Airport Land Acquisition Consultant Recommended.

The Airport Relocation Committee voted yesterday to recommend that the Council hire a professional consultant to begin the process of appraising and surveying land for a new airport. Although there has been no official negotiations for a purchase, City Administrator and Committee Chair Tom Short told the committee that informal talks with land owners have produced a favorable response from two separate land owners.

"We have been talking to land owners," said Short, "about the acquisition of property. Informal meetings that we have had with them, there is at least not a reluctance to sell the land. There is a willingness to sell the land if all the particulars can be worked out."

Short emphasized that if grant funding was ever to be obtained, a stringent set of State and Federal guidelines had to be followed during the negotiation and purchase process.

"We at the staff level don't have the expertise or the time to follow up and make sure that everything is done properly," said Short.

Early in 1996, the City entered into an agreement with Bucher, Willis & Ratliff Corporation of Kansas City to begin the survey and appraisal process. Before the agreement could be fulfilled, the Council voted to close the Myers Park Memorial Airport, terminated the contract and paid the firm for work completed to that point in time.

The Relocation Committee is recommending that the contract with Bucher, Willis, & Ratliff be reopened in order to save some of the cost of redoing work that had been completed. The firm also completed the airport master plan in 1990. If this is not feasible or acceptable to the Council, a search for another firm to do the work is recommended.

The contract signed by Mayor Riley in 1996 showed a total of $25,804 to be paid to the consulting firm. The services to be provided included a property survey, a property map, land acquisition assistance, and initial assistance in phase one of construction.

"When the City Council established this Committee," said Short, "it was for the development of a new airport. We're to the point now where we (the Committee) have gone about as far as we can go with it. The next step is for somebody to take this as a consultant and take it from here."

Short also summarized the discussion of the Airport Settlement Committee from last week.

"We agreed that we are looking at some type of a phased approach to try and minimize our costs on the front end," said Short, "but allow enough leeway, or expansion capability so that at some time we hopefully be able to get some type of state or federal funding."

Short concluded by asking the question, "So, is this committee pretty much done?" The Committee members seemed to agree their job was completed.

"There will be some group needed to coordinate with the consultants as we go forward," Short continued. "Whether that is this group or another group is formed. There is not a whole lot of sense in wasting everyone's time meeting if we are done."

Short said that he was 90% sure that the site north of Carmar would be used. The results of the consultants efforts would be the final steps in making that plan workable.

"In order for the owners to proceed with a comfort level, they need to know exactly where it's going to be, how much land is involved, etc.," said Short. "So we have to begin this other process first so the landowners know what we are looking at."

The Committee's recommendation is expected to be presented to the full Council during it's next regular meeting on September 8 at City Hall. Funding is expected to come from the $500,000 set aside by the Council for the purchase of property for a new aviation facility.

Show-Me Harmony Chorus.

Sweet Adelines International.

Carthage residents, Jo Davison, Rita Johnson, and Pat Wall will join over 50 area women when the award-winning Show-Me Harmony Chorus presents its annual musical production on Saturday, September 12, 1998, at 7:00 p.m., at the new Webb City High School Auditorium.

"The Best Little Speakeasy in Town" production features chorus members in an evening of upbeat family musical entertainment. Musical guests also appearing on the program are the Tri-Statesman Chorus and the young men and women of Webb City High School Singers. According to Rita Johnson, the tone of the show is suitable for all ages.

Show-Me Harmony Chorus has won regional award recognition for several years as a mid-sized chorus of Sweet Adelines International. Music is sung barbershop style, a four-note harmony suitable for both ballad and upbeat vocal music without accompaniment.

Following the show, the cast invites audience members to an Afterglow celebration and silent auction for food and additional informal entertainment. Tickets are $6.00 for adults and $3.00 fopr children under 12 years. Tickets are available by contacting Pat Wall at Carthage True Value Hardware on the square or Rita Johnson, 358-2552 after 5:00 p.m. or at the door.

letter from ma

Am I on "Candid Camera?"

I wonder that as I wait in one of those little rooms for the doctor to enter.

This thought comes to me after I have bitten off my thumb nail, reached inside my blouse and down my arm to retrieve my bra strap, and checked out my tongue in my compact mirror.

Probably I wouldn't think of being watched if I weren't such an avid observer of other people.

Sitting in the doctor's larger waiting room, I pass the time specualting about the patients-to-be there with me. What's his line of work? Why is she here? Doesn't that one appear anxious?

Why does the woman across from me keep crossing and uncrossing her legs? Is she nervous because she's here for tests that could mean life or death, or is it that her panty hose are twisted?

I empathize with the young mother juggling a bady in her arms while trying to pacify two whinig toddlers clamboring for her attention.

I'll bet that fellow there has just had a knee replacement. I can relate to that.

I know people are sizing me up, too. I just hope they look beyond the lined face, the arthritic hands and the fat calves to see the (ahem) interesting, exciting and vibrant woman I really am.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

For the last several months, it's as though someone squeezed a drop of oil on the squeaky wheel. You would think by followin' the various meetin's concernin' the relocation of the airport that there was never any substantial resistance what-so-ever.

The pro-airport faction in the community has worked like a steady flow of the Spring River cutting a groove in a outcropping of Carthage marble. Sometimes diverted temporarily by a log jam or two, but always keeping the pressure applied. Persistence is a powerful force that typically will find openings otherwise hidden.

There is no doubt still some opposition as the possibility of an actual land purchase becomes nearer to reality. But the airport momentum is being pulled into a concentrated stream that pushes the water wheel, driving the mill that will grind the last kernel of doubt into oblivion.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin'.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click and Clack Talk Cars

Dear Tom and Ray:

We own a 1984 Chevy Van, which we bought used. Since we've owned it, it has not passed our state emissions test. We bring it in, and it doesn't pass. Then we take it to our mechanic, and he brings it in. He gets it to pass every time. Can you tell me what he's doing to the van to get it to pass?-Luie

TOM: Well, there are two possibilities, Luie. One is that he's using the technique known in the automobile industry as the "Double Jackson Method."

RAY: That's where he hands the inspector two folded-up Andrew Jacksons and says, "Buddy, pass me, will ya?" That's illegal, immoral and unethical.

TOM: Not to mention expensive.

RAY: So it's more likely that he's playing with your timing. On a lot of marginal cars, if you retard the timing enough, you can usually get it to pass the emissions test. The problem is that with the spark occuring so late, the car has almost no power, making it practically undrivable. When it's really warmed up, you might get it to run well enough as not to arouse suspicion. And that's what I suspect he's doing.

TOM: Right. He gets the van good and warm, then stops around the corner from the testing station and retards the timing. The access to the engine is right between the seats, so he doesn't even have to get out and poop the hood!

RAY: Then he drives the thing around the corner, passes the emissions test, and as he's backing out of the garage bay, he resets the timing and goes on his way.

TOM:And that's illegal, immoral and unethical, too!

RAY: Not to mention wrong.

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