Speak Out 2/26/07

Delta's doings

WHAT'S GOING on in Delta? The acting mayor appoints a convicted felon to the board and then an ex-mayor who resigned from office because she broke the law -- all in the same night. Some mayor you got there.

Education control

I HAVE been in the field of education for 35 years. The worst thing that ever happened to American education was the day the Educators (capital E) took control.

Story defense

A COACH'S mother took Mark Bliss to task and claims the story he wrote about Naylor School District's complaints against Bell City School District was incorrect. She quotes the story as saying the Bell City coach was offered money, then asserts that this is a lie because he did not receive any money. Just because he didn't accept it doesn't mean the money wasn't offered. The story did not misrepresent this point. While I understand a mother wanting to defend her son, attacking someone else with faulty logic isn't right.

Listen for sirens

FOR THE person waiting on the storm sirens in Cape Girardeau: There are sirens scattered around the city and can be heard during the monthly tests.

Thanks for help

I WANT to thank the young man who did my shopping for me and also the couple who helped me when I fell at Aldi's. I am also grateful to the woman who took me home afterward.

Thanks for assistance

WHEN WE get snow or ice, someone is nice and puts our paper on the carport. Thanks, and God bless you.

Stick to your guns

I HOPE Scott City officials continue to realize the importance of enforcing ordinances and not allowing any trailers older than 10 years to be placed in town by anyone. Our property values have been going up. To start granting special exemptions would definitely make property values go back the other direction.

Ugly rumors

WHAT DO Bell City's former coach and radio broadcaster have in common? Both men have been the subject of ugly rumors and personal attacks since leaving town. The way the fine folks of Bell City have tried to discredit these two men makes you wonder what they really know that Bell City wants them to keep quiet about.

Haulers make trash

HAS ANYBODY ever been behind a trash truck and to see all the stuff that blows out? That is what most highway trash is. I see it all the time.

Presidential limits

WHY DOESN'T the federal government make a dollar coin with different flowers or birds on them? Isn't it enough that we have to put up with some of these presidents for four to eight years without having them in our pockets all the time, too?

Feeding the country

WE'VE GOT some front-page headlines about a farm bill that wants to make it a little safer for agriculture to keep farming. A lot of people have forgotten where they came from. Agriculture is what built this country. City people want a rose garden and a golf course. There are more chemicals put on a golf course than on a field. They'd better realize where their food comes from, or we're going to have more problems. If you think importing oil is expensive, wait until we are importing food from South America where there are no restrictions. Then you'll be worried about not only the price of food, but the safety of the food. Somebody has to feed this country.

Taking a loss

I CONSIDER myself fairly conservative, but I don't think a loss in the Middle East would bother us any worse than Vietnam. I don't know where Mona Charen is coming from in her column. I don't think we can say that we're defeated yet. We haven't pulled out. I think President Bush has greater ambitions. Most of us don't really care what some crazy man from over there says.

Individual liberty

FREEDOM OF the spirit is the most important possession one can have. What I'm talking about is individual liberty. To have individual liberty is to live life and experience life at your full potential. You could be a slave to the biases, prejudices and petty emotions of others who want to limit you and belittle your true importance to society and your own self-concept. This state of mind is cultivated and maintained with constant devotion to spiritual living and cleansing. It is intolerably wrong for a government or a people of a given culture to deny this potential that each and every human being possesses. Until the day that men can communicate their needs to each other with understanding and until the day when each man can be looked upon with acknowledgment from every other man, will the struggle for a moment-to-moment ideal condition for which to strive end.

We love Missouri

I LOVE Missouri. We have moved here in the last 10 years, and we love it. My husband, who was born and raised in Illinois, is ashamed to call himself an Illinoisan these days, because all you need is a governor like Rod Blagojevich. If you want more rights taken away and you want constant scrutiny by the government, then Blagojevich would be your kind of guy. Illinois has nothing over Missouri.

Consistent zoning

SCOTT CITY'S planning and zoning: I like the way city officials try to make everybody happy. I've got an old house in Scott City that I'm planning on tearing down, and I think I'm going to put a mobile home there. Can the city rezone that for me? It's not about making everybody happy. It's about a person buying a piece of property that is zoned industrial. You cannot keep changing the rules. Once it's zoned one way, keep it zoned that way.

