| Today's Feature Square Concerns Produce Solutions.
Main Street Director Diane
Sharits says she is pleased with the response
generated by the Public Safety Committee meeting
last week. Nearly 30 downtown merchants and shop
keepers met with the Committee to present
concerns about late night activities on the
Square.
Sharits brought a list of
suggestions to the meeting and she has seen
interest by both City officials and other
concerned citizens that indicates that some of
the ideas presented may be put in place.
"We want the kids to know
they are welcomed on the Square," says
Sharits, "but they must be responsible for
their actions and their trash."
One of the suggestions
submitted was to run the street sweeper around
the Square on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Some
of the merchants told the Committee that many
times trash cans on the Square just couldn't hold
the volume of pizza boxes, sacks, soft drink cups
and soda and beer bottles.
County Commissioner Mike Cloud
also said that trash and vandalism around the
Courthouse lawn was dramatically reduced after
additional lighting was installed.
Tommey Chosen as Maple Leaf
Parade Grand Marshal.
Long before the buds appear on
the maple trees, the Carthage Chamber of Commerce
and a dedicated host of volunteers and sponsors
begin preparations for the annual Maple Leaf
Festival. "Hidden Treasures of Carthage,
Missouri" is the theme for this year's
event.
The Chamber's Maple Leaf
Committee announced the official nomination of
Bob Tommey as this year's Parade Grand Marshal
last Friday.
Most local residents consider
Bob for his many selfless acts, the kindness and
generosity of time, knowledge, and physical labor
he has put into artCentral, and other cultural
and civic events in Carthage.
As an area resident for nearly
20 years, Bob was one of the founders of the
widely known Midwest Gathering of the Artists. He
was one of the prime movers in the development of
a Carthage cultural arts complex and first
President of Carthage Arts and Support Team and
Company. Bob quickly became outspoken on the
needs of the community regarding the arts, a true
believer in encouraging the mind, hands, and
heart of the young artist. He is a gentle and
considerate man, a friend to all. Perhaps one of
Carthage's Hidden Treasures is found in Bob
Tommey's work with Bill Snow on the Marlin
Perkins Statue in Central Park.
The accomplishments of Bob
Tommey reach far beyond Carthage. His 45+ year
art career began in 1948 with fashion
illustration, advertising, and portraits. He
worked in these fields until, as he says,
"Western art became legitimate." He
characterizes himself as a teacher, lecturer,
sculptor, and painter.
Main Street Carthage to Host
Vision Planning Workshop
news release by Main
Street Carthage
Main Street Carthage, Inc. will
host a Vision Planning Workshop Tuesday, July 28,
6:30-9:30 p.m. in the Grace Episcopal Church
Common Room. This workshop is designed to help
the Carthage Community articulate those future
Downtown conditions iihopes to achieve through an
active program of continued revitalization.
A consesus building process is
used to assess existing assets and identify
current and anticipated needs. It is a democratic
procedure that is structured to encourage both
individual and group ownership of the conclusions
reached during the session and ultimately the
development strategies taken on behalf of the
community.
"Everyone is welcome to
attend. we look forward to receiving a wide range
of ideas and input," says Diane Sharits,
Main Street Carthage Program Manager.
Refreshments will be provided. To more
information call the Main Street Carthage Office
at 358-4974.
Commentary
Martin "Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126
I don’t usually use my
column to talk about events that are happening on
the Federal level, but this will be an exception
since it has the potential to greatly affect our
local schools. I am talking about the proposal in
Congress to push for schools to
start later in the day. The sponsor of the bill,
and I think it is someone from the west coast,
said that kids are arriving at school too tired
to learn, so we need to move the starting time
back. I’m not making this up! He is also
proposing giving schools that agree to this
$25,000.00 of your money to help pay for
rearranging their schedules.
This has got to be one of the
more ridiculous proposals I have ever heard. If
kids are arriving at school too tired to learn, a
better, and less expensive, solution would be for
them to go to bed earlier. Of course that
doesn’t involve a new government program or
spending more of your money so that probably
wouldn’t work! Maybe we could just keep the
schools open around the clock so the kids could
just drop in whenever they felt like it, like
maybe after Midnight basketball lets out.
The point I am trying to make
with this is that it is letting the kids down.
Besides the obvious textbook learning that we
expect our kids to receive in school is the
discipline and responsibility we expect them to
develop. Part of that is knowing when to be in
class and being there. How many employers do you
suppose would tolerate an employee that felt a
little tired in the morning and decided to come
in a couple of hours late until they felt all
woke up? If we adopt a lax school schedule we are
doing the kids a disservice in preparing them for
the job market.
It all ties together. We see
the increasing violence and lower test scores
coming out of our schools and then turn right
around and tell our teachers they can’t
discipline the students because we don’t
want to hurt their feelings or violate some made
up civil right. What about the teacher’s
right to feel safe and have control in her own
classroom? Or what about the rights of the kids
that behave and want to learn? We are already
losing that battle and now we want to loosen
things up even more by letting them come in later
because they are too tired? I don’t think
so.
It is hard to tell what turns
this proposed legislation will take, but it is
something I am going to be watching. I will be
doing all I can to see that it doesn’t
happen in Missouri.
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