Speak Out 1/18/08

Thanks for help

TO THE woman who stopped to help my mother when she wrecked her car in a ditch Jan. 6 in Chaffee: May God bless you. Thank you so much for stopping to help. There should be more people like you in the world. I thank the good Lord above for putting you in that place at that time so you could be there for my mom. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I pray many blessings from God come to you and your family.

Conservative backfire

RUSH LIMBAUGH said of Mike Huckabee, "He's not a conservative, folks. He's just not." Immediately thereafter, Huckabee's stock rose. Sean Hannity said of John McCain, "He's not a conservative, folks. He's just not." Again, shortly thereafter, McCain's stock shot up. It's comforting to know that, at least in the short run, Hannity-Limbaugh conservatism is dead. I hope it will be buried.

Like lynch mobs

THIS IS to all death-penalty supporters. Come clean and admit that you support social vengeance. Stop calling it justice. It's vengeance. It is the same thing as the lynch mobs of old.

Rude comments

RECENTLY MY son, who has autism, and one of the people who works with him were at the mall for an afternoon of social outing time. There was a woman and her husband who were walking in the mall who made rude comments about my son. At first I was angry. My son has every right to be in the mall despite his odd behaviors and noises he makes. In fact, the kind people in the play area were talking to him. That reinforced why I spend so much of my time educating the public and standing for autism awareness: so people will know. If you don't know, don't act as this woman did. He has a neurological disease. He is not a bad child who misbehaves. Think about how it would make you feel.

Veterans' pensions

I HAVE been reading about Gov. Matt Blunt's proposed income-tax elimination on veterans' pensions. This is such a great idea. It baffles me that I hadn't heard of this being done before. This cut would give back nearly $24 million to Missouri's veterans. I just felt like this is something that needed to be given more attention. If this goes through, it would benefit thousands of Missourians. Thank you, Governor Blunt.

Honoring students

BOTH MICHAEL Jeffers and Jonathan McClard went to Jackson High School. There was a moment of silence at the school for Michael, but there was not one word about Jonathan's death. Was it because of what he did? Jonathan paid for what he did with his own life. It was disrespectful to the family and friends of Jonathan. But the moment of silence for Michael was greatly appreciated. Where is the equality the school is supposed to show to all students?

Field is not level

I AM outraged that a Boone County judge set aside the suspension of state Sen. Chuck Graham's driver's license. This shows the duplicity in our legal system. It is an insult to anyone who has ever received a DUI and to our police force in general. Graham was involved in an accident and failed the field sobriety test and refused six times to submit to a breath analysis. That is supposed to result in an automatic one-year suspension. Graham only lost his license for 30 days and had to pay $722 in fines. Graham was later determined to have a 0.143 percent blood-alcohol level when the legal intoxication limit is 0.08 percent. This is unacceptable. If we are not playing on a level playing field, it means our police are nothing but bullies. It is, indeed, all about the money.

Autism research

AS REPORTED in the Southeast Missourian, a California study finds no link between autism and thimerosal in vaccines. A recent study in the Boston area found that chromosome abnormalities raised the risk for autism. Now that we have established that autism has nothing to do with vaccines and everything to do with genetics, can these anti-vaccines zealots back down so that real research can be done for children with autism with regard to genetics?

Act on smoking

BEFORE ILLINOIS went smoke-free, some cities did it on their own. Cape Girardeau could step forward to clean up the air in stores, restaurants and recreational buildings, especially if businesses provide services to customers 18 years old and younger. If a business provides smoke rooms for their employees, that business is polluting the whole air system of the building.

The family farm

MISSOURI COULD implement a financial program to ensure the financial viability and cultural heritage of the Missouri family farm. Through grants and loans, Missourians could invest in the most important industry in the state, agribusiness. That's agriculture, aquaculture and forestry. If only a present-day farm family could afford to send their children to community college or state university, the benefits returned to taxpayers would include preservation of the family farm, farming history and culture and natural resources along with increased economic dividends from good management of farms and the associated entertainment and tourism enterprise. Farming is Missouri's livelihood.

Against aquatic center

I WILL vote no April 8 on the storm-water and parks sales tax, because the aquatic center is still listed. It's a waste of money. If it were a profitable idea, private investors would have already picked it up.