Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 6

A I SATUHMT 0 FEBRUARY 25 2006 FROM THE FRONT PAGE LEXMQTONHERAUHEAOER WWWKENTUCKKCOM -T TIME LINE History of the Lyric Theatre FLETCHER I Most people recover fast Feeding tube to ease strain FU PHOTO The lyric Theatre shown In 1949 opened in 1948 and closed in 1963 as other theaters began to integrate August 2005: The dty takes ownership of the lyric from the God Center Founda- tion after an eight-year condemnation bathe Sept 28 2005: A jury sets the buildingts value at S240JXXX and the deed pves the city eight years to restore the lyric and turn it into an MricafrAmerican cultural center Non 91 2005: The lyric Theatre Tbsk Force visits the lyric to determine the condition of the building 19936 The city moves to take the lyric through eminent domain Kby 2000: The city unveils plans for how it wil restore the theater if it gets ownership October 2000: A report approved and endorsed by the Urban County Council proposed that the lyric be renovated into a museum exhibit ha and theater with community meeting rooms March 6 2001: Fayette Qrcuit Judge Gary Payne turns down a request from God's Center Foundation to throw out the i -ti i- Mi t-i- ciryi awsmt flunupung 10 gam ownarsnip IMS: The lyric opens at the intersection of Third Street and what was then De-VWeest Street BSt As other theaters integrate the lyric doses It opens occasionally in following yen for special events 19736 The theater Is condemned for code violations 19Mi God Center Foundation Inc buys the buUng with plans to convert tt to a community center 1996: The city agrees to restore the lyric as part of a sweeping cultural plan From Page A1 sultation they are referred to a surgeon i for elective gallbladder "Elective" basically means that the surgery is performed when it is convenient for the patient and the surgeon These are the patients doctors say who have gallbladder surgery and go home the same day Fletcher case was much different It is unclear exactly when the governor problems begin Doctors have said that he had some discomfort during the week of Feb 6 On Feb 11 he expert enced some abdominal pain and it grew worse the next day Fletcher who is a physician at first thought he waa having a kidney stone attack his wife has said When the pain continued to grow Fletcher called his family doctor in the afternoon of Fsh 12 and was told to go to the hospitaL The governor said his condition worsened on the drive from Frankfort to Lexington At St Joseph East doctors ultimately determined he was suffering from a gallstone in his common bile duct a moderately severe case of pancreatitis a poten-tialty serious inflammation of the pancreas and necrotizing cholecystitis in which the gallbladder is so disksed that some of its tissue starts to die The gallstone was removed and the governor! gallbladder taken out IWo days later Fletcher developed an coli bacterial bloodstream infection Doctors have said they think the infection stemmed from Fletcher's original gallbladder problem An extended hospital stay for a patient with the combination of problems the governor had is not surprising medical experts say Dr Nathaniel Soper a professor of surgery at Northwestern University said three factors likely to prolong recovery from gallbladder surgery are severp gallbladder inflammation a gallstone ii the common bile duct and pancreatitis Fletcher had all three Pancreatitis alow can add days to re- covery time according to Dr Peter Banks a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Hospital in Boston Dr Mary Hawn an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Alaba-ma-Birmingham adds that "often it not the gallbladder itself that determines hospital time Pancreatitis which can be a life-threatening disease frequently is Compiled by news researcher Linda Niemi Go Ernie Fletcher medical condition continues to improve but doctors have given him a feedirg tube to ease the strain on his sti inflamed pancreas the governor office said in a statement yesterday: Fletcher said in the statement that his covery is "still on ALU BujImImIi 4r mrmA Finance daerrary noom Kuaovpn siresseo that the feeding tube does not signify a set-bad Fletcher surgeon Dc Joseph Fine said frv il It mn lt il a ljn la hi tne statement mat ma reading woe wnten oyr passes Flebcherli pancreas wil provide the j-t 1 tt governor witn nounsniriania wnua allowing ma pancreas to rest Doctors said on Wednesday'' that though the governor was much improved he continued to have trouble with pain and nre team ld ttod 1 the principal driver in how sick the patient is and how long he or she will be in the hospitaL" The presence of other problems like a gallstone in the common bile duct or necrotizing cholecystitis further compb-cates recovery times says Dr Gerald Larson a professor of surgery at the University of Louisville someone has acute cholecystitis that is severe enough to bring them to the hospital as an emergency the 11-bladder disease is going to be more severe than in