Thursday May 22, 1997 Volume V, Number 239

did ya know?

Did Ya Know... The Carthage Public Library will be closed Monday, May 26, for Memorial Day. Did Ya Know... artCentral will have an Adult Workshop (Oil Painting by Bob Tommey) on June 27, 28 and 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sign up by calling 358-4404 or write to: P.O. Box 714, Carthage, MO, 64836.

Did Ya Know... June activity days at the Young Peoples Library are June 12, 19 and 26 for grades K-8. Registration is mandatory. Call Wendy Bastings at 358-2939 for more information.

today's laugh

Some tasks have to be put off dozens of times before they will completely slip your mind.

Two girlfriends were talking over coffee one morning. "Your husband plays a lot of golf, doesn't he?" asked the first woman.

"He sure does and his betting is becoming a problem," answered her friend.

"You mean he's playing for money?"

"That's the problem. He plays for money all of the time, but he never wins any!"

Credit card: Instant debt.

1897

INTERESTING MELANGE.

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

Devore Property Sold.

J. W. Grounds, the well known mine operator, today purchased the Devore property at the corner of Macon street and Garrison avenue from Mrs. M. J. McClurg and Mrs. M. S. Connelly. The consideration was $3,200. The property is at present occupied by Dr. O. C. Evans, but he will move to the Driesbach property. Mr. Grounds will make extensive improvements before moving his family to their new home.

Caught a Ten Pound Carp.

A fishing party from Dudenville had big luck at Bowers Mill the other day. In the catch was a ten pound German carp. It was nearly three feet long and its presence in Spring river is accounted for by the high waters which overflowed the private fishponds of Jasper county during the last two years. "Molasses" Davis, who lives near Maple Grove, lost a large number of fine carp by the overflow last winter.

Just Jake Talkin'

Mornin',

It’s all over but the shoutin’. That’s one a those phrases that ever’one was aware of when I was growin’ up.

I don’t suppose anyone ever’ sat me down and explained ‘xactly what that meant, but I’m guessin’ like most sayin’s, it looks like it could be interpreted at least a couple a ways.

In general I’d have ta say it means the decidin’ is done. Nothin’ more to be accomplished, just the rumble that follows a lightin’ strike in the distance. But where the different meanin’s might be is dependin’ on whether you happened to be sittin’ under the tree the lightin’ hit, or if ya just happened to see the streak from your back porch.

From a distance, ya might be shoutin’ ‘bout how beautiful nature is in it’s wildest form. From under the tree, the shoutin’ would be more likely heard as a curse of such dastardly power and the wrath it brings to man. ‘

Course that brings us to the consideration that any shoutin’ at all doesn’t change the result.

This is some fact, but mostly, Just Jake Talkin’.

Storm Water and Greenspace Control.

Public Works Committee Chair Bill Fortune has asked that a final draft of the storm water control ordinance be submitted to the Committee at their June 17 meeting. The Engineering Department will be conferring with City Attorney David Dally in an attempt to further define the finer details of the proposed regulation.

During a public hearing several weeks ago, several contractors and developers expressed concern with the idea that housing developments would be brought into the existing ordinance that regulates commercial property. Property south of HH and north of Spring River are also currently exempt.

The storm water regulations require that developed property not discharge storm water at a faster rate than the same property in its natural state. There are many methods to control this run off including a detention pond, underground detention facilities, and terracing.

Housing developers particularly questioned who would be responsible for the maintenance of storm water control after a residential area was sold to individual home owners. They also expressed fear that the cost of such facilities would price their property out of the market.

The Committee has proposed that the City might be responsible for long term maintenance after the control method was constructed, much in the same manner that street maintenance is taken over after construction. Any such arrangement requires that improvements be constructed within a criteria established by the City.

According to Fortune, after the Committee agrees with the proposed language, another public hearing will be held to allow interested parties to comment.

The Committee also discussed the progress of the new parking lot just south of the Police Station.

Committee member Jackie Boyer asked that a preliminary plan be brought to the Committee that would address the possibility of keeping some of the trees now growing on the property.

“I don’t know who’s doing the layout for that,” said Boyer, “but I really would like to keep some small amount of green. If we could avoid just scraping it off with a bull dozer I think it would enhance the look of that area.”

Boyer mentioned a small dogwood in particular.

