Speak Out 3/29/03

A safer Snake Hill

WIDENING SNAKE Hill is a good thing. I know I travel it frequently. It is narrow and dangerous in the winter. I think anything they can do to make this road safer would be an added bonus to the city.

Speeding is a crime

A FEW days ago, I happened to be listening to some businessmen and women discussing things in Cape Girardeau. One of the things they complained about was, that in Cape and Jackson both the police spend way too much time out catching speeders. They kept saying the police need to spend more time catching criminals. Finally, one of the men said, "I guess when we speed, we're criminals too." One of the women said, "It's not the same." Yes, it is. When you choose to break the speed limit, you're breaking the law and deserve a ticket. Police officers are not hired to enforce certain laws. The speed limits are clearly marked.

Ashamed of trash

EVIDENTLY THE natives of the Cape Girardeau area are used to the trash and garbage all over the place, especially our roadways. I am a senior citizen who has been living in Cape Girardeau County only a few years, but it's hard to adjust to this. I'm not very proud when I have visitors. Believe me, they notice. Let the prisoners clean this up. I'm so ashamed.

Bad impression

I see trash along the road every day between Cape Girardeau and Fruitland. It's sad that our residents don't take enough pride in their byways to make a positive impression on travelers passing through.

Get rid of bad doctors

ON MALPRACTICE insurance: If doctors would get rid of the bad doctors, malpractice insurance premiums would go down.

Thanks for the start

I'D LIKE to thank the nice security guard and the two mall workers for helping us get our truck started in the Steak-N-Shake parking lot.

Eliminated teaching job

I GREW up in south Cape Girardeau and went to May Greene Elementary School. South Cape was beautiful. The maple trees were all trimmed, lawns were manicured and houses were all painted. I've worked very hard all my life. I've been married for 40 years. I've saved every penny I could get. When it came time to educate my daughter, I spared no expense. She became a music teacher and a band director. She's a wonderful teacher, working sometimes 80 hours a week, even teaching children with handicaps. Last night, she called me to say the school board had eliminated her job. South Cape should still be beautiful. And my daughter should still be teaching.

Sterilization choice

WHEN YOU first take drugs, you're making a choice. Women facing sterilization have a choice too: They can go to jail, or they can give up their right to have children. It's not right to bring crack-addicted babies into this world. People who do this should relinquish their right to motherhood. It costs taxpayers a lot of money.

Pep rally for tests

IT'S NOT the politicians' fault kids are getting burgers as incentives to do well on tests. It's the school officials fault. They lazily use incentives instead of the old-fashioned way of rallying kids to do well. The teachers aren't inspiring the kids, and so the administrators resort to ridiculous measures. I don't want my kids having a burger for MAP tests. Some schools used to have pep rallies to rally the team. Why not a pep rally to rally the kids the day before MAP testing?

Trash and carcass

BETWEEN THE Jackson-Cape Girardeau exit and the Gordonville-Cape Girardeau exit on I-55, the trash is terrible. There's a carcass on the side of the road going south that's been there for two weeks. Nobody seems to care. The highway department doesn't seem to be doing the job that it used to.

Spending priorities

I AM an old high school graduate who would like something explained. How does our government find billions of dollars to spend on a war but tell us poor folks to vote to raise our taxes to provide for our schools or city government or there will be cutbacks? Is this a country that really cares about us?

Volunteer firefighters?

IT MADE me feel good when I read in Speak Out how the volunteer fire department in Advance and Delta did such a terrific job. My father used to be a volunteer fireman. That means you don't get paid or get insurance benefits except the benefit of doing something from the heart. Why doesn't Cape Girardeau try this?

Keep U.N. out of Iraq

BRITISH PRIME Minister Tony Blair is suggesting that the United Nations be a part of the rebuilding of Iraq after the war. I say since the United Nations did not participate in the liberation, it should be excluded. It would replace one terrorist regime with another. The United Nations would send in population-control experts and gender advisers to pressure the Iraqi people to stock clinics with birth-control devices and condoms. It would teach girls assertive training while exposing children to graphic sex education. It would fund radical feminist organizations that lobby for legalization of abortion. If this is allowed, the flames of radical Islamic fundamentalism would be fanned into an inferno of hatred for American imperialism.