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Sentinel Morning Update: Speakers talk tourism at chamber breakfast
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Carlisle needs to become a destination, according to the Downtown Carlisle Association and the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau.
Speakers from the two organizations addressed area business owners Thursday during a “State of the Downtown” breakfast sponsored by the Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re not competing against the store across the street or the store across town,” said Glenn White, who joined DCA as its Main Street manager in July. In this mobile and digital age, he said, the competition is really this area against areas like Harrisburg and Lancaster and against online retailers.
White has a background in event planning, including Kipona in Harrisburg, and he said thinks some new events could help infuse new life into the area, drawing people and perhaps corporate sponsorships.
Ideas White said he would like to explore in the next few years include a ribs cookoff, music festival, salsa event and crabfest.
“We have world-class food here, really fine arts,” he said.
And that was just the start.
“Toys for Tots parade,” he said, calling the concept “a great way to kick off the season” and bring in lots of donations for the less privileged.
His list also included Italian street painting, with hundreds of artists doing temporary chalk artwork in the street.
“You have to be down here on a certain weekend to make sure you see this,” he said, underscoring how such an event could lend itself to the downtown’s objective.
White also stressed that success will require a concerted effort, which is why he’s seeking suggestions and help from business owners.
Valerie Copenhaver, marketing manager of the visitors bureau, also struck the destination theme, but her emphasis was on marketing. The bureau just started a six-month “branding” campaign, she said, explaining that the goal is to figure out what distinguishes the area and brings people here, as well as which methods of advertising and promotion are most effective.
Along with the rest of this story from Sentinel reporter Heather Stauffer, here's what else to look for in today’s print and on-line editions:
Dickinson holds health care talk
In the wake of President Barack Obama’s address on health care to a joint session of Congress, David Nash, founding dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health, spoke to Dickinson College students and community members about health care reform on Thursday night.
The Dickinson campus is buzzing about the health care debate, with discussion and opinions being shared among students at the college, freshman Sarah Ganong said.
The nation has been similarly fixated on the issue, with arguments for and against the public option, single-payer systems and healthcare cooperatives.
But Nash’s presentation, titled “Real Reform - Real Leadership” and given as part of the college’s Clarke Forum on Contemporary Issues, added another facet to the debate.
Nash distinguished between the president’s call for health insurance reform and actual health care reform.
“I would like to thank President Obama for his speech last night,” Nash joked at the beginning of his presentation.
“It was a really great speech,” he later added, “but it was not really a great policy analysis on what the problems are and how we are going to face them.”
Nash said he is trying to broaden the debate by examining cultural issues, he explained. The solution to the health care crisis involves a change in the behaviors of both patients and physicians, he said.
Nash urged Americans to embrace healthy living habits - to eat right, to stop smoking, to exercise. The money that could be saved if Americans focused on prevention could be used to fund insurance for the uninsured, he said.
Nash also encouraged a change in the way physicians are paid. Instead of the current piecemeal payment process, he proposes a “bundled payment” method in which insurance companies fund a pot of money to be used to treat patients, he said. Instead of constant medicating and testing, physicians would need to know their patients and consider other options for treating them, he said.
Big Spring confirms staph infection case
A Big Spring High School football player has a staph infection, district officials confirmed Thursday.
One test taken from skin lesions of football players came back positive Thursday for staph, Big Spring Superintendent Rich Fry said.
The infection is limited to the football team, Fry said. As a result, all football activities for students in grades 7-12, including practices and games, have been halted for 72 hours, Fry said. The varsity football game against Hanover scheduled for Friday night will be played Monday at 7 p.m.
The district has sanitized its fitness center and asked student-athletes to sanitize their equipment, Fry said. The fitness center will be sanitized again within 72 hours, he added.
Desktops are already sanitized each night, Fry said, but the district will also clean its light switches, door knobs and buses.
Within 24 hours, they will know if the confirmed infection is a case of MRSA, Fry said. The precautions taken for MRSA are the same as those taken for staph infections. No students are being kept out of school, Fry said.
Updates are being posted on the district’s Web site at www.bigspringsd.org.
Big Spring played its season-opener last Friday night against Boiling Springs High School at Ecker Field on the campus at South Middleton School District. SMSD officials were notified of the possibility of staph earlier this week. The Big Spring football team used the girls’ locker room at Yellow Breeches Middle School during the game, SMSD Superintendent Patricia Sanker said.
The custodial staff had cleaned the locker room on Friday, she said. On Tuesday, South Middleton disinfected the showers, locker rooms and weight rooms in all the district’s schools with a MRSA-resistant cleaner, Sanker said.
Parents of South Middleton middle school students were notified of the possible staph infection via a letter sent home on Wednesday, Sanker said.
On Thursday and Friday, coaches in South Middleton distributed letters to their players alerting them that one case had been confirmed, reminding them of the importance of good hygiene and offering suggestions for prevention, Sanker said.
There have been no reported cases of infection in South Middleton, Sanker added.
Former councilwoman asks for emergency plan
Former councilwoman Linda Cecconello wants the borough to develop an emergency plan to better cope with gridlock through downtown Carlisle caused by an I-81 shutdown.
Cecconello, who is on the ballot for a council seat this fall, made her suggestions during the council meeting Thursday - almost two weeks after a “perfect storm” of circumstances Aug. 28 snarled traffic for hours.
Two accidents on the highway combined with heavy traffic from the Carlisle Events’ Corvette show, afternoon rush hour and the arrival of Dickinson College students to bring a host of problems to borough streets.
Cecconello suggested the borough develop a plan that would place a traffic control person at intersections near where emergency vehicles are housed.
During the recent gridlock, she witnessed first-hand how emergency units from Union Fire Company were delayed in their response to a call by traffic blocking the intersection of Louther and Hanover streets.
“Part of the problem was the lack of respect for traffic laws given by the drivers as they blocked the intersections,” Cecconello said. “Sometimes people just need a little reminder.”
She suggested the borough post “It’s the Law — Do Not Block the Intersection” signs as it does for “No Turn on Red” or “Stop for Pedestrians in the Crosswalk.”
Margeson told The Sentinel this week that he and Mayor Kirk Wilson have evaluated the situation with Mike Keiser, director of the borough’s Public Works Department, and are developing a plan to train additional manpower to help direct borough traffic in the future.
Cecconello also recommended the borough develop a relationship with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department to help during gridlock conditions. “We talk about municipal cooperation, let’s try to put it into action,” she said.
Television stations should also be notified of traffic conditions and asked to put up alerts across their screens similar to what is done for inclement weather, Cecconello said.
Morning Update
The Sentinel Morning Update runs every weekday by 8 a.m. to take a look at what we have planned for our newspaper and Web site. Feel free to offer any suggestions, questions or feedback to jpratt@cumberlink.com.
