Speak Out 12/11/07

Grateful family

I WOULD like to say thanks. We never know at what time in our life we might end up needing some help. My husband was laid off from his job, and things are not the greatest. I got a call inviting my little girl to shop with a hero at Wal-Mart. I would just like to thank the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Wal-Mart and the school or anybody else who had anything to do with that. And I want to thank the person or persons who left the three boxes of groceries without a note at my doorstep. You'll never know how much that meant to us as a family. Thank you so much.

Thanks to city workers

I'D LIKE to thank the Jackson city workers for picking up my trash every Thursday morning. We appreciate you guys. All God's blessings upon you and yours this Christmas and New Year's season.

Double-booking

IT SEEMS that many doctors' offices are factories instead of health-care providers. The sad fact is that it is the same everywhere. There are even a few places that double-book appointments then allow walk-ins as well. This doesn't benefit anyone but only extends the wait time for those who really need to be seen. Maybe when these places start losing patients, they will finally open their eyes.

System breakdown

I'M TIRED of being told that the murders and incidents surrounding the murders in Jackson are none of my business. As a citizen of Jackson and as a human being, I believe this is my business. People are dead, including innocent children. We deserve a full investigation into this matter. There was a breakdown somewhere in our system that should have provided help to this family in time of crisis. That is our business. We may not be able to change events of the past, but we can learn from them.

Special workers

I WANT to say a big thank you to all the workers at nursing homes in our area. It takes a special kind of person to work in this type of facility. If you have family members or know someone in a nursing home, please take the time to remember them and to bring some pleasure into their lives by taking the time for a visit. I am blessed in some way each time I visit my family member.

GOP blocks progress

CONSISTENT WITH the stance of standing in the way of progressive legislation on almost every front, Senate Republicans are promoting greenhouse gas emissions, preventing increased fuel efficiency in vehicles and blocking the requirement of renewable energy use by utilities. Evidently these Republicans want the U.S. to run out of energy as the planet fries. The only way to get progress is to defeat all of these Bush puppets.

License issues

ACCORDING TO David Griffith with Missouri Department of Revenue, the state requires people who have lost their license for whatever reason to return to their home state, "resolve those issues" and reapply for a Missouri driver's license. This procedure, he advises, keeps those with driving issues from driving in our state legally. Actually, what this does, besides put an often-insurmountable burden upon those unlicensed drivers, is to assure that Missouri will continue to have people driving in our state illegally. Perhaps a better way to handle it would be to consider the seriousness of out-of-state charges and to incorporate a way for those drivers to pay their out-of-state fines without traveling across the country to "resolve" the issues.

Standing in line

THIS IS a simple, basic memo for all holiday shoppers. It is what I call the Concept of a Line. A line to check out starts where you see all the people standing by the registers. You do not get to jump the line for "a simple question." Once you leave your spot in that line, you are forfeiting that spot to the person behind you.

School money

$700,000 IS a lot of money. If the Cape Girardeau School District continues its pattern of reacting to poor financial and educational decisions like it has in the past, how will it gain any public trust with needed bond issues? We trust the school board to hire a good leader, and we trust that leader to hire good administrators and so on down the line. Where did this process fail us? There are a lot of us who have paid our taxes in good faith to see this enormous amount of money absolutely wasted.

Educate everyone

THE RECENT story on No Child Left Behind illustrates a disturbing perception concerning our public schools. I felt one comment was particularly accurate: "The law has forced schools to focus on all students." Isn't this what the role of the public schools is? I have found it interesting to see how the different districts feel about the government insisting that taxpayer-financed schools educate all of the students. Schools need to do what they are supposed to be in place to do: educate all the students.

Prosecutor's job

A SOUTHEAST Missouri State University student was carrying a concealed weapon and admitted that he went into a bathroom looking for a fight. Another student ended up being seriously injured. Yet our prosecuting attorney is not going to file charges? Several serious crimes have been committed here and nothing is being done. We need to elect someone who really wants to do the prosecutor's job.

Only if ...

CAN WE be honest about this? We would say it was the greatest thing since sliced bread if students from this area were doing well on No Child Left Behind requirements in general and Missouri Assessment Program tests specifically.