Today's Feature

Rejected Special Use Addition.

The Carthage City Council rejected the addition of a new special use permit category for the City Code at the Council meeting Tuesday. The new section would have allowed for pet cemeteries. The current list of special use permits, under the category of "cemeteries, mausoleums or crematories" only allows for the burial of the human deceased. The new section was proposed after Park Cemetery had requested to use a section of land as a designated burial ground for pets.

Councilmember Jim Woestman at the meeting opposed the new Special Use section saying that he did not approve the pet cemetery sharing property with the regular cemetery.

"They need to get their own spot," said Woestman.

City Charter dictates that an ordinance must have 6 approving votes from Council members in order to pass. The Council vote was tied 5 to 5 and therefore the ordinance failed. Those who voted against included; Claude Newport, Larry Ross, Ronnie Wells, Tom Flanigan and Jim Woestman. Those who voted for included; Jackie Boyer, Diane Sharits, Bill Welch, Bill Johnson and Mike Harris.

Council subsequently bypassed the ordinance requesting the enactment of the special use permit at Park Cemetery, as there was no special use permit to implement.

Other items of business from the meeting included the rejection of the rezoning at 1926 and 1921 South Garrison. The requested zoning would have allowed for the sale of alcohol by the drink in the businesses. 1926 South Garrison is the former Hazlett’s building.

Owner Vince Scott told Council at the previous meeting that he had requested the rezoning in attempts to open a restaurant that could serve wine with dinner. Also at the previous meeting several neighbors of the property attended and spoke against the rezoning. At that time City Administrator Tom Short recommended the addition of a new special use permit as an alternative to the rezoning. The special use permit could be tailored to meet the requests of the owner and to enforce a ratio of food sales to alcohol sales. The details of the special use permit are currently being evaluated by the City.

Stench Report:
Wednesday,
3/28/06

No Smells

There are plenty of tv shows that I don’t like, I don’t watch ‘em.

Back when there were only three networks and we could only get decent reception on two of ‘em, I wasn’t near so picky. ‘Course I was just a kid too. Didn’t know no better. (or Mom was in control of the room.)

Fact is, now I can find an endless number of tv shows I don’t wanna watch. The fact that I can determine in three seconds whether or not I’m interested sometimes annoyin’ to others in the room who don’t have a remote however.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Dear Tom and Ray:

A few weeks ago on your radio show, you got a call from a woman who asked you guys to settle a two-part dispute with her husband. Her husband objected to her heavy key chain, and she was told that her husband was right: Heavy key chains can indeed cause damage to the key-shaft thingy. However, I distinctly remember that back in 2002, you had a similar call from a woman who was borrowing her father’s car, and it was being lent to her only on the condition that she remove other keys from her key ring so that no extra weight hung off the ignition key. You told HER that the extra weight from other keys was so negligible that it would not cause any damage. So, which is it? Thanks, and keep up the great work.

RAY: Yeah. Well, we recently heard from that woman in 2002. She’s currently estranged from her father. Her key chain broke his ignition switch, and now he’s cut her out of the will!

TOM: Actually, the answer is that excessive weight CAN damage the ignition switch. We see it most often on Volkswagens, for some reason. But it happens on other cars too.

RAY: But the key (no pun intended) is the definition of "excessive." I don’t remember the call from 2002, but we probably asked her how many keys she was talking about. If you have seven or eight keys on your key ring, you’re not going to do any damage. The ignition switch can handle that.

TOM: But if you carry around 20 keys, that’s a fair amount of weight. That constant downward tug on the ignition switch can cause it to wear out prematurely.

RAY: So if you’ve got seven, eight or even 10 keys, it’s probably not worth worrying about.

RACING
By Greg Zyla
Sponsored by Curry Automotive

NASCAR Fans Are Loyal to Sponsors

Q: Greg, I recently bought a pint of grape tomatoes and was quite surprised to see a NASCAR logo on the plastic carton. The tomatoes were grown and packaged by East Coast Brokers and Packers of Plant City, Fla. By purchasing this product, am I supporting one of my favorite sports? -- M.P.P, White River Junction, Vt.

A: Yes, you are. Many non-automotive companies rely on NASCAR racing to deliver their consumer messages (and ultimately products) to the sport’s millions of fans. It is proven that auto racing, and especially NASCAR, is the best advertising buy, dollar for dollar, a company can make in sports marketing.

NASCAR fans are extremely loyal, and indeed buy products based solely on the company’s support of their sport. There are many avenues available to companies, including major sponsorship of a car or team (up to $18 million per car), associate sponsorship (up to $6 million), official sanctioning body sponsors, promotional partners, contingency sponsors and the big-money entitlement sponsors like the Busch Series or Nextel Cup.

Personally, I feel that being a sponsor in racing offers more corporate entertainment and better TV "airtime" than does buying a billboard at a baseball stadium.