Spring Breakfast

By PJ Martin

Editor

The Herald-News

 

The Edmonton Metcalfe Chamber of Commerce held its Spring quarterly breakfast on Tuesday, March 25^th at the Old School Gym to a sold-out crowd.

The first was to present the Business of the Quarter award to the Light House Restaurant. Chamber President Daniel Bragg presented Rodney and Tammy Deckard with the award. They are celebrating their 40^th anniversary.

Tammy Deckard thanked the chamber for the award. “This means a lot to us coming from our hometown.” She relayed the story of how her parents (Mitchell and Norma Ervin) purchased the restaurant in 1985 after having farmed their whole lives. “I was about 14 years old and I never thought that 40 years later that we would be in the restaurant. But it’s been good to us and we’re thankful to God for the blessing that He gave and we’re thankful for all our employees…we could not make it without them.”

The sponsor for the breakfast was Founders Day; coordinator Laura Glass spoke briefly about the 8^th annual Founders Day scheduled for May 3^rd. “So, Founders Day in Summer Shade is all about bringing the community together to celebrate our neighborly town that has been there a hundred and fifty years. We like to recognize local talent, local craftsmen, and people that are providing goods and services in the community.”

The event highlights old-time games such as the hay bale toss, tug of war, log sawing, and a hint at something new this year involving a pig. The firehouse group sells food and there will be truck vendors also. So, bring the whole family on May 3^rd to the 8^th annual Founders Day in Summer Shade.

Mayor Doug Smith was unable to attend and Daniel Bragg read the mayor’s speech in his absence.

The city is working with the, “KY Infrastructure Authority on the KY Cleaner Water Grants that will assist in underserved customers and provide water to those that have no access to city water…the projects are part of the Cleaner Water Grant totaling approximately $846,250.”

The KY Dept. of Transportation discretionary funding is $86,000 and Municipal Road Aid is approximately $30-35,000 and this will be used to pave several streets.

The Edmonton Memorial Park is waiting on more grants after receiving the CDBG grant of $750,000. The Land and Water Conservation Grant total of $395,539.50 was approved for blacktop in the park.

In ending, it was noted that the senior center is currently closed for the city to do renovations to make it safer and enjoyable.

The next guest speaker introduced was State Representative Amy Neighbors who thanked everyone for the invitation to speak.

“Currently, we are in a. 10-day veto period, meaning that when we return to Frankfurt on Thursday, we will use our super majority for you to override any gubernatorial vetoes as necessary.”

“Over the course of this session, the house has filed a little over 800 bills, while the Senate filed just over 300…I will not attempt to summarize nearly 1,100 bills this morning.”

“House Bill 1 will lower the individual income tax rate from 4% to 3 ½% starting January the first of 2026…House Bill 342 will require our junior and senior high school students to complete a financial literacy course to better prepare them for real-world financial responsibilities.”

“House Bill 208 will require school districts to adopt policies prohibiting cell phone and social media use during school hours.”

“House Bill 15 lowers the minimum age for obtaining a learner’s permit to 15 years of age. This measure would give young drivers the opportunity to develop safe driving habits for a whole year before obtaining their license…”

“One of those emergent emerging industries is the cannabis-infused beverage industry. Senate Bill 202, will establish regulations that will prohibit sales to individuals under 21 and will cap THC levels at five milligrams per 12 ounces, and retailers will also be required to obtain a license to sell those products. And lastly, my favorite bill of the session,”

“House Bill 421 will expand insurance coverage for colorectal screenings. It will ensure that high-risk individuals can receive preventative screenings before the recommended age of 45. The 2025 general assembly focused on reducing taxes, improving education, investing in infrastructure, and enhancing public safety.”

The group welcomed Senator Max Wise who began, “Thanks for what you do as a chamber I’ve said this before. I’ve covered six counties, one being a third of Warren County, but there’s no better Chamber of Commerce for a community this size and the involvement that you have than right here in Metcalfe County. So, you should be very proud of the impact that your chamber has, your volunteerism and what you’re doing to promote local businesses, and also the education system that you have here in Metcalfe County.”

“…Amy mentioned, what we’re focused on is making this a place of where we want to attract people into Kentucky, still maintaining our conservative family values, but also a place we want to raise our children and not see our children leave and go out of state for a job, or leave for out of state for whatever reasons we want to keep our young people here in Kentucky…”

“It was been the most productive session on the Senate side to truly focus on legislation, and then we can take the house bills that were filed. As Amy mentioned over 800 House bills, less than around 300 Senate bills. But with that, the governor now has about 110 bills that are on his desk, he has until Wednesday night at 11:59 pm to get those vetoed or signed into law.”

“So, we gavel back in Thursday morning at 9 am Eastern Time, ready to go back to work on our last two days, we will override every one of the Governor vetoes…We have the super majority in Frankfort, and we are going to make sure that we’re committed to those overrides, that we’re going to step up to Governor Beshear and override those vetoes.”

Next year, we go into our 60-day session. We’ll focus on the road planning and we’ll focus on the budget. We’ll make sure that we listen to our school districts about what we’ve been doing to fully fund education, to also continue to make teachers’ salaries attractive, because we know that in each and every community, it all starts with education, and so we’re going to be there to listen. We’re going to be there to get to work, but we’re also going to be there once again to focus on what we think is common sense policy that makes everyone in this room proud to continue to be a consultant. Thank you for the opportunity, and for letting me speak today. Thank you for allowing me to be in this position and to represent you in Frankfort. God bless you.”

Next, we heard about the state of the school system from Superintendent Josh Hurt.

“Things are going well, very proud to be your superintendent. Very excited for Metcalfe County Schools. Obviously, we have a lot going on, construction, renovation, and so forth.

“When I leave today, I go to the middle school, and Aurora Institute will be up there…It’s an institute that is nationally known for innovation, and we’re one of three schools, I think, is that right? Rachel, three schools in the state of Kentucky have been identified to have them come down and see what we’re doing at the middle school when it comes to project-based learning and deeper learning. And we’re really excited about that, so I’m anxious to get up there and participate.”

Hurt also relayed that the football field goal post has been repaired and the misspelled sign is about to be replaced. He also spoke about the business learning experience of the “ice cream shop” and the nursing program students working with and teaching the kindergarten students in the “Teddy Bear Clinic.”

Last but not least, we heard about the state of the county from Judge/Executive Larry Wilson.

“We have been able to do some restorations, to our parks here in the county. One thing a lot of people ask me about. And I will say this, we’re ready to move the gazebo. We’ve got the platform ready at Sulphur Well. We look forward to getting that move hopefully within the next two weeks.”

Also, we had black toppers starting yesterday in the county. We’ve got several roads that are going to get

new black top, that’s something that’s a big issue in county government.”

Wilson explained that the litter abatement had begun and workers were cleaning the roadsides. He asked Neighbors and Wise to work on tougher legislation concerning litter and dump sites. Adding, “If we can’t take pride in what we’ve got, how can anyone else…One of the prettiest counties in the state. We’ve got a lot to offer.”

Wilson ended with, “One thing I have been very determined to do, my door is always open. You just come and you see me, and you will find I will listen to every word you have to say.”

The breakfast was catered and served by Diane’s Cakes & Catering, and the business award was created and designed by Kayla Blythe Jessee, The Trophy Shop.