speak out 11/23

Learning from column

I LOVE reading Justin Cox's columns on the Voices of 2morrow page about living in Chile. His travels have made him aware why our country is great and where we need to improve. He tells how traveling has made him grow as a person with other people and their cultures. It is so interesting. I appreciate you putting it in the paper.

Order, please

IT REALLY isn't necessary for a server to address you at all. All that's needed is a simple greeting: "Hi, may I take you order?"

Getting the pork

EVERYBODY COMPLAINS about taxes except when they are on the receiving end. Congratulations to the Cape Girardeau area and Southeast Missouri for getting $39 million of our tax dollars. It's the way it works. Bring the pork back home, and then we're happy.

Just obey the law

IT GETS tiresome reading complaints about the police catching people speeding. These people are so dense that they don't realize that if they would stay within the speed limit and obey the laws, it wouldn't matter where the police were. They wouldn't get caught. Nobody is so important that they have to drive over the speed limit.

Fill the prescription

I CAN'T believe it's legal for pharmacies to not sell a woman who has a prescription for the Pill. How outrageous that is. This is where our morality laws are leading. These people should have their licenses taken away from them. We need to stop it now.

Parking in Chaffee

HAVE YOU driven on a street in Chaffee lately? The streets are very narrow. When two cars park across the street from each other, you can barely get through. How come everyone parks in the same direction on both sides of the road? In Cape Girardeau, you would get a ticket for this.

Look for open arms

IN REGARD to the mentally ill person who said he has trouble being accepted: We're all mentally, physically, emotionally or spiritually ill at some time in our life, but don't let that isolate you. I would welcome you in my church. Go to your nearest church, and you will be welcomed with open arms, I guarantee it. And if you aren't, search for another church until you are. There is a place for you and your God-given talents. It happened to me. Good luck, and God bless you.

Plenty of spending

MULTIPLY THE $39 million recently appropriated for federal projects in Southeast Missouri and by similar funding in all 50 states, and then you will know why the United States has trillions of dollars of debt along with the expense of war and defending America.

Cut the roster

SOMEONE SUGGESTED an alternative for Jackson's crowding with the band. How about another alternative concerning the football team? Why do we have 75 to 80 kids on the roster when only 20 or so get to play varsity and 20 get to play at the junior varsity level? Why do we need so many? Why not have cuts like we do the other sports teams? That would eliminate some of the crowding problems in locker rooms.

Keep tabs on TV

FREEDOM OF speech does not include subversive broadcasting nor anti-American spy activities. In our time of war, there should be strict FCC monitoring of TV networks and their danger to America and to our brave fighting men.

Might have been better

AFTER READING about the woman who cut off her baby's two arms and it bled to death, it seems to me abortion would have been a kinder solution for this child. I don't think it's up to other people to tell you what you can and can't handle in this life. Women make mistakes, and sometimes you have to do what's best for your life.

Building confidence

I JUST read another column by Justin Cox. Every time I read his columns, I think what a wonderful young man he is and feel like I've got a lot more confidence in the young people of today. Thanks for adding his columns to the newspaper.

A matter of value

FOR THE person who said the garbage collectors aren't that valuable, let's let one of those people not pick up his garbage for a week or two and see how valuable that man becomes.

Spending our money

I READ about all the pork-barrel spending in the federal budget just passed. I wonder where our supposedly conservative representatives or senators are and what kind of a trance are they in. Are they so out of contact with what's going on in the country they don't know they're doing all the pork-barrel spending? Or are they that inept?

Too much technology

THE JOB of a scientist is to discover knowledge. This knowledge is used to design material goods for the purpose for the betterment of mankind. It seems that for every question answered, more than one question proceeds in this process. Perhaps so-called progress follows the same way as one problem a man has remedied. Perhaps more than one problem rises as a result. Of the technology we now have, do we really need anymore? Many in our society don't have time in their day to live a satisfactory lifestyle. Consider the divorce rate and other social ills. The speed of a microchip accelerates everyday with technological insights. As technology evolves, will we need larger homes to put all that stuff in? It seems now that the amount of money one needs to earn in order to keep up with the Joneses is more and more. Then there is the issue of the ecology. Can we eliminate pollution or can biodegradability of costly packaging waste be reduced as to eliminate its accumulation? We all have to think about this.