Maple Leaf Festival Artwork Contest Winner.

The 46th annual Maple Leaf Festival planning committee has selected the winning artwork for the festival. Artists, students and local residents were asked to submit work to represent this year’s theme "From Tradition to Today".

Terri Bunn, who lives in Wichita but has family in the area said, "My sister-in-law has loved bragging about Carthage, the Maple Leaf Festival and the Art Community in your city, and I have enjoyed listening!"

Bunn’s artwork will appear in coordinating marketing, including the official brochure, for the annual city celebration set for October 12-21 in Carthage. The image will also be printed on official festival gear which will be available for pre-order.

Bunn said, "Visiting Carthage has been one of my favorite things to do! My mother-in-law is also a resident. They are fortunate to have found such a wonderful place to live."

For more information, contact Mary Jo at the Carthage Chamber of Commerce, 417-358-2373 or mjlittle@carthagechamber.com.

Mochip Child ID.

The Alba and Carthage Masonic Lodge has arranged the free Child Identification and Protection Program to be held at the Grace Episcopal Church, 820 Howard, on March 31 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. It is sponsored by the Missouri Masonic Children’s Foundation and the local lodge.

The program consists of five major components: Digital photographs, digital fingerprints, child information and emergency contacts, a dental bite impression, and two laminated ID cards.

The child’s digital photographs and fingerprints, and their vital information are given to the parent or guardian on a mini-CD computer disk. The information on the disk is "Amber Alert" compatible.

Parents are urged to gather pertinent information about their child prior to an event such as, doctor, dentist, and emergency contact name, address and phone numbers, distinguishing marks and scars, allergies, medications, and parent work, cell, and assorted phone numbers. Height charts and scales are available at the event to facilitate the most current details regarding the child. As to be expected, security and privacy are of utmost importance. All information and specimens are collected on site, processed, and provided to the parent or legal guardian in an envelope—along with the added sentiment of a Masonic volunteer—"We hope you never need to use it." At the end of each event, data bases are erased using state-of-the-art software. The only item retained by the Masonic Children’s Foundation is the signed permission slip.

For information call David Jones, 358-8816.

Documentary Film On Globe’s Tornado Response.

Like community newspapers do every spring in their towns all across the country, The Joplin Globe covered the graduation program for local high school seniors on May 22, 2011.

Moments after that Sunday afternoon ceremony ended, the lives of Joplin residents changed forever.

Among the buildings squarely in the storm’s path through town were the high school and the city’s main hospital. Both were damaged beyond repair as a third of the city, blew apart when the massive vortex chewed through its center.

Then began The Globe’s duty to report on the storm and its impact on the community and the entire region. That duty became a mission for the newspaper’s staff, to tell the stories about all of the tragedies and miracles, the victims and the heroes, the responses of neighbors and the world.

The story of how The Globe carried out that mission has been told in a documentary film that will be premiered on May 3. "Deadline in Disaster," produced by the Missouri Press Foundation, will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Missouri Theatre, 9th and Locust streets in downtown Columbia.

Preceding the showing of the 59-minute film will be a reception and silent auction in the theater lobby to raise funds for a memorial in Joplin to the victims and survivors. After the film, members of The Globe staff will answer questions from the audience.

Plant The Right Tree.

Urban Forester Jon Skinner will be holding a series of Tree Selection and Planting workshops to help home owners make better decisions and establish new tree to optimize its’ benefits.

"Everyone can improve their property with a little planning and forethought," says Skinner. "This is a decision that lasts a lifetime. One thing many do not realize is that well placed, healthy, larger trees will increase property value over a similar property without those trees."

Everyone is welcome to attend one of these free workshops. Registration is requested. For information or to register, call 417-629-3423.

Skinner have a workshop on March 26, 2012, at 6:30 PM in the Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center, 201 W. Riviera Dr. (Wildcat Park), Joplin.

