Wednesday, May 7, 2014 •
2014
SECTION B
Retired teachers from southwest Centennial walkway Missouri meet in Lockwood solutions tact their representatives and state’s continued under fundsenators, urging them to strip ing of public education and the amendment from the bill claimed it would get worse if at their earliest opportunity. the current tax cut bill should LOCKWOOD-”Strength in numbers” was a recurring Strength in numbers comes become law. He cited the pritheme at a six-county meeting into play in such a situation orities of the state constitution. of retired teachers, April 24, since legislators are subject The number one obligation of the state is servicing in Lockwood. Apits debt, and number proximately 60 retirtwo is funding and ees from Region 9 of the Missouri Retired maintaining public Teachers Associaeducation for grades tion (MRTA) met to one through 12. renew their commitAlso addressing the ment to protect their meeting was current retirement system MRTA president, from government enMarilyn Skipper of croachment. The latColumbia, who said est threat is viewed to she has travelled be a bill that started over 10,000 miles in the state senate throughout the state as a modification of since being elected certain provisions represident last fall. lating to prosecuting She also stressed the attorneys. Known as theme of strength in Senate Bill 672 (SB numbers, and added 672), it was of little or membership is open no concern to retired to active teachers teachers as it moved who may purchase through the senate associate memberLamar Democrat /Richard Cooper and on to the house ships for just $15. of representatives. MRTA Executive Director Jim Kreider urged Linda Eggerman Suddenly, it became members of MRTA to “each one get one” of Lockwood, who of great concern [new members] as a method of growing the when an amendment membership of retired teachers. He spoke at chairs the Region 9 committee on prowas attached to it that the Region 9 meeting of MRTA in Lockwood. tective services, applied to the Pubwarned the gathering to pressure from their conlic School Retirement System (PSRS). All Missouri pension stituents. MRTA has a goal of about scam artists. She said the answer to any offer of unknown funds would be required to in- 25,000 members by 2015. background is always “no.” For This issue was addressed vest between two and five percent of their funds in Missouri by MRTA Executive Director individuals to check out the vaventure capital companies. This Jim Kreider as he spoke to the lidity of any questionable offer, was deemed as trouble for PSRS Lockwood gathering during she gave the telephone number with a capital T. Venture capital the afternoon session. He was of the southwest Missouri Betcompanies are considered by especially pleased by the adding ter Business Bureau, which is PSRS to be risky investments. of 700 new members to MRTA (417) 862-4222. She also passed However, of far greater concern during the first four months of along the Attorney General’s to PSRS is the state mandating 2014. He added that SB 672 is number for filing complaints, how it invests its money. That an example of what can happen (800) 392-8222. could likely be the first step in to a bill when it comes out of Entertainment during the the state taking complete con- committee and goes before the lunch hour was provided by trol of the teacher retirement full membership of the house or the Lockwood High School fund as well as all state pension senate. Such bills must be killed girls trio. funds. With that danger loom- in committee, he said, before Region 9 of MRTA includes ing, MRTA has issued a “Call to they have various amendments the counties of Barton, Dade, Action” to its 22,500 members. added to them. Jasper, Newton, McDonald, They have been urged to con- Kreider also addressed the and Barry. By RICHARD COOPER Democrat staff writer
Job numbers decline in March, Barton County loses 70 By RICHARD COOPER Democrat staff writer
JEFFERSON CITY-Of the five counties, including Barton and the surrounding four Missouri counties, only Jasper County escaped a loss of jobs in March. Seventy-three new jobs were created there, while at the same time the total number in the labor force increased by 174. This caused a fractional increase in the unemployment rate from 6.1 percent in February to 6.2 in March. Still, with the adding of 73 jobs, Jasper County became the only one of the five counties to have a positive March.
The other four fell into negative territory with Vernon County sustaining the biggest job loss at 178. Its unemployment rate was softened by an almost equal loss in the size of its labor force. With 170 dropping out, the Vernon County percentage increased only two tenths of a point to 6.8 percent. Also coming in with a 6.8 percent rate of unemployment was Dade County. It lost 30 jobs in March, while at the same time 27 persons dropped from the labor force. Barton County lost 70 jobs while the same number withdrew from its labor force. Mathematically, that raised
Barton County to 8.7 percent from March’s 8.5. Cedar County suffered a loss of 52 jobs along with a decline of 43 from its labor force. That gave it an unemployment rate of 7.0 percent, compared to 6.8 in March. In neighboring Kansas, the statewide unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, unchanged from February. All three of the counties on the state line nearest Barton County had unemployment rates that were lower than in February. Bourbon was the lowest at 4.9 percent, and Cherokee and Crawford posted 5.2 percent. All three reported 5.6 percent in February.
