General Ewing at Powers Museum.

The Powers Museum will host William Worley as General Thomas Ewing and order #11 at 3 p.m. this Saturday.

Following Quantrill’s Aug. 21, 1863 raid on Lawrence, Ks., Brigadier General Thomas Ewing, in command of the Distinct of the Border, issued Order Number 11 on Aug. 25, 1863

General Ewing’s order mandated the evacuation of the entire civilian population of his district with the exception of a few specifically identified urban areas where those of proven loyalty could remain. The order allowed only 15 day for complete evacuation.

Under a sweltering September sun and clouds of dust, most residents of Jackson, Cass and Bates County began a march to safe havens. At this point many of the men were away fighting, so the roads were filled mostly with women, children, and old men. The good horses, wagons and buggies had been stolen by Kansas redlegs and jayhawkers, Federal soldiers or southern bushwhackers by this time. As a result most walked or led small oxen-pulled wagons. Admission is free, but limited seating. 237-0456.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

The Bottom Line Is Getting Higher

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- John Prine once sang, "Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore."

Not that it ever would, by the way. But it’s nice to wave a flag, show your pride in your country, sing the national anthem at sporting events and participate in the process that determines the future of America.

Not even Prine would suggest that your flag decal will prevent you from getting into heaven.

Many NASCAR drivers are nice guys, which is particularly appreciated by those of us who write about stock-car racing for a living. But liking someone and thinking he (or she) is a fine driver are separate issues. Being a nice guy might even give a driver a shot at making it in NASCAR, but it won’t keep him there.

It also helps to make good commercials.

NASCAR fans are a sentimental lot, and they often get upset when a nice driver gets fired. Results are what define staying power, however.

For every Jimmie Johnson who worked his way up through the ranks, building career momentum and developing into a champion, there are at least five who become relegated to the dust bin of history, leaving us occasionally to wonder whatever happened to Blake Feese or Tyler Walker or Nathan Haseleu.

There’s some truth to the notion that some of them don’t get much of a chance, given the current state of the economy and the utter dominance of Sprint Cup drivers who compete in the Nationwide Series because a) they are successful; b) they sell tickets and boost ratings; and c) sponsors like drivers who are successful because they tend to sell more of their products.

Does this Cup domination stunt the growth of young drivers? Almost to a man, they say no, right up to the point where they lose their rides and are relegated to the aforementioned dust bin of history.

But the facts say yes.

Justin Allgaier, one of few Nationwide Series "specialists" (it’s hard to call them regulars when Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Paul Menard are "regulars," too) to win a race this year, is in danger of falling through the ever-widening cracks in the system.

Predictably, the reason is that sponsorship is running out. Allgaier, to borrow that frequent cliche of the unsettled, is "looking at options." He seemed to be the lone breakthrough of the season, the only young driver about whom it could conclusively be said that the future was bright.

The problem Allgaier now faces is that of finding a team strong enough, whether in Nationwide, Sprint Cup or even Camping World Truck, to provide him with a chance to shine.

Things just seemed ta happen at our house as I was growin’ up with an older brother and younger sister. The lamp that just fell over one day. The window kicked out when someone jumped on the bed. The figurine of a little football player with its head shot off with a bb gun. (it was an excellent shot even if it was accidental by the way).

Most of the time it was pretty evident who the culprit was of course, but there were occasions when the mysterious would occur. Nobody knew anything. Us kids were fortunate to have a few neighborhood oneries who could always be called up as suspects, if the deed was outside the house at least. I don’t recall any lyin’ goin’ on, we usually fested up if ask. But if nobody asked, nobody told.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Columns

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

It occurred to me the other day that as a car is driven and the tires wear down, each tire’s circumference decreases. Since the speedometer measures speed through the revolutions of the drive shaft or something, and then converts it based on an assumption that your tires have a certain circumference? And as the tire wears and the circumference decreases, won’t the actual speed and the speed displayed on the speedometer eventually be different? And can I use this argument to get out of a speeding ticket? Todd

Tom: I was wondering where you were going with that question, Todd. Now I’ve got it.

Ray: We’ll do the math for you. Let’s say a typical new tire is 25 inches in diameter. And let’s say there’s half an inch of tread all the way around the outside. Therefore, when the tire goes from new to old, you’d lose an inch of diameter (half an inch on either side). So, in our scenario, a typical bald tire is 24 inches in diameter.

Tom: We know that the circumference of a circle is directly proportional to its diameter. So we can conclude that when you go from 25 to 24 inches in diameter, the change in the speedometer reading is 4 percent.

Ray: so the difference between a brand-new tire and a baldie changes your speedometer reading by less than 3 mph when you’re going 65.

Tom: That’s probably not enough to change a speeding ticket, Todd. Besides, it goes in the WRONG direction. While your speedometer read 80, your ticket only cited you for going 77.

Ray: Be careful they don’t drop the speeding ticket and fine you for bald tires.