The Mornin' Mail is published every weekday except major holidays
Thursday, July 26, 2007 Volume XVI, Number 28

did ya know?

Did Ya Know?... School Supplies will be accepted for the "Tools for School" distribution program through July 30th at the Salvation Army HQ, 125 E. Fairview.

Did Ya Know?... The annual Stone’s Throw Dinner Theatre "Sally Awards" will be held on July 28, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. in the Theatre. Awards will be presented for the best of the show productions. Call for reservations; 358-9665 or 358-7268. A light dessert will be served following the ceremony.

Did Ya Know?... The City of Carthage Street Department will be spraying for mosquitoes through Friday, July 27th. Areas will be sprayed in the evening of regular trash pickup, between 8 p.m. and midnight. It is recommended to turn off attic or window fans when the sprayer is in the area.

Did Ya Know?... Paper folding craft day will be held on Thursday, July 26 at 10:00 a.m. in the Carthage Public Library. Sign up the children’s help desk or call 237-7040.

today's laugh

I understand you have been having your family tree looked up.

Yes and it cost me five thousand dollars.

Quite expensive, wasn’t it?

Yes, but it only cost two thousand to have it looked up. The other three thousand was what I paid to have it hushed up.

1907
INTERESTING MELANGE.
A Chronological Record of Events as they have Transpired in the City and County since our last Issue.

Sidewalk Suit.

Miss S. A. Dougan, a domestic 61 years of age, has brought suit for $5,000 against the city of Springfield for injuries received from a defective sidewalk last spring. She was walking along a plank walk when a man in the act of passing her stepped on a loose plank which flew up and struck Miss Dougan, throwing her to the ground. Her right knee cap was fractured, right ankle sprained, left wrist and arm broken, a tooth broken off and face and eyes bruised and blackened. As a result she will be permanently disabled.

Conductor Bud Kite, a well known passenger conductor on the main line of the Frisco, who was discharged from the service of the road some six weeks ago upon the charge usually made against a passenger conductor on all roads has recently been reinstated by the company and is now on his regular run between Monett and Burrton, Kas.

 

Today's Feature

Approved Request for Proposals.

The Carthage City Council during Tuesday’s regular session approved a motion to allow a Request for Proposals to be sent out for the City salary and compensation study. Finance/Personnel Committee Chair Diane Sharits reported that the proposals specify that Carthage’s pay scale be compared against 20 to 30 cities of comparable population, services and tax base.

This study was approved during the budget sessions as a way to improve what some Council members feel to be inadequate structure in the pay scale for City employees. Other council members, including Mike Harris and Claude Newport, have spoken against the study. Newport has said previously, and reiterated at Tuesday’s meeting, that he felt the City department heads are in a better position to recommend adjustments than an outside consultant. Harris has said that he felt the $25,000 budgeted for the study could be better used by increasing pay where it is needed instead of conducting a study.

Harris requested during Tuesday’s meeting that regional cities like Joplin be compared in the evaluation, in addition to the 20-30 comparable cities, because Carthage competes with Joplin and other nearby cities for employees.

The Council approved the request for proposals unanimously. Sharits said that the proposals would be sent out within the next few days. There are approximately 10 consultants to which the requests will be sent.

The previous salary study was conducted in 1997. Since that time adjustments to the pay scale have been based on the federal recommended Cost of Living Adjustment.

The Council also heard from Convention and Visitor Bureau Director Kate Massey concerning upcoming events and developments at the CVB. Massey said that this year’s Maple Leaf celebration will feature a live country music concert, which will be held in Municipal Park. More information on this event will be released at a later date. Massey also noted that the Bureau’s new website has received 13,252 user sessions since its launch on June 1.

Council also unanimously approved ordinances allowing two budget adjustments, one for last year’s budget and one for this year’s budget, and an annexation of 3133 South Grand Avenue into the City.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',
Used ta be a time when we all had a lot of options. Like air-conditioning, power brakes, seatbelts. All standard equipment now. Maybe all options will come to be standard in time.

People seem to like a lot of options. They don’t like to see just one kind of soda pop on the shelf for instance. I personally don’t understand why there are two aisles of breakfast cereals in the grocery store. Seems like ten or fifteen should be plenty.

Small businesses have a variety of options that most big companies can’t compete with. They can shift product mix, move quickly into niche markets and give personal service to a loyal customer base.

Havin’ all those options is just our way of makin’ sure we are gettin’ exactly the best deal or the best style that’s available.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

Sponsored
by:
Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack Talk Cars
By Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I was just in a flood, and my Honda Del Sol got flooded up to the hood latch. It was not running then, and I have not tried to turn it on since then. It was in the water for about six hours. Will my engine be ruined? Will my computer be ruined? If the answer to both of those is no, would my car be fine at that point, or do I have to worry that it is going to rust and fall apart slowly? - Diane

RAY: Give it a big, wet kiss, Diane. A goodbye kiss.

TOM: Your engine’s not ruined, and neither is your transmission. But the rest of the car is toast. Or, more accurately, compost.

RAY: The computer is cooked. The interior of the car is going to rot. And even if you did get the thing to run again, the smell would kill you.

TOM: If you have insurance, this is an excellent time to call your agent and ask him or her to send the appraiser by for a little look-see. He or she will confirm that the car is a total loss, and will write you a check for two-thirds of the value of the car. Then you can fight with them to get the rest of your money.

RAY: If you don’t have insurance, you can still get some money by selling the car to a junkyard (oops, I mean auto recycling center). But DO NOT TRY TO START THE CAR. There’s probably water inside the cylinders, and if you try to start it up, you’ll bend all kinds of important internal engine parts and make the engine worthless.

TOM: The safest thing to do is to get the water out of there. To do that, remove all four spark plugs, then crank the engine for a few seconds. Water will shoot out of the spark-plug holes. Then call the junk man, make a deal and move on, Diane.

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