Speak Out 10/15/05

Wrong method

IN READING about the poisoning of pigeons to alleviate the problems they cause for the Marquette Tower, I'm appalled. This was wrong no matter how you look at it. And it is a barbaric, cheap and dangerous answer.

No safe place

THE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has already told us there is no safe place on the river at Cape Girardeau to put a gambling boat.

Apply some pressure

THE ONLY way the Cape Girardeau and Jackson police will make excessive noise an issue is if the city council, board of aldermen and mayors put pressure on them. If you are fed up, like so many of us, with booming stereos all day and night and cars and trucks with no or loud mufflers and want to return peace to these towns, write your elected officials or go to a council or board meeting and speak up so they know it's an issue they should care about. Insist that the noise ordinances should be enforced. If they are good public servants, they'll roll some heads at the police departments and see that the ordinances are enforced.

Try to understand

NO ONE understands a self-mutilator unless he or she has done it. There is always a misconception as to why we cut. We hold our problems in and bleed them out. We have hidden pain. I have cut my wrist for six years. I never meant to hurt anyone. I only meant to relieve my pain. Please stop judging me.

Feeding at the trough

THANKS TO Ted Patzek and David Pimentel for clearing up the ethanol issue. It seems the debate is all about the agribusiness corporations feeding at the trough of taxpayer dollars -- and their agents such as the Corn Grower Associations and Farm Bureau arguing for continued taxpayer support for a bereft policy. It's a shame the politicians have been bought off.

Corporate welfare

IT'S TIME the Cape Girardeau County Commission and Cape Girardeau City Council stopped promising tax relief and taxpayer funding for every business that suggests it might come here. This is not free-enterprise capitalism. It's social welfare for corporations.

Thanks for the help

THIS IS to thank Brittney Lee. She has helped me balance my bank book on many occasions at Chateau Girardeau. It is rare to find young people as nice as her. Thank you, Brittney.

Lights on Linden

WOULD THE city consider widening Linden Street before it's enlarged? Would the city please consider lighting it? There are no good street lights. There's just one between Benton Street and West End Boulevard. It's awfully dark out there for older people driving at night. We like to walk in the evenings, but it's too dark after 6 o'clock.

Utility costs

AMERENUE says it will continue to keep costs down. A month ago the company said the cost of utilities was going to go up this winter. Now it says on a commercial that it's going to keep costs down. Who is the company trying to fool?