Did Ya Know... The Powers Museum library and meeting room will be closed Saturday, Sept. 6 through Sept. 14. Anyone anticipating doing research during this time should contact the museum prior to visiting so alternative arrangements can be made. For further information, call Michele Hansford at 358-2667.

Did Ya Know... A library board meeting will be held today at the Library Annex at 5:30 p.m.

Did Ya Know... The City will be spraying for mosquitoes from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. today and tomorrow for those areas that have trash picked up on those days.

Did Ya Know... A ribbon cutting for Southwest Heating & Air will be held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, September 3 at 800 S. Garrison.

Did Ya Know... Carthage R-9 School will dismiss classes at 1:30 p.m. today.

In aerobics class I start slow and then I taper off.

I’m as nervous as a mailman at a dog show!

"I work like a beaver."

"Why? Who needs dams?"

He’s a sloppy tobacco chewer. Someday he’ll die from cancer of the beard!

Mrs. Dyer Says She Was Drugged.

Mr. And Mrs. Mark Whinery, of Muscogee, I. T., parents of Mrs. Pink Dyer, the woman who has been asleep at the poor farm for two weeks past, started with her today for the trip to Muscogee overland. They believe she was drugged by her husband and state he gave a man named Blurton and his wife $55 to dispose of her.

Mrs. Dyer roused up last evening more completely than ever before and was able to tell something of her history to Supt. Nall and County Physician F. W. Flower. She stated her husband had forced her to take some medicine a number of times and after the last time she remembers nothing until she found herself at the poor farm.

Mrs. Dyer is much better than she was when brought to the poor farm and was able to sit up last night. She seems to have lost the use of her neck and her head falls forward as though her neck was broken.

Excitement Grows For Gathering.

The week before the Midwest Gathering of the Artist is always a little nervous according to Sandy Higgins, Director of the event. This year will be the twentieth show and the show and sale will be held in Memorial Hall, reminiscent of many past shows.

The auction will be conducted at the Samuel J. Butcher North Convention Center, Friday evening, September 5. As usual a buffet beginning at 6 p.m. will be part of the pre-show event. Tickets are available for $16 at the Imagine Gallery of Fine Art on the Square and from members of this years sponsors of the Gathering, Victorian Carthage, Inc.

The art show and sale itself continues the twenty year tradition of free admission and artists will be in attendance for both the Saturday and Sunday showings. The show and sale hours will be from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. for both days.

The Lowell Davis Farm Club Event has also become a traditional gathering place for artists and supporters of the Midwest Gathering. This year the Saturday evening event will include a Barbecue and the music of a live band. Tickets are $10.

The show was founded twenty years ago by Bob Tommey, Lowell Davis, and Danny Hensley.

"When this all began they told us that we couldn't sell a painting for $4 let alone one for $400," says Bob Tommey. But we've had gross sales of $95,000.

"But the show is really for the artist. We have 150 people that want to participate but we only have room for around forty. So we have to pick and choose. We like a combination of what sells and what's different. We have to keep in mind that we don't want to get too big for our audience."

The artist donate a piece of their work as an entry fee for the show to be sold at the auction. What ever it sells for, the artist gets 60% and 40% goes for prizes and awards.

"The show is for the artist," Tommey emphasizes again. "We like to keep them happy and keep them coming back."

Lowell Davis remembers the show's beginnings as he puffs on his corn cob pipe.

"The first show we had was held at the old C&W restaurant on the square," Davis recollects. "We had three artists and there was three inches of ice on the ground. It was December 9. Everybody sold out. So we decided that if it's this much fun small, how great it would be if it were bigger."

Phone 359-5550 for information.

Director Sandy Higgins also keeps the artists in mind.

"It's amazing what the beginning artist goes through. They work so hard. I just appreciate them so much," says Higgins.

I didn’t get an "allowance" on a regular basis while growin’ up. My folks encouraged such things as paper routes or lawn mowin’ for extra money.

On the occasion that a legitimate purchase was necessary, there would always be careful consideration before the money was allocated.

Havin’ an older brother, may folks were well aware of such innocent requests as bein’ able to go out for basketball for instance. Right off the bat there was a pair a shoes. Baseball included the cleats, glove, hat, and other miscellaneous protective equipment.

‘Course as a kid, I always figured there was some deep rooted reason for it takin’ time to decide on such matters. Lookin’ back it was prob’ly more a matter of workin’ the budget to fit in another activity.

There was the understandin’ at our house that once the investment was made, an honest effort was expected. The next season’s purchase was dependent on that.

