Speak Out 12/27/01

Thanks for street work

HAS ANYONE congratulated the city of Cape Girardeau for the completion of the East Rodney Street project? It's certainly a remarkable asset to the west side of town, providing both safety and beauty. Inconvenience while under construction was more than offset by the design and functionality it provides for pedestrians and vehicles alike. Well done, Cape Girardeau. Thank you.

Refreshing comments

I APPLAUD Jim Talent for his excellent commentary in defense of President Bush's executive order. Talent's arguments were well-reasoned and reflected a refreshing depth of knowledge on the issue. His comments stood in sharp contrast to Sen. Tom Eagleton's partisan attack.

Solution for BCS

ALL COLLEGE football fans: I'd like to say that I'm as disappointed about some of the teams not being in the championship game as you are. In my opinion, there's a way to fix the Bowl Championship Series. Undoubtedly, I think Miami deserves to be there, but with all the troubles with the BCS, I think this should happen: You have your BCS bowls which consist of eight teams. You take those eight teams and play the BCS games. All the big-money games are still played. But the winners of those games go on and play. As a big football fan, I too hate the waiting week between Super Bowls. You could therefore have a true national championship game by virtue of BCS game winners to play the Saturday or Sunday before the Super Bowl. That would also answer who is the national champion.

Driving tips

I AGREE with the caller who said the street lanes should be better marked. They can send people to the moon, but can't use something visible at night to mark the streets and highways. Another pet peeve is the left-lane road hogs. They make their entire journey in the left lane. They need to go to driving school.

Get rid of them

WHEN IS the county going to get the perverts out of our parks? When is this filth going to stop? They are coming from all over the area to congregate here. What a disgrace to have our parks overrun by this scum. For the safety of our citizens and children, this should be a priority. We should prosecute and jail these degenerates.

It destroyed itself

IT'S RIDICULOUS to blame the Bush presidency for the Enron debacle. Enron's downfall stemmed mainly from its own mistakes when some corporate officials crossed the line and gave false or misleading information concerning their profits. The losses they incurred should not have single-handedly devastated a company that had reported $2.7 billion in profits between 1997 and 2000 and claimed 2000 year-end stockholder equity of $11.5 billion. Their twisted, evasive and enhanced profit returns destroyed the faith of creditors, customers and their own employees. This is what destroyed Enron.

High property taxes

OUR STATE representative made the statement in the newspaper that senior citizens are overtaxed by reassessment. Senior citizens on fixed incomes are overtaxed on school taxes, too. I'm not against schools, but the school board is going to have to find some other way to finance these schools in the future, because the property owners are paying out just about all they can handle. It strained us this year to pay our taxes. Our home increased $70 in one year because of school taxes. It's unfair that the property owner has to pay all this tax.

Great park displays

I THINK the Christmas display at the county park is absolutely tremendous. I'm a senior citizen, and it really means a lot to me. It was so nice to go out there and see all the displays from the churches and civic organizations. It was so well done. Hooray for all those who were involved in putting up the display.

Look to the future

Let's hope 2002 will be a much better year.