Of all of the laundry lists of complaints, fluctuating, unpredictable gas prices is always near the top — especially during travel season when high fuel prices can be a major frustration. Which is why one town in Kentucky thinks that it’s found the solution: a municipally owned and operated gas station. And while most stations aim to clear a profit, this one hopes to ease the financial burden for drivers.
Somerset, Ky. is a stop on the way to Lake Cumberland, a popular tourist destination. So while town is only home to 11,000 residents, the stream of tourists passing through the area brings high gas prices with it, especially during the summer months between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
So the town, under the leadership of Republican Mayor Eddie Girdler, decided to buy a fuel station for $200,000 and spend an additional $75,000 on infrastructure and gas pumps. The fuel station only uses the gas from local supplier Continental Refining Company, and it’s operated by city employees from other departments who rotate working shifts at the station.
Fule prices in Somerset can rise about 20 to 30 cents per gallon on the weekends, so the station is setting prices in order to break even — as opposed to making a profit. The town government also has a little extra incentive in mind: lower, stable prices will encourage more tourists to pass through the area and frequent the station, as well as the other restaurants and businesses in town.
While the other private gas stations aren’t enthused about having a municipal station in town, Somerset isn’t the first town to employ a concept such as this. For example, the Bank of North Dakota is municipally owned and operated, plus there are 2,000 municipally owned electric companies in the country.
The citizens of Somerset view the station as a welcome addition, not to mention as the means to gain a little more control over some of the economic decisions impacting their daily lives. In fact, the gas station may just be a stepping stone to other town-owned projects.
“We are one community that decided we’ve got [a] backbone and we’re not going to allow the oil companies to dictate to us what we can and cannot do,” Girdler tells Yes! Magazine. “We’re going to start out small. Where it goes from here we really don’t know.”
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Tag: Kentucky
How Birthday Cake Is Improving the Lives of Needy Children
Whether it’s chocolate, angel food, or rainbow sprinkled, a birthday cake is pretty much a necessity when celebrating someone’s special day.
But as Lisa Ray and Patty McTighe of Bowling Green, Ky. realized, not every kid enjoys the privilege of receiving this annual confection. So they started Celebration Cakes Ministry, using the kitchen of First Baptist Church to provide low-income children with personalized cakes for their birthdays.
Ray and McTighe aren’t professional bakers; everything they needed to know about decorating cakes, they learned from Internet videos and trial-and-error. In less than a year, they’ve already baked and delivered 140 cakes, all the while leading a group of 20 dedicated volunteers who meet several times a week.
Each cake is customized for its recipient, incorporating the child’s favorite characters, colors, or activities. (Check out the group’s Facebook page for photos of some of their whimsical creations, featuring such kid favorites as Elsa from “Frozen,” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Elmo.)
Celebration Cakes learns about deserving local youngsters from social workers, schools and other organizations that work with needy children. “These kids, some of them are going through a hard time, and just one little thing like a cake can brighten their day, and that’s what makes it worth it,” Ray tells Laurel Wilson of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
These volunteers’ unique efforts are already gaining notice. Volunteers in Action gave Celebration Cakes the Rookie Volunteer award and Western Kentucky University named it the 2014 Emerging Nonprofit Organization of the Year.
As much as the cakes brighten the children’s birthdays, they make the volunteers happy, too. Cynthia Jones started baking after watching the Celebration Cakes crew enjoy themselves as they worked. “Once I started,” she tells Wilson, “I was hooked. It brings back childhood memories of playing with Play-Doh. I love it, because when I was a child…I can’t remember having a birthday party. I just think even if kids cannot afford a cake, they deserve to have a cake they like.”
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Kentucky’s Says It’s Time to Fill the State With Quitters
With the Great American Smokeout on the way, and recognizing that 22% of its state population still smokes, Kentucky has started state-wide community challenge to get people to stop smoking. American Lung Association in Kentucky and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield have partnered to bring the “Quitter in You” program to the state. Since about 60% of quitters aren’t successful in their first try, this community effort doesn’t just provide support for people who are quitting. It adds a clever second layer, a robust toolkit for people who want to help a family member, friend, or co-worker quit. It even has specific resources for helping kids. Louisville, hub for the Kentucky program, has seen a slight decrease in its local smoking rates, but the city and still wants to curb tobacco use, which is tied to four leading causes of death: cancer, heart disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke.