Steadley Trust Commits $5M.

The Mary and Kent Steadley Memorial Trust Directors and Trustees have announced a pledge of $5 million to the Carthage R9 School District to partially fund construction of a new high school and technical center. The district will also seek matching funds from the State of Missouri for construction of the new technical center. The Board of Education will finalize plans in the next few weeks for a possible bond election in April 2001 to fund the balance of the project. The commitment from the Steadley Trust is contingent upon voters approving the additional bond issue that is anticipated to be an additional $17 million.

According to information supplied to media at a long range planning work session of the School Board last night, the approval of the bond issue would add between 42 and 49 cents per $100 assessed valuation for property owners in the district.

Board President Ron Ross expressed his appreciation to the Trust and Trust Committee members, who were present for last night’s announcement, for this commitment and nearly $4 million the Trust has contributed to other R-9 projects over the last several years.

Republicans Sweep County.

The Presidential election drew near record setting numbers of voters to the polls in Jasper County yesterday. Of 67,251 registered voters, 38,229 (57%) turned out to vote. Of those voting, 27.54% used a straight Republican party ticket, 9.28% used a straight Democratic party ticket, and 63% used split ticket ballots. From the Presidential vote to the County contests, a ratio of two Republican votes for every Democratic vote was repeated.

Long time Jasper County Assessor Jim Willis was the only Democrat to break the 40% barrier, but was defeated by first time candidate Don Davis by a 21,632 to 14,991 margin.

Incumbent Eastern District County Commissioner Ben Johnson, Democrat, was defeated by another first time candidate Republican Jim Honey, 12,257 to 6,524.

Incumbent Republican Sheriff Bill Pierce defeated Democrat J.D. Love 23,140 to 14,062.

Incumbent Republican Coroner Ron Mosbaugh defeated his Democratic brother Don 22,859 to 13,247. Ron was appointed as a Democrat but moved to the Republican party for the election.

If ya went ta bed before midnight last night, you slept in ignorant bliss not knowin’ who was goin’ to be our next President. ‘Course ya knew it wasn’t Nader, but the real race was a nail bitter and I’m guessin’ that even this mornin’ ya prob’ly don’t know for fact.

I’m sure there is plenty of speculation and even might be some pretty confident assumptions. (Talk among yourselves).

I tried to stay up and get ya some results, but the radio station I was listen to on the internet became so erratic with net congestion that I eventually decided to drift into some a that blissful ignorance myself.

Maybe in a day or two we’ll all be a lot smarter.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Snoozin’.

by

Carthage Printing Services

PRIME TIME WITH KIDS

by Donna Erickson

Discover beautiful treasures from nature when you spend time outdoors with your children this fall. You don’t even need to hike in far-away places to find interesting surprises.

Fallen leaves, acorns and blown sticks in a vacant lot and dried weeds poking through the cracks in the sidewalk are there for inquisitive kids to observe. Or, shake a fallen branch from a shrub or tree to see unusual seeds, pods, leaves and maybe a tiny pine cone or two!

To make your nature walk extra fun, take along nature-find bracelets you can make yourself. Wear them around your wrists to display your collection as you go.

To make a bracelet, cut a 1-by-9-inch strip of clear adhesive-backed paper, such as Con-Tact brand paper.

Remove the protective paper covering and wrap the strip loosely around your child’s wrist, sticky side out. Stick the ends together to form a band. Make a bracelet for each child in your family and one for yourself.

As you embark on your nature walk, press small, lightweight items such as leaves, flower petals, seeds, sand and dirt onto the sticky bracelet. As it becomes covered, it will turn into an eye-catching souvenir of your walk.

When you return home, you may wish to apply household glue to the bracelet to better hold the items in place.

Note: Choose items for the bracelet that have fallen onto your path or sidewalk. Do not disturb growing plants and trees.