Unsafe shortcut

BROADWAY IS closed from West End Boulevard to Perry Avenue, and there are detour signs. But a lot of people don't pay attention to the detour signs. They go other routes. A lot of traffic is coming up Lacey Street from Sunset Boulevard and going through the emergency entrance at Southeast Missouri Hospital. And a lot of traffic is coming from West End Boulevard onto Louisiana Street and through the ER parking lot. This is dangerous because there are sick people walking across that parking lot.

Military kids

OF THE 536 members of the Congress, five have kids in the military, three are officers, and two are enlisted. When representatives and senators make the decision to go to war, they don't really share the cost.

Making ends meet

AFTER SOME careful thought and looking at some figures, I felt I needed to respond to the Jackson teacher who talked about being a single mother and how she has to work a second job to pay her bills. I'm also the single mom of two children. I get no child support. I have a child in college and a child in junior high. My child in college is going to Southeast Missouri State University, which is not the most expensive school, but it's not the cheapest either. I have no problem making ends meet, and I'm a third-year teacher. I don't have my master's degree. I am three steps up from the bottom of the scale and in the same district. I don't have a second job, and I get no help from anyone -- not my parents, not the state, nobody. Everybody makes choices. I drive a car that's about three years old. I live in a nice three-bedroom house that's modest. I'm not lacking for anything that I need. To say you have to have a second job and to blame that on your own choice in career smacks me of whining. If you don't like what you're making, don't sign your contract for next year and get another job.

Attention to details

WHAT IS wrong with the Missouri Legislature, which is having to fix the recently passed minimum-wage law? This situation occurred before when the infamous gun law was passed and required revision to get it right. We need people in Jefferson City who pay attention to details and know what they are doing.

Dropped the ball

I'D LIKE to thank the Southeast Missourian for doing such a good story so far on the Southeast Missouri State University women's athletic program. It's a shame that Don Kaverman and Ken Dobbins have dropped the ball. I don't think either of them has done his job appropriately in fighting this problem. I hope you all continue to give us information on this ongoing story.

Working to uplift

JUST AS the black ministers have different ideas about how they should approach leadership in Cape Girardeau, so do citizens. We are a diverse group of people with various ideas and beliefs. Times have changed when blacks looked to the church for guidance. In the political arena, we are a passionate race, and sometimes that passion is mistaken for anger. I agree that a call for a coordination of services is needed. I suggest that no one should be left out. We need to accept everyone who wants to help. This would include people of other races and beliefs who want to uplift our community. Remember, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't turn down anyone who wanted to join his crusade against injustice.

No need to explain

FRUSTRATED CALLERS keep saying Democrats aren't saying anything in response to questions as to how to handle this or that. They don't need to. They get elected anyway. That's how bad a mess the Bush administration has made of things.

Taxes for illegals

I CAME to this country legally to escape a Banana Republic environment. If I wanted to live with poverty, ignorance, disease and crime, I would have stayed in my native country where I would not have to pay taxes to support illegal alien labor for corporations.

Pick and choose

COMMENTS ABOUT the new lights downtown brought something to mind: Is this incandescent lighting? Have you read that Australia is considering banning that type of household lighting? Although estimates are that one-quarter of that country's greenhouse-gas emissions come from public and street lighting, including traffic lights, they will not be affected until there is an efficient alternative. America's emissions must be even higher. Are we prepared, as individuals, to give up every single thing that one segment of scientists say causes global warming? No. If it comes to that, we will do like Australia is doing: pick and choose what to eliminate for whom.

Couldn't believe it

WHEN I read in the newspaper that the Delta city board of alderman appointed the former mayor who was forced to step down with nepotism charges to an aldermen position, I could not believe my eyes. That city needs help, because that is completely ridiculous.

Work it out

I HOPE the mayor works everything out for the NARS deal. Cape Girardeau needs the jobs. Good luck.

Airport riders

I WOULD hope the manager of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport does his homework and promotes the airport in ways that would get the 10,000 enplanements needed to obtain more federal funds. It's not like the business sector of Cape Girardeau supports or uses the commuter airlines out of Cape. Ask city officials or business owners if they use the commuter airline. It's used by people returning home to visit, federal government officials and businesspeople from out of town. I live in Scott County and use the airport at least four times a year. Pursue the destination where you can get the most riders.