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Murals
A big salute and thank you to Steve Roark for taking the leadership on the campaign to “sell” the murals of Newton and Jasper counties as tourism magnets.
Murals are the perfect art form to tell the story of a community or event. The Joplin rest stop on Interstate 44 has a mural that is one of the finest examples of a mural as tourism marketing. However, the region is blessed with murals by some of the best artists working in the mural format.
Tourism is economic development, and murals tell our story.
Great job, Steve, and all your helpers.
Vince Lindstrom
Joplin
Not alone
Much life, death, joy and pain have come about in the St. John’s Regional Medical Center.
It is a part of Joplin that has touched so many lives in one way or another. Now, the last visible chapter of the story is almost gone. It took a tornado to close this chapter of the hospital.
Construction workers toiled each day with a wrecking ball to complete the job.
St. John’s rose with trailers forming the needed place to serve Joplin and surrounding area. Then arose more solid and secure building for workers and all the people to go to and depend on for the help that is needed.
A new hospital, bigger and better, is already under construction, even before the old one has met its demise. A more awesome building is going to rise out of the destruction caused by the May 22, 2011, tornado.
The ground is being worked to make a firm foundation for the magnificent structure that will arise.
May everyone who works there be filled with the faith, the love and all the good Jesus gave us. Our town is still recovering. Thank you to everyone who has helped us and is still helping us. We are not alone.
Linda West
Joplin
Raiding senior citizens
I am one of many senior citizens who are receiving Social Security and Medicare. This is not an entitlement, this is an insurance policy.
My working days started at age 15. Every paycheck had a federal withholding to be deposited into an account meant to be paid out at our retirement age. The employers paid into this account too. There was not a choice by either employee or employer. The federal government demanded it. There would not be a problem today if the politicians had left that account alone.
In 1983, the politicians saw all that money in a trust account for all us old-timers. They couldn’t stand it. They raided that account and stole the money and used it for other programs.
Social Security is not an “entitlement.” It is an insurance policy. I have Medicare, but this 80-year-old woman still pays a monthly premium deducted before I even get the Social Security check.
Now changes are being made. The doctors do not have to accept Medicare patients. This will mean an increase in patients at the hospital emergency room. Where else will we get the medical care we need?
To those of you who object to Social Security and Medicare, take time to find out how all the changes are going to affect your parents and grandparents.
Dorothy Taylor
Joplin
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