Speak Out 8/2/08

Positive change

IT TAKES huge amounts of revenue to run a city, and a casino brings in great amounts of revenue. Good or bad, the other alternative is higher taxes. We can't have it both ways. It's time to open our eyes and accept change as a positive thing.

Thanks for billfold

I WOULD thank whoever turned in my billfold at Wal-Mart in Cape Girardeau. Thank you so much, and God bless you. I hope a blessing comes to you.

Driving in the center

ERIC REDINGER would have us ride the center line so people on bicycles could have the right side of the lane. Many of the roads the bike people prefer are narrow, and Cape Girardeau drivers have a bad tendency to ease over the center line. How many more accidents are we going to have if all the drivers are trying to ride that center line? We're going to have to come up with something else. That won't work.

Food chain

THIS IS to the person wondering what happened to all the butterflies, bees, ants and purple martins. The spray used to control mosquitoes also kills most every other bug it comes in contact with, including the beneficial ones that pollinate our plants. Since purple martins eat mosquitoes and other flying insects, they must look elsewhere for a meal.

Redneck signs

YOU MIGHT be a redneck if you have to have signs to tell you someone might be riding their bikes somewhere in Cape Girardeau. You are not a redneck if you are reading these overpriced signs and they distract you and you cause an accident. How about buying signs warning you that when your light turns green at an intersection, to look before pulling out because there will be someone running a red light somewhere in the city?

Calling the doctors

I AM complaining about the doctors' offices that put you on hold for two hours and have a recording saying your phone call will be answered in the order it was received. You have to sit at the doctor's office practically half the day. I don't think this is right. They should answer their phone.

More parking

REGARDING THE new cancer center at Southeast Missouri Hospital: The thing that struck me the most was the parking lot. This is the biggest problem with all the expansion going on. Right now at both hospitals there's virtually no parking. The hospitals try to get people around with trams and valet service, but both of them are pretty inconvenient. It's the same at Southeast Missouri State University. If we're going to build, build, build, then the institutions that are doing the construction need to envision what to do about parking.

Law-abiding cyclists

I WILL be glad to start sharing the road when bicyclists start acting like they deserve to be there. I am sick and tired of all these cyclists who don't think they need to obey traffic laws like signs and stop lights.