Joe P. Asher

Staff Writer

The prospect of a new entrance road for Kingdom Come State Park was one of the issues discussed during a meeting of the Cumberland Tourism Commission on Tuesday.

Commission Chairman Scott Sherman explained to the board the status of the new entrance.

“Rick Fuller, the manager of the park, says he keeps getting the same answer out of Frankfort,” said Sherman. “My guess is there’s one guy in Frankfort and he’s just not paying attention to it. He’s probably overwhelmed.”

Sherman asked the commission members if the commission would be interested in writing a letter to check the status of the project. Commission member Joe Creech made a motion to pursue the matter with the state and to contact Harlan Fiscal Court and request their assistance. The motion was passed with no opposition.

The commission discussed the possibility of paving the walking track at Black Bear City Park. Commission member Cleon Cornett advised the board of the status of the project.

“I discussed it with the firm that does the blacktopping for the county, Mountain Enterprise,” said Cornett. “The gentleman said he only does 8 foot widths of blacktop. He took the numbers I gave him and said he can give a pretty good estimate of what it would cost.”

Cornett explained how the estimated cost was calculated.

“If he put an 8 foot strip down all the way around the peripheral of the park it would be $14,000. Four feet would be half that, and we’re looking at maybe 32 or 36 inches, it’s probably going to fall somewhere around $6,000,” said Cornett. “I’m almost sure we can get the county to do that for us. I talked with David Kennedy about that and he’s pretty supportive. But it will be later in the year.”

In other commission activity, the commission approved the following:

* The commission’s budget for this fiscal year;

* Commission member to attend training at the 2012 Brushy Fork Institute;

* The minutes from the previous meeting.

Reach Joe P. Asher at 606-573-4510 or jasher@heartlandpublications.com