Speak Out 12/28/11

Blanchard cartoon

THAT was a cute cartoon in the paper recently, the child just wanting sprinklers for Blanchard Elementary. It's kind of cool having our own local cartoonist.

Four candidates

THERE will be four electable candidates in the election of 2012, as was the case in 1860 after which the Civil War began. I am now ready to name the four candidates: President Obama, Democrat; Mitt Romney, Republican; Ron Paul, Libertarian; and Jeb Bush, Americans Elect. Americans Elect is an Internet site that has lots of money, is holding a visual convention, and is allowing all involved to nominate a candidate.

Restaurant smoking

SHAME on you, Cape Girardeau. You claim to be a big medical community, but you still allow smoking in restaurants. Seriously, I would rather drive to St. Louis to dine in a smoke-free facility. We have to somehow wake up on this situation.

Sales tax

Cape Girardeau needs to attract more restaurant franchises in order to allow for more choices and to accommodate the growing population. Other towns that are of similar size have more restaurants, such as Paducah, Ky. What is the reason that the restaurants do not want to set up shop in Cape Girardeau? It is that the sales tax is too high, which is discouraging small businesses from opening.

Urban hunting

I'M calling about the possibility of killing the deer because we've got such a problem. I was just wondering if we could let the police be the ones who would shoot them, because we know they're very good shots and they wouldn't have to worry about shooting into someone's home. Then after they kill the deer, they can give it to a processing company for the meat to be processed and given to the Salvation Army for the needy. And if the Salvation Army needs some money to help process it, let us know so we can give the money to the Salvation Army.

Unions

IF working people had unions to join and the unions could bargain for a decent wage, there wouldn't be a need to have income redistribution.

Real person

WE received three checks in the mail the other day and were deciding which bank to deposit these in. Like most people we bank with a few banks. I decided on the bank that I can call and actually talk to a person and not a 10 minute menu. You banks ought to keep that in mind.