Speak Out 11/30/08

Indian pride

WAY TO go, Jackson Indians. You should be proud of yourselves for a job well done.

Good choices

SO FAR, Barack Obama's choices for advisers and Cabinet members are brilliant. He has calmed all but the most psychotic conservatives with pragmatic choices while paving the way for them to implement progressive policies.

Dangerous owners

REGARDING THE "dangerous dog" ban in Perryville I've been reading about: What started the concerns was a pit bull chained to a tree in a backyard. Most people are overlooking the source of the problem, which is tying a dog to a tree. I have two rescued pit bulls that are babies, not dangerous dogs. Most dogs are a reflection of their ownership. Maybe we should ban "dangerous owners," the source of many pet problems.

Shopping-cart kids

THIS IS in response to a comment that it is unsanitary to put a child in the basket area of a shopping buggy. Where else would you suggest I put my 3-year-old? I have two children. I am aware that there are buggies that have an attachment on the front where two children can sit. Have you tried pushing one of these? They are quite heavy and hard to turn. I can assure you that if my child's shoes are the worst thing to touch the inside of that buggy, you should consider yourself lucky. It also may interest you to know that I wipe down the buggy before and after using it. If anyone has a better idea on how to shop with two young toddlers, I would be glad to hear it.

Downtown plans

OLD TOWN Cape has had multiple comprehensive plans. The DREAM plan is not the first. What has been lacking is execution of these plans. A core mission of Old Town Cape is to recruit new businesses and help existing businesses thrive. Is Old Town Cape partnering with the entrepreneur program at Southeast Missouri State University? It should be. Where are the new commercial activities to increase foot traffic downtown? More retailers are needed, not more bars.

Movie spending

I KEEP hearing about people being strapped for money. Then listen to the news about movies that have grossed more than $70 million. It doesn't sound like people are hard up for money.

All about teachers

WOW, JOE Sullivan, what a fantastic column (about teachers) in Sunday's paper. We can only hope that every parent and teacher would read it. I still think you ought to run for president.

Can't read, write

I RAISED three kids. One of my children didn't get an education in school. In first grade when the teacher should have been teaching writing, she was teaching weather reports. He failed to get an education. As a result he cannot read or write. That's what schools are paid to do: teach reading and writing. I saw on the Internet that a Washington, D.C., school official wants to take away teacher tenure. I can agree with that, because some teachers need to be weeded out.

Limit imports

I WAS reading a bit in the paper that says China approves only limited numbers of foreign films and recordings partly due to political concerns but also to protect domestic producers. That's what we should be doing instead of importing all this stuff. Why aren't we protecting our domestic producers of everything? We need to enact some laws that have us using American-made stuff and having only limited amounts of imports. That would help the economy immensely.

Education advice

THIS IS in response to the educator who thinks lay people should keep their opinions to themselves when it comes to public education. Since we're all funding public education through our taxes, we should definitely have a say in what happens. And if educators are the professionals, we've seen the job they've done. So they can definitely stand some advice from us.

South Hanover

I AM glad to see the attention your paper has been giving to the happenings on South Hanover Street. It is a shame Hanover Street has to have all this bad publicity. I have lived on the street many years. I truly appreciate the attention the police department gives to this street with their patrols. Most of the trouble that happens is started by people who do not live there. We get all this bad publicity that draws people to Hanover Street looking for drugs and to start trouble. Some of the teenagers have set up times to meet and start fights. Some residents who are complaining about shootings and drugs and people hanging on the street are not helping. From early morning to late in the day, they'll have a group hanging in front of their houses, using vulgar language and playing loud music. Clean up in front of your own house before complaining.

No more roads

MY PROBLEM with what Barack Obama suggests (regarding government jobs for public works) is this: Don't we have enough roads already? We're having trouble maintaining what roads we have. Unless these workers are put to use maintaining what we have, it seems ridiculous to build more. I agree that we need more creative ideas.

Blame our greed

OUR COUNTRY is financially on the rocks for one reason. The citizens of our nation have bankrupted it over the years with constant greed and politicians promising anything to get elected. Pork-barrel spending is out of control. Not many folks would vote to accept the pain of a balanced budget and a debt payoff. You couldn't carry one state if you had a platform to cut welfare or benefits for health care, senior citizens, education, foreign aid and thousands of government subsidies. The greedy voters and the politicians have done this.