Boots Motel Volunteer Day Cancelled.

The Route 66 Chamber of Commerce was looking for 20 community volunteers to spend a few hours on Saturday, Nov. 12th., working on the historic 1939-era Boots Motel located on Route 66 in Carthage, Missouri. The event has been postponed to an unknown date. Route 66 Chamber DirectorRon Hart cites lack of cooperation with media outlets to publicize the event.

In a letter written to the Globe and the Carthage Press, and supplied to the Mornin’ Mail by Hart, he wrote

"I completely understand that your newspaper has a policy of not promoting for-profit businesses with free publicity, and wish I had received an earlier reply to our press release. However, I need to make several observations to show that an oversight was made in this instance.

"First, the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce , a not-for-profit organization, was the originator and sponsor of the proposed Volunteer Day event, not the owners of the Boots Motel owners, who had only granted permission to spend one day on their property to help prepare the historic motel for the coming winter, and until restoration efforts could begin next year. The event was also to be a celebration of the 85th anniversary of the establishment of Route 66, and a number of local Carthage businesses had offered to donate breakfast and lunch, supplies and other forms of assistance…..which I must now cancel with regret."

Hart’s original news released said: "This year, on 11-11-11, America celebrates Veterans Day. There is a lesser-known event that is also celebrated on November 11th by thousands of Americans, and that is the formal commissioning of the U.S. Federal Highway System, and more specifically, the most famous of them all, Route 66.

"It was on that date in 1926 that the construction of the "Mother Road of America" was officially authorized, and this year, fans and historians of U.S. Highway 66 will celebrate it’s 85th. "Birthday" at points all along it’s 2000 + mile length between Chicago and L.A."

Jasper County Jail Count

178 November 9, 2011

Total Including Placed out of County

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Stewart Makes It a Two-Car Chase

It’s seven down, three races to go in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and quite obviously far from over, but one must marvel at Tony Stewart’s versatility.

Stewart has a) won a championship before the Chase format existed in 2002; b) won a Chase without actually capturing any of the races in it, in 2005; and c) won three races in a Chase he wasn’t actually in, in 2006.

Now, at age 40, burdened by the responsibilities -- like, oh, owning his own business -- that come with advancing years, he’s turning into the oddest elder statesman since Willie Nelson.

Not for the same reasons, mind you.

Stewart is so close to the point lead, he can taste it. If it weren’t for what can only be described, in Carl Edwards’ case, as the Luck of the Missourians, Stewart might be in the driver’s seat right now instead of trying to shove Edwards out of it.

The one-time "enfant terrible" -- that’s French for "terrible child" -- is now NASCAR’s informal sergeant at arms. To his credit, he recognizes the irony.

"I’m a car owner now," he said. "I remember Joe Gibbs (for whom he was driving during his championship seasons) sitting me down and saying, ‘There are other guys working on these things, too. You knock the nose off it after a race because you’re mad at somebody, all of a sudden, you create more work for these guys.

"Maybe the crew guys need to get mad at the drivers when we do something stupid. Maybe the crew guys ought to pull the drivers back in the shop and make them fix it."

Maybe, if they’d done that back in the days of Stewart’s impetuous youth ... he’d have had to give up driving because of all the time he spent working on wrecked cars. "I can barely put something that bolts together ... together," he admitted.

Lots of chuckling took place during the winner’s press conference at Martinsville Speedway. The image of Stewart preaching moderation and advocating good sense just seemed ... hilarious.

"NASCAR has to stay involved," Stewart said. "You can’t just make it a free-for-all."

But, in a way, that’s what Stewart said he wanted. He doesn’t want a free-for-all on the track. He’s inclined to prefer a free-for-all in the garage or on pit road.

"It’s easier for drivers to handle it back here," he said. "They’ll find a way to sort it out amongst each other if you give them the opportunity."

An interestin’ note, the first Carthage board of trustees passed the first six ordinances in July 1869.

The first was to establish a regular meeting time twice a month. Ordinance number two required any property owner on the Square to construct walks of dressed flag stones or of pine or oak lumber. Ordinance number three made it illegal to block any street or sidewalk by merchandizing display. Ordinance four and five created a public pound and forbade hogs, goats, and horses to run at large. Ordinance number six made drunkenness punishable by fine.

‘Course all of these are still bein’ debated, ‘cept maybe the drunkenness one and the goats. The more things change the more they stay the same.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Weekly Column

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Two friends and I went on a road trip throughout the West Coast for six weeks in my brand-new car. I agreed that it would make the most sense to go in my car (despite the wear and tear that the long trip would put on my vehicle).

While we were in Yosemite National Park in California, we had an incident. One morning we woke up, and when we arrived at my car, the passenger-side window was smashed in and the seats were torn out. I saw crystal-clear bear paw prints all over the interior and outside of the car. The insurance company covered the damage and charged me the $500 deductible. Were my two friends obligated to pay in whole or in part for the deductible? -- Craig

TOM: I’d say yes.

RAY: Sure. If you guys had borrowed a car, for instance, from a third party, and a bear broke the window, you all would have been equally responsible, right? I mean, the only reason the car was parked where a bear could break into it was because you guys were collectively enjoying the park. So you should have split the deductible three ways.

TOM: That’s a pretty cut-and-dry case. It gets a little dicier when you’re dealing with car repairs that have no single, clear cause.

RAY: Friends setting out on a journey together could decide that they will collectively contribute 55.5 cents a mile. So if there were three of you, that’s 18.5 cents per person, per mile, including the owner of the car (who also is enjoying the trip, and so should contribute).

TOM: Then you would use that pool of money for gas, oil, parking, tolls and anything else required to complete the trip.