Sense of Community

Monday

Today youÕll be getting to know Dr. Janice Fulbright, the new Executive Director of Springfield Regional OperaÉ and she has quite a life story to tell.Born in Baltimore, Janice Fulbright was an adopted child.

JANICE: I do know that my [birth] mother was a graduate student in nursing at Johns Hopkins University, had a bright future ahead of her, and evidently made a ÒmistakeÓ one weekend with a traveling performer, and so I was the result! (laughs)

RANDY: So THATÕs where you get it!

JANICE: (laughing) I guess!You know, I had fantasized for years, ÒWell, I wonder who my father is?!ÓYou know, it could be any of those [famous] people that blew into Baltimore one weekend!JaniceÕs birth mother gave her up as an infant, and she was over a year old before she was adopted.As is too often the case with babies in orphanages, she was quite backward developmentally, and was even labeled as ÒretardedÓ!Luckily, that didnÕt stop her new adoptive parents from taking her anyway.

JANICE: They said they had me home one month and I was already walkingÉ and two months they couldnÕt shut me up! (laugh) SoÑand itÕs been that way ever since!!Unlike some adopted kids, Janice never felt inclined to seek out her biological mother and father.

JANICE: I think that my life was so full with my other parents that I just really never had the desire to do that.I did have friends who were adopted, that had this compulsion to find their birth parents!But that never was the case with me.JaniceÕs adoptive father was a Baptist minister and missionary working in Baltimore.The family then moved back home to Georgia, where he pastored the First Baptist Church of Cleveland, Georgia.Her mother was a schoolteacher who, as she says, didnÕt really relish the role of being the stereotypical ÒpreacherÕs wifeÓÉ and thatÕs where little Janice got the chance to shine.

JANICE: I filled that role a lot for my father.I was the hostess, and I was the Òfreak-showÓ beside the pulpit on Sunday mornings from three years old on (Randy laughs). They say I teethed on a Baptist hymn book!And still today, church music is very, very important to me.Janice started taking piano lessons at the age of fiveÉ

JANICE: But I think I drove Mrs. Smith crazy because I kept wanting to play things like I wanted to play them, instead of like the book said! (laughing) So I was a difficult student from the beginning!However, she turned out to be superb academically, one of those kids who was able to actually skip a couple of grades.Janice graduated from South Hall High School in Gainesville, Georgia, at the age of 14!

JANICE: My high school band director, I guess I can say, was the most influential person in my life.ÓHis name was Ron Evans.Football being king in Gainesville, the marching band got most of the attentionÑand the money.But Evans eventually started a chorus at the school, but he couldnÕt do it all by himselfÑand young Janice took on an important role.

JANICE: That was one of those conditions where I know God has had his hand on me, because I was in the right place at the right timeÑand I became his [EvansÕ] right arm.He didnÕt have time to do the chorus, and so basically I did it.You know, it was tremendous experience for me.Janice wanted to follow in her mentorÕs footsteps, and in fact become Òthe worldÕs greatest lady band director!ÓSo she went to his alma mater, the University of Georgia. Now remember, she was only 14 when she graduated high school, but she attended on a full music scholarship as a French-horn player.But she also took voice lessons and became increasingly interested in singing.Janice graduated from University of Georgia at only 17 years of age, and it was tough on a personal levelÑamong other things, being the only member of the Marching Band too young to drive!Janice says she had to Ògrow up very fastÓÑnot something she recommends to anyone. But it was at Georgia where her deep, low contralto voice was discovered, and she received guidance from her second major mentor:

JANICE: He was my voice teacher, and also my choral-conducting teacher at the University of Georgia: Dr. Pierce Arant.And he encouraged meÑhe told me that contraltos were very rare, and that if I continued to train, that he felt like I could have a career.So that was quite important to me.After teaching school for several years, Janice did her Masters in Vocal Performance degree at Georgia State University, where she studied with the renowned American contralto Florence Kopleff.

