Memorial Day Program.

The Memorial Day program for Monday May 26, 2003 will be held in Memorial Hall. The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a music presentation by Marvin and Irene Van Gilder.

A few of the presentations in the program include: a speech from Pearl Harbor Survivor, Richard Ferguson; the laying of the wreath, by Dick Frink; and the introduction of organizations and auxiliaries such as the V.F.W, the 203 Engineering Battalion, and D.A.V. The program is sponsored by Carthage Veterans Alliance.

County Funds at Dangerous Levels.

The County Commissioners held their weekly meeting Thursday morning at the Carthage Courthouse. Presiding Commissioner Chuck Surface discussed the county’s financial situation. Surface said that the county was in a hiring freeze. Surface also said the county wasn’t overspending. County Auditor Richard A. Webster Jr. said Jasper County has about $825,000 in the bank, over the course of the next two weeks Webster is scheduled to pay $120,000 in bills and $600,000 for pay roll. Webster is expecting to have around $200,000 in the bank. Webester said the funds were at "dangerous levels".

Surface said the Commissioners will be preparing a budget soon and said the budget was going to be tight and that they will have to make cuts. The Commissioners agreed to cut material items and not make personnel cuts if possible.

Surface also mentioned that Senate Bill 11, the sales tax holiday passed. He said it will start in 2004 and has a sunset of 2005. The holiday will mean no taxes on clothes, personal computers and school supplies during a three day weekend in August.

NASCAR to the Max

In one of the more bizarre driver changes in recent memory, Jeff Green and Steve Park essentially traded seats. Park, the former driver the Pennzoil Chevrolet was released from his contract two weeks ago by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) after a series of poor qualifying and racing results. Similarly, Green was released by Richard Childress Racing (RCR) after a series of poor results coupled with a series of pit road confrontations with teammate Kevin Harvick’s crew chief and team owner Childress. Green’s run-in with Harvick’s crew chief and his owner resulted after Green was spun out and wrecked by Harvick, a move that Green thought was intentional.

Adding a further twist to the drama, Harvick took over the driving duties for Dale Earnhardt in February of 2001 following Earnhardt’s death. Earnhardt, the namesake of DEI, hired Park to be his driver when DEI was formed though Earnhardt continued to drive for RCR. Many find it hard to believe that Earnhardt would have hired a driver that had verbally confronted his crew chief let alone his team owner, whether or not any on-track action was intentional or not. Neither Park nor Green were given a long term contract, reportedly only until September, leading to speculation that both teams will bring a rookie driver in at that time to finish out the year.

Last Saturday’s "The Winston", run at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC, was a non-points paying, million dollars to the winner shoot out. The race, run in three segments, usually rewards hard charging, no holds barred action with drivers doing whatever is necessary to race to the front. Jeff Gordon attempted the "wreck your way to the front" strategy and was able to hold onto one of the fourteen transfer spots to the third segment. When segment three got under way, Gordon took the lead but was quickly overtaken by Jimmie Johnson who held on for the win over Kurt Busch.

The series resumes its regular points paying schedule this Sunday when the teams will race 600 miles at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Letter to the Editor

Opinions expressed reflect those of the writer
and not necessarily those of the Mornin' Mail.

My husband and I were recently in Carthage doing some last minute preparations for a group of 110 high school youth and adults we will be bringing to Carthage June 8-14 to do mission work. While we were in your city we picked up a copy of your publication and thought you might want to include some information about our arrival.

We will be staying at First United Methodist Church in Carthage and doing home repair and construction work for elderly and underpriviledged people in Carthage. We provide all materials and labor so there is no expense to the resident.

There will be at total of 1700 youth and adults spread across the southern part of Missouri this same week from the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.

We will be coming to town to simply offer God’s love in a simple way that anyone can understand. If people have hope repair needs they can complete a referral form at the Salvation Army or at First United Methodist Church in Carthage. We will accomodate as many jobs as we have time to complete in our week at Carthage.

While in Carthage we received such a warm welcome and hope that your citizens will welcome these young people as well. Please encourage people to stop by and say "hi" to our teams that will be scattered around town.

It appears that the great double decker bus experiment is on its last leg.

After near on to ten years the lumberin’ giant has roamed the streets tryin’ in vain to attract a followin’. The vehicle can definitely qualify as "mass" transit, but only in bulk, not in numbers of passengers. It looks like it just can’t generate the revenue to justify its existence.

Although the outcome is of no surprise to the many who opposed the purchase of the oddity, many others have hoped in vain that some legitimate use could be made of the two story attraction.

The forty-some mile per hour top speed even dashed the hopes it could be used as a regional parade entry to promote other city attractions. It is now just another fun toy we can no longer afford.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Oak Street health & herbs

Natural Nutrition

By Mari An Willis

Love that tea tree oil! We have already had the "misfortune" of having to treat two spider bites with it and they have healed with only minor scars. For those of you who are not yet familiar with this first aid kit necessity, it is a broad spectrum fungicide and antibacterial agent. It is able to penetrate the skin and treat microbes without damaging the healthy cells. It is soothing and has a topical anesthetic and anti-inflammatory effect.

Some uses of tea tree oil include:

Boil: Apply oil on the spot 2 or 3 times a day.

Arthritis: Mix 3-5 drops into a cold pressed oil and massage into effected area.

Nail infections: Soak fingernail or toe nail in tea tree oil for 5 minutes or so. I have found it effective to apply the oil to the gauze part of a bandage and cover the nail overnight.

Sprain: Rub pure oil into he sprain for relief.

Cuts: Dab oil on cut.

Athlete’s foot: Apply pure tea tree oil or the cream to dry feet. A foot soak may be helpful, as is using the tea tree oil soap on a regular basis.

Gums: Mix a little with warm water and swish in mouth. May help with that sore throat also.

And the list goes on and on. My Dad smelled it many years ago and told me that it was issued during the Korean conflict for "foot rot." This oil is one of my favorites, in spite of its distinctive odor.

* This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Sources available by request.