MEMBERS PRESENT: Laura Harper Lee, Mike Reynolds, Jim Erskine, Charles Hardcastle, Herbert Oldham, Gary West, Lena Sweeten, Romanza Johnson and Chris Bratton.

MR. REYNOLDS: Tommy Adams called me with the treasurer's reporter. He said if you took the last report from two weeks ago, he's written one check for $20 for postage. Otherwise things remain as they were.

MR. DORIAN WALKER: Thank you for allowing me to come here and talk to you. I'd like to report a couple of things; that the film is going along great, again, thanks to your support. We have located a replica of the Bowling Green steamboat in Memphis, Tennessee.

We're thinking about using the Underwood diaries where this fellow thought that he had lost his fortune when he invested in the steamboat line. It took him a week to get to Evansville, because he kept running aground and snagging.

We've shot aerials. Things are continuing to move along very nicely.

I serve on the Depot Development Authority. We have been in the process of examining all kinds of uses for the Depot space. A couple things have really taken front burner.

One of the unique things about our depot is that all the depots that I have visited around the country in my good fortune of traveling in my job is that generally the depots are situated in old parts of town that are encroached by decaying and falling down buildings. There's a real effort to try to rescue and save them.

We have one of the most unique possibilities because we have five gorgeous acres around what already has been considerable money put into the exterior renovation of our depot.

One of the things that we're really interested in is finding a use for the depot that serves the community as well as will sustain the building. Some depots around the country have become Banana Republics and restaurants.

Our potential here is to make that area a heritage plaza or a heritage center. I've located two phenomenally historic railroad cars. It's a troop sleeper that's available to us which is a phenomenal opportunity in the inside to be used as a museum piece. Only 1,200 were made, and they were attached to the backs of passenger cars and taken all over the country. The other is a coach. Both of these are in Owensboro. They are L&N rolling stock.

We are really interested in developing the Depot into a destination, a location, a destination that not only a driver or a family moving from Michigan to Florida on vacation would want to do but something that our community can enjoy on a regular basis.

One of the thoughts we have for the coach is to give a sample of what a coach was and also to turn it into a great place for birthday parties for kids so that our young children will have memories formed on the history of our county and of our city. I've seen this used successfully in many communities where there's a long line to sign up to come down and have your children's 9th or 10th birthday aboard a real, live railroad car.

The Bicentennial Mall in Tennessee is an absolutely phenomenal example of how you can interpret history and make it a tourist destination. The head park ranger says it has become a great tourist draw for the city of Nashville. There are wonderful examples within that mall that we should explore here in Bowling Green.

The depot structure itself, we've set aside space to be used as Depot Development Authority office, as an Operation Pride office. We're in discussions to have a small sheriff's substation there. We're looking at utilizing the interior space as perhaps recreating the Crescent News stand and in conjunction with Western's museum store creating a place where you can purchase some memorabilia of the area.

We're at putting in a dining facility of some sort. Our inclinations at this point and our interests are using the heritage theme as an important part, perhaps being the only place off of I-65 or even in this community where you can get authentic Kentucky recipes or authentic Kentucky cooking as part of the facility, not as the entire facility; but enough to pay for the maintenance and to sustain the life of it.

Other parts of our plan; we have a memorial garden that we're working on. This is an early architectural drawing. We're thinking about possibly creating an area over here and maybe including this as a farmers' market. We're also exploring the notion of encasing the train shed as to work something in conjunction with the convention center as a satellite convention space where people that come to our community from around the country and around the state will have an opportunity to actually touch and participate and enjoy a meeting in a space that is reflective of our heritage and our past.

We're looking at creating walkways. We've explored the cost of having six to eight bronze statues that would depict various aspects of our history; at this point undetermined whether it would be purely railroad history or whether it would be a combination of things from a statue of Duncan Hines to a statue of an Irish railroad worker to a statue of a porter or people that have been part of the community as relates to the region or even as broad a picture as the entire south central and western part of the state. Because the Western part of Kentucky you won't find out about when you get off an exit at I-65.

I'm making a presentation on Monday to the Secretary of Tourism and Secretary of Economic Development in Frankfort to talk about developing a partnership where the notion is if we all stand shoulder to shoulder in this event that we can very possibly create a destination that is going to be unique to this entire region and something that's going to be special not only to the community but also to visitors to the state of Kentucky.

