Teed Scheduled to Officially Announce.

Timothy "T.J." Teed a councilman for the city of Carthage, has scheduled a press conference for today, Thursday August 5th at 10 o’clock a.m. on the south steps of the Jasper County Courthouse in Carthage. Mr. Teed will be officially announcing his candidacy as an Independent Candidate for Jasper County Presiding Commissioner. All media is encouraged to attend accoding to the news release.

Mr. Teed gathered 575 signatures from Jasper County registered voters to be a candidate for the November general election.

Timothy "T.J." is a lifelong resident of Jasper County and he currently lives in Carthage, MO. He is a 1999 graduate of Sarcoxie High School and has been attending Drury University where he plans to receive his degree in history and political science. 

As councilman for the city of Carthage, Mr. Teed has served on the following committees. Budget Ways and Means, Finance and Personnel, Public Safety, Public Services and Public Works.

Mr. Teed has been the city liaison to the Carthage Chamber of Commerce, Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Harry S. Truman Coordinating Council.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Sponsored by Chad's Garage

Biffle Working Through It

Greg Biffle’s year to date has been disappointing because he hasn’t yet won a race, but in the Ford camp, there’s plenty of disappointment to go around.

Twenty races into a 36-race season, no Ford driver has won. Biffle’s third-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Brickyard 400 left him and others with a bit of optimism for the future. It was his best finish of the season, surpassing a fourth at Bristol in the season’s fifth race.

Ford’s new engine, the FR9, is now fully implemented, and that, in Biffle’s eyes, is another encouraging sign.

"I’m really proud of the guys and this engine program," he said. "This engine ran really good today, but I want to win one of these things. We had the fastest car, but the fastest car doesn’t always win. We’ve just got to take some chances to win some of these races, I guess."

Noting that stock-car racing has rewarded aggressiveness more than in past years, Biffle cited the impact of the current chassis design.

"These cars inherently take a little more abuse than the old car did," he said. "This thing is built, I don’t want to say like a battleship, but it’s built a little tougher than the old car. The old car, if you got in the fence a little bit and scraped it up, you had problems. ... This car can take a little bit more and keep going."

Biffle, 40, is a native of Vancouver, Wash. He debuted at NASCAR’s highest level in 2002 with a 13th-place finish at what is now Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The first of 14 victories occurred on July 5, 2003, at Daytona.

Only Biffle and Johnny Benson have won championships in what are now known as the Camping World Truck and Nationwide series. Biffle was the Truck titlist in 2000 and the Nationwide champ in 2002.

Biffle also is a former Raybestos Rookie of the Year in both support series. In 2003, he finished second in the (now) Sprint Cup rookie standings to the driver who won the Brickyard 400, Jamie McMurray.

In 2005, Biffle finished second to Tony Stewart in the Cup standings, and in 2008, he finished third.

At present, Biffle stands 11th in the Cup point standings. Entering the final six regular-season races, he is 78 points ahead of 13th place. Only the top 12 make the series’ championship-determining Chase for the Sprint Cup

I hear folks talkin’ a lot these days ‘bout building’ relationships. We seem ta always want to put fancy words to simple ideas. We gotta make it into somethin’ explainable.

Usually if ya think about it, friends just kinda show up. Sure ya gotta spend time with ‘em to consider ‘em a friend, but ya don’t have ta spend a lotta time figurin’ out how to build the "relationship."

I think the main reason the term has changed is people don’t get a chance to be a friend very often any more. Buildin’ a fence, gatherin in crops, lots a things used ta take a group effort that would bring people together. When ya work with folks, ya find out quick who you can count on if ya need somethin’ important done.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Columns

Dear Tom and Ray:

I wonder if you can settle an ongoing dispute that I have with my wife. She is an avid walker and an exercise freak. She wants me to join her on these power and different exercise activities. I constantly tell her that I get plenty of exercise by driving. I drive to work and back, about 20 miles each way, and frequently am driving on shopping excursions, sometimes 50 miles at a crack. I tell my wife that driving engages all the muscles around the arms, neck, shoulders and head. Additionally, it is beneficial to brain, hand, leg-and-eye coordination, and developing the whole body, as well as the mind. After a good bout of driving, I feel as healthy and refreshed as my wife does after one of her power walks. She insists that I am being delusional about the whole thing and need to put on my walking shoes. What do you think? - Jack

Ray: Well, Jack, we’re with you 100 percent. The only thing your exercise drives are missing are the large Genoa salamis and the double-chocolate milk-shakes.

Tom: Remember, nothing builds strong muscles and bones like a good drive to the mall. But diet is important, too. In order to keep the blood flowing, your arteries need those cured, fatty meats and full-fat dairy products.

Ray: And don’t forget to put the electric windows down and up a few times during each drive. You’d hate to end up with the body of Adonis, only to have weak tip of your left index finger.