Speak Out 07/06/04

Trash in the park

I'M A daily walker at the Shawnee Park complex off West End Boulevard. I have been noticing the trash people leave. I counted 10 beer bottles and cans in a pile along with cigarette packs. Come on, people. This park is for the community. At least have the decency if you're going to be drinking in public to clean up the trash.

Marquette subsidies

INDEED, THE Marquette has again become a reality, in large part due to the many state government offices, whose rent, one supposes, helps offset the renovation. Thus, the building's much appreciated renovation is due in large part to direct or indirect taxpayer support. So let's hear it for subsidies.

No more forever

FOR SOME of us who may be part- or full-blooded American Indians and were proud of and supported keeping the Indian nickname and mascot at Southeast Missouri State University, allow me to echo the words of a famous Indian chief, since it captures my feelings so well: "We will fight no more forever."

SEMO's shame

The new name made me scream, then holler.

I can't believe it's true.

Tradition was trumped by the dollar.

I'll be forever blue.

Making a comparison

A PERSON saying they support the troops but not the war is like saying you support the boxers but think boxing should be banned.

Failing schools

I READ where the Kansas City School District did not receive full accreditation due partially to drop-out rates and failure in the number of students getting into college. How much of this failure is actually due to doped up parents? Maybe consideration should be given to the number of nonfunctioning parents in a school system. God knows Kansas City schools had enough money thrown at them by the state while our rural schools continue to suffer from lack of funds.

Annoying fireworks

I BELIEVE the law allowing fireworks to be shot off throughout the entire week of the Fourth of July until 10 p.m. is the most inconsiderate law in effect. I'm listening to booms and pops, which sound like the same noises I heard in Desert Storm. I am upset after phoning the police station in hopes of some assistance just to find out that it's legal. If this is going to be allowed, then allow it to be done in a public setting such as a park or ballfield where private residents won't be disturbed or be put in potential danger. I'm as patriotic as they come, and I'm that way 365 days a year, not just one week. I also don't need to disturb my neighbors to prove it.

No such thing

REDHAWKS? WHAT is a redhawk? There are red-tailed hawks, but to my knowledge no redhawks. It's obvious that the powers that be at Southeast Missouri State University are trying to follow in the footsteps of my alma mater, the University of Tennessee-Martin: the Skyhawks. And I thought I'd stepped up in the world when I moved to Cape Girardeau. I'm not in the group that clings to the Indian. I agree that there was a better choice than the Indians from a marketing perspective. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. I hope SEMO does well in cultivating a relationship with state government. If it's depending on any local support, it can forget it.

Weak economy

THE DATA on very sluggish growth in assessed valuation of property in Cape Girardeau County are concrete proof of a weak economy. The president keeps telling us how rosy things are, but in the trenches of middle America we know quite differently.

Culturally illiterate

SO ABBY Crites-Leoni thinks anyone who does not agree with her is a cultural illiterate. If you want to keep the Indian as the Southeast Missouri State University mascot, you are not well-informed, ignorant of the facts and insensitive. The great majority of American Indians are not opposed to the use of Indian mascots. Are these people just too ignorant to know that they should be offended?