story by Jalin Ernest

With Valentine’s Day closely approaching (Feb. 14), many couples look to take the cheaper approach for a thoughtful gift. For some, less may mean more. But during this time of love and compassion, the thought is what counts the most.

• Great Escape Movie Theater (Clarksville, Ind.): At $11.50 per person for a regular 2D movie, it’s not the cheapest, but it’s the easiest. To cut costs and save money, get your candy from a store away from the theater. Make sure to choose your movie prior to your arrival because when you get there, choosing your movie may be harder than it seems.
• Steak and Shake (Clarksville, Ind.): This may be as close as it gets to cheap at a sit-down restaurant. Milkshakes are a little pricey, but very much worth it. With a menu of meals under $4, you may not beat it at any other restaurant.
• Eastern Lanes ( Clarksville, Ind.): Who doesn’t love bowling? It is an easy idea, maybe even a  last minute plan that can work for a lot of people. With a special on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:30 pm to 12:30 am you can get shoes and a lane ( a maximum of 3 people ) for $11 per person.

Cheap Gifts:

• Flowers: What girl wouldn’t like flowers with a nice little message attached to them. You can get flowers from anywhere, Walgreens, Meijers, Krogers, probably even Rural King. If you need t just throw something together get you some flowers and a one dollar card and write a nice message and she will love it.
• Chocolate: Because … why not?
• Teddy Bear: Every girl needs someone to cuddle with when her boyfriend isn’t around. They come in many sizes and you can get them from Walgreens, CVS, and Meijer. Some of them may not be the cheapest but any girl would love to have them and would be thankful that you got them one.

story by Jalin Ernest

With Valentine’s Day closely approaching (Feb. 14), many couples look to take the cheaper approach for a thoughtful gift. For some, less may mean more. But during this time of love and compassion, the thought is what counts the most.

Great Escape Movie Theater (Clarksville, Ind.): At $11.50 per person for a regular 2D movie, it’s not the cheapest, but it’s the easiest. To cut costs and save money, get your candy from a store away from the theater. Make sure to choose your movie prior to your arrival because when you get there, choosing your movie may be harder than it seems.

Steak and Shake (Clarksville, Ind.): This may be as close as it gets to cheap at a sit-down restaurant. Milkshakes are a little pricey, but very much worth it. With a menu of meals under $4, you may not beat it at any other restaurant.

Eastern Lanes ( Clarksville, Ind.): Who doesn’t love bowling? It is an easy idea, maybe even a  last-minute plan that can work for a lot of people. With a special on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:30 pm to 12:30 am you can get shoes and a lane ( a maximum of 3 people ) for $11 per person.

Cheap Gifts:

Flowers: What girl wouldn’t like flowers with a nice little message attached to them. You can get flowers from anywhere, Walgreens, Meijers, Krogers, maybe even Rural King. If you need to just throw something together get you some flowers and a one dollar card and write a nice message and she will love it.

Chocolate: This is more for the girls that need to get their significant other that just so happens to be a male. Guys already know that every girl loves chocolate, but if you are a girl and don’t know what to get your boyfriend just go with chocolate. You really can’t go wrong.

Teddy Bear:Every girl needs someone to cuddle with when her boyfriend isn’t around. They come in many sizes and you can get them from Walgreens, CVS, and Meijer. Some of them may not be the cheapest but any girl would love to have them and would be thankful that you got them one.

As drivers merge onto the newly-built I-265 highway and follow it south, a new landmark will peak its face around the bend of the road: the East End Bridge. The bridge connects Utica, Ind. to Louisville, Ky., and completes a shortcut to the eastern side of the city that once took 30-40 minutes to drive.

Now, the drive is merely 10-20 minutes, and lets drivers avoid the headaches of downtown traffic. More importantly, though, is that the bridge opens up a new side of Louisville some Jeff residents aren’t as familiar with, including an area of shops and restaurants waiting for Hoosiers to come and explore.

Construction of the Bridge

Construction time– Construction of the bridge began in June 2013, cutting into the $2.3 billion budget of the Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Project. After three-and-a-half years, the bridge’s opening ceremony took place on Dec. 18, 2016, officially marking the opening of the bridge to the public.

Labor– According to Union worker Donny Farish, the bridge was completed 100-percent by Union laborers. He credited the Union for the construction, saying wages would have been too low without it.

Tolls– If drivers choose to cross the East End Bridge, they might find themselves paying some money to do so. The tolls on the new East End Bridge cost $2 if drivers have a transponder in their car. If not, drivers can expect to pay $3 if the car has a registered license plate from Indiana or Kentucky. All other drivers will pay $4 to cross.

