Voters to choose two
For Munday City Council

by Bunny Norville

On May 10 Munday voters will go to the polls to choose two new city council members.
Three names will appear on the ballot, giving voters one extra choice in their voting privileges. Exa Lee Martinez, Durwood Thigpen and David Walsh have declared their candidacy for the soon-to-be vacant slots on the council.

The Munday City Council meets the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30 P.M.. Mayor Bob Bowen said the meetings are open to the public and public input is welcome. Bowen and the council encourages everyone to get out and vote in this important election.

The city council is the governing body of the city of Munday. The council is elected by the people of Munday to represent the people at council meetings. Mayor Bowen presides over the meetings and city manager, Dwayne Bearden, prepares an agenda for the meetings and introduces business details for the council to act on. New business can be introduced following the resolution of old business. Anyone who desires a place on the agenda must call the city secretary a week in advance of the council.meeting.

Exa Lee Martinez is a native of Munday, a Munday High School graduate, and a returnee to Munday. Martinez lived and worked for a while in Mexico. She later moved to Dallas where she worked several years for the Internal Revenue Service. Exa Lee has become a regular attender at council meetings. She has a conviction that every citizen should attend the council meetings in order to learn first hand what council meetings are all about. She also has a desire to see Munday grow in population and businesses to support that growth.

Other areas of interest for Martinez are: a complete police force, in line with our population; repair the "old" Marquee and use it again for public announcements; and she would like to see dog owners abide by the dog ordinance for the safety of their dogs, children who play in the streets and drivers. Martinez also wants to congratulate those who chose to return to Munday following their graduation from college. "Thank you for keeping Munday going."

Durwood Thigpen is a native of Munday, a Munday High School graduate and is also a returnee to Munday. A Southern gentleman, Thigpen has worked in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. He has worked for small companies and large companies for over 40 years as a purchasing director. Most of his experience was with companies whose business were farm-related or oil field-related. Thigpen hopes to use his experience and knowledge of purchasing to help save money for the city. He stands behind the principle of shopping around to find and to purchase items at the best price. Durwood also recommends using a purchase order system of buying. Related to his purchasing experience, he adds, "It is imperative to get at least three bids on repairs and other work to be done from outside the city work force."

Thigpen says, "Above all, it is important to make the best with what we have."

David Walsh, the youngest of the three candidates, is also a Munday native, a Munday High School graduate, and is a continuous resident of Munday. David is assistant manager at Lawrence Brothers Food Store. At 47, David has the most experience as a Munday resident of the three candidates. He has seen the changes as they occurred over the years. He has seen countless people come and go as well as witness the heartbreaking closure of many businesses.
Walsh wants to help better the Munday community through his service on the city council. "I’m not a yes man," he says, "and I have no axe to grind. I only want to work for the betterment of Munday." He will vote his convictions on the council.

May the best men win.

Inside City Hall

By Bunny Norville
Municipal Judge

Trash, the rat’s point of view.
Trash is wonderful,
Trash is nice, Trash is loved by rats and mice.
Trash is a delicacy,
It’s known all over the galaxy.
I know, you think I’m crazy, but really I am not,
For you understand, I’m a rat!!!
(By a third grade student.)

Rats and mice may love trash, that smelly, slimy, grimy, dirty stuff. Wonderful, now if they would all stay at the landfills. However, the EPA probably wouldn’t allow that. After all, a landfill would be unsanitary for living beings.

We are not rats or mice. That alone doesn’t make us nice. We are the two-legged animals who make trash out of good stuff. Trash is our leftovers, the stuff we can’t use or otherwise, don’t want anymore. So there are those who make billions of dollars every day, picking up people’s trash. Yes, they do.

In the 1890s, Ham Huizenga, a Dutch immigrant, began hauling garbage at $1.25 a wagon in Chicago. In 1968, his son, Wayne, and two other men founded Waste Management, Inc. and began purchasing smaller garbage collection services across the country. In 1971, Waste Management went public, and by 1972, the company had made 133 acquisitions with $82M in revenue. It had 60,000 commercial and industrial accounts and 600,000 residential customers in 19 states and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In the 1980s, WM acquired Service Corp of America (SCA) to become the largest waste hauler in the country.

Huizenga later sold his part in Waste Management and started Blockbuster. He now owns the Miami Dolphins and the Miami Heat. Needless to say, he’s one of the richest men in the world today.

The City of Munday has contracted with Allied Waste to collect solid waste inside the city limits of Munday.

Solid waste is trash. Residential solid waste means any unwanted or discarded waste materials in a solid, semi-liquid or liquid state.

Munday’s contracted day is Tuesday and collection will not begin before 7 a.m. Trash is usually collected the day after Christmas or Thanksgiving. If collection falls on bad-weather days, it will be rescheduled. A credit will not be issued due to weather conditions.

Munday uses metal bins to collect solid waste. These bins are lifted and emptied mechanically into a special out-fitted truck. Citizens are asked to place their waste in plastic bags strong enough to be lifted by the top without breaking.

Allied drivers have complained several times recently about excessive amounts of building waste inside and thrown around the outside of the bins. When this occurs they will not empty the bins. When materials cannot be bagged or bundled in three-foot lengths, other arrangements need to be worked out to dispose of the waste. Newspapers, magazines, and cardboard will also need to be tied in bundles before disposal.

Large pieces of furniture and appliances should not be placed in the bins. Cardboard boxes must be broken down before they are placed in the bins. Yard waste and grass clippings must be placed in plastic bags or the paper bags sold for that purpose. Do not place loose trimmings into the bin. Tree limbs no longer than three feet are to be strapped together and placed as a bundle into bin.

Other non-allowed items are: chemicals of any kind, pesticides or herbicides, batteries, antifreeze, asbestos, contaminated soils, paint or thinners, drums, untreated medical waste, tires, oil and oil filters, or sludge and liquids.

Allowed items (in plastic bags) include: house-type waste, paper, food wastes, cardboard (bundled), plastic and yard wastes. Dead animals weighing less than ten pounds can be thrown away, if placed in a plastic bag.

Above all, be considerate of others who also use the same bin. Do not use the bin as if it is your private property.

Why you say it: Dead as a doornail
Anything from a withered houseplant to a failed project that is beyond resurrection is likely to be described as being “dead as a doornail.”

Both mechanical and electric doorbells are recent inventions. In earlier centuries, a visitor’s arrival was announced by pounding with a knocker upon a metal plate nailed to the door.

Sometimes it took several heavy blows to attract attention. That meant nails holding the knocking plate suffered a lot of punishment. Repeatedly hit on its head, such a nail had the life pounded out of it so effectively that nothing could be deader.