Speak Out 4/29/08

Farm supply-demand

ETHANOL DOES cause the price of wheat to go up. Ethanol production requires huge amount of corn. In order to supply this amount of corn, more farmland in the Midwest goes to the growing of corn. Because of this farmland that was used to grow wheat now has corn on it. This lowers the amount of wheat that is grown in the United States. The lower the supply, the higher the demand. And price follows demand.

Erosion of the base

THE REAL interesting part of this presidential election year is not whether Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will get the nomination or whether either can defeat John McCain, but the eye-opening degree to which the once powerful Reagan base of the Republican Party has been reduced to irrelevant insignificance.

Chaffee officers

WHEN WE moved to Chaffee in 1963 there were 3,000 people and one police officer. Today there are 3,000 people and seven officers, and the city wants two more. Follow the money. That's what is going on.

Turn on the air

ISN'T IT ridiculous that the Cape Girardeau School District puts so much emphasis on MAP testing and wanting the students to do well, yet the schools still haven't turned on the air conditioning to promote a comfortable atmosphere. My child has come homes exhausted, and not because of the test, but because of the lack of common sense. It is almost 80 degrees in the afternoons. Winter is over.

Better safe than sorry

THANK YOU to the Cape Girardeau Fire Department for making countless trips to the Southeast Missouri State University campus in response to the fire alarms that go off for whatever reason other than actual fires.

Conservative Clinton

AS JOHN McCain moves rapidly to the left, outrageous pundit Ann Coulter just may have been correct in her comment that the most conservative presidential candidate is Hillary Clinton.

Parking ruts

IT'S TIME for baseball and ruining the grass in Capaha Park. Why can't fans park on the street rather than rutting up the place? Exercise is good for you. Try walking an extra 50 feet from West End Boulevard.

Confusing rules

I'M A paraprofessional in the Cape Girardeau School District. Why doesn't the central office know what the rules are regarding making up bad-weather days? I've followed what my principal said to do. He said I should be at work 30 minutes early for several weeks to get in the right number of hours before the year ends. Now I'm told it isn't necessary. How can the administrators all be so confused all the time? It seems like nobody in that building knows what's going on. Maybe the new superintendent will start making the rules and make sure they stick. That would be a real switch.

Families and schools

THANKS TO conservative columnist George Will for pointing out the abject failure of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law and pointing out that the best predictor of the success or failure of a school is and remains the quality of the families from which the children come.

Cutting to the bone

IF MISSOURI'S Republican legislators are true to their supply-side economic philosophy, they will, in order to stimulate our rapidly sinking state economy, cut taxes to the bone. After all, that is supposed to boost the economy while at the same time increasing tax revenues to the state. Miraculous, isn't it?

Disposable trays

THANK GOODNESS we have young people like Ali Herzog in our midst. Wise beyond her years. Maybe the current school board will see the insanity of disposable trays at Central High School and make some changes.

Jackson fire station

HERE IS a question for Jackson's leaders. What's going on with the second fire station in the city? I haven't heard anything about it since election time. I live on the east side of the city. We need that new fire station. I hope the city will do something before someone is hurt or loses a home because the city chose to drag its feet.

Longer school days

SOME OF you may be skeptical, but after years of research I am very confident that all of the problems plaguing public education throughout the country could be solved if schools emulated the school-day extension by Jackson.

School recycling

I APPLAUD Ali Herzog for trying to recycle at Central High School. I hope she doesn't give up and will look at other areas at school. Every day boxes and empty vegetable cans are thrown into the trash from the cafeteria. Where do students dispose of aluminum cans and plastic water bottles? Does someone recycle the paper that is discarded from the copiers? What happens to the discarded newspapers and magazines that come from the library? It is too much to expect janitors to recycle with all they have to do? Maybe committees of students could be responsible to do a part of the job. Will the city recycling truck pick up the recyclables? Good Luck, Ali.

Checkout etiquette

HERE'S A lesson on manners. When you are in line at an establishment waiting to check out along with others, if another checker opens and says "I'll take whoever is next," this does not mean the person at the end of the line. This is obviously the person who has been waiting patiently in line the longest.

Recycling example

CHILDREN LEARN by example. What are we teaching them when we preach recycling and then don't do it at home or in our schools? Get on board the recycling wagon.

Ho-hum

David Limbaugh wrote

that Barack makes us fawn.

I'd like to add that

McCain makes me yawn.

Student's example

KUDOS TO Ali Herzog. Her article was excellent. I was appalled that our high school is not already recycling. Maybe this student's example will lead the school and district into the 21st century.

Wasted dollars

EVERY SCHOOL should recycle. I can't believe they don't. That's another fine example of my tax money being wasted.