The Budget/Ways and Means Committee put a request for funds for a public rest room facility near the square on hold during their meeting last Thursday evening.

Main Street Carthage has proposed a structure that they estimate will cost approximately $35,000 plus utility hook ups. The organization is working to obtain donated land for the free standing project. Main Street Director Diane Sharits was at the meeting to answer questions concerning the organizations funding requests.

Mayor Kenneth Johnson told the Committee he was not in favor of the idea.

"I told you, you’d better have seven votes," said the Mayor referring to the number of votes needed to override a veto. "I don’t think we can afford the cost of it. I’d hate to see you leave it in the budget and not be able to do some storm water project. I think it’s a low priority."

Several Council members attending the meeting were supportive of the need for the facility, but wanted more definitive information about continuing costs.

City Administrator Tom Short questioned the accuracy of the cost estimate.

Blunt’s Conference Shows Local
Companies & Individuals
How To Do Business With Government.

news release

Point Lookout, Missouri — Participants in Congressman Roy Blunt’s Fourth Annual Federal Procurement Conference, scheduled for June 9, 2000 will hear how to become a more successful supplier of goods and services to the federal government. They will also be given tips on ways to become involved in the rapidly growing area of e-commerce. Blunt said, "Southwest Missouri businesses and individuals will have a unique opportunity to meet face-to-face with purchasing agents of major contractors and to learn to successfully compete for billions of dollars in federal contracts."

Blunt is holding this year’s session at College of the Ozarks at Point Lookout. The Institute for Procurement Assistance, based in Joplin, will also play a major role in providing information about federal contractors.

Blunt praised the work of the center saying, "This Southwest Missouri resource provides local businesses information year-round on the best ways to bid for government contracts." The conference also offers existing federal contractors an opportunity to improve their skills and contacts.

The 2000 Procurement Conference features a presentation from Rear Admiral Gwilym Jenkins, Jr. who is Deputy for Acquisition and Business Management for the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and Competition Advocate General for the Navy. "Admiral Jenkins will bring a special perspective on what it takes to be a reliable and competitive bidder on government contracts," the Seventh District Congressman said. Jenkins is known for his innovation in the use of technology to reduce red tape and cut the cost of government purchasing. In addition to assuring the Navy and Marine Corps get the best competitive bids on items ranging from paper clips to jet engines and air craft carriers, Jenkins oversees the purchase of $40 billion worth of military goods and services each year.

ZERTEC Engineering Services’ David Zeorlin, who attended last year’s conference in Joplin, said, "Attending this conference revealed a spectacular support network to me! I am impressed by the good, available help and follow-up guidance for new electronic businesses." Other participants said they found "updated information and methodology, networking with other organizations and individuals, and a first-hand knowledge of where to go for government procurement" at the conference. The day-long procurement conference will provide instructions on bidding for state and local government contracts, as well.

Preregistration is required for the June 9 conference. The first 25 registrants will also receive special computer lab training. To obtain more information on the conference and its schedule, contact Terri Bennett with Institute for Procurement Assistance at Missouri Southern State College, 417-625-9538.

Commentary

Martin "Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126

As I write this, the first Session of the new millenium is winding down. By the time you read this, it will be over and in the history books.

One of the bills that we took up in this final week was a bill to make some changes to what is commonly known as the Sunshine Law. It deals with the access of the public to records of meetings of public boards and officials.

There was an amendment offered that I thought would pass with no opposition. Let me give a little background first. The first vote we take each day in the House is whether to approve the Journal of the previous day’s business. For many years, off and on, I have voted against the approval of the House Journal. The reason I have done this is that since I have been in office, the Journal has not been an accurate record of what happened the previous day. The most glaring examples are the motions that are recorded that never happened. After the passage of each bill is noted, there is a notation in the Journal saying there was a motion made to reconsider the bill and then a motion to lay that motion on the table.

Those motions are never made. They just go down a list of the democrat House members and insert the names for making different motions. There are also records of members having voted a certain way on a bill when it is obvious that member was no where near the House Chamber when the vote was taken.

The crux of the amendment was that the Journal of the House of Representatives would have to be accurate and actually reflect what happened the previous day. You would think we would at least owe the public that much of a degree of honesty. Apparently, just a little less than half of us thought that. All of the democrats voted against the amendment and all the republicans voted for it. Since there are more of them than there are of us, we lost, but worse yet, the public lost.

What was particularly appalling was that the Speaker of the House, Steve Gaw voted against it. This is the man that wants to be Secretary of State and he votes against accurate record keeping by state government?! After all, the Secretary of State is charged with keeping and archiving the public records for the state. It is a sad day when honesty loses out to partisanship.

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

If you’ve ever sat down at the dinner table and tried to figure out where all the money goes, you’ve got a good idea of what the Budget/Ways and means Committee goes through ever’ year about this time.

Durin’ the last meetin’, the question of how revenues could be "enhanced" was discussed. Because of the Hancock Amendment, a portion of that discussion always gets to the point of what "enhancement" would be the easiest sell to the voters. I’ve come to the conclusion that takin’ a vote on tax increases is a good way to keep things in check. The population of Carthage has voted for such increases on several school elections and for establishin’ our lodging tax. Still, sellin’ a tax increase is a tough job, and it should be.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Workman's Loan

A GENE TEST FOR LUNG CANCER? Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have made an important breakthrough in the study of who might be most vulnerable for developing lung cancer. The clue may be found in mutations, or alterations, in the genes of a specific chromosome.

"Based on these findings," said Dr. Adi Gazdar, professor of pathology at UT Southwestern, "we may eventually be able to develop a test that would predict who will develop lung cancer."

The study showed that in the earliest stages of lung cancer, genetic alterations involving deletions had developed in a region of this chromosome.

As Dr. Gazdar said, "Our findings provide considerable support for the `field cancerization’ theory (which) suggests the entire upper respiratory tract is compromised when exposed to carcinogens like those found in cigarette smoke. This raises the possibility that cancer may develop in multiple sections of the lung."

Gazdar noted that, "Nearly 90 percent of the people diagnosed with lung cancer will die from the disease." The importance of these findings, therefore, gives doctors a chance to detect lung cancer at an early age when treatment is most effective.