Although the weather prevented two busloads of teens from other cities from arriving at the Admiral Coontz Recreation Center in Hannibal on Saturday, approximately 500 teens were crowded into the booth-filled room, according to Dr. Sandra Ahlum, leader of the sponsor, the CHART Teen Task Force.

Lyle Hoskins wouldn’t have been fighting mad had the city council’s vote gone against implementing a smoking ban beginning July 1 for events at the Admiral Coontz Recreation Center. However, the head coach and trainer of the Hannibal Armory Boxing Club admitted Wednesday he is pleased with the council’s decision.

Was the Hannibal City Council’s decision to make the Admiral Coontz Recreation Center a smoke-free building for all events legal? One opponent of the council’s decision contends it wasn’t.

The Admiral Coontz Recreation Center will become a smoke-free zone later this year.

The Ralls County Health Department and Home Health Agency in New London has scheduled the following February events. All services are provided on a nondiscriminatory basis. The Web site is ralls.lphamo.org.

Dr. Richard Draper believes the Hannibal Free Clinic is as much about healing the spirit as it is about finding a remedy for the body.
 

Gov. Jay Nixon was at two Southwest Missouri community colleges Monday to announce details of the state’s Training for Tomorrow initiative. Dr. Evelyn Jorgenson, president of Moberly Area Community College, says the $12 million initiative designed to educate Missourians in high-tech fields and get them working in growing industries, could have an impact locally.

Pledges are meant to be fulfilled. That is exactly what the Hannibal Regional Hospital Auxiliary did Monday with the presentation of an almost $87,000 check which completed its overall pledge of $500,000 to the hospital’s cardiovascular institute.

For Dr. Schuyler Metlis, it’s a chance to make a difference.
 

After being involved in the HIS KIDS organization that helps families of childhood cancer victims, Sandy and Steve Terry and friends recently decided to begin a separate organization. This is Leaps of Love, which is for families living within a 100-mile radius of Hannibal.