Today's Feature

"No Mother To Guide Her."

News release

Stone’s Throw Dinner Theatre of Carthage, proudly presents The Upside-Down Theatre Company, bringing to you a production of Anthony Forsythe’s "No Mother To Guide Her; or More to be Pitied Than Censured", Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., at the Stone’s Throw Theatre in Carthage, Missouri. Financial assistance for this production has been provided by Missouri Arts Council, and Schmidt & Associates, PC of Carthage.

Performances are scheduled for Thursday, Friday & Saturday, December 8-10 and 15-17, and Sunday, December 11 & 19. Theatre doors open at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with dinner being served at 6:30 p.m. and the performance starting at 7:30 p.m. Sundays the doors open at 12:30 p.m. with dinner at 1:00 p.m. and the performance starting at 2:00 p.m. Admission is $19.50 for adults, $18.50 for those 55 & older, or groups of 10 or more; and $16.00 for students (16 & under) Reservations are required and may be made by calling Stone’s Throw Theatre at 417-358-9665 or Betty Bell at 417-358-7268 or by e-mailing reservations to bbell23@ipa.net. The box office will open, December 5 from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon.

This take-off of an old fashioned melodrama is directed by Brandi Graber, designed by Matt Myers, and managed by Meg Berrian. The performance will also include Christmas music by the 3 Divas! The four-state areas’ favorite comedy sopranos. The cast includes: Malvena Vibroadaway as Spring Overton, Gary Roney as Sylvester Vandenburgh, Carolyn McGowan as Effie Vandenburgh, Tyler Vickers as Casper Vandenburgh, Megan Vickers as Fifi, Jonathon Peck as Hadley, Ray Goepfert as Talbot Twillingham, Felicity Widette as Augusta Warriner, Jade Leggott as Jennifer Harvey, Brandi Graber as Dagmar Fay, Imma J. Curl as Cora Phelan, Ron Graber as Baxter Seeker, Gladys Vibroadaway as Lottie Brewster, Poodle Jones as Vandenburgh’s pianist.

The Stone’s Throw Theatre is located on the Old Route 66 Boulevard, 2 miles from the Brooklyn Heights exit in Carthage.

Please note that a firearm will be discharged during the show.

Stench Report:
Wednesday,
11/30/05

No Odor Complaints

The things I really hate ta see are the elimination of products that serve a multiple purpose. Take oil cans for instance.

Nowadays most kids would laugh if ya told ‘em oil cans could be made into "stilts." All they would picture are those little plastic bottles tied to their feet.

Back when an oil can was real metal, you could punch a couple a holes near the top, loop some bailin’ wire through ‘em. Ya grab the wire ta pull the can up against your foot and off you’d go. Trackin’ across the neighbor’s yard. It was a good afternoon project and it lasted for several adventures.

I’ve gotta wonder if sometimes progress doesn’t just cost too much.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Dear Tom and Ray:

My 1995 Honda Prelude has warning labels that say the car’s two air bags need to be inspected after 10 years. Well, it’s almost 10 years later. Is this really needed? Or was this a warning that was put in before air bags were really understood? - Seth

RAY: Well, there’s no way to really test the air bag, other than loan the car to my brother for the weekend.

TOM: Right. Without what is called a "destructive test" (actually setting it off and seeing if it works), there’s no way to know for certain that the air-bag is still in perfect condition. But based on industry experience, we know that they’re likely to be fine for the life of the car.

RAY: Volvo, which is known for its leadership in safety, originally told its customers to have their air bags replaced after 10 years, just to be safe. But based on experience, it later changed that to 15 years, and now - with even more experience - to 20 years.

TOM: They’ve had Volvos with air bags sitting out in the desert for 20 years, with the explosive chemicals just baking in the sun. Every time they test the air bags, they still work.

RAY: The electronic components of the system, however, can be checked. The air-bag system has a self diagnostic mode that checks all of its circuits every time you start the car.

TOM: If you turn the key to the "run" position, you should see an "SRS" light appear on your dashboard. It should stay on for about six seconds, and then go off. That tells you the wires are connected and the sensors are working, and the air bag is ready to go.

RAY: If the light doesn’t come on, fails to go off or flashes while you drive, then you need to see your mechanic.

RACING
by Greg Zyla
Sponsored by Curry Automotive

Hail to the King

Q: Greg, you predicted that John Force would win the NHRA Funny Car Championship, and you were wrong. Gary Scelzi deserved it, and won. — Ken R., California

A: Ken, I was wrong, plain and simple. Gary Scelzi had a decent year, as did Ron Capps and John Force, who finished second and third, respectively, in the NHRA PowerAde point standings. But I have to say that none of the top three finishers had dominant seasons, as all had trouble with consistency. Force was plagued with first-round losses in many races, and that proved to be his downfall.

Still, Scelzi deserves a lot of credit for being just the second driver in 14 years to unseat a Force-owned Funny Car from the championship laurels. The other driver who did it was Cruz Pedregon in 1994 in Joe Gibbs’ McDonalds-sponsored Pontiac.

Force won the Funny Car championship from 1990-93 and again from 1995-2003 for a total of 13 titles, with Pedregon winning in 2004 as his Castrol GTX teammate. Ironically, it was Pedregon — who left Force’s team at the end of 2004 to form his own team — who defeated Force in Round 2 at this year’s final race on a holeshot. Both Capps and Scelzi had already lost in the event, so Force indeed had a good shot at it.