Nature Center Land Sought.

A proposal for a nature center in Jasper County was brought to the regular Thursday County Commission meeting by S.B. Burger, a representative from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The land area would include ten to fifteen acres, with a nature center and office. A shooting range may be included in the plan.

"I think it’s something the community would take interest in," said County Commissioner Ben Johnson.

Burger pointed out that the only naturalistic setting located close to Carthage is the Katy Trail, which extends only through Webb City and Joplin.

Securing the ten or fifteen acres seems to be the most difficult obstacle. According to Burger, some land has already been turned down because of improvements on the property. The objective is to find a plot that has no buildings, or at least a structure that could be torn down easily.

"All we need now is the land," said Burger. "We have a land acquisition form for potential sellers to fill out."

The proposal will be discussed at the monthly Conservation Commission meeting on Tuesday, August 31, at 10:00 a.m. at the Walter Woods Conservation Area south of Joplin.

The Director of the Missouri Department of Conservation Jerry M. Conley feels that the establishment of the 1999-2000 waterfowl hunting seasons and limits will also be one point of public interest to be discussed. The meeting is open to the public.

Also discussed at the regular Thursday Commission meeting was the announcement of a public hearing to consider an application to be submitted to the Missouri Department of Economical Development under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

The County hopes to obtain $500,000 in CDBG funds for a Float Loan to the Great Outdoors Grill Company for a project in the Crossroads Center Distribution and Business Park on County Road 190 located south of I-44.

This project is expected to provide new employment opportunities. Approximately 50% of the jobs will be for low and moderate-income individuals.

The maximum funds from CDBG cannot exceed $1,300,000 for economical development, $500,000 for public facility projects, or $600,000 for neighborhood development projects.

The hearing will be held on August 31 at 10:00 a.m. in the County Commission office in the Jasper County Courthouse.

The commission is interested in citizen’s input on the community and economical needs within Jasper County. For more information, contact Becky Brill at 358-0464.

Tonight a Showing of Folk Art and a

Musical Presentation by Plainsfolk.

news release by artCentral

We’ve been very busy this last week getting the place ready for our latest exhibit. It takes a while to get everything in order before the new stuff can be displayed. Things like patching and repainting the walls after the last show ....and the artCamp....... Whew...was that a messy affair !! But a very worthwhile one !!

A big part of each new show is the opening reception. We like to have some goodies to serve which means working out a menu...sort of.

We feel good food is part of a great gathering. Sooo tonights bill of fare is Chicken Ques-adillas with salsa verde, sour cream and guacamole, Black Bean and Corn Salsa with tortilla chips and Caramel Apple Pinwheels served with a variety of beverages.

Everyone is welcome and we hope to see some new faces !! Not that we don’t like seeing our regular faces....we do ......we love our supporters and can’t imagine an opening without them !! Yea for our regulars !!

One of our newest mem-bers has just opened a business on the square. Unique Diversity is a coffee and gift shop that just opened last Sunday. We welcome the new owners as new members here and wish more businesses would do the very same thing !!

We’ve had a lot of our members renew their memberships year after year and we can’t say thanks enough !! It’s very important to us to be able to keep our patrons. We depend on them ...a lot !!

We have some of the Jerry Ellis Geranium House prints available (while the supply lasts) as a gift with a 50 dollar membership.

They are great prints....very colorful and the Geranium House has quite a bit of Carthage history behind it. Stop in and look at one.....they will make great gifts this holiday season, too !! Think about it.

Tonights opening will be a little different....the artists, Jack and Lee Ann, will be joined by two friends and they will all be performing musically for your enjoy-ment. They’ve played before at Main Street Mercantile so maybe you’ve heard a bit of it. Anyway........come out tonight, 6-8pm, great art, fun friends and some pretty tasty eats !! Hope to see you here !

Graphic Art Opportunities

Due to our recent purchase of additional equipment and expansion of our Carthage, Missouri facility, we are currently taking applications for the following positions:

Press Operator. Must have experience operating an A.B. Dick 360, Chief 117, Heidelberg windmill, power cutter, and folding equipment. Dark room and layout experience.

Pre Press: Experience with Pagemaker, Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator, Coral Draw. Design and typesetting. Mac and PC. Four Color process experience a plus.

Customer Rep: Need strong organizational skills, computer skills, and be service oriented. Knowledge of current paper trends and printing background.

Bindery: General bindery, padding, stitching, booklet assembly and binding. Some lifting involved.

General Office: Phone skills and computer skills. Experience with Quickbooks, Excel, Access and page layout programs.

Pick up an application at 213 Lyon, Carthage, Missouri, or call for appointment. 417-358-5174 Fax 417-358-3168 email: mmail@morninmail.com

Carthage Printing Services

"Latest technology, Old fashioned values."

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

I’m sure all those on the Council appreciate the kind words in the evenin’ paper editorial yesterday. Praised for the fine job of realizin’’ the need for a Memorial Hall and Civil War Museum manager.

With such glowin’ words came the real substance of the opinion however. The reference to the "well-intentioned attempt" of usin’ City Hall personnel for the job of administrate supervision "has proved itself inadequate for the task" said the author.

I’m not sure of the foundation such an opinion was based on, but I’d have ta guess those individuals associated with the day-to-day work involved in the operation of those facilities might take exception to the shadow of inadequacy cast on their performance. Just a poor choice of words, I hope.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Oak Street health & herb

Natural Nutrition

by Mari An Willis

Hearing other peoples success stories or remedies is one of the blessings of my job. Oh, it is balanced by the not so pleasant facts which are frequently shared, but even those can be tools for learning. I am passing these on to you and trust you will get something out of them also.

• A bath in real vinegar with enzymes present can make one feel really relaxed and help to balance the ph of the skin. "even my grandsons are hooked on these vinegar baths" c.d.

• Aloe vera gel applied "before and after a day at the beach has saved me lots of sunburn and skin problems" j.l. The before application was new to me, but I can see the sense in it.

• When you are out hiking or doing yard work, if a bee, wasp or pesky mosquito should sting you, "pick some plantain and mush it up in your fingers, apply the juice to the bothersome spot and you'll have the up on that critter" b.k.

• "...now you young people are spoiled. We used to eat wild greens everyday. Kept us healthy. My Granny would make us drink that mullein and some weed I forget, but we were always able to work." j.g. This woman is a jewel. She is full of remedies and ideas. She has the idea that we don't want to be healthy because then we don't have an excuse for not doing our best. "life is for livin', not for bowin' out on." Summer or winter they ate polk and other greens which had been canned during the spring months. "It don't have to taste good to be good" j.g.

"Just take time each day to be with your Maker and you will know what to do" m.s. She goes on to say that we do not give ourselves any time to think. We're just like "a dog chasin' its tail."

If the potential problems presented by Y2K are as big as they may be, just start to realize that you can be an ant or a grasshopper. If you are the ant, you will have time to enjoy the challenge and refocus of attention and possibly find time to benfit from the wisdom of our elders.