Windstream says high-speed rural Internet, with feds paying 75% of construction cost, will be available in Oct.

By Kristen Sekinger

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

Windstream Communications is extending high-speed Internet service to Midway and many other rural areas in Kentucky with the help of $60 million in economic stimulus grants from the federal government.

The fiber-optic service will include places where the company currently has no customers for its copper-wire Digital Subscriber Line service, said Scott Morris, senior adviser for corporate affairs and spokesman for Windstream.

That is good news for horse farms like Airdrie Stud on Old Frankfort Pike, which needs two separate lines in order for everyone who needs to watch online video of horse races to do so at the same time, adminisrator Laura Sullivan said.

“They watch horses on a daily basis,” she said. They’re on it all the time watching our horses. It is very important.” She said the Gainsborough, Three Chimneys and Darby Dan farms, all along Old Frankfort Pike, are in similar situations dealing with slow service.

Sullivan said Windstream is the the farm’s only choice because Time Warner Cable, which offers Internet with TV and phone service in Midway, doesn’t reach Airdrie. “There is no other option at this point other than Windstream,” she said.

Morris said Windstream is mainly a rural provider and wants to expand broadband services to as many places in Midway that they can fit within the budget. The grants from the 2009 economic stimulus legislation will enable much faster Internet connections as well as expand future selection of communication and entertainment services, he said in an interview.

The idea behind the stimulus grants, he said, is to provide high-speed Internet services in areas where it wasn’t previously possible for financial reasons. “In the country, if you live really far out, you probably can’t get broadband speeds, you can probably only get dialup,” he said.

Broadband speeds are often not as fast as expected. Sullivan said Airdrie gets up to 3.5 mpbs, but the speed varies, getting even as low as “one and a half [mpbs], depending on the day.”

The grants cover 75 percent of the project costs throughout the country, leaving Windstream with the other 25 percent, roughly $16.4 million in Kentucky.

“Windstream was the largest recipient of these grants,” Morris said. “What we’re doing is we’re filling in gaps in our network where there is dialup service but not broadband service. Each one of these projects are relatively small because they’re just filling in pockets under the rules set by the agricultural program … which determines how much money would be awarded per location.”

The grants came through the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service. RUS spokeswoman Anne Mayberry said in an email, “When complete, Windstream estimates the network will offer broadband service to approximately 225,000 households, 10,000 businesses and 1,000 anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries, hospitals and municipal facilities in 80 communities.”

Mayberry said Congress passed the stimulus package ‘‘to help lift our nation from the greatest economic crisis in our lifetimes and lay the foundation for future growth.’’  She said the package provided RUS with $2.5 billion to expand access to broadband services in areas that are at least 75 percent rural and ‘‘without sufficient access to high speed broadband service to facilitate rural economic development.’’

Morris said after the project is complete, which is to be in late October, Windstream will notify prospective broadband customers that the service is available in their area. The customers decide whether or not they want to sign up for it.

“When we deploy the fiber optic cable and electronic hardware that is necessary to deliver broadband to unserved areas, we frequently pass by existing customer locations. In some cases, these current customers may then qualify for faster speeds,” he said. “It would be up to the customer to decide whether he or she wanted the faster speed. There are no automatic price increases.”

For example, Morris said customers who previously qualified for service with a speed of up to 6 megabits per second might qualify for up to 12 mbps after the project is finished.

Windstream has leased the former city dump on Spring Station Road from the city for an installation related to the project and is paying the city a one-time fee of $15,000, three times what it originally offered.

Midway College goes after students at private university in far Western Kentucky that is closing

Midway College is trying to attract students from Mid-Continent University near Mayfield, which is closing because of financial problems. Midway is waiving application fees for transfer students and "will work quickly, offering extended admissions hours and online chat sessions as needed to accommodate students' requests among other items," the college said in a press release.

"We realize that this is a stressful time for all of those in the Mid-Continent community from the administration, faculty, students and their families," Midway President John Marsden said. "I have already offered our support to the administration at Mid-Continent . . . and held internal discussions with our staff to reinforce the need to assist with transferring students and any faculty that might be looking at open positions we have."

Marsden said in the release, issued Saturday, that Midway had received "many calls" from Mid-Continent students. Enrollment Dean Stephanie Whaley said, "Our admissions counselors are working to assure those students that we will work to assist them in getting their official transcripts in order to do transcript evaluations. Our summer and fall registration periods are still open so we can work with them to see when they can get started."

