Today's Feature
Sunday
Sales and Building Codes.
The City Council is scheduled
to vote on five separate Council bills relating
to the sale of liquor by the drink in restaurants
at the regular Council meeting in City Hall at
7:30 this evening. Another bill that would ban
alcoholic beverages in glass containers on City
property, except Memorial Hall, is also
scheduled.
The combination of liquor by
the drink ordinances would allow restaurants with
a state license to acquire a license from the
City for weekdays for $75 and $300 for Sunday
sales. Hours of sales on Sundays would be from 1
p.m. until midnight, the same as liquor stores.
The Council is also scheduled
to vote on the amended City Personnel Policy M
annual and the utility rated changes proposed by
CW&EP.
The first reading of Council
bills that would adopt the various International
2000 building construction and maintenance code
is scheduled. These bills have been postponed
twice and come to Council without specific
recommendations from the Public Works Committee.
The Committee voted 3-1 to table further
discussion of the topic.
Commentary
Martin
"Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126
I really
don’t make this stuff up. The fact is, I
couldn’t think up stuff like this. I’ve
always said that if the people knew what happened
at their Capitol, they would be furious. Well,
about a hundred folks got a first hand look at
what I am talking about.
We were voting in committee on
Tuesday and just as we finished voting on one of
the bills, a democrat member walked in late. The
chairman, also a democrat, asked him if he would
like to cast a vote on the bill. He said, and
again, I am not making this up, "I
don’t have a clue what we are voting on,
just vote me the same way the chairman
voted".
The packed audience looked like
they were in total disbelief. Even though the
incident had nothing to do with me, I was still
embarrassed to even be in the same room at the
time. In fairness to the member, we many times
have to be several places at once and can’t
always be constantly on top of everything. I have
walked into a committee in the middle of a vote
and been asked if I would like to vote on the
pending legislation. If I know what we are voting
on I will indeed cast a vote.
If I truly have no idea what we
are doing at the time, I will pass until I
understand what we are considering or I will
abstain from that vote. I would rather be
recorded as absent than cast your vote in a state
of total ignorance.
The other committee incident
that left me shaking my head also had to do with
voting. I am on two committees that both meet at
the same time on Tuesday afternoon. We were
voting in this committee as well. There were
about 10 members present and as we vote, I keep
track in my head or on a piece of paper what the
vote is as we call out our vote. In committee,
recorded votes are taken by a vocal roll call
with each member calling out aye, no, or pass. On
this particular vote, it was 4 in favor and 6
against. When the Chairman, again a democrat,
announced the vote, he said it was 9 in favor and
6 against. I thought that seemed kind of strange
since the number of votes outweighed the number
of members present.
Finally, the chairman was asked
if members that weren’t present had had
their votes cast for them. He admitted that was
the case. That is in direct violation of our
House rules. What is the point of being here if
we don’t need to show up to vote? Maybe we
could just call in our votes over the telephone!
Somewhere I have heard the
phrase; self-government only works with
self-discipline. It would appear we are a little
short of self discipline right now.
As usual, I can be reached at
House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City,
MO 65101, or 1-800-878-7126, or
mhohulin@services.state.mo.us for your questions,
comments, or advice.
Letters to the Editor
Opinions expressed reflect
those of the writer
and not necessarily those of the Mornin' Mail.
After reading
your "commentary" in the March 6th
issue of Mornin’ Mail I felt I had to say
something.
The truth is, we do not live in
a color blind society. And the truth is there are
people of color being stopped for only one
reason, their skin color. When that stops the
need to monitor the actions of police officers
will stop.
"Laws like this only serve
to make the chasm wider and when the final
reports are in, it will do no one any good."
When the final reports are in
it will hopefully be clearer whether or not an
officer or a police force has been practicing
racial profiling. And if they have it will be a
starting point in stopping that practice.
"..I predicted that no
matter what the results were, minorities would
complain they were being unfairly singled
out."
By making any kind of blanker
statement like this you are claiming that because
a group of people have one thing in common, in
this case- they are minorities, they all think
alike and act alike. That in itself is a
stereotype from which discrimination stems.
In an utopia we will live in a
color blind society and be as open minded and
empathetic as you. But until that happens, we as
a society need to be held accountable for the
actions we take, and sometimes the only way to do
that, is unfortunately, with laws such as this
one.
