St. Louis, Monday, May 3, 2010 – The American Red Cross Jefferson County Service Center honored its volunteers and community partners this month during a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at the First Baptist Church of Arnold.

A great deal of reporting has focused on public health. In 2006, the CDC reported that over 2.4 million deaths occurred in the U.S.  Nearly half of these were attributed to two causes, 631,636 due to heart disease and 559,888 due to cancer. Stroke was ranked third at 137,119 deaths and chronic lower respiratory diseases fourth at 124,583 deaths.  Although arguably, there are costs associated with poor lifestyle choices, Constitutional freedom limits government's control of citizen behavior. 
 

     I would like to let the voters in the Northwest R-1 School District know that they lost a valuable board member on April 6th.  He was dedicated to doing the best job for the district, with no personal agenda.  He was more than qualified for the position on the board, and an asset to the district statewide. His name is Nelson Weber. . .

Historic Caveland in Festus, Missouri held it's first concert in a long time.  A Los Angeles based band named Gooding ( http://www.GoodingMusic.com ) played a huge set to the delight of over 100 people invited to the event. 

Amy Schachner, a Truman State University master of arts in education student from Hillsboro, Mo., has been selected for a Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Fellowship, created to support outstanding beginning teachers. . .