Today's Feature

Approved Budget - Contract Tabled.

Carthage City Council met Tuesday evening in a regular session and approved the City Operating and Capital budget for fiscal year 2008-2009.

Council also approved several contracts with City agencies including the Chamber of Commerce, the Over-60 Center and the Convention and Visitor Bureau. An ordinance approving the contract with the Carthage Humane Society was tabled, following a motion from Budget Committee Chairman Bill Fortune. Fortune said that the contract is still in negotiation and that the Humane Society would meet to discuss it at an upcoming meeting. The contract renewal was tabled until the negotiation is complete.

Following regular business the Council adjourned to closed session to discuss leasing or purchase of real estate. Budget Committee chair Bill Fortune noted that the scheduled closed session was related to the proposed economic development sales tax, adding that the Budget Committee had met on Monday in a special session to discuss developments in the proposal.

Today’s Chautauqua Events.

The "That’s Entertainment" Chautauqua, presented by the Missouri Humanities Council began on yesterday and will continue through Monday, June 30.

Today’s events include an educational program to be held in the Powers Museum, 1617 West Oak Street, at 2:00 p.m. Museum director Michele Hansford will explore the history of the Carthage Chautauqua Assembly, which was held 100 years ago. The program will highlight some of the most important people of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who visited Carthage as Chautauqua speakers.

The events will continue at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, with William Worley portraying Walt Disney in the Carthage High School Auditorium, 7th and Main street. The musical guest will be ragtime pianist Susan Cordell.

The Chautauqua is sponsored by Powers Museum, Kent D. and Mary L. Steadley Memorial Trust, Pat and Carolyn Phelps, Carthage Convention and Visitor Bureau, Grand Avenue Bed and Breakfast, the Carthage Public Library, the Friends of the Carthage Public Library, the Friends of the Webb City Public Library, the Carthage Fund and the Dr. W. Russell Smith Family Foundation Fund of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, and is presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Further information about upcoming programs will be listed in tomorrow’s Mornin’ Mail.

As a kid the idea was that there was value in havin’ character. ‘Course character is built as we all know. Ever’ time ya didn’t get to do somethin’ ya wanted, it created one more buildin’ block of character.

Birthdays and Christmas always contributed to the construction. Didn’t get that special toy, built a little more character.

Have ta mow the lawn while the kids across the street were playin’ ball? Another contribution. I’m thinkin’ it’s prob’ly a good idea to accumulate all the character ya can, if for no other reason than to help offset those occasional flaws that seem to linger through adulthood.

I suppose the greatest value of gatherin’ a little character is the fact that you might recognize it in others. It’s hard to define, but ya know it when ya see it.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

CLICK and CLACK
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

Yesterday I was driving my 1998 Honda Accord down the highway when I heard this horrible noise, like the tire blew. So I pulled over. All the Tires were fine, but the car was still making a horrible noise. I lifted the hood and discovered that one of the spark plugs had blown right out of the engine, blown through the insulation and left a huge dent poking up in the hood. What would cause this? Shannon.

Tom: More like , WHO would cause this? Whoever worked on your engine last, Shannon.

RAY: Funny things happen at garages. You’re putting four spark plugs into a ‘98 Accord, and suddenly you get side tracked. Then you come back, pop the wires on the spark plugs and close the hood.

TOM: And, in your postprandial stupor, you forget to tighten the spark plugs. And since the explosions in the cylinders create a tremendous amount of pressure, the loose spark plugs immediately, if slowly, start working their way out of their holes. When one gets completely unscrewed, the pressure sends it flying upward, like the cork on a bottle of champagne.

RAY: The first thing to do is check your other three spark plugs.

TOM: If they were left loose, tighten them back up and you’re all set.

RAY: The other possibility, is that whoever put in that spark plug overtightened it or cross-threaded it and stripped the threads. You will want to check for this.

TOM: If the threads in the spark-plug hole are stripped, then you have to put in an "insert," which is a metal sleeve with new threads for the spark plugs.

RAY: But whatever happened, it probably was caused by the last person who removed your spark plugs.