Speak Out 03/21/04

Fat food subsidies

CONGRESS SHOULD be held accountable for the obesity of the American people. Congress consistently subsidizes foodstuffs that are bad for you and make you fat while subsidies for fruits, vegetables and the like get the shaft.

Try getting along

THIS IS for those deadbeat moms and dads. Stop making it hard on the rest of us by making us look bad. I'm a single parent, and my former husband and I get along remarkably well. That's what's important: getting along and working together even though you are not together anymore. My family and his family get together all the time for parties and to just hang out together. I don't enforce the support issue. Even though I have full custody, he has the child any time. We don't go by the court order. If everyone would get along for the children's sake, things would be better. Try it. You may be surprised.

Leave us alone

I SMELL malarkey. People are living longer than ever before. They are spending millions exercising and making health stores profitable. When politicians claim they are coming to the rescue, beware. It sounds like the lawyers are finding a new way to get in to our knickers. We are free to eat what we want and as much as we want and conduct our lives as we see fit. Leave us the heck alone.

Easy money

OK, CAPE Girardeau officials, we need money for roads. It seems that every street needs repair. How can Cape earn revenue? Easy: riverboat gambling. It seems like a long shot, but look at how much Metropolis, Ill., earns.

Learning a lesson

I AGREE that vandals should have to pay for the damage they cause. They should also have to go to each person and apologize for their wrong doing. Our child did some minor property damage in his early teenage years, and that is exactly what we did. He paid for it, and he had to apologize in person. He learned his lesson and is a responsible young man today.

Commit to marriage

THE CALLERS complaining about fathers' rights are wrong about not having a choices. They have the choice to commit to their marriages and their child in the first place. Once they break that bond, do they expect everything to go their way? Grow up.

Not all deadbeats

I AM a mother of three daughters, and I totally agree with the dads. I think it is wrong for mothers to milk the father of their children for everything he has. Just because the dad doesn't love the mother doesn't mean he doesn't love his kids. I am still married to the father of my children, but I can honestly say if we split tomorrow, he would still love his kids, and I would want him to play a very active role in their lives. I'm capable of working to support my kids. I don't see the point in taking the former husband for everything he has. I realize there are some dads out there who do not deserve their kids, but that needs to be judged on an individual basis. Not all of them are deadbeats.

Just do their part

I AM a divorced mother with a young child. I agree, to some extent, with the people who have been commenting about a father's rights. The arrangement set forth in my divorce was for one nightly visitation weekly and every other weekend visitation for my son's father. He is also allowed to call or stop by my home anytime he chooses, but surprisingly he doesn't. I do not deny him extra visits or phone calls. He just chooses not to partake. He is also to pay child support and maintain insurance coverage on the child. His child support comes in the full amounts but only on average every three months, and he has yet to cover our child on insurance. I don't want my former spouse or any other caring father to not be able to speak with or see his children, nor do I think they should bear the total financial burden. But I don't think it is too much to ask that they do their part.