2012 Maple Leaf Festival Brochure Applications Available.

The Carthage Chamber has announced that the deadline to be included in this year’s Maple Leaf Festival brochure is earlier than in past years. Completed applications AND fees are due no later April 1st in order to be considered for the 2012 Maple Leaf Festival brochure. Applications will be reviewed by the Maple Leaf Committee upon completion and not all applications may be accepted.

A promotional fee of $25 for events sponsored by Chamber members and $50 for events sponsored by non-Chamber members is required for each submitted event. These fees help defray the costs of printing 22,000 brochures and maintaining an online events calendar. Events submitted without the fee will NOT be published in the Maple Leaf Festival brochure.

Applications are available via fax or e-mail or at the Carthage Chamber, 402 S. Garrison. For more information or to request an application, contact Mary Jo at 417-358-2373 or mjlittle@carthagechamber.com.

Jasper County Jail Count

171 March 6, 2011

Total Including Placed out of County

Weekly Column

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

The sunroof on my 1998 Toyota RAV4 doesn’t close anymore. The Toyota repair guy says it will cost $1,700 to replace the motor and cables ($1,400 for parts, $300 for labor). The bluebook value for my cars appears to be about $3,500, which means I’ll be investing about half its value in a repair. However, I love my RAV4, and it has only 42,000 miles on it. Leaving the sunroof unrepaired or closed isn’t an option - I live in San Francisco, and unless there’s an absolute downpour, I have the roof open. Should I get it fixed, or get a whole new car? - Laura

Tom: Fix it. No question about it.

Ray: I agree. The blue-book value of the car is irrelevant. That matters only if you’re selling the car. And you’re not selling it. You love it.

Tom: If you dindn’t have a car, and soneone came to you right now and said, "You can have this exact ‘98 RAV$ with a working sunroof and 42,000 miles on it for $1,700," you’d buy it , right? That’s essentially what you’re doing.

Ray: Look at the alternative: What are you going to get to replace this car for $1,700? You’d get a car that looks like something my brother would own.

Tom: I’ll sell you my ‘78 Fiat for $1,700. Its roof leaks, too, but I fixed it by drilling a hole in the floor so the water can drain out.

Ray: If the car’s in good shape - which it is - and you still love it - which you do - then invest in the repair and keep driving it.

artCentral

ART NOTES from Hyde House

by Sally Armstrong, Director of artCentral

Spring has definitely "sprung" and today I think I could hear things growing! With it brings a new season of art walks, and the Chamber Planning Board for the Carthage Art Walk has a whole new schedule for 2012 that you can look forward to beginning April 13th and 14th. The fliers are out, and posters due to come in soon so watch for advertising around town, but just to tell you that each of the 4 "walks" has a new theme. The first one is "Comics & Graphic Arts" which will especially feature these kinds of art in the hub venue, UMB downtown. There will be a special display of "sequential art" or comic-style work by at least one published artist, and examples of other work that you won’t want to miss. These are not kid’s comics, but more adult versions, and surprisingly a number of local artists are involved in these types of art, from the Japanese style "manga" (like Hello Kitty fame characters) to the action figure heros. The Haun brother of Joplin, William and Jeremy are both professional sequential artists for Marvel comics. A third brother Eric, also a painter and who happens to be the current president of the board of directors of artCentral, tells me they will be unable to attend as they will be traveling to Chicago for a display conference and convention of comic artists there, but we do hope to have former Webb Citian and current resident of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Sean Fitzgibbon. Sean is a fine arts graduate of the university there and an art instructor at the college, but specializes in this type of art and has had books published of his work. It should be very interesting no matter how many of these artists we display, so I hope folks will come out to look at this as well as more traditional artists’ work during the first Carthage 2012, both Friday night April 13th and all day Saturday the 14th on the square.

The workshop here to be presented by our next gallery artist, Dale Augustson of Springfield, and scheduled for March 31st and April 1st is nearly full. This will be a very specialized class giving each adult-student a lot of attention and instruction. Please don’t hesitate to email me or call the gallery for additional information at artcentral@suddenlinkmail.com or by calling 358-4404.