Speak Out 5/16/08

Cancer risk

WE'RE GETTING ready to have another Breast Cancer Awareness month. Why aren't there signs saying that when a woman has an abortion, her chances of getting breast cancer go up 80 percent? That's because there's a chemical in the milk a woman produces when she's pregnant. If the baby doesn't get it, the mother's body fights itself. It's a natural chemical defense.

Stop the quarry

A QUARRY is being proposed on County Road 219 between Cape Girardeau and Gordonville, 1 1/2 miles from the Cape Girardeau city limits in a residential growth area. This quarry threatens the health of hundreds living next to it. Schoolchildren are at risk of being run over by dump trucks. Water wells are threatened by this quarry. Do we want a quarry in the middle of homes and schools?

Quarry risks

I JUST returned home from a meeting with the concerned citizens objecting to the proposed rock quarry on County Road 319. This would, if put into action, have an adverse effect on so many people. Their home values would be lowered. Their water source would be jeopardized. Their children would be endangered by heavy traffic. Health could be affected by polluted air from the dust created by this mining of rock. It isn't right to allow this to happen.

Close examination

I KNEW when Jay Purcell, Cape Girardeau County's 2nd District commissioner, took on Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle and the rest of the good old boys he was in trouble. Watch out. The special prosecutor may look into some of Swingle's practices too.

Not here

PLEASE KEEP the quarry on Highway 74. Don't bring it around Gordonville. The people around Gordonville don't want noise, dust or increased truck traffic. Route K is busy enough as it is, and the county road in front of the proposed quarry won't handle the trucks.

Toss a bone

WHEN I was a kid, my dad would go to the butcher shop and pick up the bones for our coon dogs. There wasn't any meat on them, but the dogs would gnaw on them all day, which I suppose would keep them from thinking about how hungry they were. Since Cape Girardeau can't give our city employees a pay raise, maybe it could give their kids free tickets to the water park. You know, toss them a bone.