This is some fact, but mostly, Just Jake Talkin’.

The Super Handyman

by All Carrell and Kelly Carrell

Sponsored by Carthage Farm & Home Supply, Inc.

Dear Carrells: I had a spot on my concrete wall and found a liquid stain remover that is put down, covered with an absorbent and then swept away. You are probably wondering how I did this on a wall. Well, I did have to think about that one for a while. I put a sheet of plastic wrap over the spot and taped it in place, with the top left open. Then I put some solvent into the pocket. It stayed on there long enough to lift the stain. I even poured some lightweight absorbent into the pocket, and the whole thing just whisked away. - M. R.

Q: What is a "floating floor?" - B. McD.

A: A wooden floating floor is a type of laminate flooring that rests on a foam cushion underlayment. The floor planks are glued together, and baseboards hold the floor at the edges. The flooring does not touch the walls.

A floating floor can expand and contract without any buckling.

Not all flooring systems can be installed to be floating floors, but we do like the idea where it can be used.

A Super Hint - When you need to siphon water from an area, fill the hose with water up to the very end and then drop the drain end of the hose. The water coming out usually will start the siphoning for you.

Health Notes

Sponsored by McCune Brooks Hospital

Several years ago, I attended a conference in which Mickey Mantle spoke about the benefits of a medication which he said helped control the terrible pain of his various arthritic conditions. A man sitting next to me at that conference had once worked for the food and beverage division of the Hilton Hotel chain and had known the Mick years earlier when Mantle would come into the hotel restaurant and put away as much as a fifth of liquor in a night. Later, the man told me that Mantle wanted to know how he had managed to stop drinking. He said, "Mickey knows he’s killing himself, but he can’t stay off the booze more than a few weeks at a time ... I told him it’s not important how you do it - you tell yourself, you do it or you die."

Unfortunately, Mickey Mantle couldn’t just do it until many years later. By then, his liver had been ravaged by disease and had become cancerous.

While it’s sad to lose a man who was so relatively young - just 63 - and by all accounts, one of the nicest, most generous people one could hope to know - it’s equally sad to realize that many people are drinking too much and putting themselves at risk for developing hepatitis and liver cancer. What’s even sadder is that young people start to drink at younger ages, and alcohol consumption on college campuses is almost epidemic.

Commentary

by Martin "Bubs" Houhulin State Representative, District 26

A joint legislative committee has started holding hearings on what to do with the money that will be saved by not having to pay a king's ransom for school desegregation anymore. As many of you know, back in the '80s, Judge Russell Clark ordered the State to build magnificent, palatial schools, to be paid for by you, the taxpayer, to draw students into a integrated setting. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent. Huge schools with such educational necessities as Olympic size swimming pools and fencing instructors, the sword kind, not the barb wire kind, were built. Naturally, the whole project was to complete failure as is usually any project that just involves just throwing money at it. When all was said and done, the integration rate was no better than before.

Now a settlement has been reached that will allow the state to withdraw from the whole desegregation mess. This will result in millions of dollars being available in the state budget. Last year legislation was introduced that would have resulted in the money going to school districts with the most kids on free and reduced lunches. Guess where that would have been! That's right, Kansas City and St. Louis, just where it is going now! The real fallacy of that plan was that many districts such as the ones in our area have just as many kids that qualify for free lunches but don't take them out of a sense of personal responsibility. That is just so typical of government programs, they reward those the most that become the most dependent and punish those that take some responsibility. Fortunately, that legislation was defeated and now the committee has started holding hearings on what best to do with the money.

My question is, why do we have to do anything with the money? Why not give it back from whence it came, the taxpayers of Missouri? In seven short years, the budget of the state has almost doubled. That is unacceptable. How many of your household budgets have doubled in seven years? And yet, last year when we had to reduce taxes because of the State Constitution, you would have thought the state was going to have to shut down! I just see red when I hear someone say, "We can't cut taxes, the government just can't afford it. It will cost too much." The bottom line is that it is not the government's money, it belongs to you and me, the taxpayers and the state and country can never go wrong by letting people keep more of their own money.

As usual, i can be reached at 1-800-878-7126 or House Post Office, State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO 65101 or mhohulin@services.state.mo.us for your questions, comments or advice.

email:

Hello, Mornin’ Mail. We, at Congressman Roy Blunt’s office in Joplin, love reading the Mornin’ Mail on The Net. We can keep up to date on the activities in Carthage and the issues that concern Carthaginians. That means a lot to those of us who work in the Joplin office... because we are fellow Carthaginians. Keep up the good work.