Today's Feature

License Changes Second Reading.

Carthage City Council will meet this evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. Items on the agenda include the second reading of an ordinance that would change the structure of City dog and cat licensing. The proposed changes would increase the cost of licensing cats or dogs to $5.00 if the animal is not spayed or neutered. If the animal is spayed or neutered the license fee would be free of cost. The item was amended in its first reading to waive the fees for pets of seniors citizens.

This item was brought to Council by the Public Safety Committee where it was originated by committee member Bill Welch. Welch said he felt that the changes would help reduce the number of stray and abandoned animals in the City.

Other items on the agenda include the first reading of an ordinance authorizing expenditure from the Council Contingencies fund in the amount of $7,965 for the installation of a Lennox condensing unit for an air conditioning unit at Memorial Hall.

Council will also vote on a resolution to execute and file application to the Missouri Department of Economic Development for an Enhanced Enterprise Zone designation.

Stench Report:

Monday,
9/25/06

No Stench Detected on Carthage Square

It’s amazin’ how the feel of the atmosphere can make your mind stop in a certain place in time. I suppose it’s similar to the reaction most have ta hearin’ an old tune on the radio. For a few seconds, ya actually feel like you are in another place.

I’d guess that some react with a negative thought when they hear particular music or remember a day when the weather was similar. Guess I just don’t pay much attention to those experiences.

Football was a positive experience for me even though I was rewarded with a broken collar bone and a smashed finger. Those things just don’t come to the forefront for some reason. ‘Course those blows to the head may have some bearing on my memory.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin.’

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am enclosing the results of my blood tests. I have two different opinions on them. My cardiologist says I do not have diabetes, but my gastroenterologist says I do have diabetes. Please help me with this dispute. -- C.P.

ANSWER: Your report gives your fasting glucose (sugar) as 106 mg/dL (5.88 mmol/L) and your hemoglobin A1C as 7.5 percent.

Diabetes is diagnosed when the fasting blood (plasma) sugar is 125 (6.9) or higher. A normal reading is lower than 100 (5.55). Anything in between is considered "impaired fasting glucose." That’s where your fasting sugar puts you. It’s not diabetes, but it’s not normal. It’s a number that makes it imperative that you watch your weight, exercise and have follow-up checks of your blood sugar.

Hemoglobin A1C is another test to monitor blood sugar. Hemoglobin is a giant protein inside every red blood cell. It grabs onto oxygen as the red blood cell passes through the lungs. Sugar sticks to hemoglobin too. When blood sugar is high, it coats hemoglobin, and the sugared hemoglobin becomes HbA1C-hemoglobin A1C. It has an important function in checking a diabetic’s blood sugar control over the previous three months. It should be 6.5 percent or less. However, the correlation between fasting blood sugar and HbA1C in people who are not diabetics but who have only impaired fasting glucose might not be as accurate as it is in those who do have diabetes. For the present, HbA1C is not used to diagnose diabetes.

You do need to have your blood sugar rechecked in the future.