Speak Out 6/29/07

Honoring students

CONGRATULATIONS TO all those on the A and B honor rolls from our many great, wonderful schools. You deserve a pat on the back for your hard work. Keep it up and you will go far.

Black Baptists

I READ the article in the paper about the black Baptist church groups and ministers, especially Dr. R.B. Holmes Jr. The direction they're taking their churches and their people is great. That's something that's been needed a long time. It's something that I hope people will pay attention to and start practicing.

For and against

A SMALL tax for the existing city parks and the storm-water control would be beneficial. A water park I'm totally against.

Brookside Memorial

I'M JUST wondering if they forgot about Brookside Memorial. That's for all veterans. If they don't know about it, they ought to go out and look at it because it's very nice. I think a lot of people contribute to it.

Worrisome message

I THINK there should be a law against medical offices sending computerized messages to patients. I just received one and by the time I finally realized it was a computer message the voice was so low it was impossible to hear and I don't know what it was about. Now I can worry about that all weekend. I think they should ban that sort of activity.

Going to jail

MR. MCDONALD didn't have to go to jail. No one is above the law even if it's a law of inconsequence to most. He thumbed his nose at the rest of us with his arrogance. He was warned too many times for his abrasive stand. If you don't believe in a law, try to have it changed by law, not your own bull-headed indifference.

Crying at weddings

ATTENTION ALL parents who have little children and are attending weddings. If you insist on sitting close to the front, please take your child out of the ceremony when he or she begins to cry to gets fussy. It's so disrupting. I've been to two weddings in the last couple of weeks with screaming children, and the parents would not leave the ceremony.

Crosswalks needed

I'M CALLING because of all the comments about the sidewalks in the more affluent areas of town. I'm concerned about the people who try to cross Kingshighway near Independence or William streets. There needs to be crosswalks or even better overpasses in two or three locations on Kingshighway because a lot of people still walk, and they're taking their lives in their hands when they try to cross that highway. Rather than worrying about where the affluent will go to exercise, we need to be thinking about the people who need to get around by foot in that part of town.

Good job

PAGE AFTER page in the Southeast Missourian of our children on the A and B honor rolls. This speaks volumes as to our teachers' hard work and commitment. A big thank you from a mother of three. Good job.

Jumping ship

I WAS just watching "Good Morning America" and saw Ann Coulter, who usually supports the Republican Party, say she'll be glad when President Bush gets out of office. I've never heard her speak like that before about George Bush. I find it amazing that the Republicans are ready to ditch President Bush now when the elections are coming around because they know he's done such a poor job. Now they want to sever ties with him and say, "He did do bad things but our next Republican will do well." They supported him for eight years.

Closing Guantanamo

CAN SOMEONE please give me a logical answer as to why we went to all the trouble getting these terrorists overseas and putting them in Guantanamo Bay after 9-11, and now President Bush is thinking about closing Guantanamo Bay and letting all these people go? What the heck are we still doing over in Iraq trying to catch more terrorists we don't know what to do with?

Taxed to death

THE MENTALITY of some individuals totally amazes me. A water park for three months will not solve the obesity problem. I couldn't afford it anyway because of higher taxes. When our personal property taxes are automatically raised every two years, do any of you have someone come to your house from the county to see how much it is really worth? I wonder if our city council members or finance department have ever done hard labor where your back is killing you at the end of the day. I vote every election, work hard for my money, and I'm a single parent whose child makes the honor roll. I always pay my bills and taxes on time. It makes me sick that the mayor and other individuals tax us to death.

Angels among us

THIS IS a big thank you to the angels among us. I'm on a walker and when I shop at Macy's or J.C. Penney, the entrance doors are so heavy that it's difficult to open them. But 99 percent of the time there is always someone when I enter and leave who helps me. I've just been so fortunate, and I want to thank all of these lovely, lovely people. Even the really young and the middle aged all help me. They are so kind and I really appreciate it. I am so grateful. There are so many nice people in this world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Tearing it up

WELL, WE got some rain Sunday night and the four-wheelers tore up Twin Trees Park again pretty bad. I need to photograph them at night and turn it over to the police department as quickly as I can get this done.

Let people vote

Why is the Cape council trying to decide for the voters if we want a tax increase or not? As most people seem to be forgetting, it was not the city who increased the sales taxes around here, it was the voters. The fire sales tax, the transportation sales tax, the county sales tax were all approved by the people. If the people are worried about taxes being too high let them say so by voting.

River Campus view

I drove by the new River Campus on the old St. Vincent's Seminary site and found a sparkling new atrocity assaulting my eyes. Area preservationists should be outraged. The new university building does nothing to compliment the historic religious complex and would have been better suited on the main university campus.

Let's migrate

We should make Mexico the United States and vice versa, with a massive migration of non-Mexicans to what is Mexico but would soon be renamed the United States. Then we could really seal off the boundaries so as to put an end to illegal immigration to what would then be the United States. I think most of us would really like it if we migrated south of the border. It's confusing but it might work. The old United States renamed Mexico, and Mexico the new United States. Works for me.

Changing the law

Since State law dictates that only cities with a population over what Cape Girardeau's is are allowed to impose a payroll tax, why are Cape officials even discussing it? Do they have reason to believe it would be that easy to change state law just for them?

Looking for votes

TRENT LOTT and other politicians are trying to convince people to vote for their immigration bill because each party is trying to do enough favors for the Mexicans to get their votes.

Close to cap

A few years ago I received a booklet geared toward where to retire. In it was each state's sales taxes, and what the mandatory cap was for state-plus-local taxes. That information has been lost, and I cannot find it on the Internet. It would be interesting to know how close Cape is to that cap if it is still in place.

Majority rules

HOW CAN it be possible that one person on a county road with more than 50 families prevents the road from getting paved? Why can't the county get something done about this? Not only would they be helping out their neighbors but they would be raising their own property values. Seems logical to me that a majority ought to rule in this situation.

Human or not

I find it hard to believe that the person who was charged with two counts of murder in the Ohio woman's case was charged with the murder of her unborn child. She could have had an abortion and that child would not have been considered a human being. I think that is a double standard. The law needs to be one way or the other, not pick and choose as you go. The unborn is either a human or not human.

Tax help for disabilities

I think that if you are on disability and no longer have children in school then they should not make you pay school taxes. It is hard enough to try to make it on disability. People think this is the easy way out and we don't want to work. Let me tell you, I would rather have my health than the way that I live. My husband and I are both disabled. It is a miserable life. Can the system answer this one?

No amnesty

THE VAST majority of Americans do not want amnesty for illegal aliens. They have totally disregarded our laws yet the people we elected to represent us are only concerned about their own agendas, not what the American people want. They tell us it is in the best interests of America to grant amnesty to these lawbreakers. It is totally irrelevant if is in America's best interests or not if the American people do not desire it.

Thanks for honesty

I think those who drive off without paying for gas should be caught and pay the fines. I see more gas being stolen in the newspaper than anything else. I want to say thank you to the honest people out there.