LOGTOWN (UPI) – City council voted tonight to keep the current Logtown High School symbol, despite the annual protest of Council member T.J. Bowl.

“One of these years,” Bowl said in a post-meeting interview, “I’m going to get one more vote and things will change for the better.”

Since Bowl was elected as the Council representative from District 3 - known to locals as ‘The Foundation District’ because there are no mobile homes in the District – he has campaigned unsuccessfully to have the Logtown High symbol changed from an outhouse to an oak tree.

“Why in Pete’s name would Logtown High have an oak tree for its symbol?” District 1 representative Stan Crapper opined after the meeting. “This town is all about logs, and having a tree for a symbol sends an unusually violent message to outsiders of our community.”

District 2 representative Pete Spurtz opposed the change for different reasons.

“As you know,” Spurtz said, “my entire district is comprised of mobile homes and shacks with dirt floors. Having that outhouse as a symbol for our institution of higher education hearkens back to the days when none of the homes in this town had indoor plumbing and that outhouse was the only place we had to go. Why in Stan’s name would we want to abandon our heritage?”

As recently as 1978, the outhouse in front of the high school was the only toilet in town. On Nov. 17, 1977, police records indicate that Stan Crapper and Pete Spurtz came to blows over who placed their hand on the door handle – Logtown etiquette for determining outhouse order – first. After the spring thaw, Crapper opened his own trailer park, Crapper’s Park, and installed his own outhouse.

In other council business, the council voted unanimously to rebuild the outhouse in front of the school after one of the freshman allegedly attempted to light a cigarette inside of it Monday morning during school hours. The freshman suffered severe burns, but will be given detention upon his return to school for violating the ‘No Open Flames Near the Outhouse’ rule that has been in effect since the town was founded.

Last things first -- enough of this is fiction that you shouldn't believe it as true.

Welcome to the cast of characters at Logtown High, nickname Loggers.

Young MC is the girls' basketball coach. His claim to fame is that he broke the gender barrier in high school athletics by becoming the first male to play girls' basketball.

Simon Liebowitz is the short, bespectacled, bow-tie wearing political science teacher who rants in a thick southern accent, drinks heavily, and spends the first month of each school year with an unusual tan line resulting from the shaving of his face-covering summer beard. The louder and angrier he gets, the funnier it is.

Richie is the cafeteria manager and journalism teacher. He's really tall and skinny, and smokes cigarettes.

Fletcher is Richie's best friend and writes for the big town newspaper 40 miles away, but his only beat is covering events in Logtown, Population 3473. Fletcher has a lot of free time.

There are lots of other secondary characters who will be making appearances from time to time, occasionally when they're aware of it.

If ever the Tales From Logtown take a turn into nonsensical stage performances, I'm ripping the idea off from Richard Davis. Please don't sue.

Can anyone tell me why Kentucky doesn't require annual vehicle inspections in concert with the registration renewals?

 Noboby's examined my car since I first got Kentucky plates -- back in 1997.

 Since then, how likely is it that I've had headlights, turn signals or brake lights burn out and need to be replaced?

Well, what if they do, and I don't want to spend any money or time to fix it? Is anybody going to tell me to fix it? Pretty much any person of any class or race would consider it being hassled by the police if they pulled you over and gave you a citation, right?

 So, where's my incentive to fix my burned-out brake lights? Sure, I'll get them fixed if my car gets rear-ended. It will likely cost a helluva lot more $$ than just getting it fixed, right?

It seems that in Kentucky, this is an acceptable risk. In ARKANSAS, of all places,  vehicles have to be inspected before new registration tags are issued. It costs a nominal fee, and most auto service centers/oil change shops/full service gas stations would provide the service, so it wouldn't take much time or be too far out of anyone's way.

 Passing inspection wins you a small sticker that is placed on your windshield in the general location of where we already have a stack of parking passes growing steadily by the road trip -- the inspector even will have a nifty gadget that removes the old sticker before the new one is applied -- so there won't be a trail of inspection stickers running all the way around the edge of your 1974 Oldsmobuick Behemoth.

Now, not even this would help people with their turn signals, but it might help