The City Council Budget/Ways and Means Committee will resume the annual budget process this evening at 6:30 in City Hall.

The first item scheduled on the agenda to be discussed is a request by the Police and Fireman Pension Fund Committee for additional funding to allow for annual cost of living increases for retired officers. Police and Fire personnel have a separate retirement fund from other City employees. The City employee fund does have built in cost of living adjustments (COLA). City Administrator Tom Short reported to the Committee that even with the COLA, actual dollar benefits are less for other City employees than those already received by the Police and Fire personnel. Some members of the Police and Fire Pension Committee disagreed with the calculations presented by Short, and have submitted their own figures for consideration.

The Budget Committee is also scheduled to begin the process of perfecting the proposed City budget for fiscal year 2000/20001 which begins July 1. All budget hearings are open to the public.

I still remember that early chess game with some distant relative as a kid. We both were just learnin’ the game, but this kid was bein’ a real jerk about all he knew about the game. After several games, he had prob’ly won more than I had, but he kept insistin’ his superior knowledge of the game and the rules was his advantage.

Durin’ what I recall as our last encounter, he made a critical move that was an obvious stupid mistake. When I capitalized on the error, he screamed foul and insisted that wasn’t the move he had intended, he wanted to take it back. I of course reminded him that after he removed his hand from the piece, the move stood. He whined and moaned how unfair I was bein’. The rules obviously applied to me but not to him. At that point the game was secondary, the lesson primary.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Carthage Printing

PRIME TIME WITH KIDS
by Donna Erickson

Any abecedarians in your family?

My neighbor called to tell me the spelling dictionary on her computer somehow came up with the wonderful word "abecedarian," defined as "one learning the rudiments of something, such as the alphabet." She couldn’t resist sharing the BIG word with her 5-year-old daughter, Helen, who proudly passed it on to her classroom teacher. Now the schoolchildren chant on cue, "We are abecedarians!"

Why not be abecedarians with your family as you discover the sensory delights of spring? You can document spring first from A to Z when you make a "Spring ABC Book" together.

On each of 26 large index cards, write a letter of the alphabet. For beginners, start with a few letters, such as those in your child’s name. Punch a hole in the corner of each card and attach them together on a metal ring or tie them loosely with ribbon.

LOOK in the woods, in a park or on your block for signs of the spring season. You may discover tiny wildflowers, grass in sidewalk cracks, or newly-made birds’ nests. LISTEN for the sounds of croaking frogs by a pond, the songs of birds or the clicking of skates on the sidewalk. TASTE a rhubarb pie and strawberries.

At home, talk about each discovery. For example, if you saw a butterfly, say the word together. Tell your child butterfly starts with "B." Then find the "B" card and invite your child to make a drawing of a butterfly. Your child may prefer cutting out pictures of butterflies in magazines and gluing them on the card or attaching stickers. Here are more ideas to get you started:

A is for APPLE BLOSSOMS

B is for BUNNIES HOPPING IN THE FIELD

C is for CATERPILLAR and CARDINALS

Continue with the rest of the alphabet.