Speak Out 7/15/06

Lonely at the top

POOR PRESIDENT Bush. He tried a virtually unilateral approach in the invasion of the Iraq, and it backfired. Now with North Korea testing missile after missile, the president is going the multilateral route, putting faith in international diplomacy. To date, he is receiving little or no cooperation from the likes of China and Russia. It's lonely at the top.

Thanks, Marc

THANK YOU, police chief Marc Tregasser. If I lived in Oran, Mo., I'd be thankful to have police taking care of our town. All these Oran people think they should not have to obey the law. What's their problem? Oran is not a ghost town. Delta goes without an officer sometimes. And Delta residents obey the law. Oran residents need to face the fact that they have a real police department now. Keep up the excellent work, Marc.

Don't need money

OUR COUNTY roads are in great shape, and we're told John Jordan is doing an adequate job as sheriff. So there doesn't seem to be a compelling need to seize more money by force from the county taxpayers. If you don't think they're taking it by force, try not paying your taxes. Government is always hungry, and the governed are here to serve them.

Paying for a boost

MISSOURI LEGISLATORS have approved a booster-seat law motivated partly by their fear of being labeled as uncaring about the safety of the state's children. But another motivation is a slice of an $850,000 federal grant provided by those conservative, small-government Republicans we've sent to Washington. And think of all the fines that will be collected from parents who shouldn't have to worry about this government intrusion in their lives. I'm sure the state will pass along this windfall to taxpayers to help offset the cost of new booster seats to Missouri parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and child-care providers. Vote the bums out.

Voting records

WE CAN go to the moon, but can't figure out how to secure the voter rolls from noncitizens. To be accurate, change that "can't" to "will not."

Teachers fund

IT WAS reported that the Cape Girardeau School District has a surplus of something like 17 percent in the teachers fund. That's unbelievable. What is even more shocking is that representatives of teacher groups seemed to say 17 percent was a reasonable surplus and was in line with what professional educator groups recommend. Are you kidding me? No teacher group recommends anywhere near that much excess amount of money. If the teachers in the system are willing to be good sheep and accept a piddling pay raise when they should have received more than twice that amount, then they deserve what they got. For the record, if a school system draws down a surplus of money in a fund, it is not deficit spending. Sly superintendents and others try to convince teachers and the public that it is, usually in order to sock to it to the teachers. A deficit occurs when more is spent than is on hand. When it comes to public schools, that is illegal under Missouri law. We're not all dummies, and we realize what goes on.

Fertility clinics

OPPONENTS OF the Missouri's stem-cell initiative proposal claim it's cloning. Proponents do not. Whether it is or not, one wonders about the deafening silence about fertility clinics. After all, if stem-cell research is cloning, then wouldn't fertility clinics be considered virtual death camps?

Free day care?

SINCE TWO local day cares received a combined $375,000 of money squeezed from Missouri taxpayers, I suppose Missouri taxpayers can send their preschoolers there for free. Surely they wouldn't have to pay the preschool twice.

Sounds like a bribe

TWO QUESTIONS regarding the proposed half-cent increase in the Cape Girardeau County sales tax: 1. I read that the commissioners offered Jackson a portion of the money and an additional $25,000 if the board of aldermen would endorse the tax increase. Isn't this bribery? 2. Will rental-property owners be required to refund to their renters the amount of rolled back property taxes?

Flamingoes, gnomes

WITH THE new sign ordinance going into effect, what do Cape Girardeau officials think about those pink flamingoes in people's yards? And those annoying garden gnomes? Those are all unsightly. Sometimes people get flamingoed overnight, and hundreds of the pink plastic creatures show up in someone's yard. Memo to city council: Ban all pink flamingos and garden gnomes from our fair city.

Good stop sign

THE STOP sign at Rampart Street and Melrose Avenue is a wonderful idea. I live on Kurre Lane, which turns into Rampart Street. I am sick of seeing people run the stop signs at the intersection on Kurre and Kingsway Drive, then drive past my house going about 50 mph because they didn't stop. The new stop sign has caused people to slow down a little bit because they know they are going to have to stop up ahead. I would much rather see people being inconvenienced by stopping for a few seconds than seeing one of my neighbor's children being ran over when they get the mail.

Freedom for all

FREEDOM OF speech isn't just for politicians, It is for all citizens. Businesses that want to advertise by signs and banners should not be prohibited by city council members who put up their own signs when they are up for election. Let the businesses whose sales-tax receipts help support this city advertise their promotions with signs and banners.