Sammi Johnson
I was surfing
on the Net when I came across the 1897 wedding
announcement for my grandparents: Eugene E. Dodd
and Clara Riley in your Mornin’ Mail.
It was a very happy discovery.
I will add the information to the family
archives.
Grandfather Dodd went on to
become the principal of Central High School in
Springfield, Mo., from about 1899 to 1915.
An interesting footnote, E. E.
Dodd in 1898 and 1899 started a successful school
supply business in Chicago.
It was so successful that
members of the Chicago Board of Education wanted
kickbacks under the table. My grandfather
wouldn’t do it. He told them to go to Hell,
sold out his business, and came back to Missouri.
Best wishes,
William Dodd Brown
Tax
Collection for February 2001.
Stephen H. Holt, Jasper County
Collector, has announced $1,039,789.20 was
collected by his office for the month of
February, 2001.
This amount includes
$479,869.80 in 2000 real estate taxes, $43,198.72
in 1999 real estate taxes, $7,384.64 in 1997 real
estate taxes and $1,163.45 in 1995 real estate
taxes.
Also collected was $459,510.43
in 2000 personal property taxes, $14,499.43 in
1999 personal property taxes, $3,517.42 in 1998
personal property taxes and $778.68 in 1997
personal property taxes.
$24,659.63 was collected in
2000 Personal and Real State Assessed Utility
taxes.
$458.00 in duplicate receipts,
$4,450.00 in merchants licenses, $90.00 in
publication fees, $159.00 in auctioneer’s
licenses, and $50.00 in miscellaneous fees.
Distribution of the $727,267.15
allocated to schools in Jasper County is as
follows: Carl Junction R-I, $109,009.94; Sarcoxie
R-II, $18,794.65; Golden City R-III, $8.81;
Diamond R-IV, $2,201.10; Jasper R-V, $11,685.93;
Webb City R-VII, $141,605.95; Joplin R-VIII,
$316,023.79; Carthage R-IX, $121,846.60; Avilla
R-XIII, $6,090.38.
Search for
Century Farms Continues.
news release
The search is on again for
Missouri farms that have been in the same family
100 years or more.
These farms will be recognized
in the Missouri Centennial Farm program at the
University of Missouri-Columbia. In the 1976
program, 2,850 Missouri farm owners were
recognized as owning a centennial farm.
In 1986, the College of
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and
University Outreach and Extension planned a
Century Farm program in which 1080 more farms
were recognized. Due to continued interest in the
program, annual updates are now given each year.
Since 1987, there have been an additional 1884
farms recognized. Last year, 146 family farms
joined the program.
"Today’s pace of
change certainly challenges our human ability to
accept it," says Thomas Payne, dean of the
University of Missouri-Columbia of Agriculture
Food, and Natural Resources. "There is
perhaps no greater icon, or symbol, of all that
has changed in America than the farm.
Missouri’s farms that have stood the test of
a century of weather, of markets, and of
descendants deserve our respect and the honor
bestowed by the Century Farm program."
To qualify as a Missouri
Century Farm, farms must meet the following
guidelines. The same family must have owned the
farm for 100 years or more as of Dec. 31, 2001.
The family shall consist of direct descendants
only. The farm must be at least 40 acres of the
original land and make a financial contribution
to the overall farm income. A website,
http://outreach.missouri.edu/centuryfarm,
includes the history of the program, guidelines,
application form, and highlights several farms
from the 2000 program.
Applicants certified as owners
of a 2001 Missouri Century Farm will be
recognized by University Outreach and Extension
in the county where the farm is located.
Application forms and
information are available through Extension
Publications, 2800 Maguire Blvd., Columbia, MO
65211, through your local Extension office or on
the website. A $25 fee is required to cover the
cost of certificates and farm signs for approved
applicants. Checks should be made out to Missouri
Century Farms and should accompany a completed
application. If more than one sign is requested,
$10 should be included for each additional sign.
Applications must be returned by July 4, 2001.
The Missouri Century Farm
program is jointly administered by the MU College
of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and
University Outreach and Extension.
For more information, contact
the Carthage Extension office at 358-2158.
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