Speak Out 1/28/06

Powerful mayor

HAS ANYONE at the Southeast Missourian or Mayor Jay Knudtson ever read the city charter? Reading the Missourian, we would often not know that there are other members of the city council or that we have a city manager, not a city administrator. Some of us remember when the charter was written. The intent was -- and, I hope, still is -- we should not have a powerful mayor as we do at the present time.

Honoring MLK

WITH ALL due respect to Debra Mitchell-Braxton, her complaints about the university sponsoring its own Martin Luther King event when students are in town are disgraceful. With veiled hints she calls the university racist. She even charges that Martin Luther King's son is racist. Why? Because she disagrees with the decision a committee made to invest its money in a speaker's event commemorating MLK rather than holding a breakfast where few students attended. The disgrace about Mitchell-Braxton's piece is that it betrays the spirit of MLK, who sought to bring people together honorably. I understand the MLK breakfast organized by Mitchell-Braxton this year was excellent. Having two, three, four events -- isn't that better anyway?

Fireplace fumes

WE HAVE a neighbor who has a love affair with her fireplace, which burns 24/7. This is hard on those of us with lung problems. If she would give us a break once in a while on these warm days so we could open our windows for some fresh air, it would be greatly appreciated. By the time she finally shuts it down, it's time to turn on the air conditioning, so we never get fresh air. Have a little consideration.

Try being a Kurd

IT'S EASY to tell the son of a civil rights leader from a real civil rights leader. While Martin Luther King III was sitting in first-class airline seating impatiently waiting for his champagne, he formulates the theory that the people of Iraq didn't want to be saved from a sadistic tyrant who murders and tortures people, purely based on their ethnicity. Maybe instead of being a first-class airline passenger, he needs to be a Kurd for a week. I'm guessing his new mantra to the United States would then be "Why didn't you help us sooner?"

More of the same

AS A Republican, I am more than disgusted at the constant whitewash this Congress has stood for in regard to never questioning our president. Wake up, Republicans. Those in power at the moment have not shown us anything but more of what we voted out in 1994.

Religion in schools

THE TEACHING of any religion has no place in public schools. I agree with the mother not wanting Hinduism being taught to her child. Send your kids to parochial schools if you want them to be indoctrinated with religions. The public school system is churning out enough incompetent students as it is. All focus should be on the important subjects to make students efficient members of society, subjects like reading, math and science. Leave Sunday school for the churches.

But not my religion

PEOPLE ARE missing the point of the comment about teaching Hinduism in school. It's not that Hinduism is being taught that bothers some people. It is that all other religions are studied in public school, but even mentioning Christianity produces screaming fits and accusations of being a zealot.

Mandatory drug tests

I SUPPORT requiring anyone receiving government support to take regular drug tests. There are many people using government aid to supplement their income, which allows more money for their recreational drug use. This drug use leads to more doctor visits, which in turn costs taxpayers even more. These people are wasting my tax dollars, and I want it to stop.