Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: What Kind of Jobs Does West Liberty Need?

West Liberty as we all know is in desperate need of JOBS! If West Liberty had jobs that paid well and were promising then you could not ask for a better place to live. As I have said before most people who live here and have been raised up in this area don’t want to leave but are forced to. I think the kind of Jobs that West Liberty needs are jobs that people have went to college and worked for. They are a lot of jobs around here such as fast foods jobs but those aren’t what people who have come out of 4 years of college want to get. They want good paying jobs that are promising and that have good benefits. After 4 years of college or more the last thing people want to worry about is getting a job that seems to be a good one and then the company shutting down. I could not think of a worse feeling then to have something you worked so hard for being taking away after you have put so much dedacation and hard work into getting it.The kinds of jobs I think we need are jobs such as: Accounting Jobs, More job opportunities at the hospital, more jobs in agriculture, and more promising jobs in the school system. Those would all be ideal jobs for people with college degrees. But as for jobs for people who don’t have college degrees West Liberty could really use some factory jobs with some good benefits. Also I think that the people who do have jobs around here deserve more pay and benefits than what they are getting.

How Can West Liberty Engage Our Young People?

The Young People of West Liberty can easily be engaged but just feeling like their opinions matter. I really feel that if we felt like what we had to say mattered we would step up and would want to help more and want to do more to improve our community. I really think most of us feel that if we don’t have a good name or don’t have a family member that is a public official that our ideas will be shot down and not even be considered. While attending a New Cities meeting Tad Long really gave me the impression that he does value the thoughts and ideas of the youth of this county I really think that if more of our Public Officials here gave off that impression the youth would step up and enlighten people with their ideas and opinions. The ideas that do get consider mostly come from the older people from this area who already have children that are grown up and moved away from here. But it would make more sense to me to want to consider youth ideas more because we are the younger generation who have been growing up here and possibly raising family here within the next 10 years. If Morgan County is still in the shape is in now 10 years from now I know that I will not consider staying here at all. And I’m sure others my age feel the same as I do. West Liberty has a lot of upsides and is a good place to live, but no jobs and nothing to do is not a very promising thing to keep people here. If youth ideas are took into consideration I think it will keep most of us from moving away.

What do West Liberty Residents Want to Change?

I think that the Residents of West Liberty would like to see more jobs, more activities for children and families to do and more tourist attractions. By having more jobs in West Liberty people would not have to move away from their families and go so far away to work. A lot of people from this area who have went on to college and have got degrees are not able to work here and are forced to move away to be able to provided for their families or themselves. The majority of the ones that do move away really don’t want to go but have no other choice but to. More activities for families and children would keep people from driving so far away to have something for their families to do. Although we do have a movie theater here you really don’t have much of a choice of what to watch so people travel to places like Morehead, Mt. Sterling and Winchester just to watch a movie, not only is it costing people a lot in gas to travel to these places but it’s also taking money and putting into to other communities when that money could be used here. If Old Mill Park had more things to do other than just walk around I really think that families would spend a lot of time down there. Yes, they are a playground but there isn’t much to it and it’s not very big at all when 5 kids are down there playing all at once it’s crowded. Tourist attractions would not only give the people of West Liberty to enjoy but, it would also bring people from other places into our county and would bring in money and possibly some jobs. Morgan County has a lot of good past history here a museum could easily be put together here to show off how proud most of us are of this county. It’s just simple little things that can really make people appreciate their community.

New Cities in West Liberty: My Perspective

To me The New Cities in West Liberty is an excellent idea and has some wonderful plans that I would really like to see all fall into place and work out for West Liberty. After attended the meeting and discussing the issues in class I really think that what all has been talked about would truly make West Liberty an even better place for the people of this community to live. I feel that the ideas that have been talked about are not ideas that would be impossible to complete although I do see them taking some time to finally come together and be put into play.
I think the best idea out of all the ideas talked about are the following: 1.) Cleaning up West Liberty (making down town look better, planting flowers, painting the buildings and fixing up the sidewalks), 2.) The new bathroom facilities at Old Mill Park and 3.) The best idea of them all in my opinion a recycling center.
I think by cleaning up West Liberty and fixing little things up down town it would make West Liberty feel more homely and would make people even more Proud to call West Liberty their home. By fixing up or making a new bathroom facilities better it would bring a lot more people to the park and would make the park an overall better place for families to come to and spend time together. And finally a recycling center in West Liberty would be one of the best things to happen to West Liberty it would help keep trash out of the dump, off the roads and would also bring in some jobs which is another thing West Liberty is in need of.

What's Great About Our Community?

In my personal opinion I think what is great about the community of West Liberty is that the majority of the people in West Liberty are very close the people here work together to make West Liberty a better place. When something tragic happens the community will work together to do whatever they can to help a family out. In most communities you don’t see people working together like this most people just hold their own and don’t really worry about anyone else but themselves in some cases that’s not a bad thing but, when you know you have people around you that care it always seems to make a situation easier.
Another thing that makes West Liberty such a great place is they are not a lot of crime that goes on around here of course they are little things that do occur but it’s not nearly as bad here as what it is other places. I really like the thought of not feeling the need to worry about someone coming in on me and my family and stealing everything we have. In places that I have lived before I would never ever go to bed without making sure my house was locked up good but, here I feel like I don’t need to worry and it’s a good feeling to feel secure.

The final thing that makes West Liberty such a wonderful place for me to live is the fact I have such wonderful neighbors. The people that live next door to me are the most trustworthy people I have ever met in my life. Anytime that my family and I need to be out of town my neighbors are wonderful about getting our mail and making sure that our house is safe. Also ever since my grandmother has been sick she has received countless numbers of cards and gifts from our neighbors and it always makes her feel so much better. I think that West Liberty is just the right size and they are just the right amount of people here. If this place was any bigger it probably wouldn’t be as great as it is.

New Cities and Gov 141: A Great Experience

To all I have had the pleasure to meet and work with in this class it has been a wonderful experience. I am glad that I took this Government class and that Mr. Gay encouraged us and gave us the opportunity to get involved with our community. It has been a real learning experience.
I have enjoyed the time I have spent working with my fellow students. I plan to keep involved with the park program. Although my main concern is to be a help in any way for the restructuring of the playground for special needs children. I will try to be as involved as possible with the other goals we have set for our events as well. But as always the subject nearest and dearest to my heart will be the childrens' personal area.
I am glad to have met you my fellow students and glad to have had the opportunity to have worked with you on this wonderful project. Good luck to everyone in their future endevaors.

Let's Stay in Touch

Forgot to mention this in the last blog but figured Id just post another. Anytime anything needs updated on the facebook group someone just send me an email or a facebook message about it. I work some crazy hours at work but its an amazing job so I should be available when needed. Also if ya just need me for anything just send me an email. dave_bolin@hotmail.com for referance.

David Bolin: A Note on Moving Forward

h Nso its 3am just got off work and figured Id blog a bit. Im hopefully going to be able to stay helping with things with New Cities since the semester has ended. Not sure on how my class schedule is gonna be with work and such but more to come on that I suppose. I really think with effort and help this can get major things done in West Liberty.

Old Mill Park

Our group is highly wanting to make the Old Mill Park have more equipment to serve the Handicap Children and other children all in one. Such as fixing the swings so that handicap children can have as much fun as other chilren as well as making to appearence of Old Mill Park better. I really hope that this group of citizens will be successful in their plans and ideas for the community of West Libery and the citizens as well.

Join the New Cities in West Liberty

The New Cities Group is still welcoming any citizen that is interesting in coming to our meetings. They are usually every month if not twice a month. If you are interesting in our meetings then please come and join us in our meetings. We would greatly appreciate your appearance to our meetings.

