Today's Feature

Dump Truck Question Resolved.

The Public Works Committee met Tuesday afternoon to finish their review of the dump truck bids. Committee member Tom Flanigan was absent from the meeting.

Street Commissioner Tom Shelley had done further research into the matter of retrofitting the spreader on one of the City’s current dump trucks to the new truck in order to find which make of truck would be the most compatible.

The choice of best bid, according to Shelley, was between a Chevrolet CC7500 or a Freightliner M2-106, both of which were bid with Heil beds. The installation of the spreader on the Freightliner was quoted at $600 but the bid on the truck was $697 dollars less than the bid for the Chevy. The committee approved a motion to recommend to Council Shelley’s preference for the Freightliner with the Heil bed from Joplin Freightliner for $47,400.

Public Works Director Chad Wampler had prepared the year end report for the Public Works Department. The report shows the total permit fees collected by the department during 2004 at $32,523.10 and total construction costs at $14,088,001.31.

Straightenin’ a bicycle wheel was always a challenge as a kid. Tightenin’ one spoke, loosenin’ another. Took a special wrench too.

You’d think all spoked wheels were the same, but it appears to me that on a wooden wagon wheel, the spokes hold up the hub from the bottom. A bicycle spoke looks ta me ta hold the hub up from the top. The way they’re build, the hub hangs down from the spoke.

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t get a little too concerned about the details of how somethin’ works to the point that we spend all of our time just looking at the mechanics and don’t appreciate the function.

One thing ‘bout straightenin’ a bicycle wheel, ya got ta get it spinnin’ ta see where it’s outa shape. It’s only after ya get it put together that you can see what needs work.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Click & Clack Talk Cars

By Tom and Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

My 19-year-old son works for a rental-car company. Recently when he put the top down on a Chrysler Sebring convertible, the rear window shattered as the roof came down in back, breaking into hundreds of pieces and falling into the back seat. This was a brand-new car (600 miles). Chrysler says this problem is "not under warranty" and insinuates that my son smashed the windshield by hitting it with something, which is absolutely ridiculous. They say it is not their problem. The car-rental place is making my son foot the bill, to the tune of $700. Chrysler should

RAY: Your lawyer.

TOM: Yeah, this is ridiculous. We believe you that your sone didn’t whack the window. Windows do shatter from time to time without any obvious cause, and it’s usually because of some unseen defect in the glass.

RAY: It might have come that way from the factory, or it might have had a small crack in it from being hit by a stone during its first 600 miles. And then all it would take is some stress on the window to make it shatter.

TOM: This stress can come from being twisted slightly, as it might be when the convertible top goes down. And of course the rental car company wants your son to pay for it. Have you ever known a rental car company to say, "Ah, don’t worry about the damage, these things happen?"

RAY: So, it the rental-car company won’t be reasonable and put in an insurance claim to fix the window, as I see it, your son has three options: Have a lawyer take it up with the company, quit the job and walk away, or both. Good luck, Dawn.