Today's Feature

Opposition To Dump Truck Decision.

Carthage City Council met Tuesday evening. Public Works Chairman Bill Johnson in his report to the Council made a recommendation for a dump truck purchase. The recommendation was for a Freightliner M2-106 with a Heil bed for $47,400 from Joplin Freightliner. Council approved a motion to purchase the dump truck the financing of which was included with the 3.75% financing for the new backhoe through UMB.

During the citizens’ participation period Steve Yancey from Fleet Sales in Springfield made known his dissatisfaction with the dump truck choice the Council had approved. Fleet Sales put together 3 bids for Lindsay Chevrolet in Lebanon none of which were accepted. Yancey, who stated that his company has done much business with the City, said he was upset that the City wouldn’t accept a Lindsay Chevrolet bid. The three bids were for; a Chevrolet CC7500 with a Heil bed for $48,097, a Chevrolet CC7500 with a Stahl bed for $44,970 and a Chevrolet CC7500 with a Hilbilt bed for $43,905 which was the low bid. However, the bid requests for the new truck as submitted by the Street department included the stipulation that Hilbilt bodies were unacceptable. Yancey’s company represents Hilbilt dump bodies.

"We couldn’t understand the way we were treated," said Yancey, who accused the Street Department of insinuating that the Hilbilt bodies were poor quality and thus "blackballing" the small business. In closing Yancey stated that in his opinion the city turned down the lowest and best bid.

Street Commissioner Tom Shelley, in speaking of the "Hilbilt bodies unacceptable" preference, said that the Street Department wasn’t satisfied with the Hilbilt bed on the last truck purchased. Shelley said the recommendation of the Freightliner from Joplin Freightliner was made in part because the bid was $697 less than the bid for the Chevrolet from Lindsay Chevrolet, and to retrofit a spreader to the truck would cost $600.

Although I find that I relate to very little of today’s pop, rock, whatever music, I do, on occasion force myself to listen to small doses of today’s "kid" music.

The main reason I put myself through the ordeal is as a testimony to the torture my parents must have gone through when I was blastin’ all those foreign sounds outa the car radio.

As I’m sure my parents recognized, there are many similar tendencies for all music for the younger crowd. I can remember the disappointment I felt when my mother told me that "Blue Moon" was a remake of her generation.

I know folks get upset with some of the words of current songs, but ‘bout all I can remember of most of the tunes I grew up with is a couple a the hook lines. I guess the "meaning" just never sunk in.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin.

Dear Tom and Ray:

There are times when I would like to cover up my bumper stickers so as not to offend people I am visiting - my politics being more moderate than those of certain Neanderthalic family members I will be visiting next month. Are you aware of any product that will mask bumper stickers? Then if my wrong-headed relatives take a peek, the offense will be self-inflicted. - Simon.

RAY: Gee, that’s a tough one, Simon. My brother’s still trying to scrape the Adlai Stevenson stickers off his ‘52 MGTD

TOM The easiest way to hide a bumper sticker is... with another bumper sticker. But you need one that crosses the entire political spectrum. We might have some leftover "Save the Skeets" stickers. That was part of our campaign to keep people from shooting the poor little guys. Who could possibly oppose that?

RAY: If you want a more temporary solution and you don’t care what it looks like, Simon, you can simply cover them up with slightly larger pieces of blank vinyl, which you can buy from an art supply store. Or get a "make your own bumper sticker" kit. Then just tape the temporary sticker on with electrical tape, and it should be fine for a long weekend.

TOM: If the stickers are on a metallic part of the car, like the lift gate of a wagon or sport utility vehicle, you can buy some magnetic signs and use those to temporarily cover up your stickers.

RAY: And best of all, with the magnetic signs or the do it yourself stickers, you can customize the message. So you can cover up your "Eat Free Range Tofu" stickers with a sign that says "Ask Me About My Neanderthal Uncle Frank!"

RACING
By Greg Zyla
Sponsored by Curry Automotive

Surviving Winter’s Racing Doldrums

Now that the racing season is over, we’ll concentrate on some great racing items that can make your non-racing winter days a little more bearable.

If you’re an Indy 500 fan, you have to check out "Indianapolis 500 Legacy Series," the latest offering from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Shoreline Media Group.

Included are five individually wrapped DVDs in a box set featuring all of the Indy 500s from 1960 through 1999. No other previous tape or DVD collection captures both the action of the race itself, in condensed form, and then adds lots of extra features. You can spend hours on one decade if you access all the extras.

The Indy 500 DVDs include four "decade" discs and a special bonus disc that together provide more than 10 hours of content. Included in the set are the four previously released "Legacy Series" discs, each covering a golden decade of speed for the Indianapolis 500. They are: "The ’60s: A Decade of Change," "The ’70s: A Decade of Legends," "The ’80s: A Decade for the Ages," and "The ’90s: A Decade of Drama."

Each "Legacy" DVD provides historic footage and interviews with the stars of the era.