauna all around us, but what we need is a real park.” In fact, “we should get rid of town hall and the fire department and make that (a) park too.”
Although the town park master plan gained traction recently, this is not the first time Dillon residents have discussed much-needed upgrades, said Dillon town manager Joe Wray. Park improvements have been a topic of conversation on at least one occasion during the last several years, but the project was tabled to address more pressing town issues.
The project again picked up speed in May when Dillon Town Council approved hiring Ceres Plus, Inc. to serve as a consultant for the project. The council approved a fee of $30,000 for their participation.
Dillon Town Park is located near Dillon Town Hall along the north side of Buffalo Street, between Lake Dillon Drive and LaBonte Street. The park features four public tennis courts, a playground, bocce ball courts, a baseball field, a picnic shelter with grills, restrooms, a volleyball court and walking trails.
I’d like to see more landscaping and grass for picnics and family-friendly events,
Bisbee High School is buzzing with activity as a seven-member team from AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps has agreed to devote eight weeks to sprucing up the school.
A paint job, grounds work, laying out a commu-nity garden and other landscaping is a long-term vision for Principal Lisa Holland.
Thanks to Darcy Tessman, with the Arizona 4-H Club youth development office in Cochise County, she now has a team ready and willing to do the work.
“We establish projects for them to work on, whether it be to work on the garden projects or to help clean and paint the campus,” Holland said. “They will also be helping us put in a new lab as part of the Joint Technical Education District program.”
Team members have moved the roses to a different location, set up a vegetable garden, painted breezeway poles and will paint certain classrooms, she said.
The school’s Alumni Association has also come into the picture by donating funds for new trophy cases.
Tessman will train the volunteers to refurbish bicycles and create picnic tables from pallets in an effort to introduce ideas for recycling.
Once team members have the know-how, they’ll be able to teach the students, noted team leader Lindsey Pettit.
“Tessman is coming up with a lot of new and innovative ways to keep the kids in positive and productive activities after school,” Pettit said.
“And it helps create that spark of entrepreneurship and to take pride in their craft,” noted Jacob Atkins, from Brunswick, Maine. He took a year off from school to be a part of AmeriCorps.
One of the best things about being in the corps is that the students come from across the country and have varying interests in career choices. However, according to Atkins and Pettit, who is from Satellite Beach, Fla., what they learn working in various communities is not only worthwhile education-wise, but personally. They get to make a difference in the lives of complete strangers.
Pettit was pleased to bring a new face to the old school and said she hoped the students would enjoy the new gardens and fresh paint.
Atkins, who acts as the media specialist, always wanted to come west and jumped at the chance to see Southeastern Arizona and encounter some of the cross-culture in the border area of the “wild, wild West.”
“It’s my call of duty. I wanted to serve the communities in my own country and put my hands in different service projects,” he said. “AmeriCorps is an appetizer of many types of service programs. So it helped me solidify my own interests, which will probably fall under social work.’
Anyone 18 to 24 years old can enter Americorps, said Pettit, a college graduate. It doesn’t matter if one has no college, some college or a degree. Two of her team-mates came right out of high school.
Atkins learned about AmeriCorps while in high school, so it was something he kept in the back of his mind when he went to college.
Holland, the principal, said the school has been “working … on grants to help us with our initial idea of a sustainable garden. This is a pretty big project, and it will take a number of years to come to fruition,” she said.
“We received $4,500 from the Cochise County Foundation and then another $12,000 from the Arizona Forestry Service.
“The forestry grant will be used to create more of a mesquite-type orchard to prevent soil erosion, provide a habitat for animals that can then be identified and studied and for our student population to enjoy the campus a little bit more.”
The way Holland sees it, the new gardens – one for vegetables, one for pollination (flowers) and the mini-forest – will provide the students with valuable experience in science, math, construction, marketing and sales, and could point to careers not considered before.
It also includes partnering with University of Arizona students who can show Bisbee students how research is done.
