DOGWOOD-AZALEA FESTIVAL POINTS UP REGION'S POTENTIAL

Saturday morning, I traveled to Charleston for the 25th annual Dogwood-Azalea Festival. I participated in the Queen crowning ceremony and walked in the parade that followed. It was a beautiful way to spend a Saturday morning.

Charleston's annual festival continues today, and beautiful weather is the forecast. Although the dogwoods are not yet at their peak, you could find many poorer ways to spend a spring Sunday afternoon after church than to travel there and take in the sights. Charleston is a lovely town, and the property owners along Commercial and other streets take an obvious pride in the appearance of their properties. It shows in their meticulous attention to their homes and yards. A real pleasure to behold.

* * * * *

This coming weekend (April 24-25) we'll see the third annual Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive. The route is sketched in an area encompassed by the north entry at the Biehle exit off I-55, a south entry at the Cape waterfront, and a west entry in Marble Hill at the junction of Highways 51 and 34.

We need to be stressing our area's natural beauty more and more, and looking for ways to promote it. Bed and breakfasts, bike paths, festivals, lakes and recreation, whatever. Tourism and the hospitality industry are already our state's number two industry; within this decade, they will probably move into the number one position.

How big can tourism be? An example helps to illustrate. In January, 1992, the Mel Tillis Theatre in Branson had 391 bus tours (45 people per bus) booked for the year 1992. One theatre's annual advance bookings.

This year, in January, 1993, the same Mel Tillis Theatre had over four thousand bus tours already booked for the year 1993.

* * * * *

School funding debate

As you listen to and read the debate raging over school funding in Missouri, keep two sets of numbers in mind. The numbers I'm referring to are from a little pamphlet published by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Robert Bartman, Commissioner. It's entitled "Pocket Facts: Statistics and Trends in Missouri Public Schools, 1981-1991." The categories to remember are these:

Current Expenditures

1980-81:

$1.59 billion

Current Expenditures

1990-91:

$3.2 billion

Change, 1981-91:

101.7 percent increase.

Now, let's do the same numbers, looked at in a different manner. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education informs us that Current Expenditures Per ADA (Average Daily Attendance) are as follows:

1980-81:

$2108

1990-91:

$4383

Change, 1981-91:

107.9 percent increase.

I approach the final four weeks of the first regular session of the 87th General Assembly with an open mind regarding school funding issues. However, I'll be keeping these numbers in mind as I participate in debate over a new foundation formula.

What do you think?

* * * * *

"Because all And I underline the word all taxes have a repressive effect on economic activity, that means they are costly to the economy to impose."

Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee.