OpinionMarch 18, 2005
Speak Out 3/18/05
Lazy country; Memories of long ago; Lots of issues; Not on county roads; Use paper sacks; Litter from trash trucks; Adopt-a-highway pressure; Get tough on litter; Put it in a bag; School concerns; Respect from elders; Fighting litter; Looking for help; Focus on academics; Community differences; Start at the top
Lazy country
I'M GLAD Joe Sullivan and the Southeast Missourian are highlighting Cape Girardeau County's litter problem. But should we be addressing the underlying problem of lack of respect for our country and the fact that people just don't care anymore? This country is becoming a lazy country, and the Me Generation is growing.
Memories of long ago
READING THE nice article about Howard's Store made me think of that corner another way. It was Mickey's before that, and the Jackson boys who wanted a ride back to Jackson waited on that corner. Butch Muller from Jackson was one of the faithful ones. My boyfriend then and husband now came to Cape Girardeau while I lived there for the summer. He had to hitch a ride both ways. These are the memories of a 90-year-old.
Lots of issues
LEAVE MAIN Street one way south and make Water Street one-way north if you must make a change. This only makes sense with the flow of traffic east from Broadway to Main and then from Water back west on Broadway. We do not need trees planted in the median of our interstates. In the early 1980s, millions of dollars were spent rebuilding the drain culverts in the medians so people would not hit them if they ran off the road. We don't need trees in the path of an oncoming car. Tell Jo Ann Emerson, Jim Talent, Kit Bond and the rest of our Congress to take care of pressing business and stay out of baseball. Baseball can take care of its own problems. I am against steroids, but if players want to take them until their heads blow up, they can suffer the consequences.
Not on county roads
I WOULD like to respond to the littering that's going on in Scott City, especially the roads like County Road 303 that goes past the park out to Nash Road. People seem to throw all their trash on that road. Our county roads are not for littering.
Use paper sacks
I AGREE littering is a problem, and I'm glad we're facing up to the problem locally. One of the big littering problems I see most frequently is caused by plastic bags that so many grocery stores and other retailers use in the place of the paper bags we used to get. These plastic bags blow in the slightest breeze. They're in every vacant lot and field and up against house foundations and everywhere else. They won't break down for 1,000 years. I wish retailers would go back to paper bags. They broke down if they were left somewhere. Many times you buy something that's already in a sack, like a sack of potatoes or a sack of donuts, and the clerk will put it into another sack. There's no need for that second sack. It just adds to the litter.
Litter from trash trucks
IF YOU drive on Route 3 and Route 146 in Illinois, you will see all the trash along the road. A lot of this trash is coming trucks without a top used for hauling trash. It should be a law that these trucks need to have a compactor to pack that trash.
Adopt-a-highway pressure
ALONG INTERSTATE 55 from just north of the Cape Girardeau-Jackson exit south to the Dutchtown exit, there are blue signs that say "MoDOT adopt a highway litter cleanup." Underneath these signs are the names of four organizations: Sigma Nu Fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega/Beta Xi Chapter, Alpha Delta Pi and Boy Scout Troop 11. From the looks of the litter situation along the interstate, I think we should do one of two things: Either call MoDOT and ask for these signs to be taken down, or call these organizations and tell them to do the job they volunteered to do.
Get tough on litter
ONE OF the best ways we have to slow littering is to report anyone we see throwing something out a car. If the police would give these people a ticket and if judges would fine the litterbugs, we could stop this.
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Put it in a bag
I'M CERTAINLY glad to see that I'm not the only one that feels disgusted every day on my drive to Cape Girardeau where I work from Scott City. What an ugly sight it is with all the litter along the highway. Some people have no respect for others or themselves and especially for God's beautiful earth. How hard is it to put trash in a bag and throw it away when you get home?
School concerns
TAXPAYERS WHO don't have children in the Cape Girardeau School District may not be aware, but the discipline situation at Central Middle School and Central Junior High School are both of extreme concern to parents, as are some of the issues with instruction, curriculum and student issues at the high school. Evidently at the secondary level we have some of the weakest administrators we've ever had. These things are going unanswered until it gets to a point where parents bombard the school board and demand that something be done. It takes that kind of action because, until that point, we're basically ignored. I urge all taxpayers, whether you have children in the district or not, to please stand behind us parents. This school board listened to the superintendent and backed him on everything and then fired him. Their actions don't make any sense.
Respect from elders
I WAS just passed by a funeral procession. I pulled over along with most everyone else. Almost everyone pulled over except for one elderly couple who I figured would have more respect than they did. The old people in this town need to respect everything, not just what they want.
Fighting litter
WHEN WAS the last time you were in Cape Girardeau and didn't see someone throw a cigarette butt out of his car window? On every corner where cars stop, the curbs are saturated with discarded cigarettes. Our kids see this. No wonder so many people are littering today. It's a small thing, and it's the start of a habit. I think anybody would throw a cigarette out of a car would throw trash out of a car on deserted road. Young kids see their parents or older siblings with fast-food trash and other trash in back of pickup trucks, knowing it's going to blow out while driving down the road. What can we do? The simple thing is to keep the trash in your vehicle until you can discard it at home or in a proper trash receptacle. Every car has an ashtray. Use it. Empty it regularly at home, not in the parking lot. A lot of people need to grow up and get responsible. Everyone needs to talk about littering to all their family members. Maybe someone will listen.
Looking for help
I APPRECIATE the churches, fraternities, organizations and everybody else who likes to help people around this part of the country. A friend of mine is a quadriplegic. He's trying to get people to help raise money to buy a van. Nobody will help him. I think it's pitiful. I can't believe the people in this part of the country are like that. They send money overseas to help people and don't know what it's going to be used for, but they won't even help this man.
Focus on academics
I HOPE the parents get through to the Central Middle School administration that our focus needs to be on academics. There are way too many videos, parties and extra recesses at that school. I also have witnessed children running into the street after school and patrol children hitting each other over the heads with the patrol sticks. Most every teacher who is supervising is standing down by the first bus talking to parents or other teachers. In the future, MAP scores may be lower due to the undisciplined, nonacademic policies of CMS.
Community differences
COMPARING TRUMAN State University to Southeast Missouri State University is comparing apples to oranges. I went to Truman my first two years and hated it. I loved SEMO, where I graduated. I am still a resident of Cape Girardeau. Go to Kirksville and see what the community has to offer. Get real, Cape. We have much more to offer.
Start at the top
I AM disabled, unemployed and barely getting by. My wife works for peanuts. If she were to get another job, I would be cut off from Medicaid and have to find a way to come up with the $1,500 each month to keep me alive. If you want to cut something, start at the top where the real waste is.
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