When Dr. Steve Clifford steps down Monday from his position on Paris City Council, he should do so knowing much has been accomplished during his six years in office, four of those as mayor.
From taking action against substandard work on infrastructure projects, to initiating the revitalization of the cityâs antiquated wastewater plant, to creating common sense safety protocols for rental properties, to leading the city through difficult race relation issue, to working with the Paris Economic Development Corp. to make it more efficient, and to convince American SpiralWeld Pipe Co. to come to Paris, Clifford and his fellow council members have made Paris a better place to live.
RENO â Participants at the fourth annual Live United 5K Run/Walk faced an uphill trek followed by a brisk headwind Saturday morning as they made their way around the Pine Ridge Golf Course in Reno.
âWe had a great showing today with over 50 runners and walkers,â said Jenny Wilson, director of the United Way of Lamar County. âI would say the majority are walking, so never be afraid to come out.â
Wilson estimates more than $4,300 will be added to United Way coffers as a result of the roughly 3.1-mile event.
Paris High School junior Adam Hartman took the first place medal in menâs competition with a time of 20.45 followed by Prairiland High School senior Edwardo Banda with a time of 21.19 for second place and Osvaldo (Chato) Viveros with 22.36 for third.
If there is a perfect example of the word âperseverance,â it is in the efforts of trained, dedicated nurses these many past months, and Kim Miller, RN, a charge nurse in the Paris Regional Medical Center emergency department, is a solid representative of that profession in these trying times.
Miller grew up in Roxton and still has family there. She and her husband, Mark, married for 36 years with three children and three â soon to be four â grandchildren, live in Fort Towson, Oklahoma, âout in the boonies,â as she describes it. Her drive to work each day takes about 45 minutes.
âI never had that âa-haâ moment, where I just knew I had to be a nurse,â said Miller, recently. âI had been working in a bank, my son was going to start school soon and day care was going to be expensive, so after being a stay-at-home mom for a couple of years, I decided to do something that would help my husband pick up the slack and entered nursing sch
Paris Regional Medical Center is looking forward to getting back to normal operations after a year that saw it close its doors to visitors, suspend its volunteer program, furlough some employees and scale back some of its services, all due to Covid-19. Financially, the hospital was down about 15% to 20% of its budget.
âWe did get the benefit of several million dollars in CARES ACT dollars from the government,â CEO Steve Hyde said. âThat allowed us to make budget for the year. We are behind on the bottom line, but 2020 would have been a brutal, wicked year for us if it wasnât for the supplemental dollars the government gave us.â
Community gardens are back in Paris thanks to a Health4U grant awarded the Paris-Lamar County Health Department in 2017, the United Way of Lamar County and Paris Regional Medical Center.
Volunteers with Health4U worked Sunday afternoon restoring about a dozen raised beds in the Paris Community Garden, located at the Paris Regional Medical Centerâs campus at 2875 Lewis Lane. Businesses partnering with the program to provide materials include Kelley Plant Farm, Jemasco Inc., Land & Co., DudeWorx, Retired Senior Volunteer Program and Primetime Senior Services.
âThe garden has been neglected over the last year because of Covid,â Dr. Amanda Green said as she and several other volunteers refreshed plots with fresh gardening soil and planted a few flowers and vegetables to encourage people to adopt a garden plot. âThereâs a lot of us partnering together to try to bring something positive and healthy back to people.â