SPEAK OUT

Dangerous jobs

THIS IS in regards to donations to police officers and firefighters I went back and read the Speak Out comment from the farmer's wife. She didn't mention anything about the firefighters or police officers asking for donations. She is concerned about the fairness of people's individual jobs. This week an owner of a plumbing and heating business was killed. Did you hear of anyone getting together to donate to his family? Firefighters and law enforcement officers receive a pension and usually retire at an early age. There are people out there losing their homes to catastrophes and to illness not covered by hospitalization. Do you ever look at how many times our fire department is called in a single day, and most of it is false alarms. Think about it.

Lest we forget

HOW I miss President Clinton.

On-duty waiting

I WENT to pick my son up from a school activity, and an on-duty police officer in a police car stayed for 30 minutes waiting for his son to get done with the same activity. He stood there and talked to other parents and watched his son. When I left he had been there a little over 30 minutes, and his son still wasn't ready. I heard him tell one of the other dads there that he was on duty. As a taxpayer I don't understand why we have police officers spending 30 minutes at a school activity with their child and then taking their child home before they go back to work. If he's on the clock he needs to be doing his job. The rest of us who work make arrangements for our children. He's being paid to patrol the streets or do whatever his job is, not going out and watching his son at practice and then taking him home on our time. I really think the chief of police needs to pay a lot better attention to what his officers are doing on the clock.

Creating gods

EITHER THOSE who wrote the Old Testament or those who translated the Old Testament made a mistake when they wrote "and God created man in his own image." It should read "and man created God in his own image." People have always and continue to create their gods in their own images, and that explains the many religions throughout the world and the many denominations in a specific religion.

Real problems

ENOUGH ALREADY about the roundabout. It works, I have not heard the fire department, police department or the ambulance department say that they cannot get around that. We just need to learn that it's there. Let's drive it and be done with it. There is nothing wrong with it. Let's turn our attention toward a real problem in this town: people who run red lights and do not know what to do when they come to a four-way stop.

Coaches can help

SOMEONE COMPLAINED about the fact that the sports department at the Southeast Missourian covers boy's baseball but not the girls teams. There is a simple reason for that. It's the coaches fault. My son and daughter both play on travel teams, and our coach calls in every score. It's up to the coach to call in and let the paper know that they are playing and let them know what the score was. The sports department doesn't have time to cover all the games. Coaches are aware of this. If your daughter's scores are not in the paper and her team is not getting coverage, talk to the coach. It's the same with high school sports. They rely on the coaches or athletic directors to call in the scores. Get your coach to get on the ball.

Spread the word

WELL, WELL, well. Who would have thought it? Global warming does exist. Will someone please inform George W. Bush, Jo Ann Emerson, and those living in Southeast Missouri?

Don't do it again

IT IS my hope that the Supreme Court never has to choose a president again. I really don't care for the current selection at all.