Will Fire Protection Tax Be on Ballot?

The City Council is scheduled to meet this evening in City Hall at 7:30 for their regular meeting.

Included on the agenda is Council Bill 11-37, scheduled for a final vote. The ordinance would call for the question of a fire protection sales tax.

It reads in part as follows:

"SECTION II: An election is hereby called on the 8th day of November 2011 wherein the following proposal shall be submitted to the voters of the City of Carthage in substantially the following form, to-wit:

Shall the City of Carthage impose a sales tax of one fourth (1/4) of one percent (1 %) for the purpose of providing revenues for the operation of the Carthage Fire Department?"

The citizens of Carthage approved a 1/2 percent sales tax last February for the purpose of capital improvements that was extended for twenty years. City officials estimated that tax to generate approximately $800,000 per year.

The Fire Department historically operates on approximately $1.5 million.

Jasper County Jail Count

198 August 22, 2011

Total Including Placed out of County

Well, I can tell that summer is almost over, the guy down the street finally put out his Christmas tree to be picked up. I’m not sayin’ he’s cheap, but this is the same guy who is tryin’ to sue because he got injured while watchin’ a professional ball game. He fell out of a tree. This is the same fella that complains that Christmas cards are made of such cheap material. Says they only last a few seasons now-a-days.

His kid came by the other day and told me his dad could do tricks. I asked him what kind of tricks. He said his ma says he can drink like a fish.

‘Course this is the same guy that thinks an autobiography has something to do with the history of cars and that Daniel Boone was born in a log cabin he built himself. It this in any way resembles one a your neighbors, it was strictly coincidental.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Weekly Column

To Your Good Health

By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

Loud Snoring Can Signal Sleep Apnea

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have sleep apnea. Before being treated by a sleep specialist, I was very sleepy during the day and had no energy. My specialist prescribed a mask that pumps air into my nose. It helps somewhat. Later a friend told me about Provigil. It makes me feel much better, but I am not 100 percent. What else could help me? -- J.K.

ANSWER: "Apnea" is Greek for "no breathing." Sleep apnea is periods during sleep when a person stops breathing for 10 or more seconds. There can be five to 30 or more such spells every hour. Quite often, an apneic period is preceded by snoring that gets progressively louder and louder. At the end of the no-breathing episode, the person grunts and half-wakens and then starts breathing again. This fragments sleep and leaves the person sleepy and without energy the next day.

The problem lies in a narrowed passageway for air as it travels through the throat en route to the lungs. Redundant throat tissue blocks the natural airflow.

Weight loss is one way to get rid of excess throat tissue, if one is overweight. Don’t drink any alcohol from the evening meal on, because it relaxes throat tissue.

The mask you wear is called CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). It delivers air under pressure so it can pass through the obstruction in the throat. Don’t abandon it.

You can ask your dentist about fashioning a device that keeps the jaw forward during sleep. That opens the throat too. Stick with your Provigil, since it’s working for you.

There are a number of surgical procedures that can pare excess tissue from the back of the throat. And there is a new remedy called the Pillar Palatal Implant System. It consists of three small, plastic rods inserted into the back part of the upper palate to keep it propped up. For some, a droopy palate obstructs airflow.

Since you’re doing pretty well with the way things are going now, you might not want to upset things with any more treatment.