Ark Valley News - Out of the office

Out of the office
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: September 03, 2015

Some not happy with right-of-way work

It may be a while before the rights-of-way along Meridian come back to life.

Road construction left a wake of dirt and sprayed-on grass seed.

For a few businesses on South Meridian, the crew's efforts to restore the rights-of-way will likely fall short.

Take DZ Automotive, for example.

Co-owner Diane Miller spent hundreds of dollars and countless hours over the past few years turning a tired bed of rocks into a lush green carpet of grass in front of her business. (You know how expensive city water can be.) It really looked nice.

After Meridian reconstruction was finally complete, a subcontractor came through, raked the dirt and sprayed the seed. Unfortunately, the soil they left was filled with gravel rocks from the roadwork.

"I'm disappointed in the way it looks," Diane said. "To me, they should either put it back like I had it or reimburse us for what we spent."

It's that way farther south at Sonic and at Pizza Hut, too. Both companies did a great job keeping the rights of way in front of their businesses looking good before construction started. It remains to be seen how the areas will look in the future.

The city also has a cleanup project on its hands. The front of Veterans Park on the west side of Meridian became much steeper because of the road project.

Neal Owings, parks and public buildings superintendent for the city, said the city is planning to have a decorative retaining wall installed.

That should look good.

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Pigskin pickers, get ready. The Ark Valley News (and several fine sponsors) will be rolling out the annual football picks contest starting in next week's paper.

Weekly prizes and a Kansas City Chiefs football game are on the line.

The overall winner — the picker who has the most correct picks at the end of the 10-week contest — will receive tickets to the Dec. 27 Chiefs game against the Cleveland Browns at Arrowhead Stadium, plus a stadium parking pass, overnight lodging and some spending cash.

If you have designs on the grand prize, you'll want to start with the first week and not miss a week. In the 10 years I've been running the contest, no overall winner has missed a week.

We do give out Pigskin Bucks to weekly winners. It's money you can spend at participating merchants.

Anyway, I just wanted to be sure that potential pickers were aware that the contest would begin next week so they didn't miss a week.

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Congratulations to the Abilene Elementary School PTO for another successful Hornet Hustle.

It's always fun to cover the event. I enjoy seeing the competitive runners. But I especially like to watch the little kids run. Some of them are competitive, like those Preheim boys this year.

Silas Preheim, who is 7 years old, placed 45th in the 5K run. Max, 10, was 49th.

This year, the event drew 301 participants, which was the second-best participation rate in the Hornet Hustle's six-year history.

The event is the only fundraiser the PTO does. It raises enough money to help fund projects throughout the year.

What a great idea. (It's better than raffle tickets every couple of months. That's for sure.)

Organizers of the event deserve a pat on the back. It takes several months to put it all together. I hope it continues well into the future.

Chris Strunk is publisher of The Ark Valley News. Reach him at 755-0821, news@arkvalleynews.com or on Facebook.