Speak Out 07/30/04

Great students, faculty

SCHOOL WILL be starting soon, and I am proud to say that my sophomore is going to Saxony Lutheran High School. We have such a wonderful student body and great teachers, I want them all to know how much God loves them.

Getting some attention

AS A former resident of Scott City, I know all too well the problem with the kids of the town. The person who said the kids run the town hit the nail on the head. All of the times we called the police for different problems the result was always the same: "There's nothing we can do" or "Kids will be kids." This killing is what it took to raise some eyebrows.

Include the parents

I TOO agree that something needs to be done about the young kids partying. But think about it from the view of the policemen. Every day, policemen and teachers get sued by angry parents who think Johhny can do no wrong. If we want to blame the officers, perhaps we need to include the parents.

Biking in state park

I AM an avid mountain biker. In order to ride, I must travel across the bridge into Southern Illinois to find the closest state park that allows biking. I would love to ride closer to home. Trail of Tears State Park claims its trails weren't designed for bikes and are not big enough. However, horses are welcome. With 175 pounds of me plus 22 pounds of bike, I have less than a fifth of the mass of the average equestrian. Furthermore, my handle bars are less than half the width of a horses shoulders. The argument against bikes is ludicrous. If you would enjoy biking in Trail of Tears, please call park officials and let them know about it at 573-332-7178.

Coaching teachers

HOORAY FOR the Cape Girardeau School District. It seems to me the teachers can't teach the kids how to read, so now we've had to hire coaches to coach the teachers to be able to teach kids how to read. Something is definitely wrong at this level. Maybe it's time these teachers be accountable for what they are not doing.

Living with animals

PEOPLE MOVE to the country and say they like to see the wildlife. Then they complain about the nuisance of wildlife. They can't have their cake and eat it too. Where subdivisions are being built was refuge for wildlife, and God gave wild animals that territory. The wild animals were there first. All you can do is just live with them.

They set the rules

I SEE some federal legislators on TV talking about the unlimited amount of money corporations can give to the political conventions. But who made that possible? Our federal legislators.

Security wall

IN ISRAEL, along the West Bank, a wall is being built and about 7,500 people are being uprooted. The world is in a tizzy about pushing these people out. What the news doesn't say is whether the families have been compensated for their property or whether they have been offered other property outside the wall in their own territory. This situation seems familiar. Here in America the government decides to build a road through your house, and you have to move out. Israel is taking the property for safety reasons to build a security wall and not just to build a wider highway in the middle of three- or four-generation farms like they almost did in the Millersville-Oak Ridge area. I think Israel should be able to build a wall for security..

Put inmates to work

DID YOU know that all of us have to choose at one time or another and during every day of our lives. Some people would rather choose to go to prison than to work. It seems to me that if we made those inmates grow and prepare their own food and make their own furniture and houses and clothing -- in other words, if we didn't give them so much -- perhaps there would be fewer inmates. I know there would be.

Go local

THE CAPE Girardeau Junior High School building's cooling and heating system doesn't work either. It was put in by an out-of-town contractor. The district can't seem to get the contractor back to fix the problems. Local companies might be a little bit more expensive, but it's worth it in the long run.

Criminal insanity

FOR A mental disorder to have any effect on an accused person's outcome in court, it must be shown that the disorder was directly related to the crime (specific rules vary by state). Most mental disorders are irrelevant to a criminal's actions and, correctly, have no bearing on a conviction. "Not guilty by reason of insanity," is a plea entered by about 1 percent of all criminal defendants. In addition, the minuscule percentage of those who make such a plea are rarely found to be legally insane at the time the crime was committed, which is what state law requires.