Today's Feature

Presented Commendations.

Police Chief Dennis Veach at Tuesday’s Council meeting presented commendations to citizen Diana Catron and Carthage Police officer Eric Wynn for their actions in during a recent situation.

According to the report, Catron observed two unfamiliar and suspicious individuals at the home of an elderly neighbor. After staying a short time the men left. Catron called the Police and reported the suspicious activity.

Officer Wynn arrived at the neighbor’s house soon thereafter where he learned that the two men had inquired about purchasing the house, which was not for sale. Wynn asked the homeowner if anything was missing from the house. The homeowner discovered that her purse was missing.

Wynn, using recent bills provided by the victim, contacted the bank to discover that an ATM card transaction was in progress at that point. The operator at the bank also was able to provide the location at which the card was being used.

Carthage Police Sergeants Strubberg and Steffen responded to the location of the card activity, and found suspects matching the description given by the witness using the ATM machine. The two men were detained.

Veach complimented the actions of Diana Catron as a concerned neighbor and the quick and professional Police work of Eric Wynn. Several Council members spoke their appreciation as well at the end of the Council meeting.

Some of the shows they considered violent at the time were the "Roadrunner" and "Starsky and Hutch."

I’m still not convinced about the Roadrunner, but I can believe that watchin’ too much Starsky and Hutch could make anyone a little edgy.

What is a little disturbin’ is compared to the level of violence on tv today, those shows would not even be on the scale. ‘Bout the most violent thing Hutch did was ta run into a tree with the "General." The next scene the car wouldn’t have a scratch. At least that’s what my delinquent friends told me.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Click & Clack Talk Cars
By Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I am an 18-year-old guy, so naturally I am trying to get as much performance out of my car as possible. I recently developed the bright idea of bypassing the air conditioner’s compressor with a shorter belt - just for the winter (I couldn’t do without AC in the summer.) I thought it would give me a little more power. Now, my old man says that if the compressor isn’t turning, it might cause some problems when I hook it back up again. Is this true, or is he just afraid that more power means more speeding tickets? - Ryan

RAY: Both, Ryan. If it’s an old compressor and you let it sit idle all winter, you take several risks. First, the seals and gaskets can dry out and crack because they won’t get lubricated.

TOM: And worse, the whole unit could simply seize up due to lack of use. So we don’t advise this route.

RAY: Plus, you won’t increase your power. On every modern car, the engine-management computer automatically shuts off the air conditioner when you call for maximum power from the engine. If you were to step on the gas to accelerate onto a highway, for example, the air conditioner would automatically be cut off during that acceleration anyway.

TOM: And you DO need the air conditioner in the winter. It’s not there just to cool the cabin. It also removes moisture from the cabin air, and it’s crucial in defogging your windshield. So in addition to not gaining any power, you won’t be able to see, either.

RAY: It’s not speeding tickets your father is worried about, Ryan, it’s hospital bills. Listen to the man.

RACING
By Greg Zyla
Sponsored by Curry Automotive

The Daytona 500

Here are my thoughts on the Daytona 500:

--FOX’s 2007 Daytona 500 resulted in a 10.1 TV Nielsen rating, comparable to the most recent averages of college football’s Bowl Championship Series and baseball’s World Series, and better than the most recent ratings of the NFL regular-season on CBS (9.7), the NCAA Men’s Final Four (8.6), the NBA Finals (8.5), the final round of the Masters (8.4) and the Kentucky Derby (8.4).

--What Michael Waltrip Racing did by getting caught spiking the fuel in the NAPA Toyota caused more front-page publicity for what was going on at Daytona than anything else prior to the green flag for the 500. It gave Toyota a black eye it didn’t deserve.

--Kelly Clarkson’s pre-race show was excellent, as was the rest of the pre-race festivities that included Grand Marshall Nicolas Cage, baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr. and national anthem singers Big and Rich.

--SPEED Channel receives major kudos for its unprecedented live coverage of the events leading up to the 500 and covering Speedweeks the way it should be covered, day and night.

--The fines handed out by NASCAR at Daytona give an indication that in 2007, there will no favorites and all will be punished. That is, up to and not including Jeff Gordon’s car being found an inch low at the rear because of a broken shock apparatus, which NASCAR deemed non-intentional.

--NASCAR needs to print a rule infraction Bible so it doesn’t get itself into situations like the above. Also, when they send those who cheat home and allow teams that struggle to make the show in a legal car, cheating will be greatly reduced.

--NASCAR made the correct call by not throwing the yellow flag with Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick racing to the finish. Had they thrown the yellow when Kyle Busch started to spin, Harvick was ahead of Martin. Also, nothing would have changed by throwing the yellow except a big argument as to why they threw the yellow when cars were crashing behind the two running side-by-side toward a waving checkered flag.

--Roush Racing is now Roush/Fenway Racing, the "Fenway" indeed connected to the Boston Red Sox organization. Could this be a pre-empting of FRANCHISING coming to NASCAR? The Red Sox organization, putting serious money into Roush’s camp, and Jack himself may be planting the seeds now for a franchising re-structure of Cup racing that could show up before the year 2010.

--Don’t feel bad for Mark Martin. Harvick’s Shell-backed Childress team won $1,510,469 for winning the 500, while Martin’s Ginn Racing/US Army team took home a cool $1,120,416 for second place. The lowest amount paid to a driver went to Kyle Petty, who finished 42nd in his Wells Fargo Dodge and took home $248,050.