Wastewater Charge Change.

The Carthage City Council is scheduled to vote on a rate change for CW&EP wastewater charges this evening at the regular Council meeting in City Hall at 7:30.

The basic customer charge for small residential users would increase from the current $4.62 to $11.99. That charge includes the first hundred thirty-three cubic feet of water used and represents most residential properties served.

According to CW&EP officials the wastewater portion of the public utility is not generating enough revenue to pay for necessary improvements to sewer lines. They say that many lines are close to a hundred years old and need to be either replaced or lined to eliminate seepage.

Wastewater budget documents for the upcoming year project a total revenue of just over $1.6 million with a net income for the wastewater department of $656,056 after general operating expenses. Planned capital expenditures for repairs and plant equipment total $782,910 with $300,000 of that appropriated for sewer mains. Traditionally the utility’s general reserve fund is used to make up revenue for the wastewater department.

Like most folks, I’m not real excited when I hear that rates for anything are goin’ up.

But I’m even less excited about the fact that when we get a good hard rain the storm water gets into the sewer lines and pumps sewage out of the man holes in a couple a spots in town. Like most things, over the years sewer pipes have deteriorated to the point they need some fixin’. Some can be fixed by pushin’ a new fangled plastic liner inside the pipe and seal it off. It costs less than replacement, but it ain’t cheap.

Fortunately the folks who originally put in the wastewater mains used materials that lasted a hunderd years. I suppose it’s up to those of us here now to put ‘em back in shape. This time it’s literally money down the drain.

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: My precious daughter passed away at the age of 14 from a cardiac arrest due to the long QT syndrome. She was misdiagnosed as having a seizure disorder at age 5. She had an arrest at 8 years of age, and they still informed us that it was seizures. The last time it happened, she was taken by ambulance to the hospital and was diagnosed with this syndrome. Brain damage had been done. She was brought home with a trach and a feeding tube. Three years later she went home to Heaven. I would like to get across to people that they ought to be very aggressive with stubborn doctors when symptoms don’t add up and demand further tests, like a simple ECG. — M.B.

ANSWER: The long QT syndrome is a heart condition that can be present from birth. Symptoms often do not appear until the child is older, and then they are frequently misdiagnosed. Fainting, for instance, is often the diagnosis given when a child passes out, but this syndrome involves much more than a simple faint. Seizure is another common misdiagnosis.

An ECG, a simple test, can provide the evidence for this problem. With the long QT syndrome, the heart develops such an abnormal beat that it cannot deliver blood to the brain and body. Unless a normal beat is quickly restored, death follows. When the syndrome is recognized for what it really is, the situation can be corrected with medicines.