Small businesses benefit from Franklin County COVID-19 grant
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and last updated 2021-02-26 07:56:16-05
FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) â Many small businesses are still struggling a year after the pandemic began. After some fell victim and closed, local governments are trying to keep as many as they can afloat. To help, Franklin County approved grants for a dozen businesses this week, including the Little Market located on Bald Knob Road (Rt. 421).
âThere are no businesses within seven miles of this location in any direction, north, south, east, or west,â said co-owner Dan Midkiff.
The grocery store has been in the area for almost 100 years, though under different names and owners. Katie Clark and Midkiff have been running the store for four years and the last one was challenging.
Don Sturgeon
âMy father would be so honored and humbled to receive this award, and I wish he could have been here to accept it rather than myself, but God had other plans,â Krista Sturgeon, his daughter, said in a speech on behalf of the family, including his wife, Pam, and son, Ryan.
Before he stepped into the fiscal court room, Don Sturgeon spent 42 years in the classroom as a teacher at Franklin County High School.
âAs an educator, he respected his students and found ways to motivate them. In doing so he earned the respect of his students, which later turned into respect for fellow citizens and community leaders,â said Clay Hulette, Frankfort president of First Federal Savings Bank of Kentucky, who presented the Humanitarian Award.
Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson said he understands concerns about the proposed Parcels B and C development.
But he, along with most of the city commission, made clear after Wednesdayâs commission meeting that he is still supportive of the development arrangement the city is working toward.
The main point of contention and questioning at that meeting was the city s planned funding of a parking garage required by the state, which has a longstanding contractual obligation to provide parking for the nearby Capital Plaza Hotel and transferred that obligation to eastern Kentucky businessman Marty Johnson when he purchased Parcels B and C.
Representing the United States as a delegate to the 75th United Nations General Assembly and serving as special adviser to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and fellow Kentuckian Kelly