Speak Out 7/26/05

Blame goes higher

IN RESPONSE to the woman having difficulty renewing her license: Please don't be mad at the clerk. The new laws put a huge burden on women trying to renew their licenses. Obviously, no one thought through all the difficulties senior citizens would have obtaining birth certificates and marriage licenses. However, this was a policy enacted by someone much higher up in the administration than the lowly office clerk. Your anger should be directed at your elected officials at the state and national level who concocted this hair-brained scheme, not an hourly employee doing her job.

Deal with gang colors

TAKE NOTICE, Cape Girar-deau. Young people are walking around displaying their gang colors. They are decked out from head to toe and not afraid to show it. Get a handle on this situation before it becomes a nuisance. Look at public policies in St. Louis and other large cities and start passing ordinances about these things, or you're going to have gang violence everywhere, not just on Hanover Street.

Leak on Bertling

WE HAVE been calling about a water leak on Bertling Street for the last three weeks. No one has made any attempt to see what the problem is. We would like to know what it would take to get someone out here to fix it.

Useful buildings

THIS IS in response to the story about the house that's going to be torn down by Southeast Missouri State University for a parking lot. I understand this would add 16 parking places. When I went to college back in the 1940s, I walked seven or eight blocks to school. I didn't have a car, and very few kids had a car to drive to school. What's wrong with these kids walking a little bit and getting exercise? They said the house was in bad shape and needs to be torn down. What about other places officials said were going to fall down. Now those buildings have been put to good use. I think some of the college officials should try to save a little money.

Keep calling

MY CASE worker at family services didn't recommend that I contact the legislators when I lost my Missouri Medicaid. I cannot afford medical coverage of any kind, and I'm sure there are a lot of you who can't. So if the legislators get tired of hearing these calls, bombard them with more calls and write them with your complaints. If they don't listen to us, maybe they'll listen when we go to the polls next election.

In good shape

I WOULD like to say that I'm impressed with the physical condition of the Cape Girar-deau police force. When you read or hear news about them chasing someone, they catch them very shortly, which implies that our policemen are in good physical condition.

Zero pollution

PLEASE GIVE careful attention to the most imminent problem we face as a global industrial society: industrial and consumer waste. As a concerned scientific generalist, I believe industry in the private sector can reclaim all industrial byproducts. Perhaps present scientific understanding and technology cannot g create useful materials from these wastes. If that is the case, then the wastes need to be stored, removing them from the environment while permitting research to find proper reclamation processes in the future. The goal of the world community should be zero pollution.

Reconsider decision

I DON'T think that the house on North Street should be torn down by Southeast Missouri State University. It could be sold and the proceeds used to make a parking lot somewhere else on campus. Tearing down that house to make only 16 parking spaces is terrible. SEMO is only for historic preservation when it involves tuition money. I hope the university reconsiders its decision.

License rules

I WANT to comment on the new license bureau requirements. I think they are aggravating. People have had driver's licenses since they were 16. Please write your federal legislators. Do whatever it takes to get this thing stopped. It's more of a dictatorship every day.

People are ignored

YOU'VE GOT an article about the Cape Girardeau School District possibly wanting to add an auditorium and a football stadium and paying for this with bond money and this possibly being part of a plan down the road. There's not going to be a lot of things passed in this town until there's some house cleaning done. The people in this community have been ignored by the last several superintendents. Until some things are rectified, I don't think the district should count on getting anything passed.

Extra charge

I SENT my husband to the license bureau so he could renew his driver's license. He took with him his original birth certificate, but it did not have a special seal on it. He was charged another $15 to get his driver's license. I think this is unfair.

Post office location?

WITH THE Cape Girardeau Naval Reserve Center closing down and the Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive intersection being revamped, this would create a fine building for a new post office.

Suffering in the heat

THE CAPE Girardeau School District may look into building a football field, auditorium and new classrooms at the high school and a new elementary school. Rob Huff said "the new high school was built to allow for expansion. Even so, it would cost a few million dollars." A few million? Do we really have a few million? A few is quite a little when the middle school doesn't even have air conditioning right now and will not have it for approximately two weeks. We have employees that are working there non-stop trying to get that building ready for the students by Aug. 15. Nobody's in a hurry. We have to suffer in the meantime.

Rules are a pain

I FEEL the pain of the 80-year-old woman who had all the trouble with the license bureau. I went through the same thing. I had to come up with my original birth certificate. It's a pain. They're making it hard on us American citizens, and the terrorists will still get through.

Strange signal

Why does the stoplight at Broadway and Caruthers turn red as traffic approaches on Broadway and there are no cars on Caruthers? This signal is all mixed up.