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Nola Sizemore

Staff Writer

During a recent meeting of the Loyall City Council, Santa and Mrs. Claus paid a visit to give out candy canes and a homemade cheesecake. Santa and Mrs. Claus, who was represented by Loyall residents Charles and George Ann Lovely, said this is one of the highlights of the holiday season for them.

“We enjoy doing this every year,” said George Ann. “Charles began growing his beard several months ago to make his imitation of Santa more authentic. The children love it and we’re scheduled all over the county before Christmas.”

Council member Anne McFarland applauded the Lovelys for their dedication in making the holiday brighter for so many children throughout the county.

Visiting the meeting, Magistrate Delbert Stephens told council work will begin on cleaning out Loyall’s levy intake and outtakes this week. He said Crider Construction will be doing the project paid for by the county.

“I promised you all I’d try to help in any way I could and I’m trying to keep my promise,” said Stephens. “I hope this helps your problem somewhat. Crider Construction will have to take the dirt out of the drains, let it lay on the bank for a few days so that critters and such will have the chance to drain out and go back to their rightful place. Then we will haul the dirt away.”

Stephens said he hopes to begin installing adult/teen outdoor fitness stations at some of the parks throughout the county. He said this will promote fitness and be an asset to the county.

“Hopefully, if the money is available, in the spring we can begin installing some of this type of equipment in some of our parks,” said Stephens. “These outdoor fitness stations brings the best of the gym to the outdoors. They are perfect for parks, trails or next to your playgrounds for the adults to use while their children play. The outdoor fitness stations are tailored to provide a workout for teens and adults of all fitness levels. I think everyone will love the addition of this equipment.”

Stephens said the purchase will depend upon coal severance funds received by the county for projects such as this.

“I’m just hoping we’ll have the funds to begin this project,” said Stephens.

Loyall resident Teresa Davis expressed concern over water standing near her mother’s home at 510 County Pike Road. She said the drains are not working correctly, creating difficulties in getting her mother in and out or carrying groceries in to her during rainy weather.

“Right off I don’t know what we can do,” said Longworth. “We worked on the drains on the other section and they didn’t drain too good too long. We’ve had Jim Shoemaker’s trucks over there trying to blow them out, but we’ve not done anything to them lately. “

Longworth said, “We have that one and another one next to our parking lot that are extremely bad. Those two are probably the worse ones we have. We took care of the one on Chad Street and it seems to be working well. I don’t know when the new sewer system goes through if it will help that over on County Pike Road or not.”

“All the old storm drains have been concreted up — blocked off and there is no way water can get out,” he said. “Why this was done I have no clue. That’s what we’ve run into over there. We’ll look at it and see if there is anything we can do.”

Reach Nola Sizemore at 606-573-4510 or at nsizemore@heartlandpublications.com