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House OKs budget
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House member who sought combat tour returning
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Woman pleads guilty in surrogate mother scam
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Fairfield County deputies bust moonshine stills
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SC House delays action on $7 billion budget amendment
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Party opens Aiken Bluegrass Festival
5/8/2008 9:24 PM
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Journalism award leaves teen ‘speechless’
5/8/2008 11:47 PM
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Police are working to identify suspects
5/8/2008 11:46 PM
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Graduate has already made a difference
5/8/2008 11:51 PM
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Police looking for suspect in carjacking
5/8/2008 11:44 PM
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USCA graduation list
5/8/2008 11:32 PM
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Local restaurants prepping for the Mother's Day rush
5/8/2008 9:24 PM
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Luncheon attendees celebrate, give awards to special mothers
5/8/2008 8:24 PM
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HEAT officers maintain highly visible profile
5/8/2008 8:24 PM
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Re-enactors to bring 1800s back to life
5/8/2008 8:24 PM
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Rex pushes, Ryberg opposes passing PACT bill
5/8/2008 8:24 PM
Friends of Hopelands elects new officers
3/20/2008 11:38 PM
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By SUZANNE R. STONE
Staff writer
The trustees of the Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch briefed the membership and visitors on two major projects near completion and plans for new projects in the coming year at the Friends' annual meeting.
The Thursday evening meeting in the City Council chambers was followed by a board of trustees meeting at which new officers were elected. The Friends' incoming 2008 officers -- President Joseph Spencer, Vice President Ruthanne Lucius, Recording Secretary Joyce Bethmann, Correspondence Secretary Dorothy Ridley and Treasurer James Field -- also presided over the annual meeting.
"I was looking back at some information," Spencer said at the opening. "The first meeting of the Friends of Hopelands was 37 years ago on March 19, 1971. So it's nice to continue that tradition."
Spencer went on to thank retiring Board of Trustees members Elke Haas, Martin Ritter, Pete Sampson, Henri Wade and George Wintersteen. He also informed the meeting of two Friends who died in the past year: Nadine Jacobsen in September 2007 and W. Gibbs Herbruck in February.
City Manager Roger LeDuc addressed the meeting on the City's partnership with the Friends on the park's two major projects of the year -- the renovation of the performance pavilion and Rye Patch.
"The pavilion alone would've been a major project enough for any year. We've been working on it together for five years," LeDuc said. "The other really major project was Rye Patch. A few years ago, Rosamond McDuffie was in my office and said she wanted to see Aiken's historic homes become landmarks. I said, 'Before you go off on a crusade, we need to take care of our own house. If we're going to ask people to put their homes up as landmarks, we need to do it for our own, and we need to bring it up to the status that goes with that recognition. And if we're going to do it, we need to do it right.'"
Originally budgeted at $470,000, the project now looks closer to $450,000 as it nears completion. Work on Rye Patch included replacing the vinyl siding, the floors and the heating and air systems. Work still to come includes adding storm windows, adding a back staircase to the second floor and finishing the back half of the building.
City Solicitor Richard Pearce plans to move his offices to Rye Patch in the late fall or early winter, which will give the City a physical presence in the building Monday through Friday, LeDuc said.
"I think when it opens in April, you'll be very pleased," he said.
Lisa Hall of the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum gave a report on the state of that building during the past year. The museum saw its highest attendance with some 5,500 visitors last year, she said.
Since the last annual meeting, the Racing Hall of Fame has held the first and second Breakfast at the Gallops event, housed several art exhibitions, installed TVG race channel monitors in the building and given the Aiken Trained Horse of the Year award to Country Star.
"I think you can see from Roger and Lisa's reports that this park is being used by the citizens of Aiken every day," Spencer observed.
He thanked the City of Aiken, the Gregg Graniteville Foundation and the Hope Goddard Iselin Foundation for their grants toward the pavilion renovation project. The pavilion will be ready to open on May 4 or 5, Spencer said, and will be dedicated at the first event in the 2008 summer concert series.
Treasurer James Field gave the annual financial report, and guest speaker Lee Poe of the Aiken Camellia Society reported on the park's four camellia gardens before the public meeting adjourned.
Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.
3/20/2008 11:38 PM
0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friendBy SUZANNE R. STONE
Staff writer
The trustees of the Friends of Hopelands and Rye Patch briefed the membership and visitors on two major projects near completion and plans for new projects in the coming year at the Friends' annual meeting.
The Thursday evening meeting in the City Council chambers was followed by a board of trustees meeting at which new officers were elected. The Friends' incoming 2008 officers -- President Joseph Spencer, Vice President Ruthanne Lucius, Recording Secretary Joyce Bethmann, Correspondence Secretary Dorothy Ridley and Treasurer James Field -- also presided over the annual meeting.
"I was looking back at some information," Spencer said at the opening. "The first meeting of the Friends of Hopelands was 37 years ago on March 19, 1971. So it's nice to continue that tradition."
Spencer went on to thank retiring Board of Trustees members Elke Haas, Martin Ritter, Pete Sampson, Henri Wade and George Wintersteen. He also informed the meeting of two Friends who died in the past year: Nadine Jacobsen in September 2007 and W. Gibbs Herbruck in February.
City Manager Roger LeDuc addressed the meeting on the City's partnership with the Friends on the park's two major projects of the year -- the renovation of the performance pavilion and Rye Patch.
"The pavilion alone would've been a major project enough for any year. We've been working on it together for five years," LeDuc said. "The other really major project was Rye Patch. A few years ago, Rosamond McDuffie was in my office and said she wanted to see Aiken's historic homes become landmarks. I said, 'Before you go off on a crusade, we need to take care of our own house. If we're going to ask people to put their homes up as landmarks, we need to do it for our own, and we need to bring it up to the status that goes with that recognition. And if we're going to do it, we need to do it right.'"
Originally budgeted at $470,000, the project now looks closer to $450,000 as it nears completion. Work on Rye Patch included replacing the vinyl siding, the floors and the heating and air systems. Work still to come includes adding storm windows, adding a back staircase to the second floor and finishing the back half of the building.
City Solicitor Richard Pearce plans to move his offices to Rye Patch in the late fall or early winter, which will give the City a physical presence in the building Monday through Friday, LeDuc said.
"I think when it opens in April, you'll be very pleased," he said.
Lisa Hall of the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum gave a report on the state of that building during the past year. The museum saw its highest attendance with some 5,500 visitors last year, she said.
Since the last annual meeting, the Racing Hall of Fame has held the first and second Breakfast at the Gallops event, housed several art exhibitions, installed TVG race channel monitors in the building and given the Aiken Trained Horse of the Year award to Country Star.
"I think you can see from Roger and Lisa's reports that this park is being used by the citizens of Aiken every day," Spencer observed.
He thanked the City of Aiken, the Gregg Graniteville Foundation and the Hope Goddard Iselin Foundation for their grants toward the pavilion renovation project. The pavilion will be ready to open on May 4 or 5, Spencer said, and will be dedicated at the first event in the 2008 summer concert series.
Treasurer James Field gave the annual financial report, and guest speaker Lee Poe of the Aiken Camellia Society reported on the park's four camellia gardens before the public meeting adjourned.
Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.
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