Small Quantities of Vaccine Arriving.

Local health officials are continuing to monitor the shipments of H1N1 vaccine to the area, noting that the first vaccines have begun to arrive in Jasper County and Joplin but in small quantities. Dan Pekarek, Director of the Joplin City Health Department, and Tony Moehr, Administrator of the Jasper County Health Department, want residents to know that as these vaccines arrive, they are being distributed first to medical providers serving the high priority population that include:

• pregnant women

• persons who live with or provide care for infants aged up to 6 months

• health-care and emergency medical services personnel who have direct contact with patients

• children aged 6 month to 4 years

• children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 years who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications

Persons who are in one of the priority groups should contact their medical provider to check on the availability of vaccine.

Just a reminder that the downtown Halloween get together will be on this Wednesday. If ya enjoy seein’ ‘bout a thousand kids dressed up to the max, you need to come on down.

There will be a contest for different age groups, includin’ adults. So put on the get-up and participate in onea the communities most enjoyable afternoons.

There have been a couple a times as a youngster I tried to fill a pillow case with goodies from the small town I grew up in. Don’t think I ever achieved the goal, but the neighbors knew I was serious when I knocked on the door.

Back then we could always count on a caramel apple and popcorn balls if ya got out early.

Couldn’t give ‘em away these days.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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THIS IS A HAMMER

By Samantha Mazzotta

Couples’ Quick Action Checks Condo Flooding

DEAR HAMMER: I wanted to relate to you the recent "fun" my husband and I had with our water heater in the hopes your readers could use the information.

We were hosting a dinner party last week when, near the end of the party, my husband noticed a hissing sound coming from the utility closet. We both ignored it as we said goodbye to our guests. As I began to wash the dishes, I noted that the water was very hot; then it quickly went lukewarm and cold as I rinsed the dishes.

About then, my husband asked, "Who spilled wine in the hallway?" He wiped it up, only to return five minutes later to more liquid. That’s when we paid attention to the hissing from the utility closet. Opening it up, we noticed water pooling under the water heater and beginning to spill out into the laundry room and hallway. The hissing sound was water rushing through the cold-water feed pipe into the water heater. Water dripped from the overflow valve and from the bottom of the tank.

My husband quickly shut off the gas at the water heater (using the on/off/pilot control knob at the bottom of the unit). He explained that even though the pilot light had been doused and a valve would keep gas from continuing to flow, turning the controls to "off" was an important safety step. He also turned the temperature control to its lowest setting.

Then he tried to close the shutoff valve for the cold water feed pipe. Problem! The water would not shut off, and it was continuing to leak out into the utility room.

While I contacted the maintenance man for our condominium, my husband located and shut off the main water valve for our unit. This meant we would have no water, but it also would stop the condo from being flooded.

The maintenance man came right over, despite the late hour, and drained the tank for us to stop additional flooding. He noted that the cold-water shutoff valve had been improperly installed, which is why it didn’t work, and that he would need to replace that as well as the water heater.

In short, by acting quickly to address the water heater breakdown, we were able to minimize damage from the flood.