Today's Feature

RES Plans Additional Measures.

Renewable Environmental Resources is continuing to work with the City of Carthage, the Department of Natural Resources and the Missouri General’s Department in regards to the lawsuit filed by the City in April.

According to City Attorney David Mouton, permission has recently been granted by officials from the plant to release some information about the measures being taken in the effort of eliminating the odors. Mouton said that RES has agreed to further additional measures following the installation of a thermal oxidizer and higher efficiency scrubbers. Additional measures to be installed include new controls and residence time chambers, wet scrubbers and additional stack sections. The increased stack height would lift the odors higher into the air before releasing them allowing more time for dispersal of the odors. This addition alone is estimated to cost approximately $100,000.

Further changes proposed by RES include the possibility of hiring more employees and using the Carthage plant as a training center to prepare operators for work at other RES facilities.

Mouton is hopeful that these changes will have a positive impact on the odor emissions however no time frame on the improvements has been indicated.

"It will be more than just a few weeks," said Mouton , adding, "but it should not take an incredible amount of time."

According to Mouton, RES has made the City aware of a new energy bill signed by President Bush which covers the type of fuel being produced at the Carthage plant. The bill is the center of the U.S. efforts for alternative fuel and RES is the first commercial facility to focus on the particular type of fuel known as Renewable Diesel. Officials from the plant have indicated that if the plant is successful it would be capable of providing Carthage with over 1/3 of its power.

RES ceased operations during the Marian Days Celebration as requested by the City and has also been asked to shut down for the Maple Leaf celebration.

Stench Report:
Monday,
08/15/05

No Reports of Stench

With the rain, those wild onions oughta go crazy. I’ve been wonderin’ why all grass doesn’t use the survival tactic developed by the wild onion.

I call it wild onion ‘cause that’s what I’ve always heard it called and it definitely smells like the real thing. I’ve never tried fryin’ up a mess or choppin’ up the tops for chives.

I suppose there are some grass eatin’ animals that like a little spice in their diet ever now and then, but I can’t imagine a steady diet of the stuff. Maybe that’s why ya see that one lonely cow standin’ off by itself ever now and then.

The worst part is this cravin’ I get, ever’ time I mow the stuff down, for liver and onions. I’m not much for usin’ a lot a chemicals on the lawn, but I’d be interested in hearin’ of anything that might eliminate these little clumps.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

High-Fiber Diet Is Diverticulosis Diet

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My doctor insisted I have a colonoscopy to look for cancer. I had one, and I don’t have cancer, but I do have diverticulosis. The doctor never mentioned any special diet. What is the appropriate one? — R.V.

ANSWER: You share diverticulosis with a very large number of people. More than half of those older than 60 have it. A brief explanation will make it less formidable.

The colon is a tube with muscular walls and an inner lining that draws water from undigested food. A diverticulum is a pea-sized bulge of the inner lining through the muscular wall. It forms a tiny sac on the colon’s outer surface.

If the neck of a diverticulum becomes blocked with a piece of rock-hard stool, the diverticulum becomes inflamed, swells and causes great pain and, sometimes, rectal bleeding. That’s diverticulitis, and it happens to only a small percentage of people.

The diet for prevention of the formation of more diverticula and for the prevention of diverticulitis is a high-fiber diet. The colon must generate great force to move dried-out food through its entire length.

You know you’re getting enough fiber — around 25 grams a day — when your stools are soft. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are high-fiber foods. There are many commercial high-fiber cereals that make it easy to reach the 25-gram goal. Bran, obtainable in health-food stores, and psyllium, found in drugstores, are other fiber sources.