 |
|
|
 |
Support our local business community
At local retailers, the school supplies have appeared on shelves, and back-to-school clothes and other items have made it to the racks. In just a few weeks—the first weekend in August, in fact—Missouri will have its annual sales tax holiday for back-to-school purchases, helping families to stretch their shopping dollars a little further.
That extra little stretch is important in times like these, when unemployment remains near 10 percent, many salaries are frozen or dropping and plenty of people are just trying to make it through the lean times.
But as you seek to squeeze just a little more use out of your hard-earned pay, remember that others are struggling, too. Small businesses, and to a lesser extent larger ones as well, are facing the same lean times. Their future is made more uncertain when shoppers zip past their doors in favor of sales in other stores or even other communities.
Sometimes we have to go outside our city limits to shop, because not every type of merchandise is available here. But many things are available in Excelsior Springs, and usually at a competitive price, with less distance to drive. Plus, supporting local business means you’re supporting local jobs and boosting your own community’s tax base. That, in turn, makes it more likely that retailers will see Excelsior Springs as an attractive market.
Shop local when possible.
All in the name of science
In case you missed it, Paul Dawson, a professor at Clemson University, had a piece in this month’s National Geographic that touched on one of the most pressing issues of our time.
His conclusion: The five-second rule is a bunch of hooey.
You know, the five-second rule…the claim that if you drop food on the ground, you have five full seconds before any dirt, germs or other nasty additions latch onto it.
You might believe that a Clemson researcher would have better ways to spend his time, especially considering that no one I’ve ever met truly believes in the five-second rule. It’s a joke, people—usually used when a food is dropped on a relatively clean surface and the food’s exterior is generally smooth and featureless. In other words, if one drops a grape on a freshly-wiped-down counter, one might reference the five-second rule before popping it into one’s mouth.
On the other hand, if one drops a slice of bread on a heavily-traveled public sidewalk, the rule is never mentioned—unless the raccoons talk about it when they find a whole slice of bread in the trash can that night.
It’s these kinds of “scientific pursuits” that make me wonder whether researchers have anything better to do with their time. The last time I knew, we were still trying to find cures for cancer, AIDS and any number of other ailments. There’s always energy research, or even space travel is still wide open—since four decades later, no manned spacecraft have gone any further than that moon flight back in 1969.
The research sounds oh-so-official, finding that bacteria can live on surfaces for weeks, and can be transferred to food as soon as the two surfaces come in contact with one another.
Other experts point out that the time is less important than the location. As I noted earlier, these differing opinions say that a clean surface and a food that has a relatively smooth exterior make contamination less likely.
But instead of taking comfort in the fact that others support my viewpoint, I’m disturbed at the ramifications of a “body of research” here. That means several scientists have undertaken this direction of study, taking literally the idea that people think that dropping a donut on the ground is safe as long as you snatch it up before five seconds. Because obviously, the germs each have tiny stopwatches, and they know not to move until the five-second mark has passed.
I know it shouldn’t bother me. Someone felt that it was worthwhile to pay these scientists to conduct these studies, and I’m not the kind of person who insists he knows how someone else’s money should be spent. On the other hand, I suspect some of these researchers were paid at least partly using public funds—and that’s my money, at some level.
But now that we’ve established this as a valid area of research, it opens up a whole new realm of science. Maybe they could test the theory that broken cookies are healthier because the calories have leaked out.
It’s not any crazier than the five-second rule, after all.
We'd like to hear what you think about this issue. Click here to email us your opinion.
Want to read more?
For complete opinion page coverage, including letters to the editor, subscribe to the Excelsior Springs Standard. Sign up for the Standard today and receive one month free delivery and our special Profile 2009 edition!
Return to top
|
|
|
|
Contact your elected officials:
EXCELSIOR SPRINGS
City Council:
Carolyn Schutte, Mayor
Ambrose Buckman, Mayor Pro Tem
Ken Fousek
Jim Nelson
Sonny Parker
School Board:
Bill Halberstadt, President
John McGovern, Vice President
Roy Arnold
Susan Edwards
Tray Harkins
Jim McCullough
Kristi Shewell
FEDERAL & STATE
Senator Kit Bond
274 Russell Senate Office Blvd.
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 22-5721
Send Email
Senator Claire McCaskill
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-6154
Send Email
Congressman Sam Graves
1407 Longworth House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-7041
Govenor Jay Nixon
P.O. Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102
(573) 751-3222
State Sen. Bill Stouffer
Rm. 332, State Capitol
Jefferson City, Mo. 65101
(573) 751-1507
Rep. Bob Nance
Rm. 201D, State Capitol
Jefferson City, Mo. 65101
(573) 751-1468
Send Email
|
|