We have had meetings with the county. Mike Buchanon has given us his indication that he believes the county would be more than happy to maintain the area should the city -- we haven't yet talked to the specific people in the city. But if for some reason the city wouldn't want to maintain or couldn't maintain it for some reason; that the county could maintain it in terms of grounds. We have in place a place this commitment that will foresee keeping the gem polished so to speak. We believe that it's an absolutely rare opportunity.

The Veterans of this community that have a long history of serving in the Revolutionary War to the Gulf. In a community which is as publicly-minded as we are, we don't have a Veterans Memorial. All of the Veterans parades begin at the depot. That depot was the site for veterans to come and go for years and years. There's wonderful accounts up at the Kentucky Library of this community forming together a set of canteens in World War I and World War II with war moms handing sandwiches to soldiers passing through; which is another idea for a bronze statue that we're looking into.

So we believe that this is just an absolutely unbelievable opportunity for us and the community to be part. In all things it's a question of money. It's our belief that we'd all love to either win the lottery and put it into this or believe that some great benefactor would step down and say, "Okay. How much is it going to cost, and where do we go with this?"

As the Depot Development Authority we've actually explored that notion of talking to people from Philip Morris to you name it to say, "There's a potential here for a building. It would be something that would celebrate the agricultural history of the region or of the South." There are all kinds of possibilities.

The bottom line is that everyone has something pulling at their coattails. Our belief is that if we form together as a community and each take a piece of the structure, so to speak, a brick and a piece of wood and some gravel and we all come there together we can build this house. We can build this heritage center which would serve the community, the region and we believe the state.

MS. SWEETEN: What's your time line on this?

MR. WALKER: We want to begin immediately. The structure, the exterior is in great shape. We're in the process now of determining how to use the land around it. We have been and continue to be in conversations with people that have indicated interest in renting some of this space.

We believe if we formulate a plan that's going to serve the community, you know, sort of like build the field, they will come.

The Bicentennial Mall has granite markers telling the history of Tennessee. They have actually made this a state park. There are some grand ideas that could certainly be launching pads for us to do something here.

The City of West Palm Beach took an area that was very troublesome, downtown, and turned it into a place that people wanted to come. Every week they have a band down there, and they open up the streets. They donate the proceeds to a local charity. I'm advocating we utilize the space for the community, maybe put in a dancing fountain like the Bicentennial Mall. Make this a destination. We have a park across the street already. This could be a real salute to our own history and our own heritage in this community.

MS. HARPER LEE: Have you talked to the veterans groups about this?

MR. WALKER: No, I have not yet. They are on my list.

MS. HARPER LEE: At one time there was an idea, maybe even a push, to try to get a train stop reestablished in Bowling Green. Is that still a possibility?

MR. WALKER: I am in the early stages of exploring that. You mean like Amtrack?

MS. HARPER LEE: Yes.

MR. WALKER: I thought you were referring to the dinner train, seeing if Corman would create a siding so you could leave from here and go up to Russellville. I don't know what the politics are with working with CSX. We had put together a fund raiser a year or so ago. It was really expensive to use the CSX track from the depot to Memphis Junction. It would be a grand idea.

MR. WHITTLE: I really like the idea of a heritage center. I like the idea of rebuilding and maintaining that train station, especially once some productive use can be had there.

Putting the two together right there, seems to me like we're thinking awful small; that five acres and most of it is devoted to parking. Our opportunities for 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, a hundred years from now of that site being something -- we're not thinking big enough for a heritage center.

That train station, if the community can get behind it, it can be any of a number of things in addition to being a monthly electric bill. I'm very proud of this myself. It almost seems that facility is way too small to serve our heritage celebration needs for the next century. The concept is grand. The train station needs to be used for something. I'm not sure if these two mesh on that site.

MR. WALKER: I couldn't agree more with you in principle. I don't know if any of you have been up to a place in Iowa called Living History Farms. One of the phenomenal things about this place is that they have taken real authentic farms and created spaces where kids and families -- they get over 500,000 visitors a year that go there in Des Moines, Iowa out off the interstate there.

