City Snow Policy.

The major winter storm that created snow fall with accumulations of 12 to 18 inches has created a load for City workers and emergency crews as well as individual citizens.

The Mayor and Emergency Management officials recommended Monday that citizens consider cancelling all non-essential activities and travel for Tuesday, February 1, and Wednesday, February 2.

Mayor Mike Harris said the City has designated a special network of roads within the city as a snow route system. Snow plow crews cleared and applied deicer materials when applicable to the designated Snow Route first, which include Primary and Minor Arterial roadways, and Collector streets in priority order. "The goal is to provide emergency response and the maximum level of service to the greatest number of people as quickly as possible when winter weather affects road conditions" said Harris.

Citizens are requested to assist in the snow removal program by: parking off the street during inclement weather; trimming low hanging branches from right-of-way trees, and not allowing children to construct snow structures or sled in the right-of-way.

Snow plowed from roads could end up blocking private driveways for some time. The Street Department recognizes the inconvenience this causes. The City is unable to remove these windrows of snow from the numerous driveways within the City. To reduce the amount of snow that might block a driveway, individuals should shovel an open area approximately 15 feet long along the curbline in advance of the driveway.

The Carthage Police department advises that when road conditions get bad enough they will respond to emergency calls only. Chief Dagnan said, "We will not be able to respond to accidents unless someone is injured and will not respond to past tense crimes, only crimes in progress in which someone may be harmed or damage to property could be extreme."

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Better Times Ahead at Petty Motorsports

Petty Enterprises won 10 championships in what is now known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, a total matched only by modern dynamo Hendrick Motorsports.

But all 10 of the Petty Enterprises titles came with men named Petty behind the wheel. Richard Petty won seven championships, while his father, Lee, won three. Richard Petty’s last championship occurred in 1979.

The team currently known as Richard Petty Motorsports is descended from Petty Enterprises but is no longer wholly owned by the family. The current team, recently reconfigured once again in terms of ownership, has roots in Petty Enterprises (268 Cup victories), Robert Yates Racing (57) and Gillett Evernham Motorsports (15).

Kasey Kahne won twice in 2009 while employed at the team, but he has moved on to Team Red Bull this year and is headed for Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. A year ago, Richard Petty Motorsports entered four Fords in each Cup race: Kahne, A.J. Allmendinger, Paul Menard and Elliott Sadler. Menard has since moved to Richard Childress Racing, and Sadler is scheduled to compete in the Camping World Truck Series.

Allmendinger, who finished 19th in the 2010 Sprint Cup standings, is back, along with newcomer Marcos Ambrose, who was 26th. The team, no longer associated with previous principal owner George Gillett, will field only two Fords this year.

Petty regained control of the team and managed to acquire new investors. The decline of Gillett’s business empire created hardships, particularly during the latter half of the 2010 season.

Allmendinger hopes, and believes, that smaller will be better.

"This team has had a lot of good resources, but it was just spread too thin," he said.

"Obviously we went through a rough time at the end of last year that we fought through, and hopefully we are better because of that. We are more funded now, and more money helps."

Ambrose, the Australian driver previously at JTG/Daugherty Motorsports, said, "We need to win, no doubt about it. We expect to win. ... If we can win races and be consistent, then you never know what is possible."

I suppose like most, the last couple a days has been an inconvenience. The good part was that the blizzard of ‘011 was bad enough that the decision to just give up and hunker down didn’t take much thought. It was just too bad for most folks to get out. Beginnin’ yesterday afternoon, the real decisions started havin’ to be made. Most folks were prob’ly expected back at work today and gettin’ there no doubt is not an easy task.

The City by that time had most of the major roadways clear enough to get around, but gettin’ outa the driveway or diggin’ from under the piled snow took some major effort for most and will prob’ly continue for the next few days. Looks like the cold snap will be with us for a while and the meltin’ will be slow ta come. But like most situations, we will survive the "Blizzard of ‘011".

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Columns

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

My 17 year-old niece is interested in a 2007 Toyota Matrix, but it does not have antilock brakes (ABS). she may be heading to college in a place where it snows. Is it critical to have ABS brakes? Should this be a deal-breaker on the purchase of this car? - Carol Lee

Tom: I think so. I’d scratch it off the list.

Ray: When you’re dealing with a young driver, you want to give him or here every possible safety advantage, because we know what young people tend to do with cars, right? Drive them too fast, get distracted, make mistakes due to inexperience and crash into things.

Tom: The purpose of ABS is to allow the driver to keep steering the car during an emergency stop. Without ABS, often the wheels lock up, the car skids and turns sideways and the driver loses control. With ABS, even while slamming on the brakes, you still can steer, so you have a chance to direct the car away from an oncoming cliff or Lays Potato Chips van.

Ray: And than’t an option you want your niece to have, right?

Tom: These days, only the cheapest cars, or the cheapest versions of cars, come without ABS. And you guys found one. Congratulations! Now keep looking.