A great night!

Last night was the Annual Chamber Dinner here in Coshocton County. Tom Leech was named the Coshoctonian (a prestigious award here in Coshocton based on many years of service). Each year, this a a huge deal in our community...and it should be.



What was most exciting for me was that Amy's employee Libbie Granger-Prince was named Coshocton County's "employee of the year." Amy nominated her when she quickly realized what a valuable asset she is to the United Way. Amy obviously knows Libbie better than I. But from my perspective she is fantastic. I am very happy for her!

And the Small Business of the year went to Raven's Glenn Winery. If you have not had a chance, I would encourage you to check it out. It is a great restaurant and winery located just outside of Coshocton. Congrats to all!

Like Inspirational Blogs?

If you enjoy reading blogs, then I have one for you to check out. A friend of mine named Bill Weaver is the person who got me into blogging. As I have told him, he has a genuine zest for life that is contagious...and it comes through on his blog. He loves to take photographs of nature and occasionally I am even mentioned by name (so yes, this is a bit ego-centric!).

At any rate, I really enjoy reading it. So here you go!

http://livefrompleasantchapeli.blogspot.com/

Annual Chamber Dinner

Tonight is the night for the Annual Chamber dinner at Lake Park Pavilion. If you have not attended, it is a really good feel good event where the Coshocton County Employee of the Year, Small Business of the Year, and Coshoctonian are announced. The Coshoctontonian is an award that is given to a person from the community who has made an enormous postive impace on the county. Often they are people who have been here much of their lives...and have the service resume's to prove it!

If you are from Coshocton (and ever listen to WTNS) you might know that Hasseman Marketing and Communications was nominated for the Small Business of the Year. It sounds cliche' but it really is an honor to have someone nominate us.

I will be there shooting video of the event, so you will likely be able to check it out on the latest Inside Coshocton--coming soon!

Family Fun Day

And the final big event for the Saturday was Family Fun Day at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds. I did not get a chance to make it to this event, but my lovely bride was there and she got some video for Inside Coshocton.



The event was well attended (of course it was! There was free food!) and they had an area with rabbits and other small animals. Here is a shot of my oldest with my neice with a rabbit. Gee...I wonder if that will make it on the show! :)

By the way, the latest and greatest Inside Coshocton will begin airing on May 5th! the current one is still airing on channel 2 on Time Warner!

Clean Up Day

This past Saturday, on April 21st, Coshocton County held a "Clean Up Day." It was a great organized event for the community to get out and simply clean up. It was needed badly in some areas. And it's a very simple thing all of us can do to help make the community look better...without spending a dime!



Kudos to those who organized this event! As I have said before, you don't have to have money to have pride!

As you can see, the Hasseman clan took part. This is my youngest helping out over at Lake Park to help the park look great. She did a pretty nice job with no complaining. That's about all I can ask from a 5 year old!

Hopewell Auction

I was there and I can prove it! The 5th Annual Hopewell Auction took place Saturday. It has become a signature event for the Coshocton County Board of MRDD where they raise a lot of money.



In year's past the proceeds went to build a great community playground. Now that project is done and they are on to other new projects. They auction furniture, quilts, and even a llama! Where else can you update your furniture AND buy a llama? Is that great or what?

The Potter's Big Move!

I can't prove it (because I neglected to take pictures) but I helped friends of ours move on Saturday. The Potters moved into town and I think they are excited about the new place. At least they BETTER be excited about the new house! I am NOT moving them back!

Just kidding...fun stuff!

The Cycles of Blogging

So each week I go through a cycle as I have time to blog...then not so much. But then I realize I have not updated the blog in a while. Then I have the need to get back on top of things. Now as I start to get ready for a week off...here come some more updates!

Quote to ponder for the day...

I receive sales literature each day for my job. Some days it is a special on a specific promotional product, and sometimes it is a seminar or something like that. Today I received something promoting one these seminars...but it had a newsletter attached. It was a motivational letter and had several quotes that were cool. This one caught my eye this morning...

"Most people fail instead of succeed because they give up what they really want for what they want at the moment."

