Speak Out 4/22/06

Drug busters

GOD BLESS the agents who bring down drug dealers and send them to prison.

Nuclear scars

CHERNOBYL 20 years later: Some have died of radiation poisoning and cancer. Children have birth defects. Many people bear scars. This is the face of a nuclear war.

Temporary assistance

I READ the comment from the employer who pays $6.45 an hour to start but doesn't say what type of jobs he has. I work for the Division of Family Services. There is no such thing as welfare subsidy. There is temporary assistance. The only way a woman is eligible for temporary assistance is if she has a child and is not receiving any child support. There is no way someone would turn down working hours in order not to mess up temporary assistance. It infuriates me when an employer thinks he doing someone a favor by paying $6.45 an hour. Anyone receiving temporary assistance is working with the Division of Family Services in order to gain a GED.

Oil subsidies

WE ARE paying record prices at the pump. Oil companies are getting record windfall profits. And still the oil companies are getting their government subsidy checks, compliments of the American taxpayers.

School hiring

I WOULD like to know what is going on with the Cape Girardeau School District. I have grown increasingly concerned over the hiring practices of the new superintendent. His first hire was a business manager who had no experience at the district level at making decisions and no business experience. His second hire was a junior high principal for the next school year who had no experience as an administrator, except for the seven months he spent as an assistant principal, though there were many other candidates who had more qualifications. Then when Rob Huff became the superintendent at Meadow Heights, instead of advertising for a replacement, he appointed one of the curriculum directors to become the assistant superintendent without advertising for that position. The new second in command does not live in Cape Girardeau, and his children go to private schools. I think taxpayers should know about these hard-to-understand hires.