Former Captain Jeff Carr turned in his resignation Tuesday. Interim Sheriff Archie Dunn reported that his resignation was effective immediately.

Dunn said he is not sure why Carr resigned.

Last month a request for reimbursements in the amount of $1,701 submitted by former Sheriff Bill Pierce was rejected after the State was informed that included on the bill was costs for Carr and his wife, Kay, to spend four days in Florida before picking up a female prisoner for a prisoner-extradition trip.

"Anytime a Sheriff is replaced, everyone in the department is to be re-commissioned immediately," said Dunn.

Former Captain Tony Coleman and his wife, deputy Stephanie Coleman did not receive their commissions.

"I read a bunch of department reports," said Dunn. "I decided not to renew their commissions."

Stephanie Coleman was intended to return to work Tuesday after a 30-day work release due to mental trauma.

"Technically, I didn’t fire them," said Dunn.

Tony Coleman had been on suspension since October for allegedly taking money from a donation to the Joplin Salvation Army collected by officers. He pleaded innocent.

Stephanie Coleman turned in a report of 63 hours of overtime for work during last summer’s Route 66 Music Festival. She was among many of the other officers who were paid twice for hours they worked, by the County and by festival organizers. Many of the other officers have reimbursed the County through working non-paid overtime hours.

"I had a deputy personally hand-deliver a letter to both Tony and Stephanie Coleman informing them that their commissions had not been renewed," stated Dunn. "They were told that they were no longer receiving a paycheck and they needed to turn in their county property."

Dunn noted that the two currently empty Captain positions should be filled by the end of this week.

"We have to fill the Captain positions," stated Dunn. "Then fill the positions of the people who took the Captain positions; there will definitely be some promotions coming."

NASCAR to the Max

There are not a lot of tracks on the NASCAR circuit that could be considered "fuel mileage tracks," or tracks where conserving fuel allows a driver an opportunity to challenge for the win.

Recently, many teams have been foregoing the conventional wisdom of stopping every caution period for fuel and tires in favor of gaining track position and hoping they have enough fuel to hold out for the win.

Last Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 from Long Pond, PA was thought to be a track where the leaders would not gamble on the fuel mileage strategy because of the 2.5-mile tracks triangular shape and the inability of the cars to coast to the pits if they ran out of fuel on the front straight.

Ryan Newman proved that conventional wisdom is not always the most prudent path. During a caution on lap 154 of the 200 scheduled, Newman and his crew elected to change two-tires, fuel up and gain track position. Thanks in large part to 14 caution laps later in the race which allowed him to further conserve fuel, Newman was able to hold off all challengers to claim his fourth victory of the season and second based on fuel economy.

Racing’s Ironman, Ricky Rudd, celebrated his 700th consecutive NASCAR start with last weekend’s race. Rudd’s streak started on January 11, 1981. Last week’s winner, Newman, was only four when Rudd’s began his streak. Rudd’s celebration was short lived as he was a victim of an engine failure.

A special paint scheme for his car was designed to mark the occasion by Rudd’s eight-year-old son Landon. Rudd’s streak hasn’t been without peril. On one occasion after a severe accident, Rudd checked himself out of the hospital; duct taped his swollen eye lids open and ran the next race.

NASCAR makes its annual visit to the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the running of the Brickyard 400. The 2.5-mile rectangular speedway is fairly flat and the race could easily turn into another fuel duel. Last year’s winner Bill Elliot hopes to make a repeat performance.

Letter to the Editor

Opinions expressed reflect those of the writer
and not necessarily those of the Mornin' Mail.

The Fourth Annual Greater Ozarks British Motoring Club’s Car and Cycle Show was a huge success thanks in part to the wonderful people and merchants of Carthage. For the fourth year in a row the show has grown. This year the official count was 103 cars and motorcycles. There were people displaying their automobiles from seven different states, representing over forty different clubs and organizations.

The setting of the Carthage Square is the perfect venue for our British Car Show. Holding the show in conjunction with the annual sidewalk sale also brings many extra shoppers to the merchants that normally would not be in Carthage.

I need to thank some of our area merchants for their generosity in donating door prizes for the show: Young’s Terrific T’s, Uptown Downtown, Southern Uniforms, Southwest Missouri Bank, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Kendrick Place, Hunter’s Main Street Wireless, 4 State Office Products, The Front Page, Econo-Lodge, Dry Gulch on the Square, D&L Variety, Carthage Hardware, Carthage Furniture Sales & Imports, Carthage Deli, Bank of America, and Abbey Title.

The car show is a nonprofit show. This year’s proceeds of over $1000 from the event were donated to Bridges for Youth.

Thank you for allowing the show to be held on the Square. We hope to hold it there for many years to come.

David Thorn

Show Chairman

It seems a little odd, or more appropriate outrageous, that the state would take a cut of the $400 federal tax break/refund given to folks with kids. From what I understand, the state is figurin’ to get 6%.

Now I’m sure not all, but most of the folks paid in the $400 bucks to start with. If they paid it to the fed, the state got its share from state income tax. Now that the money is comin’ back, the state wants another cut.

There are no doubt some legal arguments that the money is income and therefore it should be taxed. Just as I’ve also heard there is an argument that it’s impossible for a bumble bee to fly.

I suppose those of us who won’t get the $400 in the first place are the benefactors in some way - spreadin’ the wealth. It still just doesn’t quite set right.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

By Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom & Ray:

I have a 2001 Lexus RX 300. I am out of the country most of the year, so I don’t generate the miles necessary to require an oil change. However, my owner’s manual suggests that the oil be changed every year anyway. Oil doesn’t wear out if it’s just sitting there, right? So is it really necessary to change the oil annually even if you don’t drive the required 5,000 miles? And if so, why? — John

RAY: Well, the answer is yes, John. And the reason is water. Even though your oil doesn’t break down from being used over many miles, it does get contaminated by water.

TOM: Every time you drive the car, water is created by the combustion process. And some of that water inevitably gets into the crankcase and mixes with the oil. Under normal circumstances, the next time you really heated up the engine, the water in the crankcase would evaporate and be purged by the crankcase ventilation system. But since you rarely drive your car, water can build up in your crankcase.

RAY: That’s bad for a couple of reasons. No. 1, water is a lousy lubricant — at least compared with oil. So by driving the car with a mixture of water and oil as your lubricant, you risk doing internal damage to your engine.

TOM: With a mixture of oil and water in there instead of just oil, you could put 10,000 miles’ worth of wear on the engine during your 1,000 miles of annual driving.

RAY: The second problem with water is that it mixes with nitrates from the combustion process and forms acids. Those acids can attack metal parts of the engine and cause rusting and corrosion.