speak out 7/31

Make it like jury duty

I HAD to laugh when I read the article, "Counties wrestle with lack of labor for polls." One longtime poll worker says young adults don't want to work the polls because elections don't interest them. I'm in my 30s. My husband and I are very interested in elections. Most of our friends are too. We vote. We discuss the issues. We read. We watch news reports. And we're very well-educated and pay attention to what's going on. But the Missourian was right. The reason most of us don't vote is we can't get off. I'm a schoolteacher here in Cape. I get 10 sick days a year. I have three children. I have to save every day I have in case my children get sick or if I get sick. I'm also allowed two personal days, but I have elderly parents that I have had to take to do surgery and things like that. I have to save my personal days for my family commitments. There's a simple solution. Get some kind of a law passed where the county can pull people from work just as they do for jury duty to work at the polls. I asked off to work at the polls. My employer told me that he would count it as a personal day, and there would be no exception made, even though it was a civic responsibility.

Mobile-home eyesores

I'VE BEEN a lifelong resident of Scott City. It seems the ordinances regarding dilapidated trailers and mobile homes are not being enforced. I'm very proud of Scott City. When you come into Scott City, the first thing you see on the right on Main Street is a welcoming sign. If you turn your head just a little bit further to the right, all you see is dilapidated mobile homes. Several of them aren't occupied. A couple of them have been burned out and never repaired for several months. Why doesn't the city do something about this? We demand better government than that.

Funny bookkeeping

WITH ALL this stuff about corporations not being honest about their bookkeeping, you have to wonder about the Democrats and good Republicans in Washington, D.C. They use Social Security as part of the government's money. It's not their money. That's funny bookkeeping too, don't you think?

County road maintenance

I'VE SOMETHING to say about the county roads. We've got a county road that has been one of the most dangerous roads that needs to be blacktopped for the past 15 years. We've tried everything to get it done. It's just 1 1/2 miles. With the elections this year, I want everybody to remember the flat tires on County Road 525 and the dust and the wrecks that have been happening out there. Remember the commissioners that let this go by. But you can go on other roads like County Road 324, which they constantly maintain, because there are three or four county employees who live on that road. If you drive it today, it's a better road than the highways. But when we try to get our road to Neeley's Landing maintained, we run into a brick wall.

We don't want it

I'M CALLING about all the recent articles about the proposed Kinder Morgan Power Co. plant. People around here don't want it. The company refused to listen. It tried to get the DNR to approve, but the company doesn't want to do what's safe for the people who live here. Why do they want to harass us for this? If they want to make utilities for other states, let them go there and build the power plant.

Affordable, with love

I HAVE a licensed day care in Scott City. I charge $10 a day for working parents. The children get breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack and a whole lot of love. The children have the run of my home. They're treated just like they're my children.

Time to stand up

WITH EVERYTHING going on today -- the war in the Middle East, the war on terrorism, the war on drugs -- don't you think it's time Americans used the big stick that a former president talked about? It's time we stood up for each other. It's time that we stood up for the world. It's time to call terrorists what they are: warmongers. They should be treated as such. It's time for the United States to stand up and say, "No more."

Prescription plans

THE TRUTH about the difference in the Democratic and Republican prescription drug plans can be learned by asking your local pharmacist which plan is better for you and which plan is better for independent pharmacies. The Republican plan will steer you into getting all of your prescriptions through mail-order wholesale companies. The Democratic plan is the one that supports keeping the local pharmacist available to you and is the one that would allow his business to continue. I learned this information from my local pharmacist, who is a staunch Republican. This should put an end once and for all to this idea of which party is truly for small business and the common man.

Be proactive

THE JULY 31 editorials gave me the impression of after-the-fact reporting on the 10-year wait in the Ranchito area to obtain storm-sewer improvements and extension of city water to the industrial park. These items were reported as news items in the Missourian previously. The Missourian should take a positive editorial approach to lead needed community efforts to promote areas for economic expansion and improvements to the quality of life. Without positive leadership, I believe the delays encountered on these projects will continue.

Views on terrorism

IF CANADA or Mexico allowed terrorists to go to the United States and blow up innocent women, children, churches, schools, buses, cafes, or weddings as the Palestinians have done in Israel, the United States would use all means to hunt down and exterminate these animals. But if Israel retaliates, it is hurting the peace process and they are putting the innocent in danger. If this terror were in America every day, it would be all-out war.