News from March 23, 2006
issue
Assemblies
wants Chrysler building
A Crittenden County industry has requested a zoning change to
property on Sturgis Road that currently houses Crittenden Health
Systems' ambulance and home health services.
Par 4 Assemblies plant manager Paul Nielsen says it is premature
to discuss the company's plans to relocate; however, Crittenden
Health Systems officials say they have been approached about selling
the building, which many people in Marion still refer to as the
old Chrysler building.
Crittenden Health Systems CEO Claudia Eisenmann said the ambulance
service and Crittenden Home Health would return to their original
offices on the hospital's main campus if the building is sold
to Par 4 Assemblies.
A request for a zone change from C-3 (light commercial) to I-1
(light industrial) for the property located at 250 Sturgis Road
has been filed with the Marion Planning Commission. A public hearing
on the matter will be held at 6 p.m., April 6 before the Marion
Planning Commission at the Council Chambers in City Hall.
Par 4 Assemblies, which assembles parts for customers in the automotive
industry, employs 16 people. Par 4 Assemblies is housed in the
former Tyco building, which is owned by a third party.
Eisenmann said the hospital bought the former Chrysler building
on Sturgis Road about three years ago and named it its North Campus.
It currently houses ambulance and home health agencies.
Lee Conrad, executive director of the Crittenden County Economic
Development Corporation, supports Par 4 Assemblies' efforts.
"If it is good for Par 4 Assemblies, it is good for us and
we support the zoning change," Conrad said.
It's not clear what would happen with the former Tyco building
if Par 4 Assemblies move to Sturgis Road.
The former Tyco building is a 116,000-square-foot manufacturing
facility that was in 1999 purchased by the City of Marion then
leased back to Siemens and later Tyco.
When Tyco closed in 2000, the building was vacant for some time
before it was purchased by a subsidiary of Par 4 Plastics. Par
4 Assemblies opened in 2002.
Two-hour
parking okayed
Two-hour parking has been the general rule around town since meters
were removed five years ago.
Now, it's law.
Marion City Council approved fines and procedures for enforcing
two-hour parking limits during its regular monthly meeting Monday
night at city hall.
There was some opposition the plan. Six courthouse employees attended
the council meeting to register their dissent in the matter.
The council voted 4-2 to implement a new city ordinance providing
for a two-hour parking limit throughout most of the city. Councilmen
Mike Byford, Allen Lynn, Dwight Sherer and Jason Hatfield voted
for the plan while Junior Martin and Jim Brown opposed it.
Circuit Court Clerk Madeline Henderson, whose office is in the
courthouse, opposed the two-hour limit, saying that in most cases
Marion does not appear to have a parking problem.
The parking issue was already under consideration by the council
when a survey conducted by Marion Main Street, Inc., in December
added more incentive to enforcing two-hour parking. Several downtown
merchants cited lack of parking as a negative issue downtown,
according to the survey results.
Henderson said neither she nor her clerks, five of whom attended
the city council meeting, were asked to participate in the survey.
She said they conducted their own study of the parking downtown
and provided a copy of their findings to the council Monday night.
Their study was a three-page, 17-day review of parking availability
downtown. They had monitored public parking spaces throughout
Marion from Feb. 22 through March 15 at various times during the
day. According to their study, seldom were parking spaces filled
to capacity. In fact, only once did their study show that all
spaces on a particular street were taken. Otherwise, plenty of
parking existed at all times on all streets, the self-administered
survey said.
Council members who supported the two-hour parking plan said it
will give police an enforcement mechanism to keep traffic moving
and prevent someone from taking up parking all day long.
The two-hour limit will be enforced everywhere in town except
for parking in front of the U.S. Post Office on East Carlisle
Street which is for only 15 minutes and two spots at Marion Commons
(new city hall) for 15 minutes.
Also, the city's gravel parking lot on East Bellville behind Five
Star will be available for long-term parking, up to 10 hours.
Parking fines will start at $10.
Dessert
contest latest conquest
Ethel Tucker's star just keeps getting brighter. Aside from accomplished
cookbook author, the Marion native, 87, can now add award-winning
baker to her list of accomplishments.
Upon the suggestion of friends and relatives, Tucker entered
and won grand champion the first-ever Kentucky Dam Village
Sweet Explosion dessert contest. Held Saturday in the lobby of
Kentucky Dam Village, the contest featured 51 entries divided
into three categories.
One grand champion was named in each of the three divisions, one
being Tucker's Gen. Robert E. Lee lemon and orange three-layer
cake garnished with orange slices and polished ivy leaves.
Tucker, author of "From Pilot Knob to Main Street,"
first tasted the cake while visiting the Talbott Inn in Harrodsburg.
The inn was a popular hangout of Gen. Lee, and the cake was one
of his favorites.
Each of the grand champions won a cake server engraved with the
name and date of the competition and two nights lodging at the
Kentucky State Park.
The grand champion desserts will appear on the state park menu
throughout 2006, noting the origin of the recipe.
The same cake sold for $100 at a Heritage Days cake auction in
Marion in 2004.