SPEAK OUT

The crime is there

I LIVE on Lorimier Street and have for a long time. Don't let anyone fool you that there is not a huge problem on this street and in Indian Park. Regarding the man who is raising his daughters on this street: I can guarantee his children do not play in this park or walk at night. Make no mistake. Until that fatal shooting, drug deals, prostitution and gambling went on all day and night in the park and on the street. We hear gunfire on a regular basis. All these activities go on also on Good Hope and in an alley between Lorimier and Middle streets all day and all night. The drug dealers drive nice cars and live in nice houses on Lorimier street and have offices in the alley. The police know this, but still it continues every day. Before the shooting these people were in the park at 8 a.m., and the crowd seemed to increase after school hours. You can find a lot of these people on Middle, Good Hope and in the alley anytime day or night.

Outside looking in

I WAS watching Paula Zahn on Fox News with your favorite son, Rush Limbaugh, on there. I am so ashamed of being affiliated with him even to the point of living in the same town he was from. The only thing that gives me a little bit of hope is that the people like Gary Rust and David Limbaugh and people like that one of these days are going to be on the outside looking in. Because they are finally going to realize that the hate and the greed and stuff the paper says is going to turn on all of them. It is going to eat them completely down to nothing.

Gossip at the vet

I WAS sitting in a veterinarian's office. This woman was talking about somebody else. This is gossip. It is useless information. There is no excuse for it. It took them a half-hour to get her out of the door because she wanted to keep running her mouth, and anything that was coming out was stupid and useless. If she has to talk about something, she should make the conversation worthwhile. She should have a point.

Sports analysis

YOUR NEWSPAPER wants to downgrade Jackson's football team. Maybe it isn't a state firehouse, but the coaches are claiming it is. What's this high praise for Central? When's the last time they won a district championship? Now that they are dropped to 4A, they might have a chance. How sad is it that a town of 36,000 cannot compete in 5A against towns of 11,000. It's pretty sad that the only reason they seem to be a better team this year is because of their low-quality competition. Tell it like it is for Cape Central's team.

It's about time

IT'S ABOUT time somebody at the sheriff's department speaks up about the low pay the deputies are getting. I quit the sheriff's department and resigned my commission over 10 years ago because of the low pay. I know officers who have quit to become truck drivers or go to other agencies or even go back into the military. And for the county commission to say that they're blindsided by the deputies' low pay, they either just don't care or they're lying. Sheriff Jordan needs to stick to his guns and stand by his deputies so we can keep qualified officers in this area.

Selfish attitude

IN A recent letter to the editor, the writer admits abortion is the taking of a human life but justifies this practice by stating that some women have no alternative. How terribly selfish. How terribly self-centered. There are alternatives, such as giving up the infant for adoption to loving couples unable to conceive. It all boils down to this: If a carefree sexual life threatens a woman with motherhood, abort the baby and continue as usual. With the exception of saving the mother's life, there is no excuse for killing a baby.