Speak Out 6/15/05

Lions in the park

BIG-CAT sighting confirmed. Locale: Trail Of Tears State Park in northern Cape Girardeau County. A local couple out for a Sunday-morning drive were commenting to one another on the lack of seeing any wildlife. Lo and behold, there were two mountain lions inside the park by the campgrounds stalking a full-grown doe deer, ready to pounce. The deer lived to see another day.

Backbiting gossips

THIS IS Jesus Land? I have never seen so many backbiting, gossiping, unforgiving people in my life. Somehow I do not see Jesus embracing these traits.

Just like Truman

SO MANY Speak Out commentators are critical of Howard Dean. I suspect they're scared to death that his firebrand, Harry Truman-like populist appeal will swing enough heretofore non-voters to the Democrats that the day of rule by Republican virtue will end.

Foreign and domestic

I DRIVE a Toyota, and I'm proud of it. My Toyota was built in Tennessee by American factory workers and sold in Cape Girardeau by an American dealership. My Toyota will suffer fewer mechanical breakdowns, will have a higher resale value and has a higher safety rating than any GM or Ford product. Japanese-owned companies demand higher standards than GM or Ford. And to all you Dodge owners: You own a product made by Daimler Chrysler, which is a a German -owned company.

Sex crimes

SO IF punching someone of the same sex after they make an unwanted pass at you is a felony crime, what can they be charged with for making an unwanted pass at you? Felony sexual harassment?

Blame the union

FOREIGN CARS have nothing to do with the problems at General Motors. The blame lies squarely with its policy of kowtowing to the UAW, which pays GM employees for not working, gives them a fat pension for life, spends too much on health care and causes the company to operate at a loss for each vehicle sold.

Concert canceled

SURELY THERE is a way to let loyal Wednesday-night fans attending the municipal band concert know when it's canceled. We went and sat and sat. Surely we could be informed, or the band could put a sign out at the park.

Dirty pool

THE TIMBER Creek subdivision was scheduled for the June 8 planning and zoning commission meeting. When the meeting started, it was noted there was no one there to object. P&Z voted to recommend approval. What dirty pool. The residents on West Cape Rock Drive and Old Sprigg Street Road are no dummies. Our feelings were completely tossed aside. Look out, city council. Our next meeting is with you. We're watching like hawks to see if we're also ignored at your meetings.

Unfinished roof?

TO THE Missouri Conservation Department: The entrance to the new nature center looks incomplete with no roof over the entrance way. Please tell me it's not going to remain that way.

Cougars in Leopold

I LIVE in Leopold, and we have cougars out here too and have called the conservation department. The conservation department doesn't agree with us either. We have seen the cougars numerous times. They're everywhere out here. Why does the conservation department keep denying it?

Our rights too

I WOULD be glad to never fly the Confederate flag if we could take President Lincoln and President Grant off our money, cancel Martin Luther King Jr. Day and take "one nation ... indivisible" -- meaning that we are united when some of us believe in states' rights -- out of the Pledge of Allegiance. People who don't want the flag flown have their rights, but what about the other side?