We are talking to the community, talking with the state to see what the enthusiasm is. If everybody says, "Great idea, but we don't want any part of it," well then it won't happen. It's a question of whether it's going to happen and how big will it happen. This could be a structure that could be a museum of the entire region. We were the strawberry capitol of the country. That's a great moniker.

If this were fenced off, you could walk from this building. You could have a railroad siding. You could literally walk through history, the history of agriculture, the history of transportation, the history of many things in this state. It could go sky high.

We started with, let's talk about trying to develop the whole thing with getting a Philip Morris or somebody in. The likelihood of that happening -- I'm generally an optimist, but here I'm a realist. I don't think it's going to happen.

Most everything we're talking about is external here. It is the grounds. It is the railroad cars. It is the possibility of bringing in a farmers market which would be grand to see down here. Create maybe parking over on this side; we're talking about maybe some kind of exit off of this street here. But create a community use space put in the contention of our community history and heritage.

MS. HARPER LEE: At the same time have what in the building?

MR. WALKER: The things that are definitely going to be in the building are Operation Pride, the Depot Development Authority. We're relatively certain there's probably going to be a sheriff's substation. We're trying to relegate space now that would be utilized for some sort of an exhibit that would be in conjunction with the museum.

What do you think? Should we take the Bicentennial exhibit, parts of it and put it down there when it's finished up here? Should we do something about the railroads in this region? What should we do? That's to be determined. Something about our heritage could be witnessed by most people.

MS. HARPER LEE: And then lease space for shops?

MR. WALKER: Right now the primary focus is on a restaurant. The notion of the restaurant is try to create a restaurant that would celebrate our heritage and history. That's the general thinking of the board.

If I was a businessman doing this, I would create something where I would have maybe a small restaurant that would have indoor, outdoor dining. I would work a deal with the convention center so that all the catering would be through me so I'd be getting it through the outside. I'd be providing a menu to the community that they couldn't get from Rafferty's or from some place else in a heritage setting. I'd be making people want to come down there and enjoy something.

Have you ever been to the Whistle Stop up at Glendale? By gosh, people lined up to get in that place, because it's unique and it's special. We're off the major north-south artery of this part of the country. And so there's a reason to tell Kentucky's story. We've got a great story to tell. This could be a great place to tell it.

MS. HARPER LEE: Is the Depot Development Authority supportive of this idea rather than selling the building?

MR. WALKER: There's no interest in selling the building. No. The only interest is in leasing the building to somebody who can pay the light bill.

MR. WHITTLE: The sure fire tenants that you've talked about are total drains. The Depot Authority is an institution. It's not people. They can exist in space that's not much more than these tables. That's got to be a 20 or 30,000 square foot building. That's one hell of a light bill for Operation Pride's office.

MR. WALKER: We have waited to complete the interior based on what the use of the interior is going to be. We have had one group that wanted to lease not only the entire building but they wanted to add on to it. But in the big picture it doesn't fit into the plan. It should be the community's.

Yes, there's no problem going there to enjoy a fine meal. But also if you want to bring your out-of-town guests or your kids and you want to wander off a wing or wander upstairs or go out onto the wing or find out when you can get a tour of the building and the railroad cars and some of the heritage of the Irish workers that came in here and built a huge Catholic church and created an avenue of transportation which has helped the community grow, you can get that there as well.

So the notion of Operation Pride and the Depot Development Authority certainly is not as a revenue stream. It's another positive use of that space. If a restaurant came in there or Banana Republic or Castner-Knott and said, "We want the whole thing," then it doesn't become what we think the potential could be.

That's why I'm talking to you folks now. That's why I'm going to talk to the state. I want to see if there's some interest here in creating some ideas.

MR. WHITTLE: Can we move the Kentucky Museum there? That's the museum of the region.

MS. HARPER LEE: The area -- not just the city or the town, the county. But the area has several heritage type museums that are all struggling. And that would concern me some if I were, you know, thinking about stepping into this. There's a real battle for money, and there's very little public funding out there for those projects. Foundation money is tighter and tighter all the time. I'm sure you know all of that.

MR. WALKER: That's why I see this as unique. You can go to the art museum in Washington, D.C. and can walk by the waterfall there and have a very fine meal or New York or wherever.