Ditto Melissa on Special Needs Kids

I strongly agree with what Melissa M. says about the park, when she talks about the swings and play mats for the special needs children, everything she said in her blog I hope we can get pushed forward and start making the park a better place for everyone. Its not right to be leaving the special needs children out, I think we really need all that stuff for them, it would make all them so happy that they can finally be included in on something.

Stay Active With New Cities

Even though our government class was over today wed. 6, 2009 i hope our new cities group stays together and still tries to make this county better for each and everyone here.

Stay With New Cities

Make our community a better place come to our new cities meeting and let us here your ideas on what we are doing...

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEETING ! !

Did everyone get Mr. Gays E-mail? There will be a
Chamber of Commerce meeting at Patties Place Noon
on The 14th. I hope everyone comes out to attend if you
can. I am going to do my best to attend and bring with me
my proposal for the play area. If anyone wants to come
I encourage you all to do so. We need voices and support
of our ideas and thaughts. And if anyone has anything
they want to add or new ideas to talk over with our group
this would be a great time to do it. Lets show everyone
how commited we are to seeing our improvement plans
progress into action plans!
We need all that can attend to attend. Lets show everyone
we are serious and that we are going to hang in there like a
hair in a biscuit! Lets prove to them that we want our thaughts and plans to be
taken seriously and that we take them seriously as well.
So come on out and join the rest at Patties Place noon on the 14th!
Hope to see you there.....................................................

My Proposal for Park & Special Needs Kids

And again hello to all. I have a wonderfull Idea!
What other kind could I have? Just kidding! Please
stick with me for a moment so that I can share this
with you.
I propose that we keep our small childrens play area
and just extend it slightly to accomodate the special
needs equipment. We would cover the whole area with
the same surfacing that is found on pre school play grounds.
This surface is a rubber type matting that is very durable
and can accomodate wheel chairs and walking aids. Our
small play area would include all the same features it has
now just adding swings along with handicap accessable
swings, and a wheel through arcade. Lets not forget the
ramps!
The small play area is so very well suited for this as it
is also shaded by the line of trees just behind it and close
to the water fountain. I will be taking this proposal along
with my research for the grants to the next city council
meeting. Wish us luck.

For the Children

Hello all. I'm Finally a contributor! Horray Horrah!
Now to get to the point. Celebration over.
During my visit to the last city hall meeting, I had
the chance to speak to the council about our group
and our plans.
I must say that they were warm and welcoming.
I expressed to them our interests and they were
very recieving. I spoke to them about our event plans
and about the permenant concession stand. I also spent
some amount of time on the issue nearest and dearest to
my heart and that is our kids.
The council was very interested and I invited them to
come to our next meeting on May the 14th. I plan to stay
in touch with the members of our city council about the
design and progress of our play area. My main focus was
the handicap accessable swings and ground cover for the
small play area.
I will be talking with them and contacting the Americans
with Disabilities Act commision to check on the available
grants for our park. The city has some money for this expansion
but they need not dip into it till we see how much we
can obtain by adhearing to the ADA standards and recieving a
grant by doing so.
So wish us luck and lets improve the park for everyone
in our community.

Don't stop now!

Here we are its finals week! The semester is ending and so is our project. Does that you mean we are done with new cities? I really hope not! A projcet like the new cities needs as much participation and support as it can get and if its at all possible I think we should all continue to partcipate in and support new cities. It would be very benefical to future of our city to have its youth involved in keeping it going and revitilizing it. Keep that in mind as you start your summer.

Moral Dissonance

Being a part of New Cities did give me a little hope for my community. Unfortunately, I can no longer participate in such an endeavor. It's no secret that my Gov 141 grade played a huge factor into my participation, and since the semester is ending, it is time for my involvement to end as well. It's not that I don't care. In fact, leaving like this makes me feel more than a bit guilty. No, I have another reason entirely.

The fact of the matter is that I can't drive. A mix of fear, procrastination, and the intimidation of the real world resulted in me waiting to get my permit (which I received only last December). Therefore, I've depended on my Papaw to get me from place to place within city limits. Unfortunately for him, he isn't in the best shape in the world. He has emphysema, high blood pressure, and diabetes, just to name a few of his problems. This summer, I will attempt to get my license in order to lessen his burden. (To go off on a tangent here, maybe we can do something in the future to aid the elderly and disabled). Until then, however, he has to drive, and I don't want to force him to come to subsequent New Cities meetings and/or events when it is not necessary to sustain my grade. Once I receive my license, though, this may change.

Although I may not actually go to any meetings, I will still try to do the best I can to help. If any of my classmates still want to continue with New Cities and want suggestions, feel free to e-mail me at the address shown on Facebook.

Amberlee

We have recently held meetings on how to improve Old Mill Park in West Liberty, we have brought up a lot of good ideas & are hoping to start on them as soon as possible. Some of our ideas were adding in swings for special needs children because their isn't really anything for them to do at Old Mill Park (which isn't fair). Also we are thinking of trying to put the park to better use by putting on concerts and plays. We came up with the idea of maybe getting the band Stitch Rivet to play first, so that many people would come out. Hopefully more people will come to the meetings so we can officially get this started.

The Power of the 'Net

It is amazing what technology can do these days. With the advent of the Internet, the flow of communication is much faster than anyone could have ever imagined. Want to send a letter, but hate physical limitations and/or the post office in general? Send an e-mail. Need info fast? Google is your best friend. Got something to say to the world? Simply create your website to share information or create a blog in order to mouth off about issues. Want to discuss topics with like-minded individuals? That's what online forums are for. Want to keep in touch with your friends? Your prayers have been answered by MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. This and more can be accomplished through the Internet with amazing speed...without leaving the comfort of your home. Indeed, the world is literally at your fingertips (which have likely been used recently if you're are reading this) as long as you have a computer with Internet access.

Such communicative power has endless possibilities. Some may be good, and others shady. Therefore, I urge whoever that stumbles upon this blog to use it for the common good. In order to accomplish great things, people must be brought together. As the old saying goes, two heads are better than one. With the Internet, however, those heads may be multiplied exponentially. This kind of raw manpower is just what we need to improve West Liberty...and communities all over the world. So don't waste the power of the 'net or allow it to succumb to less than noble causes. Flood it with noble ambition!

Old Mill Park, Next Meeting

In the new city initiative group we have been talking about improving the old mill park. We have brought up ideas such as making the facilities better- adding things for the special needs children, and having concerts and theatrical performances.
We recently just had a metting on April 30, 2009. Our next meeting will be on May 14, 2009. Hopefully we can get more people to participate on making these ideas better, and get started on them soon.

Jackie's 2 New CIties Institute Comment...

Many of the people in the community doesn't really realize what shape that Morgan County is really in. Most of Morgan County is in good shape overall but just needs alittle improvement. Such as our Institute Group is trying to accomplish. We really would like to put Handicap swings and more equipment into Old Mill Park because we really don't have any equipment in Morgan County for Handicap children. We don't need to let them feel left out so we are really pushing for that new facility. We also are really wanting to be able to put on plays and have concerts at Old Mill Park to involve all the children in Morgan County to participate. They have been other ideas that other groups have had that are also very important to myself for our community such as the neighbor helping neighbor idea, and the idea about a medical professional workforce. If anyone is reading this that hasnt come to these meetings before need to realize that everyone's ideas are very interesting and important. If you are interested in these meetings please come to them and express your ideas for our community.

Jackie's New CIties Institute Comment...

I have been working with the New Cities Institute Group with improving our community. I enjoy working with this group to help improve our community such as we are trying to get more jobs, recreation activities improved, overall just improving what Morgan County already has. Our short term is to create opportunities for local talent to perform regularly, and expand the parks. Our long term projects is to build an amphitheatre, and help improve Old Mill Park with better playground equipment. Our class have come up with these projects to help improve our community and also to try to get the surrounding communities to come and participate in our facility.

