Mayor Johnson to
Run for Second Term.

Carthage Mayor Kenneth Johnson announced yesterday that he will see a second term. If reelected, it would be the first time a Mayor of Carthage held a second term in recent memory.

Johnson said his reelection committee will be cochaired by Tom Morrow and Jenny Mansfield. L.J. Downey will be treasurer. Candidates for City offices can begin filing December 18 for the upcoming April election.

Committees To Meet.

The Ad Hoc Tourism/Lodging Tax Committee is scheduled to meet this morning at 7:30 to continue their discussion of ideas for the use of Lodging Tax funds. The Committee was appointed by the Mayor to recommend how the expected $120,000 revenue should be used.

The City Council Public Works Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon at 5:15 in Council chambers. The agenda includes a report on the property owned by Larry Allen just off the square.

Land Transactions

On September 28, 2001, Leonissa Fenske and Edmund Fenske sold the residential property at 1038 W. Chestnut, Carthage, MO, to Baulty Shipp and Carol P. Shipp.

The sale was handled by Donal M. Myers and Chuck Elting of Donal M. Myers Realty.

Velma Van Pelt, Trustee of the Alexander Van Pelt and Velma Van Pelt Revocable Trust U/T/A dated October 27, 1992, sold the property known as 1921 S. Garrison, Carthage, MO. The transaction was handled by Carolyn Cole with Donal M. Myers Realty.

On September 13, 2001, Ruth Barrett White sold Land in Jasper County to Eldred Knaust and N. Janet Knaust. The sale was handled by Donal M. Myers and Chuck Elting of Donal M. Myers Realty.

Commentary

Martin "Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126

This year we were called into Special Session a couple days before Veto Session. It had been a few years since the last time we had had a Special Session. Since I was first elected, we have been called into Special Session to deal with the flood in 1993, to work on an unfinished state budget, and to deal with the impeachment of Judi Moriarity from the Secretary of State’s office.

This year the original call from Gov. Bob Holden for the Special Session was to work on a prescription drug bill for senior citizens. At the urging of quite a few of us he eventually expanded the call to include exempting the federal tax rebate from Missouri state income tax and fixing a badly flawed livestock pricing law.

In a Special Session, we can only consider issues the governor has included in his call.

Even though it was obvious what we needed to do on the livestock bill, it still caused a lot of contention.

For a little background, in 1999 a bill was passed into law making it easier to sue meat packers if a producer thought he was getting paid less for his livestock than someone else. The law mandated that everyone be paid the same cash price for similar livestock.

The law backfired in a big way. Rather than take the chance of being sued, one of two things happened. Either the meat packers pulled completely out of the state, or they paid every producer the same amount, the lowest amount. No longer werethere premiums for anything. With fewer packers buying Missouri cattle, the overall price was lower as well.

At the urging of the labor unions, Speaker Jim Kreider (D-Nixa) was determined to not fix this law. He constantly blamed the meat packers for the situation. In an effort to derail fixing the situation, he appointed a special committee made up of mostly urban legislators to hear the new bill. What they passed out of committee was no better than the already bad law. During debate we constantly heard this was all the fault of the packers, not the law.

For better or worse, the packers are the customers of the cattle producers. They are the ones that purchase our cattle. We only produce a small fraction of the cattle grown in our country. They don’t need us nearly as much as we need them. If we make it hard for our customers to do business with us, they are simply going to go elsewhere. Would you buy gasoline from a station that made you fill out weekly reports of how much you paid at other stations and then threatened to sue you if you paid a different price at another station? No, you would purchase your gasoline from another station.

Eventually, we ended up passing the bill we needed to fix the situation, but only after intense pressure was put on Speaker Kreider. Gov. Holden has indicated he will sign it. Hopefully, by the time you read this, it will already be law and Missouri cattle will be finding their way to your dinner table (as the main dish, not as a guest!).

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.

I didn’t have time yesterday to find the exact time when a Mayor of Carthage had two consecutive terms, but it was before 1954. My curiosity is perked, so I’ll get back to ya on that.

I’m guessin’ the lack of past Mayors servin’ more than the four years says somethin’, but I’m not sure exactly what. Most likely it indicates nature of the position. Mayor Johnson says it works for him ‘cause it keeps him busy and he’d like to see some projects finished up that were started durin’ his first term.

There have been rumors of other possible candidates over the last couple a years, guess it’s gettin’ close to time to see if there will be a mayoral race for the April election.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

McCune- Brooks Hospital

Health Notes

Health & Nutrition by Judith Sheldon

FOOD FACTS: My brother had a kindergarten teacher from the Deep South who taught the class a song called "Picking Up Pawpaws and Putting Them In My Pocket." All these years later, I not only know what pawpaws are, but if I were under a pawpaw tree shedding pawpaws (the largest fruit native to the U.S.A.) I’d pick them up and pocket them, too. According to a release from Purdue University, pawpaws have all sorts of potential besides being a tasty food product. Apparently, the bark and twigs of the pawpaw tree and the seeds of the fruit contain asimicin, which could produce an effective botanical pesticide.

When tomatoes were first brought from the New World to Spain and Italy, they were considered as garden ornaments. Although there were reports the Central American Indians ate tomatoes, Europeans believed them to be poisonous. They were also thought to be the original Golden Apples that led to the abduction of Helen of Troy and the long war that followed. We now know they’re not just a tasty (and safe) food, but the lycopene in tomatoes could help reduce the risk of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, and pancreas, as well as cervical and prostate cancers. Lycopene may also be helpful in preventing some problems with aging.