Today's Feature

Preparing for Marian Days.

The Carthage Police Department is preparing for the 31st Annual Marian Days celebration, which is to be held August 6 through 10 at the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix campus on Grand Street in Carthage.

The event calls in help from the Jasper County Sheriff, Joplin Police Department, Webb City Police Department, Carl Junction Police Department and a number of investigators from different states, all of whom coordinate with the Carthage Police Department. The FBI will also be present at the event for interpreting services.

In addition to man-power the Department relies on a mobile command center for coordinating the efforts of the officers. The command center is used for communication between officers and also utilizes video surveillance of the grounds. The department plans to retrieve and bring the command center to Carthage on Friday of this week.

"I think preparations are going very well," said Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan. "Everything is right on schedule."

Blockades are scheduled to be placed on Grand Street in front of the campus on Wednesday, August 6 at 7:00 p.m.

Marian Days brings between 60,000 and 70,000 Vietnamese Catholics to Carthage each year for a celebration of religion, family, and faith.

Mornin',

Two can live as cheaply as one, the old sayin’ goes, as long as one doesn’t eat.

I see on several fronts that there is somewhat of a movement afloat for folks to not be afflicted by what they are callin’ "affluenza."

One article I happened upon made note of the difference in lifestyle that makes the two income family a necessity. The comparison was the average house of the fifty’s. Around 1,100 square feet, no air conditioning, maybe a one car garage. Today the average size has raised to nearly 2,000 square feet with all the extras. ‘Course if ya go back to the days this area was bein’ settled, the whole family typically worked the farm. Havin’ only two workers in the family would have been a real luxury.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Click & Clack Talk Cars
By Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I was coming home from bowling the other night, and I passed my buddy going down the road. We stopped and started talking when all of a sudden he asked me, "What the heck is that?" I looked up at my engine, and it was either steaming or smoking. Upon looking under the hood, you could definitely smell antifreeze burning, and the smoke was doming from the radiator. Do you think that I have a bad radiator and need to replace the entire thing? Now there is antifreeze coming from under the car, so someone told me to put Bar’s Leaks in the radiator. I have a 1991 Pontiac 6000 V6. Thanks, Travis.

RAY: I’d start by checking the simple stuff first. The thing I’d suspect first would be the cooling fan.

TOM: If your cooling fan bit the dust at some point, like 1998 or last week, you might not have noticed because as long as you’re moving, air is flowing through the radiator and helping to cool the engine.

RAY: It’s only when you stop, say, at a railroad crossing, to let a 200 car freight train go by, or to chat with your buddy, that you really need the cooling fan to simulate the airflow you normally get when the car is moving.

TOM: So, while you sat there chatting for five to fifteen minutes, with no cooling fan, the engine was getting hotter and hotter. Finally, it overheated, your coolant boiled over, and that boiling coolant blew a hole in a weakened hose or maybe even the radiator itself. That explains the steam, the smell of hot coolant and the puddle under your car.

RAY: With a car this old, you may need a cooling fan, a new hose, a new radiator and a new engine as well. There are no guarantees here so start with the simple inexpensive repairs first.