JANICE: And then I had some wonderful experiences in Atlanta.I became Robert ShawÕs assistant with the Atlanta SymphonyÑtaught the chorus the music for recordings that we made, and we won several Grammys during that time.Robert Shaw encouraged Janice to pursue a Doctorate in conducting at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of MusicÑin fact he wrote her letter of recommendation.To the Ph.D. in Conducting program, she added Musicology, because music history and research were also of great interest to her.And, more or less at the same time, she worked on ANOTHER Ph.D., in Opera Performance (!).

JANICE (sheepishly): Actually, I did Ôem bothÑ

RANDY: Concurrently?!

JANICE (chuckling) Kind of at the same time! (Randy laughs)I did the coursework for my Opera Performance one while I was writing my dissertation for the Musicology oneÑand while I was performing in Europe.By this time Janice Fulbright was getting professional guest-artist engagements with opera companies all over Germany and central EuropeÉ which put her within reach of Italy, where she could do hands-on research on the choral and orchestral works of Puccini, the subject of her Musicology dissertation.But Janice actually credits Gilbert and Sullivan with kick-starting her professional singing career.(excerpt from The Mikado plays)

JANICE: I began to sing with the Southeastern Savoyards, the very strong Atlanta-based Gilbert & Sullivan troupe.And I did all the altoÑwhat I call the Òfat altoÓ parts!

RANDY (laughing): Katisha and all those peopleÉ

JANICE: ThatÕs right, and just had an absolutely wonderful time.Also, I got opportunities to sing with the Atlanta Symphony and with the Symphony Chamber Chorus. And I really discovered my love for singing.And then, when I worked with Miss Kopleff, who had had such a wonderful international career, I found out really what was possible.And even though sheÑor Mr.Shaw, neither one!Ñreally liked my voice, and they thought I should go into conducting, when I got to Cincinnati I got a voice teacher: Gary Kendall, bass-baritone, fine, fine singer. And he actually believed I could sing!Gary Kendall encouraged her to enter the National Opera Association competition, which she won in 1988.And that got her an agent, and that resulted in concert and opera engagementsÑagain, because real contralto voices are rare.In 1989 Janice sang in the Beethoven 9th Symphony with the New York Philharmonic, and later won an International Wagner Society competition.

JANICE: Then my European debut was in Stuttgart.And then very soon after that, I went to Bayreuth and sang at a couple of the [Bayreuth] summer festivals.But JaniceÕs European career was cut short soon, when her father had a massive heart attack in the pulpit.Though he lived another 13 years, he was never able to preach again.

JANICE: You never knew if the next time was the time he would be taken, and so I really needed to be in the States so I could be closer, to get here sooner if I was needed.Once back in the States Janice did a good deal of singing, including the title role in Gian-Carlo MenottiÕs The Medium at the Spoleto (USA) Festival, under the composerÕs guidance.But eventually she went back to teaching at the college level, for the comparative stability it offered.Also, as she began to suffer from arthritis, her mobility on stage was somewhat reduced.So teaching and occasional recitals were a good fit.She taught and served as artist-in-residence at Wayne State University in Detroit, University of the Redlands in California, and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She finally landed at Huntington College near Fort Wayne, Indiana, as Head of the Music Department.JANICE: It is a religious schoolÉ I actually had decided to leave teaching and go into ministry full-time, but it just didnÕt work out.So I wound up taking this jobÑvery unusual for me, very different kind of job.And of course, I had been the head of opera programs [at universities] all over the country, but this was the first time that I was head of the entire department.

WeÕre profiling Springfield Regional OperaÕs new Executive Director, Dr. Janice Fulbright.Janice was in the middle of a major career as a contralto in the operatic and concert fields all over central Europe, when she decided to come back to America to be closer to her seriously-ill father.She joined the faculty of Huntington College in Indiana as the Chair of their Music Department.So what brought her to Springfield?JANICE: I just really felt like it was time for me to leave.I didnÕt know what was in store for me, but I decided that I needed to leave that, I think, from working 27-hour days (laugh).And so, lo and behold, I came to another job that I work 27 hours a day! (laughs)

RANDY: I was going to sayÉ youÕve just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

JANICE: Into the fire, thatÕs the truth!

RANDY: Springfield Regional Opera was in bad need of a full-time Executive Director. Judy BillingsÑwho had sort of been de facto Executive Director while husband Jim was Artistic Director in the 1990sÑshe took the job for a year on a temporary basis, stated at the very beginning, ÒIÕm not gonna take the job permanently, youÕre gonna have to find somebody else!ÓBut she kept the company going for a yearÑ

JANICE: Yes she did.

