Speak Out 07/28/04

Good job at parks

I HAVE been reading about the lack of maintenance in the Jackson parks. I use the parks daily, and I think Jack Martin, Mark Statler and the guys do a great job. I don't know the names of the other employees, but they all deserve praise for a job well-done. Regarding the rock garden: The Girl Scouts used to take care of it when my daughter was in the Scouts, but it was turned over to another organization. I don't know who cares for it now, but perhaps another organization could assume the care of it.

Conservative profile

SINCE DAVID Limbaugh had the temerity to tell us what a typical Kerry supporter might believe, I feel it incumbent to profile the likely beliefs of a typical Bush supporter: extreme nationalism, imperialism, militarism, authoritarianism, homophobia, latent racism, xenophobia, neoconservative infallibility, social Darwinism.

A helping hand

WHY IS it that people who try to do everything they can to provide for their families can't get any help, yet those who refuse to try to help themselves and provide for their families get all the help in the world? I would love for someone to explain that to me. I have more pride trying than I would just sitting back collecting off the government. There are times when someone like me needs help, and we should be able to get it.

Work together

JACKSON NEEDS to realize that the county is the reason Jackson is on the map. If not for the courthouse, sheriff's office and other county offices in Jackson, the city would not be what it is today. How about working together to make Cape Girardeau County stronger?

Psychic columnist

DAVID LIMBAUGH must be psychic. Every time I raise a question in my own mind about the effectiveness of the Bush administration in, say, making our country more secure, Limbaugh has a column in the Southeast Missourian the very next day telling me that I'm asking the wrong question. I don't know how he does it, but I certainly appreciate the assistance.

Illmo art critic

I MIGHT not know art, but I do know if I'm looking at a picture of a flower it should look like a flower. I have nothing against beautiful portraits and murals. But this junk that artists are trying to pass off today is ridiculous. I think it's a good idea to restore Illmo, but keep it historically as it is. Don't try to modernize it.

Canadian taxes

THE COMMENT last week about Canada's tax rate of 29 percent was not completely true. You forgot to add on the 10 percent to 18 percent that each province adds. Some Canadians are paying 47 percent in taxes on income of $60,000. I personally don't think national health care would be worth it.

Consider the odds

CAL THOMAS recently quoted someone who quoted historian Arnold Toynbee as saying, "Of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history, 19 of them have collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today." Maybe we're one of the three that's going to hang on, since Toynbee died in 1975.

Fear of competition

WHY SHOULDN'T Rockaway Beach be allowed the same economic opportunities that other parts of the state have? The only vocal and monetary opponent in Southwest Missouri is the owner of Silver Dollar City. His fear is having to compete for workers and rising wages.

The plain facts

I AM so thankful after reading the front page of the paper that Missouri is still full of moral people -- people who know what marriage is and what it should remain. Thank God for moral people. I'd much rather live in Missouri than Massachusetts. Why should there have to even be a law for something that doesn't even exist? Marriage isn't marriage unless there's a man and a woman. It's that plain.

Infuriating tax plan

TAX INCREASES on top of tax increases just burn me up. Look. Since 2001, attendance in the Cape Girardeau School District has decreased, yet administrators spent $31 million on new buildings and additions. They spent on the wrong things and then had no money left for fifth- or sixth-graders to have science books. Since 2001, administrators relaxed their own workloads as their number increased from 17 to 19 full-time administrators. Not satisfied, they raised their own salaries. Then being disgruntled with making only 88 percent more than teachers who average 15 years of experience, they froze all teacher salaries. With sky-high taxes, they excessively accumulated an extra $1 million in the school's savings account this year. Now it's infuriating they're trying to cram another 17-cent tax increase down our throat without a vote.

Paying for the extras

SO THE Cape Girardeau School District is again considering an increase in the tax levy. Why burden the people who pay property taxes again? Why can't more of the expense be borne by those who use and benefit from the public school system? Why can't the parents of those riding the school buses pay for their children to ride to and from school? Why can't parents pay for their child to participate in sports and band? Why does this responsibility fall on the taxpayers? Providing the children in the public schools with a basic education may be the responsibility of the taxpayers, but why are we expected to pay for all the extras? Let the parents who benefit from the extras pay. Don't burden the taxpayers more.

Need an explanation

MY FATHER toiled his whole life as a public school business administrator before he retired on his government pension, and he's been asking me to explain how come the Cape Girardeau School District wants to raise his taxes $33 a year when the school's savings account increased a million dollars this year?

Careful with spending

SCOTT CITY needs to be more careful about how it spends money. It is neglecting some things and being wasteful with other things.

For wrong reasons

THE OTHER night a man showed up on my doorstep wanting me to sign a petition for Ralph Nader to be put on the ballot. I asked him why he wanted him on the ballot, and he said to take votes away from John Kerry. I am a Democrat and hate President Bush for so many obvious reasons, but I hope if Nader does get on the ballot that he takes more from Bush.

Make more cuts

I KNEW it was coming. The Cape Girardeau School District is going after more tax money. I served on the budget-cutting task force and know for a fact that there are areas that can be trimmed such as $10,000 budgeted for district spending on food and beverages, negotiating with the city instead of the district to pay the school resource officer's salary and various other cuts that seem driven by common sense. The argument given to oppose these cuts was that they were such small amounts that they wouldn't make a difference.

Bank teller's view

I AM a bank teller. I want everyone to know that when we turn off the microphones, we can still see you. We can see you when you pick your nose, when you scratch your private areas, and even when you fool around with your significant other. Do that in the privacy of your own home, because no one wants to see that, especially other customers who are in the lobby laughing hysterically at the poor souls who are making fools of themselves. And wear clothes that cover up your special areas.

City codes for all

THIS LATEST brouhaha between Jackson and Cape Girardeau County is an example of the way things have been with our current county officials. They've tried to cram planning and zoning down our throats a few years ago. Now this. Citizens have no say in what the county does. Few realize that with first-class status our county commissioners can pretty much do what they want. Any county construction in the city limits should meet that city's codes.

No backing from police

I WANT to comment on all of the recent Speak Out comments regarding the youths of Scott City. My family and I lived in Scott City for awhile and very quickly learned that the youths indeed run that little community. It was awful. We lived there for a pretty short period of time and called the police out to our property many times. At times we called the police two to three times a night. Even with a perfect description of the people and vehicles involved, nothing was ever done to these hooligans. There was a time when we had called the police out when a family member was threatened at school the next day. Other forms of retaliation were taken against our family and our property. We also received threatening calls on a daily basis, and nothing was ever done about those either. The people of Scott City are too afraid to stand up, because they do not have the support of the police to back them up. Retaliation is a way of life for these kids.

The letter of the law

WHY IS it that people are under the perception that if you report an activity to the police, the police should swoop in and automatically arrest people? Police have to follow constitutional rights of others. Just because you say something is going on doesn't mean the police can violate that person's rights. The police have to see it happening.