Whaley said Midway's online programs "can be a good resource for those students who can't travel to our Midway or Lexington location." The Admissions Office will host online chats for all potential transfer students Wednesday, April 23 and Wednesday, April 30 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. To register for these online events, students can go to www.midway.edu and look for CollegeWeek Live Transfer Chat Session.

The news release included information that transfers from Mid-Continent will need to know:
• Add Midway and its code, 001975, to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov.
• Complete the application for admission on the Midway website (click on "apply now").
• Call the admissions office at 888-75-MIDWAY for a special code to waive the application fee.
• Contact an admissions counselor for help in getting transcripts.

UPDATE, May 2: College spokeswoman Ellen Gregory said Midway has received 80 or more inquiries from Mid-Continent students, but said she did not know the exact number of processed applications because it is still early in the process of obtaining transcripts and other needed information. She said the college continues to offer assistance as needed to those students who are looking to transfer to one of our evening or online programs. “With students around the state, our online programs are a good option for many of them,” she said.

Broadcaster, author and former jockey Donna Brothers will speak at Midway College commencement May 10

Donna B. Brothers

Broadcaster, author and former jockey Donna Barton Brothers will give the main address at Midway College's commencement Saturday, May 10 at 11 a.m. in the Graves Amphitheater. The service will honor 353 graduates, including those who earned degrees in December and at the end of the spring 2014 semester.

"Each year we want our commencement ceremony to be unique and special for our graduates who have reached an important milestone," President John Marsden said in a press release. "Ms. Barton Brothers' life experiences are extraordinary, and we look forward to her personal message of inspiration to our graduates."

In 1995, Barton Brothers was the leading stakes-winning rider at Churchill Downs and placed second in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile on Hennessey. She has been with NBC Sports since 2000 and has covered the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, and Breeder's Cup among many other events. She is the author of Inside Track: Insider's Guide to Horse Racing.

Bozarth's final budget prompts council discussion about how city should handle sidewalk improvements

By Taylor Norberg and Al Cross

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telcommunications

Tom Bozarth’s final budget proposal as Midway mayor, discussed by the city council Monday, calls for several equipment upgrades including a new fire truck to replace one that is 42 years old.

Bozarth expects a new truck to cost around $235,000 and the city to finance it over a 10 years using one of its certificates of deposit.  He plans to make a down payment of $100,000 to $125,000 and have the option to pay it off early.

Along with a new fire truck, Bozarth is looking to spend $5,000 on maintenance at the fire department and $15,500 for two new mowers, $4,889 for a leaf box and $4,700 for a utility trailer to reduce employee trips.

Bozarth told the council that his plan would be to surplus the oldest mower and have any proceeds go towards the cost, as they have done with equipment upgrades in the past.  He said the oldest mower is about 12 years old. 

The money apparently would come from the city’s surplus, which is listed in the budget as “contingency,” $205,958 of the total budget of $1,613,058, and from an increase in occupational-tax income.

Bozarth’s budget anticipates $275,000 in occupational-tax revenue in 2014-15, a 10 percent rise from 2013-14. He noted the creation, and expected creation, of new jobs at the Interstate 64 interchange.  

The budget projects property-tax revenue to remain at $115,000, which is the same figure in the 2014 budget.  Business license fees are expected to be $12,000, less than the $15,000 budgeted this year but more than the $10,000 budgeted in 2012-13.. 

The proposed budget has $10,000 for sidewalks. The 2013-14 budget had $98,385 for sidewalk upgrades, but that included $70,000 for the Gratz Street sidewalk and wall and $20,000 for the Main Street handicapped ramp – a cost that Bozarth said will be only $12,000 as a result of a donation from R.J. Corman Railroad Co.

The sidewalk budget raised the question of how the city sets priorities for such work and whether the city,  property owners or both should pay for sidewalk upgrades.

Bozarth said in an interview that it isn’t right to make homeowners pay entirely for upgrades.  “I don’t think a homeowner can pay for sidewalk repair,” he said, noting the large number of rental properties and fixed-income homeowners in the city. Also, he said, “I don’t think it’s fair to put a new sidewalk in when we have an old sidewalk that needs repaired.  It’s a safety issue and it needs to be addressed.”

