Commission President Art Kirkendoll said he had spoken with Stone recently about the commission and with the enhanced interest in tourism related projects that he felt it was time to revitalize the committee. Kirkendoll is the chairman of the the Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority (HMRRA) board. At a recent meeting of the HMRRA the topic came up of routing a trail connector into the Sarah Ann area close to several historic sites. That project had initially come up during Matt Ballard's tenure as executive director of Hatfield-McCoy when Steven Stone, along with Bill Richardson and others, had discussed tourism projects in that area with Ballard.
Kirkendoll noted that Hatfield-McCoy has constructed a visiting center for tourists in Boone County and that Logan County needed to strike while the iron was hot to preserve local historical sites and develop interest in historic destination tourism as an industry.
"It may enhance the county to rejuvenate our Landmark Committee and work on restoration and presentation projects to make our tourism draws more accessible," Kirkendoll said. "Janice Stone and Steven Stone have done great work in the past on such projects as the cleaning up of Devil Anse Hatfield's grave and Steven had made me aware years ago of problems we had with vandalism around some of these sites."
Stone told Commissioners that most terms on the Landmark Committee board had run out around 1999 and the board, which had done several important projects, such as raising money and installing the statue of Chief Logan at the park named after him as well as placing plaques on places of historical interest across the county, still has some funds in its bank account, but had become inactive over the past few years. She said there are currently 17 sites which have been identified of historic interest which deserve preservation and presentation efforts such as being marked with bronze plaques.
Kirkendoll asked Stone how many vacancies there were in terms of board members. Stone said Bill Richardson, Claude Williams, Kenny King and herself were around, but there was one vacancy. She also asked to be replaced on the committee by Steven Stone.
"I urge you to reactivate the Landmark Committee," she said, explaining that the committee worked with a larger historical society group.
Tom Zamow said the terms of the available committee members could be reestablished and it could just update them for another term. Kirkendoll said Stone would continue as president of the committee until she entered a letter of resignation, which would leave three available members with two openings which could be filled by approval. Kirkendoll recommended a resolution to revitalize the Landmark Committee.
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