KIDS FISHING DAY AT KELLOGG LAKE.

The Missouri Department of Conservation is inviting all area kids and their families to take part in the eighth annual Kids Fishing Day from 8:00 a.m. until noon on Saturday, June 6th at Kellogg Lake in Carthage, Missouri.

A variety of activities and events are planned including education stations featuring live animals, fly-tying demonstrations, hands on fly-fishing instruction, and prize giveaways.

The first 600 anglers age 15 and under will receive a Kids Fishing Kit containing all sorts of goodies. Plus, every young angler that registers at the event and attends two education stations will be eligible for the prize drawings. Free food : hotdogs, snacks, drinks and more.

The City of Carthage, Kellogg Lake Group, The Helen S. Boylan Foundation, MAKO FlyFishers and several local groups and businesses will assist with the event. There is no pre-registration for this event but everyone needs to bring his/her own fishing pole and tackle. Worms will be provided.

As a kid we lived close to the grade school which had a baseball field (we didn’t play softball back then). Durin’ the spring it was typical for the neighborhood kids ta be engaged in a game of "move up" or even have enough for a couple a short teams.

As the evenin’ fell, the number of players would slowly drop until only the die hards were left. The game naturally had to modify and eventually would be little more than some type of battin’ practice. When it got too dark to see fly balls comin’ at ya, we began buntin’. When the folks would call for us to come in, we’d beg for another thirty minutes. The realization would finally grow that darkness would not bend to the pleas of young players. Even playin’ baseball was ruled by the laws of nature.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’

---

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Sponsored by Metcalf Auto Supply

Dear Tom and Ray:

I have a 1991 Ford F-150. You could use up this entire section of the newspaper on this hunk of junk. But perhaps you can just help me get it started. It won’t turn over, despite numerous attempts. I’ve taken the battery to AutoZone, and they say it’s good and it’s fully charged. I even put it on the charger overnight to be sure. When I turn the ignition, it just grunts at me. After two or three grunts, all systems are unresponsive. Neither the headlights nor the radio will go on. Any ideas? - Steve.

TOM: We’ll assume that Autozone is right, and the battery is fine. In which case, you have either a bad connection at the battery, or a bad ground.

RAY: There are two cables that run from your battery. One is the positive cable, which runs to the starter. The other is the negative cable, which is the ground. That wire runs to the frame, another wire connects it to the engine block (the engine sits on rubber mounts, so it has to be grounded to the frame by wire).

RAY: Or you could have so much corrosion around ANY of these connections that the resistance created by that corrosion is simply stopping the current from getting through.

TOM: So start with the terminals right at the battery. Give them a good cleaning with some sandpaper. If that doesn’t fix it, follow the ground wire. Check all the ground connections, and clean or replace as necessary.

RAY: Or, as we like to say, you can "break new ground," and simply run new ground wires to the frame and the engine block. Getting yourself properly grounded ought to clear this up, Steve.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Sponsored by Curry Automotive

Montoya Still Trying to Make NASCAR Splash

The new season has brought changes for Juan Pablo Montoya.

The owners of his No. 42 car, Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates, merged their operation with Dale Earnhardt Inc., creating, along with Teresa Earnhardt, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. This, in turn, changed the make of Montoya’s car from Dodge to Chevrolet.

Improvement, so far, has been modest. Montoya’s teammate, Martin Truex Jr., is 19th in the Sprint Cup point standings. Montoya is 14th. To make the Chase, Montoya must finish the regular season in the top 12. He’s only 16 points behind the current occupant of 12th place, Carl Edwards.

Montoya, a driver of international renown, is in his third Sprint Cup season. His lone Cup victory occurred on June 24, 2007, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Montoya was Raybestos Rookie of the Year, but he already had victories in the Indianapolis 500 and the Grand Prix of Monaco on his resume. Now, at 33, he is completely focused on becoming a championship contender in stock cars.

"We know where we need to go," he said. "We know what we need to achieve. I think there are a lot of things in the pipeline that are going to make us a little bit better every week. As long as we keep finding little things, we’ll be fine.

"You’ve got to keep finding performance. You cannot sit and hope you are going to run well. We’re (not) doing that. We have good ideas of things we need to do, and it’s just a matter of time to see what happens."

Montoya, from Bogota, Colombia, has three top-10 finishes so far. Surprisingly, two have been on short tracks. He won his first pole at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24. He thinks he’ll be in victory lane again soon, but recognizes the importance of consistency in making the Chase.

"That’s the key to making the Chase, and we know that," he said. "A lot went into putting these teams together. ... Phoenix (April 18) was the first step toward getting everybody on the same page.

"Truex was competitive. I was competitive. It’s exciting. I think the future of the company looks really, really bright, and it’s positive."