A Texas girl with Yankton ties will to be featured in a tele- vision program on the Animal Planet channel. Kenna McNeill, 10, of Seminole, Texas, was contacted and chosen as one of the “up and coming little rodeo people” for “Texas Rodeo Tykes,” which will air at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7. A film crew came in from California and filmed various rodeo events, various duties on the ranch, as well as their personal family life. The crew stayed off and on at the McNeill Ranch with the fami- ly while filming. Kenna’s mother, Lisa Loecker, McNeill, was born and raised in Yankton and graduated from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. Kenna is the grand- daughter of Reynold and Mary Loecker, Yankton, and the great- granddaughter of Mary Ann Loecker, Yankton. BY TOM AND RAY MAGLIOZZI Dear Tom and Ray: I live in Michigan, where Mother Nature constantly tries to do me in with her lake- effect snow and black ice. I recently pur- chased a 2010 Jeep, which is the first vehicle I’ve ever owned with a traction-control but- ton. Why in the world would I EVER want to turn the traction control off? I quite enjoy having traction. Is there any downside to always having the traction control system on? -- Dan RAY: Normally, no. For the vast majority of your driving lifetime, Dan, the traction con- trol should be on. TOM: Traction control uses the anti-lock braking system to prevent your wheels from spinning when you accelerate. Because once the wheels start to spin, you lose all traction and lose directional control of the vehicle. You’ve probably experienced this phenome- non, often referred to as fishtailing. RAY: So, why would you ever want to turn it off? The only reason would be if you’re already stuck in a pile of snow, for instance. Sometimes the only way out of a parking space or a snowdrift is to “blast out.” That means hitting the gas and letting the wheel spin until it digs down and grabs onto some- thing. TOM: Or rocking the car back and forth between drive and reverse until you can build up enough momentum to get over the hump of snow that’s blocking you. Neither of those techniques always works, but sometimes it’s your only hope. And traction control prevents you from using those techniques. RAY: Right. With traction control on, as soon as a wheel starts to spin, the brake gets applied to that wheel, preventing you from blasting anywhere! TOM: In fact, some cars’ traction control systems are so sensitive that they can make a car stop dead in its tracks in the snow. It’s happened with some Mercedes models we’ve tested, and with the latest Toyota Prius. RAY: Right. If the car doesn’t have perfect traction, some traction control systems just won’t let the car move. In cases like that, you’d want to be able to turn off the traction control and then, as soon as you get going, turn it back on. And then (to answer your question) leave it on, Dan. Bumps and potholes do more than merely annoy drivers. Find out what, and how you can ease the pain, by ordering Tom and Ray’s pamphlet “Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It!” Send $4.75 (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Got a question about cars? Write to Click and Clack in care of this newspaper, or e-mail them by visiting the Car Talk Web site at www.cartalk.com. © 2010, King Features Syndicate, Inc. CLICK & CLACK Traction Control Almost Always Is A Good Thing BY TOBIN BARNES The kooks are coming out of the woodwork. Again. One of the subjects that I’ve taught over the decades is U.S. history. My major in college was English, but history has been my avocation. I find it fas- cinating to trace how much things change while simultane- ously remaining the same. It’s kind of crazy, really. But that’s why history is so useful. Similar dilemmas keep popping up again and again. As George Santayana said, “Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.” And the great Harry Truman, a self-taught student of history, said, “The only thing that is new in this world is the history you don’t know.” Mankind’s accumulated knowledge has increased expo- nentially over the millennia of recorded history — particular- ly in the last century. We used to store knowledge in millions of books in huge libraries. Now we can store it all in a broom closet full of computer chips. But at the same time that knowledge has taken leaps and bounds, human nature and brain power have remained at virtually the same levels as those of the pyramid builders. Evolution marches on in all plants and animals, but it takes millions of years, not hundreds. So we can’t look down our noses at the ancients, probably not even at the cavemen. Their petty biases, jealousies, faults, and neuroses are, sadly, still ours. Are we less animalistic than our ancient brothers? Sometimes, yes, sometimes, no. Many events of the 20th Century and this century would go in the “no” column. There’s no need to document the obvious. And the same could be said for the ancient people in relation to their ancestors. We are not technologically where we are today because of some sudden flowering of the human intellect in recent years. Instead our comforts have come, to paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton, from standing on the shoulders of giants who in turn stood on the shoulders of other giants who somehow managed to incrementally think and lift themselves above their own times. Usually an advance came from the inspiration of one great mind that