Speak Out 02/05/04

Back to college?

SOME YEARS ago Southeast Missouri State College talked the legislature into elevating it to university status. Now it is eliminating subjects and academic disciplines. Certainly this should cause the legislature to reconsider the "university" designation and revert the school to a "college."

Not-so-clean soaps

SO CBS is thinking of banning Janet Jackson for her little exposure. If they do this, they need to ban all their soap operas which reveal a lot more all the time.

Safety first

I AGREE that someone exercised poor judgment in sending children out in 20-degree weather at Blanchard Elementary School last Friday. Not only was the air temperature a consideration, but my son slipped on ice on the playground equipment bridge and fell to the ground and hit his forehead. I believe children need fresh air, but they need safety first.

Sliding scale for fees

PAYING TO play sports in public schools may be unconstitutional. At the very least, fees should be on a sliding scale and based on the ability to pay.

Too little too late

A REPORT on what went wrong with the CIA and Iraq intelligence delivered after the election is not good enough. The investigation should focus on the White House since this was the source of all the public deception.

Fire safety

I APPRECIATE that Jackson and Cape Girardeau are taking the time to investigate the fireworks problem. There may be more fires as the result of cooking or Christmas lights, but if I burn my own house down, shame on me. I don't want to have to worry about someone else burning down my house because of carelessness.

A radar welcome

PEOPLE GIVE Southern Illinois a hard time about being a speed trap, but I'm not so sure Cape Girardeau doesn't have them beat. When I came back from Paducah I never saw an officer in Illinois. When I crossed the new bridge there were city police saying "Welcome to Cape Girardeau" with their radar guns. There were four of them between the river and Interstate 55. Am I the only one that thinks this kind of activity is pathetic? Why is the speed limit 45 on Highway 74? The answer is simple: Revenue generation.

Influencing lives

I HAVE been a school teacher for the 31 years. I have listened to students tell me that music does not influence their lives. Yet I have also seen their increased drug and alcohol use, their tattoos and piercings, their convoluted ideas concerning life, their lack of reading and writing skills and their lackadaisical outlook concerning their future. During Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show the world got a taste of what MTV portrays. Our young people idolize those singers. Their music purchases have made P. Diddy, Kid Rock and Janet Jackson multimillionaires. Parents, start taking a closer look at the music and videos your children are exposed to. These things do influence their lives. From the looks of Sunday's show, the influence can't get much worse.

He kept his word

I BELIEVE Patrick Buck should be commended for his decision to close the Taste. I believe he should have been given a chance, but I believe the residents in the area should commend him for keeping his word.

Cost factors

IT MAY be only 70 miles from Cape Girardeau to Farmington, but how about from Kennett? Caruthersville? Hayti? West Plains? Is the facility in Farmington prepared to give the same level of care that Cottonwood Treatment Center provides now? At the same cost? Who picks up the additional cost for the families who have to travel the extra distance?

Cheap trucks

HAS THE firefighter who says Cape Girardeau should spend less on trucks like the ones he saw in Columbia ever heard that you get what you pay for? Those trucks are cheaper for a reason.

No pickups, please

IF MY home is on fire with a family member inside, I would prefer that the firefighter be in trucks that can handle the situation, not in a pickup that saves a few dollars come tax time.

Paying twice

I STILL do not understand why tight taxpayers are allowing the city and the county pay for ambulance services to a private company when they also pay for the fire departments to respond. This is paying for the same services twice. Why not let the fire departments take over the ambulance service and use the money they make off of the calls to fund the department?

Memphis is air hub

AIR SERVICE to Memphis makes perfect sense. We used to have it. And right now the only true hub airport in the region is Memphis. I guess I'll keep driving to the Memphis airport until the powers that be get their thinking caps fired up.

Changing world

COMPLAINTS ABOUT Spanish at the ATM? Come on, folks. They're still using English as well. Simply select "English" and go on about your business. Same goes for the pizza box. Instead of complaining about a changing world, maybe we could do something constructive with our time, like studying Spanish.

Occupation tax

BEING A new resident of Cape Girardeau, I have noticed that everyone here argues over the same budget and tax issues just like at home. I would suggest a city occupation tax. The city could receive part of every dollar earned in the city. Put that into schools and the fire department. I realize some people would be against this, but it is better than higher sales or property taxes.

Close the school

IT IS interesting that the closing of Franklin Elementary School has been put on the back burner. Most citizens don't realize that Franklin serves about 200 students at the cost of $1.1 million dollars a year. The parents in that school district would rather see teachers lose their jobs and class size go up in other schools as long as they get to keep Franklin. How selfish. The other four elementary schools could easily absorb the extra students and still have under 375 students in each school (most were built for 500). Since the population in Cape Girardeau has remained stagnant for the past 30 years, I don't think we have to worry about increase in class sizes unless teachers are cut. Does the school board have the guts to do what is right?

It's a cash cow

GIVE ME a break. Rather than hurting it, the so-called prescription drug for seniors is a cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry.

Put a stop to it

AOL AND MTV have been advertising for quite some time that there was going to be a special guest at the Super Bowl halftime and that it would not be a singer. It appears that it was a certain part of the anatomy of Janet Jackson. Everyone needs to let the FCC know that they were troubled by this. There was no way this was an accident. This is the kind of thing on TV that needs to be stopped.

GOP philosophy

OUR REPUBLICAN president, senators and representatives believe in free enterprise and competition to keep costs down. The drug industry lobbyists were successful in getting all three to protect pharmaceutical corporations from competition with Canadian pharmaceuticals. Republicans obviously do not believe that our pharmaceutical companies should have to compete with Canadians, so why do they insist that our American workers should have to compete with $1 per hour Mexicans? They believe in protecting corporations but not protecting the working-class Americans. We know that corporations create jobs, but in today's market not in America or for Americans.

Embrace each other

I THINK it's silly that someone would not want Spanish on ATMs, menus and pizza boxes. The only problem I have is when I bought a calling card it made English the second option after Spanish. Outside of that, I have no problem with dual languages. From what I can see, people are enjoying the culture that Mexican restaurants bring to this area. I think we should embrace each other as brothers and sisters and live as peacefully as possible.

Powell's morals

I'M SURPRISED Michael Powell of the FCC would say anything about the Super Bowl performances. Has he done anything about the Victoria's Secret fashion show? Two years ago viewers made it known they really didn't want it on by the low percentage of people who tuned in. Where were Powell's good morals then? None of the people on the Super Bowl show were of high moral character so why should we be surprised?

Ice-eating complaint

I WOULD like to tell all the ice eaters that they're driving their co-workers crazy. When they hear the crunch in their head while they're eating ice, please stop to think we can hear it too. Please stop eating ice at work.

Exposed to filth

I'M CALLING to voice disgust at what went on at the Super Bowl with Janet Jackson. I just don't know why my grandchildren and I and everybody else have to be exposed to this filth when we wanted to enjoy a football game.