“When we get the mesquite forest going, we’ll be gathering the bean pods and making mesquite flour, and we can also market the mesquite wood,” Holland added. “But right now we’re just in the starting phase.
“It also makes the school more visibly appealing for our students and our stakeholders,” said Holland, who noted how much wear and tear a school takes over the years.
Holland’s efforts and those of many others will perhaps make a student take a look around at the difference a group of strangers made and, literally, stop and smell the roses.
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After seven years of negotiations with the city and the local school board, the Paulus Hook neighborhood is finally closer to seeing the long-hoped-for redesign of Paulus Hook Park.
While current plans are still preliminary and must receive further input from the local neighborhood, the historic park at the corner of Grand and Washington streets is on track for a complete makeover that could include a community playground, water sprinklers, a dog run, and active and passive space.
On June 6, residents from Paulus Hook saw for the first time some of the ideas for the redesign that have been drafted by two architectural and landscape design firms working on the project. Residents were given an opportunity to literally map out a few park features they’d like to see in Paulus Hook Park. This community input process will continue next month.
Henry Lee fought here
The park and a white obelisk monument that sits in it memorialize an historic battle that took place during the Revolutionary War between British and American soldiers – but one would never know it from looking at the park today.
A 1-acre park that actually sits on four corners at the intersection of Grand and Washington, the area is somewhat shabby and easy to miss. The southwest corner of the park is fenced off and used by PS 16 for recess and other school activities. The other three quadrants of the park lack a unified look to tie them together and look more like unplanned open space than a traditional park.
_____________
The 1-acre park is somewhat shabby and easy to miss.
____________
The park’s image today belies the neighborhood’s history and significance to the Revolutionary War, however.
The area was home to one of several forts that patriot forces used to guard against the British, although the fort was later abandoned and occupied by the British. In 1779, at the urging of George Washington, Major Henry Lee decided to storm the fort and attack British forces in Paulus Hook.
Lee and his men were unsuccessful in taking the fort and ultimately withdrew from the battle. But they were able to capture more than 150 British soldiers and the battle is considered to have historical significance because it altered British war strategy.
The Paulus Hook area also has deep significance for local Native American history as well.
‘Gated and inaccessible’
Ironically, much of this rich history is not evident in the park that is meant to commemorate it.
Thus, the Historic Paulus Hook Association’s Parks Committee has been working since 2006 to get the park redesigned so that it better serves the current needs of the local community and has stronger ties to the neighborhood’s past.
When the Historic Paulus Hook Association began this work, “three corners of the park were gated and inaccessible,” said Stephanie Daniels, chairwoman of the group’s parks committee. “One corner of the park was being used to house ‘temporary’ classroom trailers due to overcrowding at PS 16.” (The school was built as a kindergarten-through-fourth grade elementary school, Daniels explained, but was being use as a pre-kindergarten through eighth school.)
For three years, the parks committee met with parents from PS 16, then Superintendent of schools Charles Epps and various city officials, including Ward E City Councilman Steven Fulop, to, Daniels said, “find a solution to the overcrowding at the school and to address the issue that the park, which had been funded by Green Acres, was not being utilized as a park.”
The park was officially turned over to the city in 2010 after the middle school students were transferred to MS 4.
The city later gave the Historic Paulus Hook Association the right to redesign the park and to raise money to get the job done. The estimated cost of the redesign will be about $1 million. With a $50,000 grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust Fund, the architectural and landscaping design firms of Thomas Balsey Associates and Clarke Caton Hintz were hired to work on the redesign.
The two firms presented their preliminary ideas for the redesign last week, and invited feedback from local residents.
A few ideas on the table
Residents who attended the June 6 park redesign meeting favored the idea of giving the four quadrants of Paulus Hook Park a unified look – that will be achieved by using the same materials for each section – while also giving each section its own unique theme.
The southwest corner, which is still used by PS 16 for student recess periods, will likely keep a children’s theme and incorporate a playground that PS 16 will use during school hours, but which will be open to families in the late afternoons and weekends.
