Street Spec Clarification Requested.

The City Council Public Works Committee will meet at its regular time this afternoon at 4 p.m. in City Hall.

The scheduled discussion includes a request by Bill Wilson, developer of the Breckenwood addition. According to a memo distributed to various Committee members, Wilson is asking for a clarification of a request by the Engineering Department to increase surfaced street area required on new streets in the development to a width of 24 feet. Streets in other portions of the development have been surfaced at a width of 20 feet. The Breckenwood development has been allowed to forego curb and gutter construction due to a "Green Space" ordinance enacted in 1991. Lots are required to have at least 29,000 square feet.

Streets were only required to be chip and sealed originally, which caused maintenance problems for the City. Recent streets have been constructed by Wilson to City specifications and paved with asphalt.

In the annexation petition approved by the Council in early 1999 for the property now affected, a street surface of chip and seal was all that was specified.

Commentary
Martin "Bubs" Hohulin
State Representative, District 126

This week saw the deadline for police and sheriff departments around the state to submit information about the racial background of motorists that are stopped.

This stems from a law that was passed last year. The law requires that every time a law enforcement officer makes a traffic stop, they fill out more paperwork about the race of the person they just stopped. So much for living in a color blind society. We are now starting to see the results.

Back when we were debating this bill, I predicted that no matter what the results were, minorities would complain they were being unfairly singled out. I will make that prediction again.

The police department of Lake Ozark has billed the State for costs that were incurred in carrying out the requirements of the law. Good for them! It has been hard enough for law enforcement agencies to do their job. Their budgets and officers were stretched thin enough and then this gets dumped on them. If the State is going to add more worthless paperwork and related costs to their workload, then the State should be forced to pick up the cost.

It will probably never show up anywhere, but I wonder how many times an officer has seen a vehicle that should have been stopped, but didn’t because they noticed the driver was a minority and they had already stopped what they figured was the upper end of the limit of minorities for that period.

We keep hearing about how we need to end all forms of discrimination. I totally agree. We should live in a color blind society. Actions should be taken based on merits and non merits, not on what color someone’s skin is.

Laws like this only serve to make the chasm wider and when the final reports are in, it will do no one any good. Least served will be the ever decreasing chance of racial harmony. If we are serious about ending discrimination, it has to come from people of all colors. We won’t get there when discrimination itself is discriminatory.

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.

Sgt. James Baker Retires From Carthage Police Department.

news release

Sgt. James Baker has announced his retirement from the Carthage Police Department. Sgt. Baker was hired as a police officer on August 22nd, 1975. Baker was promoted to Corporal on December 15th, 1977 and then promoted to Sergeant on January 11th, 1979.

The City of Carthage and the Carthage Police Department are indebted to Sgt. Baker for his twenty-five years of service and dedication to the citizens of Carthage.

A retirement "brunch" will be hosted by the Carthage Police Department for Sgt. Baker on March 9th from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Carthage Police Department. The public is welcome to attend.

The commercial showin’ a group of generation X’ers sittin’ ‘round the campfire sippin’ on a can a brew. "It doesn’t get any better than this," one of them says with authority. I would ask again, "how does he know?"

I can understand a statement such as "this is the life," or "things could be a lot worse," but I have never been one ta think it is impossible to be better. Once that thought process begins, all innovations cease. We become protective of even the slightest modification and fear any alteration of what has become the norm.

Even Edison continued modifications on the light bulb after the basic formula was discovered. His work has been improved over the years. "Course he prob’ly didn’t spend much time sittin’ ‘round the campfire.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

McCune- Brooks Hospital

Health Notes

Health & Nutrition by Judith Sheldon

RECANTING ON FATS? Recently, a news item caught the attention of a lot of people who may, understandably, wonder if the medical community is about to recant on all its warnings to us over the years about ingesting saturated fats.

The item involved the so-called "good fast food" diet which includes cheeseburgers. According to research done at Purdue University, cheeseburgers contain a polyunsaturated fatty acid called conjugated dienoic lioleic acid (CLA) which can inhibit skin and stomach cancer in mice; and can inhibit mammary cancer in rats. But pan fried ruminant meat (as in hamburger) and cheese contain the highest amounts of CLA.

But a half-told story can be a dangerous one. This is just one area in which a great deal of research has to be done before we can let people loose to feast on cheeseburgers, believing they’re helping to keep the risk of skin, breast, and stomach cancers down by indulging in this once taboo food. The fact is, if CLA is an effective cancer-fighting compound, it should be included in a diet that doesn’t also include saturated fatty acids.

Also, CLA reportedly acts as an antioxidant, which stops free radicals before they can damage cells and cause many types of cancer.