Today's Feature

Budget Committee Makes Preliminary Cuts.

The City Council Budget Ways and Means Committee met Wednesday this week and made preliminary cuts to the Fiscal Year 2009 City budget. The meeting lasted roughly 4 hours and the entirety of the budget was discussed. The cuts made will be calculated and discussed further at a later meeting.

The first-pass cuts included decreasing the amount of funding requested by the Carthage Humane Society. Committee Chair Bill Fortune said he felt that some increase over last year was justified, but did not recommend the almost doubled increase requested by the Society. The previous year’s approved appropriation to the Society was approximately $20,000. The requested amount this year was $40,000. The committee tentatively approved $25,000 for the budget, and requested additional information from the Carthage Animal Control Officer about the numbers of animals the City takes to the shelter.

The committee did not remove the funding for the Fire Department Sub-Station, but said that some additional information and research would be needed before the money actually gets put to use. One item discussed was whether the proposed 2 bay building would be large enough to facilitate future growth of the City. The City Council Safety Committee will discuss that proposal at a later date.

The committee made various adjustments to gasoline requests and overtime requests for the City Departments, as well as cutting some of the Departments’ requested capital expenditures.

Several larger capital improvement projects were also cut from the list, including improvements to the Memorial Hall parking lot and several street improvement projects.

Projects for improvements to streets in the area of the future Carthage High School were left in the budget, as well as funding for the replacement of multiple pieces of equipment used to maintain the Municipal Golf Course.

The committee also heard a presentation of the proposed budget for the Carthage Water & Electric Plant. Documentation provided by Plant officials included information used for future planning. The Plant is not planning a rate increase this year.

CPD Cracks Down on Impaired Driving.

News release

Law enforcement officers across Missouri will be cracking down on drunk driving with increased enforcement May 2-5. The Carthage Police Department will be participating in this effort.

"It’s never worth the risk to drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Drivers could lose their license, pay large fines, or worst of all, cause a tragic loss of life," said Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan.

In 2006, 273 people died in more than 7,900 alcohol-related traffic crashes.

For more information on impaired driving, visit www.saveMOlives.com

Carthage Chamber Opens Maple Leaf Theme Ideas to the Public.

The Carthage Chamber of Commerce is inviting the public to help pick out this year’s theme for the 42nd Annual Maple Leaf Festival. "We are looking for a creative, fresh new idea for this year’s theme," says Amber Carrier, Director of Member Services for the Carthage Chamber. Citizens can summit their ideas by dropping them by the Chamber office, through mail, fax, or in e-mail form. All theme ideas must be in the Chamber office by May 9 by 5:00 p.m. The person who chooses the winning theme will win a $25 gift certificate redeemable at any Chamber of Commerce member.

Past years’ themes were:

"The Colors of Carthage"

"The Tradition Continues"

"A Hometown Celebration"

The public can submit their entries by fax at 417-358-7479, by email at: membership@carthagechamber.com, and by mail to 402 S. Garrison, Carthage, Mo. 64836.

For more information, contact the Carthage Chamber of Commerce at 417-358-2373.

Mornin'

I ran into another one today. Tourist. I know they all ask the same question.

"Do you know where there’s a rest room?"

After that, most have another battery of questions that need the answer to. The Chamber is keepin’ a lot of information to get out to those who aren’t from these parts. Maps, schedules, all kinds of stuff. It’s nice ta be able to send folks to someplace that has most of the answers to their questions.

A lot of folks seem ta just stumble on to Carthage. I’ve talked to more than a few that haven’t heard of Precious Moments. They don’t come just ‘cause of what’s here, a lot of ‘em come ‘cause of what’s not here. Noise, traffic, all the glitter.

Carthage has the authentic small town feel. People enjoy explorin’ the community.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Natural Nutrition
By Mari An Willis

Dandelions are popping up everywhere! If you have a "clean" place to gather you may want to eat some of these beauties. Besides being high in potassium, calcium, iron, Vitamin A, B-complex, C and E; dandelion stimulates all the glands in the body. It was listed in the American Pharmacopoeia for many years.

The Chinese, as well as Americans, have used this herb to treat such things as infections and liver disease. The dried roots have been ground, roasted and used as a coffee substitute. The young tender greens make a wonderful addition to salads. Steamed with fennel and thyme or in a wilted salad they are a nutritious dish.

Fresh Dandelion Dip

•1/2 c. creamed cheese (low fat)

• 1/2 c. tofu (or sour cream)

• lemon thyme (lemon juice)

• garlic clove

• green onions

• 1/2 c or more dandelion greens chopped

Cream the cheese and tofu in blender. Add in the remaining ingredients. Serve with raw vegetables.

artCentral
Art Notes from Hyde House
By Sally Armstrong, Director of artCentral

Currently we are proud to display a collection of work by Hominy, Oklahoma artist Cha’ Tullis. The themes Cha’ explores are Native American, but vary from people to horses, buffalo to smaller creatures. His handcrafted jewelry is made of traditional materials, silver, turquoise of various colors, coral, and lapis, and is especially beautiful! I am particularly taken with his strong use of color in the paintings, very bright and a bit contemporary. Children especially should respond to these paintings! But most interesting are the spiritual writings that he includes with various work. In the painting "Yellowbird the Seer", the piece I chose for our invitation, he writes, "It is said that He came to the people in the season of the tall grasses, his voice could be heard across the prairie and when he sang even the birds listened. He was given the name "Yellow Bird" from the yellow song birds that stayed along the waters edge and filled the air with joyful song. Yellow bird stayed mostly to himself and didn’t speak unless spoken to first. Most of the people were cautious around him and warned the children not to approach him, but his songs lured them to get closer to the beauty of his voice. One day a little girl asked Yellow Bird why he spent his days singing songs and ‘why don’t you just talk like everyone else?’ He responded with song, ‘When I was just a child the words I spoke were so soft. I yelled them as loud as I could but the people were so noisy my words were lost. I was so lonely one day I started to sing my words to myself and to my amazement everyone started listening! I discovered that sometimes the most important words are not the loudest being spoken.’ The little girl went to all the children and sang to them the words softly instead of yelling and the people of the tribe listened!" Many of Cha’Tullis paintings have stories such as this one. Please visit our exhibition beginning May 2nd , open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays noon until 5:00 until the 16th.