Florence, Ky. – The inclination for the Boone County Distilling Company came from a casual conversation between friends over adult beverages. The inspiration came from a bit of “forgotten history.” After Josh Quinn and Jack Wells sipped on the idea of making their own brand of bourbon, they googled “Boone County bourbon,” as Quinn tells it. He found a research…
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CVG and Amazon Drive Boone Economic Growth
Florence, Ky. – Northern Kentucky University’s top economic analyst expects Amazon’s $1.49 billion expansion of its e-commerce operations in Boone County to impact industry growth, air cargo operations and salaries for workers positively. “Greater Cincinnati is one of the top ten e-commerce hubs in the United States,” said Janet Harrah, senior director of the NKU Center for Economic Analysis and…
Read MoreDream Comes True at Richwood on the River B&B
Florence, Ky. – Colleen Sutton’s love story reads like a business plan. In fact, it was a savvy business plan that made her lifetime dream come true for the wedding planner turned owner of Richwood on the River B&B in Milton. “This is a love story of a mother and wife who really loves her job,” said Sutton, a business…
Read MoreOur Famous Zoo Babies
FLORENCE – When Gladys’ mother rejected her at birth, the Cincinnati Zoo and its “Zoo Babies” program came to the rescue. Zoo keepers dressed in gorilla suits and attended to her needs 24 hours a day until she got used to her new environment. Family matters to gorillas, you see. They are social animals that live in family groups. So…
Read MoreLiveWell Campaign Comes to Rotary
FLORENCE – Nancy Costello and Lea Beck are trying to raise an army in Northern Kentucky to combat a tenacious public enemy. The enemy? Poor health habits. Kentucky stands No. 47 of 50 states in overall health, according to their recruiting literature for LiveWell NKY. And, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks the Commonwealth No. 1 in the…
Read MoreLiving With Polio
FLORENCE – Rotary International’s three-decade battle to eradicate polio worldwide means more to Barry Kienzle than to most others. Kienzle, the chief financial officer for Paul Hemmer Companies, contracted the crippling disease a month before his second birthday. After six surgeries stretched over 15 years, he enjoyed a pretty normal life for half a century, he said. That all changed…
Read MoreBray Brings Animal Shelter Awareness to Rotarians
FLORENCE – Hedgehogs can be a problem. They are a bit prickly to handle. Cats can be a problem, too. They tend to proliferate. That’s the assessment of Colleen Bray, field sergeant for the Boone County Animal Shelter in Burlington. “Cats are our biggest challenge, especially in the spring and summer,” Bray said. “We get kittens all year long.” Bray…
Read MoreThe Ghosts of Boone County
Bridget Striker, Local History Coordinator Boone County Public Library, spoke about ghosts in Boone County. The Local History Department does a lot of genealogy research, including house and property genealogy. They receive a lot of questions about “who died in my house or on my property.” From these questions an idea was born—Ghost Walks of Boone County. This has become…
Read MoreU.S. Rep. Thomas Massie Visits Florence Rotary
FLORENCE – U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) believes elimination of omnibus funding bills would help break the frequent budget gridlocks in Congress. To meet the September 30 deadline for funding the government, lawmakers in recent years have lumped proposed appropriations from 12 subcommittees into a single bill. Congress also has passed continuing resolutions that keep the government financially afloat for…
Read MoreEverything But The House Visits Florence Rotary
FLORENCE – How can you attract half a million potential buyers to your estate auction? Move it online … everything except the house, that is. That’s the premise behind a Cincinnati-based business named (you guessed it!) Everything But The House (EBTH) that has turned traditional estate sales into a virtual auction with the reach and convenience of the internet. The…
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