Primary Today.

There are two Jasper County contested races for the Republican primary today. The incumbent Presiding County Commissioner John Bartosh faces David Troyer, Jeff Hammons, and James Pendergraft. Incumbent Clerk of the Circuti Court Linda Williams faces Melissa Holcomb.

Prop C May Stand on Legal Ground.

The Missouri Health Care Freedom, Proposition C will appear on today’s statewide ballot in Missouri as an legislatively-referred state statute. The proposed measure aims to block the federal government from requiring people to buy health insurance and bans punishment for those without health insurance. The State of Virginia has already passed a similar proposition.

United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled last week to allow a lawsuit to continue brought by the Commonwealth of Virginia against Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act. The suit challenges the government’s intent to require individuals to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty for failing to do so.

In his ruling the Judge stated:

"While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues, all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to gegulate - and tax - a citizens’s decision not to participate in interstate commerce. neither the U.S. supreme Court nor any circuit court of appeals has squarely addrssed this issue. No reported case from any federal appellate court has extended the Commerce Clause or Tax Clause to include the regulation of a person’s decision not to purchase a product, notwithstanding its effect on interstate commerce. Given the presence of some authority arguable supporting the theroy underlying each side’s position, this Court cannot conclude at this stage that the Complaint fails to state a cause of action.

"The Secretary’s Mortion to Dismiss will therefore be denied. Resolution of the controlling issues in this case must await a hearing on the merits."

The County Election Office is reportin’ a fairly heavy absentee ballot count. With only a couple of County races, the Prop C vote may be gettin’ out some voters.

‘Course I’m sure the Congressional races are promotin’ a fair turnout too. Plenty of contenders to stir up the interest.

As seems ta be fairly common in these parts, there are no choices for local candidates on the Democrat ballot. I’ve often wondered how many supporters of that party actually vote on the Republican side in the primary.

Which ever side ya feel is your callin’, be sure to get to the polls and register your opinion.

Like we always say, it gives ya grippin’ rights for the next couple years.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Columns

To Your Good Health

By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

Macular Degeneration and Cataracts

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Is it possible to get wet macular degeneration from a scratch on the left eye during cataract surgery, or could it have been a cyst that caused wet macular degeneration? I am 85, and my right eye is perfect. I had cataract surgery on that eye also. -- C.

ANSWER: A scratch on the eye isn’t likely to cause macular degeneration. The possibility of cataract surgery leading to macular degeneration is a remote one. More than 6,000 people who had had a cataract removed were followed for five years after the operation. Slightly more people who had the operation developed macular degeneration, dry or wet, in the operated eye than did a similar group of people who had not had an operation. This isn’t proof that cataract surgery leads to macular degeneration. The same risks that cause cataracts also cause macular degeneration. The numbers that do develop it after cataract removal are small. A cause-and-effect relationship has not been proven.

I am not clear what you mean by a cyst causing the degeneration. In what part of the eye was the cyst? I have not seen a link between cysts and macular degeneration.

The retina is the back layer of the eye, the layer that converts incoming images into nerve signals that can be transmitted to the brain so we can see. The macula is a small, round area of the retina where there’s an aggregation of cells that are essential for central vision -- the kind of vision needed to read a paper, watch TV and drive. Dry macular degeneration, accounting for 85 percent to 90 percent of cases, is a wasting away of macular cells. Wet macular degeneration results from a sprouting of blood vessels in that region. Those newly formed blood vessels leak fluid and destroy macular vision. Procedures are available that can halt the progression of wet macular degeneration.