That is really true isn't it? How many times do we set the alarm clock for early in the morning to workout? Then the morning rolls around and "at the moment" we want to sleep some more.

Here's to a day that gives you everything you want!

Perception Is The Problem

In my travels around the county I am often asked about the state of our community. “What are we going to do about Coshocton?” they ask?

I struggle each time to come up with an appropriate answer, I guess because I struggle with the question. By no means will I suggest (here or otherwise) that we have not, as a community, had difficult times in the past couple of years. We have.

The trouble I have is that we as a community seem bound and determined to cling to the negative perceptions despite mounting evidence that speaks to the positive. There is encouraging news all around us. What am I talking about, you ask? Well let me give you cold, hard facts.

In a recent meeting, Port Authority Director T.J. Justice pointed out there is over $600,000 million being invested in Coshocton County in private economic development! That is a staggering amount of money for a community our size. Think about it. Between Kraft, AEP, Coshocton Ethanol, and Intrinergy we have over ONE HALF a BILLION DOLLARS coming into the county.

“Sure,” you say. “But that will only help in the future.” Wrong! Based on receipts in the Coshocton County Auditor’s office, sales tax receipts were up 9% in the first quarter. That is an immediate and very current measurement of business across the board in Coshocton County…and the arrow is pointing up!

“But what about jobs?” you might say. “There are no jobs in town!” Now while I would concede that the face of employment in Coshocton County has changed, that situation has improved recently too. In 2005 in February there were 1,814 unemployment claims. In 2006 at the same time the number dropped to 1,398. This year that number has dropped to 1,214. Though we would all like to see that number continue to decline, the trend is certainly moving in the right direction.

And oh by the way, did you hear about the remarkable donation that Joe Engle and his wife just made to our community? Their donation of $10 million will allow approximately 12 students per year to go to The Ohio State University for free. That’s a reason to bring your children here!

But wait…there’s more!

Tourism income is up in Coshocton County. Last year the Convention and Visitors Bureau had received just under $15,000 from the bed tax. This year the total is nearly $25,000 for the same period. This is money that is used directly to promote visitors coming to our county. This means that the CVB will be working even harder to increase those tourists in the community!

And here’s the place where we each can make a difference. We need to change the way we talk about our own community. Visitors to our community could be just passing through, or they could be investigating us as a possible business location. We are all a part of the marketing team for Coshocton County.

We need to celebrate the positives a bit more…and lament the negatives a bit less. I believe that a big part of Coshocton County’s challenge is our own perception of our selves. We need to remember all of the things that make our community special…and talk about them! And yes…that CAN help to change Coshocton County for the better.

So what are we going to do about Coshocton County? I don’t know about you. But I am going to enjoy it.

50th Anniversary

Last night Amy and I were asked to take pictures at the 50th Anniversary celebration of Dick and Louise Brown. What a cool night.

First of all it is certainly worth a celebration of this magnitude when a couple can have 50 years of marriage. Before the party we took a picture of Dick and Louise, their kids and grandkids.



Included in the lineage is their youngest, Shane. Shane graduated with me and it has probably been 10 years since I had seen him. He is still seems to be full of life...and now has a great looking family to go along with him.

Shane was a good and decent guy in high school (and I mean that as high praise). He is now a doctor in the state up north. That is remarkable considering the things we did "back then." It was great to see him again...and it was great to catch up...if even for a night!

What a front page

If you are looking for some great things going on in Coshocton, just check out the front page of The Coshocton Tribune this morning. I read all of these online, but there is just someting about opening up the paper to see all these stories in bold!

What a gift! Joe and Elizabeth Engle donate $10 Million to Coshocton County students. This will translate into roughly 12 full rides to OSU per year! Unbelievable!

Conesville Park moving along! On a shoe string budget Conesville is putting in a great park. They have done it with donations, grants, and sweat. They did not just say "we can't afford it." They are making something happen. Nice.

And there is a nice story about Kathy Thompson leaving office after 8 years of great service to our community!

Good stuff.

A Magical Easter Morning

There is simply nothing like the morning of a magical holiday like Christmas and Easter. Not only is the morning packed with the strength of faith, but the girls are so excited from being visited by Santa or (in this case) the Easter Bunny.

