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QUINTER -- Gove County added an economic development tool to its toolbox this month when it joined the 43 Kansas counties participating in the state's Rural Opportunity Zones student loan reimbursement partnership.

"In a very competitive market, it keeps us neck-and-neck with our neighboring counties," said Ericka Gillespie, chairwoman of Citizens for the Economic Development of Gove County and Quinter city administrator.

Gove County commissioners approved participation in the ROZ program at their Dec. 12 meeting after extensive "homework" and researching the ROZ program with the Department of Commerce, Gillespie said.

Although many counties had signed on early in the process, which took effect July 1, Gove County commissioners wanted to be comfortable with the decision they made, Gillespie said.

"It was a lengthy process, but it was because they wanted to better understand," she said. "I'm proud to say my commissioners probably know more about ROZ than any other county, because we really had to do our homework."

In December, Chatauqua and Pawnee counties also joined the ROZ partnership, which provides up to $3,000 per year for five years for individuals who graduate from an accredited post-secondary college or technical school.

In addition, people moving from out-of-state could be eligible for 100 percent income tax reimbursement if they have lived outside Kansas for at least the past five years and have had Kansas source income of less than $10,000 per year d the past five years.

Other efforts to develop economic development strategies in Gove County were advanced when a community foundation was created in early December.

Under the umbrella of the Greater Northwest Kansas Community Foundation, the Gove County Foundation's development brings to fruition a long-term goal of the Citizens for the Economic Development of Gove County.

"I think people don't want to sit back and wait until the next census comes out," Gillespie said. "They're realizing that the time to take action is now."

Other northwest Kansas counties participating in the ROZ program, according to the Department of Commerce website, are Decatur, Graham, Logan, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Phillips, Rawlins, Rooks, Rush, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith and Trego.

QUEEN OF THE COURT FOR A DAY
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
November 10, 2011 - Hays Daily News
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A Hays woman gave her mom an early Christmas gift this year, one the whole family will be talking about for a long time.

Loretta Zordel took her 90-year-old mother, Emma Zerr from Grainfield, to a University of Kansas basketball game Tuesday night in Lawrence.

Zerr had watched many a KU game on television and knew about the hoopla surrounding games in the storied program.

On Tuesday, she wasn't as overcome by the atmosphere of the sold-out crowd in Allen Fieldhouse but by all the people she had coming up, wanting to take their picture with her.

That's because word spread fast in the fieldhouse a 90-year-old Jayhawk fan was attending her first KU game.

Seated in a wheelchair on one end of the court, Zerr barely got to watch any pregame warmups and activities because she was kept busy chatting with folks who came by to say hi.

"She couldn't believe how much attention she was getting," Zordel said.

Bob Davis, voice of the Jayhawks and former sports director of KAYS Radio in Hays, stopped by. So, too, did KU Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger, another former Hays resident. Both had their photos taken with Zerr.

"Now, every time I watch (the Jayhawks) on TV, I'll think, 'I was there,' " said Zerr, who will celebrate her 91st birthday in January.

Zerr has been a KU fan dating to the early 1970s when she started watching the Jayhawks play on television.

That's when she and her husband, Rudolph, moved their family to town off the farm and could get more than two channels on TV.

The Zerrs already were sports fans, and Rudolph helped coach his four sons in American Legion baseball.

That love of the crimson and blue spread to their children, and Zordel said she always wanted to take her mom to a game in Allen Fieldhouse.

That opportunity came when the Zordels' neighbor, Larry Jantz, offered them some tickets from his brother, Rich, who lives in Lawrence and has several season tickets.

Zerr uses a cane, and Zordel was concerned her mother wouldn't be able to navigate the steps.

"The elevator only goes so high," Zordel said, "so someone told us to call the (KU) athletic department. They said they had a spot for people in wheelchairs. Mom didn't care if she had to sit in a wheelchair."

That call ended up getting Zerr a seat on the ground floor and a bird's-eye view of the action on the court.

"Big," was Zerr's response to what she thought of the size of the players.

The outcome of the game was lopsided. The NCAA Division I Jayhawks beat Division II Fort Hays State University 101-52 in an exhibition contest.

But Zerr didn't care. She now can say she saw the Jayhawks play in person. And she can look at the photo her son-in-law, Dan Zordel, took of her in front of the Jayhawks' 2008 national championship trophy.

"That was fun," Jantz said. "She was queen of the court."