Tornado Recovery Support Group.

Offered by Pastoral Care of

McCune Brooks Regional Hospital.

The Pastoral Care Department of McCune Brooks Regional Hospital is offering a six week tornado recovery support group for adult persons affected by the May 22nd disaster. This is a free service.

The department understands that area residents have experienced death, losses of residence, job, health, and faith as a result of the storm. The program will provide an opportunity for participants to openly share their stories of the calamity; verbally or written. The Grief Recovery Handbook by John W. James and Russell Friedman will be available for interested participants.

To best serve those in attendance please call (417) 359-AMEN (2636). to register.

The group will meet six Tuesdays. June 21, 28 & July 5, 12, 19, and 26 at 7-8:30 PM at the McCune Brooks Hospital, 3125 Dr. Russell Smith Way, Carthage, MO., in Room-1942

Format: Open discussion

Jasper County Jail Count

218 June 14, 2011

Total Including Placed out of County

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Gramps vs. the Brat

Let us consider the strange case of Richard Childress and Kyle Busch.

Childress is the last vestige -- full-time, anyway -- of old school in NASCAR team ownership. He and Dale Earnhardt made a perfect match. Childress interacted as easily with Bud Moore and Junior Johnson as he now does with Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske. Childress’s success is grounded in the way that he manages to bridge the generations.

The younger Busch brother is Thoroughly Modern Kyle. He is wondrously talented and self-centered. Sometimes people insist on comparing him to Earnhardt, which is akin to comparing Tim Linecum to Bob Gibson. If Kyle Busch is his generation’s Dale Earnhardt, his generation has really changed.

Though I rather like both men, they obviously do not care for each other.

I like Childress for the qualities described above. This former racer, who built his empire by hand, is about as adept as dealing with the media as anyone I’ve encountered. He has an instinctive knack for handling the various issues that confront his team.

I like Kyle Busch because he isn’t a phony. I may disagree with him. In fact, at times, I may consider him a brat. But he isn’t afraid to be himself, and has the strength of conviction not to worry unduly about what others think. He adds spice to NASCAR. The sport needs a bad boy. The NFL needs the Oakland Raiders (and some even remember them).

As sensible as Childress is, and as closely watched as Kyle Busch is, somehow things went crazy after the Camping World Truck Series race in Kansas. Busch’s Toyota had traded licks with a Childress Chevy, one driven by Joey Coulter, and then Busch had roughed up the kid a bit during the cool-down lap. Busch had roughed up another Childress Chevy, the one assigned to Busch’s foil Kevin Harvick, after a Sprint Cup race at Darlington.

The latter incident apparently led the 65-year-old Childress to mutter, or think, something along the lines of "enough is enough," probably with at least one epithet added. Apparently, the resulting incident wasn’t caught on tape, so it may be something like the dime novels of the Old West. Though what happened may be exaggerated, it can reliably be reported that Childress, in some form, attacked Busch.

Childress, being Childress, apparently handled the situation that arose after the situation -- that being his closed-door meeting with NASCAR officials -- with characteristic aplomb, having had time to retrieve his right mind. He paid a fine, and they put him on probation.

Long before handing down the slap to Childress’s wrist, NASCAR absolved Busch of blame. On race morning at Kansas Speedway, word spread that Busch’s actions "would not affect his probation."

How can this be so?

Busch was on probation for his role in an incident in which he bumped another car after the Darlington race. How could bumping another, well, truck, after a Kansas race "not affect his probation"?

Who’d a thunk it? Ma Bell (or rather one of her offspring) owes me money. Somehow, durin’ the switch from this long distance carrier to another, there was a $4.72 extra paid in somewhere to AT&T. For the last few months, I’ve been gettin’ statements showin’ that I have a credit. Since I’m not usin’ there services (at least not this week) they have no automatic mechanism to settle the account.

Considerin’ the cost of producin’ the report on the status of my account and the postage, I’ve gotta figure at least fifty cents a month.

I appreciate the fact that there is such good accountin’ goin’ on and that I’m gettin’ regular updates. I’m sure that this particular situation is not the norm for the company. I’m just not sure it’s worth the explainin’ it’s gonna take to get me out of this situation.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

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Weekly Column

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

My terminally ill father has just given me his 1961 Lincoln Continental. The car is in a storage unit in Michigan, and although it was mostly restored about eight or nine years ago, it now needs some repairs to make it roadworthy. I’d like to fix it up and give my father his final ride in it.

My problem is that I’m living overseas, and I need to find a mechanic I can wire money to so that when it’s ready, I can fly to Michigan, pick it up and drive right out to the East Coast. Do you have any idea about how to find a mechanic who can help me, who would be reputable and who wouldn’t take advantage of an absentee customer? Annie

RAY: We were right there with you until you mentioned the word "reputable," Annie.

TOM: Actually, your ideal candidate would be both reputable and have some experience with ancient Continentals.

RAY: So start by calling dentists’ offices near where the car is stored. Ask if they treat any mechanics with few to no teeth. That’s the age group you’re interested in, Annie.

TOM: Actually, we have a couple of genuine ideas for you. One is to start with the Lincoln and Continental Owners Club. You can find it on the Web at www.lcoc.org. It has a network of members who all love and restore old Lincolns. If you post a request on its website, it may be able to help you find someone near the car who specializes in old Lincolns.

RAY: The second option would be to search the Mechanics Files (www.cartalk.com/mechanics). That’s a database of mechanics who have been personally recommended by readers of our column or listeners to our radio show. You search it by entering your ZIP code.