Article originally posted by The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise directed to: http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/may-17-editorial-innovative-airline-incentive

May 17 editorial: Innovative airline incentive

By The Staff

Monday, May 18, 2009 at 7:00 pm

If there is any reward for creative thinking, the Elizabethtown Airport Board’s efforts to bring commuter air service to this growing community and its 23 neighboring counties surely will succeed.

Faced with the grim prospect of depending on government, corporate or individual altruism —  at a time of declining revenues and profits — to come up with financial incentives to persuade a commuter airline to do business here, the board and consultant Luke B. Schmidt developed what seems to be a win-win-win solution. Win for the community, win for an airline, win for local businesses, organizations and individuals who depend on air travel.

Setting up service to provide the hoped-for minimum of three outbound, three inbound flights daily would be a costly proposition for an airline. Of course they, too, are suffering financially these days. To help offset those start-up costs for one of the three airlines considering connecting Elizabethtown with larger hubs, the airport board is asking air travel users to pledge money to the Partnership for Central Kentucky Airline Service Bank.

The first airline to offer service would use those contributions, possibly as much as $2 million, to take the necessary steps to begin restoring commuter air service to this area. Contributors would get their money back through ticket reimbursements as they use the service.

Time is short to complete negotiations to land a regional airline that is a dependable operation affiliated with a major carrier. The campaign to finance the Travel Bank is designed to last three months. By then, it should be known whether the lithium-ion battery research and manufacturing campus backed by a coalition of at least 50 companies will be locating here. Pressure already is building on the community from anticipated growth to be completed at Fort Knox by 2012, especially the Human Resources Command.

The Army was the single largest user of commercial air line service in this region, even before the expected 7,600 new positions were assigned to Fort Knox. The battery facility will add significantly to that. A potential for 350,214 passenger trips was estimated before the NATTbatt potential was revealed. Location of the multi-use facility here will be a huge enticement to a commuter airline, just as the airline will be a big attraction to any business considering locating here.

The Travel Bank is the kind of innovative thinking that should be rewarded, but its success really will depend upon the ability of local businesses and organizations to see beyond their immediate circumstances to visualize the investment opportunities and take advantage of them. They will not have to put up the money right away.

Just think: No more 4 a.m. alarms to make an early morning flight in Louisville. No more anxious, pre-dawn races against the clock up Interstate 65. And no more dreading the parking lot exit booth.

– This editorial represents a consensus of The News-Enterprise editorial board.

Article originally posted by The (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise directed to: http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/battery-factory-charges-airline-push

Battery factory charges airline push

By John Friedlein

Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 7:00 pm

By JOHN FRIEDLEIN

jfriedlein@thenewsenterprise.com

ELIZABETHTOWN — Those pushing for commuter flights at the local airport have received another carrot to help lure an airline here.

Gov. Steve Beshear last week announced that a hybrid and electric vehicle battery plant may locate in nearby Glendale.

“It’s a huge, huge project,” Airport Board consultant Luke B. Schmidt said. “It just lends itself to air travel.”

Anytime there is a major economic development of that type, it strengthens the case that this is a viable market, he said.

Elizabethtown Regional Airport already could tout the Base Realignment and Closure initiative, which will grow Fort Knox over the next couple of years.

Both BRAC and the lithium-ion battery plant are expected to create thousands of new jobs and spur development of other businesses in the area.

Commuter flight proponents already have marketed the Glendale announcement to the three airlines considering service to the area. Schmidt said he has received positive feedback.

The battery factory — which may be dependent on federal economic stimulus funds — is a consortium of 51 companies called NAATBatt.

Because so many businesses are involved, a lot of employees would travel here, Schmidt said. Suppliers and customers may also use the airport.

A local industrial development official said a member of the consortium already has flown into Elizabethtown.

Also, a survey showed the most popular destination for commuter passengers would be Detroit. This area has strong ties to the auto industry because of its many parts manufacturers.

Back in the ’80s, Piedmont Airlines and Delta served the airport. But the market at that time didn’t deliver enough revenue.

If airport officials can restart such as service, they plan to move forward on a multi-million-dollar passenger terminal.

The chances of this happening are likely better because airlines, Schmidt said, are expanding. He said he was happy to see an announcement about service coming to a small market in Kansas, next to the Fort Riley Army post.

While the cost of fuel is not sky-high anymore, the recession has been a challenge for getting an airline here.

“We’d like to see a little stronger economy,” Schmidt said.

John Friedlein can be

reached at 505-1746.

L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC has completed an assignment for an Ohio-based client.  The client is a division of a global broad-based health care company.

