Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce

Weekly Update    January 24, 2003

WOW! There’s no other way to describe the energy that flowed through Shoemaker Center at Ohio University-Chillicothe Thursday evening at your chamber’s annual dinner meeting. More than 400 members and their guests (thought to be a record) started the evening’s festivities with a standing ovation for our guest speaker, Ben Hartsock of the national champion Ohio State football Buckeyes. The Unioto graduate and son of former chamber Entrepreneur of the Year Tim Hartsock thrilled the audience for more than 30 minutes with his remarks and answers to questions. He also stayed more than 30 minutes after the event to sign autographs for the hundreds wanting that upclose encounter.

STEVENS WINS ENTREPRENEUR HONOR: The evening also saw the honoring of the newest Entrepreneur of the Year, Charlie Stevens of RLS Recycling/Disposal. Charlie, at age 39, left a secure maintenance position at DuPont in Circleville and invested $20,000 with Frank LeMaster to purchase the former M&M Iron and Metal business on Riverside Street. Today he has more than 30 employees on the 10-acre site on Eastern Avenue.

SPARKLE AWARDS: Huntington Bank at Paint and Main streets and the Kroger store on Western Avenue were recipients of this award which honors businesses which make substantial renovations to their structures. Huntington spent $310,000 last year to completely refurbish both the inside and outside of its bank in anticipation of the many guests who will be in downtown Chillicothe for the bicentennial this year. Kroger not only did a complete remodeling inside and out of its store, but also helped the city improve the traffic flow on Western Avenue.

GOODMAN TOP VOLUNTEER: Linda Goodman, a board member from the Hampton Inn & Suites, was named Volunteer of the Year for the chamber. In addition to her board duties, Linda also was chairman of the Networking Committee until recently and was instrumental in making the Regional Business Expo a success and for starting regular networking luncheons with speakers such as local elected officials, and the city’s development director.

THE GAVEL IS PASSED: Mike Hall became the new chairman of the board of directors of the chamber as Connie Smart ended her one-year term at the helm and six years on the board. This is the second time for Hall to be chairman as he previously served in 1991 and 1992.

IF YOU MISSED IT: If you weren’t able to make Thursday’s extravaganza and couldn’t catch the original broadcast, Horizon View will be replaying the event at least four times in the next week. It can be viewed on Channel 2 of Horizon View at noon on Saturday, 8 a.m. Sunday, 4 p.m. Tuesday and 4 p.m. Wednesday. Thanks to Horizon, many more in the community not only got a chance to see Hartsock, but also to learn more about the many programs under way here at the chamber.

SPEAKING OF SELLOUTS: All 1,000 tickets for the Citizens National Bank Bicentennial Ball on March 1 are gone, according to Julie Lambert of the Junior Civic League which is coordinating the event. The only tickets left for the kickoff event that day, the Statehood Day Prayer Breakfast in the Chillicothe High School gym, are $5 balcony spectator seats. They can be purchased at the Ross-Chillicothe Convention and Visitors Bureau. Call 702-7677 for more information.

SCHOOLS MEETING: Superintendent Dennis Leone, a couple board members and maybe a representative from the architectural firm will discuss the building program of the city schools at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday. The session is co-sponsored by the chamber’s Governmental Affairs and Networking committees. The meeting will in Room A of the Ross County Service Center on Western Avenue. To attend, please register at Schools breakfast registration. The cost is $5 which includes a continental breakfast.

LAST CALL ON STRESS: Want to get a handle on how better to handle stress? Check out the Ross County Workforce Academy seminar set for Tuesday, also at the Ross County Service Center. Details are available on our website at www.chillicotheohio.com.

ALL MEMBERS ON BOARD: A complete listing of members of the chamber is now available on our website under the Membership Directory link. It’s not in its final form yet, but members, non-members and visitors can get a look at the list that’s in both alphabetical and categorical format.

NEW ASSOCIATE: Toni L. Eddy has joined the Mann & Preston LLP law firm as an associate. The offices are at 280 Yoctangee Parkway.

VALENTINE’S DAY IDEA: Looking for a place to enjoy Valentine’s evening? The Clearfork Bluegrass Quartet will be playing at 8 p.m. in the CHS auditorium as the next concert of the Chillicothe Area Artist Series. Tickets ($12 for adults and $5 for students) are available by calling 779-2955 or visiting the website at www.caasi.org.

This newsletter goes weekly to more than 350 of the chamber’s members for whom we have e-mail addresses. If you have an item you’d like to include, e-mail Executive Director Marvin Jones at mjones@chillicotheohio.com. If you’d like to be omitted from this mailing, reply and ask to unsubscribe. To stay abreast of chamber activities, make sure to visit www.chillicotheohio.com frequently.