an elective case and the risk of infection ia going to be hotter" Larson said "The surgery can become more difficult and the recovery time can become Bloodstream infections involving EL coli bacteria like the one Fletcher developed are potentially life-threatening But fortunately they are rare doctors say They can occur in gallbladder cases in different ways coli infection could come from either flue gallbladder an infection of the Idle ducts or from pancreatitis itself" explains Northwestern Soper coli bacteria typically are associated with the gastrointestinal tract Blit Hawn says coli can find its way from the intestines into the bile ducts and cause an infection il there is a blockage by gallstones "It a set-up for infection" In Fletcher! case doctors say that infection produced shaking chills dangerous fevers and problems -that only now seem to be coming under control Herald-Leader research Linda Niemi con-tributed to this story i 1 v- this input from the community we can make the best plans and we don't know that it will be supported" i OIL I Attacks in from Iraq Jaunita Betz Peterson lyric Theatre Task Force chairwoman LYRIC I Visitors will be able to look around theater woman From Page A1 at $6291 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Oil prices were already under pressure because attacks by rebels in Nigeria have taken almost 500000 barrels of crude oil a day off global markets The al-Qaida terror group said two of its militants carried out the suicide attack The claim was posted on a Web site used by terror groups but there was no way to check its authenticity Saudi security forces have been battling aLQai-da operatives for the past two years Accounts of yesterday attack varied Saudi police officials told reporters that two can tried to drive through the gates of the outer fence of the heavily fortified compound Guards shot at the can and both vehicles exploded At least two guards were reportedly wounded Arabic-language satellite TV channels reported that only one car exploded and that guards killed the driver of the second car before it detonated Local residents told news agencies they heard two blasts near the plant and saw two charred vehicles Saudi security forces swarmed the area after the attack which occurred just after 3 pjn There were reports of a gun battle after the explosions Sometimes referred to aa the world most important oil facility the Abqaiq plant is operated by Saudi Aramco the state-owned oil company The plant receives crude oil from nearby fields and pumps it to oil shipping terminals on the Persian Gulf and on the Red Sea It a pretty significant facility" said rter had of Geoff Porter the Middle East Eurasia Group He said 93 percent of the 68 million barrels processed daily at Abqaiq is exported Saudi Arabia has been openly wap ring with al-Qaidaallied Islamist extremists since May 2003 when suicide bombers struck three foreign housing complexes in Riyadh the capital In May 2004 militants stormed the offices of an American oil company in the western Saudi area of hnbu killing six Westerners and a Saudi before guards killed the attackers Several weeks later Qaida-allied gunmen stormed oil company conpounds in the eastern dty of al Khobar and took hostages By the end of die siege 22 people were dead 1 There have long been feats militants would target oil facilities but in the part they have targeted foreigners working jn the industry rather than infrastructure- "In Iraq they zeroed in on oil arid this appears to be a creeping procesg since it is happening in Saudi Arabia said Ybussef Ibrahim a Dubai-based -litJcal risk analyst In December 2004 bin Laden a Sqi -di exile for the first timf called on mil -tanta to attack oil targets in the Gtd But no major attacks followed Some ej -perts have thought that because al-Qa -da long-term goal is to run Saudi At -bia it would do nothing to jeopardii the oil industry on which the kingdom) wealth ia based Yesterday attack new the sense that this is the boldest attempt to strike at the heart of a Sauot oil-production complex" Eurasia vj The Associated Press contributed to this re-lj port i All of the theater seats have been removed The concession stand is gone Any original light fixtures carpet and wallpaper were removed long ago Even most of the walls that used to separate the second floor into roans are gone It unclear when and why the building was gutted Boland said Sunday Is open house gives the public an opportunity to see the Lyric as a to generate ideas on how-the building can be effectively reused In getting ready for the open house work crews have removed debris cleaned the building and installed temporary heat and electricity Nearly the entire building will be open to the public Sunday The stage main section of the theater and flie second floor will be open but flie basement will be off-limits because of safety concerns The task force plans to hold a fbl-low-up meeting with the community in late March to go over the results of Monday meeting Boland