Speak Out 1/5/10

Deposit slips

LET'S start the new year out right. When you go to the bank, please have a deposit slip ready. When you or the teller has to fill out a counter deposit slip, there is a greater risk of the deposit not posting correctly. The deposit slips that come with your checks are already encoded with your account number and make the process quicker and safer.

Terrorist peril

JANET Napolitano, President Obama's expert in charge of homeland security, says there are no terrorist attacks, just man-made traumas. I think Ray Charles could see that there are terrorists attacking America.

Missouri's bard?

Michael Jensen's open plea

To be our king of poetry

Is an idea I think to be first-rate.

But can he write in a jacket, strait?

Homeless help

THE average stay in a shelter for a homeless person is one day. That's right. One day. However, there are some homeless who are considered chronically homeless and never seem to free themselves from its grip. Some communities are experimenting with giving these people apartments (as long as they abide by the rules), because the costs are so much less than the costs of dealing with the ongoing homeless who are chronically so. It is in that spirit that I call for the retrofitting of the Cape Girardeau's old federal building into small apartments and suggest that the city fathers openly solicit the chronically homeless.

Eminent domain

THE government has the power to take your property, but it does not have the right. The government does not have rights. It has power. The people from which property has been taken, in many cases, have had their rights violated because they were not justly compensated for the damage and hardship it caused them. In many cases the power of eminent domain is abused.

Jackson pay

I would like an explanation from Jackson officials as to why they feel police officers and firefighters weren't deserving of a cost-of-living raise this year. They need to explain why those who work day and night 365 days a year to protect us and save our lives can't be compensated for putting their lives at risk every day, but those who do something as simple as building inspections were given a pay increase.

School spending

IT is amazing to hear how many people feel that schools could spend less. If you want to stand behind those comments, involve yourself. Run for school board. Work for the school system. Try volunteering at one of the schools and get a true concept of what it is like to teach/learn in a building with no space, a leaky ceiling and worries getting crushed in an earthquake. The bond issue being discussed in the Cape Girardeau School District would not raise taxes. So why is everyone so upset about the fact that the money is needed?