These holiday are important for many reasons, but few bring more joy than the smiles on the faces of children!

Proud of the Wife!

As many of you know from reading this blog, my wife was recently named the Executive Director of the Coshocton County United Way. Now of course I recognize my own bias here, but I really think she is doing an outstanding job.

As she points out, she will receive feedback by the donations in the campaign, and know how she did based on those numbers...BUT...I think she is doing great.



Here she is with next year's sponsor Jeff Drennen of the Jeff Drennen Dealerships of Zanesville and Coshocton (if you are thinking of buying a new car, it's time to talk to Jeff!). She sent me an email with her latest PSA that will be playing on the radio. The PSA is to recognize Volunteer Week in April. Here it is...I thought it was terrific!

Winston Churchill once said, "we make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give." At the United Way of Coshocton County, we believe that it is important to recognize our responsibility to help our fellow citizens and to make our community a better place to live. Hello.. this is Amy Hasseman, Executive Director of the Coshocton United Way. April 15th through the 21st is National Volunteer Week. and I would like to personally thank each of you that have taken the time to volunteer in our community. Community...it's what matters.

Easter Eggs

I realize this is a bit late (as are most of these) but the Amy and the girls decorated Easter eggs this year...and here is a nice shot from that! It was a nice Easter here at the Hasseman house. If we could just get the weather to break...that would be sweet!

Playing Catch Up with Posts

...it's been a while since I have had an opportunity to post. So this morning will be a time to catch everyone up.

Let me start by saying that I don't like (and never have liked) Don Imus. But they fired a shock jock for saying something shocking. Really?

Interesting.

A nice night out with the family

Last night Amy and I took the girls out for a night of shopping. This is not what I usually consider solid entertainment, but it was fun. Jade (our youngest) has a similar philosophy about shopping that I do...buy it and leave! But we "shopped" Amy-style (look, and look, and look, and look, and look for crazy bargains) and it was pretty fun.

At one point we were walking into Claires in the mall, (Claires is an earring/accessories place in case you don't know) and I overheard the sales gal tell the customer, "Here's your copy of the reciept to keep for your records."

It made me wonder, does anyone really need to keep a receipt from Claires for their "records?" Who is trying to write that off on their taxes? Shouldn't you just flush the receipt down the toilet, like the money it represents?

It's that time again!

It's new! It's hip! Well, it's me...so it's probably not hip. But it is new! Here is the latest edition of Inside Coshocton. I always also post this on www.hassemanmarketing.com as well!

As always, let me know what you think!



It's funny. If you ever want to know what I am doing with my time...this takes quite a bit of it!

Another day...

As the Easter holiday is upon us, I am in "casual Friday" mode. In a jeans, t-shirt and cap, it is nice some days to have the home office! Unfortunately we have more than 2 or 3 thousand people in the house. The kids are home from school so the phone is ringing off the hook. Ahhh...the challenges of having an office in the house. All on the same day!

Elite Performance

Readers of this blog know that I have commented before on Miss Jennifer's Elite Dance Force. Considering my bias that a) my daughter is in the group and b) that Jennifer is a friend, I think that this group is a blessing to our community. Here is a number from the Elite Spectacular on Friday!

Nothing to do?

I always laugh when I hear people tell me there is nothing to do in Coshocton County. This weekend was a good example of why. After "work" on Friday, we went to the Elite Spectacular at Coshocton High School. Elite is a local competition dance team that performs all over the state. The Elite Spectacular is a fundraiser for them and is an opportunity for locals to see them perform. (I am going to try and post a number later in the week). It was great fun!

On Saturday, my daughters had rehearsal for a church play. So Amy and I went to the Sportsman Show (in the former JII building) and then over to the Pinewood Derby. The Sportsman show seemed like a great success and it was really cool to see that area of town bustling in such a manner! And anyone who has ever seen the pinewood derby knows it is a great event for the boy scouts.

We rounded out the day as a family by attending a wedding, and then going bowling! Sunday's schedule was not much different. My issue is not finding something to do...we need to do a better job of taking time without things to do!