The southeast corner might in some way pay homage to the area’s past as a marshland and may be used as a pathway that residents can use to cut through the community.
While planners from Clarke Caton Hintz have suggested that the northeast corner be used as a small “water park,” some residents did not like this idea and might be more interested in having this quadrant – which gets the most sunlight – used as a community garden.
The northwest quadrant could be redesigned to resemble e the small neighborhood parks found in New York, replete with chess tables and park benches.
Some residents have also expressed an interest in seeing a dog run incorporated into one of the four quadrants.
At the June 6 meeting, residents began mapping out a few of their ideas for the park redesign. The Historic Paulus Hook Association will meet again on July 11 to continue discussion of how the park should be redesigned.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.
Iowa is well known for its wind. Electric utilities are even building wind farms to capture it for electricity. But what if you want to block the wind from your yard, garden or field? Linn County Master Gardener Lori Klopfenstein gives you some tips to make it last.
Q: How do I plant a windbreak?
A: Are you interested in establishing, fortifying or repairing a wind break on your property? To ensure its greatest potential for long term hardiness, here are some facts.
First, the size of your property and the primary purpose of the wind break are critical variables. Many of us, especially in cities, refer to row-form tree and shrub plantings as wind breaks when what we really mean is privacy screen. This is fine because even a single, dense row of arborvitae provides some degree of protection from wind and snow drift in town. Protecting buildings and tender landscapes in rural areas, however, is a more significant undertaking.
ISU guidelines for farmstead windbreaks are now being revised, but according to Jesse Randall, ISU Extension forester, best practice is to plant at least five consecutive rows of single species trees or shrubs (rather than mixing varieties within a single row). Your innermost row should be 50 feet from any building, and he recommends a moderately sized conifer such as white cedar. The next row should be a larger conifer, such as spruce, pine, fir or larch. When selecting conifers, keep in mind a few simple facts: the bluer the needles on a spruce, the more susceptible it is to disease; larch is also deciduous and will lose needles in the fall; Scotch pine is particularly susceptible to pine wilt; and five-needled pines seem to have the fewest diseases.
Row three should be a hardwood (deciduous) tree. There are innumerable options here, but the best are maple, oak, linden, elm, honey locust or Kentucky coffee tree. If you have the rare Eastern Iowa property not deer-ridden, consider shagbark hickory. It’s a beautiful, straight, fast grower that also provides food for humans and wildlife. No more susceptible to deer damage than other hardwoods, it’s just difficult to find nursery stock bigger than a 36-inch twig because it puts down such a dramatic tap root.
The outermost two rows should be shrubs. Shrubs provide the most immediate gratification because they tend to grow faster and exhibit mature behaviors (such as fruiting and flowering) in a few years. Lilacs are a dependable and popular choice. You may also want to consider a fruiting shrub, like highbush cranberry, wild plum, or aronia bush, which produces a berry considered the newest super fruit (also called acai).
Tree rows should be 25 feet apart, shrub rows 15 feet. If planting a row of shrubs next to one of conifers, also leave 25 feet.
These guidelines may be adjusted according to the size of your property by using a formula outlined in ISU publication Pm-1716 (available at Extension.iastate.edu). Are you one of the aforementioned urban dwellers who lost mature arborvitae in the middle of a like row due to the drought? Your best option for repair is to contact a professional landscaping service who may be able to remove and replace it without jeopardizing the surrounding trees. Get more than one opinion, however, because even with professional assistance, this may not be possible.
EVENTS:
The Linn County Master Gardener Garden Walk will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Explore five diverse Linn County Master Gardener gardens that will inspire you with ideas you can apply to your own garden or landscape or simply provide you the opportunity to tour beautiful private gardens.
Gardens will include ornamental grasses, conifers, vegetables, perennials, containers, raised beds, prairie, water features and more.
Admission is $5 per adult or $10 per family.
