The Citizens for the Public Library Committee plans to mail literature promoting the proposed Library expansion to Carthage voters next week. The full color brochure and letter is intended to explain the ballot issue to be presented to voters November 4 that would increase the City sales tax by three-sixteenth of a cent.

Library Board President Ron Hendrickson spoke to a group of approximately 30 gathered at the Over 60 Center yesterday morning in an attempt to explain the proposed expansion and answer questions. Board members began speaking to various groups around the City last week in order to keep the issue fresh in voters minds according to Hendrickson.

The revenue from the proposed tax, which would expire in twenty years, would provide approximately $2.5 million of the $4.5 million needed to complete the renovation, expansion, and operation. The balance of the funding would come from private donations and would have to be committed before the tax would be put into place.

The $5,200 cost of the election will be paid by the Library Board.

I haven’t heard any complaints about the Maple Leaf Festival. ‘Cept, of course, it was extremely difficult to get downtown in a vehicle. Parkin’ was at a premium and the crowd seemed exceptionally large.

Restaurants, motels, RV parks and downtown retailers seemed to have had a good day. The Square was busy up until nearly 5 p.m. after the parade.

‘Course the entire week leadin’ up to Saturday was busier than usual with folks comin’ in for reunions and the various activities associated with the festival.

It’s hard to gauge the positive financial impact of the Maple Leaf on the City, but it has to be substantial.

I’m reminded of Yogi’s sayin’, "Nobody ever goes there, it’s always too busy."

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

McCune-
Brooks Hospital

TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH

By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I don’t know why, but I am obsessed with the thought of colon cancer. No relative of mine has had it, but I have a few acquaintances who have it or have died from it. What is the best way to detect this cancer? Can I do anything to prevent it? — W.H.

ANSWER: It’s not healthy to dwell on colon cancer to the point of it being constantly on your mind. However, it is understandable why it frightens you. On this continent, more than 150,000 new cases of colon cancer occur yearly, and more than 57,000 die from it every year. It trails lung and breast cancer on the list of most-common cancers.

Early detection is the best prevention. Turning 50 marks a milestone in colon cancer surveillance. At that age, people should begin having their stool checked annually for hidden blood — blood not visible in the stool. Blood in the stool can be a tip-off that it’s coming from a tumor. This test is the FOBT — fecal occult blood test.

Fifty is also the time to start scope examinations of the colon. Scope exams give the doctor a direct look inside the colon, and the doctor can easily remove polyps and submit them for microscopic examination. Most colon cancers begin as polyps. It takes a polyp a number of years to evolve into cancer, so polyp removal is the No. 1 way to stay free of colon cancer.