Committee Will Wait on Parking Decision.

The City Council Public Safety Committee will wait until its next meeting to decide whether to recommend a two month trial period with no time limits on downtown parking.

Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan questioned whether the two hour parking limit, and the effort that goes into enforcing it, was still a needed service for the downtown area.

He told the Committee that when fines are paid by mail, they are often accompanied by a nasty letter to the Parking Enforcement officer for issuing the ticket.

Business owner H.J. Johnson expressed his concern over completely eliminating the restriction. Johnson is the proprietor of this publication and operates an antique mall on the Square and a print shop just off the Square within the current two hour zone.

The Committee is interested in hearing from other business owners in the downtown area. Their next meeting will be November 17 at the Carthage Fire Department at 6:30 p.m.

From the discussion at the Public Safety meetin’ last Monday, three of the four Committee members are ready to stop the two hour parkin’ all together. City Administrator Tom Short was also speakin’ favorably of the idea. The plan he sees is to make the change at the first of the year when the City Court is moved to Memorial Hall.

It appears that ever’one just wants the parkin’ problem to go away. Mainly they want the City havin’ to deal with the problem to go away. ‘Course some don’t see it as a parkin’ problem at all, just a nuisance for those wantin’ to support the downtown.

I suppose a "test run" in the middle of winter will give the locals plenty of time to stake out their spots before the tourist return in the spring.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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HERE’S A TIP

By JoAnn Derson

• "To save water when hand-washing dishes, I clean silverware together, all at one time. I toss it into a colander as I scrub. Then, I rinse the whole lot at the same time. This saves quite a bit of water." -- P.E. in New York

• " When using metal vegetable/soup cans for storage: File the rim to get off any sharp burrs, and then dip the rim in melted wax for a protected surface. No metal "paper cuts." You can even hot-glue multiple cans of various sizes together for a mail sorter!

• If you have to work on one of your pipes, and you need it to be dry so you can solder, use a piece of bread to plug up the pipe. Take the center of a slice of white bread, and ball it up. Stick it up the pipe and make your repair. Join the pipes together and then let the water run briefly. The bread breaks down fairly quickly and washes away.

• "I keep a pants hanger (the type with two clips) in the bathtub to hang up my bathmat. I can turn the hook portion of the hanger so that it’s going over the towel rack, and the mat drips dry. I do it with the suction cups facing out, so that it doesn’t stick to the wall. This way, there’s no mildew buildup." -- A.R. in Florida

• Go Green Tip: According to Eartheasy.com, a terrific resource for eco-friendly products and information, "you can save as much as 20 percent a year on your heating bills by turning your thermostat down 7-10 degrees F. for eight hours each day." And it’s no sweat to do if you have a programmable thermostat.