Did Ya Know... Christian Home Educators of Carthage will meet at 7 p.m. today at 1938 S. Main street.

Did Ya Know... Preschool Storytimes are held each Tues. at 6:30 p.m. and Wed. at 10:15 a.m. at the Carthage Library.

Did Ya Know... Carthage Water & Electric Plant Board will meet Thurs., Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers. Persons with disabilities needing assistance, call 358-5904 or 1-800-735-2466 (TAD via Relay Missouri) at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Did Ya Know... To join the free quilt surfing session at Powers Museum Wed., Oct. 22, call Michele Hansford at 358-2667.

"Doc, I’m feeling a bit schizophrenic."

"That makes four of us."

Most salesmen get in heaven, In spite of how they rate - Before St. Peter spots them, A foot’s inside the gate.

"Waiter, bring me some tomato juice for a pickup."

"Yes, sir, and what will you have for yourself?"

Teacher: Now, children, who can tell me what comes before March?

Johnny: Forward?

Low Water Affects The Mills.

The drought is affecting the mills in Jasper county more, even, than the yellow fever quarantine, but it only effects those operated by water power. The Cowgill & Hill Milling Co.’s mill is only able to run about half the time. McDaniel & Morrow are preparing the engine at their mill on Spring river. The mill will be run day and night as the engine is now in readiness. The Forest mills also have a scarcity of water and can only run part of the time.

J. W. Ground and family moved into their elegant new residence at the corner of Garrison and Macon streets. The house has been entirely remodeled and is now one of the handsomest homes in Carthage.

The Light Guard Band Home.

All the Light Guard band boys, except Gene and Frank Bennett and John Monroe returned from Kansas City on the 8:08 Missouri Pacific train.

Airport Update.

At the last Council meeting, members heard the first reading of a bill to allow the Myers Park Memorial Airport to reopen on November 3. The bill came to Council with no Committee recommendation, the Budget/Ways and Means Committee vote having split 3-3.

Council member Lujene Clark questioned the language of the bill.

"Can we get some parameters?" asked Clark. "This just says shall reopen effective November 3rd - some assurance or reassurance as to what money will be expended on this project, where it will come from, if we sell some of the property or if development proceeds at Myers Park, what happens? If they start tackling the infrastructure, one of the streets is due to go right across the runway."

"What is the game plan?" Clark asked later.

"I don’t know that there is an official game plan...It has been sort of a touchy subject even in Committee," said Council member Jackie Boyer. "I have always been an airport supporter, however...I am very much in favor of the development of Myers Park, and if we decide as the Council that we are going to do the infrastructure and development on Nov. 4, then that airport, in my opinion, is closed again. Development of the property is the primary concern of the City at this time."

Earlier in this meeting, the Council approved a request from the Myers Park Development Committee authorizing the engineering department to investigate the cost of designated infrastructure development for Myers Park.

"There has been a game plan in place....I passed each one of you out a letter stating what we were going to do," Council member Art Dunaway responded. According to Dunaway, the information was placed in Council members’ packets eight weeks ago.

Dunaway reviewed the letter which lists steps to be taken to reopen the airport and the intent to have a plane base so that the City can apply for grants to establish a new airport. The letter also provided that if land were sold within a certain distance of the runway, the City has the right to close the airport if no funding can be found to relocate the airport.

Clark acknowledged the letter, but said the information needed to be incorporated into the bill.

Boyer questioned the costs involved in reopening the airport.

"Well, I think you could go out there and open that airport up for less than $100....There’re people that are lined up to go out there and help do that thing," Dunaway replied.

Dunaway had expressed the opinion in an earlier Budget/Ways and Means Committee meeting that if the City reopened the airport and showed good faith in seeking a new airport, the lawsuit against the City to force the reopening might be dropped. The suit is still awaiting resolution in the District Court.

City Engineer Steve Lett reported that the Federal Aviation Administration has not yet granted permission to reopen the airport. Lett will continue to seek that permission from the FAA.

Bill sponsor Charlie Bastin agreed to provide amendments addressing the concerns expressed by Clark for the second reading of the bill at the next Council meeting on October 28.

Commentary

by Martin "Bubs" Hohulin

State Representative, District 26

Surprise! Surprise! The latest revenue figures are in and the taxpayers of the State of Missouri are owed a refund of $319,000,000.00. That’s quite a few zeros, isn’t it? I wrote it out that way to drive home the point of just how badly the taxpayers are being taken advantage. The Hancock amendment to the Constitution limits how much money can be lifted from the pockets of the taxpayers. It is based on a formula based on the average incomes of Missourians. Anything collected over the allowable amount has to be returned to the citizens either by direct refund or by decreasing taxes.

