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Fireworks and Liquor.
Council To
Vote Tonight.
The City Council is scheduled
to meet for their regular meeting this evening at
7:30 in City Hall.
The Council agenda includes a
vote on Council bill 02-13 which would allow the
sale and discharge of fireworks within the City
between the dates of July 1 and July 4.
Also scheduled for a vote is
Council bill 02-12 which would limit the
enforcement of the current regulation requiring
an establishment selling alcoholic beverages to
be located at least 300 feet from a church or
regular place of worship. The bill would reduce
the distance to 100 feet if the church or place
of worship was located within a business zoning.
A related but separate bill on
the agenda is also scheduled for vote that would
set the criteria for defining a church or place
of worship.
The Council agenda also
includes a vote on an adjustment for the Main
Street Carthage Lodging Tax line item to allow
the organization to spend $1,200 for a billboard
to be located on Chapel Road.
Letters to the Editor
Opinions
expressed reflect those of the writer
and not necessarily those of the Mornin' Mail.
I am pulled both ways on the
fireworks issue.
1. If we allow fireworks within
the city limit, that make's it ok for the young
men up the street from us to fire the fireworks
at our garage and vehicles. Does it?
2. If we do not allow fireworks
within the city limit, they will just keep it up
anyway and when the officers came patroling by
after being called by a concerned citizen for the
safety of property and children, the young men
just drop everything and say it wasn't them.
3. I do get tired of finding
somewhere in the country for my children to shoot
off their fireworks, but then again, I would not
want them shooting them off at others or their
property.
We may not have much, but we
have worked hard for what we do have and hate to
see if all go up in smoke due the irresponsiblity
of young men. I am talking about 18-25 year old
men who stand in the road throwing fireworks at
cars driving past or shoot that at neighbor's
homes and kids.
This is a hard decision to make
for the residents and council of Carthage. Please
voice your opinions on this issue and make sure
your council members understand all options.
Could we possibly open up
Kellogg Lake on 4th of July and have rules on the
kind of fireworks allowed. Just think all the
litter would be confined to one area, not all
over town or on top of resident's homes.
Burt and Athena Hughes
Dear Editor,
I love fireworks! The
resplendent colors exploding gloriously in the
night sky, the excitement of those moments when
time seems to stand still in breathless
anticipation of the next boom, the sheer joy and
carefree abandon that one can experience
witnessing such a riotous symphony of sights and
sounds are moments of pure magic. When my son was
a toddler, he thought the fireworks looked like
sparklingly stars but it always came out
"parkly tars". The times I have had the
privilege to view fireworks with my son are
cherished memories forever etched in my heart.
One has not truly lived until you watch the face
of a child experiencing "parkly tars"
for the first time. Our family takes advantage of
every opportunity to enjoy them.
Now, having said that, allow me
to state my position on the private discharging
of fireworks. I am not a fan of government acting
like "big brother" controlling every
aspect of our private lives and property.
However, when it comes to matters of public
safety and minimizing the potential harm to the
general population, then it is sometimes
necessary for elected officials to restrict
certain personal liberties for the greater good.
Fireworks are dangerous if not handled properly.
Fire, injuries and even death can occur in an
instant. Generally, people are in closer
proximity to their neighbors living within the
City limits than people who live "out in the
country". So the potential to harm yourself
and/or your neighbor, destroy property and
disturb the peace and tranquility of your
neighborhood increases dramatically. I will
concede the point that when fireworks are handled
with care, discharged prudently under adult
supervision by persons exercising both
common-sense and common courtesy then it can be a
relatively harmless endeavor. Unfortunately,
common-sense and common courtesy are not always
"common", thus the need for
intervention by public officials. Our individual
rights regarding our private lives and property
do not give us the authority to trample on our
neighbor's rights in our unrestrained
"pursuit of happiness". Thus, I am in
favor of leaving the current ordinance in place
regarding the ban on the private discharge of
fireworks within the City limits.
Sincerely,
Lujene G. Clark
Mayoral Candidate
1803 S. Maple
Carthage, Missouri 64836
(417) 358-2331
Commentary
Martin
"Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126
This week were finally allowed
to debate an election reform bill in the House of
Representatives. This is something we had been
pushing for since last year’s debacle in St.
Louis. In case you forgot, last year in St.
Louis, people were allowed to vote after the
polls were supposed to have been closed. Jesse
Jackson was making prerecorded telephone calls
telling people to get to the polls and the first
plaintiff in the lawsuit to keep the polls open
longer was a dead man. Despite all of this, we
were not allowed to take up election reform until
this year.
Now that we did get to take up
the bill, I figured we would debate it in a
bipartisan fashion. After all, elections affect
everyone. Boy, was I wrong! Apparently, the House
democrats are taking their marching orders from
Gov. Bob Holden and Speaker Jim Kreider. One of
the amendments we offered would have required
voters to present identification before being
allowed to vote.
Acceptable identification would
have included a voter identification card,
picture Ids, or even personal knowledge of the
voter by the election judges. It seemed like a no
brainer to support this amendment, yet it was
defeated by a party line vote.
Another amendment that failed
was one that would have required the governor to
call special elections in a timely manner.
One of the favorite tricks of
Gov. Carnahan and now Gov. Holden is to not call
special elections to fill vacancies that occur in
republican districts.
A few years ago, we had a
republican representative die just after taking
office. Even though there were almost 2 years
left in the term, Gov. Carnahan refused to call a
special election to elect a replacement. The
people of that district went without
representation for almost 2 years. Gov. Holden
has proved to be a quick learner on this subject
as well. This year there have been four
resignations in the House. Three were democrats
and one was a republican. In the case of two of
the democrats, Gov. Holden called for a special
election the very next day. In the case of the
other democrat he called it five days later. In
the case of the republican, it has been over a
month since he resigned and Gov. Holden still has
not called for a special election to replace him.
This is the man that spent
millions on an inaugural ball to promote his
theme of one Missouri, one bright future.
Apparently Gov. Holden thinks republicans are not
allowed to participate in the future of Missouri.
After the vote, I went back to the House Lounge
to get a cup of coffee. As I was pouring it, a
couple of democrat representatives walked in
behind me. One of them said to the other,
"That seemed like a pretty good amendment.
Why were we supposed to vote against it"?
Good question, I am kind of curious myself.
Governor, any answers?
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.
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