Evolution of Ideas

Benjamin Franklin once said that nothing is certain but death and taxes. To that, I would add one more thing: change. It never ceases to amaze me to see how much things can change in so little time. As most parents would say, a child becomes an adult in what seems to be an instant. In the grand scheme of things, it truly is. Children becoming adults is only one of the nearly infinite changes this planet has undergone during its existence. Indeed, change is a constant in this world of ours, and that rule applies to everything, including ideas. Don't believe me? Let me showcase my experience at April 30's meeting as exhibit A.

Our initial plans for New Cities included expanding the restrooms, building a concessions stand, and making sure that there is an event every Friday night. At the aforementioned meeting, however, most, if not all of these ideas, were given a major overhaul. Upon finding out that the restroom construction would cost over $60,000, the only realistic improvement could be renovation and better care for the restrooms we have. Instead of building a concessions stand, we will more than likely borrow one...for only two events: a movie night in June and a concert at the beginning of August. Apparently, doing a event every Friday night is unfeasible at this point. On top of that, we are now going to expand upon theater in this community and do a play. Sounds a little bit different than originally planned, doesn't it?

The point here is that ideas are limited by reality. You can have a great idea, but sometimes there may be no reasonable way to realize it. After all, ideas only exist in the mind, which has no limitations. The real world does. Therefore, in order to get anything close to what you want done, you have to revise the idea so you can adapt it to real world standards. It may not be what you expected, but that doesn't mean that it is worthless. Change can be a good thing, as even the simplest of ideas can make the community better.

Balancing the workload...

...is hard to do. Being both a full-time college student and a member of an interest group is no easy task. Okay, so perhaps being a part of New Cities is part of my Government 141 class, but that's not the point. The point is that making a change in the community requires time and effort. Like with many other things in life, time and effort must be apportioned in an efficient manner in order to achieve balance in life. One of the things I have yet to learn is to do this.

With me, I either spend too much time on something or not enough. With the New Cities Initiative, I somehow feel that I could have done more. What all did I do, you ask? I attended a few meetings, posted on this blog, and wrote an article that should have gone into the local newspaper that now exists in the form of a Facebook note and a blog post instead. That's it. To be honest, I'm not sure that the work I have done has made any impact on the project whatsoever. Hopefully, it has.

So, where did all the time go? One word: school. My efforts have been hampered somewhat by my other classes. CIS 101 gives you tons of busywork, I had to write an 8-page final for English 200 (not fun) and Physical Geography requires quite a bit of studying in order to well on the tests. Plus, everyone needs some down time in order to stay sane. Since I am a dedicated student who values her sanity, a lot of my time got poured into the tasks above...along with New Cities. A couple of times I have missed meetings due to class, which made me feel more than a little guilty. The truth of the matter is that balance is a difficult thing for me to achieve. Heck, I can't even balance myself on a bicycle unless I'm going downhill! If there is at least one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that I need great improvement in time management.

Of course, my troubles pale in comparision to those who work and/or have children. Melissa Sargent, I deeply admire you for that you have accomplished! Hopefully I will one day be as good at organizing my time as you are. Until then, I will just make up the difference in blog posts.

Act Now

It’s pretty evident that the youth today will be inheriting some very unique and likely difficult problems in the future. That it is why it is so important that we become active in our communities now. We can’t afford to hold off until tomorrow when such huge problems loom over our future like global warming or the massive national debt. We have to make ourselves heard and put our unique perspective our there about the changes we would like to see. That is exactly what we have done with our new cities project and what we must continue to do. I would like to include a video in this post that showcases some of the unique problems of our generation. Take a look.

Community Activities

I would like to expound on Jonathan Cottle's previous post. Below are some of the ideas that the Community Activities group came up with during last Thursdays meeting (some ideas would utilize Old Mill Park):

Cafe/gathering place for everyone!
Performing arts --> Local theater (plays about Eastern KY)
Open Mic Nights
Readings (poetry, storytelling, etc.)
Old Movies
Small Business Fair
Craft Fair

Short term goals:
Concerts
Special Events
Plays (start auditions)


Hopefully we can get these ideas to become a reality. I love the idea of showing old movies in the park, which is a big success in Lexington. I am also excited about concerts in the park. I like Bluegrass music, but there needs to be other types of music showcased as well. I also believe that a local theater is important because our children as well as our older citizens should be exposed to such art forms. It will also give our citizens, who are talented in this area, an outlet to perfect their craft.

Community Intrest

The meeting on Thursday 23 was in fact a great success. I believe we not only have the support of our group but a lot of the community members that were in other groups tended to side closer to our Community Group. I would like to thank all of you for attending, our next meeting is May 14, 2009. However, the Community Activities Group will be having a meeting on April 30.

Community Activities Group Meeting

I would like to notify everyone that there will be a Community Activities Group Meeting Thursday April 30 at 6:00 P.M. at the Morgan County Technology Center/Library. I encourage you all to attended, come express your ideas for the community of West Liberty. This is an opportunity for Morgan County’s youth to express their opinions, let their ideas be considered. Listening to the underclassmen/women at the Morgan County High school aggressively express that their opinions were not heard makes me wonder. They were so aggressive at the meeting but not a one of them of which were not members of the Gov. 141 New Cities Group participated after that meeting. It makes me wonder if they are willing to give and persuade to the older part of society. Are their opinions heard, or are they pushed aside due to age or maybe the lack of experience?

Jumping the hoops

When I began to do research on the price of our project it never occurred to me that getting the money to pay for our plan might not be the most difficult part. I really had no idea that there was such a thing as an aesthetic restriction or that there were only certain materials that you could use to build things at the park or that you have to go through the tourism board to decide where to place a building. It was definitely an educational experience and the lesson I suppose I learned from this is that there are more hoops to jump through with a civic improvement project than you might expect. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible though. In fact as I made these inquiries I found that people were very willing to help me figure out what steps I should take and were very informative about what restrictions were in place.

The moral of the story is don’t be deterred from trying to improve your community just because there might be more obstacles than you expected there is almost always a way around it. You will also find many people willing to help you find your way around these obstacles. All it takes is a little persistence as is the case with most things in the American government.

Have We Really Grown So Selfish?

Looks like my Mamaw has inspired me to do another blog post. She talks a lot about things, so I suppose it's not that surprising. Anyway, the idea for this post came from my Mamaw's musings over the funeral of her sister-in-law's sister. One she mentioned that caught my attention was the serving of food at the funeral. Although this isn't an unheard of practice, it disturbs me a little. Why would someone want to eat while mourning the loss of a loved one? I for one associate food with festivities and celebrations. Why would anybody want to celebrate the death of a fellow human being?

I shared my opinion with my beloved Mamaw, and her response was full of anger and annoyance. It was not at me, but at society in general. She revealed to me that she believes that "whoever come up with the idea of serving food at a church house ought to be shot," that "people don't come to funerals to mourn or to be with people, but just for the food," and that "when the old people started to die, everything went downhill."

This isn't the first time I've heard from her that the older generation had better values than ours. In fact, I've heard it just about all of my life. But is it true? Has Generation Y really stopped caring? Do we only care about ourselves, and not the rest of the community?

I will concede to my Mamaw that we have grown more than just a little lazy and complacent due to the prosperity of the 20th and 21st century. However, our core moral values have remained similar. We may be a little more accepting of certain lifestyles or habits, but we still condemn murder, lying, cheating, theft, and other selfish vices. Where it's important, society has not faced a huge amount of moral decay.