Two arrested for burglary of residence outside of Lamar
The Barton County Sheriff 's Office responded to a call of suspicious activity on Monday, April 28, on SE 1st Lane, just outside of Lamar in Lamar Heights. The reporting party advised that there was a home that at the time was not occupied and the caller stated that they thought somebody was inside the home because they saw lights on inside the house. Barton County Sheriff Deputy Brad Keithly responded to the address and located two women actually still inside the home. Deputy Keithly was able to order the two women from the home and take the two into custody. Officers from the Lamar Police Department responded and assisted in the clearing of the home, but no other individuals were located. The two women arrested at the scene were Lisa J. Anderson, 49, Lamar and Kimberly S. Moore, 50, also of Lamar. At the conclusion of the investigation a probable cause statement was filed with the Barton County prosecutor for the crime of burglary. Both women were served warrants on that charge and were being held in the Barton County Jail on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.
Lisa J. Anderson
P.O. Box 458 | 100 East 11th Street Lamar, Missouri 64759-0458 Phone: 417-682-5529 | Fax: 417-682-5595 info@lamardemocrat.com www.lamardemocrat.com
Kimberly S. Moore
Lamar Democrat/Richard Cooper The commemorative walkway on the northwest corner of the Barton County Courthouse lawn, a centennial project of the Rotary Club in 2005, has been fraught with numerous problems, not the least of which is standing water during times of heavy rain. Rotary officials met with the commission, April 28, to discuss possible solutions. Included were developing a drainage system and installing sections of stenciled brick-appearing concrete at each end of the walk.
BCMH patient satisfaction in top five percent The Barton County Memorial Hospital Board was called to order by Chairperson Karen Wegener on April 28. Other board members present were Jill Purinton, Mike Vaughan and Mike Buchanan, as well as a late arrival, Tom Shaw. Also in attendance were CEO Wendy Duvall, Director of Finance/CFO Michelle Casey, Director of Nursing Marlys Buckner, Human Resources Director Sheila Boice and Director Quality/Risk Management Eden Ogden. Also present was Chief of Medical Staff Dr. Thomas Hopkins. The minutes from March
see SATISFACTION, page 4B
Public Service Commission approves complicated rate settlement with MGE JEFFERSON CITY-The Missouri Public Service Commission has unanimously approved an agreement among parties in a natural gas rate case filed last September by Missouri Gas Energy (MGE). The agreement will take effect for service rendered on and after May 1. The agreement, submitted by the Office of the Public Counsel, the commission staff, MGE, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, Midwest Gas Users’ Association, and USG Corporation, resolves all issues in the case. Although not signatories to the agree-
ment, the remaining parties indicated they did not oppose the agreement. The agreement provides for a decrease in residential customer fixed rates from $28.10 to $27.87 a month until October 1. At that time, the monthly customer charge for a residential customer will go to $23.00 a month plus a delivery charge of $0.0738 per 100 cubic feet of natural gas. When MGE filed its rate increase request on September 16, 2013, it sought an increase in annual natural gas revenues of approximately $23 million, which included amounts already being collected by MGE
see RATE, page 4B
KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations seeks to add a charge to its customers bills JEFFERSON CITY-KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations Company (KCP&L-GMO) has filed an application with the Missouri Public Service Commission to add a renewable energy standard rate adjustment to the bills of its electric customers. If approved, it would appear as a separate item on the monthly electric bills of its customers. According to the application, KCP&L-GMO seeks a
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24 were approved as written. A motion was made by Vaughan that all officers be retained in their current positions, seconded by Buchanan. It was voted unanimously to retain the following officers: Karen Wegener, chairperson; Jill Purinton, vice chairperson; Mike Vaughan, secretary and Mike Buchanan, treasurer. Casey reported that overall statistics for March were down, with cardia rehab, surgery and physical therapy showing increases in activity as compared to last year. Surgery activity is
renewable energy charge, which would allow the utility to adjust rates outside the context of a general rate increase request to reflect prudently incurred renewable energy costs. These costs would be costs not already included in the utility's base rates. According to KCP&LGMO, a typical residential customer using 867 kWh a month would see a renewable energy see BILLS, page 4B
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