Features

You might say Jim Ebert’s life is full of highs and lows.

Ebert, director of Carroll County’s Camp Kysoc, took former county resident Skylar Cannon hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon on Nov. 28.

Two weeks later, on Dec. 11, Ebert helped fulfill another disabled hiker’s dream – climbing to the highest summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

On Friday, when the doors of the Carroll County Public Library open after the New Year holiday, it will be just like every other day, but with one major difference: director Jarrett Boyd no longer will be the captain of the ship.

Boyd is retiring as of today, Dec. 31, after more than 26 years at the helm, during which time she steered the facility from a small library with few customers to a state-of-the-art library with computers, a staff of nine and a budget 10 times larger than when she arrived in 1982.

Costumed street dancing, a mariachi band, a Spanish-language Mass and a dinner combined Thursday for a colorful celebration honoring the tradition of the Lady of Guadalupe.

Glowing candles lighted the way for a huge procession of faithful, who walked around the block where their church, St. John Catholic Church, is located.

The group was escorted by Carrollton Assistant Police Chief Steve Abbott, who also had also escorted a caravan of participants from Warsaw, Ky., to Carrollton.

It’s been an elusive goal for Jim Ebert, but on Friday, Nov. 28, he and another team of hikers successfully took Skylar Cannon to the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Skylar, 13, a former student at Cartmell Elementary School in Carrollton, was born with spinal muscular atrophy – a terminal disease that has left her without the use of her arms or legs. She and her family now live in Shelbyville, Ky.

Downtown Carrollton is being dressed up in new winter finery to give a festive atmosphere for the holidays.

City workers Troy Harrell, Dennis Webster and Billy Aldridge were wrapping evergreen garland around lampposts on Main Street on a cold, raw day last week.

Webster was hoisted up and down in a protected cage in the bucket of the city’s loader, first taking down the historic-marker flags attached to the lampposts. In the meantime, on the ground, Harrell was preparing the garland for Webster to attach to the posts.

The employees of Fluor-Daniels got a jump start on the Christmas spirit, digging deep into their pockets so that 48 area families could have plenty of food for Thanksgiving and 76 children would have plenty of gifts come Dec. 25.

Amy McAlister, Rayna Partin and Sheila Chowning, employees of the contractor on site at Kentucky Utilities’ Ghent Power Station, said they and their fellow co-workers collected $16,500 for Carroll County families in need. They far exceeded their goal of $10,000.

Cindy Wheeler’s second-grade class at Kathryn Winn Primary school is asking the community to help in its quest to get a postcard from every state in the union – and maybe a few more.

The students are hoping for people to send them from their vacation destinations or other travels, or to enlist the help of far-flung relatives.

The project began with last year’s class, which ultimately  received cards from all seven continents and, eventually, all 50 states. Delaware was the last state to be heard from.

If you missed out on buying a personalized brick when the Kentucky Veterans Memorial was built at General Butler State Resort Park, you’ll soon have a second chance.

The original bricks pave portions of the walkway to the monument and the ground in front of the large, free-standing stones that honor each branch of the military. They were sold to raise money for the project, and are engraved with the names of veterans.

Jim Mosgrove and Shelby Bickers, two members of the memorial board, have made 165 more bricks available, and already have sold 10.

About 150 Carroll County students learned and practiced leadership skills at the all-day Leadership Academy on Friday, Oct. 31, at Camp Kysoc.

It was the first time students from both the middle and high schools attended together, according to instructional coaches Gerda Wise (CCMS) and Nancy Simpson (CCHS), who brought the students together with adult leaders from the schools and the community to teach teamwork, collaboration and how to depend on each other.