Street Commissioner Tom Shelley said that the company who contracted to clear the property of the houses also contracted to clear the trees. He said he understood that the dogwood was to be replanted at the library.

“Why wasn’t that brought up to the Council at all?” asked Boyer.

Council member Mike Harris reminded the Committee that the Council gave the City Attorney full authority to negotiate the purchase of the property.

According to the discussion, the disposition of the dogwood tree was specifically noted in the original purchase agreement as a part of the contract for sale.

CLICK and CLACK TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Sponsored by Metcalf Auto Supply

Dear Tom and Ray: On my 1991 Camry, there's a button called "overdrive." Can you please explain to me its functions and usage? - Mike

TOM: Yes, Mike. That's the mother-in-law ejection seat. But it only works once, Mike, so make sure you wait until she's in the middle of a good, loud rant before you hit the button.

RAY: Actually, overdrive is just another name for fourth gear on your car. Overdrive is a gear designed for high-speed driving. It provides little power to accelerate, but allows the engine to run relatively slow so you get excellent gas mileage.

TOM: And that button is there to turn overdrive OFF. Now, at this point, you may be asking yourself, "If I have an automatic transmission which chooses my gears for me automatically, why would I ever want to turn overdrive off?" That's a very good question, Mike! And in most cases, you don't want to turn it off.

RAY: There's only one exception, really. There may be certain road or traffic conditions that force you to maintain a speed that keeps the transmission right on the hairy edge between third gear and overdrive. That speed is generally about 35 mph. And at that speed, the transmission tends to "hunt." That means it goes back and forth between third and overdrive trying to find the right gear to be in.

RAY: Is that bad for the car? Not particularly. But it can be annoying to the driver and passengers. And that's why that overdrive button is there. So when the transmission is "hunting," you can turn off overdrive and force the transmission to stay in third gear until your driving conditions change.

TOM: Other than that situation, I would suggest you just ignore the overdrive button, as you've obviously done quite successfully since 1991, Mike.

Carthage Over 60 Senior Center

Good morning to everyone.Well, the thunderstorms surely didn't bring us very much rain, but it is a lovely morning.

We are really doing well with our foot prints on the wall. These prints with the donor's name are for our "Walkless Walk." God has touched about 75 people's heart. At this time we have $2,712.00. Just remember this is one ole lady who believes that when I do all I can do, God will do the rest.

Bert Gilbreath spoke to Dave McCoy about our need and he took it to the VFW Post #2590 and they gave the Senior Center $500.00 toward our need for raw food. Dave is such a kind and pleasant man. I know McCune Brooks Hospital will surely miss him as he retires. He walked last year in our Walk-A-Thon and brought in quite a bit to help the Center.

Some of our rose buds are almost as a large as a lemon - well not quite that large, but they're beautiful and remind me of my mother's rose garden in Oregon.

Bernice Sifferman who had a fourth generation at the Center, recently has two sisters on vacation in England for 16 days, Euretta Glass and Anna Buccanon. I'm sure they will bring back a lot of lovely photos. It's so nice to see seniors couple up and take a vacation together. A couple years ago Virginia Loafman went to Alaska on vacation. That will be a lot of nice memories as they get older.

We have flag pole for sale at $25.00. We now have a nice, big new one with a lock. That is stooping pretty low to steal a flag and we've lost a lot of flags from our flag pole.

Well, Paul Corder at 84 and Lester McCall at 92 were cutting hay this week; in fact, 419 bales. Lester was in heaven being back on a tractor. Can you believe men at this age are still working and many young men sitting around all day not even working to earn their living. Well, Paul and Lester had help but it's so hard to get help in the hay fields. Paul and I both love the cattle but I have a dread when hay time comes. Paul works too hard.

The Nazarene Church had a lovely Mother and Daughter Banquet. It think there were over 300 there. Lovely treats and speaker. Pauline Stafford was my mother. She is such a great lady.

We are making plans for an open house at the Senior Center. We're hoping to have it in June. We had 132 for breakfast Saturday but the volunteers gave me a sad notice. They don't want to work breakfast any more. They want someone else to take it over for a while. It is always the same people who volunteer and they get tired. Yet at the Center no one want to do the work. I realize our people here average 80 years old. I just simply don't know what to do at this time. There are so few volunteers any more.

Mary Corder

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