RANDY: And I guess Judy was the one who actually interviewed you for the job.

JANICE: Yes she was.Actually, the reason I heard about the job was, a very good friend had come to sing with the opera company in last yearÕs production of [RossiniÕs] CenerentolaÑshe was the mezzo who sang Cenerentola, Jodi Karem.And when she got finished with the gig she went back to her home in Chicago, and called me and said, ÒJanice, you need to take this job!TheyÕve lost their Executive Director, theyÕre looking for somebody, and you really should take this job!ÓAnd I thought to myself, ÒWhy is she telling me to do that?Ó (laugh)You know, IÕd been out of the Òopera businessÓ for a whileÑ

RANDY: And youÕve never been in the business end of it anyway.

JANICE: No, no. I had run the community opera in conjunction with the university opera programs, but as far as just being the total head of a regional company, no I hadnÕt done that.ButÑitÕs something I had always thought about doing.And I think the thing that attracted me to this job was the fact that they needed a kind ofÑI donÕt know, jack-of-all-trades (chuckle)!They needed an artistic director, an educational director, a development director, a general director, an executive directorÑthey just needed a little bit of everything!

RANDY: And really, your life experience fits the bill for basically all of those different tasks.

JANICE: Right.

RANDY: But again, it makes for a difficult job for you to be a one-person staff basically.

JANICE: Right! (chuckle) But itÕs so exciting to me to have my finger in all the pies, because I can see the company develop.

RANDY: What kind of a situation did you come into?

JANICE: Well, they had told me that there was a loan that they were paying back, and I could see that in just the most recent years they had only done one production a year, maybe two.And I realized that they were a little below the radar in town, and they were losing support.And so I thought, ÒWell, hey, you know, IÕve always been a public-relations person (laugh)!Maybe, you know, they just need somebody to get in peoplesÕ faces, and so (laugh) I can certainly do that!Ó (Randy laughs)And so when I came here, I didnÕt realize the financial situation was quite as bad as it was.But we have really come a long way, and we have set up some rules and regulations now by which we are going to be much more fiscally responsible. WeÕve done a lot of things to save money, to cut back.WeÕve organized our books.WeÕve moved to a new office in the Creamery, and hopefully in the future weÕll have some rehearsal spaceÑand also a stage on which to perform.ThatÕs been the biggest challenge, actually: finding places to perform, as well as the money to put on the productions. We desperately, desperately need an opera house!Having an adequate performing space to call home has historically been a challenge for Springfield Regional Opera.For many years SRO utilized the Landers Theatre, but these days the Landers is simply too busyÑplus, they reduced the size of the orchestra pit when they remodeled a few years ago, and in the process reduced the theatreÕs suitability for large opera productions.The Vandivort Center Theatre is much too small for anything but the most intimate of operas.You can certainly put on Ògrand operaÓ at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts, but its rental costs are prohibitively expensive for the financially-struggling SRO.The company hopes to use the Gillioz Theatre if and when it opens for businessÑat least for some small productionsÑbut it too has no real orchestra pitÉ or fly space for lowering large backdrops to the stageÉ or space in the wings.And for that matter, the stage itself is very shallow.SoÉ Janice Fulbright is looking for alternatives.

JANICE: WeÕre looking for new and different venues.And this next production that weÕre doing, [Gilbert and SullivanÕs] Pirates of Penzance, weÕre doing in FounderÕs ParkÑthe first time weÕve ever done anything in a city park.ItÕs not Ògrand opera,Ó itÕs much more musical-theatre, itÕs much more family-friendly.And thatÕs kind of how weÕre going to approach the next couple of years, as we try to build our economic base, is to do shows that are very family oriented, that are entertaining, that are funny, that are in English, that people can follow the plot and enjoy.Hopefully, we will eventually get to the point when we can do Ògrand operaÓ on a grand scale.But so far, thereÕs no way to do that right now.RANDY: And you talked about Ògetting in peoplesÕ faces.ÓWhat can you do really to increase SROÕs profile in the region?

