Golf Course Fix Approved.

Tree Carving Defeated.


The City Council authorized the contract with Wadsworth Golf Construction Tuesday evening to renovate the Municipal Golf Course. The vote was 9-0. Council member Chuck Tobrock was absent.

Tobrock and member Ronnie Wells have previously opposed most aspects of the proposed renovations to the course, and have voted against the contract.

Wells said after the meeting that he had looked at the projections of revenue and the contribution of the Steadley Trust and is now convinced that the Course will be able to support the improvement costs. He said his decision to vote for the contract was based on that belief.

The Council voted against the idea of spending $5,000 to carve images in the stump of the largest Elm tree in Missouri. The tree, located just off Macon Street, is dying and has become a safety hazard according to Public Works Committee Chair Bill Fortune. A donation of $2,500 has been secured for the carving, and other donations may keep the sculpture idea alive.

Missouri State Outstanding
History Day Teacher Award.

At the State History Day competition held on April 13, 2002, in Columbia, Missouri, Ms. Kathleen Swift, teacher of the RISE (Research Intensive Student Experience/Gifted Education) program at Carthage Junior High, was honored with the Missouri State Outstanding History Day Teacher Award.

Ms. Swift was nominated by Dr. Paul Teverow, Director of District 6, for this award. Students from the Carthage R-9 School District have participated in History Day competitions for the past eight years, and have consitently captured top awards at the district, state and national levels.

This success has been achieved through the hard work and efforts of talented students and the leadership of Ms. Swift and others who have developed this program into one of the finest in the nation.

Ms. Swift has made a commitment to education and to the children of Carthage. We are priviledged to have such an outstanding educator in our district and we congratulate her for earning this prestigious award.

Sincerely,

Gary Reed

Superintendent Carthage R-9

NASCAR to the Max

Sunday’s Talladega 500, held on the 2.66-mile Talladega (AL) Superspeedway, continued a tradition of offering a few brief periods of suspense or excitement scattered among extended periods of tedium. NASCAR officials enforce stringent engine and aerodynamic requirements for the race in the interest of fan and driver safety. These requirements usually lead to one large pack of cars running three or four abreast by 8 or 10 rows deep.

Although there is often a considerable amount of jostling within the main pack where the leading car lessens the turbulence, when one car attempts to pass the leader and encounters the increased drag he is quickly shuffled backwards.

Many drivers were heard to comment after the race, "I could catch him, but catching him and passing him are two different things." It is common for less than 1 second to separate first and last (43rd) place during the race.

All of this activity within such a condensed space often leads to what has become known as "The Big One," a multi-car crash that takes several strong cars and relegates them to the junk heap. This year’s Big One came on lap 164 of the 188 scheduled. When the dust had cleared, 24 of the 43 cars had been involved with several being able to make repairs and return to the race.

As expected team mates Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Michael Waltrip were the class of the field and held off all challengers for a 1-2 finish. Earnhardt, Jr. seems to have taken up where his late father left off. Earnhardt, Jr. lead 133 laps and scored his second straight win at the famed track where the senior Earnhardt carded 10 wins during his career.

This week the tour heads to California Speedway outside Los Angeles. The track is a 2-mile oval with little banking. The layout of the track allows driver’s ample opportunity to pass or avoid an accident if they see one occurring.

The drivers love the track because of the multiple racing lanes although the fans often desire a little more excitement than is delivered.

I like old trees.

The idea presented to the Council was to take the giant Elm down to about 15 feet and check to see if there was any serious rot. If not the carvin’ would begin.

Some thought the tree bein’ outa the public traffic would be a minus. Others thought increasin’ traffic on a dead end street would be a minus. I’m thinkin’ why not move the stump. Keep the stump as long as feasible to move it and lay it down on a base in Central Park. Nothin’ more impressive that seein’ a tree trunk with all the rings to get folks to understand the time that has passed by this tree. Tack a plaque on the tree and claim the glory. In seventy or eighty years, ya sweep up the sawdust and leave the plaque. Respect for heritage doesn’t have ta cost a lot a money.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

My wife has a Buick Skylark that seems to be overly plagued by problems. Most recently, at 34,000 miles, the timing chain broke. The car was towed to a local Buick dealer. They said the cause was "poor maintenance," and they refused to cover it under the warranty (which was about to run out). They also stated "we’ve had experience with tensioner problems under poor maintenance conditions."

I disagreed on the poor maintenance. When they removed the valve cover to show me the camshafts weren’t turning, I expected to see lots of old oil crud. But there were only four or five semi-solid globs, all smaller than a medium-size screwdriver blade. All the drain ports were very clean, and no crud was visible on any of the parts. What do you think of their diagnosis? Chilton’s manual mentions an "old" and "new" tensioner. Was the old one a problem? - Milton

Ray: Your repair slip tells us that you have GM’s infamous "Quad 4" engine. And our Buick source says they’ve redesigned the tensioner for this engine several times, largely because they can’t stop them from breaking. And, he added, this engine has been nothing but trouble.

Tom: No matter how poorly you maintained this car, it’s almost impossible for you to be at fault for a broken timing chain at 34,000 miles. They usually go 134,000 miles - at least.

Ray: I’d get in touch with your Buick Zone Representative and ask if Buick won’t reconsider reimbursing you and covering this repair under warranty. Unless they can prove that you’ve somehow abused this engine, I think you’d have a very strong case. Good luck, and even though they tried to pull a fast one on you, start by being polite - it’s much more effective.