Letters to the Editor

This opinion is a response to the new pieces of art that will be on Broadway. I think the committee would do the people of our city a favor if they would choose pieces in the future that anyone viewing the art will know what the piece is without guesswork on our part...

I just wanted to thank your newspaper for the wonderful pictures of those Budweiser Clydesdales last week. Your photographer did a fantastic job, and the accompanying story was great as well. Since there are only three such hitches in the nation, having them in Cape Girardeau for a week was quite an honor, and we have Drury Hotels and River Eagle Distributing to thank for this...

If you visit the Cape IRS office, the first thing you must do is submit to an interrogation by a security guard. Even if you only want to pick up some forms by the front door, you must first listen to the guard and answer his questions. If you have so much as a pen knife, you must leave without taking any forms, and you can’t return until you get rid of the knife. If the guard is not present, the office is closed to the public...

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, an observance founded and sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) in 1987. This year’s theme is “Changing Attitudes: It’s not a ‘rite of passage.’” No other substance is more widely used and abused by America’s youth than alcohol, making alcoholism and alcohol-related problems a critical public health issue in the United States. ...

On behalf of the Yes April 3rd Committee, I want to thank the voters of Cape Girardeau for their overwhelming support of the Parks, Recreation and Storm Water initiative in last week's municipal election. The projects that will be funded by this tax extension will benefit a wide cross-section of the community, from children to young adults to active seniors. I am proud to live in a community that promotes quality of life and supports economic growth...

Now that Dr. David Shulkin is no longer Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the issue of whether its health service for veterans will be moved in the direction of privatization becomes an issue. As a veteran who following retirement has received his care from the Cape Girardeau VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic, I hope VA health care will not be privatized...

In 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and Nazism threatened civilization as we know it. What would become known as America's greatest generation courageously stepped forward, rallied behind their government, and vanquished a monstrous enemy. In 2016, America was attacked again. ...

Hello! I am a fourth-grade student in North Carolina. In fourth grade, we research a state for our State Fair, and I have chosen your state! I am very excited to learn more about the great state of Missouri as I work on my report. While we will research most of the information ourselves, we also like to get first-hand knowledge from people who live in the state. ...

This is an open letter to all those good people of the Scott City area who helped the students raise more than $6,000 in their recent St. Jude Mathathon. There are too many names to mention, but to our corporate sponsors, I would like to give a special thanks. ...

Legions watched as their leader walked through the garden late that night. They saw the guards, the kiss of death and Peter's futile fight. Just how far would their leader go before he said, "Enough"? Would they ever hear the sum'ning call? Would it get to be too much?...

I grew up in a local church and it was my teachers, both in school and in Sunday school, that I credit for teaching me to respect others who may not respect me; it was my responsibility to win my enemy over. I owe much to those who struggled to teach me...

We are so blessed to be in the greatest country on earth. The good Lord has smiled on us like no other nation in history. We have food in every store stacked to the ceiling in every location. We can buy food, clothing and almost anything in those stores and at roadside vendors...

The appointment of Betsy DeVos as secretary of Education by President Trump concerns us greatly. This person, along with her husband, is said to be worth some $4.6 billion. She appears to be completely ignorant of the reality of the lives of ordinary citizens of our country...

Recently my wife and I were shopping at Menard's in Cape Girardeau. We received an emergency message and had to leave. In the rush we left our shopping cart sitting in the aisle with merchandise along with two rebate checks. Some very nice person or persons returned the cart with everything along with our two rebate checks to the front desk. Menard's mailed the rebates back to us. My wife and I would like to thank all the kind people who did this for us...

In the March 11 Good Times section of the Southeast Missourian, an article about Senior Center meal deliveries stated that Southeast Hospital once had a home meal delivery program, but "it wasn't a success." The newspaper's archives from 1974 to 2011 and hundreds of Cape Girardeau citizens who delivered for Southeast's Meals on Wheels program would indicate otherwise...

I agree with Dana Grace's recent letter opposing a special tax to help a local developer. Government subsidies for private companies, whether they are farmers, bankers, industries, developers, etc, are misguided. Our economy should be market driven, meaning companies should compete in a fair, honest manner. When government enters, fairness goes out the window...

Humans survive three seconds without hope, three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food -- so, ... how long would we flourish without electricity? On Feb. 15, the Missouri Senate passed Senate Bill 564 sending it next to the Missouri House of Representatives, and the House now considers this energy policy legislation. ...

A few miscellaneous musings by an old man about guns. Guns are tools just like saws, screwdrivers and hammers are tools. When my wife was very young, there were times when the meat on the dinner table was small game that her brothers had shot. When I was in grade school, my family lived at the end of a gravel road on a hilltop in northeastern Kentucky. Dad kept a rifle and shotgun handy because you never knew what might crawl out of the wood line...

Within the past year, our Cape Girardeau community has witnessed very remarkable events that few communities our size have probably ever witnessed. n On April 14, 2017 we had the blessing and unveiling of six new state-of-the-art fire trucks. n On Dec. 1, 2017 we had the dedication of our new state of the art Fire Station No. 4 and also the dedication of the new Annex Building at Fire Station No. 2...

