Speak Out 11/7/04

Weeds along highway

IS THE highway department ever going to mow Highway 74 between Cape Girardeau and Dutchtown? It was only mowed once this year and once last year. Weeds are head high in places.

Speedy solution

IN RESPONSE to the comment about the Truman solution for taking care of Osama bin Laden: You have no idea how many people agree with you. It would save millions of tax dollars and quickly send a message to radical Muslims that we are not to be messed with. But if President Bush did that, the left wing would go nuts, as would most of the rest of the world who hate us anyway. But Truman sure stopped World War II in a hurry, didn't he?

Postal parking

SINCE WE do not know when the post office will be moving, why do the employees there not have to obey the no-parking signs? If you try to drive through during the daytime, you cannot drive down the street. They should be limited to parking only on one side of the street. If I were to park on any other street in town that has no parking, I am sure I would receive a ticket.

No perfect world

REGARDING THE "Ban on smoking" comment: Most of the people you see at the mall are elderly people there to walk or teenagers there to shop. Most of the stores in the mall are teens stores. Most of the smokers these days are teens. If the mall banned smoking, it would lose a lot of business not only by underage teen smokers, but also by adult smokers. Isn't it good enough that the mall stopped allowing smoking inside the mall? When will people stop whining about things they don't like and realize this world isn't perfect.

Human shelters

TO THE people who believe abortion is OK and women should be provided with birth control, how about we start human humane shelters? If a woman has a baby she doesn't want, she can just drop it off and go on about her business of having a good time. She won't have to feed it or worry about it when she wants to go out and party, and if no one else wants it, it can be euthanized. That sounds ridiculous now, but where does it stop?

Comparing hours

I'M NO teacher. I have a high school education. I've been pretty lucky about having jobs that pay livable wages. But I'm sure the teacher who said she makes less than a fast-food worker was referring to a beginning teacher. When you're a beginner, you don't make as much as a teacher that has tenure. A fast-food worker is off after eight hours. But how many hours does a teacher have to be at work before school getting ready for the day and grading papers and attending PTA meetings and working with students? A fast-food worker works from sun to sun, but a teacher's work is never done.

Not on the books

MY HUSBAND was standing in line to vote. A woman in front of him had a voter-registration card, but her name was not on the books. I'd like to know how a person can have a voter registration card and not be on the books.

Abstinence is best

IT'S SAD that people think birth control and condoms will solve many of the world's problems. You can use birth control and still get pregnant. You can use condoms and still get AIDS. Birth control and condoms may reduce the risk of pregnancy and AIDS, but they are not 100 percent effective. We are giving people a false sense of security. If you don't want to get AIDS or spread it around, don't have sex. It's as simple as that.

Lenient sentencing

I WAS appalled when I heard Judge Syler let a child molester go back on our streets. He sentenced Ricky Williams, who molested and sodomized a little girl, 120 days in treatment. This just does not cut it. I do not feel safe having my kids on the streets with people like him out there. A lot of people are in jail for a lot longer, and they haven't done anything so wrong. What is our community coming to?