OpinionJanuary 13, 2010
Speak Out 1/13/10
THERE has been some controversy because the Sikeston School District had school with one inch of snow on the ground. There are lots of places farther north where school districts have school all through the winter, and they do it safely. Sikeston is nearly flat with few hills. One inch of snow is not that big of a problem. Having school was the right thing to do. Cape Girardeau ought to have school if there's only one inch of snow on the ground...
Snow and schools
THERE has been some controversy because the Sikeston School District had school with one inch of snow on the ground. There are lots of places farther north where school districts have school all through the winter, and they do it safely. Sikeston is nearly flat with few hills. One inch of snow is not that big of a problem. Having school was the right thing to do. Cape Girardeau ought to have school if there's only one inch of snow on the ground.
Cowboy mentality
MICHAEL Mukasey knows better. The former attorney general blames the Obama administration for not "actively searching out, finding and neutralizing terrorists before they get" to airports. That is exactly what the administration is doing, much of it covertly, through Predator drone attacks and other methods, as it should be. It was the Bush administration that publicly crowed and carried on about taking out terrorists, particularly when it served their political purposes, as on the eve of an election. Reform the Bush administration's intelligence-gathering and analyzing systems, as obviously needs to be done, but don't be cajoled into adopting the cowboy mentality that characterized the previous administration.
Sign decision
I voted to put the best men and women in office to govern our city. With all these well-intended, highly intelligent people, why in the world don't they form a committee to decide where to put directional signs instead of paying some outsider to tell us where we should put them? How stupid do you think we taxpayers are?
Absurd atrocities
THROUGHOUT history we have had the sanctioned killing of enemies and nonbelievers. As long as we continue to have religions that tell people that they will be better off after they're dead, we will continue to have suicide bombers. Voltaire said, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
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Franklin Elementary
SO many people have said they were not going to vote for a school bond issue because they don't want to see Franklin Elementary School torn down. We have two choices: The school bond passes and Franklin is rebuilt and updates are done on other buildings, or it doesn't pass and our facilities continue to decline. Renovation costs to Franklin would be roughly $2 million more than construction of a state-of-the-art facility. When we go to the polls in April, let's keep the safety of our children in mind instead of preserving an old brick building. Our grandparents had the luxury of attending this school when it was new. Let's give our children the same opportunity.
Cape bond issue
As a former student of Franklin Elementary School, I appreciate the nostalgia associated with this beautiful old building. Unfortunately, nostalgia is all this beautiful old building has left. This facility has exceeded its useful life span and needs to be replaced with a more effective facility to provide a safe and productive learning environment for our children. If we needed another historical building, I would be all for keeping Franklin as is, but the reality is we need a new school. I will definitely vote yes on the school bond issue when it comes to the ballot.
School success
NONE of these measures of school outcomes really tell us much. Enough data have been compiled to show that by far the single most important thing in school that determines whether or not a student will succeed or fail is the teacher.
Need to focus
DEMOCRATS need to take their blinders off. The government health care program they are trying to pass is taking away from the priorities that President Obama and his followers should be focusing on. The burden on the working class through tax increases will be dramatic and extreme and will only start to be felt three to four years from now. The president needs to be working on security and letting the free-enterprise system work, not the federal government printing money to buy, own and run everything. We will pay this money back to ourselves through taxes. I'm not worried about my own future, but the future of my children just starting out in the work force.
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