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Letter to the Editor: Access to crop protection (4/20/24)For more than 50 years, glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, has enabled American farmers to implement smart farming practices that use fewer resources, saving farmers time and money. Glyphosate is essential to keeping crop yields high, limiting erosion, and helping Missouri farmers compete in an increasingly competitive global market. Manufacturers of this product employ thousands of Missourians.
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Letter to the Editor: Cape should prioritize funds (4/18/24)Gary HillIn today’s economy, it’s understandable why the majority of voters were reluctant to support a tax increase to fund public safety wage increases. So, what’s next? ...
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Letter to the Editor: Overcoming Missouri’s opioid epidemic (4/11/24)T. Robin Cole IIIBad news: Missouri’s opioid epidemic emerged as our most serious public health problem with drug overdose Missouri’s no. 1 leading cause of death among adults aged 18-44. Overcoming this crisis will be difficult, yet not insurmountable. Accidental prescription opioid addiction contributes fuel to our opioid epidemic, and the American Medical Association says about 45% of heroin users started with a prescription opioid addiction.
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Letter to the Editor: From local meetings to DNC (4/9/24)Chuck BanksThe presidential primary went well. The next step will be the local county mass meetings. Each county will elect delegates to go to the congressional meetings. The eighth congressional meeting will be held in Wayne County this cycle. That’s the only perk to being the eighth congressional chair!
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Letter to the Editor: Stop voting roadblocks (4/4/24)On April 2, my son was denied his right to vote by the Missouri Legislature through Missouri Revised Statute 115.135. He had recently turned 18 and wanted to vote for a friend’s parent running for a school board position. My son drove to the correct polling place during normal voting hours with his Missouri REAL ID driver’s license. The poll workers were excited to see a young man taking his civic responsibility seriously. When they could not find him in the system, it was first assumed he had not fully registered at the DMV so he filled out more paperwork while the poll workers graciously called the County Clerk’s office to discover the issue. My son was in fact registered to vote on March 13 as he renewed his driver’s license, but he had not registered early enough (the fourth Wednesday prior to the election) as stated in the Missouri Revised Statute 115.135.
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Letter to the Editor: Don't increase property tax (3/30/24)Regarding April 2 ballot for Cape Girardeau tax increase: From 2010 to 2022 my property tax ranged from $1,756 to $1,773, same house. It increased just under 1% in those 13 years. Suddenly, it went to $1,922 for 2023 – an increase of 8.4%! Now they want to raise it even more? No!
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Letter to the Editor: I'm voting no on Cape tax (3/30/24)Most people I know favor robust police and fire departments with employees being well paid. They feel as well they deserve more pay. Raising taxes on the citizens of Cape seems to be the only remedy the council can come up with.
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Letter to the Editor: Tough to support Jackson tax (3/30/24)The Jackson School Board needs a tax increase to fund salaries and other district needs. I would gladly vote for this if the county would freeze property tax rates like the Missouri legislature granted counties to do.
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Letter to the Editor: Don't eliminate income tax (3/26/24)At the moment the three leading Republican Candidates for Missouri governor are Jay Ashcroft, Bill Engel and Mike Kehoe. All three indicate that they would be willing to repeal Missouri's income tax. This would reduce the state's revenue by about $10 billion annually. None of the candidates have indicated how they would replace this lost revenue or exactly what expenses they would cut...
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Letter to the Editor: Smith's vote on budget deal (3/26/24)To Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri's 8th Congressional District, Your vote in favor of the latest budget deal, of over $1.2 trillion, is disheartening. You have betrayed your district, you have betrayed those who have voted for you, and once again shown how you have a complete lack of morals or values of which you claim to possess...
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Letter to the Editor: Refuting Smith's claims (3/23/24)One of my favorite movies is "My Cousin Vinny". In one scene, Vinny responds to the prosecuting attorney's opening statement: "Everything that guy just said is B.S." In his newsletter dated March 15, 8th District U.S. Rep. Smith critiqued President Biden's budget plan. To paraphrase Vinny, "Everything that guy wrote is B.S."...
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Letter to the Editor: Primary vote on Saturday (3/21/24)Saturday, March 23, the Missouri Democratic Party is holding its presidential preference primary. Due to a new state law, this will be no ordinary election as it is being run by the state party rather than state and local election authorities. The three things that will distinguish it are the types of voters who can participate, the presence of local candidates, and the ability of voters to sign an initiative petition on site...
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Letter to the Editor: Missed his calling (3/21/24)Some people think that God put Donald Trump on earth to be a latter-day savior of something. Some of us think that he was put here to be the anti-Christ since he has an uncanny ability to dupe people. Problem is, he's just not strong enough to tackle either job. The loser is failing again, darn it...
