Articles

The Columbia branch office of the Missouri Department of Revenue is one of 11 that Gov. Matt Blunt plans to shut down and replace with operations that will be run by hand-picked private contractors.

Seventeen people work at the branch office on Vandiver Drive, where residents go to get drivers licenses, to renew license plates and to pay taxes on vehicles. While the governor included the proposal in his budget for fiscal year 2006, the revenue department hopes to implement the changes as soon as late spring or early summer.

Independent film producer John Pierson will be in town this week to screen his most recent work at the True/False Film Festival. But he can never go back to Fiji, where his movie, “Reel Paradise,” was filmed.

Pierson was banned from the country after screening the raucous “Jackass” on the island of Taveuni. The film was unrated at the time, and the showing led to the banishment of Pierson, his family and, of course, the offending “Jackass.”

I think I’ve finally fallen over the edge. Here I am nearing the big 60 mark in life, and I just had braces put on my teeth. I’m not beholden to vanity. I have never minded my semi-crooked teeth. But it seems that I am a grinder, and over the past half-century, I have ground my teeth down to little stubs. My general dentist says I need to have my teeth built up, but I needed to have my overbite corrected first.

I didn’t tell anyone in my family, nor did I consult my friends. I went to my husband’s office last week, and he placed 24 little brackets on my teeth. I have always been told that I have a big mouth, but that plastic cheek and lip retractor stretched my lips until they cracked. I knew the staff was watching to see if I was going to be a wimp, so I said nothing. After the brackets were cemented on, the technician slipped a wire across each arch and cut off the ends.

Vibrant (vi´brant)

adj. 1. Pulsing or throbbing with energy or activity.

John Beverstein led the group in prayer, then picked up a hatchet. In his left hand, a credit card.

“We don’t need these,” Beverstein said as he set the plastic on a board. Bringing the hatchet down, he chopped the card in two. “Credit cards reek.”

Will Johansen’s new exercise partner, Rosie, has helped him lose 15 pounds in six weeks.

Rosie is a therapy dog that is part of the Pet Assisted Love and Support program based at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. Her current assignment is the Walking for Healthy Hearts program at Oak Towers, a Columbia retirement community.

Spring is on the horizon, but MU meteorologist Patrick Market, on the other hand, can’t wait for the next big snowstorm.

Market, an assistant professor of atmospheric science, is working to develop an accurate way to measure snowstorms containing thunder and lightning. Known as thundersnow, these severe weather events tend to produce heavy amounts of snowfall in localized areas.