By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Area residents got a rare opportunity for some one-on-one conversation with Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt on Friday, when he and other state officials spent the afternoon in Carthage.

A number of residents took the time to learn more about state departments by meeting with officials and seeing displays set up in the Carthage courthouse.

But several also lined up to meet individually with the governor, who sat up shop in the office of John Bartosh, presiding county commissioner. Some asked for more state help to battle sexually oriented businesses, such as the bar and video store planned for Interstate 44 between Joplin and Sarcoxie.

“Our house is the closest one, with children, to it,” said Marlo Wicklund, who brought daughter Haven, age 9, and son Caleb, age 6, with her for the meeting.

“My husband’s family have lived in that area forever,” she said. “We want to stay, and we want it to go.”

Other issues included small-town development and state prison programs, while some folks, including a few who brought their cameras, just wanted a chance to meet the top elected official in the state.

The events were part of a state program called “Capital for a Day,” when the governor and other state department heads came to Carthage to give residents “even greater access to state agencies and programs,” Blunt said.

In opening remarks, he noted there had been a significant state focus on Carthage in recent years, alluding to state agencies’ efforts to address odor problems at Renewable Environmental Solutions.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources opened a local office to monitor RES and other odor issues, and some DNR officials who were in Carthage a week ago to update city officials on those programs returned for the Friday event.

The governor also toured the Battle of Carthage State Historic Site and viewed the Fairview Avenue interchange off Highway 71. State funds helped build the interchange.

He also went to Fairview Elementary School, where he read to kindergartners, visited with school officials and other students, and observed a state-funded program designed to improve school performance, reduce violence and decrease substance abuse.

Blunt in remarks to those gathered at the courthouse emphasized state accomplishments, saying Missouri has “a good budget surplus” while many other states are experiencing shortfalls, and that 3,000 new jobs were created in January, despite a sluggish national economy.

Every state operation was represented at the Friday event, with department heads or other top officials manning tables that offered information about state programs ranging from transportation, to conservation, to prisons.