Mornin' Mail

The Mornin' Mail is published every weekday except major holidays
Thursday, March 1, 2001 Volume IX, Number 179

Did Ya Know?. . .The Carthage Soccer League will have sign-ups for the Spring Season from 5:30-7:00 p.m. on Thurs., March 1st and Tues., March 6th at the First United Methodist Church, Fellowship Hall. The cost is $15. Anyone who signed up last fall is already registered.

Did Ya Know?. . .A Ham & Bean Chili Supper Benefit will be held for Patty Ann Byrd, who is need of a double lung transplant, from 4:00-9:00 p.m. on Sat., March 3rd at The Open Door Baptist Church, 13741 Elm Rd. (1/2 mile east of Carthage on old Krummel Nursery Road.) Suggested donations are $3 for adults, and $1.50 for children 12 & under. For more information call 359-8561.

Did Ya Know?. . .Carthage Baseball sign-ups will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 2nd and Friday, March 9th at the Fairview Elementary School. All ages are encouraged to play. Sponsorship is available.

today's laugh

"Did anybody drop a roll of bills with a rubber band around them?"
"Yes, I did," said several voices in the bank lobby.
"Well, I just picked up the rubber band," said the gentleman calmly.

Then there was the novelist who got the idea for his second novel from the screen version of his first one.

1901
INTERESTING MELANGE.
A Chronological Record of Events as they have Transpired in the City and County since our last Issue.

A New Rural Mail Route.

It is No. 4 Running to the Westward From Carthage

W. T. Conger of Madison, Wis. arrived this morning as the special agent of the rural mail route division of the Post office department, to establish the fourth rural mail route here, extending to the westward.

He has appointed Thos. A. Flower, of west of town, as the carrier for the new route, and the latter has furnished approved bond and taken the oath of office, ready to enter upon his duties as soon as arrangements are completed. It will likely be ten days or more before all preliminaries are arranged and the approval of the special agent’s report is returned with orders to open the route.

Agent Conger is out today driving over the proposed route with Judge Hickman, and the proposed boundaries will not be known until he gets back tonight and makes his report. In a general way, however, it can be stated that the route will run directly west from the postoffice for 4 miles on the Oak street road. It will then angle to the northwest by a series of jogs for about six miles. There it will turn south for a mile or two, thence angle southeast by another series of jogs, and strike the southwest corner of town at about the southwest end of Centennial avenue. Thence the return will be made to the postoffice. The round trip foots up about 24 miles.

The route thus reaches to within two miles of Oronogo. This still leaves abundant room for a route running out to the southwest, and there is still room for one running due east. It will probably only be a matter of time until both these will be established.

The department is rushed to death, however, with this business, the applications for new routes coming in at the rate of 250 a day, it is said.

Today's Feature

Small Change, Big Deal.

The City Council narrowly approved a change order in the amount of $885 by a 5-4 vote for the Fair Acres Sports Complex project during the regular Council meeting Tuesday evening in City Hall. Up to that issue, the meeting had moved along in a fairly light hearted manner due to the presence of students participating in the annual Student Government Day. Students, who had voted in place of their respective Council members to approve over a million dollars in expenditures, were pressed to understand all the discussion over only $885.

The issue, however was not the amount of money, but the fact that plans for the sewer line connection from the newly constructed concession stand to a waiting manhole fell short. Both the sewer line construction to the manhole and the plans for the line from the concession stand were engineered by Tri-State Engineering. The company currently contracts with the City as City Engineer. The change order was to pay for the line and construction to fill the gap.

Council members Lujene Clark and Art Dunaway both voiced opposition and voted against payment with Bastin and Sternes

Ragfest 2001 This Weekend.

news release

Ragfest 2001 will be held March 3 & 4 at Carthage, MO, heart of the land where ragtime was born and initially nurtured. The schedule includes an informal symposium at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 3 at Mark Twain School, 1435 S. Main, and a concert at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 4 at the Carthage Sr. High School Auditorium, Main & 7th.

Local and district talent, proving rag still is vigorously alive here in the heartland, will be featured. Headliners will include Susan Spracklen Cordell and The Carthage Community Band, led by Ragtime Historian Marvin VanGilder. Also on the concert bill will be the sounds of the Tristatesmen Barbershop Chorus, the high-stepping routines of the Hayden Dance Company, the artistry of Ragtime Fiddler Rebecca Browning and synthesizer ragtime with the trio of Marvin & Irene VanGilder and Glenda Erwin.

The works of the district’s original ragtimers - James Scott, Clarence Woods, Percy Wenrich, Theron Bennett and others - will be featured. Classic Scott Joplin compositions also will be heard. There will be no admission charges but donations to help meet festival costs and support the ongoing work of the volunteer community band will be requested.

The symposium, led by Marvin VanGilder, will deal with basic ragtime history revealing its roots in Carthage, Joplin, Neosho, Pierce City and the area, plus the nature and intent of the idiom from which virtually all American popular music has grown. Audience participation is invited.

The two-day festival is produced and sponsored by the Carthage Community Band and Carthage Council on the Arts in cooperation with other volunteers and with the Carthage R-9 Schools. The band is sponsored by Edwin W. Wiggins, Post No. 9, American Legion, and The Carthage Press which has received important assistance via a Boylan Foundation grant through Post 9.

Invitations have been extended to ragtime fans worldwide to bring their friends and come to Carthage for a bright warm wintertime moment with the raggedy music of joy - March 3 & 4, 2001.

Just Jake Talkin'

Mornin',

Ever’one involved seems to enjoy the Students shadowin’ the City Council members and staff each year. An opportunity for some ta see the police and fire departments, CW&EP power plant, maybe the Underground or the Hospital.

Students this year voted to buy a couple a police cars, allow the Farmers Market on the Square, and to enter into contracts with various agencies to manage and operate recreations programs for the upcomin’ year. The students heard several first readings of various alcoholic beverage ordinances, but there was no discussion.

The Council members appreciated the efficient forty minute meeting. Maybe they should keep a few students on board to make sure the meetings go so smoothly.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.