Arrest Made.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department held a press conference yesterday and released information that one charge of first-degree burglary has been filed against Paul D. Shoumake, 42, of Joplin, for a burglary Monday.

The Department says that Shoumake also suspected in two other robbery attempts Dec. 6 and a robbery Nov. 21 in the Morgan Heights subdivision west of Carthage.

The arrest was made Tuesday night, and a search of Shoumake’s vehicle and his house at 1024 S. Connor Ave. were performed. The charge for which the above was arrested are mere accusations and are not evidence of guilt.

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Who Can Dethrone

Jimmie Johnson?

It’s becoming the Annual Question That Doesn’t Have an Answer: Who can beat Jimmie Johnson?

The same driver has won five consecutive Sprint Cup championships. No one else in history has ever won more than three straight (Cale Yarborough, 1976-78). Johnson’s five championships have been accompanied by five different runners-up: Matt Kenseth (2006), Jeff Gordon (2007), Carl Edwards (2008), Mark Martin (2009) and Denny Hamlin (2010).

Only two drivers, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, ever won more championships -- seven, in both instances -- in their careers than Johnson has won in consecutive years. Only one other driver, Gordon, has ever won more than three. Gordon, Johnson’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, won his fourth championship in 2001.

Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick came close to putting an end to Johnson’s streak this year. Hamlin won eight races, two more than Johnson, and trailed him by just 39 points at season’s end. Harvick was the series’ most consistent driver with 26 top-10 finishes, three more than Johnson.

Who steps up next to challenge Johnson, who seems the perennial champion?

Certainly Hamlin and Johnson, but Edwards, whose No. 99 Ford won the season’s final two races, also will enter the 2011 campaign with high aspirations, as will former champions Gordon (1995, ‘97-98, 2001), Tony Stewart (2002, ‘05), Kurt Busch (2004), Matt Kenseth (2003) and even Bobby Labonte (2000), who is moving into a new ride.

What of Kyle Busch, who won a total of 24 races in NASCAR’s three major series, but only three in Cup? Or Dale Earnhardt Jr., still struggling after three years at Hendrick Motorsports? Or Mark Martin, who will be driving that team’s No. 5 for the final year?

One compelling long shot might be the 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year, Joey Logano, who hasn’t yet made a Chase but who collected five top-10 finishes in the season’s final six races.

The season just completed marked the closest margin of Johnson’s five titles. Johnson’s fifth marked Hendrick Motorsports’ 10th championship, equaling the total of Petty Enterprises, which won seven titles with Richard Petty and three with his father, Lee. Both are now enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Just a couple weeks away from winter startin’. Also the shortest day of the year. After that the sun will gradually stay around a little longer each day until summer begins in June. Then the long retreat back to the 21st of December.

It’s kinda reassuring that there is some reasoning behind what date marks the beginnin’ of winter and summer. It musta taken someone years (o.k., at least one year if it wasn’t cloudy) to figure out the cycle of the sun and pinpoint the shortest and longest periods of daylight. It’s a natural occurrence that neither man or government has any control over. It’s a rule we all have ta live by, end of discussion.

Sometimes, tradition does stand the test of time.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Columns

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

My father is a HUUUGE fan of your NPR radio show. Evry Saturday, he is a devoted listener. At their weekend cottage up north, the reception is sketchy at best. When your show is scheduled to come on, my father disappears like clockwork. Finally we found him camped out in the driveway, in Mom’s Cadillac, tuned in to your show, no less, on the car stereo. He argues the car stereo has a better receiver than a conventional radio. I tell him he’s going to drain Mom’s battery. I relayed this story to a co-worker, and we decided it was a great topic of conversation for "Click and Clack." Is the car radio that much more superior than your standard FM stereo receiver? And how many shows can he listen to before he drains Mom’s battery? Thanks and say "Hi" to Ralph sitting in Daina’s Caddy! - Linda

Tom: He probably doesn’t even like our show, Linda. He’s just hiding from the grandkids.

Ray: We dxon’t know a lot about radios, other than how to drive people away from them when our show is on. But we do know that car radios tend to be better in quality, and higher in price, than tabletop radios.

Tom: Because they’re constantly in motion, they have to be better in order to hold onto the Broadcast signals. And, often times, the more expensive cars, like Cadillacs, will have the best radios.

Ray: Plus, reception is influenced by several factors: radio quality, antenna quality and location. And he may have found the perfect spot in the driveway to grab the signal he’s looking for. And the radio uses very little of the battery’s power. It can run for hours without running the battery down.