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Letter to the Editor: Congrats to Delta basketball (3/14/24)Congratulations to the Delta Ladycats! As a team host for the Missouri State High School Basketball Championships in Columbia, I had the opportunity to spend time with the basketball players, coaches David and Toby Heeb, and fans from Delta, Missouri. These people were distinguished representatives of their community, and you should be proud of the excellent impression they made in Columbia...
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Letter to the Editor: Supporting our police (3/14/24)I am a transplant from Springfield, Missouri. I am a retired division commander from the Springfield Missouri Police Department. I moved here from the Ozarks about two years ago. I can also say that the police department in Cape does the best they can with what they have...
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Letter to the Editor: Support public safety employees (3/12/24)Our police and fire departments provide extremely important and essential services for all of us in the community. They should be valued, supported and compensated with higher wages. It has been my experience that many caring individuals live in the City of Cape Girardeau. Most will support a reasonable proposal to ensure our public safety departments are fully staffed and paid competitive wages...
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Letter to the Editor: Cape's leaf pickup (3/5/24)Once again I've piled onto a tarp the curbside leaves (now wet and soggy) that the city never picked up, and I've lugged them (three trips) to the hollow at the back of my lot and dumped them there. Not an easy task for an 85-year-old. You'd think the city would do a better job of collecting leaves, sweeping the streets, and picking up litter just a block from the new City Hall; but it doesn't, so we homeowners have to do it. It's been that way since I moved here in 2003...
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Letter to the Editor: Stop the violence (2/29/24)As I am sitting here thinking about all of the gun violence that continues to happen every single day and tears apart multiple families, friends as well as the community in which we live, I am very disheartened that it has happened again today. It's upsetting to me that you can't even go out to your job to provide for your family and may not even make it home. ...
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Letter to the Editor: The COVID agenda (2/27/24)Science had nothing to do with the following two tyrannical covid "interventions". If not based on science, then why were they mandated? Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, who famously once claimed, "I am the science," admitted when questioned by the House Oversight Committee last month that the 6-foot rule of social distancing during covid "sort of just appeared" and wasn't based on science. ...
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Letter to the Editor: Battle to the bottom (2/27/24)Something is wrong with the system if the American people are left to pick between the same two candidates for president in the year 2024 as they were in the year 2020. This can not be a step into the future. At best it can only be considered as either a side step or no step at all. ...
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Letter to the Editor: Vote no on Cape tax increase (2/24/24)Vote no on Cape tax increase "Most" can afford an extra $10-$15/month, some say. But a tax increase would be levied on all -- even those already struggling financially. What will that extra monthly amount buy? A copay, a meal, gasoline, bare essentials. ...
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Letter to the Editor: Library books not obscene (2/24/24)Just because protesters toss out the terms prurient, obscene and pornographic doesn't mean those terms fit books they criticize. In fact, those words do not apply to books currently in the young adult section of the library. What a parent may consider to be obscene or pornographic does not mean that those terms apply legally. What is offensive is the implication that any adult who does not agree with the protesters is unreasonable...
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Letter to the Editor: A plan for transportation in Missouri (2/24/24)A plan for transportation in Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order last year, calling for the establishment of a statewide master plan on aging. One of the plan's goals is that Missourians will have access to safe and reliable transportation and mobility options as they age...
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Letter to the Editor: Is the Cape Public Library a safe place for teens? (2/15/24)Is the Cape Girardeau Public Library a safe place for teens? Most people would expect that teens could be left unaccompanied to peruse material and books in the teen section of the library. I agree that parents should decide what information of a sexual nature they wish to expose their children. However, that option at the Cape library is only available to those parents who do not mind if their children are exposed to prurient, obscene and pornographic material...
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Letter to the Editor: GOP misses on immigration (2/13/24)On the evening of Feb. 7, the Senate effectively killed a bill containing the most restrictive updating of the country's immigration laws in decades. Previously the provisions of this bill had been strongly advocated by the Republicans and were not particularly popular with the Democrats...
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Letter to the Editor: Support for public safety tax (2/6/24)Have you ever noticed that when we allow our personal emotions to override our good sense, we usually make poor decisions. When voting on the proposed 25 cents property tax increase on April 2, please allow your good sense to guide you. The issue on the ballot is not Houck Stadium, West Park Mall, Jefferson pool or other past decisions made by our elected officials...
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Letter to the Editor: Thanks to Leopold Fire Dept. (2/6/24)A long overdue thank you to the Leopold Fire Department Paramedics and Bollinger County Ambulance Service for their very professional help with my wife's emergency call in January. Everyone who has ever helped start and grow the Leopold Fire Department can be very proud of where they are now...
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Letter to the Editor: Impact of primary repeal (1/30/24)I am concerned about the negative impact of Missouri House Bill 1878 and the dreadful burdens it places on voters who wish to participate in the upcoming presidential primary. This partisan, Republican-sponsored bill went into effect in August 2022 and it "repealed" the presidential primary system in Missouri...