Speak Out 2/28/07

Voter complacency

HOW COULD it be such a stunning development that Cape Girardeau passed a world-class public library proposal? The voters are so complacent no one goes to the polls anymore. If you didn't have to pay any taxes throughout the year and you got a tax bill at the end of the year for all the taxes you paid throughout the year, there would be a tax revolt so large it would make the Boston Tea Party look like a coffee social at our new library.

Ban auto racing

AS I was watching the Daytona 500 a thought occurred to me. In this day and age of global warming, do we really need to have a bunch of grown-up men driving around in circles for hours on Sunday afternoon? The whole time they are driving their cars, they are burning fuel, polluting the atmosphere and contributing to global warming. If people want to see racing, perhaps the drivers could ride bicycles around the track for several hours. The future of our planet is at stake. We need to seriously consider eliminating auto racing in this country.

Delta power

I LIVE in Delta and am tired of waking up in the early morning hours and having no electricity. I don't know what AmerenUE's problem is, but it needs to be fixed. This is happening too much. A few people on one side of the town are on Black River Electric Co-op, and they always have lights when the rest of us don't.

Getting coverage

JUST BECAUSE a person doesn't have health insurance doesn't mean he didn't go to school or won't get a job. My husband has worked his whole life and made good money with good insurance. He became disabled and can no longer work. I am still working harder and longer than ever while raising my children. I do not have insurance because I am self-employed. Many people are quick to judge. A national health-care system where anyone can buy reasonable insurance is needed.

College costs

EVERY EFFORT to provide grants or low-interest loans to college students will be matched by increases in tuition and fees at our state universities. What our students really need is for the state to limit the wasteful and arrogant spending of our universities. As long as squandering tax and tuition money on fountains, aquatic centers and the River Campus are considered assets on an administrator's resume, there is little hope of controlling costs.

No state control

UNLESS STATE government wants to put its money where its mouth is, it should back off of the Missouri State High School Activities Association. Our state government cannot adequately fund our public education system, but it wants to put its hand into activities? I am a coach. Until the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and our government want to pay for all of the other things they cannot fund as well as athletics and activities too, they should quit whining about not having any control. This amounts to administrators not doing their jobs in policing their coaches and students. Do the right thing and you do not have to worry.

Making ends meet

I WORKED my entire life, and I could afford health insurance when I was working. Now I am retired and cannot find another job because of my health. I no longer have health insurance, and I no longer go to the doctor, no matter what. Please don't be so hateful to those of us who try not to get in your way. I do not get money from the government. Everything is so expensive that it is hard to make ends meet.

Cutback compromise

INSTEAD OF advocating a policy of cut and run, couldn't we come up with a cut-and-walk compromise?

Lights too short

I use the pedestrian crosswalks at all intersections, even the ones that have lights for the pedestrian to cross safely. By the time I get halfway across the road, the crosswalk light changes back to red. The city needs to set the time for these lights to stay on longer.

Doing great job

THANK YOU, DARE officer Larry Miller at Jackson Middle School. You do a great job.

That's enough

WE KEEP hearing the same rhetoric the administration used during the build up of the invasion of Iraq: We will use all avenues of diplomacy, we are not going to war, we want them to play fair, we just want to be sure. It's time for the American people to stand up and say enough is enough.

America's insurgency

IN THE Old West we invaded a nation of Americans. We took their land, and when they fought back we called them insurgents. We executed their leaders for crimes against the American Army while fighting on their land. We entered World War II against the Japanese because they attack us at Pearl Harbor unprovoked. The world condemned them for the attack. When a country attacks and occupies another country unprovoked, it must suffer the condemnation of the world. Unlike the American Indians, the Iraqis will continue to be Iraqis. They will still have a country. But our standing in the world will take another 100 years to mend. When is it insurgency, and when is it patriotism?

We're different

AS ONE of us white folks, I am completely offended by Matt Sander's comments in his Feb. 23 "Cape's segregated scene" column. He made a racist statement when he said "some of my acquaintances are black." If any other white person used that statement, they would be labeled a racist. "Some of my friends are black" is usually followed by an off-color joke. If you think about the logical reasons why we white folks don't hang out with your black acquaintances, maybe it's as simple as we don't want to. That is called freedom. Not many of the white folks I know care. When are you hatemongering libs going to get over the fact that we are all different? The fact that I am different from you delights me to no end.

Sloppy medical care

VETERANS UPDATE: Still no one who will accept Tricare Prime in Southeast Missouri. The government says support our troops, but if you don't support the troops by taking care of them when they come back missing limbs and eyes and with brain injuries, you are worst than a traitor. This is what is happening at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It is rodent- and roach-infested. Mold is growing on walls. The plumbing not working.

Land giveaway

LANDOWNERS ALONG county roads need someone at the county commission to understand the real issues, not to hurriedly bring city growth into the county. It is easy to call the resistant landowners "holdouts" and forget to explain that the county needs each landowner to willingly give away land for road easements because the county cannot forcefully take the land. The taking of land by a government body without compensation to the landowner is illegal. I bet if all those landowners who gave away their land knew they were due compensation by law, they would have thought twice. The county never wanted anyone to be aware of this fact, because the compensation rate is the highest and best value of the land. At current property values, that would be a pretty penny for the county to pay.

Area recruiting

I WONDER how good a team the public schools in this area would have if they were allowed to get their players from all over the area instead of just from their school districts. I wonder when public schools will have the same opportunities as Notre Dame Regional High School for recruitment of ball players. It does not seem fair to me.

Business incentives

I KNEW somebody would complain about the tax break for the new owner of the Sears building. The reason this is done is to attract corporations to an area they would not normally consider. Think of how downtown St. Louis was five to 10 years ago. It was full of abandoned warehouses. The city gave hotels and others tax breaks to remodel the buildings. Now, instead of vermin-infested, boarded-up eyesores, downtown St. Louis is filled with great hotels, restaurants and tourist shops. All it took was one business to start a trend. The break is called an incentive. The Sears building is bringing jobs and helping to get rid of a huge empty building. We have a lot of empty buildings. It would be great to see a trend of these being filled. I was driving through downtown Chaffee the other day and noticed most of the buildings are empty. Do we want that to happen to Cape Girardeau? We need to do whatever is necessary to keep businesses interested in Cape Girardeau.