Today's Feature

Selected A Project.

The City Council Public Works Committee met Tuesday afternoon in a regular session. The committee discussed two options for Special Road District project requests. 25% of the property tax collected by the Special Road District is appropriated for use improving City roads. Public Works Director Chad Wampler told the committee that the City should have two years worth of funding for a project, having not used last year’s appropriation.

The two projects discussed included improvements to Baker and Fairview, and improvements to Civil War Road. Street Commissioner Tom Shelley told the committee that the two locations were both in need of repair. The committee approved a motion to request from the Special Road District the improvements to Baker and Fairview, which will include milling and overlay on the streets. The project may be subject to negotiation by the Special Road District.

The committee also approved a bid for air conditioner replacement at the Street Department building. The committee approved the low bid from Southwest Heating and Air in the amount of $2,500. The air conditioning unit that is being replaced has been in use at the Street Department since 1982.

Today’s Chautauqua Events.

The "That’s Entertainment" Chautauqua, presented by the Missouri Humanities Council began on Wednesday, June 25 and will continue through Monday, June 30.

Today’s events include an educational program to be held in the Powers Museum, 1617 West Oak Street, at 2:00 p.m. Museum director Michele Hansford will explore the history of the Carthage Chautauqua Assembly, which was held 100 years ago. The program will highlight some of the most important people of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who visited Carthage as Chautauqua speakers.

The events will continue at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, with William Worley portraying Walt Disney in the Carthage High School Auditorium, 7th and Main street. The musical guest will be ragtime pianist Susan Cordell.

The Chautauqua is sponsored by Powers Museum, Kent D. and Mary L. Steadley Memorial Trust, Pat and Carolyn Phelps, Carthage Convention and Visitor Bureau, Grand Avenue Bed and Breakfast, the Carthage Public Library, the Friends of the Carthage Public Library, the Friends of the Webb City Public Library, the Carthage Fund and the Dr. W. Russell Smith Family Foundation Fund of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, and is presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A listing of additional events and other information may be found on the Powers Museum website. Further information about upcoming programs will be listed in tomorrow’s Mornin’ Mail.

Mornin',

I suppose it took more than a little convincin’ ta get folks ta give up on the horse and buggy. More than anything it was prob’ly the idea of bein’ comfortable witha known mode of gettin’ from here to there.

Automobiles aren’t entirely the blessin’ that proponents of that industry would have liked ever’one to believe, but they did offer a lot of advantages.

The one thing that changed the most was the amount of time folks spend just walkin’. Nowadays, a visit to a neighbor on the other side of town warrants takin’ the car.

‘Course one of the big advantages of car ownin’ is ya don’t have ta clean out the stall. Another is if ya leave the car in the garage, you don’t have ta keep puttin’ in fuel.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Click & Clack Talk Cars
By Tom and Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I just purchased a car with ESC, and have read how it is a feature that should be standard on all vehicles, it could reduce the number of accidents and save more than 10,000 lives a year. If this is so good, why does the car manufacturer provide a switch to turn it off? Thank you. Dennis

RAY: Great question. For those who aren’t familiar with automotive acronyms, ESC is the generic term for electronic stability control. We’ve also seen it call stuff like ASC, DSC, ESP, RSC, SCAS and StabilityTrak.

TOM: ESC works by using sensors to determine where the car is going, and compares that with where you WANT the car to go (by measuring steering and pedal inputs), and then helps direct the car to where you want it to go by applying the brakes on individual wheels.

RAY: Up to a point.

TOM: Right, There’s a point where even stability control can’t help you.

RAY: So, when wouldn’t you want ESC on?

TOM: The most common reason has to do with getting unstuck when you’re stuck in the snow, sand or mud. The way ESC works when you’re moving is that if it detects one or more of your wheels slipping, it applies the brake to that wheel to prevent a skid.

RAY: But if you’re stuck in the snow, for example, and your drive wheels are spinning, you might not want them to stop spinning, at least not until the car had broken free of whatever it’s stuck in. In that case, you’d turn off the ESC and turn it back on once you’re free and on your way.

TOM: But generally speaking, Dennis, it’s a life-saving technology, and you want it on all the time.