speak out 2 4/2/02

Feeling fine at 85

I WAS sitting here reading a Speak Out comment that said "you're not old at 75." I guess not. I'm 85 and I'm sitting here reading this comment, and I feel just fine.

Hiding tax truth

I READ the comment about money from the highway department going to other uses. In 1992 when the 6-cents-a-gallon tax increase went into effect, only 19 percent of that increase went to highways while 81 percent went to other things. This is something the politicians kept quiet until about two years ago when they said the 15-year plan could not be carried out. I've asked different politicians how many millions of dollars were diverted to other things. None has answered. This is something all of them have helped hide.

Some need assistance

THIS IS to the person who put the "Stop taking my money" comment in Speak Out. I am a senior citizen. I haven't had any kids in school for a number of years. I will spend school taxes to send your kids to school and you're complaining about senior citizens. I think some of the welfare recipients and HUD recipients, if they're able to work, should work. My husband worked all his life, and the government put him on a $1,000-a-month pension. I'd like to see you live on that and pay your medical insurance and your medicine and everything else you need.

Remember everyone

I JUST read in Speak Out that the Rainbow Alliance is going to have something to commemorate those people who have been victims of hate. I hope they remember these poor kids who were murdered in Kentucky because they had a Confederate flag on their truck. I'm sorry they weren't black. They deserve to be remembered because they were victims of hate, too.

Secular society

I AM at a loss to explain why David Limbaugh continually speaks of secularists as an aberration since we are a secular society, as the Founding Fathers intended.

Thank the taxpayers

TEACHERS THINK they have it so hard. Do real working people get three months off in the summer, two weeks off for Christmas, a week off in the spring and several other days off during the school year? No. Maybe teachers need to say thank you to the people who work every day all year to pay the taxes it takes to pay their salaries.

Get out and vote

AFTER READING about the election for mayor in Cape Girardeau, I was surprised to see that fewer than 5,000 people actually voted. Voter apathy is getting worse. So if you don't like your new mayor, you have only yourself to blame if you didn't vote. If you don't want 18 percent of the people running your life in your community, then vote. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to read and mark a ballot.