Lost City group pleads for property

By TRAVINA COLEMAN

HULBERT – The Lost City Community Organization Board and residents of that community appeared before Hulbert Board of Education meeting Monday night, expressing concerns about Hulbert Public Schools dividing 35-1/2 acres of land the school acquired when it annexed Lost City students.

Sharon Gifford, president of the LCCO, and asked the board to consider a proposal to lease the half acre on which the Lost City Community Building and Fitness Center are situated.

Also on the site is a portion of a canopy, which provides shelter during inclement weather for funerals at the nearby cemetery.

Lost City resident Fran Ridenhour said she owns 16 feet of the canopy, but has already donated its use to the community.

Neither structure was build with Lost City School funding. According to Gifford, it took years of fundraising and donations to erect the two buildings, and they belong to the community.

“We hold several community events there,” she said.

“We have Thanksgiving dinners, people hold reunions; it’s a place we gather together. Not only that, we hold our county elections there, too. We furnished the buildings with a grant from the Cherokee Nation, and we have another grant in the works for cultural education to be housed there.”

The new grant would pay for language and basket-weaving classes.

“We are finishing the paperwork for our 501(c)3 status,” Gifford said.

“And then maybe we could ask for a donation of the land. We are all a community; you have at least half of our children in school here now.”

Gifford, who spoke for the community board, said the members would be happy with a lease agreement with Hulbert Public Schools.

District 2 County Commissioner Bobby Botts, also a Lost City resident, had a few comments to share with the board.

“If the Lost City loses this, they lose everything; they have lost their hub,” Botts said.

“I am asking the board’s graciousness to consider this proposal. Lost City doesn’t want to give it up. I am appealing that sale of the property to someone who will probably just stack hay on it just doesn’t do anybody any good.”

The board declared the former school property at 13243 Lost City Road as surplus and agreed to obtain an appraisal of the land.

In other matters, the school board approved the hire of Tawana Martin as assistant girls’ basketball coach. The Hulbert Elementary School handbook was also approved.

What’s next

The next Hulbert School Board of Education Meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., Nov. 9, in the Hulbert High School auditorium.