News from Sept.
4, 2003 issue
Developers
have new place for motel
The group of local investors working on a plan to develop a downtown
motel has changed the site where the overnight lodging facility
would be built.
Charlie Hunt, a spokesman for the investment group exploring the
idea of building an 18-room motel, says the group now has an option
on four properties at the corner of Main and Bellville streets.
The vacant lot on the northwest corner of the intersection was
once home to the Red Front store. It was razed about five years
ago and many city leaders say it's been an eyesore ever since.
"I think the new spot will have a greater impact on downtown,"
Mayor Mickey Alexander said. "And we will be able to save
another building."
The group has options on four pieces of property from Stout Law
Office to Main Street. The lot size would be approximately 150
x 85 feet, Hunt said. The proposed site includes the vacant lot
owned by Martha Kurtz Williams and the lot and building owned
by Franklin Hazzard.
If built, the new motel would use the existing facade of the building
that's currently on the property.
The group planning to build the motel has applied for a Renaissance
Kentucky grant. The grant would be used to make the motel look
like other structures downtown with period brick and furnishings.
Hunt said Marion Marion Street and its director Rose Crider were
invaluable to the group as it prepared the 250-page grant application
last week. The application was taken to Frankfort Friday.
Hunt anticipates finding out about the grant availability by November.
Construction of the new motel is contingent on getting the grant,
he said.
Deer Creek celebrates 180 years
Deer Creek Baptist Church will celebrate 180 years of ministry
with a combined anniversary and homecoming Sunday. The current
building which is undergoing the first of a three-phase
expansion was the third Deer Creek Church to be constructed,
but the first at its current site.
Doyle Fritts, who along with his sister is one of the oldest members
of the church, said attendance has exceeded 150 and is nearing
200.
That among other things will be celebrated Sunday as former pastor
Hardin Hosey returns to deliver the morning message.
Hosey was the church pastor for 12 years through the late 1990s.
He left Marion to take a church in Savannah, Tenn. Deer Creek
was without a pastor for some time before Brad Hall took over
the Sunday pulpit. Now, Sunday services are conducted by Bro.
Jamie Baker.
Baker, originally of Fredonia and now of Marion, has been with
Deer Creek for nearly two years.
Fritts says the increase in attendance and membership was the
Lord's work and nothing else.
"Maybe the seed was sewn before, but it was the Lord's work,"
he said. "Membership got down three or four years ago and
it began to grow even when we were without a pastor."
Fritts, who grew up in nearby Sheridan, began attending Deer Creek
Church in the 1950s.
"I didn't join because I lived there but because it suited
me and it has been good to me and my family since," Fritts
said.
The first Deer Creek church was built in 1823 out of logs. It
had split logs for seats and one window for light, according to
church history. It was located near a little stream called Deer
Creek about a mile from the present building. The second church,
which was also located on the creek, was built in 1859. It was
also a log structure.
The present church building was completed in 1882, and Rev. J.S.
Henry preached the dedication sermon on the third Sunday in September.
The second phase of construction scheduled at Deer Creek calls
for a new auditorium. The first phase, which includes a fellowship
hall and Sunday school classrooms, can seat 400 and could be used
as an auditorium if the church attendance continues to grow, Fritts
said.