On the Street... by Chuck Haney
It’s all a go for the new $3 million 62-room, three-story Comfort Inn & Suites that will officially open Feb. 23 in the Stoneybrooke Shopping Center at the junction of business 36 and U.S. 65.
Franchise owners Spike and Scott Ehrhardt said that all went well last week during an inspection and that employees were busy training on the computer system and other details during this past weekend.
“We actually took in 10 to 12 guests on Sunday night because of the weather. They walked in and asked if we were open and were looking for overnight lodging because of the bad weather,” said Spike Ehrhardt.
The final shipment of furniture and tables for the large meeting room and the breakfast room were to arrive Monday and the hotel here was scheduled to go online Tuesday.
Chillicothe’s fourth hotel/motel will give the city a total of 227 rooms for events locally and in the area. Others are the Grand River Inn, the Best Inn and Super 8.
Meagan Macoubrie, who was announced in this column as the general manager about three weeks ago, will be assisted by Traci Pyrtle, who will serve as the assistant manager and banquet coordinator. The hotel will employ between 15 and 18 persons.
Visitor Bureau and Tourism Director Amy Supple, City Administrator Dean Brookshier, Councilman-at-Large Darrel Rinehart and this writer got a guided sneak preview of the new facility last Friday, courtesy of Mrs. Macoubrie and we left impressed.
There is a large meeting room that will hold 140 and can be divided into a large room for around 100 and a smaller room to serve around 40. There is also a swimming, hot tub, an exercise room with full equipment and a breakfast room seating 30 to 35 persons for the free morning breakfast.
The owners got a building permit April 2009 and construction began in June. The Ehrhardt’s have hotels and motels in Missouri, Illinois, and Oklahoma that include franchises for Hampton Inn, Fairfield, Holiday Inn, Town Place Suites, Courtyard Marriott, Super 8 as well as Comfort Inn & Suites in Macon and Chillicothe. They also own motels in St. Roberts and Bowling Green in Missouri as well as a number of Hardee Restaurants.
The public will have the opportunity to tour the new Comfort Inn & Suites at a grand opening and Chamber ribbon cutting on Friday, March 5 starting at 4 p.m.
If there is good weather this coming weekend there could be as many as 200 persons in our city and to use our four motel/hotels.
The 23rd annual livestock show at the Livingston County fairgrounds and Jenkins Expo Center should bring in FFA and 4-H members and parents from Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas and other states for the weekend show, according to Dewayne McCauslin who co-chairs the event and started the livestock show with David Walker 23 years ago.
McCauslin said they FFA and 4-H folks will be joined by 60 AGR students from Northwest Missouri State University on Saturday when they will serve as judges and Sunday the Northwest ag students will have their own show.
Wilbur McCoy is the new manager for the Chillicothe Wal-Mart Super Center. McCoy has been with Wal-Mart for 21 years and prior to being assigned last month to the Chillicothe store he was a member of the Wal-Mart Market team that served 14 stores in north Missouri. He was co-manager of the Marshall Super Center in 2004.
McCoy resides in Norborne with his wife Debra who is a teacher in the Richmond School District and their two children, Devanne, a freshman at Norborne, and Jacob, a sixth grader.
McCoy has seven assistants, including Shift Manger Frank Pagliai. The 159,000 square foot super center has 250 full and part-time employees.
John Hanks, a member of the Eagles, who is assisting with a fundraiser for Wanda M. Saale Hesler at the Eagles this Sunday, said the afternoon of fun and fundraising will begin at 1 p.m. with the hog roast. The auction and music will follow.
Mrs. Hesler has Polycythemia Vera with complications. Normal Polycythemia produces too many red blood cells causing thick blood, requiring phlebotomy (bloodletting). She has passed beyond that stage as the bone marrow dies. Her necrotic bone marrow occasionally fails to produce red blood cells at all, requiring immediate hospitalization. Her specialists tell her that bone marrow transplant is not an option.
