Speak Out 5/10/08

Neat sticker

WHILE DRIVING around Sunday I saw the neatest bumper sticker. It said, "If it's not a child, then you're not pregnant." Amen.

Cell-phone issues

I DISAGREE with the comment that said if children can't have cell phones at school, then teachers shouldn't either. Schools and businesses should have cell phones in case of an emergency or a disaster. A bigger problem is people driving cars and talking on cell phones and people talking on cell phones in restaurants.

Thanks for help

I WANT to thank the young man who helped me with my oil cap Sunday at AutoZone. I'm grateful. Thank you to that young man for all his help.

School safety

IT'S BEEN nine years now since Columbine. I live in the Cape Girardeau-Jackson area, and I've not seen either school district install any protection methods that make our children any safer. Perhaps Cape Girardeau and Jackson have the mentality that this is a good, little community and it's not going to happen in our town. I am sick of hearing that. I've heard it for years and years. We've seen what's happened recently with other shootings in our area. The school boards need to do something constructive and tell parents what they're doing to protect our children. Parents need to know what's going on and be reassured that their children are safe.

Good dog story

THAT WAS a good story Sam Blackwell wrote about the dog that was lost.

No Internet for me

YOU CAN'T tell me we're better off having the Internet. I think those who choose to be free from the Internet should be allowed that. Unfortunately, society is forcing us to be on the Internet whether we want to be there or not. Expensive postage rates force us to use the Internet. Soon government will be able to control everything, because the information system is an easy thing for government to control. I don't want anything to do with the Internet. I don't want any kind of bad influence like that in my home, and I think that's my option even in 2008 America.

Overgrown lawns

I MOVED here two years ago and was told by many people that Cape Girardeau wants a neat city. So if I don't mow my grass, they tag it or mow it for me and bill me. I can't believe all the bad-looking lawns this year. There's one that is knee-high and still growing. And what's with the railroad-tie retaining wall that is falling down on Perryville Road?

Wishful Thinking

Many are wishin'

Cape County's commission

would be open for business

when the door says "Gone Fishin'."

Familiar ring

ALL WE need is some fisticuffs. The Cape Girardeau County Commission is starting to remind me of the not-long-ago meetings of the Cairo City Council.

Out of my pocket

ONE BILLION divided by 300 million equals 3.34. So every time the federal government wastes a billion dollars, I know that's $3.34 out of my pocket. Wait. There are millions of illegal aliens here and others not paying taxes, so I'm paying their taxes too. So let's say for every billion the feds waste it costs me $4. Since I'm paying taxes for myself and my son, that's $8 per billion. So the $300 billion bailout of the irresponsible and greedy people out there that didn't buy a reasonable home is going to cost me $2,400. I bought a house I could afford, and because of the federal government I get to pay an extra $2,400 for all of those who didn't. Sure, feel free to redistribute my lack of wealth.

Switching targets

THE CAPE Girardeau County commissioners have always wanted to run the sheriff's department. It is a switch that the commissioners are fighting each other.

Keep up good work

IS THE Good Old Boy Junction at the end of County Road 436 at the Oak Ridge/I-55 interchange? How convenient for Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones. Keep up the good work, Jay Purcell. It's refreshing to see someone who has enough honesty and integrity to oppose two commissioners who have been monopolizing our county commission.

Stripped of duties

TO DO what he did at the Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting was a violation of the public trust, but to do it on tape? Wow! Every citizen of Cape Girardeau County should go to the Southeast Missourian Web site and watch the recent meeting where Jay Purcell, 2nd District commissioner, was stripped of duties by Presiding Commissioners Gerald Jones and Larry Bock, 1st District commissioner.

Found out

I BELIEVE the Cape Girardeau County commissioners have finally been found out. Keep on keeping on, Jay Purcell.

Holding on to power

GERALD JONES, Cape Girardeau County presiding commissioner, is ruling the county commission like a Russian czar of the 19th century. We need new leadership in our county commission. His dated policies and ideas have no place in the 21st century. He is taking away a fellow commissioner's duties just because he wants to hold onto power. Who does he think he is?

Big difference

MICHAEL JENSEN may be the only living journalist not to understand the difference between affirmative action (legal and good) and rigid quotas (illegal and bad). For example, because of affirmative action based on geographical location, kids get to matriculate at prestigious institutions of higher learning like Yale and Harvard. A strict quota system is illegal and certainly unethical. Come on, get it right.

Reality check

THE BEST part of the free-market system is that it is not capable of lying or spin. It merely reflects what is. So let's look at the Cape Girardeau School District from a free-market perspective. Jackson, with a third as many people, has more students. Notre Dame Regional High School, Saxony Lutheran High School and other religious schools have seen significant increases in enrollment. The reality is that young families are moving to Jackson or deciding to pay tuition to a private school in order to have their children get a good education. The administrators, school board and PTA in Cape live in a Pollyanna world where everything is just wonderful. Want a reality check? Look at St. Louis public schools. It's coming to our town.