TEG
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
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PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING
FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1895
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Owners provide restaurant update
Special to The Gazette
(Editor’s Note: Recently, The
Gazette ran a front page story
concerning a food illness at the
Emporia Pizza Ranch. It was
one of several across multiple
states for the national restaurant
chain. Emporians and Local Pizza Ranch franchise owners Rich
and Linda Avery have provided
an update on the situation.)
JOHN ROBINSON/GAZETTE
CrossWinds Counseling & Wellness held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the clinic’s
rebranding from the Mental Health Center for East Central Kansas.
MENTAL HEALTH CENTER
REBRANDS AS CROSSWINDS
COUNSELING AND WELLNESS
By John Robinson
[email protected]
The Mental Health Center for
East Central Kansas has a new
name: the center rebranded as
CrossWinds Counseling & Wellness during a ribbon cutting
Tuesday.
Rob Runquist, executive director for CrossWinds, said he is
excited about the future of the
company.
“I’m pretty excited. This is the
announcement of a full-time role
for me,” Runquist said. “Our new
name, the rebranding of the entire center, I’m excited about the
future we have in front of us.”
Runquist said CrossWinds
plans on opening satellite offices
in some of the seven counties
served — Chase, Coffey, Greenwood, Lyon, Morris, Osage and
Wabaunsee — in their coverage
as well as expanding their role in
the community.
“We are the only comprehensive mental health provider … in
all our seven counties,” he said.
“With the new name, we’re going
Please see Crosswinds, Page 5
SKYLINE DINING CLOSING
Special to the Gazette
The Emporia State University
Memorial Union is re-envisioning the use of the Skyline Room,
which will add to the building’s
attractiveness for small- and medium-size special events. Skyline
Dining on the second floor will
close at the end of the spring semester, which will open the space
up for more events.
“We are excited about the new
opportunities we have to host
events in this beautiful space,”
said Jason Bosch, director of the
Memorial Union. “Converting
the dining room into an event
venue will add greater flexibility
in terms of when the venue can
be used and the options for room
configurations that better meet
the needs of our guests.”
Repurposing Skyline to create
regular and ongoing availability
for public and private events adds
about 3,600 square feet to the
We’d like our guests, friends
and neighbors to know that, on
behalf of everyone at the Emporia Pizza Ranch, we are grateful
to the many, many expressions
of support we have received
in the last month. Because so
many of our guests have asked
us about how someone who ate
at our restaurant became ill and
what we’ve done in response,
we wanted to share our answers
with the community.
First, and most importantly,
we feel terrible about the possibility that anyone might have
become ill after dining with
us. We work hard to serve safe,
wholesome, delicious food and
we’re always trying to do that
important job better every day.
Second, there’s been some
confusion about the numbers
in this situation. So far, there
have been 13 cases of illness attributed to this situation across
the entire country. Nine of them
reported having eaten at nine
different Pizza Ranches in seven
states. Some of the 13 live far
away from the nearest Pizza
Ranch. Even today, investigators still don’t know how these
people might have become ill.
To our knowledge, only one
of those cases occurred here in
Emporia.
Third, when Pizza Ranch
learned of even the possibility
that one of its ingredients was
being investigated, they immediately contacted us and
instructed us to immediately
remove it from our menu. We
did that right away and did
a precautionary deep cleaning
of our restaurant. Pizza Ranch
also switched suppliers for this
product. Because of these steps,
we’re absolutely confident in the
quality of every item we serve.
Fourth, the Centers for
Disease Control has said that
this outbreak is over. The most
recent reported illness related
to this outbreak dates back to
a meal more than 70 days ago
on January 30th. At every step
in this process Pizza Ranch followed the direction of the public
health authorities.
We take food safety very
seriously at our restaurant and
our guests’ well-being is our top
priority. This has been true from
the day we opened our doors
in 2008 and it’s true today. In
recognition of our commitment
in this area, Pizza Ranch has
twice awarded us their “Legendary Ranch Cleanliness” award
for being the cleanest restaurant
anywhere in their chain.
Again, we want to thank
everyone for all of the support,
prayers and good wishes we’ve
received since this news broke.
Those expressions are priceless
and we look forward to welcoming you on your next visit.
Thank you.
— Rich and Linda Avery,
Owners Pizza Ranch Emporia
Please see Skyline, Page 5
MEGAN ALLEN WINS EMPORIA ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENGE
Special to the Gazette
A small cosmetics business offering natural, herbal based remedies was announced as the winner
of the Emporia Entrepreneur Challenge today. Megan Allen, founder
of Nfusion, received a $2,500 cash
prize. Allen competed against 17
teams from Flint Hills Technical
College and Emporia State University during the community showcase that was held this afternoon
in the Memorial Union at Emporia
State.
The competition, which began
in February, consisted of three
rounds: a business proposal review,
oral presentation and community
showcase. Teams were judged on
concept, feasibility, market potential, business model and understanding of competition. The original pool of s V&֗76