Her condition leads to enlargement of the spleen and causes a portal hypertension across the lobes of her liver, forcing fluids out of the liver to fill her abdominal cavity and press against her heart and lungs. In April 2009 one parasitizes procedure removed seven liters of fluid from her abdomen.
She has spent a little over four months in the hospital and getting radiation treatment since last March. Her condition is chronic and will only deteriorate. She is presently confined to a hospital bed at her home and can only sit up or use a walker for a short period of time.
Mrs. Hesler misses her work with the disabled, but knows that she won’t be able to work again. The cats know she is in trouble and surround her day and night.
If you would like to donate an item for the auction or make a monetary donation or desire any additional information, please contact John Hanks at 707-1855.
The Highview Baptist Church is holding a blood drive on Saturday, March 6, in their fellowship hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and it will be dedicated to Amy Poindexter. The church is located at 713 Milwaukee Avenue in east Chillicothe. To donate blood call 1-800-give-life to schedule an appointment or visit www.redcrossblood.org sponsor code Highview Baptist.
Amy is the daughter of Roger and Mary Anderson and was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2009. During the past few months she has needed several blood transfusions and platelets. Because of the shortage of both in Missouri the church is having the blood drive in honor of Amy.
The National Weather Service will host a “Storm Spotter class in Chillicothe on Tuesday March 2 at 7 p.m. The class will be held at the Calvary Baptist Church Family Life Center. It is open to the public and all volunteer storm spotters are invited to attend.
The North Central Missouri EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Chapter 944 has awarded its $1,000 Learn to Fly scholarship for 2010 to Joshua A. Monroe. The announcement was made recently by Jim Summerville, chairman of the scholarship committee.
The scholarship enables future pilot assistance to a persons interested in obtaining their goal of a solo flight. The chapter raises funds each year to promote aviation in the area. This is accomplished by hosting the Young Eagles Breakfast and Fly-In. At that time the Young Eagles (ages eight-17) are given instruction about flight and a free airplane ride with one of the group’s certified pilots.
The 2010 Fly-In is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Chillicothe Municipal Airport.
The LIFE Center Food Pantry will be distributing food to low income and needy families on Thursday, Feb. 25 from 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The food pantry is located at the corner of Elm and Calhoun. Please bring Social Security cards for all family members of the household. Call the Cornerstone Church at 646-2231 for more information.
Madison Marcolla of Chillicothe, a senior scholarship athlete at the University of Missouri in Columbia was featured in the winter edition of Tiger Row magazine which goes to Tiger Scholarship Fund contributors.
Madison, a former all-state golfer at Chillicothe, was featured on a page three of the magazine asking MU fans to contribute 110% for Tiger-student athletes.
Madison is quoted as saying “As a student-athlete for the University of Missouri, more is required than just athletic excellence. A student athlete for Mizzou must also succeed in the classroom and in the community.
“When I graduate in May, it will be more than just with varsity golf letters. I will graduate from the top journalism school in the country and also from the Honors College. When you donate this year please know that your donation does more than create successful athletes. It helps champions for Life.”
She was featured on a page with an MU girl soccer player and Tiger sophomore and leading scorer on the basketball team Kimmie English, a communication major who will graduate in 2012. Madison is the daughter of John and Laurie Marcolla of Chillicothe.
St. Joseph Lafayette boys went undefeated in league play and notched their second straight MEC title. The Irish, with second and third place MEC finishers Maryville and Cameron in a different class and District, appear a lock to win the District title at Smithville this week where they are top seeded.
State ranked St. Joseph Benton shared the girl’s title with Maryville after Savannah upset Maryville last week. Earlier in the season Maryville upset Benton. Benton and Savannah join Chillicothe, Smithville, Lafayette and Platte County in the District at Smithville next week.
The Chillicothe Lady Hornets at 8-14 and the Chillicothe boys (9-14) will be playing this week in the Smithville District. Maryville, Cameron and St. Joseph LeBlond compete in a Class 3 District tournament.
At the 57th annual CLAA Conference tournament Feb. 6-13 at Tina-Avalon fans got to see three state-ranked teams and some outstanding players, including the two MVP’s of the tourney.
