Speak Out 11/10/05

Savings idea

THE STREET department cleans the streets while the wind is blowing like crazy, making the leaves go everywhere. The street department also cleans the streets when it is raining and it's not needed. The street department could save us taxpayers money by driving less.

Report the shooting

REGARDING THE neighbor who shot the dogs: It's the responsibility of the person who knows this neighbor shot the dogs to report it. That would be firing a firearm in the city limits and cruelty to animals. I recently adopted a dog from the humane society, and I would be devastated if somebody hurt my dog. To shoot dogs is wrong.

Student profiling

WHY IS Southeast Missouri State University racially profiling its students? So many students come from different races. Some are part European, part Asian or part African. How do you count people? That's crazy. Leave people alone and teach them all you can, but don't try to count them.

Transportation needs

IF THE city can come up with money for beautification of Cape Girardeau, it can certainly find the money for a real necessity like transportation. We deserve better than Cape's taxi system.

Too many activities

JUST BECAUSE there are lots of extracurricular activity choices doesn't mean your child has to participate in too many. For the person whose kid is in too many extracurricular activities, cut your son's or daughter's activities down. If some students drop some of their extracurricular activities, it would make room for some of the other kids to be cheerleaders, baton twirlers and everything else. Let some of the other kids have a chance.

Degree plus experience

I AM the Southeast Missouri State University graduate who can't find a decent job. By decent I mean a professional job that pays at least $30,000 or above. My last job paid around $29,000, and it was outside of Cape Girardeau County. Although I wanted to work in Cape Girardeau, I couldn't find a job that paid that much. I not only have a bachelor's degree, I also have am associate degree in science with about 20 years of experience in social work. My bachelor's degree is in general studies.

Floating eyesore

CAPE GIRARDEAU officials did the right thing in ordering the floating dock off the riverfront. What an eyesore. It looked like something to transport livestock.

Tuition is too high

MY SON is a student at Southeast Missouri State University. I am a SEMO graduate. Our children's tuition is being raised every year. At least once a week I drive by the River City Campus going up and wonder why tuition is going up. SEMO used to be a good university. It used to be a way for a lot of people in this area to go to school who couldn't afford to go to other universities. For whatever reason, SEMO has decided to make itself an elite college and charge students in this area more than they can pay.

Wrong priorities

COULD SOMEONE explain me how a grant for almost $158,000 from Homeland Security to the Cape Girardeau Fire Department to be used for sprinklers and diesel exhaust is going to keep us safe from terrorists? Another article said the elderly and poor will either give up food or heating their homes this winter. The city's priorities are all wrong, and so is our government's.

Officer's discretion

I'M READING this article about shifting lanes to avoid hitting emergency workers. This should always be foremost in everyone's mind. But I have a problem with the highway patrolman saying you need to make the officer happy, because a safe speed is up to his discretion.

Are they illegals?

I NOTICED in the paper that the government is after Wal-Mart for knowingly allowing contractors to use illegal aliens for laborers. Were these illegal aliens? The government makes no serious effort to keep them out of the United States, and the government gives them the same benefits as our citizens, all at taxpayer expense. So evidently they are not illegal in the government's eyes. I don't know how Wal-Mart can be prosecuted over this. It seems ridiculous.

Excellent movie

I THOUGHT the review of "Good Night and Good Luck" was unfair to George Clooney's flick. It said there was no soundtrack. I think that scares people away. There's plenty of music to go around. It's not a bleak movie. It has a tremendous actors: George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkston, Jeff Bridges. It's an excellent movie. I think the only bad part was that it downplayed communism.

Laying it on the line

IT TAKES David Limbaugh to lay it on the line about the Democrats' propaganda machine, which puts personal political power and ambition above loyalty for America. The more the Democrats try to demoralize our brave, fighting soldiers and demonize the president in our time of war, the more treasonous they sound. Democrats are so bitter because they lost power in 2000 that they spew hatred with every breath. Radical Democrats are abetting the enemy. Limbaugh has outlined their bitterness perfectly. Keep up your excellent articles, David, and continue to counteract the lies and deceptions.

Using common sense

THIS IS about building a fence around train tracks. If you don't have enough sense to know not to go under a train, you would be the person to climb a fence and fall and break your neck. You have to use common sense.

Seasonal help

I WANT to give kudos to Hutson Furniture for helping the Salvation Army in its Thanksgiving campaign.

Higher taxes

I THINK it is funny that so many people in Cape Girardeau want public transportation. Most of these people earn low incomes. We would have to raise taxes to provide public transport. Then who would complain about high taxes? I wonder.

Loss of business

I GO to Las Vegas three times a year and to the gambling boats once a month in St. Louis and Tupelo, Miss. I can afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars on my gambling hobby. If Cape Girardeau had a riverboat casino, I would spend a lot in the local economy. But if you don't want my business, that's your loss.

Here's real waste

IT'S ASTOUNDING to me that people will complain about a few bad apples who may have spent their FEMA money unwisely after Hurricane Katrina, but no one says a word about the fact that Michael Brown, the incompetent crony of George Bush who ran FEMA into the ground, was never fired and is receiving a $148,000-a-year salary to stay on as a consultant. How is that for wasteful spending?