Speak Out 1/8/07

City's arrogance

AM I the only one who sees the arrogance of Cape Girardeau officials? We passed a tax to give police officers and firefighters raises, and the city came up with across-the-board raises to all city employees. The city came up with $80,000 to go to California for the All-America City competition. And now it is trying to dodge the minimum-wage hike.

We are Americans

THUMBS DOWN to obfuscating hairsplitters who imply that we are arrogant to call ourselves "American" on the grounds that anyone living in North and South America can make the same claim to the title "American." When we are in the United States of America, we are entirely correct to say we are Americans. "America" is not a part of the name of other nations.

Parking ticket

MY HAT is off to the Cape Girardeau Police Department for taking such great care of protecting our city from people parking on the curb in front of their own homes. Unbelievable. I drive through town every day seeing near-miss accidents caused by people driving too fast, running stop signs or not paying attention. I rarely see anyone being ticketed for any of those things. But if you park too far up on the curb to avoid getting your car hit, you'll get yourself a ticket. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Paying for raises

SOMEHOW, CAPE Girardeau must find an additional $110,000 to pay its seasonal and part-time help the increased minimum wage. For those of you who voted in favor of the increase, there had better not be any complaining when your local taxes are raised and good and services start costing more.

Wage discrimination

WE VOTED for everybody to get the minimum wage, not just full-time employees, but part-time employees too. And if the part-time city employees do not get the full benefits, I'll file a complaint to see why they're being discriminated against. I'm 68 years old, I do not work, I'm retired, totally disabled and I intend to find out.

Recorded annoyance

HAS ANYONE else received recorded calls from a couple who sing and then launch into a bunch of religious talk? I wrote the number down and called it, and they answered. I politely asked them not to call back. They talked and talked and talked until I finally threatened to call Attorney General Jay Nixon and report them. They said, "You don't want to do that, lady." I hung up on them.

Safe runner

WHILE DRIVING to work in the dark. I saw a runner on Hopper Road. She was running so she could see oncoming cars. She had good reflectors on her shoes and her running pants. She had a red light on her right shoulder that made it easy for cars to see her. This woman was doing everything right. I appreciate when runners do a good job and take their side of the road without getting in anybody's way.

Taking advantage

WHY IS it you always hear about Cape Girardeau taking advantage of somebody? You never hear anything about Sikeston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield or Rolla trying to do that. It's always Cape. Now they're trying to get around the law the people in Missouri approved to raise the minimum wage.

Representing children

SINCE HOUSE Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will represent America's children, do you think she will lower their parents taxes? How about school vouchers to enable them to leave failing public schools?