Speak Out 11/27/03

Digging out the facts

THE CAPE Girardeau superintendent's committee won't produce fair-minded community input. He stacked it with 60 percent school staff. Shame. A legitimate process conducted by unconflicted citizens would find truth where it is and would unhesitatingly recommend trimming bloated administrative salaries, free post-graduate sabbaticals, two sculpture classes, over-expenditure for new copiers, 40 secretaries and more. Expunging fat. Protecting instruction. Defending our kids. It's time for a real committee.

Can't find stuff

I THINK our president is basically a decent man, but you've got to remember he's a politician -- a powerful politician. But he can't find Osama bin Laden. He can't find weapons of mass destruction. He can't find Saddam Hussein. And he can't find out who in his administration leaked that deal.

How to get approved

LET ME get this right. The Cape Girardeau City Council says no to homeowners storing coffee in their own house because of neighbors' complaints. Yet when people complain about a whole gas station being built next to them on Highway 74, the council says yes. So the lesson is this: tear your house down if you run a home business and build a new building. You'll get approved in a snap.

Holden's withholding

SATURDAY'S EDITORIAL regarding the governor's education budget withholdings is right on the mark. I was under the mistaken impression that the Republican leadership was responsible for the financial woes of our schools. Now I understand that it was Holden who is withholding the money. I hope Peter Kinder and Jason Crowell beat on his door daily to get his attention.

The Kennedy legacy

I APPRECIATED Sam Blackwell's story on JFK. He spoke quite truthfully about the Kennedy assassination and legacy. I'd add one point. If you look closely at the Kennedy record, internationally and militarily he was very conservative. Socially he was very liberal. No one has come along since him who has been able to combine those elements so well in one individual. Politics after him has become an absolute mess.

They paid for it

THE COMMENT contrasting the Southeast Missouri State University students' lack of hot showers and Iraqi soldiers would be valid if it weren't for the fact that the students are paying the university for their basic living conditions rather than being paid by the Army.

First-hand knowledge

I THINK it's a good idea for city officials to know what it takes to keep the city running on a daily basis. The Cape Girardeau councilman who spent a day working on a garbage truck had a great idea. How can you run a city if you don't know how a city runs?

Spending the money

MY WIFE was one of 10 aides let go because of budget cuts in the Scott City School District. Now I understand the district has hired a new head football coach and doesn't even have a position for him to teach. I just don't understand how the district gets its money and how its spends the money.

Council blew it

LAST WEEKEND this community was filled with people coming for the craft shows and other events. Every August, hundreds of freshmen come to the university from out of town. They have to deal with the stoplight where, if they turn left it's Lexington Avenue and if they turn right it's Mount Auburn Road. Nobody seems to get confused by that. I have a time believing that having a couple of blocks called Tiger Pride down there where hardly anybody travels is going to cause nearly as much confusion. City council, you blew it. The kids see through it. The parents see through it.

No administrative cuts

SOMEONE ASKED why we don't cut the junior high school's athletic director position. This is an example of how we're ignored. I asked someone who was at the task force budget-cutting meeting if that suggestion was even brought up. It was not. It makes perfect sense. Look at Jackson, which has one athletic director. The Jackson School District has more students and just as many sports as the Cape Girardeau School District. The Cape district refuses to look at getting rid of any administrators. There's your answer. They're feathering their own nest. They're going to cut positions in the classroom and leave administrators. Does that make any sense?

Only victim was car

I ENJOY reading the Tiger that you include in the paper every once in a while and seeing what the kids have to say. But they need to check their facts. An editorial about the T-shirt competition between Cape Girardeau and Jackson says "the rivalry is entirely in fun and no one is hurt, that is until someone blows up a car." That implies someone got hurt. The only thing that got hurt was the car.

The right choice

AS A Democrat, I would like to commend U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson for voting against that really rich man's medical bill. She voted for us instead of the drug companies.