Another great 8
By MIKE CORN
The time to vote early has passed.
So now, it's a matter of voting soon -- and often, for goodness sake.
Voting in the 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography campaign soon will draw to a close, as the online ballot will stop working at midnight Wednesday.
Paper ballots must have a Wednesday postmark, or they will be unceremoniously discarded.
Northwest Kansas is something of a shining star this go-round, with six of the 24 finalists in the campaign sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, an Inman-based group that focuses on rural issues.
The six are Arikaree Breaks in Cheyenne County; geographic center of the contiguous United States in Lebanon; Lake Scott State Park; Mount Sunflower; Post Rock Scenic Byway, which passes through Russell County; and Sternberg Museum of Natural History.
Voting has been on par with other campaigns, said Marci Penner, director of the Sampler Foundation, growing with each one. The geography group is the seventh of nine campaigns.
While she wouldn't breath a word about how individual locations are doing, she said the voting is close, so much so that the votes cast between now and Wednesday easily could tip the scale as far as the final results.
Voting has slowed slightly, Penner said, the result of two issues.
Unlike previous campaigns, the geography category doesn't include specific locations, such as buildings, that allows for the distribution of paper ballots.
And, she said, "it's wintertime. It's awful cold and people aren't going out to see the sites."
Tobe Zweygardt said there's a few people still coming out to see the Arikaree Breaks, a region of rugged canyons northwest of St. Francis.
"I've had some out here," he said of people he has given guided tours for. "I've got some coming up in the next week or two if the weather is nice."
Zweygardt is the official tour guide of the Breaks, even though there's no salary that goes along with it.
He fashioned all the discs that mark the stages of a self-guided tour, if people are so inclined, and has lived in the region his entire life.
"I've lived out on Cherry Creek all my life," he said, "until the last few years when I moved to town.
"Next month, I'm going to be 94 years old."
This time around, Penner said, a number of schools have been casting ballots.
"Teachers are using it as a teaching tool," she said. "I think that's great."
So far, slightly more than 9,000 votes have been cast, and Penner said she expects about 2,000 or so to be submitted in the remaining days of the campaign.
Votes are coming from across Kansas, and from most states.
Putting together the campaigns, she said, has opened up a wealth of information about Kansas, of which Penner has long been an ardent advocate.
"It just makes me love the state even more," she said. "I hope lots of people visit these places when summer gets here."
* Online votes can be cast through midnight Wednesday at 8wonders.org. Three votes can be cast for an individual e-mail address. Results of the voting will be announced Feb. 23.
---------------
Northwest Kansas has six of the 24 nominations in the 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography category.
The six are:
* Arikaree Breaks in Cheyenne County, known for its steep-sided, rugged canyons and short-grass prairie.
* Geographic center of the contiguous United States, Lebanon. A small park, the spot represents the center of the lower 48 states.
* Lake Scott State Park, north of Scott City. Known for its history as an oasis in an otherwise dry land and featuring craggy canyons that suddenly and surprisingly drop off in an otherwise flat area.
* Mount Sunflower, Wallace County. It is the highest point in Kansas, at 4,039 feet above sea level, providing vistas of the High Plains.
* Post Rock Scenic Byway, Russell, Ellsworth and Lincoln counties. An 18-mile route, the byway stretches from Wilson to Lucas, the grassroots art capital of Kansas. Kansas Highway 232 crosses the Wilson Lake dam, offering a scenic view of the lake.
* Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Hays. Considered to be one of the world's best museums of its kind, Sternberg is chock full of giant fish and marine reptiles that lived nearly 100 million years ago in the inland sea that once covered the interior United States.
Monument Rocks and Castle Rock, both located in Gove County, were not eligible because they were among the other 8 Wonders of Kansas campaign in 2008. Victoria's St. Fidelis Catholic Church also was selected in the overall campaign.
Voting continues through midnight Wednesday at 8wonders.org.