SPEAK OUT

Seimers Drive is OK

WHY IS Seimers Drive being widened? I drive it every day. I've never thought it was too narrow. Now we will be inconvenienced for months when it was just fine the way it was.

Damages public image

CONGRATULATIONS TO the Cape Girardeau Police Department for an increase in citations. Does anyone ever stop to think that this striving for tickets may be the reason citizens take a negative outlook toward the police?

Don't forget opposition

I WOULD like to make a comment about these tax-refund checks for $300. When you people receive your check, remember it was people like Tom Daschle who fought tooth and nail to keep you from getting this check. And he is a Democrat.

Using euphemisms

I WATCHED a documentary on PBS on the Holocaust. In it the experts said that the Nazis always referred to the killing of the Jews in euphemistic language and code words. It reminds me of what's going on today with respect to abortion. We don't say killing a baby. Instead, we say terminating a pregnancy. We call it choice. We call the baby a fetus. The fact of the matter is when we hide behind euphemistic language it shows that in our hearts we truly know that what we are doing is ending the life of a precious child.

Slow traffic keep right

THIS IS to all the people who drive in the left lane going up and down the interstate. I know it is an ego trip and you feel powerful when you are in the left lane doing 65 mph to 70 mph. If I am doing 85 mph down the interstate in the left lane and someone comes behind me, I automatically get in the right lane. I have passed so many people by using the right lane because they are going too slow in the left lane. I wish people would get their ego trip over with.

Noisy experience

IN REGARDS to the church that wants to build on Old Hopper Road: That is probably a good idea, but I think something to considered is that several years ago the church on Perryville Road wanted to put a day-care center in. That sounded pretty good. I pictured 10 to 15 kids, but it got to be 75 to 100 kids. I hear that coming and going all day, and that is not joyful noise. The whole point is we signed off and let the church build that school there, and we suffered for many years with the noise.

Second-class citizens

I'M CALLING about George Bush's wonderful tax refund. My husband and I are retired, and we get $1,000 a month. My rebate check is a long ways from $600. We get back $11.75. That won't even pay for a bottle of medicine. I know the working man needs a break, but the rich men don't and the businesses don't. But this is really wonderful that they are going to pay us $11.75. Then I see in the newspaper where Bush wants to grant amnesty to Mexicans. The American people are just getting shoved under the table.

Avoiding responsibility

HIRING CONSULTING firms, such as the one that investigated Cape's police department for the modest sum of $43,000, is becoming too common in all public institutions. As a former health-care employee, I've seen huge sums of money transferred to outside consulting firms to make the decision. These are decisions that administrators should be making. The same thing happens in the educational establishment. Leaders have been replaced by people who rely on paid consultants, committees, study groups and task forces to make decisions that they are too insecure to make themselves. If a bad decision is made, no one person can be blamed. Simply put, this is a shrewd way of avoiding responsibility.

It could be apartments

I DON'T understand all of the fuss about a church being built on Old Hopper Road. If an apartment or housing complex would go up, you would have a constant flow of traffic instead of several times a week.