JANICE: What IÕm trying to do is to get us out there more often.WeÕre starting a concert series, a noon concert series at the Art Museum, called ÒArt and Art Song.Ó It will be on the first Wednesday of every month, and it will be a kind of lecture-recital from 12:15 to 12:45 pm, so people can come from their businesses downtown or wherever. IÕm also doing some childrenÕs programs at the Library CenterÑand in fact, all eight Library locations this summer.WeÕre going to start ÒOpera StoriesÓ so that children begin to know these plots and these stories from the ground up.And weÕre going to sing one of the tunes from the show so that they become familiar with thatÑyou know, in a ÒkidÓ version of course.IÕm also doing a lot of programs myself for senior citizens, for youth programs, for whatever.We have to get out there and let people know!RANDY: So youÕre in a ÒbuildingÓ capacity right now.

JANICE: Yes, definitely in ÒbuildingÓ mode.WeÕll be using all local singers for our productions for the next couple of years.We have tremendous talent in this townÑI am just amazed every day when I hear a new voice.IÕm doing the musical direction for the Landers show Annie Get Your Gun, and I just heard some wonderful voices.I said, ÒYeah, you ought to come audition for the opera!ÓAnd then the opera singersÑI mean, we have tremendously talented people who have had national careers, and thereÕs no reason why we shouldnÕt be using Ôem right here!So those are the people IÕm depending on.Those singers, bless their hearts, have agreed to work for nothing, or next to nothing, until we can get the company off the ground.So now, basically, what we need is some financial boost.We need someone to give us a fiscal shot in the arm to help us build. We want to build our endowment through the Community Foundation.Right now, Springfield Regional Opera is the only opera company operating in the southwest Missouri region, following the closing-up shop of Heartland Opera in Joplin. Janice has negotiated for SRO to get HeartlandÕs sets and costumes.As she says, being literally the only game in town means a certain amount of pressure, but sheÕs looking to branch out and cooperate with other opera companies in this part of the country.

JANICE: We have negotiations in progress with some of the other regional companies such as Tulsa, Kansas City and St. Louis, to perhaps do some joint productions where we would share the cost, but do the production in all those cities.I was involved in a lot of these kinds of productions in regional opera companies all over the country when I was singing full-time, and I know that they workÑand they give you the opportunity to reach a lot more people, and also do a lot more beautiful production.Among her many other pursuits over the years, Dr. Fulbright even has some broadcasting experience under her belt.

JANICE: I always wanted to be Anna Russell when I grew up! (Randy laughs) And so radio has given me a forum.Basically I started it in Arizona at the public radio station there in Flagstaff.They were doing a big fundraiser, their yearly fundraiser like KSMU does, and needed someone to get on and talk and try to get people to send in donations.And then at that same time, they were advertising for Arizona OperaÕs production of the Ring.And so I wrote a series of radio spots making fun of Wagner and the Ring, and generally making fun of opera!And they were very successful, and I really got a flavor and taste of radio, and how we could make opera ÒtouchableÓ and real to people who normally wouldnÕt even think about it.And I think thatÕs the thing that we have to do. We did it in our ÒDueling SopranosÓ recital that we did back in November here.I think we canÕt take ourselves too seriously.We have to enjoy opera and make fun of the images of opera every once in a whileÑbecause they are silly!I mean, whoever thought of singing everything you think?!I mean (chuckle), thereÕs nothing ÒrealÓ about that!You know, Gilda [in VerdiÕs Rigoletto], wrapped up in a burlap bag, having been stabbed, singing for an hour a whole bunch of high notes (Randy laughs)Ñyou know, it isnÕt real.And operaÕs not meant to be Òreal.ÓI think the thing that stops people from understanding and appreciating opera nowadays is because of movies and video and television, with all the fast car chases down the streets of San Francisco!Nothing happens that fast in operaÑeverything is in s-l-o-w-w motion, and you have to be prepared to just experience the whole thing, the thing Wagner called the ÒGesamptkunstwerk,Ó the Òall-encompassing artÓ that just washes over you.And I think all of us are too used to being so fast-paced that we donÕt slow down enough to really absorb the music and the text and the literature behind the text, and all of the beautiful visual effects.So itÕs a training process too (chuckles).Dr. Janice FulbrightÑsinger, conductor, teacher, musicologist, and Executive Director, chief bottle-washer and whatever else they ask of her (!), at Springfield Regional Opera.For information on Springfield Regional Opera, call 863-1960.

