Today's Feature
Public Works Rerun Meeting.

The Public Works Committee met Tuesday afternoon in a regular session. Many of the items on the agenda were repeated from the previous week due to a lack of quorum at the last meeting.

The committee approved a bid for an Elgin Crosswind street sweeper from Key Equipment in Kansas City for $103,000 after hearing information about the model from Street Commissioner Tom Shelley. The bid approved was not the lowest bid but Shelley told the Committee that it was the best bid.

The bid for financing through Key Equipment for a three year lease/purchase agreement put the annual payment at $36,037 which was the lowest financed bid. City Administrator Tom Short told the committee that financing would also be bid through local banks to see if a better price could be found. The other bids included American Equipment Co. for a Scwarze A7000 for $102,911 and from Armor Equipment for a Tymco 600 for $117,045. The item will be brought before Council at the next regular meeting.

The committee also approved amendments to an item that had already been presented before Council. Council bill 05-71 would change the processing format for boundary adjustments and split plats. The current process sends requests for these smaller adjustments through the Planning and Zoning Committee and then to Council for two readings before approval. At the request of several contractors an ordinance was drafted to shorten the amount of time taken to process these types of changes by allowing a new committee to review requests.

The bill was met with some reservations at the Council meeting. Council member Mike Harris said he feared that removing the current channels of approval would cut out citizen’s and City input. Council member Dave Woods felt similarly, wanting changes to be known to the public.

With the amendments proposed, after approval by the new committee, items would be brought to the Public Works Committee and then it would be presented to Council for approval.

Woods was in attendance of this meeting to make his concerns known and after hearing the revisions he told the committee he would be in favor of the ordinance.

"As long as it’s with these amendments, I have no problem with this," said Woods. "It still has oversight and opportunities for input."

The item will be brought back before Council at the next meeting.

Fountain Dedication.

A dedication for the newly renovated Central Park fountain was held Tuesday evening in the park. Many members of City departments and civic groups were present. Nancy Sanders, past president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, spoke briefly to the audience thanking all parties who had contributed to the renovation process either monetarily or through efforts of labor. The Women’s Service League donated the new statue to the City for use in the fountain. The statue features three Italian female figures. The Carthage Parks and Recreation Department was integral in the assembly of the new statue.

The Carthage Heartland Band provided musical entertainment for the event beginning the dedication with the Star Spangled Banner.

Stench Report:
Wednesday,
09/21/05

No Stench detected.

Most of this kids I grew up with took real pride in bein’ able to walk anywhere in bare feet this time a year. We used ta have contests walkin’ through "sticker" patches ta see who could end up with the most "goat heads" stuck to our feet.

Prob’ly the most common hazard of goin’ barefoot was stubbin’ a toe. Usually the big one. Seems like once ya stubbed a toe, it pretty well stayed with ya the rest of the summer too. Just as it would get pretty well healed up, WHAM, you’d stub it again.

If ya tried ta put a band-aid or some gauze an’ tape on it, it just made it worse. Tryin’ ta wear shoes was darn near impossible. Nothin’ ta do but tough it out, hopin’ no one happened ta step on your foot.

It took me a while, but I’m in the habit of wearin’ shoes year ‘round nowadays.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Dear Tom and Ray:

I am 17 and have been listening to your radio show with my dad for as long as I can remember. I got in my first car accident four days ago... with our garage. I was coming home late at night and accidentally drove my mom’s new Jeep Cherokee LTD into the door frame of the garage. There’s a small dent and a scratch in the paint that’s 2 inches long and a quarter of an inch high. My mom wants to get the entire quarter panel replaced, costing me about $4,000. I say that she should just go to a body shop and get the dent banged out and the scratch sanded and repainted. What would you suggest? - Katie

RAY: I suggest that you pick up some brochures from the circus, because you’ll be running away with them soon, Katie.

TOM: If you mom does want it to be absolutely, imperceptibly perfect, then the body panel should be replaced and the paint matched to the original. But I’m not sure that level of perfection is necessary. I mean, it’s only a car, right?

RAY: I think she’s just miffed at you, Katie. It’s her new car, you came home late, you were clearly having more fun than she was, and she wants to make you pay.

TOM: Here’s the deal I’d try to strike with her. Tell her you’ll get it fixed your way, and if it doesn’t look perfect to her, then you’ll go ahead and replace the whole body panel for $4,000. That’s fair right?

RAY: Then take it to the best body shop in town and ask them if they can pound it out, fill it with body filler and repaint it. My guess is that the job will set you back about $500. But it’ll look pretty darned good.

TOM: And if your mom looks at it and says it’s not good enough... then you can run away with the circus.