Speak Out 5/15/06

Focus on education

REGARDING THE Bell City and Scott County Central school districts: The superintendents need to spend more time worrying about the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic and what needs to be done for these students' education rather than worrying so much about recruiting and keeping basketball players. Students are being neglected in their education in both of these schools.

Market location

I VISITED the alternative farmer's market last week. Whoever was on the location committee did a terrible job. It is in the middle of a paved parking lot with no shade trees. You're so close to the railroad tracks that you can't speak to the vendors when a train passes. A couple of vendors around said they were not happy either. They were told to put up a tent for shading. The vendors were not provided any electricity. Why not have the market somewhere like Capaha Park under a pavilion or shade trees? This would be much comfortable for vendors and, more importantly, for customers. It gets pretty hot in the middle of a parking lot in Cape Girardeau.

Floyd for governor

I WOULD like to comment about the fine charity work that Floyd Penny is doing. I think this is wonderful. We need leaders like this in the country. I know he's done a lot of other charity work. I'd like to see someone like this run for governor. I may write his name in next time. I'd like to see him up in Jefferson City. I think he'd make a fine governor.

Other fuel sources

I HAVE been scrounging around on the Internet and have come to the conclusion that there should be no petroleum shortage. We should be moving away completely from Arab oil. The switch grass we can produce would make cellulose ethanol. That will produce 1,150 gallons per acre. With the cost for enzymes to take care of the switchgrass and extra processing, the cost would be less than 25 cents a gallon. The same thing is true with wood chips. There are 1.3 billion tons of wood chips available every year without growing trees for wood chips, and there are specialized trees that will grow to the height of 60 feet in six or seven years that will produce wood chips. The University of Illinois has a professor, Yuanhui Chang, who has developed a process to make approximately 40 million barrels of fuel a year from pig manure.

Fix the potholes

I WONDER if it might be possible for city engineers to consider fixing the large potholes on Mount Auburn Road between Route K and Bloomfield Road while they're getting bids on widening the road. A fifth lane for passing is good reasoning. But why can't they see the big potholes? Why can't they use some quick-plug concrete or asphalt? Lexington Avenue is another road that's a disgrace to the city. Get something done.

Big help

I WOULD like to thank a wonderful young man at Wal-Mart. After shopping I came out to my car and got so sick. I don't know if he saw that I wasn't feeling well or what, but he came over. He was one of the employees picking up carts. He put everything in my trunk. I started to pick up a bag, and he said, "Oh, ma'am, I'll get it all for you." I told him the Lord must have sent him, because I didn't know how I was going to get these things in my car. I didn't get his name. I'm going to pray that God will give him a special blessing.

Dangerous lights

I'M SURPRISED more people aren't killed in Cape Girardeau. It makes my head spin seeing people at a stoplight sit there after the light turns green. By the time traffic starts moving, the light turns yellow. Then everybody tries to beat the light by going through when it's red. One of these days you're going to have a bunch of deaths, and that's going to be one of the reasons.

Mysterious UFO

I was wondering if anyone else saw the unidentified flying object about 6:45 p.m. May 8 above the northwest part of the city. It was cloudy, but the UFO appeared to be below the clouds. What caught my eye was the fact that it was shaped like a blimp and did not appear to be moving. However, as I watched it got smaller, which indicated it was moving away slowly, unlike an airplane. I am curious to know what it was.

Limited similarity

THE FACTS that Lincoln and Bush were wartime presidents and had low poll numbers is pretty much the end of any similarity between them. Lincoln surrounded himself with dissenting views by appointing strong-willed men to his Cabinet as opposed to a bubble of yes-men. Doris Kearns Godwin's "Team of Rivals" is an excellent read.

School services

BASED ON the article about at-risk students in the Cape Girardeau School District, I think we can assume a bond issue is around the corner. Perhaps if we had better teaching, supervision and administrators we would have more accountability and fewer at-risk students. Some of us can remember when the district had a preschool program. It lasted two years and was successful. I would think the district had good reasons to disband it. This city has lots of public and private preschools along with Head Start and Parents As Teachers. Why duplicate services?

Beginning of life

LIFE IS a continuum, and each human is a unique part of this cycle. Life passes on from one person to the next, from one generation to the next. The human race continues because it takes a human sperm and a human egg to create a new human life. If the egg and the sperm were not themselves alive, certainly the product of the union wouldn't be human or alive. Therefore, there is no such thing as a "potential" human being. I have the potential to have a baby, but once I become pregnant, the baby is real and exists. There is no such thing as a "potential human being" in the womb. Each individual life begins at conception, the union of the sperm and the egg. Rather than saying that a pregnant woman is going to have a baby, it's really correct to say that she already has a baby.