KyWEGO® Kentucky World Equestrian Games Citizens Action Group
William Shatner made the first meeting of the Governor’s advisory commission to discuss the planning of the Games in 2010. Shatner is expected to be a regular on the committee from here on out. Shatner is a long time equestrian and American Saddlebred breeder and showman. Of course most people know him from Boston Legal as Denny Crane or more notably as James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise of Star Trek fame.
Governor Fletcher is pushing to get another $38 million to improve road infrastructure in the Kentucky Horse Park as well as to jump start the Newtown Pike improvements plus upgrading the currently planned arenas. This money would come from the $279 million surplus the state has with the expectation that this money would be available this year instead of having to wait to be put in as part of next years State budget. Indications are that the Governor is receiving recommendations to make the Kentucky Horse Park the top notch equestrian facility we know it can be. Even more to our delight the word has been put out that the State would be interested in landing future FEI World Equestrian Games. Now we will not take credit for seeding that idea but we are certainly going to do all we can do to see that goal accomplished.
written by Leah L.
October 1989.
Three white socks and a fiery mane,
Thundering down the racetrack.
Come on now, you all know his name …
A legend on the racetrack.
Secretariat, Secretariat
A hero to all who saw you.
Secretariat, Secretariat
An idol to all who loved you.
A red flash flying down the stretch,
Dressed in the famous blue and white,
Pounding and pounding your life away with every stride.
You gave your all.
You gave the best of yourself.
You were special.
We all loved you and
Now you are gone.
You never went for second best.
You always put yourself to the test.
You were the best.
Just a bit better then all the rest.
Oh did you read the news today?
Another legend has passed away.
A red flash passing into the night,
Quickly galloping out of sight.
This poem was written as a tribute to Secretariat soon after his passing in October 1989. I post it here as a tribute to 3 great Thoroughbreds; Secretariat(1989), Mr. Jones(2006), and Barbaro(2007) whom we lost today. This poem was written by a friend of mine our freshman year in college.
I arrived at the Hyatt about 7 am and was the 60th person in line. It was still almost 1 PM before I actually had my audition. The audition was our 60 second pitch followed by being asked a number of questions about our proposal. I felt it went very well so now we just have to wait to see what the result is which maybe a few weeks in coming. We are going to do our own video of our presentation and post it here for our members to review as we will be using this presentation in front of other groups as this year rolls on as part of our fund raising efforts.
As a part of our fund raising campaign I will be pitching our endeavor at the auditions for the new NBC reality show “Fortune”. The auditions will be Sunday, January 7th at the Hyatt in Lexington from 9AM to 6PM for anyone else who wants to come out to pitch your own idea or come out and support me.
Citizens dedicated to the success of the Kentucky World Equestrian Games 2010 and future for the benefit of all Kentuckians.
Happy New Year and best wishes to everyone as we learn from the past, live in the present and plan for the future.
In 2006 we worked to define what would be needed to make these games successful in the simplest terms. The simplest way to define that is that the games need to be cost effective in that for every tax dollar spent the citizens of the Commonwealth see a realized gain directly from the Games. This in a sense is a micro goal in that it deals strictly with the event itself.
The macro goal is how to have the event have a positive impact for every county in the Commonwealth going forward from the games. To see that happen one of our key goals for this year will be to grow our membership to more Kentucky counties with the ultimate goal being to have all 120 counties represented by December 31, 2009. This way individuals from every county who know what their county has to offer has the chance to participate in this great opportunity.
Not that we can take credit for it, but a week before Christmas, Governor Fletcher named a 35 member commission charged with a number of tasks but a key one is the education of the public on the importance of the games to the state. This of course is one of our principal points for which this Citizen’s Action Group was formed because the success of the games is highly dependent on the support of the citizens of the Commonwealth.
Jim Newberry who is sworn in as mayor this weekend is on this commission and would look to play a major roll in this endeavor. There is some speculation that Mayor-elect Newberry had some direct part in the formation of this commission as he has a great understanding of the impact of these games on Lexington and what is needed for them to be successful. We do look forward to working with Mayor Newberry in making these games the great success that we know they can be for the total benefit of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The 2006 elections are over as are the distractions over who we would be working with to make the 2010 Kentucky World Equestrian Games a success. We offer congratulations to Jim Newberry on his win in the Lexington Mayoral race and look forward to working with him.
Mayor Isaac has said she will provide Mayor-Elect Jim Newberry with total support during the transition period which is wonderful news, though we are not surprised by her attitude. Though the Governor’s race won’t be decided for another year and it could prove quite contentious the hope would be that Mayor Newberry would be able to set the direction for what was needed in the way of infrastructure that the outcome of the Governor’s race would not affect all the work that has to be completed in a short time afterwards.
Jim Newberry vs. Teresa Isaac
It has been our position not to back a particular candidate in this race because we are more interested in the positive outcome of the Kentucky World Equestrian Games in 2010 then in getting tangled up in politics. Many will say that is impossible but the plan is to avoid backing individual candidates and instead to focus on the needed legislation and planning for these games to be successful.
Thank you Mr. Jones for being such a special part of my life.
The members of this group believing in the responsibility of citizen’s of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to be active in the betterment of Kentucky, wishes it be known that our goal in supporting the Kentucky World Equestrian Games Organization(KWEGO) is our belief that the endeavors set forth here serve that purpose.
We believe that what is good for the horse community(horses) in Kentucky is good for Kentucky because horses have always been good for Kentucky. Our first mission is to see that the FEI 2010 games are successful both in execution and presentation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky while utilizing tax payer monies in a way that benefits all citizens of the Commonwealth. A key to the success of these games is to educate the citizens of the Commonwealth that these games benefit all Kentuckians not just horse owners and enthusiasts and not just those people local to the Kentucky Horse Park and Lexington.
Our second mission is to develop the Kentucky World Equestrian Games as an ongoing event occurring every 4 years starting in 2015 there by not coinciding with the FEI games or the Summer Olympic games. The future Kentucky World Equestrian Games would continue to show case Kentucky for all the world to see and would continue to bring benefits to the citizen’s of Kentucky for many generations to come.
Our third mission would be to pursue a host bid for the Summer Olympic games with a desired target date of the 2032 or 2036 games. The first two missions would go a long way to show Kentucky’s capability to host a Summer Olympics as well as to establish much of the infrastructure and logistics requirements to win a bid.
Kentucky’s proud heritage has always been interconnected with that of the horse. And going forward it should be expected that our collective well being as citizen’s of the Commonwealth of Kentucky be built on that great foundation that has been so wonderfully laid down by those who have come before us.
We have been busy watching a lot of events and the impacts they will have on the games. as well as busy building a foundation on which to base our participation and role in the games.
So here are the quick headlines of some of the significant issues that might impact the games. The cost of crude has doubled the cost of asphalt over last years prices, this is going to add greatly to the cost of the road projects deemed absolute necessities for the games.
At the other end of the spectrum Governor Fletcher has been indicted in the on going hiring practices probe. And though the expectation is that the Democrats will not try to impeach him because the 2007 election is so close and they figure it better to take on a wounded incumbent as opposed to some unknown challenger at this point.
The real question will be what happens to Jim Host if Governor Fletcher looses his re-election bid next year. That would mean a new Democratic Governor would be taking over in January of 2008 and Jim Host is not well liked by the Democrats at all and the expectation would be that he would be replaced. For the moment I will leave the ramifications of that for a later discussion because there is still some real question as to whether the ramifications would be negative or positive.
We will follow up soon with how are plans are progressing and on more details on all that is already occurring in the race to get ready for the games.
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