The Carthage School District will host a tour at Carthage Junior High at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 27. A tour of Carthage high School will begin at 10:15 a.m.. A Media Conference will be held in the Carthage High School auditorium lobby beginning at 11:00 a.m.. The conference will provide more detail and answer questions regarding the Steadley Trust’s pledge and the district’s long range facility improvement plan.

Name Passes, For Now.

The City Council held their bimonthly meeting Tuesday evening. The name Marble Oaks at Carthage, the purposed name change for Carthage Municipal Golf Course, was on the agenda as a second reading. There was some debate over the name.

"Marble Oaks sounds like a cemetery," said Council member J.D. Whitledge, "we have one of those, go down Chestnut to Baker Street and there you are. No way am I going to support Marble Oaks."

"I am disappointed with the name," said Council member Bill Putnam, "but it’s time to move on."

"We’ll never be able to please everyone," said Council member Jackie Boyer.

Council Member Ron Wells made a motion to amend the bill to change the name to Carthage Golf Course with the option of changing the name again later. The amendment failed 6-4. Then the council approved an amendment to change the name to Marble Creek at Carthage, the bill passed with a 7-3 vote but is unsigned.

"Well the name passes for now," said Mayor Kenneth Johnson, "but I have the right to veto it and I just might."

No decision had been made as of Wednesday afternoon. Mayor Johnson told the Mornin’ Mail that he will either bring a signed bill or a veto message to the next Council meeting. If the bill is vetoed the Council will have the opportunity to override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote.

NASCAR to the Max

Last Sunday’s race marked the 2000th NASCAR points paying race. It was very fitting that the milestone was reached at one of NASCAR’s most prolific tracks; Bristol (TN) Motor Speedway. The .533-mile high-banked oval is a throw back to the early days of the sport when most of the races were contested on short, dusty, rough tracks often called bull rings.

Though Bristol boasts many modern amenities and trails only Daytona International Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in number of seats with 160,000, the bumping and banging action reminds many of the early days in the bullrings. Sunday’s race was slowed by the caution flag 17 times for 120 of the 500 laps feature. Kurt Busch who has finished as the runner up on three occasions this season, including the previous week where he lost in the closest race in NASCAR history by .002 seconds, emerged from all the crumpled sheet metal and bruised egos to claim his first victory of the season by .39 seconds over teammate Matt Kenseth. Kenseth maintains his lead in the season point’s race with Busch trailing in second by only 138 markers.

In NASCAR’s 2000 races, 166 different drivers have visited Victory Lane with 61 of those only winning once in their career. The top-ten in career victories make up over 45% of the wins with NASCAR legend "King" Richard Petty claiming 200 wins or 10% of them himself.

Only five times since 1972, considered NASCAR’s modern era, has the eventual season champion not won in the first six races of the year. Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch are the winners of the first six races this year and each is hopeful he will continue that trend.

The tour’s next stop is the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The track boasts one of the largest attended races with well over 200,000 fans expected to flood the grandstands and infield. Brothers and Texas natives Terry and Bobby Labonte typically run well here and have a very loyal following.

(Reprint from June 24, 1992)

I stopped by the City Council Meetin’ last night, thinkin’ maybe I could gather a little material and maybe learn a little.

I wasn’t disappointed.

One thing in particular struck me as prob’ly the most important though. This fella brought up the fact somethin’ to the effect that it’s a lot easier to keep what ya got than to be spendin’ all your time out tryin’ to gather up somethin’ new.

What this fella is sayin’, I think, is spend a little more time and energy takin’ care of what you’ve got sittin’ right in front of ya, and maybe that in itself will help attract these new guys.

There’s nothin’ like a diverse, thrivin’ community to get the attention of someone lookin’ for a place to settle.

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 ‘99 Pontiac Grand Prix with traction control, which makes sense to have in the Midwest, my fair region. There is a button on the dash that allows me to turn it off, should I desire to do so. I travel and rent cars frequently, and I’ve noticed that other makes that have traction control have an on/off button as well. Why is this the case? Under what circumstances would the average driver turn it off, and would he or she know when the proper circumstances arise? I certainly don’t! — Larry.

TOM: Good question, Larry. High school kids were finding it impossible to "do doughnuts" in the school parking lot with their dad’s traction control-equipped cars, so the automakers thoughtfully added an on/off switch.

RAY: Actually, the off switch is for situations where the traction control works too well. Traction control prevents the wheels from spinning when you accelerate. This prevents the driven wheels from breaking away and skidding.

TOM: But there are a few rare circumstances in which you might want the wheels to spin. One is if you’re stuck in the snow. If you’re stuck in the snow with the traction control on, here’s what happens: The wheels will try to turn, they’ll get no traction and they’ll stop. So, in a situation like that, the traction control can prevent the wheels from turning at all. No traction, no power to the wheels!

RAY: So by turning off the traction control, you can allow the wheels to spin, and you can try to get out of the snow the old-fashioned way — by rocking the car back and forth ... and digging a 2-foot hole under each wheel that you’ll never get out of.