Speak Out 11/30/03

We're paying for it

IT SEEMS to me that the first car to cross the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge should be at least an Illinois or Missouri car, especially since we are the ones paying for the bridge and have put up with the old bridge and construction delays for so long. Why not have one from each side cross at the same time? As a resident of Alexander County who uses the bridges many times weekly. I'm outraged over the drawing that picked a Kentucky motorist to drive over the bridge first.

No time for dissension

THE CAPE Girardeau City Council rejected renaming a portion of Silver Springs Road that runs in front of Central High School in part because there was opposition from within the school district itself. However, the mayor shouldn't have gone to the school, all in a twit, for the specific purpose of shifting the blame for the defeat to elements within the school district. That will do nothing but promote dissension within the school district, something we don't need. The mayor should have bitten the bullet and taken full responsibility for the city's slap in the face to the students. Besides, the idea should have been voted up or down on the merits of the proposal itself, not because of what this or that faction wanted.

Add Tiger paws

IF PEOPLE are so concerned about this Tiger Pride Drive issue -- which, by the way, I am not -- why not change the Silver Springs Road street signs by putting an orange paw print on them right beside the street name?

Taliban is still around

PRESIDENT BUSH said that we "put the Taliban out of business forever" -- taking credit for supposedly ridding the world of the terrorist regime. He made these comments just a day after the Taliban launched a rocket attack on Kabul's most prominent hotel. It was also one day after Reuters reported Mullah Omar, the Taliban's still at-large leader, "urged Afghans to unite against U.S.-led foreign forces on their soil" and the same day Afghanistan's foreign minister desperately requested more international help in fighting off Taliban guerillas. All told, the AP calls the Taliban "an increasingly virulent insurgency" while the Los Angeles Times reports "nearly two years after the U.S. drove the Taliban from power, remnants of the Islamic extremist group are regrouping and attacking U.S. troops."