Did Ya Know... Help with the fight against Diabetes by participating in the American Diabetes Association Walktoberfest. For information, call 1-800-254-9255.

Did Ya Know... Friends of the Library Book sale will be Sat., Sept. 6 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Carthage Library Annex.

Did Ya Know... Area Agency on Aging and The VantAge Point will have "All About Insects" by Barry Jones and video telephone at Northpark Mall on Friday, Sept. 5. For information, call 417-627-0600.

Did Ya Know... The Carthage Chamber of Commerce is offering booth space on the Downtown Carthage Square for all day, Sat., Oct. 18th. Early discounts are offered to vendors registering before Sept. 22.

"Here are four apples. Tell me: How would you divide the four apples among five children?"

"I’d make applesauce."

A guy called up his doctor and said, "My kid just swallowed a pen. What should I do?" Doc said, "Use a pencil."

"Calling car 66."

"But we are car 99."

"No, you’re car 66."

"How do you like that, we’ve been riding upside down!!!"

Course Of Popular Lectures.

A course of popular lectures in church history is to be given at the normal school this fall by the members of the Carthage Ministerial Alliance. The lectures will be purely educational in character, and will cover the subject of church history from A. D. I. to the end of the Reformation. Prof. Robinson has assigned the subjects as follows: "The Conflict of Paganism with Christianity," Dr. H. O. Scott; "The Development of the Roman Papacy," Dr. Harris; "The Relation of the Papacy to the Formation of European States," Rev. Coontz; "The Holy Roman Empire," Rector Blake; "The Reformation in Germany," Dr. J. W. Stewart; "The Reformation in England," Rev. A. J. Van Wagner; "The Reformation in Scotland," Rev. Oldham; "The Social and Political Results of the Reformation," Rev. J. H. Curry; "The Character of the Middle Ages," Hon. R. L. Goode, Springfield. The lectures will be free.

City Backs Away From Truck Entrance.

The Public Works Committee voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to deny a request by H.E. Williams for a truck route designation for approximately 600 of Hazel just north of Fairview. The route was requested as part of the company's plans for expansion.

Tuesday's meeting was announced by mail to residents along the route by the City Engineering Department. A petition was presented signed by fifteen unverified persons opposing the request.

H.E. Williams representatives presented their plans two weeks ago and told the Committee that the new route would lesson the congestion during shift changes. Street Commissioner Tom Shelley said at that time that he saw no problem the request, but agreed citizens should be given an opportunity to see the plans.

John Tupper, of H.E. Williams, told the Mornin' Mail that the company will continue to study options to lesson the traffic congestion around the industrial area on Fairview. He said the Committee's vote will not alter plans for the addition of up to two hundred new jobs within the next two years.

Win Some, Lose Some.

The bids for the extension of water lines to the Carmar property north of Spring River came in lower that expected but the lone bid for the repair of Civil War Road was too high to be accepted.

The Engineering Department informed the Public Works Committee last Tuesday that six bids were received for the water project which is mainly funded with State grant funds. Southard Construction was recommended for approval of the project which will supply water for the Underground and future development for the complex. Schreibers, Duffy Distributing, Butterball, and other national companies utilize the facility for cold storage and distribution services.

The base bid for the water project was $300,000 with an alternate bid of $385,230 that would increase the size of the water line from a twelve inch to a sixteen inch line.

Engineering estimates for the project were $400,000 for the twelve inch line.

A recommendation by the Engineering Department to add emergency language to the necessary Council Bill was rejected by the Committee. The Committee will sponsor the bill and it will run the normal two readings in two separate Council meetings.

Committee member Jackie Boyer objected to attaching emergency language. She said that she felt that pushing a bill through in one meeting was over used by the Council.

"It's not right to keep putting these things through with an emergency measure," said Boyer. "When in fact they are not an emergency measure. We do it all the time. And I don't think it's proper."

Committee Chair Bill Fortune said he saw no reason for the language in this instance.

"I can see why they would want to get started early," said Fortune, "but I do think we are getting in a habit of getting in a hurry."

Committee member Art Dunaway pointed out that it would only require two weeks. He didn't feel that was a hindrance.

Engineering estimates of approximately $120,000 to widen and resurface Civil War Road from the Carmar entrance to the intersection with 71 Highway was well below the bid received for the job. The Committee voted to reject a bid of approximately $175,000 and rebid the project.

These figures are in addition to a County contribution of furnishing the topping for the road.

Carmar representatives have told the Council that they expect the road to carry over 500 trucks a day to the Underground. The City spent over $30,000 last year in nominal repairs to the proposed area.

Although no official information is comin' from the management at the local evenin' paper, it appears that as of Tuesday, September 2, 1997, the Mornin' Mail became the only newspaper being printed in Carthage.

My information has it that the paper will continue to operate and function as usual, it's just bein' printed out of town.

Efforts last week to confirm rumors that were widely circulatin' indicate that there is some possibility that the presses will run again, but reports of incoming shipments from Neosho on Tuesday afternoon could not be ignored.

I haven't checked to see when the first newspaper was printed in Carthage. I'm sure it was early in its history. I'm not pleased that such a tradition is now forced on the youthful shoulders of the Mornin' Mail to carry. Hopefully the "big presses" will run again, until then, we will continue to be "pretty good, what there is of it, plenty of it for what it is."

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

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click and Clack Talk Cars

Dear Tom and Ray: My Toyota Camry with 90,000 miles is the best car I’ve ever owned. But it cannot be balanced. Numerous attempts have been for naught. The guy at the tire place who tried to balance it suggested the General Hydro 2000 tires on the car might be the problem. They have a deep aqua channel and he suggested the belts in the tires with radical tread designs could become uncentered and render the tire unbalanceable. What do you think? - Guy.

Ray: I haven’t had any personal experience with General Hydro 2000 tires, but a balancing problem certainly could be caused by bad wheels or tires.

Tom: It’s easy to find out using the old scientific method. I assume you feel some sort of wobble or vibration in the steering wheel and that your mechanic has eliminated all the real dangerous stuff and narrowed it down to a balancing problem.

Ray: So the first thing to do is try swapping the front and back wheels. Put the front ones on the back and the back ones on the front. A bad tire is much more noticeable in front, where it gets telegraphed through the steering column.

Tom: If you swap the wheels and the problem goes away, you know one of those two (now) rear wheels are the culprit. You can swap one at a time back to the front and figure out whether it’s the tire or the wheel.