Speak Out 2/16/06

Burden on students

MY DAUGHTER will be attending Southeast Missouri State University this fall, and I am appalled at the actions House Speaker Rod Jetton and state Sen. Jason Crowell are taking in forcing the students to pay for the River Campus. The funding may not have been appropriated three years ago, but to get this far with the project and refuse to support it is insane. Jetton and Crowell are punishing the working parents in their districts. Tuition is high enough without the burden of the River Campus being placed on the students. The voters will not forget these actions.

Self-esteem problems

MY DAUGHTER is in the fourth grade and is overweight. I do not appreciate the principal spending her lunch hour talking about how fat all the fourth-graders are, how upset she is that they can't run a mile and how she thinks that if you can pinch an inch you're too fat. She needs to build up the children, not tear them down. My daughter has enough self-esteem problems.

Critical distinction

THE BULLYING tactics of House Speaker Rod Jetton are further revealed in his own letter to the Southeast Missourian on Sunday. Jetton writes, "In 2003, Bearden had a conversation with university president Ken Dobbins, telling him flat out that the university would be getting no appropriations in the budget then or ever." Yet Bearden is quoted elsewhere in the same paper as saying something importantly different: "I told him [Dobbins] there was absolutely no guarantee they would ever receive any funding from the state." The distinction is critical. But Jetton distorts even this simple issue. For a single legislator like Bearden -- because of his position in leadership -- to say no funding would ever come for something that was broadly supported in the past within the legislature and in the governor's office would be the height of legislative arrogance. Curiously, that's the way it appears Jetton sees himself as leader of the Missouri House: imperious and all-powerful. Wake up before it's too late and you do any more damage.

Support and defend

WHEN I volunteered to serve in the military, I also volunteered to support and defend the president of the United States. I volunteered to place his interests over my own. While this may be a foreign concept to some in the community, it's still an effective cornerstone of a lethal fighting force. An all-volunteer force is also the birthright of the National Guard.

Triumph over defeat

WE'VE HEARD and read all the stories about the poor New Orleans Katrina victims. We're beginning to hear of the fraud and abuse. But how about some triumphs that have come out of it? What about those who have used this opportunity to start over? Are there any of those stories? Is there anyone who has a triumph-out-of-defeat story? Please find it.

Bring home the bacon

I WISH our taxes would be lowered and our money wouldn't be wasted on projects like the River Campus. However, we have paid our money, and House Speaker Rod Jetton and state Sen. Jason Crowell need to stop throwing a temper tantrum and bring home the bacon.