You keep you coal severance - we keep our school tax and SEEK monies in Northern Kentucky.

Believe me, I believe ALL coal producing counties would love to keep their coal severance tax monies...Could you help us out and call your state representatives and senators and tell them they should vote to let us keep it???

 

 

BTW, I think it is a great thing whenever ANY of the fields/stadiums are improved for our kids to have a better place to play.

Silver Streaker,

This is not intended as a backhanded or sarcastic comment, but if you ever get the chance you need to visit Belfry and see CAM Stadium. Outside of Trinity and St. X it is IMO the nicest football stadium in the state of Kentucky, all for a school with an enrollment of about 750.

 

It has FieldTurf, Home/Visiting Lockerrooms, Completrely Handicap Accesible, Home and Visitor Seating, a very nice scoreboard, and a top notch concession stand/restroom facility. Every school who has came to this beautful stadium comments on how it looks like a small college's stadium (In fact I would go so far as to say it is nicer than all Non-D1 State Colleges and Universities).

 

Even better, this stadium SAVED the school board money when they built a long overdue high school. The ammount of private donations, as well as corporate donations, in addition to the unbelievable community support came together to form the benchmark for small high school stadiums in this state.

 

All I am saying is, where there is a will, and where community support is strong, there is a way! I take it from your posts the school district you are referring to is located in Northern Kentucky, and since you have FieldTurf I am pretty certain exactly which school district it is. Considering the much denser population of that area, add in the fact that there is no earthly comparison between the scale of business density when you compare to a community such as Belfry, and I refuse to believe that no NKY school couldn't upgrade their facilities without needing KERA funding.

 

I was uncertasin about having a high school stadium named after a corporate sponsor, but after seeing what it means to the kids and the community, I think it may be the best way to go.

I am going over to the school and get some more pictures. I will probably start another thread when I get back.

http://www.dailyindependent.com/localsports/local_story_208000615.html

 

According to the article the field and stadium was/will be built with coal severance money, not KERA funds.

Very nice looking field. Thanks for sharing with us. I can't wait to make a trip to see it, and eat some of that great food. I do have one question though. I was under the impression that they were going to change the way the field was laid out. Did they change their mind on that, or was that just a rumor last year?

Very nice field! :thumb:

 

Good coverage from the Ashland Daily too.

 

I also saw this morning that BGP has JC ranked #4 pre-season in 5A. It's good to see an Eastern Kentucky team getting some respect.

Very nice looking field. Thanks for sharing with us. I can't wait to make a trip to see it, and eat some of that great food. I do have one question though. I was under the impression that they were going to change the way the field was laid out. Did they change their mind on that, or was that just a rumor last year?

I believe the baseball field's layout is being changed...that could be where the confusion came from.

http://www.dailyindependent.com/localsports/local_story_208000615.html

 

According to the article the field and stadium was/will be built with coal severance money, not KERA funds.

 

That would seem to, thankfully, relegate the KERA discussion to another board outside of BGP.

 

FWIW - the funding system prior to KERA was unfair. The current funding system after KERA is unfair (to different people). Hopefully the legislators can swing the pendulum back to the middle where it at least approaches fairness. Unfortunately, those w/ the $ under the current system are unwilling to let go of it (as were those w/ the $ under the old system -- the difference is that the KY Supreme Court made THEM give up the $ -- there are apparently a couple of cases working their way through the system which will presumably give the KY Supreme Court the opportunity to do it again).

Very nice looking field. Thanks for sharing with us. I can't wait to make a trip to see it, and eat some of that great food. I do have one question though. I was under the impression that they were going to change the way the field was laid out. Did they change their mind on that, or was that just a rumor last year?

There was talks of turning the field around, but nothing came of it. And yes, the baseball field is getting turned around, hopefully I can get some better pictures today, the pics I took yesterday didnt turn out to well.

Go check out the new thread.

 

Johnson Central High School's New Field Pics PART 2.

Silver Streaker, Johnson Co has a considerable tax base and only one high school. They are not robbing you of any ammenities by building a new sports complex. And if you are barking about inequities in school funding, I invite you to take a look at coal severance taxes and the statewide exodus of them out of the EKY and WKY communities where they are generated. It far outweighs the perception that the NKY and other affluent communities are subsidising school funding for the state's less fortunate districts (of which Johnson County is not), at least in coal producing communities.

 

The Daily Dependent - Ashland Kentucky. The million-dollar project is being funded through coal severance money, which is provided to coal counties for community upgrades.

 

Simply put, those who work in the coal mines get to see the fruits of their labor benefit their children and other kids in the state.

 

Matney said it was one of the biggest victories for his team — the community — in a long time.

 

“We feel like there has been billions of dollars that have left the eastern Kentucky coal mines and gone off to Philadelphia, New York and other parts of the country,” Matney said. “The kids of eastern Kentucky have had very little to show for it. We are fighting to keep the money here and this is a perfect example of what kids in eastern Kentucky should have.”

I guess that answers the question as to where the money used to fund the project came from. Thanks for posting the article.