Speak Out 12/17/03

Make cuts first

THE MAYOR of Cape Girardeau should look at making cuts to the city budget instead of looking for other sources of revenue.

Equal coverage

HERE'S A suggestion on how to fix all of America's health care issues, including Medicare, in one fell swoop: Enact a law stating that every American is entitled to the same health care and retirement benefits afforded congressional leaders and their families. And at the same cost.

Meanness issue

I USUALLY just laugh when David Limbaugh begins his weekly hatemongering, but calling Howard Dean a mean person went just a bit too far. If meanness included trying to make the world a better place, I would agree. But, it doesn't. Limbaugh is the mean one.

Parental involvement

THE FRONT-PAGE article "Discipline disparity: Cape fares worse than Jackson in report" can be summed up with one paragraph. "A lack of parental involvement often comes with a high minority and low income population in Cape Girardeau. In Jackson, 60 percent of parents showed up for parent-teacher conferences at the high school last year. Only 22 percent came to conferences at Central."

Sounds like enough

I SEE that each year the Cape Girardeau School District takes $35 million from the taxpayers. It seems to me that $35 million could educate under 4,000 students very adequately and pay nice salaries and benefits.

Pales by comparison

DAVID LIMBAUGH'S column blasting Democratic candidates for using profanity is ridiculous. Has he not heard the Richard Nixon tapes? A single four-letter word pales in comparison to Nixon's crudeness and bigotry.

Cost of expulsion

JUST THINK how much more money the Cape Girardeau School District would have if it hadn't expelled 87 students last year. This is a problem.

Home cooking, please

ENOUGH OF foreign restaurant food. We need a good American sit-down restaurant, and we need it bad in this area.

Fine musical program

A VERY merry Christmas to Jackson High School student council and honor society for the wonderful dinner and musical program they presented for the senior citizens of Jackson. This is a group of fine kids.

He should resign

I READ about the president of the University of Missouri and the comments he and his wife made that were racial in content. I hope the curators at the University of Missouri force him to resign.