OpinionMarch 29, 2001
SPEAK OUT
CAMPAIGN-FINANCE laws are useless if you have corrupt politicians. They will find a way to take money for favors. Honesty in politics should be both parties' goal. Passing laws to punish those who lie and distort the truth is the better solution. When a politician accuses someone of throwing old folks out in the street, cutting Social Security and Medicare, starving children, he should be able to prove it and be held accountable for his accusations...
Honesty should be goal
CAMPAIGN-FINANCE laws are useless if you have corrupt politicians. They will find a way to take money for favors. Honesty in politics should be both parties' goal. Passing laws to punish those who lie and distort the truth is the better solution. When a politician accuses someone of throwing old folks out in the street, cutting Social Security and Medicare, starving children, he should be able to prove it and be held accountable for his accusations.
Our job is with youths
WE ADULTS are responsible for our children's actions and lives. I am not only responsible for my children, but all the children. Why do we allow society to dictate how we should go about our lives? I don't see us picketing and boycotting news media and TV networks. Youths are our future. We mold them. They are ours to be wasted or be made useful and happy. Before you can cure your sickness, you must first know what it is. Then you will be able to treat it. We have our work waiting.
Use those signals
DIRECTIONAL SIGNALS are put on a car for a purpose. Why do most people in Cape Girardeau not use them? It's very irritating when people turn in front of you and possibly cause an accident.
Re-evaluate the space
YES, THE census shows a 29 percent increase in Jackson's population. However, we don't need to keep building schools all over this town when student growth has increased districtwide by fewer than 300 students. We have enough space in our present schools. We just need to re-evaluate the space. We didn't, and still don't, need a new junior high. What is needed is a new high school that will include the ninth grade. Redistribution of the children within the schools we already have will alleviate more space in each school. What we don't need is to put more on the taxpayers today.
Jail the parents too
I WISH they would start putting the parents in jail along with the kids so they can knock the fire out of them. This shooting each other has got to stop.
Guide dogs allowed
IN RESPONSE to the caller who said his dog was turned away. If I were you, I'd get a lawyer and sue the place, because a guide dog for the blind is not considered a pet and is legally allowed in any establishment. What the hotel did was wrong. Don't stand for it.
Look out for us
I REALIZE it would cost more to build scrubbers for the emissions from coal-fired and electric generation plants, but how long would the building of scrubbers really delay the completion of the plant if all work went on simultaneously? A couple of years ago I read that a power generation plant in northern Indiana used scrubbers that produced over 125,000 tons of gypsum per year that was hauled to Chicago to be used in making wallboard. Are there enough uses for gypsum to be used from coal-fired production facilities to have a market? As one who worked in the chemical industry for over 20 years, I must say the polluters are only as good as they have to be. How bad will pollution have to be before our president looks out for our health and well-being?
Left somebody out
THE POLITICAL cartoon on your March 24 Opinion page is typical politically correct media. The idea is nice, talking about all the different colors of people in the country found in the census, but they left somebody out.
Parking comes first
I READ a lot about how we need to help out downtown businesses in Jackson and Cape. But the problem with downtown businesses is that there's no place to park. I've been in Jackson several times, and I've had to drive around the block several times before I could find a space to park. Same thing in downtown Cape. If people want to develop these areas, they first need to provide more parking. Don't keep dropping money into stores, restaurants and other businesses unless there's a place for customers and workers to park.
Must be parents' fault
WHERE DO those young school shooters get the money for their guns? Or do their parents have the guns at home with no lock and chain on them? I don't understand how the kids get those guns. It has to be the parents' fault that those children get their hands on guns. The parents should lock up their guns in a safe place.
Help control teens
I WISH the Cape police would take seriously the repeated calls and complaints in the Clark Avenue-Broadway area. Every Friday and Saturday night the teen-agers gather along Broadway near Clark. They drag race up and down Broadway. They make noise. They drink and do dope. These are the rich and middle-class kids, and nobody will do anything about it. The elderly neighbors here are about to go crazy. We can't sleep. Someone needs to do something. If this went on in the south part of Cape, this would not be allowed. Whose kids are these, and why won't the police do anything to stop them? Someone, please help those of us who live in this area.
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In God's house
I'D LIKE to know what has happened to our Christian morals. When I was growing up, people always wore their very best to the house of God. Women never even thought of wearing pants. And no one would ever consider wearing shorts to God's house except little children. People had the courtesy to keep quiet when the preacher was preaching. Do you see a big change today? If there's anything I say or do that offends someone, then it would be my Christian duty to stop whatever it is that offends some other Christian. Whenever shorts are worn to the house of the Lord by anyone other than toddlers, it greatly offends me. When you go to church, you do it to show reverence to the Lord. Do you really believe God approves of shorts in his house? I think not.
It's a free country
I'VE BEEN reading in Speak Out where everyone's upset the owner of the Taste Lounge did not stand up during the pledge of allegiance at the city council meeting. People forget that this is the United States of America. We don't have to stand up and do things we don't want to do. That's what makes it a great country.
Close all of them
IN RESPONSE to several Speak Out items about Michael Pryor: My grandparents fought for the right for people to believe the way they want to. If he doesn't want to salute the flag, that's his right. And the police continue to try to close down that particular establishment because they have so much trouble with it. Well, they need to close down all the other places that have just as many fights. If we're going to close one down, close them all down.
Disturbing my peace
PEOPLE WHO allow their dogs to bark for hours should be ticketed for peace disturbance. That's no different than if someone were out there screaming for hours or playing loud music for hours. It's all peace disturbance and should be fined accordingly.
Citizens' protection
MICHIGAN IS now the thirty-second state that has passed the right to carry a defensive weapon. So criminals will now think twice before attacking people and breaking into their homes. It's about time the law-abiding citizens can protect themselves and their families and not be victims and at the mercy of thugs.
Bunch of malarky
WE'RE NOT treating Michael Pryor fairly. I'd like to see the other bar owners put under the same scrutiny he's under. It's a bunch of malarky, what he has to go through to get his liquor license.
Roads or sidewalks?
COULD SOMEONE explain to me that if there's such a shortage of road money in Missouri, how can MoDOT give Cape Girardeau $340,000 to build a sidewalk along the river? Something doesn't seem right.
Just an opinion
I'D LIKE To know exactly how David Limbaugh knows what George Bush thinks and is going to do. I think my opinion would be as good as Limbaugh's.
Practical giving
I WAS reading Dave Barry's column, "Road to romantic ruin paved with practical gifts." It brought back memories of years ago when I was in business. After Christmas, I said to a gentleman who was a good customer, "Was Santa Claus good to you?" He said, "Yes, he was. I got a set of lace curtains for the living room, and I gave my wife a set of seat covers for the pickup truck."
Too much selling
I KEEP hearing people wondering where the stock market is going. The people to ask are the ones who are panicking and selling. They're the ones who are causing the stock market to do what it's doing. It's not industry or the economy. It's the fact that people panic and sell. Of course, the brokers are enjoying this. Every time someone sells, the brokers make money. They're smiling all the way to the bank while the poor investor is going berserk and selling instead of holding. That's the reason the market is like it is.
Costly mistake
PEOPLE OF Cape Girardeau, let's face the facts. We don't need a new high school built in the boondocks. Enrollment in high school has been decreasing for years. Why go off and leave some of the best athletic facilities in the state? This mistake is going to cost the taxpayers for many years to come.
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