Today's Feature

High Commercial Construction Reported.

The City Council Public Works Committee met Tuesday afternoon in a regular session. Public Works Department Director Chad Wampler presented the committee with the month and year end reports for construction permits for the City.

The report shows the totals from January to December of 2005. The overall construction costs for new commercial development were approximately $7.8 million and the costs for new industrial construction were approximately $24.5 million. The total cost for the 47 new single family dwelling projects was approximately $4.5 million.

Total construction costs for the year are listed at over $52.9 million with $110,328.56 collected by the Public Works Department in permit fees and miscellaneous fees.

Wampler told the committee that there are still several large projects to come, including the construction for the new McCune-Brooks Hospital and for the addition to the Carthage Public Library.

In other reports City Administrator Tom Short showed the committee a draft of an ordinance that would streamline the permit process for adding driveways. Short referenced an ordinance that is currently being assembled by the Public Safety committee to restrict vehicle parking in the front yards of City homes. Short told the committee that if the Safety committee’s ordinance passes it would be desirable to have a Public Works ordinance in place to accommodate any citizens who wish to add driveway space. The committee approved a the draft and requested a council bill for its approval. The fee for getting a driveway permit is tentatively set at $25 according to Wampler.

Wampler and Short also advised the committee that work was underway to complete a comprehensive list of permit fees for different building projects. This list would be included in the City code as a reference for citizens. According to Wampler the list should be ready by the next Public Works meeting.

Stench Report:
Wednesday,
1/4/06

No Stench Detected

‘Course when ya live in a community there are some things that just aren’t healthy. Raisin’ pigs could be considered an abuse of private rights by some neighbors. Or as we’ve seen in the past, raisin’ chickens in a residential area. With a fairly dense population, such activities can be considered a health risk.

The difference may be that the act of parkin’ a car doesn’t pose any real health risk to neighbors (as long as it’s operational), it just doesn’t do much for the neighborhood curb appeal. This could get tense.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Dear Tom and Ray:

I am writing to you at my dad’s request. Recently, my boyfriend offered to change the oil in my car for me. I have a 1992 Olds 88 in very good condition (180,000 miles). Up until now, my dad has maintained it. My boyfriend charged me $45 for parts and nothing for the work. He said most of the cost was to refill the fluid levels in the headlights. When I informed my dad of this, he called me an idiot and told me not to see this boy ever again. I don’t understand. My boyfriend said he used the "halogen" type fluid, which is supposed to be better than the standard type. What did I do wrong? - Melissa

TOM: Gee, I don’t know, Melissa. My brother tops off my headlight fluid all the time, and he usually charges me more than that.

RAY: Actually, there are two possibilities here, Melissa. One is that you misunderstood what your boyfriend said. Perhaps instead of saying he replaced the "fluid levels in the headlights," he actually said he took care of the "fluid levels AND the headlights."

TOM: Yeah. You can get halogen bulbs for that car; they cost about $50 for a pair. Add that to the oil and the filter, and your boyfriend’s actually losing money.

RAY: The other possibility is that he’s a criminal, and you should dump him and never speak to him again. Headlights don’t require any fluid.

TOM: So, ask him again what he did to your car. If he says "fluids and headlights," give him a big kiss and thank him for being such a good boyfriend.

RAY: If he says "fluid IN the headlights," dump some itching powder in his undershorts and don’t look back, Melissa.

RACING
By Greg Zyla
Sponsored by Curry Automotive

Remembering Dave MacDonald

Q: You mentioned Dave MacDonald in one of your recent columns as a driver who would have gone places had he not lost his life at the 1964 Indy 500 in that horrible crash that also took the life of Eddie Sachs. You had mentioned MacDonald and his NASCAR record, but if memory serves me right, wasn’t he a road racer? -- Andrew, Oklahoma

A: Yes, Dave was a great road racer. In fact, he only ran seven NASCAR Cup races in his career, yet still scored two second-place finishes, both on road courses.

MacDonald first came to my attention when he was winning nearly every time he entered a road race in his A and B Production SCCA Corvette "00" in the early ‘60s. He also won races for Carroll Shelby driving Shelby’s new Ford Cobras in 1963 along with teammate Bob Bondurant.

Ironically, MacDonald returned to Chevy in 1964 as one of the Chevy Corvette Grand Sport team drivers. The Grand Sport ‘Vettes were constructed under the watchful eye of several GM engineers, most notably Zora Arkus Duntov (father of the Corvette).

MacDonald was still in his 20s when he died, robbing race fans everywhere of a truly great one to be. His ‘64 Indy 500 car was owned by Mickey Thompson. It also sported a streamlined body style. (See photo).

Q: Greg, thanks for your comments on the National Sprint Car League. I agree with you that two Sprint Outlaw groups are bad for the sport. -- Dave, e-mail from California

A: How quickly things change. The National Sprint Car League is now officially a thing of the past. Turns out that promoters weren’t booking the new series, and its organizers underestimated the power that DIRT Motorsports (the main company behind the World Of Outlaws) truly wielded. Now there are a number of "former" WOO teams that are scurrying to get back in the fold.

The latest word is that 15 teams have already signed up with WOO for 2006, and the big-name defectors are not among them. Gone will be "tow money," which in the case of a nationwide touring professional that races more than 70 times a year is substantial and easily into six figures.

I’m actually very pleased with the outcome, but only because I’m a big sprint-car follower and the WOO Series has been around since mid-1978, when Ted Johnson ran the group. I would have hated to see this series broken up, like it did for a very short time in the ‘80s when a similar situation occurred. I think it called itself USA Sprint Cars, or something like that. It didn’t work.

The WOO is one of the very best racing series in the world, because if it’s excitement you’re after, a WOO race is almost a certain guarantee. So for the next several years at least, the World Of Outlaws is safe and sound.