Speak Out 11/3/07

Messy world

WHY LET a person be born to suffer? In many cases, babies will be raised by teenage parents who can barely figure out how life works, are still experimenting with drugs and will likely divorce before the baby starts to talk. Why let these babies be born into such a messy world just to become criminals and cause more problems to society later on? It should be a crime to allow a baby to be born without a fair chance to get proper health, education and love.

Ethanol means jobs

I JUST love it. All you hear these days is that our jobs are going overseas. Now we have an opportunity to have a large amount of good jobs in the manufacturing of ethanol, but the environmental wackos come out of the woodwork crying "pollution." You can't have it both ways. If some people aren't working, who will pay all the welfare?

This is history

IT IS by far the most important historical event ever to occur in Cape Girardeau. I never knew that Elvis Presley appeared at Cape Girardeau's Arena Building in 1955.

Nothing changes

YOUR EDITORIAL that South Cape is ripe for a turnaround would have been relevant had it been printed 50 years ago and will still be so when printed 50 years in the future.

Horse cruelty

I WAS upset by the story about the horse starving to death. A complete stranger sees the horse and is concerned enough about its looks to call it in to the sheriff's department, which calls a Humane Society, which gives the horse's owner a notice. If the horse was so sick it died, authorities should have removed it or at least had a vet see it immediately at the horse owner's expense. Since the owner ignored the notice and the horse died, I think the owner should be brought up on charges of animal cruelty. To let the horse waste away and starve was cruel.

Moving choice

CAPE GIRARDEAU School District taxpayers should not have to subsidize a student living within the district who chooses to go to school in the Jackson School District and vice versa. If you want public school choice, then choose to move to the school district you want your children to attend.

Rigorous or dumb

IF YOU'RE going to have an academically rigorous school, you are going to have a higher dropout rate. If you want a lower dropout rate, dumb down the curriculum. On balance, the public prefers the latter.

Strictly pro-life

LIKE SO many self-styled pro-life advocates, syndicated columnist Kathryn Lopez is a hypocrite. If you are pro-life, you cannot be selective. You cannot laud protection of the unborn while promoting death for civilians in an insane war or even state-enforced death for those guilty of murder. Pro-life is pro-life. Like so many who proclaim themselves to have a Christian calling, Lopez, George Bush, Rudolph Giuliani and all the Republican presidential candidates are squarely pro-death. They only become pro-life when it's time to ask for your vote.

Lights off: Stay away

I THOUGHT most people would know that if the porch light is off, that means do not come to that house for Halloween. Obviously not in Jackson. I had children come to my door. My porch light was not on, and there were two adults standing at the end of my walkway who should have known better.

No other hand

SPEAKING OF economists, I like only one-armed ones. That keeps them from saying, as so many do, "On the other hand ... ."

Not enough restrooms

THE RIVER Campus is wonderful, but there are not enough restrooms for the balcony seats. There are probably 400 people up there with the lower and upper balcony, and there's one potty on each side. That's two toilets for 400 people, and at intermission it's a disaster.

Dangerous risk

MAYBE THIS comment could save a life. I observed somebody going down Kingshighway on one wheel on a motorcycle while standing straight up. If that guy thinks the Lord is watching over him, he'd better think again. That is extremely dangerous. Is his life truly worth the risk of showing off? All he would have had to do is hit one minor bump and he'd be in the hospital or in the morgue.

Highway hay

I THINK it would be a good idea if Missouri would allow the fescue and grass to grow along the state highways and then cut and bale it and sell it for a profit.

Wonderful sight

A GROUP of retired teachers from Sikeston came through your nice Crisp Museum at the River Campus. What a wonderful sight it is. Kudos to Southeast Missouri State University. I would love to comment upon a Mr. Young in the museum. He is such a talented young man and so knowledgeable about the museum. What a blessing it is for the university to have him.

Halloween memories

I'M GLAD my children are raised, because one of my great joys was at Halloween each year when my children dressed up in grade school. I'm glad that they grew up in the era when they got to know that. I loved when they had Halloween parades where all the children walked around in their costumes. It's one of my fond memories of school.

Wrong stance

AS A Catholic I am once more embarrassed and ashamed of my church. First it was all the sexual incidents with priests, which the church not only helped to cover up but basically helped priests break the law over and over. Now we've got a Catholic Church in Oklahoma urging parishioners to break the law and harbor illegal immigrants. The purpose, they say, is to help take care of the poor and needy. If the Catholic Church is so concerned about the poor and the needy, why doesn't it strip some of those art treasures out of the Vatican and sell them and give that money to those same poor and needy? Let's not take jobs away from Americans who deserve them and who have a right to them as American citizens and give them to illegals who have broken the law in coming here and are breaking the law by remaining and seeking work. The Catholic church is wrong.

School parties

WHAT A fantastic idea: school parties in lieu of Halloween. Now maybe the adults can quit bickering and the children can have fun and be safe. That is the bottom line.

Polite leaf burning

I AM an middle-aged person with asthma. I would like to remind all the neighbors and friends and people who burn leaves this time of year to please ask their neighbors if they're allergic to the smoke. It is a horrendous smell, and it's very uncomfortable this time of year. Please be considerate.

Marvelous thing

I JUST toured the River Campus. What a marvelous thing you have in your area. I was given a tour by a young man who is a tremendous asset to the museum. He was so insightful and informational with all aspects of that museum. It's so lovely that the River Campus has such a person to be representing the museum. God bless, and keep up the good work.