Speak Out 2/26/04

Culture war

A FEW months ago the Alabama chief justice was ordered to take down a Ten Commandments monument and threatened with arrest. Now we have the mayor of San Francisco breaking state and federal law by allowing gays to get married. Why aren't the people in San Francisco getting arrested the way the chief justice was? That's what's wrong with the culture war in this country. That's what this coming presidential election is going to be about.

Build at river port

I'M A big backer of Phil Danforth. I hope he really is going to build a big ethanol plant here in the area. But if he has a choice between building a plant near the airport or building it about three miles away at the river port, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to build it at the river port? He's going to need to bring in barges of corn and send out barges of distillers' dry grain and more barges of ethanol. It would make a lot more sense to build at the river port.

Pole maintenance

ABOUT THE power lines in Jackson: No one likes change, especially when you get older. The wooden power lines are not that great because they decay or the wood starts chipping. Did the city consider the maintenance on the new metal poles? They appear to be something that will need to be painted. Underground lines don't require painting, and you don't have to worry about them coming down in a storm.

Clothing is worse

I WAS reading about one of the young girls at school with purple hair. This is just a fad. I don't think it would really hurt anybody. I don't like it, but kids are kids. I do think some of the outfits they wear -- with the low-cut blouses and the belly buttons showing and the tight pants -- are far worse than purple hair.

It's all speculation

IT'S AMAZING to read David Limbaugh's columns. Most everything he says is based upon speculation. Not one bit is based on fact. Thank goodness it's on the Opinion page. Otherwise, people might think it was real.

Uplifting letters

FOR SOME time I've wanted to call about the letters that Paula Kempe writes. When I see that she's written one, I always read it. They are very interesting and uplifting.

Too cold for class

IN AN effort to save money, the Cape Girardeau School District has lowered the thermostats in all classrooms to 70 degrees. This, however, in no way means the rooms are maintained at that temperature. Try 66 degrees. I believe that to be much too cold for students to be able to concentrate on school-related tasks. What happens when students get sick and we lose our average daily attendance funds? What about when teachers get sick and we have to pay subs? When are we going to start using some common sense?

Bigger concerns

I THINK the people of Jackson should be ashamed of themselves for not having anything better to do than gripe about electric poles being too tall. They really need to worry about bigger problems in the community. Thank God you have electricity.

Paying too much

I CAN'T understand how they can cut the teachers and raise all the administrators' wages and expect the taxpayers to pay for everything. We do not have that kind of money. Then they hired a fireman from out of town to be chief at $67,000. Why couldn't they hire someone with experience? I will never vote for another tax in this town.

District authority

I'M ENCOURAGED to see the Southeast Missourian editorial staff attempt to rein in the power-crazed, Republican-controlled Missouri Legislature. Missouri Republicans have let their majority status in the General Assembly go to their heads, so much so that they are trying to take away from school districts any last vestiges of power to make decisions at the local level.