Today's Feature

Traffic Report.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) has delivered to Carthage Officials the results of a Traffic Count Summary begun in Carthage late January. The completion date is listed as April 4, 2006.

During this study pneumatic counters were placed across the road in approximately 86 locations throughout the City. The report lists the average daily traffic, peak hour volume, percentage of peak hour to 24-hour volume, ending time of the peak to the nearest 15 minutes, and classification of the roads on which counters were placed.

Areas with the high average daily traffic counts include; Central Avenue east of Garrison, 12,764; Central Avenue west of the railroad tracks, 14,698, Grand Avenue near Walmart, 13,023.

Counters were also placed on two sides of the square, the East side showing 2,372 and the West side showing 2,146 average daily traffic.

City Administrator Tom Short says that the information provided by the study is used for several different applications. According to Short, commercial developers and commercial realtors inquire frequently about traffic concentration in areas of development. The information is also used by the City to show traffic trends, development areas and to assist in annexation planning.

"The traffic count ties in with the annexation policy," said Short, citing a 2001 study done on the South end of town.

That study looked at long range planning for the area around Steadley school, the construction site for the new McCune-Brooks Hospital and land around Precious Momemts that has recently been anexxed into the City.

The study will also be used by the Street department for the purpose of road maintenance and repairs.

The MODOT traffic reports were previously conducted on a yearly basis but were recently scaled back. The last study prior to this one was conducted in 2003.

Tree Selection and Planting Workshop.

News release

Picking an planting correctly the right tree is important. Selecting the wrong tree and/or planting it incorrectly will cause headaches in the future and cause the tree to suffer as well. The Missouri Department of Conservation wants to make the knowledge available in order to make the best decisions about trees. To this end, Urban Forester Jon Skinner is holding a workshop to show how to do both.

The workshop, titled Tree Selection and Planting, will highlight trees appropriate for the area, the decision process needed to pick the tree best for the site, and how to plant it correctly and get off to a good start.

This free workshop will be held in the Jasper County Central Annex on the Corner of Central and Lincoln St. in Carthage, MO on April 24, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. For more information please call the Missouri Department of Conservation Joplin office at 417-629-3423.

Stench Report:
Thursday,
4/13/06

No Stink Reported

Played a little dominos this last week. Double fifteen’s. If ya wanna test your kid’s (or your own) ability to add, subtract, and divide by five, pick up a set of these jewels. As a matter a fact, why not introduce the game as part of any high school graduate’s final exam. That’d cut the wheat from the chaff.

The other practical educational experience would be ta have ta make change and count it back to the customer for a day at the fast food joint. Usetabe, (I’ve used that term so much lately, I’ve decided to make it just one word in my vocabulary) these ever’day math skills were used on some regularity. With video games and calculators, even those of us who learned need to exercise the skills to keep ‘em workin’. Quick, what’s 8 x 7?

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Water info for those of us who may forget the importance of drinking good clean water several times a day.

• A majority of Americans are chronically dehydrated as is most of the world’s population.

• Our thirst mechanism becomes weak and is often mistaken for hunger...try drinking a glass of water or fruit as opposed to eating a snack. Retrain your body to recognize thirst.

• By the time you realize you are thirsty, you may already be mildly dehydrated which slows the body’s metabolism.

• Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatique.

• Adequate water consumption may ease those achy joints and back pain.

• Your brain requires fluids to operate at it’s best.

• Think about it....our body has many "filters" and not flushing a filter with good clean fluid will not allow the filter to operate at it’s best. Some of the body’s filters include kidneys, bladder, liver.

When refering to water, that is exactly the fluid we mean. Soda, tea and the such are not good clean water. If a simple glass of water can help all this, shouldn’t you be on your way to get a drink NOW?

artCentral
Art Notes from Hyde House
By Sally Armstrong, Director of artCentral

On now to show number two for this year, and what a great one I think it will be! I just returned last evening from spending some time in the home of Kim Kissel from Joplin and her sweet daughter Kate. I had seen Kim’s work on the internet but never in person, and I had no idea what to expect of what I knew to be Kate’s painted card-table tops! Sure enough. Kate has painted 12 table tops in various ways, some realistic (a plate of bacon and eggs on a round top) and some very expressionistic. ALL very colorful! There are some mini tops too. These will be a challenge to hang, but I think they will be very fun to look at. We are designing our very colorful artist’s opening reception around Kate’s color palette and even the food we serve will reflect this color!

Moving to Kit’s work, I couldn’t be more complimentary. Her tiny canvases are so beautifully colored in wonderful muted shadowed tones, shades and muted tints. Small details of rooms and small spaces as well as detailed small objects, many still under construction but already beautiful in their unfinished state. A tiny dog lying down, a small jar of pickles, a corner of a room with bed and nightstand. Each painting a beautiful jewel of detail. Kit says, "My work stems from the center of who I am and the solitude of what I admire. I choose a basic palette and carefully create mellow harmonies that blend with the calm of these intimate interiors; a subject that is intimate in size and draws on my basic concept of inner peace."

ArtCentral will present in the Main Gallery,"Embedded Interiors/ Versatile Beauty" with an opening reception at the Hyde House on April 29, 2006 from 6-8 pm, with the artists present. Next week I will tell you about a second show that will be shown in the Members Gallery at the same time as well as additional events offered during this show period of April 29- June 2nd.

Mark you calendars and don’t miss this one!