Speak Out 2/23/06

Cycle of poverty

I READ the following Speak Out comment with much sorrow: "Being poor is an option for each individual. If you don't put forth the effort to be successful, who is at fault?" I've been poor, and I did better, but not everyone has the intelligence, strength, determination and the opportunities to escape the vicious cycle of poverty. Sadly, we throw money into the problem without logically finding ways to make that money an incentive to do better. We give the poor enough money and benefits to make remaining poor more rewarding than employment. Statistics across the country show that welfare programs, when added all together (low-rent housing, food stamps, WIC, Medicaid) are worth more in actual dollars than average wages in each state. Poor is sad, but the attitude of some people that poor is disgraceful is pathetic.

Pro bull terrier

DOES THE Southeast Missourian have people who sit around trying to figure out how to waste space in the newspaper? If so, they published their masterpiece Monday. Showing side-by-side photographs of two dogs from the Westminster Kennel Club show and asking "which one would you rather take home?" was the height of ignorance, especially when it was obviously done because the local dog didn't win. Dog shows have nothing to do with which one is cutest. The winner is the dog that best represents the confirmation standards of its breed. I find it refreshing that the personable bull terrier won instead of the wimpy poodle or Pomeranian the judges usually choose.

Too much cleanup

LOOKS LIKE Oran is trying to do what Scott City did a few years back. Scott City got rid of all the bars, the drunks and the kids hanging out late at night. Scott City used to have two to three bars. The police used to know where the kids were until they started running them off parking lots. The town also had five convenience stores. There used to be two grocery stores. Sure, Scott City cleaned up the town -- and lost a grocery store, two convenience stores and at least two bars. Not to mention the police don't know where the kids are hanging out or what they are doing. Good luck, Oran. Your town will need it.

Parking-lot etiquette

PEOPLE NEED to respect business parking lots. I have found all sorts of garbage in shopping carts and on the ground. What bothers me the most is when someone leaves a dirty diaper in a shopping cart or on the ground. People need to realize they aren't the only ones using parking lots.

Rationalizing pure pork

THE SOUTHEAST Missourian's Sunday editorial was a failed attempt to rationalize guilt over its long-standing claim to be fiscally conservative while crafting a faulty argument that statewide tax money is deserved to fund a project (the River Campus) that is the purest of pork.

Roaming pets

NOT ONLY should people ask for permission to hunt artifacts on someone else's property, the people who move to rural areas to get out of town need to understand that doesn't mean that your house pets are on free and open range. We have had to put up a true fence rather than invisible fencing to keep dogs, from as much as a mile a way from invading our property and agitating our dogs. You are putting your animals in danger from coyotes and packs of dogs that roam and will attack them. I suggest you fence part of your yard and keep your dogs home where they belong.

Better snow removal

JACKSON NEEDS to learn how to clean the streets after a snowstorm. The Missouri Department of Transportation and Cape Girardeau had the streets and highways clean, and traffic was moving fairly normal. In Jackson, there was only a few cinders spread at major intersections. Don't some of my taxes go towards snow and ice removal?