Speak Out 12/22/04

Don't leave kids in car

I JUST saw a woman who left two small boys and a baby in a car while she went in to a store. The boys left the car, leaving the baby in the car alone. I stayed in my car to make sure the baby was safe. Mothers, never leave small children in a car, not even for two minutes. You never know what could happen.

Popular question

THIS IS in response to the person saying the media is misleading in reporting the story on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the soldier's question. Does it really matter if a reporter was involved? He obviously was willing to question Rumsfeld. Most of the other soldiers cheered the question. This tells me that many of our troops feel the same way.

Customer is rarely right

REGARDING THE current battle over customer service: I learned one thing in my time working in retail, and that was that the customer is rarely, if ever, right.

Great pep band in Oran

WE ATTENDED a basketball game at Oran between Scott City and Oran. The game wasn't bad, but the Oran pep band was great.

Personal fiefdom

DON DICKERSON may have championed the River Campus and a technology center, but he also ran Southeast Missouri State University like a personal fiefdom. No board of regents in the country hires the president of a university without resorting to a national search and listening to the input from assorted stakeholders in the university community. SEMO belongs to the taxpayers of Missouri, not Don Dickerson.

Just a cover-up

REGARDING THE virtues of common sense: Common sense is completely inadequate to make judgments on foreign policy, the economy and a variety of other complex subjects, although it may be fine for changing the oil in your car or house training a dog. There must be a deeper understanding and analysis of the complex issues we face, or we will end up with what we have in Iraq: a complete mess. Isn't "common sense" just a cover for supporting whatever your personal biases and views happen to be?

Plenty to do

A CALLER complained that there is nothing to do in Cape Girardeau and that the clubs for teenagers close down. That is because of the trouble the kids were getting in to. We have a teenager, and many friends also have teenagers. We have get-togethers at our home and theirs that are well-supervised by adults. They play board games and dance, and the kids love it. Whenever my kids are home and say they are bored, I point out the PlayStations, computers, books, toys and all their blessings, and they realize they have things to do. You just have to be a parent and show them.

Take some pride

I AGREE with the people who complain about the service at restaurants and retail businesses in this area. I travel all over Missouri. This area by far has the rudest and laziest people as a whole. I have come across a few very good waiters and service reps, but they are few and far between. So when you get no tip from me, you get what you deserve. Take some pride in your work, for goodness sake.

It's Christmas

BULLY FOR Ellen Shuck. In her nice column Saturday, she never mentioned "holiday" one time. How many have noticed the recent trend to take "Christmas" out of Christmas? It seems that everyone is running so scared, afraid that some extremist will make trouble if anyone uses the word Christmas. I say the heck with them. Dec. 25 is Christmas, and that is what we should call it. It is "Merry Christmas." not "Happy holidays." It is Christmas shopping, not holiday shopping. It is the Christmas season, not the holidays." We should be proud of Christmas, not ashamed and bashful.