Speak Out 3/29/07

Good doctor

I'm a patient of Dr. Reno Cova, and all I've ever seen out of him was good. I've been a patient of his for about five years, and he's taken good care of me. As far as I'm concerned, Cova is an excellent doctor.

Health-care influence

IT IS easy to see the rise of inflation in other sectors of the economy due to the rise of energy prices, particularly petroleum. With that said, what about the medical community and the high cost of health care? Can you imagine that influences inflation in other sectors of the economy? Something has to be done about this.

When the cat talks

JOE, YOU'D better be careful or Miss Kitty's going to start talking to you one of these days. So be careful, or you will get surprised. I love your kitty columns, and I love Sam's columns about his pets.

Downtown restrooms

WITH ALL the activities in downtown Cape Girardeau, why are there still no decent restrooms available during daytime shopping hours? Recently at a downtown eating place, someone came in asking if the restaurant had a restroom. The proprietor told him no. That's pitiful, and someone should be embarrassed about it. Some of the antique shops have restrooms tucked away in a dark basement or small storage area, but they are inadequate to serve the purposes of the shopping public in this day and age.

River cleanup

NEW LAWS for boaters and tubers on the Current River outlaw underage drinking, violence, fighting and aggressive behavior that have made it dangerous for children to be on or near the river for the last 10 years. Methamphetamine use, screaming, drunken behavior, broken beer and whiskey bottles in the swimming area, grown men urinating and defecating in public and lewd comments are not what local people consider socializing and having a good time. It is criminal behavior and child endangerment. My thanks to Noel Poe for having the guts to confront these hoodlums and clean up the river.

Try recycling

TO THE person who has too much trash: Have your tried recycling? Not only would you save our resources, but you would help our environment.

Which standards?

WHAT IS lacking in the global-warming debate are standards by which the solutions can be framed. Al Gore's movie says that the sea levels will rise 20 feet with no particular time frame mentioned. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report says sea levels will rise seven to 23 inches over the next 100 years. Gore's movie says the minimum temperature rise will be five degrees, again with no particular time frame. The IPCC report predicts a minimum rise of one degree over the next 100 years. Should we use the doomsday scenarios that Al Gore and others are predicting as our standard? Or should we use the IPCC report? Or perhaps we should use the consensus of scientists who have ties to government or industry that are standard. The last of the three options seems the most unbiased to me.

Ridiculous trash

I LIVE on Perryville Road in the Arbor Heights Subdivision, and it's ridiculous the amount of trash that we find in our yard every morning. It's beer bottles, soda bottles, Gatorade bottles, everything you can imagine.

Junk cars

JACKSON HAS an ordinance against junk cars. Call the health officer. The police used to put stickers on my cars and told me the cars had to be moved in 10 days. If they weren't, they'd be hauled away.

Apologies and payments

DID YOU notice that one of the issues to be discussed when the Missouri Legislature reconvenes following spring break is apologizing for allowing slavery in Missouri? How about apologizing to the American Indians for allowing their land to be taken from them, their livelihood stolen and marching them through Missouri on the Trail of Tears? And how about apologizing to taxpayers for the welfare system that pays women to have illegitimate babies and not work? Where does the list stop?

Don't sock students

MY WIFE and I are alumni of Southeast Missouri State University, and we are sick to death to think that president Ken Dobbins and the board of regents would have the nerve to think they can make students pay for the River Campus mistake. Everybody knows how they did the bonds and how they went around the voters. Now it looks like they're going to be stuck with $17 million worth of bills that they can't pay. Do not make the students pay for this, or there will be an uprising on campus, not only among the students, but also the alumni.

Broadway business

TO THE businesses on Broadway that are crying about losing business during construction of Broadway: I know for a fact prior to any construction they didn't have much business to begin with. Don't whine about losing business because of the construction.

Throwing rocks

I TOOK my grandchildren to County Park. A family of four, pleasant and intelligent looking, entered the playground. The father sat on the rocking duck, and his son sat on the other duck. They were throwing pebbles and rocks at each other. Then the father started throwing rocks at his wife from a distance. It was fun for the son to do the same as dad. How big will the pebbles get when the son grows up?

Skeptical of plan

I READ with interest the governor's health plan for redoing Medicaid, and I'm skeptical. He refers to having all these records like Jiffy Lube for reference. My car had to be checked when the service light came on. I took it to the dealer. Ten days later he still hadn't found the problem. Also, I received a bill recently from a doctor's office. I hadn't been there for over a year. Someone who has the same name is in the doctor's files. What if I get a computer record that shows I'm a diabetic and I'm not or that I've had cancer? We have enough confusion already with our health problems.

Utility increases

ALL COSTS associated with delivering utilities have trickled down to all customers. For those who are naive enough to think that power companies are out to get you, wake up. It is expensive to operate and maintain the infrastructure required to provide power when you flip your lights on. Municipal and electric coop customers are complaining just like the Ameren customers. And everyone complains about the price of gasoline. Merely a coincidence?

When to yield

IN MISSOURI, truckers are not required to yield to merging traffic. The yield sign is for traffic on the on-ramp, not the interstate traffic. I-55 truckers do a fantastic job of granting us the courtesy of changing lanes to allow us to enter the traffic.

Military benefits

TO THOSE who view statistics saying that a large percentage of people who sign up for the military are low-income as a bad thing: What is so wrong about that? Military pay and perks are pretty good, comparatively. The best thing is that many young adults have saved their own lives and futures by joining the military where they learn good work ethics, self-discipline and respect for themselves and others as well as the opportunity to advance their education. Many young men who might otherwise have ended up in prison or worse have been saved by joining the military. To infer that a non-draft situation is discriminatory is another political ploy by the liberals.

Heads in sand

I DID not realize there were so many global warming experts (using the word in its loosest sense) living in Cape Girardeau. Or are there merely more Republicans with their heads in the sand?

Making a sacrifice

I WOULD most certainly give up my home for a lake. It's just a bunch of wood and nails. I have no emotional attachment to my home. I'll build somewhere else. It's called sacrifice. That's something most people don't understand anymore. It's all about me, me, me.

Other side of the lake

THOSE WHO want a lake. Do you have thousands of acres of land you would like to donate and a home you don't want anymore? A lot of good farmland is at the bottom of some lake now. Savings on electricity? How big a dam are you planning, for heaven's sake? How much would that cost taxpayers to build? Which river do you want to ruin? The Current? The Black, the Whitewater? Most towns near lakes look pretty run down with a lot of seasonal rentals and litter. Think hard about what you are asking for.

Heckler issues

IMAGINE THIS scenario: I visit my elderly grandmother in a nursing home every week for weeks on end. I also get angry at my boss one day, take a gun to work and shoot up the office and injure a few co-workers. Should my being nice to my grandmother negate the fact that what I did at work was reprehensible? Of course not. Compare this to the High HIll Hecklers. They've done some wonderful things. But that does not excuse their drunken, unsportsmanlike behavior, which I have witnessed on many occasions. By the way, spectators at NCAA sporting events are reminded that NCAA rules require sportsmanship from team members and fans alike. These students are definitely out of line. What about public drunkenness and minors in possession in our city parks? I see all kinds of issues here that are being ignored by authorities.