Carthage Regional Arts Festival.

Art mediums of all kinds will be displayed during the "Carthage Regional Arts Festival." This music and fine arts show is set for Saturday, May 4th, 2002, and will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the historic Carthage Square in Carthage, MO.

Numerous artists included in the show are Bob Tommey, Lowell Davis, Debbie Tobiaz, Todd Williams, Sabrina Walker, Norm Bernier, Sean Shuster, Kevin Guinn, April Leiter, Martha Unruh, Jeanette Westbay, Teresa Hatcher, Dee Eigenmann, Jake Evans and various artists with Art Forum.

Other festivities throughout the day include musical entertainment, children’s activities and various food vendors.

Musical groups include the Ozark Festival Orchestra: Tim Whitmer group from Kansas City featuring blues music; Kenny Babb and Phil Rogers Duo with blues and jazz; Southern Jazz Quartet; and Jim Hunter and the Mellotones with a big band sound.

A new feature offered at this year’s event is an historic homes tour. Guests can ride in the Double Decker bus to take the tour of the Kendrick House, White Rose Bed & Breakfast; Grand Avenue Bed & Breakfast and Leggett House Bed & Breakfast. Historic Homes Tour price is $10 and includes all four homes.

During the Art Show, several food vendors will be located on the Square, as well as the Farmer’s Market, offering numerous varieties of fresh fruits, vegetables and other goods from area residents.

Located in southwest Missouri, Carthage community organizers are excited about this excellent show.

"This is the second year for this event," said Thomas Klinginsmith, chairman of Carthage Regional Arts Festival. "We were pleased with last year’s turnout and look forward to another successful year. We have a lot of fun things planned and invite everyone to come out. It is a popular time for families to look for fun activities that they can attend and enjoy together. This is one of those events — it is a good time for all ages."

Carthage Regional Arts Festival is in cooperation with the Carthage Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Carthage, Boylan Foundation, the Carthage Heritage Gallery & Museum, LLC, and is assisted by Precious Moments. For more information, please call Sandy Higgins at 417-358-7163 or Tonjia Everts at 417-358-3316.

NASCAR to the Max

The Virginia 500 from Martinsville, VA literally had all the markings of a typical NASCAR short-track race. Almost every car went home with some sort of body damage whether it be a dented fender, bumper, or a tire mark on the door. At short tracks, a certain amount of bumping and banging is expected and even allowed. NASCAR made an unprecedented move by barring Kevin Harvick from Sunday’s race. Harvick was deemed by NASCAR to have gone beyond minor contact when he deliberately wrecked Coy Gibbs in a Craftsman Truck Series race on Saturday. Harvick is known for his hot temper and has been fined on several occasions and is currently on probation for a confrontation he initiated in a Busch Series race last month. Additionally, Harvick was fined $35,000.00 and his probation extended through the end of the year.

Bobby Labonte survived the 14 caution periods that plagued the race and took home his first win of the season and his first ever on a short track. His team’s decision to take only right side tires during a late race pit stop gave him the track position he needed to hold the lead to the checkered flag.

Labonte’s older brother Terry lead a lap for the first time since October 2000, a string of 47 races. Terry was the only driver to start all of those races and never lead a lap.

This Sunday, the drivers will have to transition from NASCAR’s shortest track, the .526 mile Martinsville Speedway, to NASCAR’s longest, the 2.66-mile Talladega (AL) Superspeedway. NASCAR mandates very strict engine and aerodynamic requirements for Talladega in an attempt to keep speeds under 200 mph. These rules are enforced to ensure driver and fan safety and leads to a tightly bunched pack of cars running bumper to bumper. Look for race speeds to be in the 195-mph range, nearly 100-mph faster than at Martinsville.

Chevrolet teammates Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won three of the four superspeedway races last year. Look for both drivers to be among the frontrunners of the 43 starters.

The time honored tradition of lettin’ kids outa school durin’ the summer so they can work on the family farm is prob’ly outlived it’s real usefulness in most parts of the country. I’m sure there are many farms in the Midwest that do depend on students for summer help, but the numbers are shrinkin’.

The ideas bein’ considered by the R-9 School Board to extend the school year to make better use of existin’ facilities makes some sense, but I’m tellin’ ya, as a kid I wouldn’t have liked it much.

‘Course the idea of buildin’ more space prob’ly makes some sense also, but as a taxpayer it makes me a little nervous.

I suppose the upside of all this is the Board is at least lookin’ at alternatives that might actually be better than tradition. It’s gonna take some work.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I own a Ford Probe with an automatic transmission and 107,000 miles. My question is, how can you tell when the transmission is starting to weaken? Are there any clues that a problem may be approaching, or does it sneak up on you, and suddenly your transmission is a mile behind you in the middle of the street?

Every once in a while, my transmission will seem to slip between first and second, or second and third. When this happens, it’s like the car is in Neutral for a second or two while the rpm’s are still climbing. Then the car will "catch" and jerk forward. Is this my clue to "bail" and move on before major repairs are unavoidable? - Chad

Tom: You got it, baby! The "slipping" you describe is a likely sign that your automatic transmission is in trouble.

Ray: The first thing you want to know is, is there enough transmission fluid in there? If not, filling it back up may solve the problem. And if you’ve got a slow leak and you need to fill it up every 5,000 or 10,000 miles, so what, right?

Tom: If changing the fluid doesn’t help, then it’s decision time. You’ve got to decide whether or not you still love this car. If you do, you can buy a used transmission from a junkyard and have it installed for 500 bucks or so. And then if you fix the interior leaks and whatever else is wrong, you’ll probably have a working Ford Probe with 107,000 miles on it - which may be good enough for your needs.