Even so, we do spend more time condemning what is wrong than getting off our butts and trying to make things better. Perhaps it is because modern society has been spoonfed so much that people just want somebody else to take care of their problems. Perhaps it is because we feel that the system is just too unresponsive to ordinary citizens. Whatever the problem is, it is crippling community efforts. When it comes to major projects, we need all of the help we can get. We need a way to stir the masses and turn them away from their selfish inaction. Maybe New Cities can achieve this goal. Maybe it cannot. But one thing is for certain: We cannot give up hope.

Help New Cities Better Our Community

Due to technical difficulites, this article could not be submitted to the paper on time. Therefore, I'll post it here on the Internet for all to enjoy!

There is no doubt that Morgan County is full of pride. With a rich Appalachian heritage reflected in our annual Sorghum Festival, an air of friendliness from border to border, and a collection of talented people, there is much for us to be proud of.

So why don’t we show it? Looking at our community, there is no indication that we are proud of anything. Underutilized facilities, scarcity of job and career training opportunities, a lackluster educational system, little tourism outside the Sorghum Festival, drug abuse, and a host of other problems are prevalent throughout Morgan County. We deserve better than this, and we have the potential to be better than this.

Then how do we utilize this potential? After all, a mere sense of entitlement will get you nowhere. Change requires hard work, planning, dogged determination, patience, and most importantly, the power of the group. Great things are never accomplished alone. Wars are not won by generals alone, but by the hordes of soldiers he has at his command. These soldiers work together on the battlefield, fulfilling their roles as well as watching each other’s back. As tired and cliché as it is, the power of teamwork is not just some cheesy moral found only in fiction. It a real force acting in the real world. One question still remains, however: How do we get organized?

The answer lies in The New Cities Initiative. New Cities is an interest group run by the community and for the community. We believe that change is possible given the hard work, planning, determination, and patience of a well-organized group. Like soldiers on the battlefield, we will look out for each other and consider the needs of all sections of Morgan County. All we ask is for your input and participation.

On April 23rd at 6 p.m., there will be a New Cities meeting at MSU at West Liberty. Topics will include strategies, priorities, and a number of proposals. Free food will be available. We encourage all citizens who have the time that evening to come out and let their voices be heard!

Improving the Image of Eastern Kentucky

I'm sure nearly all of us have seen the 20/20 special "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains." If you are reading this post and you haven't seen it, here's a link to a summary page on ABC's website that also contains a link to the video. Unfortunately I cannot test the video link due to dial-up limitations:

A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains

While I would have preferred more balanced coverage from Diane Sawyer (in my opinion it just supports the "ignorant Hillbilly" stereotype) it does bring real problems to our attention. There's no doubt that we have widespread prescription drug abuse, high obesity rates, and severe poverty. These community problems, among others, should be brought to the attention of New Cities. Better yet, why not opt for welfare reform? That would keep people from having children in order to exploit the system in the first place!

My essay

I personally am not that good at leaving comments or making blogs on the internet. But, since Professor Gay says I have to do this for my grade, here it goes. We are talking about the New Cities Community Initiative.
One of the top concerns that comes up is jobs. This is not just jobs for those that are currently seeking one, but, for the youth that do not see any opportunities to stay in this community when they graduate high school or college. We do have factories, the hospital, and the prison. But, there isn’t much else available above minimum wage jobs. So opening up new job opportunities would be a good start.
Another concern is youth activities and improvement in youth involvement in the community. A lot of this could be solved by creating activities that also include community involvement. If there were more to do for our youth they would want to be involved. Creating places for the youth to meet and get to know more about each other and things going on in the community would lead to more youth involvement in the community.
Also, it has been mentioned that senior citizens have nothing to return to when they retire. Creating a senior citizen community within Morgan County would help with this problem. It would also create more jobs in healthcare and recreation.
Another idea that was mentioned was helping the farmers with agricultural tourism. Making farms not just for selling their products but for local tourism.
A recycling center has been one of the ideas that was mentioned. This not only would create jobs but also help beautify the community and be eco-friendly.
Last but not least, is improvement of the high school. The facilities need upgraded. The walls need painted. It needs more windows. The high school needs to be a place that students enjoy learning in. And, the teachers enjoy teaching in.
With all this said, I don’t know if this is what Professor Gay was looking for but, it is what I have learned by attending the meetings for the New Cities Community Initiative. Now, to get all of the above mentioned done we need everyone to be involved in making our community the best it can be. We need to get out and spread the word. By mouth, by radio, by newspaper, by contacting our state representatives, and by the internet. The more people that do, is the more that will get done. Let’s be the squeaky wheel!

Bridgett's Essay

There are many ways this process might work. First we could use public opinion, every opinion matter when trying to help the community, the public can give suggestions that might be very helpful. The new media such as the radio and new paper would be great. We could get a couple of people that are involved with the new city initiative to talk on the radio and explain who they are, and what their trying to accomplish. We could put an ad in the news paper telling who they are, what their going do and what they can do to get involve. It could have a meeting place and a time, or some one to contact to get started.
Also we could involve local interest groups witch is a group of people drawn together in support of a common interest or to voice a common concern. We could include interest groups such as churches, the woman’s club, and rotary club. They can voice their opinion and ideals in what they think west liberty needs. They can start a petition and get people to sign it saying what needs to be done. They can have a BBQ to help get others in the community involve.
Political Parties could get involve if they are going to run for the up coming election they might want to show the citizens that their helping the new city initiative to try to improve the city. So maybe they can get elected. If say I was wanting to get reelected then I would want to get involve to show that I am trying to help with improving the community.

The Importance of The Project

I am, of course, not from this location. Obviously, that puts me at a disadvantage to the rest of the class. However, i can easily see that this project can be used to achieve some great things within Morgan County. As stated in class, the infrastructure needs to be refurbished; with the help of this project, things such as the preceding can be accomplished.
They can be accomplished if enough people support them. From what I have seen and heard; there are a great deal of influential people who are in favor of projects such as ours. Am I correct in my thinking that there were Representatives at some of the meetings? If so, they can obviously drum up a great deal of support for our project.
What we must keep in mind is that this project can do some great things for Morgan County. Whatever goals that we set for ourselves to accomplish needs to get accomplished. We need to think big, but also realistically. We need our project to succeed due to the fact that the better it does this time, the more inclined people will be to support such a project in the future.
Thank you

School Board Meeting

Hello Everyone,
I have contacted the School Board; their meeting will be tonight,(4/13) at the West Liberty Elementary Gym at 6:30. I also requested time for our group members to speak; they were happy to accomodate time for us. I apologize for the delay in getting the information to you, but it took some time to get in contact with the correct people.
Thank You

A Building Of Learning

As we all know the high school has been around since the 70’s. It was intended on being built for a new action called the open class room. Where all the rooms have openings that connect. Most people aren’t aware of how hard it is to learn when their gaping wholes and you can hear everything the other teachers are teaching.
It makes you not want to pay attention and can be quite aggravating while taking test. I understand why many students drop out, their being blamed for not learning when it the building keeping you from it. Wouldn’t you quit if you was being blamed for not being able to learn when it really your surroundings.
Even though many don’t understand that having a colorful surrounding helps increase knowledge, and learning abilities. When you have to sit in a yellow square room all day long and try to pay attention to your teacher it is quite hard. It puts a lot of unneeded stress on students, who try so hard to do their best and can not succeed.
In my opinion the high school needs big improvements starting with some skylights that let us see some type of sun light in each room. Also some type of color besides YELLOW. I do believe that it would not only improve the building but also the academics of many fellow students.

City Council and Old Mill Park

FYI for everyone. I have found out that the City Council Meetings are on the fourth Monday of every month and begin at 5:00 pm. So that would make this month's meeting on April 27th.

Today I met a friend at Old Mill Park to do some homework. While there, I was wanting to use my laptop to do research for a paper. However, since there is no wireless access available in the park my friend and I got in my car and drove to the MSU Enterprise Center parking lot because we could access their wireless.

