Did Ya Know... The professional puppet show hosted by the Carthage Public Library will be held today at 10:30 a.m. on the east lawn of the library grounds. The show theme is "It’s Circus Time" choreographed and fast paced with up-tempo music to hold the youngster’s attention. The performance will be by the R. L. P. Puppet Co. which specializes in puppetry for young children.

Did Ya Know... The Women’s International Bowling Association will have a meeting today at Star Lanes Bowling Alley at 7 p.m. Leagues will start the week of August 25th.

Did Ya Know... Daniel New will be speaking about his son, Michael today at Memorial Hall at 7 p.m. Michael New was a former army specialist. He was dishonorably discharged from the U. S. Army for disobeying an unlawful order to wear United Nations insignia on his battle dress uniform.

"So how did it go at the golf course today?" the fellow asked his 6 month pregnant wife as she came in the door. "How did it go?" she asked. "It went great. I played so well that when I walked off the eighteenth green, I actually felt the baby applaud!"

We need a law that will permit a voter to sue a candidate for breach of promise.

Orthopedists get all the breaks.

Miss Frances Sigler entertained a number of her young friends in honor of her 12th birthday at her home on North Garrison Avenue this afternoon. The young folks had a jolly time at games, etc. Light refreshments, suitable for the hot weather, were served. The little hostess was assisted in entertaining by Miss Gertrude Harker. Some of the invited guests were: Misses Ethel Tholborn of Webb City, Myra Moore, Sabra May Cornell, Clyde and Blauche Cox, Anna Woods, Edna Zilbart, Ethel Martin, Elsie McElroy, Agnes Luscombe, Charlotte Reed, Belle Davison, Ruby Phelps, Edith Brinkerhoff, and others.

County Surveyor Cyrus N. Clark went to Carl Junction today to look after some bridge work. Dave Miller, who had the contract for rebuilding the Lehigh bridge, expects to be through by the middle of next week.

The Finance Committee voted Tuesday afternoon to recommend that the Council reduce the City tax levy for the upcoming year.

Under State statute the cannot realize an increase in dollars as a result of the recent reassessment. In light of the increased property values, the State set the equivalent levy at ninety-five cents per hundred. This is down from the previous dollar and two cent levy.

The action recommended by the Finance Committee would further reduce the levy another dime.

The Full Council agreed with the recommendation at the Council meeting Tuesday night and will have a final vote on the matter at its next meeting.

The result for the City will still be an increase in revenue due to annexations and a 2.5% indexed increase allowed by the State. The voluntary reduction costs the City approximately $60,000 for the year.

The reduction will amount to only a small portion of all property taxes which totaled $4.89 per hundred last year.

The Council is gonna save ya some money next year. The dime they shaved off the City property taxes is actually a bigger percentage that it initially appears. Included in the total eighty-five cent levy is nineteen cents for the Parks and Recreation system and twenty-two cents for the library.

The reduction for the City's share is close to thirty percent. Reducin' the property tax revenue from about $290,000 to around $230,000. That amounts to around $5 for ever' man, woman and child in town. Not gonna change anyone's life-style, but a good gesture and an indication of the continued move to a sales tax based local economy.

The current City revenue generators are favorable to its established citizens. Sales tax and franchise taxes (including the CW&EP transfer to the City) accounts for around half of the budget. This formula means that industry, business and non-property owners (through utility bills and sales tax) contribute substantially, although property owners still bear the brunt of financing the schools.

This is some fact, but mostly, Just Jake Talkin'.

Dear Tom and Ray: I own a 1989 Ford Probe with an automatic transmission and 107,000 miles. My question is, how can you tell when the transmission is starting to weaken? Are there any clues that a problem may be approaching, or does it sneak up on you, and suddenly your transmission is a mile behind you in the middle of the street? Every once in a while, my transmission will seem to slip between first and second, or second and third. When this happens, it’s like the car is in Neutral for a second or two while the rpm’s are still climbing. Then the car will "catch" and jerk forward. Is this my clue to "bail" and move on before major repairs are unavoidable? - Chad

Tom: You got it, baby! The "slipping" you describe is a likely sign that your automatic transmission is in trouble.

Ray: The first thing you want to know is, is there enough transmission fluid in there? If not, filling it back up may solve the problem. And if you’ve got a slow leak and you need to fill it up every 5,000 or 10,000 miles, so what, right?

Tom: If changing the fluid doesn’t help, then it’s decision time. You’ve got to decide whether or not you still love this car. If you do, you can buy a used transmission from a junkyard and have it installed for 500 bucks or so. And then if you fix the interior leaks and whatever else is wrong, you’ll probably have a working Ford Probe with 107,000 miles on it - which may be good enough for your needs.