I believe that there's an opportunity to blend commercial use with public use. This is a rare opportunity to do that.

MS. HARPER LEE: A really ideal situation for this, if you want a restaurant, is to find someone to underwrite a restaurant that will also pay for developing the heritage spots outside.

MR. WALKER: The practical reality of that is difficult. The setup cost for a restaurant starts at about $500,000.

MS. HARPER LEE: Right. And it takes several years for it to recoup. But Danny hit on exactly what my concerns would be in this region of the whole state. I like developing the area outside the end as a walkway. Has anybody here seen the area in Memphis, the River Walk in Memphis traces the Mississippi River? It is fantastic.

MR. WALKER: There's also one in New Orleans. We would like for you to consider this, because we know for sure we're going put in a memorial garden down here. We have located some railroad cars.

MR. WHITTLE: It would take very little by way of additional improvement to open up that spot as a community planning center. The funding that's necessary is to support a germ of a small staff of people and consultants to have an ongoing -- I can visualize a weekly or monthly or quarterly charet, a design charet where it would begin with some noted outside visionaries and/or local visionaries where the community could be invited, where with plywood and 2X4's we could create big throw tables and lots of butcher's paper to start drawing on.

I have sat in on probably half a dozen gatherings of people in Bowling Green in the last three months. Everybody has something on their mind that they want to get accomplished, but they don't know what they're doing and what others are doing. We have people who want to build a hundred million dollars worth of greenbelts. We have people who want to build museums like this, and there can be another $50 million or ten or two or one, whatever. It's big, big money.

We have people who want to build multi-hundred acre county parks scattered all over the county. They have already bought thousands of acres it almost seems. We have people who want to build major freeways into the city. People want to build a multi-story parking garage to serve some lawyers. We have all kinds of things that are going on. Excuse me, Mike. But nobody is talking to each other.

We should start using that building as a planning center so we can bring this community together about its long range future. No matter what we do; whether it's greenways or bike trails or river trails or hospitals or new roads or new sidewalks or community centers or police stations. All of that is all of our community resources, and we're going in a hundred different directions.

The best unifying thing that could be done is to let that be a place where we bring the community together and plan for the future. We all have to go in there with the feeling that my dream may not happen. But at least we'll have a consensus. It may take us several years to do it.

MR. WALKER: What I'm proposing primarily, this area would be designated as a heritage plaza or a heritage center of some sort. It's underscoring exactly what you're talking about. You can't get this at the Kentucky Museum. Where can you walk outside and see your state's history told as you're walking around it or by it or reading a pathway of history?

I've put together a rough estimate of doing what we'd like to do. This includes six to eight bronze life-size statues, includes the pathway, includes a fountain, includes getting these railroad cars in there, includes a whole number of conversions. We were looking at under half a million dollars to do that. I'm not suggesting this as an alternative to the Kentucky Museum.

MS. HARPER LEE: Museums and antique stores all thrive when there are more of them. They support each other. This would need a different direction is what I'm saying.

MR. OLDHAM: To put Danny's idea to fruition, I've got the butcher paper.

MR. WHITTLE: All right.

MR. REYNOLDS: Dorian, what you're saying is that the Depot Development Authority, who is ultimately the final decider of whatever is developed or placed on the depot site, would be interested in our Commission as its legacy project or as one of the things we might end up doing, place either some legacy or marker and maybe even some time capsule down in that location in conjunction with an agreement or a plan that's approved by your Commission and ours. Is that what we're saying?

MR. WALKER: Yes.

MR. REYNOLDS: Ultimately you all would continue on with further development of the property, whether that be leasing the interior of the building that exists or complete development of the five acres.

MR. WALKER: To make this work there has to be a commercial entity in here, and there will be a commercial entity in there. It's getting the right one is what our challenge is as DDA. We can tell our own story here. We can make it a celebration.

I wish I had the wherewithal to be in the restaurant business myself. The old Harvey Houses back at the turn of the century, dress people up in these grand old things, historic resemblance of a Harvey House. I'd make it a treat that you'd want to keep on coming back for.

Whoever comes here, we see it as the opportunity to pass through and touch part of our own history, whether it's to come up to a statue of a railroad worker or a mom handing a sandwich out or Duncan Hines or whomever it may be; find out something about us and why we're so special. We are special. We have a great heritage.