It would be nice if wireless was available at the park or at least have an Internet cafe available. This would be greatly utilized. I would much rather have sat at a picnic table enjoying the nice day instead of sitting in my car using my laptop. This is something I think we should advocate for.

Senior Cynicism

The older people here in Morgan County are a rare breed that may not be found outside of Eastern Kentucky. They may not be the most educated bunch, but their experience and street smarts more than make up for that deficiency. Algebra confounds my sweet old Mamaw, for instance, but she can find a use for just about anything. Want a watering can? Get an empty milk jug, poke some holes in the cap, and presto! Want nail polish? Find some poke berries and squeeze out the juice.

This kind creativity is a marvel, but it isn't surprising considering the kind of environment she grew up in. Necessity is the mother of invention, as the saying goes, and during the 1950s in Eastern Kentucky (my Mamaw was born in 1945, so the majority of her childhood took place during this decade), there was certainly necessity. Many people in Eastern Kentucky were poor farmers during this time, and my Mamaw's family was no exception. Therefore, people made the best out of what they had. It was a constant of life, and no one expected anything to change soon.

Many people that grew up during that period took that lesson to heart and carried it into their elder years. They expect nothing to get better, and thus, they grow wary of the grand promises of interest groups and politicians, always looking for an ulterior motive. As proof of this theory, here is an exchange I shared with my Mamaw on the day of the March 31st New Cities meeting:

"Mamaw, do you think we'll accomplish anything at this meeting?"

"Why no!"

I believe this kind of cynicism may be part of the reason why Morgan County hasn't met its full potential. We have this belief among older people (and it may have passed on to some of the younger set as well) that we are destined for failure. Now I'm not saying that cynicism should be abandoned entirely. There is no doubt that interest groups and politicans can become corrupt. But keeping such a self-defeating attitude is toxic, and if we really want to make a difference, we need to believe in ourselves and the potential of Morgan County.

“….Ask what you can do for your Country.”

We all know that quote, most of us I would conjecture find it inspiring, and it seems like a nice thing to do. But when it actually comes down to asking ourselves what we can do for our country we begin to feel as though there isn’t much as an individual that we could do. We begin to ask ourselves, what could one small person, one small group, or even one small town do to really make a difference in our Country or even in our State?
Well the answer to this question is actually quite simple it is called a grassroots movement. When individuals come together and organize themselves they can be heard. They can make a difference and change their community, state and even country for the better. When a group of individuals come together with a common goal and organize themselves well enough to garner and hold support you have the beginnings of change right there. Grassroots campaigns are now easier than ever to begin thanks to the wonderful resources for communication we now have available on the internet.
Grassroots movements have been successful all over the country and all over the world. Most of President Obama’s campaign was started at grassroots and carried upwards. In West Liberty we are beginning a grassroots campaign of our own to improve our community through the New Cities Initiative. It is important that we all join together in this movement to accomplish the goal of improving our community. We have to remember that change starts from the ground up and we all play apart in making change.

Talking about improving Old Mill Park reminded me of this.

Back in the 90's and early 2000's, Nickelodeon sponsored a little something known as The Big Help, which tried to get kids involved with their community. Of all the projects they have done, this is the one I remember most clearly (probably because it was the last one before it became The Big Green Help or whatever it is now):

"Make Your Mark, Help Your Park" Campaign

Doesn't that almost sound like New Cities Initiative Jr.? Perhaps that's because we pretty much have the same goal: to improve the community and motivate others to do the same. The only differences are the target demographic (kids vs. entire community) and the target area (the nation vs. West Liberty/Morgan County). That and the participants in The Big Help probably didn't acquire as deep an understanding of the mechanics of the U.S. government as those currently enrolled in Government 141. :)

Given the success of this campaign, why not encourage those in late elementary school or middle school to volunteer in Old Mill Park? It doesn't have to be anything major. It could be things such as keeping the park clean or helping out a bit with the events. It would be a great learning experience for them.

Meeting Re-cap.

Hey everyone,
This is a quick re-cap of the New Cities meeting on Tuesday, March 31st.
At the meeting on Tuesday groups were asked to come up with specific projects that they believed could realistically get started. The three main project ideas that our class's group specifically were interested in were 1) An improvement and revitilazation project for Old Mill Park. 2) Education and Recreational programs which utilize the avaliable space in the community center.3)Utilization of the High School for community events or projects.

The idea that our group seems the most interested in is a revitilization of Old Mill Park in which the community would be able to and be encouraged to fully utilize the park and its facilities such as the stage. In order to kick this project off we have decided that we should organize a bbq/talent show in which our community and community leaders can get together and look at the potential the park has for becoming an even greater asset to our community. I will put a more detailed post up about our bbq/talent show up a bit later.

Thank you to all of you who were able to attend the meeting. I'm sure your opinions and feedback were much appreciated. Just as a quick reminder there will be another New cities meeting on Thursday, April 23. Thanks Again!

Amber's Essay

West Liberty is participating in a project known as the New Cities Institute initiative. At the end of this process, leading citizens of the community will come together and decide on a course of action… a plan… on how to make the community a “New City.” The plans might include economic development proposals, recreation ideas, etc. Using the political linkages of the policy pyramid, analyze how this process might work.
I think New Cities Initiative is a very good way to get things done. We will have to take action in many ways such as using public opinions, (getting our voices heard within the community), media, other interest groups, political parties, and elections.
Most importantly we need to find out what the people in our community really want and think that we need to improve our city. Ways we could do this is to do polls, surveys (possibly phone calls) and interviews. We need to let the people know that we care about their opinion and that when participating in giving their opinion that it helps get things done much easier.
Next we could involve the media. We could use the internet in such ways like blogs & Facebook, like we are doing now. We could post flyers all around West Liberty telling them all about the New City’s Initiative and what we’re about. Then to further extend out to the public we could use radio stations like 102.9, or put ads in the local newspapers, and possibly work our way onto the news stations like WKYT27 or WLEX18.
We need to invite churches, Woman’s Club, Rotary’s Club, Kiwania’s Club, and other interest groups such as ourselves. These groups can start a petition to get peoples opinion on what they think we need to do to West Liberty. Also we could get these groups to help participate in fundraisers/donations to help make the city better, and let them know that their money will go to what they want done.
Using the policy pyramid we can use the political parties to our advantage, by getting them to involve higher parties which will get things done quicker and probably much easier. We could find out what each political parties opinion is on certain things and then pick which one we agree with and then get them to get people in higher places to get what we need done.
The last thing we could do is elections. We would need to go to the people running in the elections and find out what they stand for and want done. Then we could reassure them that if they get the things done that they said, and then we would gladly vote for them. Also people would see that they are working with the ‘New City’s Initiative’ to make West Liberty a better community.

Jackie's Essay

Our West Liberty Community is planning on making a new cities institute group. That means that a certain group of citizens are going to get together and produce a group to help make West Liberty a better place. Such as if they think that Morgan County needs a new extension to their education department. If the citizens believe we need a better place for the community to go for fun such as a bowling alley or arcade games. By using the political linkages I am going to compare each one to the plan that the group has. I am going to starting with the political parties of the level and explain that first. Political parties are a very important part of the government’s actions. For our plan political parties can help support our group. Such as if we need political help or opinions you could go to a political party for help. The party could support the idea and talk about it to other politics, to get their opinion also. Interest groups are the next part of the level. Interest groups are the groups that are interested in a plan and want to help and participate in the plan. Such as the Women’s Club, Kiwanis’s Club, and etc. Can help support and participate in the plan. Media is the process of radio, newspaper, flyers, and the community in general. The radio can announce certain points to your plan. The radio or the newspaper can advertise your plan to the community. The citizens of the community may not have computers etc. to get information from them so they could get information from the newspaper or radio. Public opinions have a lot to do with the level of political linkage the public has opinions of their own that count very strongly to the plan. If the public doesn’t agree and like your plan then they won’t vote for the plan. Then your plan won’t pass to be processed in the community. The last level would be elections which is the voting of the citizens. If elections didn’t happen then your plan would never be in progress. Such as if the citizens don’t like the plan then they won’t vote for the plan. Then your plan won’t pass from the government’s part. If you don’t have the political linkage level involved and interested in your plan then your plan won’t pass in the process. If you use the political pyramid then your plan will have a better chance of working.

