The Mornin' Mail is published every weekday except major holidays
Tuesday, September 11, 2001 Volume X, Number 60

did ya know?

Did Ya Know?. . .Fall Preschool Storytimes will be held at the Carthage Public Library at 10 a.m on Wednesdays beginning September 12th. Storytime is geared toward the 3-5 age group and lasts approx. 30 minutes.

Did Ya Know?. . .The Carthage Humane Society has two pure bred persians who need new homes. One is white with blue eyes, the other silver. Adopt just one or take them both. If you have lost a cat call 358-6402. If your cat is not wearing a rabies tag it may be picked up by the City Nuisance Abatement Officer.

today's laugh

A farmer was trying to sell his horse. After exercising it, he exclaimed to his prospective buyer: "Don’t you admire his coat?"
"Coats all right," said the prospect, "but I don’t care for the pants."

"To what do you attribute your remarkable health?"
"Well," replied the old farmer, "I reckon I got a good start on most people by bein’ born before germs was discovered, thereby havin’ less to worry about."

Show me an army general, and I’ll show you an attention getter.

1901
INTERESTING MELANGE.

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

WORLD’S FAIR STENOGRAPHER.

Burt K. Blair of Carthage Gets Missouri Appointment.

Burt K. Blair of Carthage was last Friday duly installed as official stenographer of the Missouri board of seven commissioners to the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1903.

The position pays $100 per month and continues at the will of the commission. Mr. Blair has moved his household goods to St. Louis, and is now at Seneca to accompany his wife there.

While in discharge of his duties at St. Louis Mr. Blair expects to pursue a night course in law school, fitting himself for practice at the bar.

Roy Cramer, a brother-in-law of C. R. Gray succeeded Mr. Blair in the Frisco service and has transferred from Monett to Joplin.

  Today's Feature

The Cost of Celebrating.

The initial numbers are in for the City sponsored Red, White and Boom July 4th Celebration for 2001. Total expenditures totaled $51,575.53. Total revenues generated by the event include $17,600 in private and corporate contributions and $4,781 in fees and sales. The City appropriated an additional $20,000 that paid for the fireworks display. Total revenues and City budgeted funds therefore totaled $42,376. The $9,199.53 shortfall will have to be absorbed by the City.

The shortfall was the result of an over estimation of revenues and an underestimation of expenditures. The total budgeted revenues for the event was $46,520. Budgeted expenditures were $48,946.50.

Expenditures would have actually come in under budget if publicity costs had not exceeded budget by $3918.96. The budgeted amount was $14,626.50 for publicity. Actual costs, including the 15% commission paid to Phillips-Ward and Associates, was $18,545.46.

The Red, White and Boom T-shirt sales were low again this year with total sales amounting to $212. Vender’s fees generated $2,200 this year.


Commentary
Martin "Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126

We started Special Session this week and with it came some very strange committee assignments. Usually, when we have a Special Session, the committee assignments stay the same as they were during the regular Session. That has changed dramatically this time around.

As I have mentioned before, one of the major items we have on the agenda is the livestock pricing law that has caused so many problems since its passage. The best way to deal with it would be to repeal it entirely. Many producers and producer organizations agree this would be the best course of action. It is simply a bad law.

House Speaker Jim Krieder (D-Nixa) apparently disagrees. Much to everyone’s surprise, he appointed a special committee to hear the issue in Special Session. That would be strange enough. Making it even stranger is the fact that most of the members he appointed to the committee are from the cities. He also appointed the republican members instead of letting the republican leader make those choices. Of the seven democrats and four republicans appointed to the committee, four are from St. Louis, two are from Kansas City, and one is from Springfield. Further compounding the problem is that two of the republican members appointed are legislators that have been easily swayed in the past to vote with the democrats on key issues. Of the 23 members of the House Agriculture committee, only two were appointed to the special committee.

What is Speaker Kreider’s reason for doing this? It doesn’t make any sense to not appoint the members with the background and expertise to deal with this issue. Kreider has made no secret of the fact that he still thinks this law is a good thing. He has distributed literature to that effect. Apparently he still doesn’t believe in the power of the free market system.

Some have speculated that this latest move is designed to bolster his chances of a run for a higher political office. That may be the case, and it may work to that effect. However, many members have higher political aspirations, myself included. That does not take away from the fact that our first responsibility is to do the job we were elected to do. Future aspirations have to take a back seat to that. If Speaker Kreider is willing to sell out the livestock industry in Missouri to satisfy his own political ambitions, that is just wrong. No one person is that important.

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.


Just Jake Talkin'

Mornin',

If ya take it as a given that the 20 grand will be spent for a decent fireworks display, here’s how the remaining $31,575 in expenditures for the July 4th celebration broke down.

Advertising and agency fees, $21,545 (69%); Rain insurance, $2260 (7%); actual entertainment, children’s activities and miscellaneous expenditures, $7775 (24%).

Actual revenues from vendors, entry fees, and concessions totaled $4,781.

The Fireworks Committee appears to have done an excellent job of monitoring expenses they had control over and the execution of the event. The City Council must take full responsibility for allowing City funds to be spent for advertising that were not allocated or budgeted.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Sponsored

by

McCune- Brooks Hospital

Weekly Column

Health Notes

Health & Nutrition by Judith Sheldon

A few columns ago, I urged caution in the use of melatonin as a sleep aid or for any of the widely touted reasons.

At a recent conference at the National Institutes of Health, researchers from around the country voiced reservations about what it’s supposed to do, and apprehension on what it may do in the human body.

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that rarely needs to be supplemented. Researchers are concerned that taking melatonin supplementation without a doctor’s supervision may result in serious medical problems.

Because of what many health care providers consider an unwise law passed by Congress a few years ago, melatonin does not require FDA approval for sale to the public.

Under this law, melatonin is considered a food, not a drug, and is, therefore, exempt from FDA approval.

The researchers are cautioning that instead of the FDA being empowered to require melatonin producers to test the product under strict testing guidelines, the producers are testing it on its consumers.

As one of the researchers put it, "The public has become the guinea pigs for this industry."

   

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