Speak Out 7/29/05

Not in Illinois

I ALWAYS enjoy Scott Moyer's columns, and I especially enjoyed his take on the vanishing act done by local nonprint media on the "Killshot" story. However, I believe I can shed some light on why the local news decided not to pursue the story. It didn't happen in Carbondale.

New taxes

IT IS a great idea to increase taxes on alcohol. We should also increase taxes on sugar and high-fat foods like candy bars and potato chips.

Weapons of choice

IF YOU think assault rifles are bad, check statistics on types of weapons used in violent crimes. Assault rifles are not even in the top 20. Items like hammers, knives, bats and fists are used in more crimes than assault rifles. If you want to decrease violent crimes, start with curbing violent behavior. When a person is determined to injure someone else, he doesn't care what he uses.

What isn't revealed

THESE JOURNALISTS are in hot water because they will not say who their source is. It is strange they will go to jail not to reveal a source but would readily reveal to the world the name of a CIA agent. Maybe these journalists should have immediately contacted the CIA or FBI when given the name of the CIA agent. No, I guess that would not sell newspapers. That would have placed the revealer in hot water, and the world would not know who the agent was. They could have easily written a story on someone leaking the agents name but not given the name.

Automotive retort

I WAS amused by Steve Robertson's column on the hybrid Ford Escape, written as though this were a new technology. What Robertson failed to stress is that Toyota and Honda have been making hybrids for years, that these models get far superior gas mileage to the abominable Ford Escape and that the reason no American company has yet produced a decent hybrid has been years of head-in-the-sand posturing that has blocked this technology in favor of the gas-guzzling SUV.

Ban cell phones

THIS IS a call to ban cell-phone use while driving in Cape Girardeau and Jackson. Are these calls all that important? If so, pull over and get out of my way. Something needs to be done. I drive around both of these towns every day and see near misses all the time. Someone is going to get killed.

Parking and walking

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI State University needs to rethink its expansion plans and start making high -rise parking centers. The university is destroying so much of what makes Cape Girardeau a beautiful town. Gravel parking lots don't qualify as attractive. As a student, I had to walk to class and never thought much more about it than picking up my feet to get where I was going. The exercise would do everyone a great deal of good. Look at the general physical condition of many students and faculty members. Walking does the body good.

Thanks for phone

THANK YOU so much to the man who found my phone in the street and returned it. Your honesty is greatly appreciated, and I would thank you in person if I could.

Look for savings

WHAT THIS country needs to do is conserve energy instead of looking for more energy. A penny saved is a penny earned. We're so wasteful. We take almost all the resources of the world.

Merger mistake

CONCERNING THE exodus of the unions from the AFL-CIO: I've been a union member since 1951. The AFL was mostly a trade union for construction workers, carpenters, steelworkers. The CIO was for factory laborers. It was a big mistake when they merged. We need two of everything to be successful.