Byesville Rotarians learn future of Guernsey County looks bright

Pictured: Dennis Harding, speaker host, and Norm Blanchard, Director of Community Improvement Corporation.

Norm Blanchard, Director of Community Improvement Corporation, reported that from Guernsey County’s future looked positive. Blanchard expects county residents to see rapid changes occurring in the next year.

Blanchard stated that he sees no negatives with the arrival of oil and gas interest in the area. While there is currently a lull in oil and gas activity, he expects long term effects of this new industry will contribute to an improvement in the county’s economy. He sees indications that local businesses will be advertizing jobs in the near future.

He indicated that the area has some challenges to resolve. One of the challenges is to improve the RR crossing at the Byesville Business Park. This project involves coordinating many different agencies including ODOT, EPA, and PUCO. Because the railroad crossing is non-standard, the process for implementing an upgrade has been slow.

Interest in adding businesses to the I70/SR290 area will increase traffic at an already busy intersection. Efforts are being made to design a solution to that will re-route traffic in this area.

Chuck Fair, club treasurer, reported that the club’s May chicken BBQ was successful. The club sold out by 12:15 pm beating May’s sales record by 1 hour. At times, the club was bagging and selling chickens as they came off the spit. He thanked the members of Byesville Scenic Railway who worked at the BBQ with the Rotary. The next BBQ will be held Saturday, July 21.

The club is looking for local non-profit organizations as BBQ partners. Non-profit partners will earn part of the BBQ proceeds. In return, partners are expected to provide workers for the BBQ. Organizations interested in partnering can all Randy Launder, 740-685-8294, or Dennis Harding, 740-685-2720.

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary can call Membership Chairs Marty Patchen, 740-685-3828, or Randy Launder, 740-685-8294.