Some people like to paint the town red; some would rather tar it.

And the Little Engine That Could lives in New Ringgold; it's in a 2007 Dodge Dakota pickup.Late last year, New Ringgold council got very unwelcome news in the form of a $15,000 bid to seal coat the borough's roads. They had already spent $40,000 on road paving and other projects and didn't want to spend any more money.Mayor John Belsak, who works at a hospital, had recently witnessed a seal-coat project done there in the parking lots and roads on the grounds. In that case, the seal-coat machine had been rented. Could the borough do the same thing?Fortunately, and unfortunately, yes."It was horrible," said Council President Larry Padora. "It killed us."The borough has no paid employees. Padora, Belsak, council members Roger Freed and Jason Gradwell, and the mayor's son Andy Belsak took on the task. It took them two days to seal coat the borough's approximately 10 miles of roads."The tar material comes in a big brick, which weighs about 50 pounds," Padora said. "You have to throw it into the tank, and it heats it up into liquid so you can apply it with the wand."They started out putting the seal coat heating apparatus in the bucket of Belsak's skid steer; but that didn't work well. Freed's Dodge Dakota was pressed into service, with the equipment loaded into the bed of the truck. The bed sagged. Could the little truck handle it?"It's a V-8," Freed said proudly. "I had the easy part; I just drove the truck."They worked six hours the first day and 10 hours the second day. Padora said that if anyone cares to investigate, the workers may have written their names in hot tar somewhere on the borough's roads.Instead of paying $15,000 for the job, it cost New Ringgold $3,000 for equipment rental and supplies. None of the workers asked for reimbursement."Hey, I won't say it was fun," Belsak said. "But somebody had to do it."