Former St. Joseph School District Superintendent Dan Colgan is a glass-half-full type of guy. No doubt about it.
“I’m an optimist,” Dr. Colgan said.
Perhaps he was a bit too optimistic this time.

One of six Cameron, Mo., residents suing companies linked to a former insulation plant hopes the lawsuits bring answers about her husband’s two brain tumors.
“We want to find a link between all these brain tumors. We hope the lawsuit will put the pressure on them so that we can find that link,” said Carol Helms, whose husband, Steve, has been diagnosed with at least one malignant brain tumor.
By “them,” she was referring to the former Cameron plant, Rockwool Industries, and the state agencies that have been investigating whether there’s an above normal number of brain tumors in the Cameron area and whether environmental factors tied to the plant have played a role in the tumors.

St. Joseph School District taxpayers will see a slight increase between their 2007 and 2008 property tax bills.

First there were 10 houses in the 2500 block of Charles and Sylvanie streets.
Now there are four.
Soon there will be one.

St. Joseph School District Superintendent Melody Smith emphasized the importance of two upcoming ballot proposals during Friday morning’s annual convocation that welcomes back district staff.

CAMERON, Mo. — Many of the more than 200 people who gathered Thursday evening didn’t like state officials’ news that there’s still no answer to two of the community’s big questions: What’s causing brain tumors here? Are there more brain tumors here than normal?
Soil and water testing from areas including the drinking water supply and the site of the former Rockwool Industries insulation plant have shown no health threats, officials said.
Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Senior Services and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry presented these most recent findings in the Cameron area brain tumor investigation. The meeting was in the Cameron United Methodist Church.

Maurice Ellis, 80 at the time, had his hand in his 70-year-old dancing partner’s back pocket.

The sophomores brought what Ken Girard jokingly called “their game faces.”
They were quiet, didn’t show much expression and didn’t laugh much at his jokes.
Maybe they were tired. Or nervous. Or maybe that’s just teenagers on the first day of school.

Local youths soon will engage in something many haven’t done much of all summer: face-to-face communication. With online and text messaging communication on the rise, it hasn’t been uncommon for local children, tweens and teens to chat with friends solely through cyberspace. Even prank phone calls have gone online.

An environmental red flag was discovered at the site of a former insulation plant in Cameron, Mo. — a place suspected of being linked to what seems like a higher-than-usual number of brain tumors in the area.
High levels of lead and arsenic were discovered in a soil sample from the former Rockwool Industries plant, said Dennis Stinson, Missouri Department of Natural Resources Superfund section chief.
“This was found in just one area. It was not widespread,” Mr. Stinson said Tuesday.