CHART Teen Task Force has worked for years to get the message across to teens about the dangers of teen sex and promiscuity. Tops on the list of dangers are teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, both of which have lifelong consequences.
Posted here are some of the billboards the nonprofit has had up over the years. These billboards were designed by Poole Advertising in Hannibal, which is owned by Sally Poole.
Money is tight everywhere, from personal finances to those of local governments.
In Hannibal, funding that could total more than a half-million dollars outside the city’s normal operating budget is being sought. Included in those requests are …
• The Board of Public Works is asking the city to contribute toward rising costs by either paying for the utilities it uses ($170,000), eliminating a $30,000/year fee paid to the Collector’s office for handling BPW transaction, or possibly sharing some of the $400,000-plus the city will receive in new revenue next year.
• A proposal from Marion County 911 to resume charging the city for non-emergency dispatching. The cost listed in the proposal: $154,000. If the city decides not to come up with the money or can’t negotiate the cost down, Plan B could involve the city doing its own emergency dispatching. Estimated cost: $200,000-$300,000.
• The Northeast Missouri Sheltered Workshop, which currently manages the city’s drop-off recycling, wants to continue the program but can’t without help from the city. Cost to fund the program: $45,000-$75,000.
All are worthy causes, but the big question is: Where will the money come from?
The city isn’t rolling in dough either. It also contends with the rising costs, especially for things like health insurance.
And while the city may see new revenue, its property tax rate is still at $1.18 per $100 assessed valuation. That’s the same levy the city has maintained for several years. More power to the city for holding the line.
It will be interesting to see how the upcoming budget reflects the requests that have been made.
I don’t claim to be a theater critic by any stretch, but anyone looking for a couple of hours of laugh-along fun needs to check out the Hannibal Community Theater production of “See How They Run.”
(A disclaimer: My niece, Cecelia Pierceall, is in the play. Yes, I think she’s fantastic. But so is the rest of the cast in this decidedly British farce.)
The play involves multiple cases of mistaken identities, with lot of wacky British characters, including several men of the cloth, two Americans and a Russian spy, all grabbing a bit of the spotlight throughout the performance.
Three performances remain — 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At $10 a ticket for adults, and $5 for students 18 and under, it’s a steal of a deal for a couple of hours of laughter.
Some good news for workers from Hannibal and the surrounding area occurred Wednesday.
Employees with the Hannibal School District were awarded raises and the workers laid off at Contental Cement should all be called back to work by next week.
There’s no disputing that times remain tough. But it’s good news when the school district, which employs 589 people, can offer raises in spite of a tough economy.
Equally heartening is Continental Cement coming off its regularly scheduled maintenance shut down and going back into production earlier than initially indicated, and putting about one-third of its workforce of 200 people back to work.
Let’s hope both are signs of better times ahead.
The former Hannibal Regional Office Center will close its doors in about six weeks — forced to shut because the current economic crisis made it too difficult to obtain much-needed financing for improvements.
And while one of its main tenants, Moberly Area Community College, has found a temporary summer home for the summer, its fall base of operations remains undecided. The school provided classes to 300 students from its Hannibal base this spring.
The college is determined to provide for all of its students no matter what but needs a temporary place to offer classes. However, MACC wants something it won’t have to invest a lot of money in to make it usable for classes.
That’s because construction of a new MACC education center is expected to start as soon as $2.6 million in capital is raised for construction. The Affordable Community Education group working to raise that money is about one-third of the way toward that goal. In addition to the capital campaign, the project received a $1 million state grant in 2007 for construction of the center.
The hope is that MACC will be able to build a facility that can serve 1,000 students and will feature an expanded curriculum, one that specializes in associate in arts transfer degrees as well as designing other training programs for community and area industry needs.
The citizens of Hannibal voted down a measure on Tuesday that for $12 a month would have allowed the city to continue its drop-off recycling program.
The fee would have generated enough money to pay for a recycling firm, or the current provider Northeast Missouri Sheltered Workshop, to maintain the program.
The very successful program keeps plastics, aluminum and other non-biodegradable trash from our landfills, which are filling up fast. It also had the potential to provide a steady source of work for the disabled adults served by the workshop.
The workshop can no longer afford to handle the program without users assistance. The program recycled more than 500 tons of paper products alone last year, many of it coming from large, local consumers like industry and the schools.
The workshop’s board is meeting today to decide next steps, which will likely include the phasing out of its role in Hannibal’s recycling program.
What happens to this trash now?