That's part of what brought me here from L.A. I received this pictorial history of Bowling Green. This is wonderful how it's been documented. It's a microcosm of what makes America great and what makes America work and the challenge of a community pulling together to make things happen.

We brought the railroad here 150 years ago. We cleared the river to bring in steamboats. This has been an phenomenal deal that's been going on here.

When I came to Bowling Green I almost bought the Depot, because it was a tire warehouse as many of you remember. I was under contract to Hearst Entertainment in New York to deliver a Civil War series, and I was going to use it as a set and build a fake street out here. I could build a 19th century Civil War town around there. All the folks traveling by would be seeing the back of a set rather than a beautiful depot.

This thing has the stone polished and the gutters in place and the roof repaired and glass in the windows and electricity and water.

I have a dream. Has anybody heard of the book called New Boy? There is a fellow that is one of the wealthiest men in Florida who own gas stations. He grew up in Bowling Green, called Bowling Green his home. He lived across the street from the church up on State Street right next to O.V. Clark's place. He hasn't lived here for probably 50 years. But apparently he comes back occasionally. He wrote a book about his experiences. And he's looking for a legacy project. In the back of my mind I'm thinking he's found one.

He was called new boy because he was always moving from town to town. He and his brother were the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, if you read his book, because they were under no supervision and poker games going on in back yards much to the chagrin of their aunt who was upstairs praying that her nephews would see the light.

The river was really important to them. They build a raft and went to New Orleans right from Bowling Green, right from Barren River. It took them three months to do it. I don't know if this fits in with the heritage of the river or greenbelt, but maybe this guy should be talked to. I'm planning to talk to him.

MS. HARPER LEE: Thank you, Dorian.

MR. WALKER: Thank you for sharing your time.

MR. BRATTON: I just gave Jim the copy of the new activities spot which covers the Christmas Tree Show, the Landmark Association's open house and the John Edmonds gospel performance. There's really nothing on the event list until February.

MS. JOHNSON: This is the weekend for the home tour which is a Bicentennial activity. There are eight houses that will be hospital Sunday afternoon.

And then Saturday afternoon at 2:00 we officially open the Christmas trees that are on display at the Houchens Center for the month of December. I'd like to invite you to go by and see those.

The overall theme is the Bicentennial theme of 200 Christmases in Bowling Green, Warren County. On the grounds there are 21 trees. Each organization has taken a period of time. There's a Colonial tree and there's the World War II tree and different segments of time and decorated to that theme. One is an Indian tree. They're real unique. You might enjoy it from that standpoint.

TIME CAPSULE REPORT.

MR. ERSKINE: I met with Danny this week. We hashed out this proposal for a time capsule. We feel like making this as big a splash as possible. It's outlined there at the start in the time line with this essay contest for the students which would go out to the schools the first of January. Then basically take February as the main thrust of publicity for this by having a press conference that Monday and having a drive for time capsule items.

We're thinking about a brochure that would explain the time capsule and what we are looking for and also have a submission form on the brochure, 10,000 of them and get them to all students in the schools. And also in conjunction with that have a display of some sort that could actually move a week at a time; like one week in the mall, one week maybe at National City Bank for those four weeks.

We may be able to get this actual vault or maybe a small version or maybe just picture that; but at least like a couple of museum panels, some of the items that are going to go into it and a graphic of our logo and description of what it's all about; and a display for brochures. That would conclude the week before we buried this. We would have one of the judges to make choices on the things that were donated and a photograph of everything that was donated.

Anything with value we could have an auction as part of the Bicentennial party that weekend; one of the venues that we have. We could have an auctioneer auction off some things that would go toward our legacy project. We could have the essay contest winters read their essays at the time capsule. Hopefully the Daily News would run the art, the essays; a lot of good publicity opportunities in this. If somebody gives something unique or interesting or valuable, that can be a story, too.

It would be the type of event that would catch people's imagination. So that's basically what we've got here outlined.