said After that a firm will be hired to do a conceptual design along with cost estimates about the redevelopment rtf the Lyric A final task-force report is expected in late May or early June It win probably coat $3 million to $4 million to restore the Lyric Boland said The dty has just under $1 million set aside for redevelopment The dty took ownership of the lyric from the God Center Foundation in August after an eight-year condemnation battle The deed gives the dty eight yean to restore the Lyric and turn it into an African-American cultural center From Page A1 The city 15-member Lyric Theatre Tksk Force made up of cup rent or former dty officials community representatives and people with arts backgrounds hopes die open house and community meeting mil help the group determine the best uses for the theater Since October die task force has been working on possible restoration and programming options So far the group has based its work on a 2000 dty report that proposed that the Lyric be renovated into a museum exhibit hall and theater with community meeting rooms The task force this week received a structural engineering report from Lexington-based Poage Engineers and Associates Inc detailing the relatively good condition of the Lyric which opened in 1948 Poage was paid 6800 for its work Some of the metal structures inside such as stairs and some floor joists need to be replaced but we have a usable structure" Boland said spoking the facility as it stands could be restored without a tremendous amount of effort" The task force spent $15000 to hire about a dozen students from the University of Kentucky's College of Design to conduct a Historic American Buildings Survey The students are documenting the Lyric with drawings and photographs The results of the study which should be completed in about two weeks will be registered with the Library of Congress coming along quite well but we feel that without this input from the community we can make the best plans and we don't know that it will be supported" said Jaunita Betz Peterson task-force chair On Sunday visitors can expect to see the concrete shell of the Lyric with very few remnants of its past as the entertainment hub for black community The Lyric once hosted entertainers such as Count Basie Cab Calloway Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie Visitors will be allowed to walk fredy around the Lyric Display boards with the layout of the Lyric and old photographs of the theater will be set up around the budding The only real historical element left in the lyric is the tenazzo flooring in the lobby Boland said IF YOU GO What Open house and tour Wham: lyric Theatre 300 Third Street at the comer of Third and Elm Tree Lane When Noon to 4 pin Sunday After the open house and tout there will be a community meeting and vision session about the lyric When: Greater Liberty Baptist Church 330 Chestnut Street When: 7 pm Monday Task force needs your ideas and memorabilia The lyric Theatre Task Force is seeking any memorabilia from the lyric Theatre seats fixtures hardware or photographs The items will be used either in a museum space or to generate ideas for how the theater should be renovated If you have any memorabilia to lend to the project call Charlie Boland in the chief administrator's office at (859) 258-3100 The lyric Theatre Task Force also is seeking ideas on how the lyric should be renovated Go to the city Web site at wwwlfucgcom and take the lyric Theatre redevelopment link or go directly to wwwlfucgcomLFUCGlyricJnputJsp risk-assessment firm practice for the Nigerian militants parade hostage in front of press Hawkins repeated militant demands that nevr tral third parties like ffis United Nations or President Bush get involved in negotiating thg release of the hostages ASSOCIATED PRESS WARRI Nigeria Bristling with heavy weapons masked militants responsible for a wave of violence targeting Nigeria oil industry showed off a 68-year-old American hostage yesterday who appealed to the international community to help secure his re- lease Macon Hawkins of Kosciusko Texas said he turns 69 on Wednesday and wants "freedom" for his birthday The militants fighting for a greater local share of the country oil wealth for their impoverished region seized Hawkins and eight other foreign oil workers from a barge in the Niger Delta mangrove swamps Feb 18 The 15-minute encounter yesterday took place in the middle of the river with the militants in five boats and journalists in two lence has cut off about 20 percent of the country crude production and sent oil prices up sharply in international markets i The militants said their region hasn't ben! efited since oil was discovered beneath it the late 1950s even before Africa most-pofe ulous nation gained independence from Britain in 196a They said they want schools health clinics electricity and roads -and fug control of the oil revenues that are appor- tioned out by the Abuja-based government Reach Michelle Ku at (859) 231-1335 1-800-950-6397 Ext 1335 I i.