The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Some savings, at least





We commend Gov. Steve Beshear for showing appropriate fiscal restraint regarding this year’s Kentucky Derby.

On March 4, Beshear announced that his Kentucky Derby breakfast will be scaled back because of the economy and the state’s budget shortfall.

Attendees will be required to pay $1 per item, abandoning the traditional free buffet that costs the state about $70,000 a year. Other features, such as tents and a train that took economic development prospects from Frankfort to Louisville and back, are also being eliminated.

The train cost about $34,000, including insurance. The tent rentals cost $100,000, not including an estimated $17,000 in overtime for state workers to erect and disassemble them. This year picnic tables will be available. A Friday night dinner and reception for economic development and tourism guests will continue, but they will also be scaled back. And except for an unspecified limited number of invitations that will be given to guests as souvenirs, there will be no widespread printing and mailing of formal invitations. They will be sent electronically to state workers and others, and will be published in newspapers.

We all love the Kentucky Derby and the events at the state capital surrounding it, but considering the financial crisis we are experiencing in the state, these cuts are necessary …

— Daily News, Bowling Green


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