was in turn supported by other above average intel- lects who had the courage to perceive and appreciate the improvement in thought. Yeah, well anyway, back to history and the lessons it teaches to those who pay attention. I tell my students that all through history, including American history, when the economic system of the time goes into a dive, the kooks come out of the woodwork. Yeah, you heard me, kooks. Kooks that ordinarily would- n’t garner any attention what- soever — would in normal times, in fact, be laughed out of the place — in times of dis- tress, these kooks finally find a desperate audience looking for a messiah or at least a messian- ic message. You can look it up. It’s almost like clockwork. When people are hurting, the kooks come out of the woodwork promising simplistic but ill-considered solutions. And all-too-many people pay them heed, thereby becoming kooks as well. Still, the original kooks and their follower kooks make up only a minority, but this minori- ty can also be a motivated and dedicated gaggle that can cause worlds of trouble. Currently, an all-too-large part of our population is suffer- ing from the effects of the Great Recession, the greatest eco- nomic catastrophe since the Great Depression, a time when people looked for easy answers and admired the dogma of kooks from both the far left wing and the far right wing. Yep, the economy is down now, and we’re right in the thick of it again. And pre- dictably, the kooks have come out of the woodwork. Fortunately, for the better part of U.S. history, saner heads have eventually prevailed. Most Americans have been too smart for the kooks. Let’s hope this particular aspect of history con- tinues to repeat itself in similar- ly positive ways. Tobin Barnes, a high school English teacher, gets his skewed viewpoints of life from staring too much at Crow Peak, which looms above his home a few miles outside Spearfish. Kooks Coming Out Of The Woodwork, Again Barnes www.yankton.net PAGE 5A Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan ■ LIFE ■ Saturday, October 2, 2010 Paid for by Garry Moore An Independent Voice of Responsible Government I will treat your tax dollars as if it were my own, RESPONSIBLY and CONSERVATIVELY . Elect GARRY MOORE Yankton County Commission on November 2nd EXPERIENCE COUNTS Fall Style Show Fall Style Show Saturday, October 9, 2010 Location: The Center, 900 Whiting Dr., Yankton Show starts at 2:00pm All proceeds go toward OES and The Center’s senior programs Schedule 1:30-2:00 Accessory Booths Open 2:00 Show begins 3:30 Lunch 3:30-4:00 Accessory Booths Open $5.00 per ticket Tickets available at The Center 665-4685 Drawings for Door Prizes Paid for by Committee to Elect Dan for Sheriff Vote for Dan Thompson Your candidate for Yankton County SHERIFF Come visit and ask questions! Dan will be at The Center, 900 Whiting Drive Tuesday, October 12 From 11:00AM to 1:00PM Animal Planet Guest Star Has Yankton Ties SUBMITTED PHOTO Kenna McNeill was chosen as one of the “Up and Coming little rodeo people” for “Texas Rodeo Tykes.” She will be featured on an upcoming Animal Planet show. VERMILLION — Senior Molly Mack was crowned Miss Dakota while Dzenan Berberovic, a senior contemporary media and journal- ism major, was named Mr. Dakota during Dakota Days Coronation activities on Tuesday, Sept. 29. Mack of Redfield is a business management major and was spon- sored at coronation by Newman Center. Her activities are Kappa Alpha Theta, Pre-dental Club, Symphonic Band, Alpha Lambda Delta, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, SDSHAA Cheer Judge, Honors Program and phar- macy technician at Sanford Vermillion. Berberovic of Sioux Falls is involved in Pi Kappa Alpha, Student Ambassadors and Dakotans at USD. His sponsoring organization was Dance Marathon. Additional royalty for Dakota Days 2010 includes king candi- dates Alex Neukirch of Yankton, a psychology major; Kevin Cwach from Yankton, a biology major; economics and political science major Tim Carr of Lamoni, Iowa; Patrick Davis of Yankton, a physics major; Matthew Blake of Pierre, a ahistory and political science major; and business marketing major Kyle Schoenfelder of Iroquois; and queen candidates Elizabeth Falk of Aberdeen, a communication sciences and dis- orders major; Alexis Konstant of Spearfish, a marketing major; polit- ical science and health services administration major Chelsi Gunderson of Sioux Falls; Sarah Olson of Brandon, majoring in health services administration; Megan Peitzmeier of Omaha, Neb., an elementary education major; and Aleisia Gomez of Spearfish, a psychology major. The theme for Dakota Days 2010, “REDVOLUTION,” is a play- on-words describing the evolution of USD’s curriculum and campus to Division I in academics and ath- letics. RODEO PRINCESS 2010 Dakota Days Royalty Announced SUBMITTED PHOTO Molly Mack and Dzenan Berberovic were crowned 2010 Dakota Days King and Queen Tuesday night. The Lewis & Clark Theatre Company is announcing an addi- tional audition date for its pro- duction of the upcoming Christmas classic, “A Christmas Story.” The audition date is 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3, at the Dakota Theatre. A cast of 11-15 men, women and children is needed. No need to bring anything. Just show up and be ready to read. For more information, call the Dakota Theatre from noon-5 p.m. weekdays at 605-665-4711. ‘Christmas Story’ Audition Added YOUR NEWS! THE PRESS & DAKOTAN 1002_Life 10/1/10 9:17 PM Page 1