The Silence is Broken.

The Carthage City Council Tuesday evening voted 7-2 to eliminate the ban on shooting fireworks in the City.

The only citizens that spoke to the Council concerning the ban during Citizens participation were former Mayor Jim Woestman and Mornin’ Mail proprietor H.J. Johnson. Both citizens requested that the ban be upheld.

Council members Charlie Bastin and John Studebaker voted against, with Wayne Campbell, Claude Newport, T.J. Teed, Diane Sharits, Bill Welch, Lee Carlson, and Brent Greninger voting to eliminate the current ban. Member Dan Rife was absent.

Mayor Mike Harris noted that he had received about fifteen calls concerning the issue and only one was against lifting the ban.

Council members Newport and Sharits spoke to the issue with Newport stating he felt it was time to let community members show they can be good citizens and handle fireworks responsibly. Campbell said he would have liked to see more restrictions, but voted in favor anyway.

Bluestem Band Featured at 2010 Carthage Acoustic Festival.

The Carthage Acoustic Festival pre-festival concert will feature the band Bluestem this Friday at the old High School Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. Opening the show will be Alan Young and Joe Smith blending their Dobro/guitar talents and showcasing Young’s vocal and songwriting abilities.

The Bluestem group was formed in 1982 and has performed frequently on stage at the Winfield Music Festival and is a seasoned and professional performance.

Advanced tickets for the Friday show are on sale at Oldies & Oddities Mall on the Square, or at the door for $7. Children under 12 are free.

The Festival will continue on the Historic Carthage Square from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturday.

The Fesitval is sponsored by the Powers Museum with funding assistance from the Helan S. Boylan Foundation. Other considerations provided by the City of Carthage, the Jasper County Commission and the Mornin’ Mail and is produced in cooperation with the Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau. info@visit-carthage.com

Bluestem Band members:

Keith Alberding, sings the girl parts and has all the charm of a banjo player. He always waits until you mouth is full of coffee to tell the punch line. Plays banjo, guitar, and sings tenor

Jim Rood, runs with scissors and usually talks too much. He is not usually influenced by quality.Plays fiddle, guitar, and sings baritone and tenor

Rick Marshall, can recite every line from Monty Python’s Holy Grail and likes pie.He has a large collection of our capos. He even has Elvis’s capo. thank you very much.Plays guitar, and sing baritone and tenor

Marvin Pine, is the geezer and is the owner of the largest boot collection. He is Cowboy #54 in the state.Plays bass, spurs, and recites cowboy poetry.

Woody the wonder bass

The real star of the show, holds Marvin up.

"We hope to see you down the trail for some tunes and some laughs."

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Sponsored by Curry Automotive

Reutimann: Better Late Than Never

CONCORD, N.C. -- Regardless of how the rest of the season is going, David Reutimann can count on Charlotte Motor Speedway for respite.

Reutimann’s only Sprint Cup victory to date occurred in the track’s 2009 Coca-Cola 600. A year after that stirring upset, Reutimann matched his best finish of the current season by finishing fifth in NASCAR’s longest race.

At 40, Reutimann, from Zephyrhills, Fla., is only 112 races into his Cup career. He never made it to NASCAR’s premier series full-time until 2008, though he competed in 26 races in ‘07.

"A guy coming right out of high school and going Cup racing doesn’t appreciate it, maybe, as much as a guy like me who’s done it a little differently," he said. "Nothing wrong with that.

"Trust me. I wish I would’ve been 18 years old, coming out of high school, and had an opportunity to do Cup racing. I would’ve loved to have done that. It just wasn’t in the cards for me at the time. If you were 18 or 20 years old, or even mid-20s, you were too young. They wanted guys who were more seasoned because they didn’t tear up as many cars."

It was Jeff Gordon who changed all that. Gordon, of course, has won four championships and 82 races. He’s younger than Reutimann.

"Gordon shows up, and all the rules changed," said Reutimann. "Everybody wanted a young guy because he (Gordon) was producing on the race track. You’ve got a guy like Mark Martin. I’m not saying I’m a Mark Martin, but when you’re out there racing that guy and he’s kicking butt, it makes you feel really good.

"It makes you feel like you maybe have a little bit of longevity. You never know. In the end, if you run well on the race track, they’ll probably keep you around no matter how old you get."

Is there still room for a late bloomer? Why, sure.

"Forty is the new 30, anyway," said Reutimann. "That’s what I’m going with."

Guess it’s all over but the shootin’.

‘Course as one Council member mentioned, anything this Council does can be overturned by the same or next Council. I suppose the next few weeks will give us some idea of the impact of the decision to turn fireworks loose on the City.

Hopefully all the discussion was a waste of time and there won’t be any big blow-ups in the neighborhood.

I was a little disappointed in the lack of debate durin’ the Council meetin’. I was wantin’ to see a little more interaction between the Council members.

Why, I can remember back in the day.........

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

 

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Weekly Columns

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

So the air dam on my ‘91 Chevy C1500 has taken a beating and is starting to come off. Rather than try to rig it back on or replace it, I want to simply remove it and be done with it. The truck is my only vehicle, used primarily for driving to and from work. However, I do take it "off road" on a farm from time to time, even though it has two-wheel drive, and that is where the damage comes from. I’ve been warned that the air dam is not simply a cosmetic piece but that it serves several functions for the truck. I’d love to get some advice on the pros and cons of not having one. Thanks! - Brad

Tom: You can tear it off, Brad.

Ray: It has three purposes. One is cosmetic, but I’m gussing that’s not a major concern on 1991 truck that you use on a farm.

Tom: The second purpose is that it dcrecreases the turbulence of the air that goes under the truck as you drive, and therefore helps to increase the mileage a little bit - a very little bit. The dents in the side of the truck probably are doing more, these days, to disrupt your air flow and mileage than a missing air dam would.

Ray: The air dam’s third purpose is to fall off after about 80,000 miles and create a road hazard.

Tom: In case you’re interested, it would cost you about 14 bucks to buy a new one on the Internet. But I’m guessing you’d rather invest that in half a tank of gas these days, and you can doe so with our blessing, Brad.