Speak Out 2/2/07

Obey traffic laws

I WAS glad to see that a bicyclist was cited for violating traffic laws. I'm sorry he was hit by a car, but I think this makes a dramatic point. Bicyclists are quick to say that they deserve to be on the road, but they need to follow traffic laws. They zip out through the intersections and disregard traffic laws at every turn. They are not only endangering themselves, but people in cars as well.

Spanking works

SPANKING WILL not hurt a child. There were a lot of times I was spanked growing up. Did we call it abuse back then? No. We probably deserved it. Did we get in trouble again for same problem? No. Have I spanked my children? Yes. I have never used a wooden paddle, but a wooden spoon works just as well. Do my children think of it as abuse? No. Do they act up or do the same thing again to get in trouble? No. Children nowadays don't seem to get disciplined as much as we did growing up. I see more children act up in public and mouth off to adults, and the adults don't do anything about it. I can't wait to see what happens to these children in a few years when they are in high school. There is a way to discipline a child with spanking that isn't considered to be beating the child.

Choice, not law

OWNERS OF dwellings in Illinois who have not installed carbon-monoxide detectors could face a fine of up to $1,500 or six months in jail. I agree with my Illinois relatives: This law is one more example of chipping away individual freedoms. Good for fire chief Rick Ennis for being against such a law here. Having a detector is a good idea, but it should be a choice, not a law.

Not feasible here

MONEY WON'T be coming into Cape Girardeau if we move to alternative fuels, because we don't have that much cheap switchgrass around here. We have lots of corn, but converting it into fuel is too expensive and would require too much tax subsidization.

Utopian Leopold

LEOPOLD IS attaining mythical status like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon. All students are above average and all parents are perfect. Who would have ever thought that right here in our area there would be a modern-day utopia?

Let's work together

I WORK at Head Start. No one from the Cape Girardeau School District has asked us about joining the district for a preschool. Come and see what we do and spend the day with us. We would welcome school administrators.

Protecting children

I'M SHOCKED that a program to prevent child abuse has been dropped because lawmakers felt it isn't effective. If the $38,000 that funded the program saves one otherwise helpless child from the hell and shame of sexual abuse, it's well worth it. The Green Bear Club, offered through the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence, is lauded by the schools it serves. These educators know the area children better than our distant lawmakers do. They also know that child abuse is still enacted upon youngsters who have no alternatives other than preventive education that could save their lives and spirits. Billions of borrowed bucks pour into a foreign war, but our legislators can't prioritize the tax-dollar equivalent of two new cars to help local children? That's just sick.