By Adam Stewart
From the Newsroom
A very belated Merry Christmas to all my readers. After an illness canceled plans for Christmas with my side of the family in December, we were finally able to get together at my sister’s home in Wichita. We were almost two months late, but that pales in comparison to getting to see everyone.
It was very nice, and the highlight for me was watching my youngest nephew start building the LEGO Formula-1 racecar we gave him as soon as the gift exchange was over. It feels great when you can see that you did well in picking a gift.
I have lots of thoughts running around my brain today, but none that I can quite write an entire column on, so instead I’m going to tackle all of the ideas in short form.
I love the variety of things I get to do and see covering the news. Reporting on the Ancient Order of Hibernians planning an Irish road bowling event last week was a great way to spend a warm, sunny afternoon. It’s something I probably wouldn’t have encountered otherwise, but it’s fun to see people connecting with and exploring their heritage.
I hope their event on March 14 is a big success, not just because they’re supporting a good cause, but also because I hope it’s worth their time to make into an annual event, and maybe inspire other groups to try new things. What community doesn’t want more fun, novel experiences?
Six days later, I was at an informational presentation by Reno County Appraiser Michael Plank—totally opposite end of the spectrum in terms of fun and novelty, but I was still glad I went. The audience genuinely seemed to want to learn about the subject, rather than complain about it, which is rare enough when the subject has anything to do with taxes. And now those audience members are better equipped to appeal their appraisals if they disagree with them in the future.
I was also impressed with the turnout at the meeting. Between Saturday’s meeting and one the previous Monday in Pretty Prairie, sixty-some people took time out of their days for a civics lesson on a very dry topic. It’s a good sign when people take a real interest in how local government works, in my opinion.
Last week one of my favorite readers stopped by The Tribune’s office to tell us about an event she went to as a spectator, the KidWind challenge at Hutchinson Community College, which you can read about in this week’s paper. It’s an exciting program, but we almost missed it.
Let that be a lesson. All of us at The Tribune try to keep an eye out for things worth writing about, but we always appreciate news tips.
Finally, when I started reading through the Reno County Commission agenda packet for this week, I was thrilled to see that Superior Holdings is looking to add 100 jobs in Hutchinson in just the next year. I can admit, last fall I was a bit worried about the long-term implications of Watts Water Technologies’ acquisition of Superior Holdings, aka Superior Boiler.
They are seeking job-creation incentives from Reno County, which could total as much as $195,000. That would be a whole lot of money to me, personally, and I imagine to the vast majority of people reading this column. But it’s literally pennies on the dollar—between 4 and 5 cents per dollar, to be more specific—for job creation. If Superior Holdings meets all the requirements to get that full incentive, it will be adding more than $4.3 million in annual payroll in Hutchinson, and I can’t imagine that many manufacturing jobs can be added without also making capital investments.
There sure is a lot happening, isn’t there?
Adam Stewart is the assistant news editor of The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached at adam@hutchtribune.com.