Ever since the passage of Senate Bill 380, the largest tax increase in the history of Missouri, the state has exceeded the Hancock lid every year. When Governor Carnahan and the rest of the democrat leaders pushed for the tax increase we tried to warn them that first, the tax would put the state over the limit, and second, a tax increase was just wrong. Their response was that we were just opposed to kids and education. What a crock! I have just about had it up to here hearing how we are against kids, education, senior citizens, clean water, clean air, Mom, apple pie, and everything good just because we don’t want to tax Missourians into oblivion. The best way to benefit the aforementioned things starts with letting people keep more of the money they earn.

Last week I wrote about the tax cut on food as a way to reduce tax revenue to get under the limit. I mentioned how upset I was with some of my colleagues strutting around taking credit for the cut, when in fact, we had no choice. The Constitution said we had to return the money. The worst case was several leaders of the House democrats holding a press conference at a grocery store with a banner, which said, "LOWER TAXES BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE DEMOCRATS." These included Speaker Steve Gaw and majority leader Gracia Backer who in the last week of session fought our attempts to cut taxes even more. There were two different bills in the last week that would have cut taxes, the one that passed and the other one that would have cut taxes more than twice as much. We tried to get the bigger cut passed but were thwarted by the democrat leadership. To add insult to injury, Ms. Backer stated at the press conference that democrats had passed the tax cut despite stiff opposition from the republicans! Yes! We did initially oppose the bill that passed, but only because we wanted to pass the bill that contained bigger tax cuts. When it became clear we would not be allowed to consider the bigger cuts, we did vote for the three-cent cut. The vote was 155 - 0. Backer stated, "We fought a hard battle." Yes they did; but it was a battle to keep the people from getting a bigger tax cut. Call it partisan bickering if you want, but I am not going to stand quietly by while someone claims credit for a tax cut after fighting hard to make sure the cut isn’t any bigger than it has to be.

So now we are looking at another $319,000,000.00 owed to the taxpayers and the governor has proposed spending the excess on transportation issues instead of returning it to the taxpayers. I’m just going to come right out and say it; I will not support that proposal. The money was illegally taken from the taxpayers and it needs to be returned to them ASAP, no ifs, ands, or buts. Carnahan has tried to justify this plan by saying the reason too much tax revenue is being collected is because the economy is so good. Hey Governor, I’ve got a news flash for you. The reason too much money is being collected is because taxes are too high! Quit playing games with folks’ pocketbooks and join us this next session in giving people real tax relief, not just what the Constitution says we have to do.

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

I suppose its been goin’ on for a long time now, but I just noticed it the other day durin’ the parade. Various members of some of the marchin’ bands had head sets on. Now I’ve gotta believe they weren’t listenin’ to their favorite radio station while they were marchin’.

No doubt the devices allowed communication between key individuals in the organization. The majorette, the drum section and so forth. I’m sure there are some die hard marchin’ fans who think that such a practice should be considered some type of cheatin’, but there must be considerable benefits to such an arrangement, specially in the large bands where the percussion section was at the rear end.

I was a little amazed to see one band director walkin’ beside the band without any regard to the cadence. Long slow strides not on the wrong step but rather somewhere in between the beat. Fortunately the rest of the group had learned right from left.

This is some fact, but mostly, Just Jake Talkin’.

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Health Notes.

WINTER HAZARD: It’s not snow or ice, or skiing or skating. Rather, it’s indoor tanning. For some reason, there are still some people who think having a tan makes them look healthy even though they know they are at risk for developing potentially disfiguring, as well as fatal, skin cancers.

It is reported in the "Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology" that suntanning, and especially indoor tanning, has no health advantages at all, only negative health consequences. These can be either short term - redness, dryness, itching, nausea - or long term, which include wrinkles, sagging, rashes from the interaction of common medications and intense light, photoaging, skin cancers, or even unusual diseases such as polymorphic light eruption (PLE). What may confuse some people is the use of the term, "non-burning rays," to describe the indoor light tanning sources. It is warned that the UVA wavelengths in these so-called "non-burning rays" actually penetrate more deeply into a skin layer called the dermis, and can cause a decrease in healthy collagen. These are supportive fibers of protein in skin and other connective tissues. Tanning rays can also damage the elastic fibers in the dermal layer which give the skin its ability to bounce back. Lose that, and you gain sagging skin that wrinkles and stays that way.