Recently my car died on South Kingshighway. A young man named Chris stopped and used the code reader he had to determine what was wrong with my car. After the code pulled and read that my crankshaft sensor was bad, he took me to O'Reilly's to get the sensor and replaced it for me. He took an hour of his time to help me and saved me a lot of money to have taken my car to the dealership to have this replaced, including a tow fee...

For some reason, I enjoy reading the stock market report in your newspaper. I have very few stocks but I like to see various stock prices on ones I don’t even own, such as Walmart, P&G, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. To my dismay, the report was discontinued some time ago. I mentioned it to an employee when I phoned to update my credit card. Recently I was elated to find the report back in your newspaper...

Until mental health check-ups become just as standard as an annual physical, our society will continue to experience senseless violence, unbridled crime, broken marriages, self-destructive addictions, dysfunctional government, unproductive workplace -- the list could go on and on. Even some of our most common health problems are primarily rooted in our psychological/emotional well-being...

In regard to the recent school shooting in Florida, I have a question for the Missouri Highway Patrol, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Department, Jackson Police Departant, and Cape Girardeau Police Departant. In the Florida active shooter event, it appears that the school resource officer and responding deputies took up defensive positions behind walls, cars, etc. ...

While I applaud the efforts of our legislature to tackle the problem of opioid addiction, I feel that the efforts with the current Senate Bill are somewhat misguided. This bill will only further complicate physicians' ability to do their jobs. While some physicians are unscrupulous and will overprescribe narcotics, most physicians are conscientious and very discrete about their prescribing of controlled substances...

I was shocked to learn the Cape Girardeau City Council is entertaining a proposal to create another CID district. Shocked because a local businessman, who recently purchased property, said he is unable to afford improvements and is asking the council to grant him permissions that will force residents to fund those improvements...

On Saturday, Feb. 24 a Building Hope banquet will be held at the Drury Plaza and Conference Center. It is being organized by a team of local people that include businessmen and women, educators and clergy. Our purpose is to raise funds for a Hope Center in El Salvador that will serve a community in need and help keep children safe from gang recruitment and induction into prostitution and the sex trade. ...

The next time you listen to the song by Ronnie Milsap, "What a difference you made in my life," when you hear it sing it to Jesus! The words in this song tells exactly how I feel as to what Jesus has done for me. One verse especially hits home, "Love to me was just a word in a song that has been way over used. Now I've joined in the singing, 'cause you showed me loves' true meaning. That's why I want to spread the news."...

Gov. Greitens' big problem now is his lack of political capital, meaning he will have a hard time getting things done. His admitted extramarital affair shows he jeopardized the well-being of at least two families, and while that is not an impeachable offense, it's not something that can be easily forgotten either. ...

I feel the need to respond to the "speak out" comment in your February 6th edition. First we are very fortunate and excited to be bringing a Prospect League baseball team to Cape Girardeau. The owner Andy Patel and his management team are making a large investment in our city to make that happen as play will begin in June of next year. Many more details on the team and improvements to Capaha Field will be forthcoming in the months ahead...

Congress recently passed a continuing resolution that will expire on Feb. 8. Our legislators have been in office since at least Jan. 20, 2017. Fiscal year 2018 is the first one for which this group is responsible. It started last year on Oct. 1, 2017, or more than three months ago and eight months after they took office...

For those of you who would like to hear "the rest of the story" about Helen Nancy Carter, here are some interesting facts about her life. As the Southeast Missourian printed in an article of Jan. 21, 2018, Helen Carter was the First African American to graduate from Southeast Missouri State College. ...

St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans, Durham and Memphis. These were cities in the U.S. where Confederate monuments were removed in 2017, most in the dead of night. In Memphis, it was even more tragic. A Shelby County, Tennessee commissioner formed a "not-for-profit" corporation, that "bought" the land from the City of Memphis for $1,000 and then tore down the monuments to Jefferson Davis and Gen. ...

In his January 19, 2018 letter to the editor "Back from the brink", Gary L. Gaines displays the lost art of critical thinking. He is able to put aside ideology and see things as they are instead of perceiving them in such a way as to reinforce personal prejudices...

Television personality Joe Scarborough recently exited the Republican party, disgruntled over the election of Donald Trump, and the direction of the Republican party. Many Americans are fed up and embarrassed by a President they consider unfit for office, and a political party that buries its head in the sand while pursuing radical objectives at odds with the beliefs of many Americans...

Thank you for the columns by Mia Pohlman, "Looking through contemplative prayer" and "The quietness of God". These represent a dimension of life which is generally missing from our lives and missing in our practice of religion. There are opportunities in Cape to honor the contemplative dimension and quietness. ...

One year ago, the Cape Girardeau County Commission relocated the State of Missouri 32nd Judicial Circuit Juvenile Division staff to the new juvenile center at 2137 Rust Avenue. After one year situated at the new site and no longer maintaining two outdated facilities, we were able to return 19 percent of our allowable funds to the county general revenue budget because of better efficiencies in work processes and lowered costs to operate...