SMB & City Still Looking at 4th Street.

Garry Denney, President of Southwest Missouri Bank spoke to members of the Public Works Committee at their meeting Tuesday afternoon. The bank has requested that the City vacate the alley which runs between Maple and Garrison south of their building on Third Street. The alley is 8 feet wide and runs for approximately 340 feet.

SMB Bank now owns the entire block between Third and Fourth Streets and wants the alley vacated to maximize their building space. They plan to add 10,000 square feet to the building and at least 50 additional parking spaces for staff and customers.

Denney emphasized that the data processing for all eight branches is done at the Third Street location and that Southwest Missouri Bank is now the second largest bank in Southwest Missouri.

"We absolutely, positively prefer to keep our data processing, our call center, our headquarters here in Carthage," said Denney. "This is our home....We will continue to grow, and we will remain an independent locally owned bank. My point is this need for space won’t go away."

Denney acknowledged there is a sewer running along the alley which would have to be relocated. Joe Butler, Engineering Department Head, said the sewer can be rerouted to the south and that under City policy the bank would be expected to pay for the relocation.

"I can’t speak for everyone, but I think the City, the Committee would probably be in favor of helping you as best we can with this easement because it’s nice to have the bank here and see it grow ," said Committee Chair Bill Fortune, "but I know there’s been some discussion as far as getting something in return for the City in the way of improvements on Fourth Street."

The City would like to improve the intersection at Fourth and Garrison. According to Butler, the intersection is not hazardous, but presents traffic flow problems.

"The City’s plan basically requested half of the property," said Denney, "and as you can see it requested it in such a manner that it left us with a little pie shaped thing here... We did spend quite some time with our designer and with our board of directors trying to figure a way to make this work and we can’t. It simply won’t work."

Denney said he wrote the mayor in January saying the proposal would not work and has had no further contact from the City. "Our attorney has been contacted, our designer has been contacted. I have had no contact," said Denney. " As I understand it, a lesser amount of land has been proposed."

Denney said the second proposal would leave them with only 20 additional parking spaces rather than the needed 50.

"What if we took six feet north of Fourth Street for 150 feet and a 15 foot radius at the corner so we could end up with a right turn lane?" asked Committee Member Larry Ross. "It would be less than the 2700 feet of the alley. Is that something you might work with?"

"I can’t imagine we couldn’t work with that," said Denney. "I can’t commit to you until I see some drawings, but that’s a far cry from what we’ve been looking at."

"The land that we’re looking at acquiring for the street is a totally separate issue than the alley," said Trisha Burgi-Brewer. "We routinely vacate alleys all the time. If we weren’t looking at this intersection we would have just vacated it and not thought twice about it."

"If we can make a deal here, create a street that has minimal impact on them, helps the City and in the long run actually improves the traffic flow around the bank, maybe everybody will be happy," said Fortune.

Denney emphasized that the bank would use whatever legitimate procedures available to pursue the vacation of the alley and that he would be happy to discuss the six foot option proposed by Ross.

"I’ve explained our needs. It has nothing to do with being stubborn or hard-headed, it has to do with the needs of a business in this town that’s trying to progress," Denney concluded.

The Committee voted to postpone action on vacating the alley until the April 6 meeting to allow the Engineering Department and the bank’s designer time to examine the option of creating a right turn lane along Fourth Street to Garrison.

Youth Fishing Seminar.

Youth of the area will be ready to go fishing this summer with much more knowledge after they attend the fishing Seminar on April 17, 1999 which is designed for youth between the ages of eight and eighteen.

The event is being coordinated by the Jasper County 4-H Program and the Carthage Senior High School Fishing Club under the supervision of Gloria Lawrence, Jasper County Youth Education Assistant and Wayne Christian, Advisor of the Fishing Club. President of the Fishing Club is Charla Chulley. The day's activities will be held at the home of Bob and Gloria Lawrence, west of Carthage.

"The purpose of the seminar is to provide area youth with educational programs in regard to fishing as well as providing many FUN activities," explains Mr. Christian.

Program and material support to the seminar is being provided by University of Missouri Outreach and Extension, Missouri Department of Conservation, Bass Pro, Neosho Fish Hatchery, MAKO Fly Fishers along with several other individuals of the community.

Participation is limited to the first 100 registrations received. A $5.00 fee must be submitted with registration. Registration forms are available at the University Extension Center, Courthouse Basement, Carthage. For more information call 417-358-2158.

Organizers of this year's event hope that this year's seminar will serve as a base for other activities and that the seminar will become an annual activity for the youth.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

Then there’s the one about the cat that was walkin’ along the muddy country road headin’ for the general store. He came upon a mouse in a rut in the road. The mouse called to the cat and asked if the feline could assist in getting him out of the rut.

The cat, amused at the rodents situation said no, he didn’t feel that he could be of assistance and went on his way.

Later in the day the cat was awaken from his nap by the mouse chewing on a grain sack.

"Get someone to help?" the cat asked.

"Nope, I got out by myself."

"I thought you said you couldn’t get out," mused the cat.

"A car was comin’," the mouse admitted, "I had too."

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click and Clack Talk Cars.

Dear Tom and Ray:

I get my car washed at the gas station car wash a couple of times a month and always get the super duper package which includes spray on wax. Now, I know that I am supposed to wash and wax my car in the driveway every Saturday afternoon- and if I did, I wouldn't wax the windshield. But since I have better things to do with my time (like watching T.V.), I use the gas station car wash that gets wax on my windshield. So how do I get the wax off of my windshield? And as you can probably tell from my attitude, I'm looking for a quick and easy solution. -Randy.

TOM: Well, it doesn't get much quicker or easier than this, Randy. You don't have to do anything.

RAY: Right. The car wash folks claim that the wax they use doesn't stick to glass. It sticks to the car, they say, but not to the windows.

TOM: Perhaps it's some kind of special wax that doesn't adhere to glass surfaces. Or perhaps they use some kind of additive in the wax that keeps it from bonding to glass.

RAY: Or, perhaps they don't apply any wax at all! How would we know? Maybe that extra two bucks you pay covers the electrical bill for the sign that says, "Applying Hot Wax Now!"

TOM: Actually, I'm sure most car washes apply some sort of wax product when you pay for it. But since they use about eight cents worth of wax concentrate per car, I can't imagine that it's as good or as long-lasting as a good-quality paste wax (but you folks in the car wash industry are welcome to write and convince me otherwise).

RAY: But you don't really care, do you, Randy?

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