| Today's Feature Courthouse a Little Cool.
Bank Building Purchase Signed
by Hensley and Johnson - Crampton Declines.
The Carthage Jasper County
Courthouse was heated yesterday entirely with
small electric space heaters due to the explosion
of the boiler Wednesday afternoon. The explosion
caused minor damage but put the hot water heating
system out of service. No one was injured in the
incident.
Presiding Commissioner Danny
Hensley told the Mornin’ Mail
yesterday that the Commission is weighing options
but because of the season, there is not any
immediate emergency.
Hensley said that insurance
representatives have been to see the damage and
cost estimates for repair are underway. One
option available is to use insurance funds to go
toward a new central heating and air conditioning
system.
The county has been approved
for a low interest loan of $205,000 for energy
saving improvements. New lighting, windows, attic
insulation and central cooling were planned at a
cost of approximately $385,000. The electrical
system in the building has been over burdened in
past winters due to the building wide use of
space heaters.
Hensley and Eastern District
Commissioner Ben Johnson voted to go ahead with
the purchase of the Carthage Nations Bank
Building located on the Square. Western
Commissioner Anna Ruth Crampton wanted to delay
the purchase until the heating system repair
costs were totaled.
The contract was signed
yesterday afternoon by Hensley and Johnson and
was delivered to County Counselor Jim Spradling.
Crampton did not sign the document. The contract
calls for a mid June closing date.
Under the agreement the County
will purchase the building for $650,000 and
Nations Bank will lease the ground floor and
basement for a term of five years. The lease
calls for an annual payment of just over
$100,000. The County will be responsible for all
utilities.
There have been some concerns
raised in light of the fact that the County
reserves could be completely diminished by the
end of this fiscal year. Budgeted expenditures
for this year exceed projected revenue by over $2
million. Without the purchase considered, the
projected year end reserves were expected to be
less than $400,000.
Visitors Impressed With
Carthage.
State Senator and Mrs. Joseph
Harvey of New Mexico spent several hours in
Carthage over the weekend. They were in Branson
on vacation and stopped to visit Precious Moments
before returning home. Information at the tourist
stop provided by the Chamber prompted them to
investigate the city further and included an
unplanned visit to a Carthage residence, a brief
homes tour and a nighttime view of the Court
House.
He was visibly impressed with
the Square and when asked if he would like to
work at the courthouse the Senator
enthusiastically replied, "Oh yes, I would
love it!"
While on the square, his
vehicle was approached by Officer Dickey who
commented that the Carthage PD were almost
trained tour guides due to the number of
questions that out of town visitors had in regard
to the courthouse.
This response prompted a more
than brief Q&A session on local politics. It
was learned that Sen. Harvey was a City
Administrator in Hobbs for two decades before
winning the state seat.
Before departing Senator Harvey
said, "I am amazed at the friendliness of
the people in Carthage and I will definitely
return." Privately he indicated he would
probably be house hunting here as he is retiring
from public life in January.
A Great Year
Ahead wht Lots of Great Art and Artists.
by Robin
Putnam, artCentral
Well, well, well.....this has
been quite a busy week!! We had an opportunity to
speak to three separate groups just this week!!
We thank the ladies group for having artCentral
as their program.....we did an interview with Dr.
Jerry Williams from MSSC. He is the head of the
Continuing Education Department. Ron Peterson,
myself and Dr. Williams can be seen soon on cable
channel 7 on Education Digest.
Also Tammy Pease from Neosho
Recreation Department has invited us to speak at
their annual Artist Expo held Saturday, April
17th. We thank everyone for their interest in
us!!
Heard through the grapevine
that yours truly can be found on the MSSC art
department's website. Guess they used a photo of
three of us and a Viking ship. Not too many
Viking ships laying around so it must have been
taken in Norway at ....guess what.....the Viking
museum!! Check it out!
Great news!! We have completed
our schedule of events for this year and are
pleased to tell you that we have a great line-up
filling our whole year.
Here's our newest schedule:
April 23rd will be the opening reception for Jane
Kliendl's show, A Mother's Day: Superheroes,
Cowboys and Hula Babies. Her show will run
through May 28th.
June 11 through July 23rd will
be our Annual Membership Show featuring the work
of our talented members.
August 27th through September
24th we are proud to bring you the wonderful
pottery of Jack Sours and the natural weavings of
Lee Ann Sours.
October 1 through October 29
will be the fabulous paintings of Andy Thomas. A
must see show!!
November 12 through December
will be a group show featuring the paintings,
drawings and sculpture of a group of artists
including Penny Wilkinson, Perry Fleming, Mary
Baumann-Williams and a couple of others yet
un-named. The details have not all been worked
out yet.
A great year with a lot of
really great art!!
If you haven't found your way
out here yet be sure and come out for at least
one of these shows...we promise you won't be
disappointed!!
More.......next week.
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