Skate Board Park Worries Neighbors.

The City Council Public Safety Committee met last Monday in the Fire Station for its regular monthly meeting.

The agenda included a request from Sylvia Knost to discuss concerns she has about the relocation of the skate board park to Griggs Park. Knost lives across the street from the park.

Her first concern was the fact that none of the residents of the area had been consulted before the facility was moved from its original location at the Fair Acres Sports Complex. She asked that the park be closed at sundown and that skate boarders be required to wear a helmet.

She also was concerned that she had observed "older" men loitering in the area and that she had smelled what she identified as marijuana smoke.

Police Chief Greg Dagnon reported that his department had responded to phone calls about the park and had several officer’s notes concerning activity there. There have been no illegal activites observed to date.

Another neighbor commented at the meeting supporting Knost’s views.

Jasper County Jail Count

189 September 21, 2011

Total Including Placed out of County

NASCAR THIS WEEK

By Monte Dutton

Earnhardt Jr. Proud to Be In the Chase

RICHMOND, Va. -- The Chase is here ... and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in it.

It wasn’t easy. He didn’t win a race. The season has had its ups and downs. His No. 88 Chevy staggered through the final regular-season races. But he made it. Ten drivers make it by Sprint Cup point standings, and Earnhardt Jr. was the 10th.

He’s got his shot. He has 2,000 points. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick have only 12 more. Over 10 races, those 12 points don’t amount to very much. If Earnhardt can get his team back in gear, he can win the championship.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have made Earnhardt a 40-1 shot. The winner of the past five, Jimmie Johnson, is 3-1.

"We’ll just go see how we can do in the Chase," said Earnhardt after scrambling to finish 16th in the Wonderful Pistachios 400.

"I’m proud to be in the Chase," he added. "I feel like I’m a good enough driver to be in the Chase. My team is good enough to be there. ... Had we been more conscious and smarter at certain times, we wouldn’t have had to even worry about it this weekend.

"But we’re a good team, and I’m proud to carry my sponsors and HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) in the Chase and represent them. We’re going to work real hard, and hopefully we do a good job."

This is Earnhardt’s fourth appearance in the Chase, which began in 2004. He finished fifth that year and also in 2006. In 2008 he brought up the rear, finishing 12th.

"We’ve got to run a different setup than what we ran in the last six (regular-season) races, frankly," Earnhardt conceded. "We had a pretty good run at it going through the first 15 races, and for whatever reason, we sort of fell off and forgot some things, or over-engineered something.

"We’ll go in there with a good attitude."

Earnhardt recently signed a contract extension that will keep him with Hendrick Motorsports through 2017.

"I’m in the Chase, and I’ve got an opportunity to run for the championship," he said. "I’ve got an opportunity to compete and improve my points position and improve the overall payout.

"You’ve basically got to hold it together the last 10 races and don’t do anything stupid and settle some scores. ... I’m pretty proud of what we’ve been able to do all year."

There are prob’ly lots a variations on the recipe for home made ice cream, but if ya want to get into a real discussion on the formula for success, get in on the debate around the crankin’ end of the process.

In our family at least, there is as much care given in the placement and quantities of ice and salt, the speed of the crankin’ and the ideal time to quit turnin’ as ever is considered in the kitchen. ‘Course the men have traditionally taken care of the mechanical end of the process, but the women have never been bashful about advice on the matter.

I say care is given, that’s because ever’one seems to - care that is. This last batch I was involved in, we didn’t put the traditional burlap sack on top. Don’t know if it made much difference, it just seemed to be missin’ somethin’, but they ate it anyway.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Weekly Column

CLICK and CLACK

TALK CARS

I drive a 1994 two-door Honda Accord (140,000 miles or so) with a lot of personality. One of her "quirks" is that she doesn’t have a functioning air conditioner. I personally don’t mind, but I have a dog, and I need to take his health into consideration when taking him in the car with me during the summer months.

A few weeks ago, I had to make a two-hour trip on a Friday evening in 95-degree heat, and, being concerned that my dog would suffer heatstroke, I tried an alternative AC system. I filled a 4-quart Styrofoam cooler with water, froze it overnight, put it on the passenger floor of my car and then installed a cigarette-lighter-powered fan to blow across the top of the ice.

Not surprisingly, this didn’t work well. At this point, is it worth having the AC fixed? Are there alternative, cheaper options for cooling down the car that I have not considered? At this point, I cannot afford car payments, and buying a new car is not an option. -- Emily

TOM: The first thing you should do if find out WHY your air conditioner isn’t working. You may just have a slow refrigerant leak.

RAY: If that’s the case, you can get the system charged up for $125 or so, and it might last you a couple of months, or even longer. In which case, you can do that once and have a whole summer’s worth of air conditioning.

TOM: And if the leak is coming from a hose, or something easily fixable, you could fix it and recharge the system and be good for several summers -- if the rest of the car lasts that long. So it’s worth asking a good mechanic to test the system for you and at least give you a diagnosis.