Today's Feature

Summer Energy Assistance Program.

News Release.

Starting Monday, June 27, 2005 Economic Security Corporation of Southwest Area will be offering summer cooling assistance to low income families in Barton, Jasper, Newton and McDonald Counties.

The Community Action Agency will be taking application on a first come first served basis for households in need of summer electric utility assistance. Households must be experiencing a crisis which constitutes a shut-off notice or no service. They must also meet eligibility criteria.

People who believe they qualify for this program should call one of the ESC outreach centers for additional help and information. Funding for the Energy Assistance program is provided through the Missouri Department of Social Services, Energy Crisis Intervention Program.

Economic Security Corporation of the Southwest Area is Joplin’s local Community Action Agency. Carthage ESC Outreach is located at 600 East 6th Street, 417-358-3521.

The Public Works Committee will meet this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.

If your ears are still ringin’, ya shot off far too many fireworks over the weekend.

They say the high gas prices didn’t slow down traffic much for the weekend. It was estimated that a record 40.3 million people traveled more than fifty miles on a trip over the holiday. Nearly 34 million of those went by automobile payin’ an average $2.23 a gallon. If they used an average of five gallons per person that comes to a $379 million gas bill for the weekend. After a while you’re talkin’ real money goin’ up in vapor. ‘Course that’s not countin’ the tanks full in boats, off road vehicles, dragsters, and airplanes across the country.

Makes ya wonder what would happen if ever’one just stayed home and watched the local fireworks display. Or powered their vehicles with bottle rockets.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Fiber Fixes Constipation

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have terrible constipation. I eat eight to 10 prunes daily, and they help. But if I miss a day, I am constipated again. I don’t eat breakfast. For lunch, it’s toast with jam. Dinner is soup with crackers or meat with potatoes and a vegetable, and then a dish of yogurt. I snack on crackers. Any help you can give will be appreciated. — J.M.

ANSWER: Your diet has very little fiber, and fiber is often the answer to constipation. Fiber is the indigestible part of food. It holds water in undigested food as it passes through the intestines. That keeps the food residue bulky and moist and easy to evacuate.

People should get around 25 grams of fiber a day. I’ll give you the fiber content of some foods, and you can start including them in your diet as you slowly make your way to the 25-gram goal. An apple, a pear, a baked potato with skin, half a cup of cooked green peas, half a cup of cooked baked beans and a cup of cooked brown rice have 4 grams of fiber each. Half a cup of cooked brussels sprouts has 2; a cup of strawberries has 3; half a cup of cooked pinto beans has 7.

Don’t skip breakfast. Eat a high-fiber cereal. Some have as much as 14 grams of fiber in half a cup. You can get half your daily requirement right there.

Increase your fluid intake when you increase fiber intake. Not everyone agrees about fiber’s value.