Speak Out 1/24/10

GI benefits

TO the person who said GI benefits are not a gift: Did you not receive a salary while you were in the service? The GI Bill -- gift, loan, whatever -- I'm all for it. But you need to realize it is in addition to your salary.

Making donations

I feel bad for the earthquake victims in Haiti. I cannot imagine what they're going through. But I'm tired of the athletes and celebrities extolling us to send money. Most of us don't have a lot of extra money. I'd love to be able to send $100 to Haiti. I can barely make my bills this month because one of us lost our job and things are tight. At the Golden Globe awards, everyone received free gifts in their goody bags worth thousands of dollars. Those people already get paid millions of dollars. Yes, they earn their money and are entitled to spend it how they want. But I can't buy it when they tell me to spend my $10 or $50 on relief in Haiti.

Sports crimes

A baseball player bets on baseball and goes to prison. He is banned from baseball and the Hall of Fame. A football player shoots himself in the leg and is in prison. Another football players fights pit bulls and goes to prison. A Rams player runs over a woman while drunk and kills her. He walks free. A Cardinals baseball player confessed to using steroids for 10 years. What happens to him? He is hired by the Cardinals and gets a standing ovation from fans. The moral of this story: If you're going to do the crime, be sure you do it in St. Louis.

University sports

I am disappointed with the Southeast Missouri State University athletics. We used to be boosters. I know the athletes work hard. We need to either go to Division II or get better at Division I. It's a disservice to the community that we can watch all these places on TV have tons of people at their games just like we used to fill the Show Me Center and Houck a long time ago. We need to bring that back to this community.

Past her prime

MANY of you have had wonderful times at Franklin Elementary School and think it's a beautiful school. I have been associated with the Cape Girardeau School District for a number of years. Franklin school was built in 1927. Like a lot of people older than 80, she has passed her prime. Her pipes are old. Her air conditioning and heating don't work well. Her windows are drafty. Her electricity is not up to par. It's time that we put her to rest and get something new and better for our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. Surgery might help, but it would be a costly bill that I don't think that Cape Girardeau people would like to pay.