Speak Out 8/26/08

Be smart, wait to drink

ANYONE WHO lived in the 1970s and was on a college campus knows there was plenty of binge drinking around and they didn't call them keggers for nothing. I just kind of doubt there's more binge drinking today than there was in the 1970s. They didn't make "Animal House" for no reason. I think probably waiting until age 21, you may produce fewer alcoholics. I wonder if there's a study done because I would think if you start drinking younger, you'd be more prone to be an alcoholic than if you wait until the age of 21 to drink. By then, you may have grown up and realized alcohol's not really something you need in your life. I mean, who needs the extra money it costs, the unproductivity is leads to, etc.?

Age for voting

I WOULD like to comment about lowering the drinking age to 18. If we can have our 18-year-olds go overseas and put a gun in their hands and tell them to fight and die for their country, and if an 18-year-old can vote a president in to help run the country, then they ought to be responsible enough to drink at 18. However, having said that, I do know 21-year-olds, 22-, 23-, 24-, 25-, 30-year-olds not responsible enough to drink. If you're going to leave it at 21, then you ought to go back to voting a president at 21, serving your country at 21. It's just hard for me to understand how we can send our 18-year-olds overseas to fight and die for this country but when they go into order a beer, we tell them they're not old enough. That's my only concern.

Don't lower drinking age

LOWERING THE drinking to age 18 would be a recipe for disaster. I believe this was brought up by several colleges as a way to pass off the problem of binge drinking to the community.

No cell phones

I BELIEVE there is absolutely no reason for students to have cell phones in class. The teacher, in case of emergency, should have one, but students have enough distractions.

Primary voting

IT'S TIME to change the Missouri primary system so that an entire list of candidates for any office will be listed during the primary and people can vote for maybe a Republican for governor and maybe they have a favorite Democrat that they'd like for county auditor. So we ought to be able to vote for who we want in each race, whether they're Republican or Democrat.

Where's the honor?

TO THE person who backed into my white Oldsmobile in the Jackson Country Mart parking lot two months ago, breaking out the brake lights and denting my car and then driving off without leaving a note, I hope your conscience isn't bothering you too much.

Hot supper in Leopold

I WENT TO the Leopold Picnic for supper. It was delicious, but the heat was miserable. I think they should put air-conditioning window units in one day a year for that supper so you can eat in comfort instead of sweating so much. Maybe they'd get a bigger crowd.

Spay, neuter your pets

I WAS just taking a look at the three-column free-for-the-taking section, and I was struck by the number of large-breed puppies that were available. Many people today are living in apartments and rental houses and a large dog isn't in the budget or the lease. The people who are breeding these large-breed dogs need to have their pets spayed or neutered. These large dogs are filling up the Humane Society, and it's not fair to keep euthanizing them.

Avoid war at all costs

AVOIDING WAR with Russia at all costs is a good thing. Anyone knows we really couldn't be in another war right now. In Afghanistan we have our hands plenty full. My dad is a lover of history, and he told me all the time I was growing up -- and this has been 30-plus years ago -- that anyone who messed with Afghanistan would have their hands full because of their history, that they're a tough, formidable people and that history shows this. So it's almost foolishness us being in Afghanistan. I don't think we're going to be able to win there, it will be like Vietnam. I don't know what the mission is there, but hopefully it will be short as possible. We can't be all over the world, and it appears that diplomacy is going to work. We can already see that Russia's pulling back now. Diplomacy or tough talk can work. We can't just be going to war all over the place.

One license plate

TO THE police department, the state patrol and the sheriff's department: How do some people get by with only one license plate and others don't? Many pickups have only one, some with a substitute advertisement plate. Anytime I drive, I see several who don't seem to give a hoot. Many small trailers have no plate, many expired. Laws shouldn't be broken by a few while others are pulled over. I know of one person who has one of these plates on one truck and the other plate on his old truck.

Letter was bigoted

THIS PAPER recently printed a letter with the heading, "Islamic expansion presents dangers." I don't care if the writer had "some experience with a moderate element of Islam," his letter wreaked of anti-Muslim bigotry. I doubt the writer would like if Christianity was accused of being run by fanatics that "have openly avowed their intent to rule the world" and I doubt this newspaper which features columnists that whine incessantly about a liberal media that doesn't exist would print a letter with such accusations. It was wrong to print this bigoted letter.

Road crews should split

Dear MoDOT, these are the days that there is more daylight to use for outside work. Since you already know travel at 34/72 is going to be a safety problem for school and work commuters, would it not be smart on your part to have the crews work split shifts during the most dangerous hours? A wreck will bottle up the road and shut work down.