Art Walk Friday - Saturday.

The Historic Downtown Art Walk in Carthage, sponsored by the Carthage Convention & Visitor’s Bureau & UMB Bank. will begin Friday, July 22 at 6 p.m. with live music and art in a relaxing atmosphere. Hometown Bank of Carthage has loaned the original "Fall Main Street Carthage" by Andy Thomas to UMB Bank on the square to share with the community event.

"We have an excellent event scheduled with a Friday night date night for adults and we have partnered with the Greater British Motoring Car Club to offer the Historic Downtown Art Walk in conjunction with their 12th annual car show,"says Wendi Douglas, Carthage CVB.

The Carthage Square is a prime backdrop for the event. Several established galleries are located around the square along with dining options and live music that runs later in the evening. Friday festivities kick off at 6 p.m. with nearly 30 artists and nearly 20 venues participating. Saturday starts off with a variety of family oriented activities including the British Motor Car Show, sidewalk chalk and a historic architecture hunt. www.carthageartwalk.org.

Jasper County Jail Count

188 July 20, 2011

Total Including Placed out of County

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Up to Speed

(When It Counts)

Second place was almost a first, and who could blame David Reutimann for feeling that way after the inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on July 9?

Before roaring past five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson at the finish, Reutimann, who has two career Cup wins, had finished no better than ninth in 2011.

"We unfortunately have a bit of a history of being fast when it doesn’t really matter," said Reutimann. "Tonight worked out where we were fast at the end of the race, which is evidently what you’ve got to do.

"Proud of my guys."

The 41-year-old Reutimann is from a racing family. Father Buzzie is a short-track legend. The Zephyrhills, Fla., native made his Cup debut on Oct. 15, 2005 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and claimed his first victory at the same track in 2009. He followed up with a Chicagoland Speedway triumph in 2010.

Kentucky aside, Reutimann has struggled this year. He is 24th in the point standings, 201 behind current leader -- and Kentucky winner -- Kyle Busch. Reutimann trails 10th place -- and one path to the Chase -- by 106. With eight races to go, the odds are long, but his best chance is to win one race (preferably two) and get into the top 20 in points. He only trails the current occupant of 20th place, Joey Logano, by 46. Two Chase spots go to drivers on the basis of victories, but eligibility is limited to the top 20 in points at the end of the regular season.

"One thing about this sport," said Reutimann, "it changes every week. We seem to have been behind on things. We knew we were behind, but you just don’t make changes overnight. Between the help of Toyota and their engineering staff, Toyota Racing Development, all the guys at Michael Waltrip Racing, guys being in the wind tunnel, working their guts out, finally got us a car, at least this weekend, we’re closer to what we needed.

"Not that we’ve had bad cars in the past. The guys you’re running against, their cars constantly evolving, changing things. We’re trying to catch up sometimes."

There are variations in the rules for almost any game. As kids part of the ritual at the beginnin’ of any contest was to establish the rules. A very basic lesson in democracy. ‘Course if one of the players didn’t want to play by the new rules, he could always go home.

Most of the time the less rules, the more fun. Like friendly clod fights. Throw a clod, take your chances. The only real rules was no physical contact with opponents and no rocks. Clod contact was, of course permitted at any reasonable distance.

The amazin’ thing is that rules were pretty well adhered to after they were set, accepted as part of the game.

This participation in the formation of rules may be a major missing component of the video game frenzy.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Column

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

My wife had the oil changed in her 2010 Camry at Walmart. One week later she noticed a noise coming from the engine while she parked the car. She called me to report it, and said she also noticed a small amount of oil dripping under the car.

So she shut off the car, and had it towed to the dealer where it was purchased. The dealer said that the oil-filter cartridge was installed incorrectly, so the oil ran out and the car’s engine probably is a total loss. How do I ensure that Walmart will make good on this, and won’t try to weasel out of paying for my new engine? -- Tom

TOM: Well, you can’t prevent them from TRYING to weasel out of it, Tom. The manager wouldn’t be worth his salt if he didn’t try to claim that the oil was abducted by aliens while you were walking the dog.

RAY: Actually, what they may argue is that your wife shares some responsibility because she had an obligation to notice that the oil light was on. And that once it was on, she should have stopped driving before the engine was ruined completely. If she did drive some distance with the oil light on, that argument has some merit.

TOM: When you go to the dealer, you want to get his statement, in writing, of what he found and how much your new engine’s going to cost. Take some dated pictures of the incorrectly installed part, if you can, and get the names and phone numbers of the individuals who examined your car.

RAY: Once you have all of your evidence collected trundle over to Walmart and calmly lay out your case.

TOM: The expert testimony and contemporaneous evidence you collected from the dealership should win the day. And hopefully the Walmart manager is experienced enough to know that in advance. Good luck.