The distribution of approximately $70,000 in lodging tax funds will be one of the tasks of this year’s City budget process. The revenue comes from a 2 per cent tax on all motel and bed and breakfast rooms rented in Carthage. The fund has increased steadily since the tax was approved by voters in 1995. Proponents of the tax point to the increase as evidence that the fund is fulfilling its role to promote overnight stays in the City.

The Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Carthage, Victorian Carthage, and the Historic Phelps House are agencies being considered for funding from the lodging tax.

Requests from all agencies total $106,047 and break down as the Chamber, $59,447; Victorian Carthage, $20,000; Main Street, $23,100, Phelps House, $3,500.

Requests for outside agencies for the lodging tax and general fund contracts for service will be formally heard during the budget meeting Thursday evening in City Hall.

Other agencies that have requested contracts with the City are the Harry S. Truman Council ($2,686.75), Carthage Youth Baseball ($5,000), and the Carthage Humane Society ($14,400).

With the tornado season obviously upon us, I see there are those educational gatherin’s to inform folks of what to do in case of a twister. I‘ll save ya some time, DUCK!

I suppose there is nothin’ wrong with makin’ folks more aware of the dangers of a hundred mile an hour wind that is throwin’ rocks and two by fours through the air, but folks who have lived in these parts for much time at all knows ta head for cover.

I can’t ‘member where I learned ta get in a ditch when things are flyin’ through the air. Just always made sense. Now if I moved ta where earthquakes are common, I suppose I’d be interested in a little education ‘bout copin’. I try to stay off shaky ground.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Carthage Printing Services

PRIME TIME WITH KIDS
by Donna Erickson

You don’t have to live in a cold climate to make these beautiful candles molded with ice! You’ll feel cozy inside wherever you live, whether the temperature is 50 degrees above zero or 50 degrees below.

For two or three medium-size candles, you will need:

• 1-pound box paraffin (available in the canning section at many grocery stores)

• 1 tin can and a saucepan

• Ice cubes crushed in medium-size chunks. (Put ice cubes in a sturdy plastic bag. Your school-age kids will have a ball crushing the cubes with a hammer, under an adult’s supervision, of course.)

• Empty and clean pint- or quart-size cardboard milk cartons with the top cut off

• A white or colored taper candle for each ice candle, one inch shorter from the cut carton. (Trim the candle from the bottom if necessary.)

An adult should place a chunk of paraffin wax in the empty tin can. Set the can in water in the saucepan and heat the water until the paraffin melts, keeping an eye on it at all times. (Never place the can on the burner or over an open flame because the wax is flammable.)

Hold a taper candle in the center of one of your cartons. While you hold it in place, let your child scoop the crushed ice around it, filling the carton to the top of the taper. The ice will now hold the taper in place. An adult should pour the melted wax over the ice. Let the kids observe how quickly the wax hardens in the carton. Listen to the cracking ice.

Once the wax is completely hardened, let the kids pour off any extra water. Carefully peel the carton away from the ice candle and enjoy the surprise of your work of art. The ice will have formed interesting pockets and holes that resemble Swiss cheese!

Note: When burning candles, an adult should always be present to supervise.