From the rural villages of his West African homeland to the academic offices and high-tech laboratories of universities throughout the world, Dr. Inno Onwueme has devoted his life to agriculture.

As a consultant to the United Nations, Onwueme has led missions to Fiji, Vanuatu, Zambia, Samoa, Kenya, Tonga, Zimbabwe and Indonesia during which he advised those respective governments on agricultural, food-security and environmental issues. He has lived and worked on four continents, including America, Africa, Europe and Asia/Pacific.

In the fall of 2004, Onwueme was hired as the associate dean of agricultural sciences in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences at Southwest Missouri State University. He is also the director of the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station and oversees the operation of the Mid America Viticulture and Enology Center located at SMSU’s research campus in Mountain Grove, Mo.

“I have had the good fortune of visiting nearly a third of all the countries on earth, actually living in many of them,” Onwueme said. “This has enabled me to acquire a global perspective on various issues and problems. I trust that my scientific expertise and global experience will enable me to guide the School of Agricultural Sciences to new heights that will make SMS and the people of Missouri proud.”

Onwueme’s research interests fall into three areas: sustainability and the environment; production physiology of sweet potato and other root/tuber crops; and characterization, conservation and utilization of biodiversity, including novel practices for the propagation, domestication and production of various semi-wild medicinal and condiment plants.

Onwueme combines a rural childhood upbringing with a fascinating professional career. His early years were spent in rural West Africa, where agriculture was a way of life and farm work was a daily regimen after school. Following high school, Onwueme left his homeland for California, where he received a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of California-Davis. He went on to earn a doctorate degree in crop physiology, also from UC-Davis, and – after passing up several lucrative job offers – returned to Africa, where he began a professional university career that would take him around the globe.

While in Africa, Onwueme served in a variety of university posts – department head, university dean of agriculture, graduate school dean, research center director and interim university president. After emigrating to the United States with his family, Onwueme continued to support his passion for global agricultural issues as he served a period at a university in Papua New Guinea and at other locations in the South Pacific. He eventually settled in Pennsylvania, where he became director of a center focusing on agricultural sustainability.

Onwueme, an author of eight books and dozens of articles in scientific journals, has received grants from numerous global organizations to support his professional interests.

“Much of my research has been devoted to the interaction between agriculture and the environment,” he said. “We try to answer the questions involved in maintaining high agricultural productivity and profitability over the long term. All this is for the benefit of farmers and agro-business entrepreneurs.”

For KSMU's Sense of Community series, I'm Mike Smith

EACH SUMMER AT THE OZARK EMPIRE FAIR, GREENE COUNTY PRESIDING COMMISSIONER DAVE COONROD CAN BE FOUND CAMPED OUT IN HIS TRAILER. IT’S HIS CHANCE TO MEET WITH CONSTITUENTS AND HAVE A LITTLE FUN AT THE SAME TIME.

COONROD, WHO HAS SERVED AS COUNTY COMMISSIONER FOR 17 YEARS—MORE THAN 10 OF THOSE AS PRESIDING COMMISSIONER, WAS BORN AND RAISED IN SPRINGFIELD. HE GRADUATED FROM GLENDALE HIGH SCHOOL IN 1971 IN A CLASS OF MORE THAN 500 PEOPLE, WHICH INCLUDED LOCAL BUSINESSMEN DAN CHILES, JIM O’NEAL, MARK ROBINETT, MIKE WILHOIT AND LYNN THOMPSON…

COONROD JOINED THE MARINE CORPS JUST OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL AND COULDN’T WAIT TO GET BACK TO HIS HOMETOWN TO GO TO COLLEGE. HE RECEIVED A BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY IN 1979 AND WENT STRAIGHT INTO THE MASTER’S PROGRAM IN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.