Keisha's Essay

Key officials and the planning committee met and discussed the plans on making West Liberty a new city in order to make it a better place to live, better recreation and more jobs.Civic groups and concerned citizens will be working together in order to improve the recreation for the youth of our community. Key officials for the city of West Liberty and county government officials will be working together trying to come up with the proper infrastructure to bring more jobs to the citizens of our community.The political parties will be a very important part of this plan. Without support from our political parties the voice of the citizens may not be enough to make this happen. The political parties can talk to other members of the parties and get their support of the plans set forth.Support from other groups such as the Lions Club. Kiwanis Club and our local Woman’s Club can voice their opinions and help set the plan in motion. These support groups, key officials and concerned citizens will discuss the improvement of the skate park, construction of an arcade game center inside the community center and having better hours to serve the community and having better access for the youth.City, County officials, and all political parties involved will be laying out the plans and contacting factories and automobile makers like Toyota with the possibility of constructing a factory in our new city.Our local radio station and newspapers will be our source for getting the word out to the community. Flyers with important meeting dates will be available at different areas in the county. Keeping the citizens informed gives this plan a better vote toward yes.It is very important that all officials city, county, state, civic groups and concerned citizens all working together to make our new city a very prosper and worthwhile place for the people of all ages to be proud of. The political pyramid must be used in order for this plan to work.

Melissa M's Essay

Economic growth, prosperity and the abilities to compete, provide and thrive in a fast pace world. These are all of the elements that consist in making a productive and functioning society. But how can we make that happen here, in our hometown?

One way is to get active. Letting our voice be heard, having our needs and desires weighed and appreciated. But how do we get that as citizens? One way that has seemed to make progress in any governmental action is by joining voices with others, by way of interest groups. Our new cities group is an interest group that will provide for a voice for the public as well as assist our local government in pursuing the wishes of the public. And keeping the public informed on our progress.

Our group will do this by a variety of venues and instruments. One of the most powerful forms is word of mouth. Sometimes this can affect areas of our population such as older members of our community who may not utilize the internet. But as citizens of our community their needs and thoughts for our growing city and its success are just as important as anyone else’s.

We can conduct phone interviews, go door to door. Our group could have meetings as well to get our fellow citizens active. Everyone wants prosperity here in Morgan County. We want to see our beautiful little city grow. I have already spoken to several people here in our community who has to go out side our county to find work. Some of these are in factories that would rather be working here in their own home town. These people don’t like to drive many hours away from family just to find a job that could be provided here. They are paying county and city taxes through their jobs to other counties where they work but do not live. Those tax dollars could help our county and provide jobs for our people.But how do we get this done? We will consult with our local government leaders our chamber of commerce and local citizens to establish their needs and desires. The New Cities Group will then provide the best action plan. We will keep our citizens aware of progress and victories by means of the licking valley courier, our local paper, by our blog site here on the internet and by radio.

We need to try to work together for the good of our community, despite our party affiliations. Asking ourselves what is best for our people. Of course by hearing the needs and seeing possible petitions signed by hundreds of people willing to work here in Morgan County, our government leaders are probably not apt to overlook such a mass of probable voters come election time. We can get their attention by means of petitions and numbers we have active in our plan for Morgan County. We must strive for their attention to our needs.

Above all else our county must progress and provide for its people. Beyond party, beyond ego, and beyond the great and all consuming "I" must come the future of our city. Providing future opportunities here in education, the job market and for our future citizens, our children should be our goal. Morgan County must be moved forward and everyone will have to get their hands dirty to see it through.

Non-traditional student meeting overview.

Hi, Everyone this is just a quick re-cap of last Tuesdays meeting.
At the meeting Tuesday night there was some active discussion about some possible long and short term goals for our communities improvement. One of the short term goals discussed was a community clean up project such as planting trees and flowers and other things that would be benificial for our local enviroment. The other short term goal discussed was an improvement project on the football field.
There were a few long term projects discussed one of which was a better recycing center for our community. Other ideas that were discussed were things such as an animal shelter, a redevelopment of main street, and there was also a suggestion to add some new things to old mill park.
Thanks everyone for attending and contributing your ideas!
There will be another meeting this Tuesday at 6:00 pm.

Meeting!

Hello ,
I would just like to give a little reminder for all the non-traditional students that there will be a meeting held at the MSU center at 6:00 P.M. Tuesday the 24th. This meeting will be a good opportunity for everyone to express there ideas about what they would like to see the new cities intiative do for our community.

Government Assignment

The New Cities Institute Initiative is, in my opinion, a very worthy cause for the community. This initiative, if done properly can impact the community in a positive light. Of course, there are certain things that must be taken into consideration before such a project can be implemented. Such things include the public’s opinion on the project, interest groups within the community, the media, political parties, and elections.
Obviously, nothing will get accomplished if the public does not agree with what the people of the project want to do. The people of the project needs to keep in mind that what they do will be scrutinized by the community. By understanding this, the decisions that are made for the project should, in part, reflect what the public wants. The people of the project can determine what the community wants by having a meeting. In this meeting, all of the community members would be invited to give their opinion on what the project should focus on. The meeting would give the people of the community a chance to voice their opinion and quite possibly their support. It is important to have the public’s support because the more people who support the project, the more the project can do. The reason for this is because the more support available to it, the more attention it will get from influential people.
Another linkage that must be kept in our minds while we formulate this plan is to understand how interest groups can affect the project. Some of the interest groups within west liberty would be the women’s club and churches. Interest groups within the community, obviously have a great deal of power. They acquired this power because people of the community support them. Influential people are members of interest groups. Of course, these influential people have ties to people in office who can accomplish things for the project. If interest groups of the community support the project, then it will gain even more support to be able to do what has been stated. The more backing that the project receives, directly affects how much the project can accomplish. Of course, different interest groups could band together for the project. Unity would, of course, make things even better because everyone would be on the same page as far as the project is concerned.
Media also plays a role in the project because it can be used to add more light to what it is about. Radios, newspapers, and internet mediums would be the most viable options to get the project to the people. Without the media’s help, a large amount of people may never hear of the project. It is very important to at least get the basic information to the people. If the media is not used, optimum support will not be achieved and what the project may accomplish will be limited. It is not as complicated as it may sound. A simple radio message stating what the project is about or a group organization on facebook can draw a great deal of people to the project. Of course, each media outlet will appeal to different people. Facebook will tend to draw people of the younger generation while radio ads may very well draw people who are older. Each media outlet must be understood before it can be implemented effectively. Certain techniques that would work for facebook may not work for the radio which, in turn, may not work for television. Each media outlet is unique, and needs to be seen as such.
Political parties also play a role in the project. In a way, it ties in with some of the other linkages. If public opinion is in favor of the project, then politicians will try to associate themselves with it. The project will then gain a great deal of support from a large amount of people. However, some politicians will be wary to attach themselves onto the project due to the fact that the project could be a failure. If this does happen, the politician and his particular party affiliation will suffer because of it. They will suffer because that will give the other parties an opportunity to criticize the party for not having better judgment than what they had. It is a delicate process. In some cases, it doesn’t take much to sway voters from one party to another. In Morgan County, the party dynamic is democratic. Obviously, the democrats do not want to lose this power. Of course, their power could be lost if they make a hasty decision to support this project. That is the very reason as to why politicians will be cautious to associate themselves with the project. For the most part, politicians want to associate themselves with something that is popular with the public. Another way that political parties plays a role in the project is that whomever is in office at the time will impact what the project can accomplish. If the person in office agrees with the project, obviously, a good amount of things can be accomplished. However, if the people in office are against the project then, of course, the project will be limited as to what it may accomplish. This is another reason why the public must be taken seriously when the goals of the project are analyzed. The project needs to do things that the public wants to see accomplished.
Politics plays a role in the last linkage as well. For example, if an election was coming soon; politicians would be very careful to associate themselves to this project. Elections are, of course, a key process for politicians. No politician wants to associate themselves with something that will tarnish their career; especially during an election year. For instance, if someone was running for election and the project was popular; it would be obvious for the politician to try to associate himself with the project. The main thing, for most politicians, is to get elected. Of course, if the project was not popular and this was an election year; the project would not receive a great deal of attention from most politicians. As I stated in a previous paragraph, no politician wants to attach themselves onto something that they think will ultimately be a failure. They do not want to for two primary reasons. The first reason is, of course, because they do not want to hurt their future chances, and the second reason, perhaps most important, is they do not want to hurt their particular party. They fully understand that if they do something to hurt their party, it may take years before it can bounce back to the way that it was. Of course, the next election isn’t until next year, but that doesn’t mean that the local politicians will not be doing things now to ensure that they are elected or reelected back into their office. That is exactly why, if the project is popular, that the politicians will try to attach themselves to it so they can gain more support for themselves.

