OpinionJanuary 18, 2010
Speak Out 1/18/10
LT. Gov. Kinder is grandstanding regarding his open letter to the governor. He would have you believe he cares about bankrupting Missouri regarding health care reform. I work six days a week and still can't afford decent insurance. Please don't speak regarding public outcry when you have 40 million uninsured Americans...
Grandstanding
LT. Gov. Kinder is grandstanding regarding his open letter to the governor. He would have you believe he cares about bankrupting Missouri regarding health care reform. I work six days a week and still can't afford decent insurance. Please don't speak regarding public outcry when you have 40 million uninsured Americans.
Try music
SPORTS is one way for inner-city youths to find a way out. Perhaps there could be a program providing inner-city youths with musical instruments. That would also be another way out. It would also keep them off the streets.
It's not warming
WE have had record low temperatures throughout North America. Even Florida has seen record low temperatures. Europe has experienced low temperatures and massive snowstorms reaching as far south as Spain. Enough talk about global warming.
Jobless figures
IF the government would stop extending unemployment benefits, the percentage of workers on unemployment would dramatically drop, perhaps as low to 4 or 5 percent. When high school seniors graduate this year, very few will find work. There will be a lot of 18-year-olds unemployed but are not counted. Come June, alarm bells should be ringing. We are headed for another Great Depression. Wake up, America, and God bless us.
Big increases
THE school bond issue numbers are already being manipulated. Three weeks ago, engineers estimated the operating costs would increase $25,000 a month. The school website estimated the overall operating costs for the whole project would increase $250,000 a year. When this whole project started, it was estimated to cost $30 million. Now it is up to $50 million. When will the increases stop?
Thanks for lunch
WE want to thank the nice couple who lives on County Road 250 near Chaffee, Mo., who paid for two lunches at China Town. Thanks again. We appreciate it.
Tax cut
WHAT this community needs is a tax cut, and we can get that by voting no.
School costs
IT appears Cape Girardeau is headed toward a $27.3 million high school with a bond issue in April. That works out to $27,300 per student based on attendance of 1,000 students. That's more than the cost of Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo. I've yet to see increased test scores or a lower dropout rate. Taxpayers, beware. When the new high school was first brought to our attention in the mid-1990s, it was going to cost $15 million.
Going nowhere
I appreciate Mayor Jay Knudtson and friends trying to justify the $40,000 expenditure to an outside agency to study the city's signage problems. What I do not appreciate is the explanation that this is not Cape Girardeau's money but rather a grant and this program will not cost the city anything. Who is paying for this project, Your Honor? It's somebody's money. This is just more pork, and it is leaving here to be paid to an outsider to tell us how to get around town. Since Cape Girardeau now has a Bridge to Nowhere, a Road to Nowhere and Sidewalks to Nowhere, it shouldn't take $40,000 to point a visitor to Shantytown -- I mean Broadway.
Deficit spending
DAVID Limbaugh recently asked, "Could we all agree that we are doomed as a nation if President Obama continues his deficit spending at unprecedented levels?" No, we cannot. For example, as a percentage of GDP, there was much more deficit spending in the post World War II period. Why was this not a big issue with Limbaugh when the Bush administration was spending like drunken sailors?
Waterpark spending
I get tired of complaints about the new waterpark that is "not needed." Have those complainers ever gone to Farmington to the waterpark? When I have been at that waterpark, I see people I know there from Perryville, Jackson and Patton. Those are people who could have gone to Cape Girardeau to a waterpark. That is restaurant money, gas money and shopping money that could have been spent in Cape Girardeau.
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No school pride
I drove past Franklin Elementary School. There is a chain-link fence along the property on Themis Street. The fence looks like something that belongs on a Rocky Top outhouse. The horizontal fence bars are bent and pushed out of shape. The fence looks awful. This is an example of how Cape Girardeau schools do not take care of things. It demonstrates a total lack of pride. I will vote no on the bond issue.
Major hurdle
THERE's a water leak on Themis Street creating a dangerous driving situation. Where's the city repair crew?
Doomsday Clock
WITH all the hysteria about terrorism and the horrible earthquake in Haiti, it is good to find out that the Doomsday Clock has been pushed back by one minute.
Golden opportunity
H1N1 prevention: Who's idea was it to buy special spray for doorknobs and toilet handles in schools? Soap and water will do the job. The stuff being sold to combat H1N1 is nuts. Vendors are making too much money off a common dust mask that you can buy at the lumber company four or five at a time for less than one at the drugstore. It started with news media. Then the greedy thought up ways to make millions selling sprays that are not needed and not used correctly. Get the public excited and it will buy anything,
SEMO cuts
SOUTHEAST Missouri State University says that because of budget shortfalls it will be cutting around 25 positions, mostly faculty and staff. Academics will have to cut around $2 million, with the liberal arts departments taking the brunt of the hit with cuts close to $500,000. Departments will be reviewed for viability, with the likelihood of additional academic cuts. On the other hand, the entire athletic program is making cuts totaling less than $200,000. Faculty and staff are losing their jobs. Departments are being cut. Academics will be seriously compromised. But athletics will have to review recruitment strategies. Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Cut the football team. That's what other universities have done in recent years. Do the math.
Bank taxes
THE president has stated he is going to tax banks in order to get back the bailout money. Yet he is going to tax banks that never accepted the money and the banks that have already paid the loan back. So the premise behind the tax is a lie. It appears this is just another method of indirectly taxing the public.
Needless deaths
IN 2005 approximately 440,000 people were killed by cigarettes. 42,366 were killed by secondhand smoke. There were also more than 42,000 people killed by automobile accidents and three killed by pit bulls. What all of these things have in common is the irresponsibility and error of human beings. There is no law against stupidity.
More than memories
I am frustrated by all the negative talk about tearing down Franklin Elementary School. Yes, it is a historic building that has been here for more than 80 years. But consider the fact that the building is rundown. If we were to have an earthquake in this area, the students and staff at Franklin would not be safe. The air-conditioning and heating units do not work properly half the time, and that is just the beginning of the list of maintenance that I'm sure would have to be done. It would cost less to build a new school than it would to remodel. Please consider these things when deciding how to vote on the bond issue. Don't just think about your memories of the old building.
Our heritage
THE razing of school after school in Cape Girardeau reinforces my belief that those able to dictate such atrocities have no awareness of the architectural heritage of Cape that is being annihilated before our very eyes.
School bond
IF the school board and administrators would spend half as much time trying to significantly reduce the unbelievable dropout rate as they do on new construction, we might support this bond. How much money is spent on kids who don't make it? The first obligation is to our kids, and our schools are not getting the job done.
Blame the owners
I would like to respond to the "Violent nuisance" comment. I own two pit bulls and have two kids under 2 years old. Not once have those dogs tried to hurt or bite my kids. Not once have those dogs tried to attack or hurt my family or friends. I have been to places where a cocker spaniel and a lab have both snapped and have bitten my kids. Mine have not touched or hurt one person. Don't blame the breed. Blame the owners for the nuisance. Owners are the ones who train or don't train the animals.
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