Perhaps the largest single sidewalk project would be to build a walk from Brand Street to the entrance of the Homeplace at Midway, the senior community being built on Stephens Street across from Midway College. When Council Member Bruce Southworth, who lives at the corner of Stephens and Brand, mentioned it, Bozarth said the city should plan for it.

“What I would like to see is a plan … to get a cost” for sidewalk needs, said Bozarth, who is not seeking re-election this year. “That’s something that’s going to take a long time to plan.”

Council Member Sharon Turner, who is running for mayor, said she would like to see the council rate sidewalk needs “the way we did water lines and go through the list.”

Council Member Grayson Vandegrift, the other candidate for mayor, said, “As a council we should develop a kind of comprehensive sidewalk strategy plan.”

Retiring Council Member Aaron Hamilton said, “We already did that two years ago.” Turner said, “But we didn’t work off of it.” She said she would look for the list.

Council Member Sara Hicks said trees should be considered in the sidewalk plan, because walks get pushed up by tree roots.

The largest increase in the budget is for a new contract with the Versailles Police Department, which patrols all of Woodford County under contract with the county and Midway. The city budgeted $68,667 for the contract this year; the proposed budget calls for $100,000.

“It’s not unreasonable,” said Midway Council Member Bruce Southworth, a former Versailles city administrator. “Everything goes up.” Longtime Council Member Sharon Turner said she had never had any complaints about police protection.

The Versailles City Council “just asked that we increase the contract,” Police Chief John Wilhoit told the Midway council. “Our budget’s gone up.” Bozarth said he understood that, citing as an example retirement contributions equaling 42 percent of salaries for hazardous-duty employees such as police.

At Bozarth’s request, Wilhoit agreed to make the new contract run four years instead of three. “Unless something drastic happens, I think this will ride out for four years,” Wilhoit said.

There is a $6,000 maintenance increase in the proposed cemetery budget for 2015 as a result of the plan to build an additional sidewalk to wrap around behind the veterans’ monument and next to the fuve flagpoles that are to be erected, one for each branch of service.

Bozarth looks to spend $7,500 on the tank at the old sewer plant so it can be used in a demonstration project for Kentucky State University’s aquaculture program. He told council members that Steve Mims of KSU would make another appearance before them to discuss the project.  

The proposed budget has $54,984 for City Hall salaries, a cut in this year’s budgeted amount of $57,062.  A cutback in her overtime caused the decrease, City Clerk-Treasurer Phyllis Hudson told the Messenger,  “I took out some of the overtime because I don’t receive overtime anymore.”  Hudson said she makes $40,000 a year. The mayor gets $100 a month and council members get $50 a month.

The proposed budget includes $5,000 for the Woodford County Economic Development Authority.  The 2013-14 budget allotted no money for the EDA, but the council has since given EDA $5,000, so the proposed budget would not be a change in policy.

The proposal has a snow-removal budget of $25,000, up $5,000 from $20,000 this year.  Since being reclassified as a fourth-class city, Midway has been independently contracting snow removal because the county would no longer do the work.  The council agreed that contracting has been successful during this tough and long winter.  They noted that the $20,000 budgeted for 2014 was almost entirely used.

The council will discuss the budget again at its regularly scheduled meeting Monday, April 21 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, and again at another special meeting on Monday, April 28 at 9 a.m. at City Hall. For a PDF copy of the budget, click here.

Council gives Francisco's Farm $1,000, not the $3,000 that the arts festival requested for this year

The Midway City Council voted Monday to contribute $1,000 toward the Francisco's Farm Art Festival for next year, not the $3,000 that the festival committee had requested for this year.

Mayor Tom Bozarth said city workers would provide the assistance the committee had requested, but "I think we should raise the money from private donations, and I'll be willing to make a contribution." He said later, "We'll try to get people to donate."

Council Members Sara Hicks and Dan Roller, who are on the festival committee, abstained from voting but took part in the discussion beforehand.

Roller said the festival is being done entirely by volunteers, and the only compensation has been for the two jurors who judged the would-be exhibitors. Hicks, who is president of Midway Renaissance, the festival's main sponsor, said it is paying Midway College for use of its facilities. "They'll have their own security, but we'll also provide our own security," she said. "There's just a small core of us putting it on and we're all doing it on our own time."

