Nodler Supports Keeping

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Missouri State Senator Gary Nodler expressed the following in his weekly news release - ed.

" In 1993, then-President Bill Clinton made efforts to lift the military’s ban on homosexuals serving in the military. His efforts did not receive a positive reaction from the public or from Congress, and the result was the policy that came to be known as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," which prevents homosexuals in the military from openly serving.

"Recently, there has been discussion on the federal level about repealing this policy. This week, the discussion moved to the state level, when two resolutions were presented to the Senate Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee, of which I am vice-chairman. I am against changing the current policy on homosexuals in the military, and I think it is important for Missouri to send a message to Congress that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is an effective policy.

"A concurrent resolution expresses the opinion of the Missouri General Assembly and urges action from Congress. Senate Concurrent Resolution 45 would encourage Congress to support the current policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, while an alternative resolution, SCR 44, asks Congress to repeal the policy. As a former member of the military, I am supportive of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and I think that repealing the policy would be detrimental to our military.

"Morale is one of the most important concerns for military commanders, especially in a time of combat. The military is currently involved in two major conflicts, and I cannot support any policy that could negatively affect our troops during this critical time. During the Senate hearing on these resolutions, we heard from Sgt. Paul Curtman, who recently retired from the Marines. During his testimony, he stated he was against repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell because allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would disrupt combat readiness. He described the experience of finding out that a fellow Marine was a homosexual as disruptive to his unit and detrimental to the missions that they were trying to complete.

"When the president discussed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, many people throughout the country began discussing and debating the policy. The most important issue, however, is the safety and readiness of those serving in our military. I feel strongly that changing this policy would be disruptive to our military, and I will support the passage of SCR 45 so that we can make this view clear to Congress." .

I had visions of an underground "clubhouse" durin’ my preteen years. We had a large field behind our house that was planted to crops most seasons and the earth was always plowed It looked like a perfect spot to dig a large underground room.

I gathered up the pick and a shovel or two and commenced to dig. After a few hours of gettin’ through the soft top soil, I discovered that the earth gets pretty solid. I had, however, etched out enough ground to make a pretty nice fox hold of sorts. ‘Bout big enough to hold two small boys duckin’ the oncomin’ rounds of imagined enemy fire.

‘Course at that age, a fox hole worked pretty well, too. In fact it didn’t matter much that it was only a couple a feet deep. The imagination wasn’t limited by the confines of space.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’

---

artCentral

ART NOTES from Hyde House

by Sally Armstrong, Director of artCentral

The wait is over, and we have the first group of paintings arriving soon for the first show of this our new year, opening February 19th. A group of artists has been gathering to paint together for some months now, originally as students of fine oil painter Barbara Courtney of Eucha, Oklahoma. As her health allowed, Barbara would make the trek over to Joplin to meet with these women, but in the past few months she has been unable. Still, they continue to meet Monday afternoons to paint together, and their group has grown to include new members. We are proud to present six of these in a group show entitled "Alla Prima Donnas & A Don" which will feature oil paintings by Carthage artists April Davis and Kristin Huke, Joplin artists Debbie Reed, Margie Moss and Sue Dixon and Carterville artist Jesse McCormick. I will tell about the Carthage artists in this article, the first being April Davis, daughter of well known artist Lowell Davis. April was a featured artist in our last show of 2009, and her oil paintings are most colorful studies--- still lifes, featuring fruits, vegetables and other common objects and also beautiful landscapes. A sculptor as well as a painter, she was born and raised in Texas before returning to her father’s farm settlement at Red Oak II. Encouraged by her father she began her art career with the sculpting of small detailed floral and nature sculptures, reproduced by a famous gift company and sold across the country. April exhibits yearly at the Midwest Gathering of the Artists. Kristin Huke moved with her husband Grady and two boys to Carthage recently, and comes from a commercial art background. While attending MSSU she was awarded a scholarship to study watercolor under Jim Bray at the Mullsjo Folkhogskola in Sweden. Graduating with a degree in graphic design, she was employed as a production artist in Kansas City for the first 4 years of her career. Since then she has taken positions as product manager and furniture designer. Her art study continued with workshops under painters Jeff Legg and Frank Young, her first show being the Thomas Hart Benton Art Competition where she was awarded 3rd place in the emerging artist category. These women and four others present work from February 19th for three weekends through March 7th. Next week, the others.