Area business gives grant for geography studies to schools

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July 5, 2008

By HEATHER PYLES The Commonwealth Journal Sat Jul 05, 2008, 11:32 PM EDT

Starting this year, local elementary and middle schools will get the chance to receive a grant to help teach one of the most overlooked subjects in schools today: geography.

Science Hill Independent School principal Rita Presley was presented with a $5,000 grant Friday from Robert Tierney, owner of HLCC Group, PLCC, based in Eubank, to help its students receive the resources necessary to learn about the world around them.

“We’re just very honored to have access to these resources,” Presley said. “We hope to use these to further our students’ interest in geography.”

The grant, called “ ... through the inquisitive mind of a child,” was established to “ensure that our local county students have the opportunity to establish and increase a good foundation in world geography, both politically and to provide a better understanding of the interconnections of people, places and environments and their impact on our students’ lives,” according to a statement released from the business.

“Geography is just so important in our lives, and it touches our lives every day,” Tierney said.

Geography was deemed a “core academic subject” by the “No Child Left behind Act,” but it is the only core subject that does not receive federal funding since NCLB went into effect in 2002.

Without the funding for resources necessary to bring geographic study to the classroom, Tierney said American students will continue to enter the world knowing less about the physical world than students in other parts of the world.

“Let’s get rid of the ignorance,” he said.

The grant will go toward resource materials from the National Geographic Society, the Education Network, lesson materials and classroom maps, library materials such as atlases and travel expenses for trips to the annual National geographic Conference or tuition for university geography courses or online geography courses from an accredited university to be approved by HLCC Group, PLLC.

Every school that receives the grant is also required to hold a “geography bee” before the end of the school year.

Tierney said he decided to establish the grant after he met Madison Barker, a Science Hill Student who conveyed her love of rocks and types of money from different areas of the world.

Calling Madison a “wonderfully inquisitive” young girl, Tierney thanked her and her mother Michelle Barker for being the inspiration for the grant.

National Geographic Organization representative Ginny Hammock was on hand for the presentation, and she said the non-profit organization was honored to be included in the event.

“If children don’t know where they are, they don’t have a clue what’s around them,” she said.

Tierney said he hopes this year’s presentation of the first “ ... through the inquisitive mind of a child” grant ever given will start a trend of local businesses taking steps to ensure their local public schools reach their students in any way they can.

“We just hope other small businesses will realize they should have a duty and commitment to their community,” he said.

Tierney said he hopes the grant will reach children who may realize through their studies that they have a love for the physical world and its peoples and a love for travel, as he himself developed.

“Geography was always one thing that captured my mind,” he said.

The grant is available to elementary and middle schools in Pulaski and Lincoln counties.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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