Livingston Central volleyball girls begin fourth season

by Derrick Ford Reporter,
The Livingston Ledger

The lack of text books, pencils, paper, and alarm clocks sounding are soon to become a thing of the past as area students begin to make their way back to school. For the Livingston Central Lady Cardinals’ volleyball team, however, this time of the year marks another season of bumps, sets, spikes, and digs.

The 25 member team, under the instruction of Jason Holman of Smithland and Melissa Dean of Iuka, has four returning seniors: setter Kelsee Henson, middle blocker Kenley Ringstaff, and defensive specialists and right side hitters Megan Sullivan and Breanne Crawford. One senior in particular, Kelsee Henson, has been with the program since its inception in 2005, and views this season as a new opportunity. “I'm really excited about our team this year.

All of our new players seem to show a lot of determination and are learning the skills really quickly. I'm looking for a lot of wins this year. Being with the program since it started, I've seen so many improvements and I think we get better every year,” said Henson. Head coach Jason Holman had a similar perspective.

“The Lady Cardinals’ volleyball team seems to be shaping up very well.  We have four returning seniors who are demonstrating excellent leadership qualities,” admitted Holman. “Our numbers keep growing each year as we are continuing to build a solid program.  I look forward to many successes this season as the athletes diligently prepare.”

To see a preview of the 2008 Lady Cardinals’ volleyball team, a scrimmage match will be held on Saturday, August 16th at 6 p.m. in the Livingston Central gymnasium. The Lady Cardinals’ season will officially begin on the road to Union County on August 12th at 7 p.m., with another away game on August 14th, this time to Fort Campbell beginning at 6 p.m. The Lady Cardinals’ first home game will be on August 19th against Fulton City at 7 p.m. The complete schedule for Livingston Central can be found on the Internet at http://scoreboard.12dt.com/scoreboard/khsaa/kyvb08.

FBLA officers attend Leadership Development Conference

Officers of the Livingston Central FBLA Chapter were treated to a unique experience this summer. The experience is none other than the Leadership Development Conference, also known as FBLA Camp. FBLA Officers and members across the state met in Hardinsburg, Kentucky to begin the summer experience. Camp is held during the end of July and features items that no other conference has. Members and advisers attend officer training sessions, general assemblies, leadership groups, and recreational activities. From various sports to and other games to dances and karaoke at night, FBLA Camp has it all. There were over 250 students and advisers in attendance. All in attendance returned from camp with a wealth of knowledge and an enthusiastic spirit for the upcoming year. BJ Campbell received the “Outstanding Camper” award for the second consecutive year. This award is given to the person at camp who exhibits the most leadership, has a positive attitude, and is outgoing. Four of Livingston Central’s FBLA Officers attended camp.

Pictured Front Row: Left to Right- Stephanie Tyrie, Historian and Elizabeth McQuage, Treasurer Back Row: Jennifer Marshall, Adviser, Teris Moodie, President; and BJ Campbell, Vice-President. photo provided

Live a full life in business

by Todd Hansen,
LFL Ministries

Is it necessary? Is it profitable?

In a slowing economy such as we are experiencing now the first thing all business owners consider is “how can we cut costs?”. Too many times the first area they consider is labor. While in many cases this may be the biggest area of variable costs, just reducing the headcount may not streamline the overall operation. In fact it may make some tasks less efficient and add to the total cost of production.

Before we go any further with this topic let me take a few lines and tell you about our purpose. Live a Full Life in Business is a weekly production of Live a Full Life Ministries as part of our ministry to business. One of the key principles in God’s economy is the worth of the individual. We believe your human resources are your most important and strive to help you use them most efficiently. I know that cost cutting is an important fact of life in business. We can’t just turn a knob and increase sales, but we can always find ways to reduce some activities and thus reduce the associated costs.

While most of the examples I’ll use in this column will be about clerical functions the same thought will apply on the production floor as well. Rather than just cutting labor, let’s first look for “tasks” that can be eliminated to free up employees time for hopefully more profitable actions to avoid layoffs. Whether it is in the office or shop floor we need to review every activity with these two things in mind. Is it necessary and is it profitable? While many of you think I have them backwards we have to first consider necessity before profitability.

Given my background in the food business many tasks were largely unprofitable but required by the state and federal regulatory agencies just to stay in business, so in those cases necessity trumps profitability. But in that same category there may be other reporting functions required because of certain production agreements with third parties that while they were necessary at one time, maybe you have lost that portion of business and now those reports are no longer required, but no one told the employee to stop collecting and processing the data.

As you review all areas of your operation you may find some tasks that aren’t defined as totally necessary but aid in the operation of your business. This type of reporting needs to be reviewed, and revised, often for it to maintain its effectiveness. Maybe a certain manager wanted things done a certain way, but now he is now longer with the company and the new guy wants something else.

I’ve seen many cases where useless reports continued to be generated just because no one stopped them, and in most of those cases the one who could and should have, was gone. Remember these two questions; is it necessary? And is it profitable? You will find that those two small questions will be a big help in making some difficult business decisions. In closing it is the purpose of LFL for Business to help you make the most of your business.

We strive to provide sound teaching from a Biblical perspective. For more information on how we can help your business email todd@lflministries.org, or check us out on the web at www.lflministries.org/business/.