Finishing touches- As of print, the bridge has been opened for over a month. However one can still find construction crews around the bridge seven days a week. Farish says his crew has been working around the clock since Labor Day to finish minor construction on the bridge, as well as the walkway that accompanies it.

Things to do on the Kentucky side of the Bridge

The Paddock Shops- A shopping center right across the bridge is full of shops and restaurants that southern Indiana doesn’t have.

Clothing Shops: J.Crew , Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor and Talbot’s can be found in the Paddock Shopping Center.

Fan Outfitters is a clothing and apparel store for those UK fans and U of L fans looking for the best team gear.

Barnes and Noble can be found in the shopping center, providing customers with a wide variety of books and music to buy.

Blaze Pizza is a restaurant located within the Paddock that serves up some of the most delicious pizzas you’ll ever eat. For the picky eater, Blaze Pizza uses an interactive service format that allows guests to create custom-made pizzas at fast speeds – for only about $7 each.

Cabela’s- Similar to Bass Pro, Cabela’s is a superstore for quality hunting, fishing, camping, recreational shooting and outdoor gear at competitive prices. Cabela’s has a wider variety of hunting gear than Bass Pro, and just as competitive prices.

Things coming to Jeffersonville in the near future

While the bridge is beneficial for Hoosiers, some east-enders from Louisville will reap the benefits of the new structure, too.

A new retail center, located next to the round-abouts in Jeffersonville near River Ridge, is expected to be finished by 2020. This new retail center plans to have four hotels, a medical campus, restaurants, senior housing, a cinema,  bank and other retail.

This area is expected to have restaurants that are more family affordable, but no drive-thru services. The site is started with construction already, and hopes to have some shops opening by the end of this year.

“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” — Martin Luther King.

After the new year has passed and the month of January is in full swing, attention often turns to Martin Luther King Day: a day that honors a man who valued justice and equality.

During his life, King showed humanity and leadership with all he had, and spoke about it to all who were willing to listen. To honor his holiday, Clark County students paid homage to Martin Luther King by submitting essay, poster or video projects to be in “The Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Contest.”

In the JHS contest, there was a three way tie for first place: freshmen Alayna Lacy,  freshman Lyndsey Vessels , and some students from Ms. Corcoran’s Impact class. Lacy and Vessels both entered in posters and Ms.Corcoran’s students made a video. In the county-wide contest, Vessels poster placed third.

“(I) read through his speech at least seven times, then I just started taking things from the speech and put it all on a poster board,” Vessels said.

The senior team of Jacqueline James and Emanda Gibson took home second place in the JHS contest.

Scholarships were also handed out to students. To earn the scholarship, students had to fill out an application, write an essay, have a certain amount of community service hours and have a good academic record.

The Martin Luther King Scholarship winners from JHS were seniors Lizzy Bishop and Lucy Sandavol.

There is a yearly breakfast put on by the King Holiday Committee to show admiration for Dr.King. This year the King Scholarship Breakfast host was Renaissance Academy.

“I’m very honored to be here,” Sandoval said. “There are so many people here to honor Martin Luther King.”

The chair of the King Holiday Committee, Janice Leavell, was very impressed with all the students’ work .

“People say that kids are our future, but these amazing kids are our now,” Leavell said. “He wanted all people to be equal. We honor him because we are the people.”

The contest and scholarship winners are invited to attend the breakfast, as well as school administrators all over Clark County.

“This is a wonderful community event to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.,” JHS principal Julie Straight said. “I’ve been able to attend for four years. The students are a big part of the event and live out the dream.”

Greater Clark County Schools Deputy Superintendent Travis Haire commented on the event saying that Martin Luther King’s dream is still living throughout the talented students artwork

“This special event is meant to celebrate Martin luther King jr Holiday and to honor students with showing great artwork and with awarding scholarships,” Haire said.  

MLK committee member Dawn Krabbe stated that the Martin Luther King Contest showcases the unique out-of-the-box creativity of the students.  

“It’s a wonderful event for the community to recognize a lot of students artistically and academically. Not all students are the same and it shows their different mediums in Clark County,” Krabbe said.

All involved spent the day basking in the inspiration  that was Dr. Martin Luther King and he will continue to be recognized for years to come as the expressive inspirational man that he was. Let’s all keep living out the dream of Dr. King.

“ If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward. “ — Martin Luther King