The assignment included a review of packaging regulations in the states of California, Hawaii and Maine, along with recommendations related to the introduction of new packaging for the company.  Company President Luke Schmidt conducted negotiations with officials in each state to assure that the client’s new packaging would be fully compliant with existing statutes.  The assignment included a review of the client’s domestic sales and distribution system in order to ensure alignment between the company’s systems and the individual state’s statutory requirements.

Article originally posted by The Kentucky Enquirer directed to: http://www.enquirer.com/editions/pdf/KY_CE_271208.pdf

Ky. grocers start drive to sell wine

Cincinnati Enquirer – Cincinnati, Ohio

By Patrick Crowley

pcrowley@nky.com

Kentucky’s grocers have launched a statewide petition drive to build support for a proposed change in state law that would allow grocery stores to sell wine.

Nine grocery stores – owned by Remke Markets and Riverside SuperValu – are participating in the drive in Northern Kentucky, according to a statement from the Food With Wine Coalition.

“Consumers have been asking grocery store managers across Kentucky for the opportunity to purchase a bottle of wine to go with their meal,” Luke Schmidt, a Louisville consultant working with the coalition, said in a statement. “The coalition’s effort is a direct response to what our customers have been asking for.”

An online version of the petition is also available. The petitions will be used to try to win support for changing the law during the 2009 Kentucky General Assembly legislative session, which will begin Jan. 5.

Statewide, the petitions are in 111 stores in 39 cities and 28 counties where the sale of alcoholic beverages is allowed. Only people 21 and older are permitted to sign the petitions.

“We encourage Kentuckians across the commonwealth to take this first step in demonstrating their support for changing the law by signing the petition the next time that you shop in your favorite grocery store,” Schmidt said.

Kentucky is one of 16 states that prohibit wine sales in grocery stores. Legislation to change the law was filed during the 2008 session, but it died in committee without a vote. Liquor store operators and legislators, opposed to expanding the sale of alcohol, are against the bill.

Advocates cite three main reasons for allowing the change in law:

Expanding consumer choice.

Providing up to 400 new outlets for the sale of Kentucky-made wines.

Generating up to $50 million in new state sales tax revenue in the first five years after the law is changed.

Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger, has been one of the leading proponents of the legislation.

He said that with the state facing a projected budget shortfall of almost $500 million, increasing wine sales would help bring new tax dollars into state coffers.

Sign here, please

Petitions supporting a change in state law allowing wine to be sold at grocery stores can be signed at these locations:

All Northern Kentucky Remke Markets.

Riverside SuperValu in Covington and Dayton.

Online at www.foodwithwine.org.

Article originally posted by (Huntington, WV) Herald-Dispatch directed to: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1671882138/Ky-group-pushing-for-wine-sales-in-groceries

Ky. group pushing for wine sales in groceries

December 21, 2008 @ 08:34 AM

Herald-Dispatch.com

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky is one of 18 states that does not allow wine sales in grocery stores, but a coalition is looking to change that soon.

The Kentucky Food with Wine Coalition announced Dec. 16 that more than 100 Kentucky supermarkets will hold a petition drive to gauge support for allowing them to sell wine.

The drive will help the coalition’s effort to allow wine to be sold in groceries, spokesman Luke Schmidt said.

“Ultimately what we want to be able to do is to demonstrate that consumers across the state want to see this law change,” Schmidt told the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer.

But traditional liquor stores don’t want Kroger, Houchens and other grocery stores jumping on their wagon.

Changing the law would give grocery stores an unfair advantage, said Karen Lentz, a lobbyist for the Kentucky Liquor Retailer Coalition.

“It’s the fact that they can already do this, as long as they comply with the current rules that are set out for anybody who sells wine,” Lentz said. “This is a heavily regulated product that should remain heavily regulated.”

Rep. Larry Clark, a Louisville Democrat, filed a bill this year to allow for the expansion of wine sales to grocery stores. The bill made its way to the House Licensing and Occupations Committee but didn’t receive a hearing.

As Kentucky farmers make the switch from traditional crops, particularly tobacco, to grape and wine production, allowing wine sales in groceries will be a benefit to Kentucky’s agriculture industry, the coalition argues.

“It’s early, but my understanding is that it’s been very positively received by shoppers,” Schmidt said.

But Lentz says that grocery stores would have fewer regulations about selling wine than liquor stores, like the age of the salesperson, if the law was changed.

“This is not about convenience,” he said. “This is about public policy for a heavily regulated product. … Package stores are experts in selling alcohol.”

At least 40 grocery stores in Kentucky already sell liquor, but they have to abide by the same rules as liquor stores, like having the liquor and wine section accessible only through its own entrance, Lentz said.