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The Henderson Gleaner
October 4, 2003
Tourism tutorial: New class offers tips on helping traveling public
A couple of weeks ago, a woman was trying to reach the Henderson Fine Arts
Center to judge an art exhibit, so she pulled into a local gas station to ask
directions.
To her dismay, the clerk said he'd never heard of such a place.
She finally located the arts center on the campus of Henderson Community College,
but the unhelpful clerk probably needs to enroll in a class taking place at
HCC next week -- if he can find it.
The class, a pilot program developed by KCTCS for the Kentucky Department of
Travel, is designed to help any "front-line" person who comes in contact
with the traveling public with their customer service skills.
Henderson County Tourist Commission Director Marcia Eblen arranged for Henderson
to be the site of the pilot program for the class after learning about it at
a tourism meeting earlier in the summer.
"When I got back from the meeting, I spoke to (the college) to see if
they would be interested in piloting the program," Eblen said. "The
Travel Department wanted to do the pilot in the western part of the state, so
it worked out fine."
Pam Wilson, director of community and continuing education at HCC, will teach
the class next Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon. She said her students
will "be pioneers" as she works to see what parts of the new curriculum
work effectively.
The class, she said, is really for anyone who meets the public on a daily basis.
"When people pull into a filling station and ask 'what is there to do
in this town?' that's the first contact they make with a community," she
said. "We want that to be a good contact and help keep people in town."
Wilson said to achieve that goal she'll be giving students an overview of tourism
in Henderson and in Kentucky and will be instructing them in such topics as
good communications skills, customer expectations and taking responsibility
for the customer.
"We'll be talking about some simple things like giving directions,"
she said, adding that class sizes will be fairly small to allow lots of interaction
between students and the instructor. "It's a very hands-on participatory
kind of training."
Students who take the class will have a practicum to complete once the classroom
work is over, but they will also receive one hour of college credit for taking
the class.
There is no charge for the pilot class. All locations in the KCTCS system will
be offering the class eventually for a fee, Wilson said, including Henderson
Community College.
"Tourism is one of our leading industries," she added, "so we're
going to promote this throughout the state."
To register for "Introduction to Customer Service," call Wilson at
(270) 830-5202.
The Henderson Gleaner
October 4, 2003
Governor candidate stumpsat HCC
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ernie Fletcher laid out his vision for Kentucky
during a press conference Friday at Henderson Community College.
After an introduction by Kentucky Congressman Ed Whitfield, Fletcher highlighted
for those in attendance his "prescription for Kentucky."
"We're serious about making real changes," he said. "We want
to bring people with rock solid values to Frankfort. We want to restore honor
and dignity to the government."
Fletcher, Kentucky's 6th District congressman, said one of Frankfort's most
important responsibilities is creating jobs for the commonwealth.
The proposed $13 million technology center at Henderson Community College,
Fletcher said, runs parallel to his plans for more jobs in the state.
"It's absolutely the type of initiative we want to support. And I will
support it for Henderson," he said.
Fletcher said tax reform is necessary and economic development is "critical"
for Kentucky.
Health care is also on the agenda, Fletcher said.
"In this area you have some of the highest insurance premiums in the state,"
he said. "A major insurance company recently pulled out saying they can't
afford the premiums, Fletcher said.
"We want to return (health insurance) competition to the state."
Fletcher said he will work for medical malpractice insurance reform, noting
that Henderson has already witnessed several doctors moving their practices
to Indiana because they couldn't afford the premiums.
Education is another priority, Fletcher said.
"We want to take our kids to the next level," he said.
The state needs to focus on areas such as reading -- making sure that each
child can read at their grade level. He said he also wants to restore discipline
in the classroom.
At the end of the press conference, Fletcher was questioned about a new television
ad released by his campaign to combat a Web site sponsored by Ben Chandler,
the Democratic candidate for governor, that is allegedly critical of Fletcher.
"I think Ben's taking a new turn in the campaign and we're responding.,"
he said. "We've responded with a contrast ad."
Courier-Journal
October 3, 2003
College hopes to save skills, stone fence
Shelbyville, Ky. - The picturesque old limestone fence bordering the new Shelby
Campus of Jefferson Community and Technical College has become the touchstone
for what one day could be a new course of study at Kentucky's community and
technical schools.
The college is joining with the internationally respected Dry Stone Conservancy
in a series of dry stone masonry workshops that will help educators evaluate
the potential for offering hands-on instruction in the craft. The project is
beginning with restoration of approximately 2,000 feet of the century-old stone
fence that fronts the college and adjacent Shelby County High School campus.
"It's not just about fixing the fence, but about making sure that the
skill is not lost and that these fences aren't lost," said Joanna Morris,
director of grants and contracts for the college.
Morris secured funding for restoring the fence as an educational tool in partnership
with the Dry Stone Conservancy.
"What we're discussing is how we can make this more long-term," she
said. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System, "especially
with the technical side, has some very good partnering programs - and this might
fit very well into that, where the end point might be a certificate program."
Dry Stone Conservancy instructor Neil Rippingale introduced about a dozen students
to the basics of dry stone walling yesterday at the college. After two hours
of classroom instruction the group began repairing a damaged section of the
stone fence.
Joe Messer, 27, of Cincinnati, and Donald Allen, 38, of Shelby County, members
of a work release program who were among the students, said they had experience
as laborers in concrete block and stone construction but had never been introduced
to dry stone masonry, which uses no mortar. "I like the way it looks, and
it's something I could be interested in," Allen said.
The Shelby County workshop in the first in a series of 20 Dry Stone Conservancy
workshops - also scheduled in Louisville, Lexington and Harrodsburg - that will
offer instruction to the public on rock fences and retaining walls, and professional-level
training in landscape design, restoration consulting and dry stone architecture.
"People from all over the USA come to Kentucky to take these classes,"
said Jane Wooley, conservancy restoration program manager. "This weekend
we have a fellow coming from New York. A lot of the people who take the training
classes are just interested in history, and a lot want to learn the basic skills
so they can repair their own fences or build a retraining wall in their garden,
but not work professionally."
Participants who show promise and want to continue in the apprenticeship program
may advance into work on conservancy projects, letting them work for certification
while being paid.
To learn more about the programs, go to www.drystoneusa.org. To sign up for
classes on the campus, call (859) 266-4807.
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