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Owensboro Chamber President 'honored' by Paducah Davis made a 'Duke' after envy remark |
| Eric Davis, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Corp., has a new title. They're calling him "The Duke" these days. Tuesday, when officials of Owensboro-based Independence Bank went to Paducah to announce the opening of a new bank there, the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce presented them with a basket for Davis. And Larry Mayfield, Independence's Daviess County president, made the presentation at Wednesday's chamber board meeting. "It's a huge basket," Davis said later. "There's four coffee mugs, an 'I (love) Paducah' license plate, a Paducah video, a history of Paducah, a Paducah thermos, a Paducah afghan." And a certificate naming Davis a "Duke of Paducah" -- that city's equivalent of a Kentucky colonelcy. The award's name comes from country comedian Benjamin Francis "Whitey" Ford, a Missouri native who billed himself as "The Duke of Paducah" in a career that began shortly after World War I and ended with his death in 1986. The basket of goodies -- and the dukedom -- came because Davis told the Owensboro chamber's Feb. 5 Rooster Booster breakfast that he hears people say that Owensboro needs to be more like Paducah, Bowling Green or Evansville in terms of economic development. "We have Paducah envy in this town," he said in the speech. "I don't understand that. I don't want to live in Paducah, and I don't think many of you do." The Paducah Sun carried the Messenger-Inquirer's story about the speech. Wednesday, the Sun reported that Glenn Denton, immediate past chairman of the Paducah chamber, read the story and came up with the idea of sending Paducah memorabilia to the Owensboro chamber. "We wanted to have a little fun with it, so we're sending this tongue-in-cheek basket," Elaine Spalding, Paducah chamber president, told the Sun. "We've put together all these wonderful Paducah goodies just to show what a great community we have and invite their board to visit." "It was cute," Davis said. "Touché on their part. It was just an offhand remark on my part." |
| As published in the Messenger-Inquirer on February 26, 2004 By Keith Lawrence |
