Speak Out 8/2/03

Courteous motorists

AFTER TRAVELING to a busy city this summer and seeing the rude people, it was nice to get back to the Cape Girardeau area where people make an effort to be courteous in their automobiles.

What's a loophole?

I READ where Gov. Bob Holden will call a second special session in September and ask lawmakers to consider closing corporate tax loopholes. I find that interesting. He signed a bill to keep the Ford Motor Co. plant open in the St. Louis area. That was a tax loophole that made it possible for Ford to stay there. So what's a tax loophole? It depends on who benefits.

That's different

I TAKE offense at Joe Sullivan's lack of respect for readers' concern about the women on the mechanical bull. He is correct. We can go to the Capaha pool and see women in bathing suits, but we don't usually see them drunk, taking off their shirts and parading around for a $100 cash reward or men running around calling them hot and wanting them take off their clothes.

Railroad information

I'VE BEEN on the railroad for over 34 years. I hired out of Scott City and ran the last train out of there when it was the old Cotton Belt. When we was merging with the UP, nobody seemed to even know that we had left. Scott City was founded on the railroad. The city council can pass an ordinance to not blow whistles at certain times of day. The speed limit for trains through Scott City is 40 mph. The whistle is used as a warning device for the railroad.

Fight for our symbols

WHEN I attended SEMO as an undergraduate, goals of higher education went beyond study habits and passing tests. They included developing social skills, learning to think and participating in debates -- the development of character to become a functioning, participant in adult in society. Having the Indians as an identification for the school and its sports teams was a symbol of strength and honor. It was never disrespectful. Now we have political correctness creeping in like a cancer, trying to extinguish part of the heritage and pride of the university and the community. It's high time for free and clear-thinking Americans to stand up to this attack on our school traditions. Tell the university in no uncertain terms to fight for what is right -- the right to continue using our strong symbols to develop our youth into responsible adults.

Sure, they'll come

AS FOR the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that we build a swimming beach by the flood wall, I've only got one thing to say. If you build it, they will come. Cape Girardeau is full of idiots.

Bring back the roses

BRING BACK our City of Roses into bloom. It would be great to see roses from Fruitland to Scott City along I-55 from donations raised by individuals and charitable organizations. Also, each business along Kingshighway could share in planting rose bushes at their establishments that travelers enjoy. This would put us back on the map of beauty.

Terrorist countries

YOU PEOPLE still don't get it, do you? Iraq was not the terrorist country that President Bush said it was. It was other countries that were the terrorist countries. He went to the wrong country. Sure, Saddam Hussein was a bad man. There's no denying it. But Iraq was not the terrorist country. Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran and Lebanon are the terrorist countries, not Iraq.

A great man

I'D JUST like to say the American people and the world lost a great man by the name of Bob Hope. He did more for military morale and more for people's morale than anyone else. He probably was the best comedian there ever was in the world. He never told a dirty joke. I think the world has lost a beautiful man. I've seen several of his USO shows. The world is going to miss him.

Expensive change

I HAVE a suggestion for naming SEMO's mascots. How about the Indians and Otahkians? Isn't there a saying about don't fix what isn't broken? Was there such a large uprising that made SEMO feel the need to disrupt this town? The Indians are a part of Cape Girardeau and have been for a while. This idea of changing mascots is not just ridiculous. Isn't it also going to be expensive? How much money will be used to replace logos on signs, apparel, walls and gym floors?

Try vandalism

THIS REQUEST goes to Mayor Jay Knudtson or somebody on the city council or maybe some employee of the city. Why doesn't someone cut that pole off on Mount Auburn Road? Then the cable and telephone companies would have to take the wires to make repairs. Sounds like a pretty good idea.

Slowing down traffic

ONE REASON we park on the street is to slow the traffic down. There are children playing and people trying to back out of their driveways. People fly up and down the street, so when you park your car on the street, it makes people slow down.

Honorable name

BEING THAT my grandpa was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian and I'm a graduate of Jackson High School and Southeast Missouri State University, he came to every baseball game I played for both of those schools. He never took offense at our team name being the Indians. No matter what Southeast changes its name to, I am and always will be proud to be an Indian. I think it's terrible that Southeast will no longer be able to respect and honor the American Indian name that we have in the past. Go, Indians!

Try Canada's system

MY APPROACH to controlling medical costs is different from Jo Ann Emerson's. The time is now to adopt a Canadian-style health-care system with some improvements. There's no good reason that our percentage of gross national product for medical care is 45 percent above that in Canada. Congress should enact laws that require that we pay the same price for drugs as other major industrial countries. There is no good reason that all the costs of drug development is being entirely paid for by the citizens of the United States. The rest of the world is able to buy these same drugs at a much lower price. In the last few years, the cost of drugs has increased several times the general rate of inflation. My feeling is that the medical industry is trying to gouge the people of this country because they feel that the time is running out for them to do that kind of action.

Target for anger

SOME DEMOCRATS are not criticizing our troops. Most Democrats are with them 100 percent. We're just as patriotic as Republicans. The only ones we criticize are Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. President Bush wants to play cowboy at the blood of our young men and women. That makes us mad. Let's face it. They goofed.

No mascot at SEMO

SOUTHEAST IS not trying to change its mascot. Southeast doesn't have a mascot and hasn't had one for the last 18 years. The reason the university is looking into possibly changing the nickname for its athletic teams is so it can develop a mascot. Chief Sagamore and Princess Otahki haven't been around for a long time. If you want to criticize the university for what it's trying to do, educate yourself first. Students would like a mascot and deserve a mascot for their athletic teams. We're never going to get an Indian mascot back.

In the spotlight

I THINK American Indians should be grateful their names are being used for sports teams, because at least it makes the American public think about Indians. Otherwise, we would just totally ignore them.