COONROD WORKED AS A PLANNER FOR GREENE COUNTY IN THE EARLY 80S. HE WAS FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE WATER SHED MANAGEMENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE—NOW THE WATERSHED COMMITTEE OF THE OZARKS. AFTER A SHORT TIME THERE, HE TRIED HIS HAND IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR—AS A MARKETING MANAGER AND AS A REAL ESTATE AGENT.

IN 1988, HE RAN FOR GREENE COUNTY COMMISSIONER FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT AND WON…

COONROD COUNTS THE LATE MIKE COMPTON AMONG THOSE WHO HAVE HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON SHAPING WHO HE IS TODAY…

OTHER MENTORS COONROD LISTS ARE A TEACHER—MRS. CHANEY—WHO TAUGHT TYPEWRITING AND BUSINESS AT GLENDALE AND THE LATE KEN THOMPSON WHO TAUGHT BIOLOGY AT SMS…

DAVE COONROD HAS LONG BEEN AN ADVOCATE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT—PARTICULARLY IN THE AREA OF WATER QUALITY AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT.

COONROD WAS INVOLVED IN A STUDY DONE BY THE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE IN THE EARLY 1980S THAT DEFINED THREE AREAS WHERE THE ENVIRONMENT WAS THREATENED: SEPTIC SYSTEM RUN-OFF FROM ON-SITE WASTEWATER SYSTEMS, AGRICULTURAL RUN-OFF AND STORMWATER RUN-OFF—ALL ARE STILL THE THREE MAIN SOURCES OF CONTAMINANTS, ACCORDING TO COONROD. IN 1986, THE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE ALONG WITH TOM ALEY AND THE LATE KEN THOMPSON DID A SEPTIC FIELD STUDY…

COONROD SAYS WHILE GROWTH IS NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT, THERE NEEDS TO BE A BALANCE BETWEEN THAT GROWTH AND A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT…

COONROD’S INTEREST IN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES DEVELOPED WHEN HE WAS A STUDENT AT SMS AND IT WAS HELPED ALONG BY ANOTHER OF HIS MENTORS…

COONROD SAYS A CHALLENGE THE COUNTY WILL CONTINUE TO FACT AS IT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE IS WATER QUALITY. A WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY TASK FORCE IS IN PLACE, MADE UP OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COUNTY, THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD AND THE SPRINGFIELD AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE…

ACCORDING TO COONROD, ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES THE COUNTY CURRENTLY FACES IS LAW ENFORCEMENT…

COONROD EXPECTS A LAW ENFORCEMENT PROPOSITION TO BE ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER. HE SAYS IF THAT PASSES, THE COUNTY WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO IMPLEMENT A SIGNIFICANT CRIME REDUCTION PROGRAM THAT TARGETS YOUNG CHILDREN…

COONROD AND HIS WIFE ELISA HAVE A NEARLY 11-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, AND HE’S TRYING TO DO ALL THAT HE CAN TO MAKE SURE THE FUTURE IS SAFE FOR HER AND OTHER CHILDREN…

COONROD AND HIS WIFE ARE BOTH INVOLVED IN THEIR COMMUNITY. ELISA IS RUNNING FOR A SEAT ON THE ASH GROVE SCHOOL BOARD, AND BOTH SERVE ON VARIOUS NON-PROFIT BOARDS. COONROD SERVES ON THE BOARDS OF THE SPRINGFIELD AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, THE URBAN DISTRICTS ALLIANCE AND THE JAMES RIVER BASIN PARTNERSHIP. HE SERVES ON SEVERAL STATE BOARDS AND IS A MEMBER OF THE DOWNTOWN ROTARY CLUB.

WHEN HE’S NOT BUSY WITH THAT AND HIS JOB WITH THE COUNTY, COONROD LIKES TO TAKE PART IN HIS FAVORITE SPORT…

DAVE COONROD ALSO LOVES HIS HARLEY…

COONROD SAYS HE INTENDS TO STAY IN HIS POSITION AS GREENE COUNTY PRESIDING COMMISSIONER AS LONG AS VOTERS WILL ALLOW HIM TO…

KSMU’S SENSE OF COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP SERIES IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT KSMU.ORG.

FOR KSMU AND THE SOC SERIES, I’M MICHELE SKALICKY.