July 4th Plans.

The proposed budget for the City July Fourth celebration is $46,350 according to a document supplied to City Council members for this evening’s regular meeting.

The City budget includes approximately $37,000 for the project with the remainder of the funds to be generated by user fees and contributions from various businesses and organizations.

The proposed budget includes the following funds and activities.

The City will absorb the $20,000 for the fireworks display. This is the same amount that was spent last year.

Approximately $1,500 will spent for various expenses to accommodate vendors for the day. The lease of space for these vendors is expected to generate approximately $4,000. A total of $3,000 is expected to be generated by various children’s games and activities. The cost for these projects is estimated to be $1,500. The 5K run is projected to actually generate as much or more income as the projected $700 cost.

Publicity is expected to cost $13,000, stage and sound equipment, $1,500, publicity assistance, $3,000.

Commentary

Martin "Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126

Although it seems that things are going slow and unexciting in Jefferson City, there is actually quite a bit happening. There were three special elections to fill vacant Senate seats and two of them were won by republicans. That may not seem all that earthshaking, except that those two wins gave the republicans majority control of the Senate for the first time in over 50 years.

Two of the Senators were House members, so that in turn created 2 vacancies in the House. Hopefully, Gov. Holden will call for special elections to fill those as soon as possible. Usually that is the case, but a few years ago, when a republican House member died, Gov. Carnahan refused to call a special election so that we would be one member short on all the votes. As a result, that district went without representation for almost two years. Hopefully, that won’t be the case this time around. Conventional wisdom holds that one of those seats will stay republican and the other will stay democrat.

With the split control of the Legislature, that should slow down the rush to raise taxes and spending. Work has begun on the State budget after receiving Gov. Holden’s proposed budget. Much talk is centering around the supposed ‘budget crisis’. We keep hearing we have a $300 million shortfall and that constitutes a crisis. First of all, $300 million is less than 2% of the total budget. In no way, shape, or form does that meet the definition of a crisis. Gov. Holden has proposed using the tobacco settlement money to make up the shortfall. That is a terrible idea. If, and I emphasize the word if, we are short of money, the worst thing we could do is make up the difference from an unreliable source. The lawsuit was originally brought to fund smoking education programs and reimbursements for smoking related expenses. Actually, the lawsuit was brought as a way to scam money from a legal industry, but for the purposes of this column we will go along with the politically correct version. Putting the money into the General Fund would just add to the problem. The only answer is to spend less money. The budget has grown by over $1 billion per year for the last eight years.

That brings up another point. Gov. Holden’s budget contains a $2 billion increase in spending. If we are so short, why are we spending an additional $2 billion that we don’t have? I am no rocket scientist, but those numbers and that logic doesn’t add up. It is an interesting start to the Session and should get more interesting from here.

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.

Had a friend who wanted to invest in a business. His idea was to create the perfect system where there weren’t any decisions to be made and therefore all that was necessary was "warm bodies" to carry out the routine tasks.

Now such a system may be possible, but my friend soon discovered in the venture he got involved in could not be made that simple.

Any venture needs a set of basic guidelines, or policy, to guide the routine. The problem is that there are always situations that come along that weren’t planned or opportunities that weren’t foreseen.

Sometimes even movin’ in the wrong direction is better than sittin’ still.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

McCune Brooks Hospital

Health Notes

Health & Nutrition by Judith Sheldon

IF THE SHOE FITS, wear it. Properly fitting shoes can be more than just comfortable; they may help you avoid serious foot problems including, for diabetics and others with circulation conditions, amputations of toes or feet. As a matter of fact, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop says that if more people wore properly fitted shoes, we’d see a large drop in the number of diabetic amputations that occur far too often among the elderly, among others. Good fit also means fewer corns, calluses, bunions, hammertoes, or other painful foot deformities.

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons cautions women not to wear heels higher than 2 1/4 inches. Heels higher than this can cause all the aforesaid foot problems, plus ankle problems. Also avoid pointed toe shoes, which force your toes into an unnatural position.

For children, the shoe should fit immediately. No child should be expected to grow into his or her shoes, or "break in" the shoes. For toddlers, avoid heavy rubber soles that can stick to a surface and cause the child to fall. Also, have both your children’s feet measured, since differences between feet are common.

Babies and crawling infants do not need shoes. Provide them, instead, with socks or booties to keep their feet warm.