“They said he’d never build it, and if he built it, it would never fly. And if he built it, no one would buy it.”
— Shanda Lear, daughter of Bill Lear, speaking at the Kansas Aviation Museum’s annual gala Saturday on her father’s wildly successful Learjet
WICHITA — For years, customers have been asking Connie Hamilton when she’s going to open a Connie’s Cookies on the east side.
She says she’s going to do the next best thing by selling her cookies at Sweetly Scrumptious, a bakery that recently opened in Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn.
Hamilton will start by selling sugar cookies for walk-in business. Eventually, she’d like for east-side customers to be able to pick up custom orders there as well. She says there will be a $5 handling fee so she can make it worthwhile for the Sweetly Scrumptious staff.
WICHITA — Hartmoor Arena, which does business as Hartman Arena, has filed a lawsuit in Sedgwick County District Court against Newton-based Enertech Inc., the company that installed the arena’s wind turbine.
“Hartman Arena . . . was always conceived of as a green venture,” says Zoe Newton, businessman Wink Hartman Sr.’s vice president and general counsel.
“The wind turbine was supposed to be the centerpiece of our green initiative,” Newton says. “Unfortunately, the turbine has never worked or has never worked properly. Mr. Hartman was really disappointed because he was really committed to these green initiatives.”
Newton won’t go into the specifics of the case. Nor will Enertech’s attorney, Paul McCausland, though he says the turbine is working.
According to the lawsuit, here’s what arena officials claim:
The arena entered in an agreement to buy the turbine for $264,400 in October 2008 and paid a deposit of $118,980.
The arena further paid $133,822 to provide a foundation and wiring for the turbine, $19,134 to erect it and an additional $118,980 to Enertech in February 2009.
The hope was to have the turbine operational by the March 2009 Alan Jackson inaugural concert at the arena.