Today's Feature

Police and Fire Pension on Agenda.

The City Council will meet this evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

Items on the agenda include the discussion of the Policemen’s and Firemen’s Pension Plan. This item is brought by the Finance Personnel Committee, where it has been a matter of debate for the past six months. At the previous Council meeting Finance Personnel Committee Chair Ronnie Wells requested that the item be discussed by Council followed by a decision whether or not the issue would be voted on by the public.

The item was postponed by a Council vote until this evening’s meeting when the Mayor and full Council would be present.

Further items on the agenda include an ordinance authorizing the Mayor to execute an Administrative Services Agreement with Marshall and Isley Trust Company N.A. as designated trustee for administrative services regarding the Policemen’s and Firemen’s Pension Plan.

The Finance Personnel Committee will also meet this afternoon at 5:00 with no old or new business on the agenda.

Ever notice how things seem ta come in clumps? I suppose it’s only natural. Grapes grow in clumps. Bananas, coconuts. You can walk all over a section a ground and all the sudden, there’s a clump a wild strawberries. Just in that one spot. I suppose it’s nature’s way of tryin’ ta make sure whatever’s goin’ on keeps goin’ on.

I suppose when things are goin’ good, we don’t think about it much. Figure we somehow are finally gettin’ our just reward for bein’ such a fine human bein’. What we notice is when the bad things start clumpin’ together. And they always do. Course, when the good things happen it’s ‘cause we were in control. The bad things are just dumb luck.

It’s just the clump factor averagin’ out all the stupid things we do but somehow get away without bein’ held to the fire. I’m just glad the pendulum does swing both ways.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have a friend who lives on health foods and health food supplements. She is after me to try choline. She claims it improves memory. I will take it if there is any chance it can improve my memory. — B.B.

ANSWER: Choline is part of acetylcholine, a brain chemical that transmits information from one brain cell to its neighbors.

In the fetus, choline is important for normal brain development.

In adults, it is reputed to improve short-term memory, the kind of memory lapses that older people worry about.

It’s premature to recommend choline as a memory enhancer. Not all the facts are in.

Natural choline sources are: liver, eggs, milk, meat, peanut butter, cauliflower, tofu and other soy products. Offer your friend a peanut butter and cauliflower sandwich. That ought to send her into rapture.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am a diabetic and have been using Sweet’n Low in place of sugar for a long time. Now I read about different stuff that is put in it, like embalming fluid. I am 84 and can’t decide if I should continue to use this imitation sugar. — B.H.

ANSWER: Saccharin is the sweetener in Sweet’n Low. A short time back, a black cloud hung over saccharin. Some evidence suggested that it might be a cause of cancer. The blot on saccharin’s reputation has been removed. Use it without fear.