New Council and Mayor Tonight.

Six Council members and the new Mayor will be sworn into office at tonight’s regular Council meeting in City Hall. The new members will officially take office midway through the meeting and take up new business on the agenda.

Newly elected Mayor Kenneth Johnson will be sworn in along with the following Council members:

1st Ward - Newly elected Larry Ross

2nd Ward - Unopposed Bill Fortune

3rd Ward - Reelected Jackie Boyer

3rd Ward - Unopposed

J.D. Whitledge for a one year term.

4th Ward - Newly elected

Trisha Burgi-Brewer

5th Ward - Newly elected

Don Stearnes

The new Council will elect a Mayor ProTem and be notified of various committee appointments by the Mayor.

Before the old Council adjourns, the issue of when City Christmas lights are to be turned on could be revisited. Some Council members felt that interested parties should have had a chance to speak before the vote at the last meeting.

Commentary

Martin "Bubs" Hohulin

State Representative District 126

Okay, let’s take an informal survey. All those in favor of able-bodied welfare recipients having to work in order to receive their benefits, raise your hand. That’s what I thought, most of you think they should. This week in the Missouri House we had an amendment to a bill to do just that.

Oh, you can put your hands down now. Anyway, we were debating a bill that dealt with people coming off welfare when Annie Rinehart, a freshman republican from Liberty offered an amendment requiring able bodied welfare recipients to do some kind of work or lose their benefits. Should have passed overwhelmingly, right; wrong! It was obvious it was failing on a straight party-line vote with ALL republicans voting for the amendment and ALL democrats voting against it. That in itself is bad enough, but that is not really what this column is about.

Many times after a vote like that as many legislators as possible will change their vote. Our House Rules allow members to change their vote anytime during the day as long as it doesn’t change the outcome. That allows a certain number of legislators to change their vote to what their constituents actually wanted after the outcome has already been determined. Think about it. They can vote exactly opposite their constituents wishes, secure the outcome, and then change their vote and claim they were on the other side all along!

This time we were ready. We have a procedure called "verifying the roll". This can be requested anytime during the vote. When a verification is granted, and it has to be granted if five members stand in support of the motion, the reading clerk reads aloud how the individual legislators cast their vote and when he is done no one can change their vote. The look on some of the democrat’s faces when the verification was granted was priceless! Suddenly they weren’t going to be able to change their vote from what they knew was wrong to what they knew was right. The only thing more amusing was the comment from a member of the democrat leadership when he found out what he had just voted on. Turns out he had just walked into the House Chamber, saw it was a republican amendment, automatically voted no and left. It was the first time I ever heard a one syllable swear word stretched out into three syllables!

Actually, when you think about it, it’s not amusing. This is your hard earned money that is being spent on people that have no concept of the words "hard earned". There’s nothing funny about it.

As usual I can be reached at House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101, or 1-800-878-7126, or mhohulin@services.state.mo.us for your questions, comments, or advice.

Blunt Named to Task Force

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Roy Blunt says "America needs a new battle plan to win the War on Drugs." House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) named Blunt to serve on the Speaker’s Task Force for a Drug-Free America. Gingrich envisions a World War II-style victory plan to break the back of the drug culture and secure a better and safer future for America’s children and grandchildren. A drug-free America is one of Blunt’s and Gingrich’s "Goals for a Generation."

Blunt said, "There’s no mission more vital to our nation’s future than protecting our children from the dangers of drugs. This is a critical mission to Southwest Missouri which has become a haven for the highly addictive and life-destroying methamphetamine industry." He added, "We must do everything in our power to end this plague, and educate everyone about its dangers to our families, neighborhoods and communities. We must emphasize drug treatment and rehabilitation as well as maximum law enforcement efforts against this pervasive poison."

"For too long, we have poured billion of dollars into a strategy that is not working to reduce either the demand for or the use of illegal drugs in America. The status quo is no longer good enough to protect our society from this evil," Blunt said.

The Speaker of the House said he "wanted Congressman Blunt to serve because of his commitment to our children. I expect he will bring a great number of ideas to the table that will help formulate our overall strategy to win the War on Drugs and provide a drug-free, safe America."

Blunt explained, "Fourteen-thousand (14,000) Americans - most of them children - die each year from drug use. Six-thousand (6,000) more die because of drug related causes. If Saddam Hassein was sending Anthrax into the United States that would kill 20,000 people we would stop him. We need to get just as serious about the lives lost and the tens of thousands of other lives destroyed by drugs. Illegal drugs, with their associated crime and violence, is an American crisis that needs national leadership as well as community action."

The task force has 30 members. Blunt is the only Missourian. Asa Hutchinson from northwest Arkansas is also serving. The group brings together people committed to ending both the supply and demand for illegal drugs. Blunt and the Chairman of the International Relations Committee are the only members of that committee on the task force.

Last week the International Relations Committee took action to send military equipment to the Columbian government to help fight the drug trade.

Blunt to Visit SWMO

Springfield, Missouri — Seventh District Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt will see a lot of Southwest Missouri’s schools, newspapers and high school art works during April.

His schedule also includes a meeting with the four-county, Southwest Missouri Drug Task Force in Monett on April 14 and a congressional forum on Social Security in Branson on April 27. Blunt will be involved in talks about foreign trade issues among legislative leaders from the U.S., Mexico and Canada during a trip to southern Mexico on April 16-18.

The Congressman also announces the winners of the Second Annual Congressional High School Arts competition on April 15.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

Applyin’ paint has two distinctively different purposes. The obvious is ta make things look better. The functional purpose of paint, however, has nothin’ ta do with appearance. The function of paint is to protect the object bein’ painted from outside elements, typically the weather.

I’m supposin’ that professional painters are well aware that a job that looks good doesn’t necessarily mean it is a functional paint job. ‘Course the real trick is ta have a function that is also pleasin’ in appearance, but no matter what, the effort of paintin’ is only worthwhile if it does the job intended.

The philosophy a friend a mine once took note of, that two thin coats are always better than one thick coat, came from a paint can. He may have taken it a little too serious, but then he did tend to use a spray can in an unventilated room on occasion.

This is some fact, but mostly

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

McCune Brooks Hospital

Health Notes.

HEALTH LINES: It’s been 25 years since a vaccine was developed against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles). In recent years, there has been some public resistance voiced against vaccinating children for these diseases as well as polio and whooping cough. The detractors point to tragic instances that affected some youngsters. As a result, they’re trying to change the laws so that mandatory vaccination will no longer be required.

These people have a right to be concerned when a child is injured or even dies because of any type of medical treatment. But vaccinations have saved untold millions of children around the world from crippling, blindness, or other complications - some of them fatal - from these diseases.

The sad fact is that before the Salk vaccine was made available, polio killed thousands of people - mostly children - every year, and crippled many times that number. German measles was especially dangerous for expectant mothers because of the high incidence of birth defects that followed infection. Measles can often lead to blindness, as well as death. Mumps can lead to sterility in males. It’s estimated that just the MMR Vaccine alone (for mumps, measles, and rubella) have saved over 24,000 lives since it was introduced.

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