Creating Your Lobby

Assignment Today:

Today (Wed. March 11th) I’d like for you to work on the following in class assignment:

As you all know, we’re creating a Special Interest Group, or Public Lobby, to help get out the word about our New Cities Institute Project. This project will ultimately yield some specific ideas and solutions to make the community of West Liberty a better place. For that to happen, there has to be consensus on the challenges the community faces, agreement on the solutions, and efforts to implement these solutions.

Before any of this can happen the leaders of the community who seek to ultimately find a common agenda must create means by which they can communicate with area citizens. You’re going to play a special role in that communications.

What I’d like you to work on today is the creation of that group we’ve talked about. Specifically, I’d like you to caucus among yourselves and select fellow students from this class for the following positions:

President: This person will work closely with me to coordinate an overall strategy for our group.
Youth Group Leader: This person will work with the President, persons in their early twenties and still in high school, and me to design a communications strategy for Morgan County youth.

Non-Traditional Students Leader: This person will work with the President and me to design a communications strategy for a very vital group: the 30 and 40 year old population of Morgan County. This is a very big group and consists of both educated professionals and persons in more traditional occupations, such as blue collar workers. You can help bridge the gap between these adults because of the fact that you straddle the two populations.

YG Facebook Leader: This person will be the front person on Facebook and, if necessary, MySpace. They’ll work with their leaders to design a strategy and will be responsible for implementing that.

NT Facebook Leader: This person will be the front person on Facebook. They’ll work with the leaders to design an FB communications strategy and will be responsible for implementing it.

YG Blogger: This person will be the person on the blogs for the YG.

NT Blogger: This person will be the person on the blogs for the NT students.

Event Coordinator: This person will be responsible for coordinating events and working with the YG and the NT student wings of our group.

Secretary: The secretary makes the minutes at all meetings and reports them to the group so we’ll stay on task.

Assistant Secretary: Same as above… this position is created to help keep the minutes and to work in the absence of the secretary… such as events where we split into our two groups, YG and NT Students.

YG Outreach: This person will be responsible for beating the bushes to get folks out. They’ll make phone calls, hand out fliers, etc.

NT Outreach: This person will be responsible for beating the bushes to get folks out. They’ll make phone calls, hand out fliers, etc.

Assistant to the Legal Counsel: I’m the counsel. You’ll work with me. I want the folks who don’t get elected to the posts above to be in this capacity. I assure you there'll be plenty to do, but not any more than the others.

By the end of class you should choose these positions. Keep notes of your meeting and let me know who’s serving in what capacity. Two weeks from yesterday, that is the 24th of March, there’ll be group meeting in both the high school (during the day) and at the MSU Center in the evening for 30-40 year olds. I’ll probably need to communicate with several of you next week so make sure that I have your best email.

The President should prepare the following for me and get it to me by the end of the week in an email:

A list of who’s in what position.
An email list so I can contact folks.
Any ideas, suggestions that may come out of your meeting today.

I think this is fairly easy. Don’t over analyze. Just get the job done. This is an important part of our political process and I want you to experience it without me so you’ll get the full affect.

Ashley's Essay

The leading officials of Morgan County, has made a rather huge decision. They have decided to take on a new project called “New Cities”. With this we are prepared to bring big changes to West Liberty. The first thing on the agenda would have to be to spread the word, which means tell the local business owners and the other orgnazations such as churches, and youth groups, because without their support “New Cities” might not get anywhere.
Another thing is to set up a meeting, invite anyone who is interested,for or against, and tell them their opinion counts. We need all the help we can to get this going. After we’ve posted the date and made sure everyone knows about it. We have the meeting.

During the meeting, we will discuss what we want to bring to West Liberty. For agruements sake we’ll say we want a walmart. Then we will contact WAlmart, but first we need someone to advocate for us. Such as a owner of a big business,and have them contact Walmart and tell them why it is a good idea for them to come to West Liberty. We then need to get it advertised like on WLEX18 or WKYT27,or 102.9. Getting public opinion on our side is #1, then they can write letters to walmart saying why we need them here.

Using Interest groups will help too. Political linkages is the only way to go to get a Walmart to West Liberty. And I believe “New Cities” with political linkages can do it.

Amanda's Essay

Political linkages connect the American government with its people; these linkages make it possible for the individual citizen to have a voice in how their city, state and even country are run. Public opinion, interest groups, the media, political parties, and elections are examples of these linkages between the government and the people it governs.
The political linkages would play an integral and important part of the new cities initiative. The first political linkage that is likely to come into play is interest groups. Which in the city of West Liberty would be comprised of church groups, community improvement based clubs such as the Kiwanis and the Rotary club, and groups such as our student group. These interest groups would begin the process by presenting the problems they feel exist in the community and would create forums for other citizens to voice their feelings about the problems in the community. These interest groups would also most likely try to come up with different solutions to the problems to this community. For instance if one group felt that drugs were the most serious problem in West Liberty they may present a community involvement program as a solution to the problem. Interest groups could also lobby for different solutions that the new cities initiative leaders come up with. If something that the leaders come up with as a solution to the communities problems is of particular interest to them they will put their support behind it.
One of the most important components in the success of the new cities initiative would have to be the media. This includes our local newspaper and radio, as well as our readily available internet resources such as facebook and our blog. Accessible internet resources such as these allow the individual private citizen to voice their opinion about what should be done in the community. The members of the new cities initiative as well as members of the interest groups getting involved could utilize these sources to publicize the new cities initiative and the plans it is making for the community. The media is also a great way of getting the community involved in the project. Creating a facebook group and a blog are both excellent forums for community feedback. Newspaper articles and radio spots are both great ways to publicize meetings provide snippets of information on what it is the committee is doing.
Then of course as we provide forums for the community to share their opinions on our plans the public opinion of the community will begin to play a very important role in the project. We will not only be taking into account what our interest groups and committee says we will also be taking into account the opinions of the public in the community. If the community as a whole is expressing a very negative opinion they will be very unlikely to continue on with whatever it is that the public are so opposed to. Public opinion is a very powerful thing mostly because of the effect public opinion has on the outcome of elections.
Elections themselves could also play an important role in this process because politicians that are active in this community would be keeping elections in consideration as they participate in the process. They will consider the public’s opinion before choosing a stance or making a decision on anything. They will be conscious of what the community is most supportive of and choose to support it as well because that is most likely what will garner support for them in their next election. Elections would also be a very important part of who becomes active and participates in the new cities initiative someone who plans on running for office would very likely be very active and visible in this community improvement project. If only just to get their name out in public and meet voters.
Political parties would also play a role in the process as often happens in politics there would likely be some opposition between the parties about how they believe the communities problems could best be solved. People would be very likely to align with their party and this could cause some un-wanted conflict in the project and this would be one of the obstacles the community would need to overcome in this process. However party loyalties could be helpful for this project as well. If one party is able to really pull together as a party and manage to get state leaders of the party active in their community improvement plan then that could really be helpful in the accomplishment of community improvement.
With the assistance of all the political linkages the new cities initiative could accomplish what it set out to and really improve the community with the help of its leaders and citizens.

