More Light On The Subject.

Public Works Committee Chair Bill Fortune is scheduled to ask the City Council to allow installation of brighter lights on the inside of one block of the Square. The Committee wants to see if an approximate 30% increase in light will be of benefit.

The Committee consulted with CW&EP General Manager Bob Williams last Monday afternoon and heard estimates in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to completely revamp the outer ring of street lights. The replacement of higher powered bulbs for the inner ring will cost only about $50 for each of the twelve lights.

Williams told the Committee the bulb replacement was the only inexpensive way to increase lighting on the Square. He said the outer lights are connected in a series circuit. The lights would have to be rewired to a parallel circuit to be modernized. That would be expensive because the wiring is not in conduit and would require digging up large portions of street and sidewalks.

Although the Committee was not able to approach such a large project, Williams stated that replacement of the downtown light poles will eventually need to be done.

I heard talk about a guy that was one brick short of a load the other day. I’d have ta figure that most get the feelin’ they don’t know all they should at some point or another. I’d lived a lotta years ‘fore I heard the expression "not the sharpest knife in the drawer."

I grew up hearin’ ‘bout those bein’ one card short of a deck, ladder not reachin’ the top rung, and bein’ a half a bubble off.

Typically these were not judgemental statements, but just observations considered as fact.

‘Course usually the statement was followed by the observation that the person had many admirable traits also.

I’m sure I’ve lost a brick or two along the way. If ya find it, put it on your pile, if ya think it’s worthy.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click and Clack Talk Cars.

Dear Tom and Ray:

I’m a registered nurse and I have a question that is somewhat medical in origin. The appendix is an organ that is believed to have once had a function but is now without purpose (except as an income generator for the surgeon who removes it). And yet, there it is- a stubborn piece of our anatomy, refusing to succumb to the laws of evolution. Is there a part in a car that has not evolved over time but continues to exist even though we don’t need it anymore?-Linda

TOM: Great question, Linda! The "part" that comes to mind is the parking lights.

RAY: Right. In the old, old days, when my brother still had a few brain cells left, cars were not that common. So when you parked yours at the side of the road, you left your "parking lights" on. That way, when Ichabod Crane came whizzing by in his buggy, he wouldn’t smash into you.

TOM: There’s also one other part that was starting to go the way of the parking lights but has recently had a reprieve: the cigarette lighter.

RAY: Apparently, fewer people are smokers these days, and many people decided they didn’t want cigarette lighters in their car.

TOM: So the manufacturers figured out that by slapping a plastic cover on the cigarette-lighter socket, they could save the cost of the lighter itself and brag about their "power ports." So that’s a part whose function has changed and evolved with time.

RAY: Sort of like my brother’s head. It was once believed to have some thinking function. But now we mainly use it as a hat rack.