Today's Feature

Extended, Approved Street Vacation.

The City Council Public Works Committee met Tuesday afternoon in a regular session. The committee approved a motion to recommend to full Council the vacation of 17 feet of City right-of-way on the east side of Buena Vista street, between Highland and Fairview Avenues. The request was brought by RGWC Development Group, LLC for the purpose of erecting a privacy fence between Rollins Creek properties and the street. The current housing in that development abuts the property line, and the area between the houses and the street is City property.

Public Works Department Director Chad Wampler told the committee that the requestors wish to build a privacy fence, and that it would be a City liability if the right-of-way was not vacated. Wampler added that Sprenkle and Associates, the City engineer, had recommended the vacation.

Three representatives from RGWC Development Group LLC were present at the meeting and told the committee of the plans for the proposed fence, which included in addition to the actual fencing a gate at the entrance to each housing unit, stamped concrete sidewalk and a yard light at each residence.

The original request was for a vacation from Highland to the entrance of Rollins Creek. Wampler mentioned that there were plans to develop 5 more houses south of that entrance, and that a future a request might be brought to vacate the same portion from the entrance to Fairview. Street Commissioner Tom Shelley recommended that the entire vacation be completed at one time, to reduce the possibility of street variations in the area. The committee agreed to this and the motion to recommend the vacation was approved.

The committee also approved a bid for two 5 foot rotary mowers for the Street Department. Commissioner Shelley showed the committee 4 bids received, whose prices ranged from $2,970 to $3,350. Shelley said that two of the bids received did not meet the 850 pound minimum weight specifications required for the department. Of the two mowers that did meet the requirements, Shelley recommended the low bid of $2,970 from Fritz Implement, Inc. of Monett, MO for two Woods 600 Rotary Mowers. That price includes the trade-in value of the Department’s current mowers. The budgeted amount for the purchase was $6,400. The committee unanimously approved a motion to accept the low bid.

Police Nab Prowlers.

The Carthage Police Department received a call shortly after midnight on Tuesday reporting possible prowlers on the roof of an apartment on the historic Carthage square. Officers responded quickly to the scene, located and detained three darkly-clad suspects on the roof. Shortly thereafter the Carthage Fire Department arrived in a ladder-truck and helped the Police retrieve the suspects from the roof. The three persons were arrested and taken to the department for questioning.

Gettin’ chilly out there. We’re only about a couple weeks away from winter startin’. Also the shortest day of the year. After that the sun will gradually stay around a little longer each day until summer begins in June. Then the long retreat back again.

It’s kinda reassuring that there is some reasoning behind what date marks the beginnin’ of winter and summer. It musta taken someone years (o.k., at least one year if it wasn’t cloudy) to figure out the cycle of the sun and pinpoint the shortest and longest periods of daylight. It’s a natural occurrence that neither man or government has any control over. It’s a rule we all have ta live by, end of discussion.

Sometimes, tradition does stand the test of time.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Click & Clack Talk Cars
By Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I have a 2003 4Runner V-6 that easily pulled my boat. So I bought a bigger boat. I would like to buy one of those super-heavy-duty Dodge Ram Crew Cabs with an enormous diesel engine to pull the new boat, but my wife won’t let me trade in our house so I can afford it. So, I found ads for "performance modules" that claim an 18 percent increase in torque in my 4Runner for about a grand. I’m hoping you’ll tell me that one of these things will ruin my engine after only 2,000 miles, so I’ll have an iron-clad excuse to buy a new, over-priced monster truck. - Phillip

RAY: I think your plan will work, Phillip. I don’t know if you can toast your 4Runner in only 2,000 miles, but it’s worth a try.

TOM: All modern engines have something called an engine control unit, or ECU. It’s basically a computer that keeps track of data from various sensors all over the engine, and then crunches the numbers and determines how much fuel to send into the cylinders and when the spark plugs should fire.

RAY: What most performance chips do is they replace that database that the ECU uses. For example, instead of telling the ECU that for a given set of conditions, send in X amount of fuel, the database on the performance chip tells it to send in 2X and advance the timing so that the spark fires earlier. That’s how it creates more performance.

TOM: But the guys who make performance chips aren’t concerned about things like reliability, fuel economy or emissions.

RAY: Oh, and those chips automatically void your warranty, too.

TOM: So, if your goal is to wear out the engine in your 4Runner, and do some damage to the environment in the process, I think this is an excellent plan, Phillip. Bon voyage!