Melissa's Essay

The New Cities initiative for West Liberty is a fantastic idea for our community. There will be a lot of work that must be done to accomplish the plan that derives from the meetings. In order to make the community of West Liberty a “New City” city leaders, business owners, educators, and the public in general need to come together to get the work done. I believe the first step is to hold meetings with community leaders and other influential members of the area, which has already been started since there have already been two meetings.

Whether the plan includes economic growth, recreation ideas, or even to better the educational system there needs to be a lot of brainstorming with fresh and new ideas. The people of the community should be included in the decision making process because they are the ones who will be utilizing the outcome. This can be done by conducting phone calls and by going door to door to find out what kind of changes the people of our community are looking for or needing. They should also be invited to planning meetings. By no means will we be able to make everyone in the community happy, but the people do need to know that their opinions and ideas about bettering our community are appreciated and needed.

Besides going door to door and making phone calls, we can create flyers to inform the public about meeting times and what the New Cities Initiative is all about. We can utilize the Licking Valley Courier, conduct radio spots on Kick 102.9 explain the plan and to get the people excited about what is going on and to get them involved. We could also get in touch with local television stations as well. The internet is also another great avenue for informing the public, especially the younger generations. We can utilize our Facebook group by inviting others to join the group, as well as informing folks about our blog.

Interest groups such as the Kiwanis Club, Ministerial Association, local churches, educators, and the Chamber of Commerce need to be included because they may have connections that someone else may not. They may also be able to help the plan become a reality especially if it is beneficial to them as well as to the community as a whole. Interest groups can also help with fundraising and possibly donate money to the cause. If economic growth is the concern of the “New City” committee, the Chamber of Commerce is essential because they aid in helping the businesses of our county. At last check, there were 42 members of the Chamber of Commerce here in West Liberty. They could aid in bringing new jobs to the area.

We might also need to enlist the help of local, district, or state leaders to get the “New City” plans accomplished, which might include asking our Judge Executive, Mayor, State Representative, or our U.S. Representative to help us get the plans approved. We may even include the Governor. These leaders may also be able to help us get the money needed to accomplish the plan. Political leaders should want to help especially if the public is really behind the plan because all the leaders in our community want to be re-elected and care about how the people view them as leaders.

In closing, I would like to say that I am really excited about the West Liberty New Cities Initiative because we need more economic growth in our community and we need good change. It will take us all working together across party lines to get the job done.

New Cities Needs Community Involvement to Work

People rarely accomplish anything by themselves. It takes a group of people working together toward a common goal in order to get things done. These principles also apply to interest groups. By itself, one small interest group cannot accomplish much. If it get others to support it, however, things become much easier. The goal of the West Liberty New Cities Initiative is to make West Liberty a better place. This can only be done by working with people outside New Cities. By taking public opinion, the media, fellow interest groups, political parties, and elections into account, we will be able to get the support it needs and come up with a plan of action.

Since the purpose of New Cities is to improve our community, we to know what our community needs and wants. This is where public opinion comes in. In order to find out what the public wants, however, a little research is required. Methods such as surveys, interviews, and polls can be used to gage the citizens’ opinions. We must keep a couple of things in mind, however, when considering public opinion. First of all, it would be impossible to make everyone happy, as people have clashing views on issues and the resources necessary to carry out some projects may be hard to come by. Compromises will be made. Second, and most importantly, there is no guarantee that the public will be cooperative. How, then, do we tip the odds in our favor?

The answer is simple: the media. By using the media, we can inform the citizens about our cause and persuade them to take part by conveying a positive image of New Cities. In order to accomplish this, we need to leave our mark in as many facets of the media as possible. In Morgan County, this includes radio, newspapers, and the Internet. As for radio, we can buy advertising slots on stations such as KICK 102.9 ,as well as send our representatives for interviews with the radio personalities of the most popular stations within eastern Kentucky. As for the newspapers, we can place ads and request articles to be written in papers such as The Licking Valley Courier or The Shopping News. As for the Internet, we can not only promote New Cities via this blog and our Facebook group, but also receive feedback from the community. People can post comments both on the blog and on Facebook, allowing us to directly communicate with the masses.

The ordinary people in our community are not the only ones we will be dealing with, though. There are other interest groups that will serve to either help or hinder our cause. Let us say that we want a Wal-Mart in West Liberty, for instance. A few interest groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, may support a Wal-Mart, citing benefits of low pricing and job creation. Groups like this would be willing to give money or land for the store. In contrast, groups such as local churches may be against a Wal-Mart, citing questionable business practices and impact on small businesses. They would take actions such as informing the public of their views and protesting. We must take the views of fellow interest groups into account before deciding on a final plan of action for any of our ideas, making compromises and perhaps even abandoning projects if the going gets tough.

There are two other groups that are more influential than any single interest group, however: the Republican and Democratic parties. People from these two major parties are who we elect as government officials and representatives. In turn, interest groups turn to (i.e. lobby) them when they want something done. The views of party the government official/representative belongs to, though, more often than not determine what ideas and projects will be supported by them. Since Morgan County has community leaders from both parties (ex. John Will Stacy is a Democrat, while Tim Conley is a Republican) we are not immune to partisan struggles.
Therefore, we must consider the views each party would most likely have on certain ideas. While some measures would undoubtedly be non-partisan (ex. funding for drug rehab programs), others would involve more conflict (ex. increasing taxes ). Again, cooperation and compromise are the key to working with people that have opposing views.

Finally, we must consider elections. It is no secret that everyone in office fears losing their office. As an interest group, we will have to take advantage of this fear in order to advance our agenda. After all, what better way for a politician to show their worthiness to remain in office by taking measures to help the community? Using this argument against incumbents will more than likely increase our chances of receiving funding from them as well as influencing their vote in a favorable way if the incumbent in question is a state representative or a Congressman. Also, although elections are still a long time away, once election time comes, we can support candidates who will further the goals of New Cities. Still, even when we get support from the right officials and representatives, we must be wary of sabotage by the opposition, especially in higher offices such as those for Congress.

In conclusion, New Cities cannot succeed alone. In order to come with a proper plan of action, we need people outside the our interest group. By taking public opinion, the media, other interest groups, political parties, and elections into account, we will receive the support we need, albeit with plenty of cooperation and compromise along the way.

Blogger Invitations

FYI... I've invited all the GOV 141 students to become a blogger on this site. That's where you'll park your essay that's due Monday. I sent the invitations to your MSU email accounts. If anyone has trouble getting it up here just let me know.

Thanks. Good luck.

Who We Are

We are a coalition of local citizens consisting of 19 MSU students and one adjunct professor. Our group is named the MSU New Cities Student Initiative. We will be helping the community of West Liberty promote their New Cities plan. We will be opinionated and our opinions are our own, not necessarily those of the community, others in this group, or the West Liberty New City planners.

We hope you'll visit often.