Council Keeps Two-Hour Parking.

The official City Council vote that defeated the proposed temporary removal of the two-hour parking restriction in the downtown area was 6 against and 4 for.

Council members Claude Newport, T. J. Teed, Mike Harris, Diane Sharits, Brent Greninger and Dan Rife voted against. Public Safety Committee members Wayne Campbell, John Studebaker, and Bill Welch voted for the proposal. The Council bill was recommended to the Council by the Public Safety Committee.

The forth vote against was from member Larry Ross, who had stated in previous meetings that he would vote against. When questioned after the meeting about his vote, Ross said he accidently pressed the wrong button when his vote was cast. Since it didn’t affect the final outcome, he didn’t bring it up during the meeting.

Four business owners spoke to the Council during Citizens’ Participation and ask that the Council keep the two-hour restriction in place. Three of those own property on the Square.

No one attended the meeting that spoke in favor of the proposal.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Sponsored by Curry Automotive

All Hail Hendrick Motorsports

Among the historically significant achievements of Jimmie Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and Hendrick Motorsports:

--Johnson’s fourth straight championship was the record-tying ninth by Hendrick Motorsports. Owner Rick Hendrick has won nine of the past 15, tying him with Petty Enterprises.

--In all-time championships in major American sports leagues, the rankings are: 1) New York Yankees, 27; 2) Montreal Canadiens, 24; 3) Boston Celtics, 17; 4) Los Angeles Lakers, 15; 5) Toronto Maple Leafs, 13; 6) Green Bay Packers, 12; 7) Detroit Red Wings, 11; and 8) St. Louis Cardinals, 10. Tied with nine are Hendrick, Petty Enterprises, the Chicago Bears and Oakland Athletics.

--Knaus is the only crew chief ever to win more than two consecutive (now) Sprint Cup titles, and his overall championship total (4) ties him with Kirk Shelmerdine for second place all-time. Dale Inman won eight championships.

--Hendrick Motorsports has won four straight titles once before. In the 1990s, drivers Jeff Gordon (1995, ‘97-98) and Terry Labonte (1996) won four straight titles for Hendrick. No other team has ever won more than three straight.

--Hendrick, the Yankees and the Canadiens are the only teams in any of the major American professional-sports leagues to win four or more consecutive championships more than once.

--Hendrick drivers Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon took the top three spots in the Sprint Cup standings. That’s never happened before.

--Hendrick has won nine championships since its inception in 1984, amassing a winning percentage of .346. That’s the best in American sports history, ahead of the Celtics (.266) and the Yankees (.255).

--Since 1984, no other American professional sports team has earned as many championships as Hendrick’s nine. The Chicago Bulls won six championships during that span, followed by the Yankees and Edmonton Oilers (NHL) with five each.

--Hendrick has won at least one Cup race in 24 straight seasons (1986-2009). The streak began on Feb. 16, 1986, with Geoff Bodine’s Daytona 500 victory.

I still get a kick outa back in ‘92, when the Mornin’ Mail first started hittin’ the streets of Carthage. At the time we were in a big tado about Kellogg Lake. People were yellin’ and talks of law suits were flyin’. The Mail was keepin’ track of the goin’s on pretty much ever’day for a couple a months.

At the time onea our regular sponsors got a little worried.

"Sure," he says, People are reading the Mornin’ Mail now, but what are you going to write about when the Kellogg Lake thing settles down?"

At the time I mighta wondered a little myself, but after close ta seventeen years, this community still seems to provide pleanty of foder for folks like me ta put on the front page ever day.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

---

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

We had a dead battery and called for a jump-start. The service agent could not jump-start the battery with his cables. He then proceeded to turn another battery over and lay it on top of by battery. Is this a common practice, and is this a safe practice? Could this have caused any damage to the electrical system? He left all the accessories on, and my headlights blew out and the alternator had to be replaced. --Susan

Tom: Can it cause damage? Apparently, yes!

Ray: It shouldn’t, it it’s don correctly (leaving out, for the moment, the issue of spilled battery acid). When you jump-start a car, essentially you’re touching the terminals of two batteries together. You’re just doing it via cables. So if you remove the cables, it should work exactly the same way, electrically speaking.

Tom: Unless you touch the wrong terminals together.

Ray: Bingo.

Tom: and that’s what this guy did. He hooked up the batteries backward. They were in series - like when you line up several batteries inside the tube of a flashlight. So instead of 12 volts, he sent 24 volts through your electrical system. Any accessories that were turned off would be protected.

Ray: But some things just can’t handle 24 volts. Your headlights, for example, probably blew immediately. And if you’d had other lights on, like the taillights, they probably would’ve blown. But there won’t be any hidden damage. Anything that was harmed will be apparent to you because it doesn’t work now, or is on fire.

Tom: But you might notice that everyone on your car radio is now talking twice as fast.