Speak Out 12/14/08

More transportation

I THINK Gold Leaf Transportation in Cape Girardeau County is a wonderful service. I rode on Cape Girardeau County Transit for a year. There is absolutely no comparison. The county commission should do more research before making remarks that seniors are riding for $2 and that's all they care about.

Presumed innocent

WHEN PRESIDENT Clinton was caught lying to a federal judge, many people said, "Well, he can still do his job. Let him serve out the rest of his term." Now that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been caught trying to sell a Senate seat, many people want him impeached before he's even gone to trial. Under our system, the accused are presumed innocent. So let the governor serve just like President Clinton.

Taking a break

REGARDING smoking while working at a fast-food restaurant: I work in a restaurant. If we smoke on our break, we have to go outside. It's against health department regulations for an employee to stand inside and smoke. It's our right to smoke outside. Think about your job and taking away something special that you do, a privilege that you have. What if your employer told you that you could not go to the bathroom while you were at work? That would be ridiculous.

Part of the deal

A COMMENT said city employees are asking for a raise. That is incorrect. The city's pay plan requires that every year we should get a 2 percent cost-of-living increase. It is not a raise that we are asking for. It is simply something that we are told as we are hired on that if the budget allows, we would get a 2 percent cost-of-living increase in addition to a step increase. City employees have not gotten either of those this year. However, the police department, the city manager and newly appointed assistant city manager have received increases in excess of the amount regular employees were supposed to get.

Running a business

THE ARROGANCE of Congress is unbelievable. Legislators think that they can run the auto industry with a car czar, turn it around and make it profitable. This is the same group that created a multitrillion-dollar debt, can't balance its own budget, ruined Social Security and Medicare, won't drill for our own oil. ... The list goes on. Have any of them ever run a business?

Season for charity

PARENTS, PLEASE teach your children the intrinsic value of charity this holiday season. Let them pick out a gift for a toy drive or donate last year's coat to Coats for Kids. Let them put change in the Salvation Army kettle. Take them to deliver canned goods to a food bank. Ask them to make holiday cards for nursing home residents. Explain to them why we do these things, and start doing it while they're young so that it becomes a way of life.

Campus flooding

REGARDING STORM water ("Thunderstorms lead to lightning strike, accidents"): There are two places that flood severely on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, one on each side of Kent Library. The street between the library and the University Center turns into a river that can get up to ankle deep and makes it impossible to cross without getting soaked. On the street between the library and Dearmont Hall, there is a storm drain near Normal Avenue that does not drain at all. It is completely clogged with gravel. The water literally flows right over it and out again. This morning it was not raining, but there was a pool of water on top of the storm drain from the previous night's rainfall.