Southwest Livingston County won its 19th game in 22 starts last week at Stewartsville and won the CLAA tourney title for the first time since 1968 in topping Tina-Avalon. Southwest should win 20 games for the second straight season and that has never happened in school history.
Last year the Lady Wildcats coached by Brian Upton won their first-ever District title and advanced to the state Quarterfinals for the first time in school history. The team starts two seniors and three sophomores and the first three off the bench is a freshman and two sophomores.
Southwest topped Tina-Avalon girls in the title game and finished second in the regular season to the Meadville Lady Eagles, who are state ranked and 19-2. T-A’s Darcy Jenkins who hit a tying state record six treys in the final quarter, was named the Bob Carter Tourney MVP and finished with 22 points. Senior Jenkins also broke her father’s school scoring record of 1,655 points this season. Dad Jerry Jenkins set that mark while starring for the T-A Dragons in 1975.
The Meadville boys coached by Darren Smith earned their first CLAA tourney title since 2001 by defeating the T-A boys. They were led by MVP star Willie Howe with 32 points and Bob Carter all-tourney players Cody Smith and Rick Tate who had 15 and 12.
In that CLAA championship game with 55 seconds left in the third quarter T-A junior Zach Grossman topped the 1,000 point mark. He finished with 22 points and joined junior teammate Logan Holmer (19 points) on the all-tourney team.
State ranked Meadville boys won their 21st game of the season last Tuesday night when they topped Glasgow by four points.
The state ranked Penny High of Hamilton Lady Hornets lost their first game of the season last week at Bethany when they were upset 65-60 after rolling to a 20-0 record.
Granddaughter Carly Carlton of Bishop Hogan School was recognized last week as the county winner in the 7th-8th grade division of the American Legion Auxiliary Essay Contest. She was the county winner in her age division.
Carly’s essay was “What is my Patriotic role as a U.S. Citizen.”
Each of the winners read their essays to American Legion and Auxiliary members and guests.
Other first place winners in each age category received in an email from Sue Warren were--third/fourth grades, Cole Wolf; fifth/sixth grades, Claire Chapman; ninth/10th grades, Sydnee Rounkles; 11th/12th grades, Sarah Ewing.
Second place winners—third/fourth grades, Brett Shaffer; fifth/sixth grades, Karson Keithley; seventh/eighth grades, Jacob Shiflett; ninth/10thgrades, Elizabeth Sivill; 11th/12th grades, Deven Crowe.
Third place winners were--third/fourth grades, Meredith Oesch; fifth/sixth grades, Rashad Johnson; seventh/eighth grades, Elizabeth Warren; ninth/10th grades, Maddie Boyles; 11th/12th grades, Sydney Oden.
The welcome was by Sue Warren and co-chairs for the essay contest were Mary Posh and Jean Burk. The first place winners will advance to the District level.
Grandson Colin was one of the lucky winners at the recent Outdoor Classic. He took in the show with Grandpa and Grandma Carlton, and Grandpa purchased a raffle ticket at one of the booths. Colin’s name was drawn and he is as proud as he can be of his framed Terry Redlin print.
Granddaughter Carly Carlton and the Saturday Y basketball team she played on finished a six-week schedule last Saturday. The head coach for the team was Tricia Curp, former boy’s head coach at Braymer High School.
We want to wish a Happy Anniversary to Don and Mary Underwood, who celebrate No. 55 this Saturday.
The following are celebrating birthdays from Feb. 24 through March 2—Liz Barnhart, John Guthrie, Ed Douglas, Cindy Alford, Don Worthington, Paul Steele, Ronnie Stamper, Zelma Cleaveland, Lori Corbin, Bill Swindler, Sharon McCoy, Dan Swagerty, Judy Applebury, Jake Haynes, Don Murrell, Doris Reeter, Doyle Leppin, Martin Greer, Vida Crowder, Berniece Bonderer, and Mary Thompson.
I have already told you more than I know.
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