Road Closures This Week in

Carthage.

The Following roads will be closed or possibly slowed to traffic because of the City’s annual Street paving project.

City officials ask that alternate routes be taken if at all possible.

The paving will take place on Thursday August 18 through Monday the 22nd.

• Katherine Street from Pearl Street to Fairview Avenue.

• Carrie Street from Katherine Street to Pearl Street.

• Walnut Street from Garrison Avenue to Francis Street.

• 5th Street from Lincoln Street to River Street.

• 10th Street from Orchard Street to Valley Street.

Orchard Street from Chestnut Street to Macon Street.

• Clinton Street from 5th Street to Chestnut Street.

14th Street from Grand Avenue to James Street.

Jasper County Jail Count

unknown August 17, 2011

Total Including Placed out of County

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Greg Biffle’s Got to Stay

Positive

Greg Biffle is relieved to see things returning to normal at Roush Fenway Racing.

Biffle, 41, has been competing regularly at the Sprint Cup level for the Ford team founded by Jack Roush since 2003, winning 16 times and finishing second to Tony Stewart in the 2005 championship standings. Biffle also finished third, behind champion Jimmie Johnson and teammate Carl Edwards, in 2008.

Normal, for Biffle, would involve making the Chase for a fourth straight year, but the Vancouver, Wash., native likely will have to win at least one of the final five regular-season races to do so.

The reason for Biffle’s optimism is the fact that Edwards, the Cup point leader, has renewed his contract to remain at Roush Fenway. Edwards apparently seriously considered an offer from Joe Gibbs Racing before deciding to remain where he is. Like teammates Edwards, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan, Biffle has spent his entire career with Roush, winning a Truck Series championship in 2000 and the (now) Nationwide Series in 2002.

"I think it’s great that he (Edwards) is coming back to our company," Biffle said. "I was a little skeptical, I suppose, whether he was going to, figuring this is August already.

"I’m relieved because people won’t ask me about it anymore. That’s why I’m most relieved about it and to have him back as a teammate. He does a good job getting his car set up and helps. I think we all help each other."

Roush recently changed Biffle’s crew chief, replacing Greg Erwin with Matt Puccia. Biffle, who won the August race at Pocono Raceway in 2010, managed an eighth-place finish this time, leaving him 13th in points.

"Certainly we’ve been trying hard to win a race," Biffle said. "We’ve come close a few times. ... Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta are all great tracks for us, and we feel like we can win at basically any of these racetracks.

"I would have never guessed we’d be this far into the season without winning a race after the way we finished last year."

Applyin’ paint has two distinctively different purposes. The obvious is ta make things look better. The functional purpose of paint, however, has nothin’ ta do with appearance. The function of paint is to protect the object bein’ painted from outside elements, typically the weather.

I’m supposin’ that professional painters are well aware that a job that looks good doesn’t necessarily mean it is a functional paint job. ‘Course the real trick is ta have a function that is also pleasin’ in appearance, but no matter what, the effort of paintin’ is only worthwhile if it does the job intended.

The philosophy a friend a mine once took note of, that two thin coats are always better than one thick coat, came from a paint can. He may have taken it a little too serious, but then he did tend to use a spray can in an unventilated room on occasion.

This is some fact, but mostly

Just Jake Talkin’.

Weekly Column

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

Dear Tom and Ray:

I just paid more than $1,000 for a major 60,000-mile service on my 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse (4-cylinder), which included, among other things, replacing the timing belt and water pump. I assume I actually got all of the work listed on the service order, but is there an easy way to verify that the timing belt and water pump were actually changed? -- Dave

RAY: There’s no easy way, Dave. You’d have to take off the timing-belt cover, which is about a half-hour job, and then take a look at the belt. And even once the cover is off, I’m not sure the average person would be able to tell the difference.

TOM: I could tell. But I’m a highly trained professional.

RAY: Yeah, he knows how to check and see if the box for the new one is in a nearby garbage can.

TOM: I understand your natural distrust, Dave, but I think it’s doubtful that a garage would charge for a job like this and then not do it.

RAY: Right. First of all, most mechanics are pretty honest (I think more mistakes are the result of incompetence than dishonesty). And if you really harbor those kinds of doubts about your mechanic, you should find a new one.

TOM: Second, the stakes are too high to risk it on a job like this. Even if your mechanic is an outright thief, there’d be a high risk that he’d get caught when your old timing belt finally broke.

RAY: So he’d have to be unscrupulous AND dumb in order to do this. And there aren’t very many mechanics like my brother left in the business.

TOM: I think it’s important that you find a mechanic you have confidence in. Good luck.