It was large. It was fun. The food was great. Special recognition was presented to the stars. It was a good place to be. It was the recently held 2006 Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet.

Nearly 300 people were in attendance at the event, making it the biggest yet. Kathi Wysong, chamber director, as well as the board and committee members did their usual good job in planning and implementing the event. The cuisine for the Culinary Extravaganza was from Count on Us Catering and Greenfield's Harvest House. A number of pacesetter awards were presented to well-deserving recipients. It was my honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to recognize the individual pacesetter. This honor went to Russ Warren, KNEM/KNMO news director. He was a most humble person. Usually Russ has something to say, but not at that time. For years you have heard him on the radio and seen him walking his "beat" to dig up news for the community to hear. Mike Harbit, his employer, has described him as an incredible employee.

When giving the news on Sunday morning and at 6:30 Monday morning, he did not announce who had won the individual pacesetter award. That was changed for the 7:30 a.m. news as Mike announced it in the introduction. I am not sure he announced the awards at noon -- if he did, I missed it.

Russ is dedicated and committed in reporting the news. He is well aware of what is going on in the community. The community is fortunate to have him working for us.

Russ, I hope it does not rain on your parade.

The individual pacesetter is recognized for their superior contributions to our community at large. They give unselfishly of their time and energy to the common cause of promoting Nevada and Vernon County constantly striving to make it better. The other two finalists are also to be commended for outstanding service to our community and their unique passions. They are Pookie and Gary Decocq, recognized for their countless hours of sweat equity in several downtown facility upgrades and revitalization; and Terry Ramsey, who is widely respected for our museum, national civil war heritage efforts and local youth projects.

The Wayne Neal Impact Award was presented to Greg Hoffman. Certainly he has made a major impact in our community. This prestigious individual award has been awarded in recent years. This honor is given in memory of Wayne Neal, city manager, who made a tremendous impact in the community. This may be awarded to an individual, organization or business if any are qualified. Since established, it has been awarded annually. Tera Elliott and Jim Tedlock presided over the awards program.

Tera announced, "This year an impact award recipient was selected from the at large nominations when their name appeared in three different categories. Nominations were submitted for small business of the year, community improvement award and individual pacesetter of the year. It became apparent that a major impact had indeed been made in our community last year."

As Jim presented the recognition, he said, "We take pride in your accomplishments as if they were our own, Greg, whatever you find passion in, this community receives great awards from -- be it the Salvation Army bell ringers, the Lions projects, the hospital efforts, or your magnificent Carnegie restoration this year. When you get behind it we all benefit." This is a good summary of the impact Greg has made in the community.

Among the pacesetter awards was the Agri-business Pacesetter. Agriculture is a major enterprise in this area and Vernon Countys oldest industry. The 2006 recognition went to Prairie Pride, Inc. The owners of this new generation cooperative are bringing soybean/bio-diesel production to Vernon County.

What they have achieved in establishing this cooperative is absolutely amazing. Certainly this will have a major impact in this area and will be making a valuable contribution to our society. They are rapidly constructing their plant near Eve and in a few months will be in production.

Everett and Ruby Forkner of Truline Genetics, 2005 Agri-business Pacesetter, presented the award for 2006. John Nelson, project manager, accepted the award in behalf of Prairie Pride.

The other two finalists are also making major contributions to agriculture and to this area. They were the Kitten Creek Dairy and Murphy Brown LLC along with Ag Provisions. Kitten Creek Dairy, a large northern Vernon County facility has a milking operation of approximately 3,000 milking cows. The dairy operation includes innovative grazing and milking methods. The dairy was represented by Sheila Breckenridge, office manager.

Murphy Brown LLC along with Ag Provisions have joined together to create distribution and storage operations in the Nevada Industrial Park spec building. Representatives of these firms at the banquet were Bill Gregory of Murphy Brown and Michael Brown of Ag Provisions, LLC. At last the spec building is being utilized.

Congratulations to these recipients and all of the others who received awards at the awards banquet. The community has greatly benefited because of each of you.