Speak Out 1/22/06

King's legacy

WE CELEBRATE Martin Luther King's birthday. I wonder what he would think of the change of his legacy and the policies of today. Do you think he would embrace children out of wedlock, accept abortion, embrace gay rights? He was a man of God. He taught the Bible. He was no politician. Somehow his ideals and training have been pushed off the track. King was a preacher who didn't forget God's values. The leaders who've replaced him have disgraced him and his legacy.

Patrolling duties

CAPE GIRARDEAU has a police force that patrols the interstate. Jackson has highway patrolmen who patrol city streets.

Adult behavior

IN READING all the recent comments about how improperly children act in public, I can't help but to redirect the focus about how improper adults can act as well. If you don't believe me, go to Wal-Mart over the holidays. It's a real eye opener that makes noisy children much more bearable.

Safer in Oran

I AM proud of Oran's police officers. I hope they keep up the good work. I feel much safer.

More congestion

IF THE intent was to make Highway 34/72 in Jackson less congested, it's worse now than it was before. I hope there's a plan to get the problem fixed. It takes me longer now to get through there than it did the whole time they've been working on it. It's utterly ridiculous to have spent money on a two-year project for it to be more congested than it was.

Train economics

WITH IRAN blustering about interrupting world oil flow, gasoline and diesel prices more than $2 a gallon and home heating fuel prices higher than they have been in years, I wonder why U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson is trying to squash increased rail use. One train can easily haul over 60 tractor-trailer loads of cargo. Trains not only would save fuel, they would also save enormous traffic (approximately 1,440 trucks a day) on Missouri's already pathetic highways. I am also confident that the train tracks were there before Sikeston built all those vital roads and services without appropriate planning for proper underpasses or overpasses. If you don't like trains, don't live near the tracks.

Survival kits

IT SEEMS as though the county prescription drug card program is not going over the way it was intended. Try this: Take the time, money and energy invested in it and put the money into a program to make weather radios and survival kits available to county residents. I'll bet it would be more well-received than the prescription discount card.

Preaching politics

POLITICS DO not belong in church, but every weekend that the main pastor at my church speaks, he is talking politics. When the associate pastor preaches, he speaks of God. That is the reason I go to church. It is hard to sit in church and listen to politics.