Start at any of the gardens on the walk:
McWherter Garden, 1610 Timberland Dr. NW, Cedar Rapids. The McWherter shade/woodland garden is an artistic presentation of plants that include more than 1,000 varieties of hostas along with perennials and tropicals.
Granger House Museum Garden, 970 10th St., Marion. The Granger House Museum gardens consist of three beds featuring a mixture of vegetables, perennials and annuals commonly planted by 19th century households.
Stewart Farm Garden, 298 Martelle Rd., Martelle. The Stewart’s farm garden began as an English cottage garden, reflecting the six years they lived in Britain. The surrounding acres now include a shade garden for bird watching, a floral cutting garden, a 3/4-acre restored Iowa prairie, a vegetable garden that includes four raised beds, and areas for production of fruits and vegetables preserved for year-round family use.
Dvorak Garden, 206 Candlestick Dr., Mount Vernon. The Dvorak gardens include an eclectic mix of old and new, perennials and annuals, sun and shade, many of which have been selected to attract birds and butterflies. There also are a traditional vegetable garden, herbs, grapes and berries.
McKinstry Garden, 408 B Ave. NE, Mount Vernon. A lovingly tended garden will welcome you at the McKinstry home. Peace and tranquillity prevail as you follow pathways through the garden rooms created in the perimeter of a city lot. The garden incorporates an interesting assortment of perennials, shrubs and trees. Color and texture balance the garden’s beauty throughout the seasons.
Questions on gardening, land use or local foods? Contact Michelle Kenyon Brown, community ag programs manager at Linn County Extension, mkenyonb@iastate.edu
Vines Gardening announces the release of their new vibrant and easy to navigate website. The new site also houses their landscape portfolio as well as the services offered.
Gainesville, Georgia (PRWEB) June 07, 2013
Vines Gardening announces the release of their new vibrant and easy to navigate website. Vines Gardening has been known as one of North Georgia’s premier landscape and lawn maintenance companies for more than 12 years. Vines Gardening’s owner, Todd Beasley, is a degreed horticulturalist with over 20 years of experience and has a true passion for landscape design and the implementation process. Todd states, “I have always enjoyed taking an outdoor space, regardless of shape and size, and turning it into something spectacular. Home ownership is one of life’s most prized possessions so your landscape should be something that you and your family can enjoy for years to come.”
Vines Gardening’s new website is well designed and easy to navigate. Also, their portfolio can aid in new landscape ideas for those looking to make changes to their current outdoor space. Nice patios, water features, outdoor fireplaces and kitchens are just a few things that can simply make a backyard a destination place. Vines Gardening offers many services such as:
For more information about Vines Gardening and North Georgia Landscaping ideas, visit http://www.vinesgardening.com. Turn your dream into a reality.
Press Release submitted by Click Ready Marketing, an Atlanta SEO Company.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/6/prweb10806005.htm
As the one-year anniversary of the Twin Ports area’s worst flooding approaches, two conservation groups are sponsoring workshops in Duluth on how the Northland can adapt to increased floods spurred by a warmer climate.
The St. Louis River Alliance and W.J. McCabe Chapter of the Izaak Walton League are holding climate-change adaption workshops June 19-20 in Duluth.
The official title, “A Flood of Options: Adapting to a Changing Climate,” is a nod to climate and engineering experts who say that changes that already have occurred in our weather patterns — more large storms interspersed by more dry periods, all with gradually higher temperatures and more water vapor — create a need to change how we deal with rainwater.
The free workshop is set for 6:30-8:30 p.m. June 19 at the EPA’s Mid-Continent Ecology Division laboratory at 6201 Congdon Blvd. and will be repeated from 1-3:30 p.m. June 20 at Lincoln Park Middle School near West Third Street and 32nd Avenue West.
The workshops will give an overview of recent changes to local and regional climate, effects on local waterways and ideas on how residents can help protect area streams and the St. Louis River during extreme weather events.
Featured speakers include Mark Seeley, University of Minnesota climatologist and a Minnesota climate history and
climate-change expert; and Chris Kleist, city of Duluth stormwater and stream restoration program coordinator.
