Speak Out 1/23/03

Safe drivers

SENIORS DRIVE the speed limit. Every day you read where young drivers get killed or are running over the speed limit. I see young folks driving fast on Highway 61 or Interstate 55. It's good when a senior is in front of you to keep you safe.

School absences

I'M CONCERNED about a trend I'm seeing at Central High School. Students can only miss five days a semester and get credit. However, some teachers are out a lot. My daughter has an English teacher who has been absent more than he's there. What's done about excessive teacher absences? If teachers are allowed that many days off, why aren't the kids?

Look at merits only

I'M READING about the big hassle going on about the racial preference and discrimination at the University of Michigan Law School. I'm wondering why they don't do away with identifying race and sex on all those kind of applications. If you're being accepted on your merits, sex or race shouldn't matter.

Good tax story

THE GUEST column was wonderful about 10 people going out to eat lunch for $100 and paying according to their income-tax brackets. One man was paying most of the tab for everybody else. The restaurant gave them a 20 percent discount, and the man paying the most got most of the discount. But he was still paying the tab. That was a wonderful story. Run it again some day.

A big hug coming

SOME BRAVE knight in shining armor cleaned the snow off my driveway on Kingsway Drive. I'd like to know who you are so I could give you a big hug. Thanks.

Sugar water for fuel

A COUPLE Of weeks ago, Tom Freidman who has been awarded three Pulitzer Prizes, was on a talk show and said that now is the time to launch a Manhattan-style project to get rid of our dependence on petroleum imports. One of the new technologies that he thought showed great promise was the fuel cell. This week, I received my February copy of "Popular Science" magazine. There's an article about three chemical engineers at the University of Wisconsin who have developed a fuel cell that runs on sugar water. The article says that the sugar can be made from the usual sources and waste. This project shows enough promise that Daimler-Chrysler is providing some of financing for it. In few years, your fuel cell car may be powered by sugar water or methanol that has been made from waste, and our dependence on petroleum will be a thing of the past.

Special needs

WHEN THEY say lunch debit cards will make kids more accountable, they're talking hogwash, and they know it. They know some kids are being left out of the system, and they are the special-ed kids. Special-ed kids often can't do the basic math and perhaps don't really understand the limits they need to put on the card. If we're going to go to these lunch cards, they should have two cards, one for parents who just choose to get a basic lunch for their kids and one for parents who choose to run up some huge bill, which is their prerogative. Special-ed kids don't want to be different either, so don't make them stick out like sore thumbs.

Target lawbreakers

I'VE BEEN reading comments saying that it's not fair that older people should be checked when they renew their driver's licenses more frequently than younger drivers because that's age discrimination. Well, what about the age discrimination that's shown to new drivers in this area everyday? I have a 16-year-old driver who was told by a police officer that young drivers are watched more carefully. That's discrimination, and that concerns me. It shouldn't matter how old the driver is whether or not he gets watched. What should matter is how is the car being driven. The city police need to stop targeting people based on age and just target those who are breaking the law regardless of age.

Backward budgeting

I READ in the paper about Gov. Bob Holden's proposed budget. He talked about the $1 billion shortfall in the budget. I think he has mislabeled this. This should be $1 billion of proposed overspending. Let's get honest about things and quit putting them in backwards so they sound better.

Lots of duties

AFTER READING the paper and seeing where a new administrative assistant has been appointed at City Hall and reading the list of all of her duties, I am really wondering why do we need a city manager in Cape Girardeau if she's going to do all this. I congratulate her on the job and hope she enjoys her stay here.

THAT GUEST column on taxes is right on target. If the providers of industry are taxed too heavy and never given a tax break, they just may go out of business, and where would that leave the workers? With no jobs, of course. With tax break incentives, owners can expand and hire workers.

Stop hurting others

WHEN PEOPLE lie about other people, they have no idea what kind of problems it causes. When families bicker and fight, they have no idea how bad it displeases and hurts God, not to mention how much it hurts the person who's being hurt by that family member. I hope people would clear their conscience and realize that hurting someone is not the answer.

Comparing the plans

UNDER PRESIDENT Bush's tax plan, I would get a tax cut of about $1,100. Under the Democrats' alternative plan, I would get a tax cut of about $300. Am I wealthy? I make less than $40,000 a year.

Wonderful column

JON RUST'S column on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was wonderful in his discussion of three types of love. I am reminded of the late Father Don Berbigler, who married a couple very close to my heart. In his discussion during the marriage ceremony, he said that love is not just an emotion, it is a responsibility. I have never forgotten that. It is a commitment and a responsibility.

Regular testing

IN RESPONSE to all the folks talking about the older drivers needing to be tested: I feel like there are a lot of people who need to be tested. Maybe everybody should be tested every 10 years as a reminder of the rules that are being broken or just to remind people of some of the stuff they probably didn't realize to begin with.