MR. WHITTLE: There are things that we Republicans know that need to go into a time capsule. We'll make sure those are there. The whole idea is that we need something that brings a lot of people in. If we guarantee that at least the documentation of your submission will go in this time capsule; if it has to be 35 millimeter film, if we get that much and it has to be on film, that's fine. We're looking not for just the image of 1998 but what's happened during my memory as the submitter which is important to me. What's happened in this community that is important to me and to this community.

MS. HARPER LEE: This sounds really good. There's one piece I would like added to it or for us to consider. There are going to be some people who are going to say, "Why isn't my stuff in there? Why are we just taking the picture?" Find a way to explain that in the brochure. Not everything can be chosen maybe because of size or maybe duplication or whatever. I could see possibly some hurt feelings over things being auctioned.

MR. WHITTLE: If Ray Buckberry wants to give us a high boy that was hand-crafted by Daniel Boone on one of his many treks here, we don't have room for it. We'd want to auction it off.

MR. ERSKINE: If we had a good brochure on this, which I could work on through December, we would have a way to publicize it.

MR. HARDCASTLE: My Pauline book, would that be too big to put in there? Or maybe my brick.

MR. WHITTLE: If we do this it's worth our time and resources to hire Bradford to move this thing around. We'll need Romanza to find us volunteers to man a booth if we put it in the mall to help people understand it. We could have some people there at heavy traffic times to talk about it.

MR. HARDCASTLE: I've got a war bond that my father bought in 1942. I never got around to cashing it. It's a $50 war bond. That's something that I could contribute to go into the time capsule.

MR. WHITTLE: More important than the war bond is your couple of sentences written on the form saying why that's important.

MR. ERSKINE: I didn't budget this, but I would think that we could easily do it for well under a thousand.

ACTION: Motion by Romanza Johnson, second by Herbert Oldham and unanimously passed to authorize expenditures for the time capsule.

MS. HARPER LEE: Ray Buckberry spoke with Jerry Baker. At the last meeting we talked about sculpture and how to find examples and where we are to find sculptures. He talked to Jerry Baker who is going to pass along some information to Ray.

Ray wants us to proceed with some idea, because our holdup seems to be not buying land. The courthouse yard across from the City Hall was the most available land that is publicly owned for this project.

MR. WHITTLE: The new planner that's come to work in my office is also an architect. He is a Doctorate of Urban Design. I asked him to start thinking about this idea. He has come up with a concept. In two weeks time when we meet again he could have a graphic illustration of what can be done on that site. Some sizes, some concepts.

He's thinking in terms of a real clam shell with hydraulic openers and taking the stone arches that are on the courthouse windows and reproducing those as a part of the structure and play the 1812 Overture when it opens. With the idea that it's going to be something that ought to be major and we can always scale it back.

MS. HARPER LEE: The other consideration was that it needed to be close to the front of City Hall, because there isn't enough land at City Hall to do a whole lot. At the courthouse it would be accessible to both. That's about the size of it.

MR. REYNOLDS: We're pretty well decided on the courthouse lawn and City Hall Lawn or both for the legacy and/or time capsule.

Keep in mind what Dorian brought to us today. Now, the Depot Development Authority is looking to find out what they're going to do with the project, the acreage, the land, the use of it. We ought not to forget about that, because they are struggling, too, apparently with trying to come up with what we're trying to come up with in a different way. We shouldn't discount them or rule them out totally, although I know time is short and we're pretty much set on this other.

There might be a spot for something at the Depot that we as a second legacy or part A part B might do.

MS. HARPER LEE: There's some buildings that should be preserved just because of the buildings they are. They have their own integrity. I would really like to see public use of that space.

My concern is that it's not far enough along that we know what's going to happen. But if we wanted to do something there, down at the Houchens business area down on Church Street the plaque of Ervin Houchens and the other man -- Ray Buckberry checked on the cost of having one of those done. And he said it was something like $1,083 that we could put if we had something that wanted to make some special recognition of; that it wouldn't be that expensive to do it.

MR. WHITTLE: The Long Hunters and the carving in the beech tree would be the perfect image. We could do well to also offer to fund one or two or four outstanding lectures akin to one of the keynote speakers that was at the historic convention that was here down at the Capitol Arts Center. We would invite the whole community to come and hopefully get five or 600.

MS. HARPER LEE: That's just for our discussion. We're adjourned.