Hicks said any profits from the festival "will go to something in the city of Midway," and added later, "Last year we ran in the red; the year before we gave $5,500 to the Homeplace" at Midway, the senior living community being built across Stephens Street from the college.

Council Member Grayson Vandegrift complimented Hicks for the group's efforts, including bringing the festival back to the college after three years at Equus Run Vineyards, a site that did not sit well with some Midway merchants.

A $3,000 gift would have made the city a "silver sponsor" listed on promotional materials and having a free sponsor tent. Hicks noted that the city was once a sponsor of the 10-year-old festival. Bozarth said that for the festival's first year, the city issued a $5,000 check "that didn't come before the council," on which he served at the time.

Hicks noted that the festival needs T-shirts, and suggested that the city could help with that and use them to promote the city. Bozarth replied, "I think that's a little bit outside the request" that the festival committee submitted for the April 3 council meeting, at which the request was deferred.

Vandegrift said, "I think donating to that festival is money well spent. It stays in the community." Council Member Sharon Turner said, "Every donation we give open the requests for more donations." Vandegrift said Francisco's Farm and the Midway Fall Festival, staged by the merchants, differ from other events, but the latter doesn't need city money. Turner said the city needs criteria to govern such donations. She and Vandegrift are running to succeed Bozarth, who is not seeking re-election.

Hicks suggested, "What would be ideal is if the city could become a partner for 2015." Bozarth noted that the city had donated $1,000 to Midway College for speakers, and it could "start with that" for Francisco's Farm. Turner then made a motion to donate $1,000 for the 2015 festival. The vote was 4-0.

College seeks award nominations for improving women's lives or for women role models, leaders or innovators

Midway College has created two Spotlight Awards to highlight women and men who have been leaders in representing women's issues; have made an impact that benefits women in the state of Kentucky and beyond; and innovative women in their chosen field.

The awards will be presented at a dinner Thursday, June 5, before the college's annual Reunion Weekend. The ceremony is a time for the college to honor those who have helped it, by giving them the Pinkerton Vision Award or the Midway College Legacy Award.

The College is seeking nominations from the community for the Pinkerton Vision Award. Download form here. This award honors the legacy of Dr. L.L. Pinkerton, whose vision led to the establishment of the Kentucky Female Orphan School in 1847 as the first formal education for orphaned girls on the site that is now Midway College. Criteria for include: (a) an individual or group (male or female) who has had a direct impact on improving the lives of women; (b) a woman who has served as an outstanding role model for women and young ladies, or (c) a woman who has displayed great leadership, innovative thinking and influence in her chosen career. The recipient must be a Kentucky native, resident or organization located in Kentucky.

A committee of college representatives will select the award recipient. The June 5 events will strat with a reception at 6 p.m. followed by the dinner and awards at 7 p.m. in the Piper Dining Hall inside the McManis Student Center.

The college says all proceeds from the dinner will go to support its ongoing academic programming and student scholarships. To make a nomination, purchase tickets, become a sponsor of the event or find out more about the awards dinner, visit www.midway.edu/spotlight or call Scott Fitzpatrick at 846-5300.

Precise route of natural-gas-liquids pipeline, or at least its originally planned route, is now public knowledge

The precise proposed route of the Bluegrass Pipeline, or at least the original proposed route, is now public, thanks to The Courier-Journal, which filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get maps that the natural-gas-liquids enterprise filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of an application for permits to cross streams. The Louisville newspaper has published the maps on its website; those showing the route in or near the Midway area appear below, running from north to south. Note that most of the maps are tilted about 50 degrees from due north.

This map shows the pipeline leaving Scott County, entering Franklin County and crossing US 460 (Frankfort-Georgetown Road) just east of Woodlake. Most of this area is in Midway's ZIP code.

This map shows the pipeline nearing the South Fork of Elkhorn Creek, which it would cross shortly after Mile 289 of the pipeline. (Click on any map to see a larger version.)

The pipeline would cross the creek in Franklin County, then enter Woodford County, cross Leestown Road near the county line, go under Interstate 64 and take a dogleg to Duckers Road. 

The route then follows the east side of Old Frankfort Pike, crosses that road and heads west toward US 60 (Frankfort-Versailles Road), leaving the Midway ZIP code when it crosses the highway.

More maps will be added. For the story, by C-J environmental writer Jim Bruggers, click here.