The Mornin' Mail is published every weekday except major holidays
Wednesday, January 3, 2001 Volume IX, Number 138

did ya know?


Did Ya Know?. . .On Saturday, January 6th, the Friends of the Carthage Public Library will hold their monthly Saturday used book sale in the Library Annex at 510 S. Garrison Ave., from 8 a.m. until noon.

Did Ya Know?. . .The Powers Museum will be closed during January and February. Anyone needing information from the museum’s library and archives during this shutdown period may call 417-358-2667 or email info@powersmuseum.com to make an appointment with the museum’s curator. The museum will re-open on March 2, 2001.


today's laugh

They just made a modern western. It doesn’t take place in Dodge City, but in a shopping mall three miles out of town.

The philosopher finished his lecture by summing up with his favorite adage, "Happiness is the pursuit of something, not the catching of it."
A voice from the rear yelled out, "Have you ever tried to run after a bus on a snowy night?"

A teenager comes home from a rock-and-roll concert, and his mother asks him how it went.
The teenager says, "It was great, Mom. You would have hated it."


1900
INTERESTING MELANGE.
A Chronological Record of Events as they have Transpired in the City and County since our last Issue.

Secretary Spencer Home.

Secretary N. C. Spencer of the Y.M.C.A. returned home this morning from Moberly, where he attended the annual state meeting of the Young Men’s Christian Association. Columbia had a delegation of fifty students present and captured next year’s meeting. Carthage was about the only association which had only one delegate at the convention. There were some 200 delegates present.

F. H. Burt, recently of Chicago, and assistant secretary of the Illinois association, was elected general secretary for the state of Missouri. Secretary Spencer made a special effort to get him to visit Carthage, and it is possible the new state secretary will be here next Sunday.

A rousing good Sunday afternoon meeting was held Sunday by Mr. Michener of the international committee, and fully 150 of the Moberly railroad men stood up for prayers.

  Today's Feature

Air Quality at Columbian School.

Columbian Elementary School, Carthage, has held classes at Fairview Christian Church since December 4, while the Columbian building was cleaned. The carpeting was removed and replaced with vinyl tile. The ceiling tiles were removed and replaced with new tiles. All surfaces were wiped down with a bleach, soap and water solution to sanitize them. The entire building was cleaned as thoroughly as possible.

The Carthage R-9 School District asked Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City to conduct air quality samples at Columbian as this cleanup was concluding. The district proceeded with the testing before the cleanup was completed, so the results would be available prior to the re-occupancy of the building on January 3, 2001. the number of workers and high level of activity in the building while the samples were being collected caused some of the results to be less accurate than desirable, but the following excerpts from the report are noteworthy.

The report states that, "There are no federal, state or local regulations for fungal concentrations in air. Environmental Health literature does not set standards for acceptable indoor concentrations or threshold concentration which might cause allergic symptoms in individuals. There are a few guidelines for determining if the indoor mold levels are excessive. One such guideline is the comparison of indoor to outdoor mold levels. Filtered indoor air is expected to contain fewer fungal spores than outside air. Another guideline is to compare the different type or variety of fungi indoors with those structures found in the outdoor environment."

In applying these measures to Columbian the report stated, "The indoor levels of fungi in the air in the Columbian School at the time of this investigation appear to be well within the levels found in residential and public indoor environments." The report also stated that, "The same species of fungi were found inside the building as found outdoors for that time of year."

The report further stated, "The majority of classrooms sampled were well below the outdoor counts except in areas where ceiling tile installation and repairs were in progress during the sampling." Since the type of testing done recently was different from that done previously, a direct comparison of results is not appropriate. However, the concentrations of mold spores has been significantly reduced throughout the building. Final cleaning to remove dust and debris from the construction project is to be completed this week, so the building will be ready for students and staff on Wednesday, January 3.

The gymnasium floor is the only part of the project that will not be complete as students and staff re-occupy the building. The district plans for the flooring to be installed within the next 4-6 weeks.

Hygrometers will be installed in key locations to monitor humidity in the building. The district will conduct follow-up air samples to monitor air quality.

The district would like the thank the people, businesses and Fairview Christian Church for helping make completion of this project possible.



Just Jake Talkin'

Mornin',

It’s always tough ta get back ta work after the long weekends. Seems like the day or two off just piles up more ta get done in the short week.

With the holidays over, I’m guessin’ that most are lookin’ forward to gettin’ back to some sort of regular schedule.

Most folks seem to function better with whatever "routine" they are used to. Even the ones who don’t like the idea of bein’ routine actually are a lot more predictable that they may like to appear. Creatures of habit.

It must be one a those tools of survival we have inherited ‘cause it seems so ingrained. Fortunately we have also kept our ability to have a little flexibility from time to time, at least for the holidays.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Column

PRIME TIME WITH KIDS

by Donna Erickson

When the big kids are busy doing their homework, try one of these learning activities with your eager 5- or 6-year-old.

• Make puzzles. Cut two magazine pictures, drawings or extra family photos into several large pieces. Mix up the cut shapes. First sort the pieces by picture, then try to put them back together again.

• Play a fun alphabet hunt game.

Help your child print his name on strips of paper, one letter per strip. If your child has friends over, do the same for each of them. Hide the letters in another room, then call out "Time to go on an alphabet hunt!" The kids will love searching for the letters. See how long it takes to spell their names!

• Make a scented picture.

When your child wants to draw a picture, try an unusual technique. Use a piece of sandpaper instead of paper and make the drawing with a cinnamon stick. It’s fun to do and the spicy scent will no doubt send you racing to the bakery for a cinnamon roll snack.


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