Speak out 2/15/02

Excessive speed

WHY DOES Cape Girardeau spend money on speed-limit signs when nobody uses them? I was going down Mount Auburn Road 5 mph over the speed limit. People were passing me left and right and blowing their horns because I was going too slow for them. The same thing happened on Highway 177 between Cape and Procter & Gamble. People out there go 70 to 80 mph. I don't know if they have any cops in that area or not, but I think they should have.

Regional center

THE STATISTICS prove we do not need a new multimillion-dollar juvenile facility. Regional centers make a lot of financial sense.

Bring good news

THERE IS an awakening in our country towards God today. And I'm glad the Hope for America crusade is coming to Cape at the Show Me Center April 8-12. The Bible states in Isaiah 58:1, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up the voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions." All the pastors will do that, and many lives will be changed. The Rev. Jerry Falwell did all that he could to wake people up in America by lifting his voice like a trumpet. The Bible says if you have been redeemed, say so. Thank God for the men who bring the good news of Jesus Christ. They are welcome in this place by Christians.

Cutthroat culture

THE TEXAS energy company, Enron, was run into bankruptcy by a corps of unethical and unscrupulous executives who made millions of dollars at the expense not only of their employees, but also of hundreds of thousands of mid- and low-income average American investors, folks like you and me. But always remember: The cutthroat "me first, me last and me alone" culture that bred the Enron executives also bred the current occupants of the White House. Clearly the same thirst for fattening the already fat at the expense of everyone else is what drives their energy and economic policies and controls their entire arsenal of political ideas.

Stand in corner

ON TELEVISION the other night I heard Jerry Falwell say that you absolutely cannot go to heaven if you're not a born-again Christian. Everybody who believes that, put on a pointed cap and go stand in the corner with Falwell. I guess before Jesus was born, everybody just went to hell.

Unsafe location

WE DON'T need a performing arts center separated from the main campus, especially in an area as dangerous as proposed. To have shootings in the area and have an armed robbery of three people in a car within a couple of blocks of city hall at 4:30 p.m. makes me wonder what would happen if large groups of people were in the area after dark. I'm a graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. I took a few classes in buildings that were far enough way from the main campus that they started classes late and ended them early. Having lived with this, I say put the performing arts center in a safe place on the main campus.

Pay it forward

I'D JUST like to thank the couple who paid for my lunch at Wib's Barbecue in Jackson. I appreciate it, and I'll be sure to pay it forward.

Still for Gore

OF COURSE the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks were brave. What coward could fly himself into a building? Ted Turner wasn't building up terrorists. He was just stating the obvious that it takes quite a bit of courage to commit such an act. And Al Gore was dead on about President Bush's foreign policy. Calling Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "axis of evil" is not only a misnomer, but was the absolute worst thing he could have said. He has stooped to the level of the terrorists. Decades of progress with North Korea are now shot, and Iran had been warming up to us until then. I would take Al Gore, even now, 81 percent approval rating or not.

Waste of postage

I JUST received a letter from the Cape Girardeau School District about my child participating in some survey about drug and alcohol abuse and fighting. The questions on the survey they're going to ask my child include how many times he has participated in a fight and how many times he has used drugs. They asked for my permission whether or not my child could participate. That's not my concern. I appreciate being asked. What concerns me is we're constantly being told how this district needs money and we always have to have a bond issue or tax increase, but they sent these surveys out with a postage-paid envelope with 34 cents of postage already imprinted on it. That seems a little bit stupid to me. I don't know how many of these were sent out, but if they were sent to all the kids at the junior high, that's 600-plus kids at 34 cents a letter. Why didn't the school just ask students to return the completed surveys to their homeroom teachers sealed in the attached envelope? I can tell you right now where mine went: in the trash because I don't want my child participating. This is a waste of money.

Severing soft cash

OUTRAGES LIKE the Enron debacle occur from time to time in American history. Credit Mobilier comes to mind. The coming campaign-finance reform bill will not forever end such scandals, but it will go a ways toward severing the sordid soft-money cash connection between corporate fats cats and their political allies.

Bad for Republicans

SPIN IT any way you want, but business scandals like Enron's are bad for Republicans.

Watch out for dust

AFTER READING all the comments about the ill-advised River Campus, it's apparent the only people who think it is a good idea are the university and the Missourian. To all the people who call in and bash Jim Drury, I would offer him this advice: Close everything in Cape that the Drurys own and watch this town blow away in the dust. Maybe then the city will see how ridiculous this idea is.

Special police lane

TO THE retired police officer: If driving in the left lane is illegal unless you're passing, then why do cops do it too?

An easy job

IN DEFENSE of allegations of excess administrators at SEMO, you have to admit that it would be much easier to administer a school if, because of excessive costs, there were no students.

Looking for explanations

SUNDAY'S St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a very good editorial on Peter Kinder and his political and social crony, David Barklage. It's curious how Kinder loves to jump on the ethical and moral standards of others when he smells of disgusting back-room deals himself. Of course, Kinder and the Missourian will have ample explanations to us to show how his misconduct is, in fact, not misconduct but for our own good.

No stopping it

THE FAR-REACHING tentacles of the Enron tragedy combined with the crooked, so-called creative accounting techniques now being exposed means an anti-deregulated capitalist crusade will sweep the country. No one will be able to stop it. Not even the combined forces of the brothers Limbaugh, The Wall Street Journal, Walter Williams and the online edition of National Review.

Juvenile needs

NOT ONLY is there a need for more detention cells but a big need for confidential office space where juvenile officers and the general public can meet without fear of being overheard by everyone. Also, handicapped people cannot access the administrative offices.

Still angry

I, LIKE most Americans who voted, chose Gore. But look what we got. I still get furious whenever I think about it.