Speak Out 7/24/07

Blame former tenants

IT IS not the owners fault that the mobile home was left in this shape. The owner is a kind and good-hearted man. Put the blame on the former tenants. Sweep the dirt from your own back doors and stop snooping around others' homes.

Lay off Chaffee

WHAT IN the world is the roach problem at a trailer in Chaffee doing on the front page of the Southeast Missourian? Lay off of Chaffee for a while. You should have plenty of stories to print. You know problems are in Cape Girardeau also. Don't turn Chaffee into Cairo.

Finding the enemy

AFTER READING countless comments here and elsewhere, it is a sad reality that the Far Right can't live without an enemy. When it has none, it creates one. Privately they talk only of violence. The terrorists overseas are dangerous, but terrorists in the making here stand the best chance of killing this country.

Illegal banners

IT DOESN'T take sharp eyes to see all the unattached retail banners around Cape Girardeau. I guess they don't sell mattresses though.

Need classrooms

EVIDENTLY THE Cape Girardeau School Board puts a higher priority on soccer field restrooms than the need for more classrooms at Central High School. Perhaps school board members could spend a few hours at Central during the school day observing the migrant teachers hunting rooms to teach their students.

Honoring veterans

THERE HAS been much talk about the memorial to World War I veterans. I take time to remember my grandfather often. He was in WWI and WWII. My uncle was in WWII. My father was in Korea. The year I graduated we bugged out of Vietnam. I did not serve. I registered for the draft, but the war was ended. How much time, space or concrete can repay the ones who served? How about the brave men and women who are serving now?

Four-day school

I WISH Missouri would follow what some Kentucky schools are doing. They are going to a four-day week, extending the hours but going one less day. Think of the money that could be saved: gas money, heating and cooling, food service. In-service days could fall on the day that school is not scheduled, leaving the calendar intact.

City's image

REGARDING THE story on the parking truce between the city and the university, it appears that this ordinance is self-serving for Councilman John Voss. He states that the current ordinance isn't working. Neither is the sign ordinance. Small business continues to suffer because of it. The sign ordinance was passed because a few of our city leaders decided banners were ugly. If they would have enforced the nuisance abatement portion of the city ordinances that was in place at the time, we would not be plagued with this worthless sign ordinance. Maybe if Voss and his colleagues would try to be more proactive in trying to serve the whole community and stop this self-serving and good-old-boy type of leadership, Cape Girardeau could improve its image as was stated as its goal in this newspaper.

Sounds like a winner

THERE ARE many people in Cape Girardeau and other areas who have good jobs but do not get an hour for lunch, nor do they get smoke breaks. The proposal by the Central High School principal is logical, and I fully support it. As a parent and CHS graduate, I think this sounds like a winner.

Serving everyone

CHAMBER OF Commerce president John Mehner says the impact that the student population at the university is significant but is not the focus of the economy. The students are a part of the total of the economy. We as a community need to focus on what is best for the masses, not just what serves the few, as is demonstrated in Mehner's comment.

Deal with reality

THE TIME for name-calling and tired slogans is over. Our current strategy in Iraq is showing no signs of progress. Our troops accomplished their military mission years ago. Our politicians need to show the same courage under pressure that our troops have shown. If the administration will not adjust its strategy and face reality, then Congress, as a check and balance, needs to do the job. God bless Senators Lugar, Warner and Hagel and Congresswoman Emerson for dealing with reality.

Longer school year

I FAVOR extending the school day and the school year. It is senseless to waste so much taxpayer money by allowing many school buildings to remain empty throughout the summer. A longer school year (220 to 250 days) is an idea whose time has come. Given the courageous makeup of the current school administration and school board, they should be able to successfully ward off any and all resistance to this pedagogically sound proposal.

There's a reason

IF A wife receives flowers from her husband for no apparent reason, there's a reason.

Doing park work

I BELIEVE it is pretty sad that the Jackson Police Department has to put up and take down the signs and cones for the Fourth of July celebration in the park. What is the parks department for? I think the police should be on the streets patrolling and answering calls instead of doing the park department's job. I hope the new mayor will change this.

Untrained teachers

MY SON, who attends South Elementary School in Jackson, will have a new teacher this fall. I learned that this teacher has taken no classes in teaching the four basic courses because the teacher was trained to be a PE teacher. This person was given the job over experienced elementary-teacher applicants. I was told this person is nice. Nice is fine, but isn't properly trained better? The board needs to see not only who applied and who was hired, but what type of licensing the teachers have and how they attained it.