Make Mine A Deluxe.

The City Council, in its regular meeting Tuesday evening, approved a recommendation by the Public Services Committee to accept a bid of $199,942 for a multipurpose building to be located at Fair Acres Sports Complex.

The bid was submitted by G&G Construction. The vote was 9-1, with member Charlie Bastin voting against. A council bill authorizing a contract with G&G will still need to be approved by the Council.

The structure is part of the $1.3 million expansion of the sports facility funded by a grant by Steadley Trust. The expansion includes four playing fields intended for girls softball and other improvements. The Public Services Committee is responsible for oversight of the project. Committee Chair J.D. Whitledge reported that the Committee was confident that the building was worth the expenditure.

"Under the original budget," said Whitledge, "there was $76,000 budgeted for that concession stand. Let me amend that, there was $76,000 budgeted for a concession stand. This is not that concession stand. That unit has evolved from a simple window where you buy hot dogs into a storage facility; it has evolved into ADA compliant rest rooms; it has evolved into an area where the second floor will house the score keepers who will be able to see all of the fields. We are allowing for the chases for wiring, if necessary, that could be run for controlling the score boards. We are looking at something that is not just a hot dog stand. We think that facility deserves it, and after a lot of discussion, the Committee unanimously agreed that the low bid from G&G Construction (should be accepted.).

"We all know that the bidding climate is extremely high. It’s not just here, it’s nation wide. I know it’s high, it sounds high, it probably is. But we managed to save enough money, through the 203rd Engineer Battalion of the Missouri National Guard helping us out with that dirt work, that we will have the additional funds necessary, in the budget, to build this concession stand, meeting room facility and not come near touching the contingency funds that are in this budget."

The earth work contributed by the National Guard is expected to save approximately $150,000 of the $250,000 originally budgeted for that portion of the project according to Parks Administrator Alan Bull.

Whitledge then moved to accept the bid.

Bastin was recognized by the Mayor for discussion.

"How many floors does that hot dog stand have," asked Bastin.

"Two," was the answer.

"O.K. Second question," said Bastin. "Can we get any grant from Steadley."

The Mayor reminded Bastin that the entire project was funded by Steadley.

"It is Steadley," replied Bastin, "all right, just making sure. O.K., all right, that’s not so bad then."

Council member H.J. Johnson questioned Whitledge.

"My only concern is that the committee has decided there is absolutely no other place this money could be better spent at Fair Acres," said Johnson. "This is the best place to put that money the National Guard has saved us. Is that the feeling of the Committee?"

"I think so," said Whitledge.

"We’re not putting off something we will need later?" continued Johnson.

"Not at all," said Whitledge.

Johnson asked about the possibility of placing a plaque on the concession stand noting the National Guard’s contribution since their efforts allowed the upgrade of the facility.

"I can assure you that’s already been discussed and plans have been made for just such a thing," said Whitledge.

Council member Don Stearnes noted that $20,000 of the original $110,000 contingency fund has been used for an underground drainage system not in the original plans.

Business Location For Rent

Across Lyon Street from the new Jasper County Annex II

213 Lyon Street, Suite 1

Next to Carthage Printing Services

Just One Block Off the Square in Carthage, Missouri

Plenty of Excellent Parking • ADA Compliant Entry and Rest room

Approximately 1,400 Square Feet

Recent Complete Renovation

New Roof • New Wiring Inside/3 phase 220 to Building

New Drywall & Ceiling Tile

New Central Heat & Air • New Insulation Throughout

Private Front & Rear Entrance

Convenient to Downtown, Courthouse, Post Office and Banks

If you’re looking for a respectable place to do business, call

Heritage Publishing

417-358-3160

Or Stop By

213 Lyon Street, Suite 2 • Carthage, Missouri 64836

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

The announced shut down of the Big Smith facility in Carthage punctuates the awareness of the benefits of home owned businesses in the community.

In any business there are hard decisions to be made. The home field advantage can typically be the straw that tips the scales in favor of one location over another for any number of those decisions.

In the recent past we have seen the evenin’ newspaper, Big Smith, Carmar, three new car dealerships, and Tapjac be purchased by companies based outside the community. This doesn’t mean these companies are bad for the community, it is definitely better than the alternative of closing the doors. We have just lost that precious home field advantage.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click and Clack Talk Cars

Dear Tom and Ray:

I’ve been enjoying your amusingly informative column now for many years thinking I might never need your help. This despite the fact that I gave my stepdaughter my ‘82 Chevy Caprice station wagon with over 200,000 miles on it! But it was a good swap. I now have her mom’s ‘89 Volvo 240 (as well as her mom!). Both my car and I have much more mileage on us than she or her car! Now for the question. The Chevy had a much more powerful eight-cylinder engine and ran great on regular gas. The Volvo is only a four-cylinder engine, yet both the manual and the Volvo employees say it must run only on 89 octane gas. Are they nuts? Or do they know something I don’t know?—Floyd

TOM: They know about compression ratios, Floyd.

RAY: You’ve probably noticed that the Volvo is more sluggish than the Chevy was, right? But it’s not HALF as sluggish, even though it has only half as many cylinders.

TOM: And that’s (partly) because the Volvo engine is squeezing more power out of each cylinder in part due to a higher compression ratio.

RAY: The compression ratio is the difference between the volume of the cylinder before and after the compression stroke. What does that mean in plain English? It’s a measure of how much the engine compresses the fuel-and-air mixture just before the spark plug ignites it. And the more compressed the mixture, the more power it produces when it "explodes."

TOM: And our Mitchells database tells us that the Chevy’s compression ratio is 8.6 to 1, whereas the Volvo’s is a much higher 9.8 to 1.