And while engineers are working to make public infrastructure for increased flooding — culverts, roads, bridges, etc. — people also can take action in their own yards to help local streams handle the bigger load.
Julene Boe, executive director of the St. Louis River Alliance, said that while the exact implications of future climate change may remain uncertain, the Northland already has seen documented changes in its average temperatures and precipitation patterns.
“There are some people who are skeptical, who think this is just happening by chance. But for people who had a wakeup call with the flood last year and who may want to do something to help — we want to give them the tools to do that,” Boe told the News Tribune. “People can take a look at their own property and the impact it has on the watershed they live in, and maybe they want to do something to keep the water on that property, to slow the turnoff and mitigate flooding, things like planting trees or creating rain gardens, landscaping techniques that all of us can do.”
Participants will have an opportunity to sign up for follow-up workshops that will assist interested residents in taking future actions towards climate-change adaptation in their communities. In addition, the Regional Stormwater Protection Team will have a display and materials to share. Attendees at each workshop will be able to register for a free drawing, which will include a rain barrel to capture rainwater for gardening use.
The workshops are funded by grants from the Coastal Management Act, by NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, in conjunction with Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program and Climate Change Adaptation grants from Freshwater Future.
People are encouraged, but not required, to RSVP at slrcac@stlouisriver.org or by calling (218) 733-9520.
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UNITED by grief, parents scarred by the death of their children are teaming up to fight for their memory.
Families are campaigning for Bishopwearmouth Cemetery’s baby garden – in which stillborn infants and babies who’ve died before reaching full term are buried – to become a fitting memorial for their children.
Over the years, they say they have seen it turn into a quagmire which is not a fitting resting place.
Charlotte and Daniel Malley, from Houghton, lost their son Noah in January and are one of 15 families who have teamed up to improve the garden.
“The first time I went, we could see broken plaques on the ground and it just broke my heart,” said Charlotte, 22.
Daniel added: “We have to go through mud to get to the graves, and it’s so bad that my grandma can’t visit as she’s in a wheelchair. That’s one of the things we want to change: to have disabled access.”
The group, Sleeping Angels, has teamed up with 4Louis and Sands (Stillbirth and Death Society) to appeal to Sunderland City Council to repair the garden.
They are willing to pay costs themselves and have been fund-raising to pay for workmen, a memorial bench and landscaping.
Angela Beck, 48, from Grindon, has visited the garden every week since her daughter Grace was stillborn 12 years ago.
“It wasn’t great to begin with, but it’s really deteriorated over the years,” she said. “They put bark chippings down, but now they have gone to mulch and it’s just like a quagmire.
“There’s no drainage so it floods, and every winter it gets worse. It doesn’t matter how nice you make the individual grave when the area around it is a mess. We have said to the council we will pay for repairs and can find people who will do it, but we are waiting to hear back from them.
“Now, we want to put as much money as possible aside so that it’s there for when they come back to us.”
Fund-raising events include a sponsored walk in Herrington Park, a charity night at the Roker Hotel, and Asda in Grangetown is giving customers the chance to vote in the green token system for the fund throughout this month.
The families are also hoping the council will consider using a derelict chapel in the grounds to hold services for neonatal and stillbirths. Currently, those affected by deaths of this kind are only offered a graveside service.
Coun James Blackburn, portfolio holder for city services, said: “Following discussions with the charity to canvass their thoughts and ideas, we are now looking at the possibility of installing hedges to better delineate the baby grave sections at the cemetery.
“We have also agreed that we would like to relocate the entrance to the existing section and introduce some hard landscaping into the area to improve access, together with the appearance.
“The next steps will involve finding the resources to carry out this work and looking at how we can work with the charity as a ‘friends of’ organisation to make progress on the plans.”
l Anyone who would like to join Sleeping Angels, which meets weekly at The Chesters, can search for them on Facebook under ‘Sunderland baby garden.’
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.”
