Local

It’s hard to ignore the blue signs in front of the homes on West Broadway. In a few words, the signs declare what seems to be a growing sentiment in the United States: “End the Occupation, Bring Our Troops Home.”

The signs are found on almost every corner of Columbia and serve as reminders that while President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 2, Operation Iraqi Freedom continues to put demands on the country’s troops.

They have invaded family space all over the United Kingdom and now the United States. They will rip your carpet up, cut the legs off your tables and paint your beautiful mahogany armoire blue to match a $5 lamp. They are the cast of “Trading Spaces,” the quirky interior design show on The Learning Channel.

Stephen Rust, owner of Rust & Martin Design Studio, describes the show as “marvelously entertaining” but said it is very different from his business. He said that “Trading Spaces” shows the mechanics of making a room look good but does not show the behind-the-scenes planning of design on television.

These days, many Columbians are kept extremely busy with their careers. Between work, family duties, and other commitments around the home, many people are left with little time to relax at the end of the day.

Columbian Tracie Rumford, however, has taken on the task of owning and operating her own business, and still has plenty of time to focus on relaxation techniques. Why? Because Rumford, a professional massage therapist, is the owner of Massage Works Therapeutic Massage, and helping people relax is one of the main goals of her business.

JEFFERSON CITY — As Missouri’s economy has evolved, its tax laws have not, resulting in businesses that operate under the tax radar while state coffers remain dry, State Revenue Director Carol Fisher said.

Missouri’s economy has shifted gradually from being based on manufacturing goods to providing services. The state tax code was last updated in the 1970s. Since then, the economy has shifted toward services, while the tax structure has lagged behind, Fisher said.

Dawn Richardson knows Trinity Place is not the safest place to live in Columbia, but she said privatizing her street will not rid it of violence and drugs — it will only strip residents of their individual rights.

Richardson was one of the 102 public housing residents who voted in a recent, unofficial referendum organized by Grass Roots Organizing, a local nonprofit that assists families living in poverty. The referendum was designed to measure residents’ feelings about a possible privatization of the streets adjacent to their homes.

Disputing statements made by the Cole County Sheriff, the parents of a 6-year-old boy who is the lone suspect in the shooting death of his grandfather think the shooting was an accident.

“There’s no way on earth (my son) would ever shoot his grandfather. Ever. He and his grandfather loved each other. He idolized his grandfather,” the boy’s father said.

Roy Williams fired his first shot from a handgun when he was 8 years old.

“I was raised around guns,” the Centralia resident says.

Jack L. Garrett grew up in a different era of Columbia’s history. Women’s suffrage in Missouri was less than a decade old, the Great Depression’s devastating financial collapse hadn’t hit and Charles Lindberg’s pioneering solo trans-Atlantic flight was still months away when Garrett was born into a city he remembers as a much safer place to live than it is today.

“There used to be a time when I wasn’t afraid to walk or even drive through parts of Columbia,” Garrett said. “Columbia was a little town, very comfortable to live in. There were really no problems and we didn’t have to worry much about locking doors or robbery. Now there are places in the city I won’t even go anymore.”

The ruling by a St. Louis judge that Missouri’s conceal-and-carry law violates the state constitution came as no real surprise to local state lawmakers.

Sarah Mounter owns two handguns and a shotgun. Although she doesn’t carry the handguns for protection, she said, as a woman, she feels more secure with them when she’s in her home alone.

“I do keep them accessible when I’m in my house and, yes, they do make me feel safer,” said the 40-year-old Mounter, who is a research associate in plant microbiology and pathology at MU.

Too many hours, too many patients and a lack of trust between nurses and management are to blame for nursing errors, according to a study released last week by the Institute of Medicine.

The study claimed the work environment of nurses needs to be revamped to protect patients from mistakes.

Some of us who matured in another age (BD: before deregulation) seem to have stronger feelings about stealing than people who have matured AD (after deregulation). It’s true that there have always been people in business stealing from their customers or their investors. But it was harder to get away with when you had federal agencies breathing down your throats.

JEFFERSON CITY — A 6-year-old has been taken into custody as the only suspect in the shooting death of his grandfather, said Cole County Sheriff John C. Hemeyer.

“Statements made lead us to believe he is responsible for the death of his grandfather,” Hemeyer said during a press conference Saturday night.

The Municipal Power Plant began negotiations Thursday that will bring it more than $1.2 million in revenue, all from selling pollution rights.

Plant Supervisor Tad Johnsen formalized negotiations with the Ameren Energy division of fuels and services, a gas and electric provider, to use it as a broker for the power plant. It will sell the right to generate 6,071 tons of sulfur dioxide allowances, according to a report Johnsen wrote.

Local stakeholders expressed mixed reactions to a judge’s ruling on Friday that blocked Missouri’s concealed gun law.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer issued a permanent injunction against the conceal-and-carry law, saying it violates a provision of the Missouri Constitution that says the right to bear arms “shall not justify the wearing of concealed weapons.” The ruling blocks a law passed by the Missouri General Assembly to override Gov. Bob Holden’s veto.

Last fall, MU senior Andrew Zumwalt read an article online about buying textbooks overseas.

“I thought ‘This is something I can use,’” he said.

When Boonville’s economic development director, Sarah Gallagher, thinks of the shut-down Kemper Military School, she sees it as the center of Boonville’s economic activity for the next 100 years.

Gallagher has endless ideas for the use of the property, which the city purchased for $480,000 in April.

Andrew Spain and his fellow paramedics sit in the University Hospital emergency room, making small talk, when their handheld radio crackles: “Medical emergency.” Details follow as they rush to their ambulance, Medic 20, hop in and flip on the sirens.

Spain’s partner grabs a road map and gives directions as Spain tries to balance medical urgency with safe driving. The heavy ambulance corners well but the ride is bumpy.

When I stepped out of the battered minivan in Bukit Lawang in northern Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island, I had a huge grin on my face, and not just because I had survived a hair-raising drive.

Word had it that the village was actually illegal, situated as it was inside the supposedly protected Gunung Leuser National Park. The idea of an illegal village appealed to the closet Indiana Jones in me — hence the grin.

Fred Stolle paints a bleak picture of Indonesia’s forests.

Stolle, a research associate with Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute, said logging in Indonesia is rampant. “Basically, everyone with a chainsaw is cutting the forest,” Stolle said. In recent years, government officials have linked deforestation to devastating floods in areas ranging from Mexico to the Mekong Delta. A flood in Indonesia, widely attributed to logging, killed more than 200 people.