Speak Out 8/28/06

Thanks for assistance

ONE HUGE thank you to the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, Asplundh Construction, AmerenUE and the volunteers who so quickly arrived on East Cape Rock Drive after the storm this weekend. Thank you to the two men who went door-to-door cutting away trees from driveways and houses. This helped tremendously. Because of the workers' diligence, power was restored within 24 hours of outage. Thank you all again.

Living off taxpayers

REGARDING THE comment that we need term limits because elected officials "should not be allowed to live off the taxpayers for more than a few terms": Elected officials live off taxpayers for the rest of their lives at our expense. The governor of Missouri will receive about $160,000 annually after he leaves office, and his wife will get about $120,000 if she out lives him. That is 16 times more than I make in a year with a bachelor of science degree and working two part-time jobs at $6.50 an hour.

Feel-good laws

LAST WEEKEND I picked up my grandchildren to take them for an ice cream treat. The 2-year-old cried because she could not come along. Her child safety seat was in her mother's vehicle where she worked. After next Monday, the 6-year-old would have to stay at home too, because she would not have a booster seat in my vehicle. She'll understand, though, that we have to have feel-good laws to protect our children and grandchildren.

County littering

IF YOU are one of those people who enjoy riding around on our county roads while eating take-out or having a few beers, have the courtesy to put your trash where it belongs, not all over our roads and yards. I know our county has some beautiful scenery, but please pick up after yourselves.

A decent future

SEVERAL YEARS ago I heard a wise judge comment that no non-violent felonies should be made permanent before the age of 25. He felt young males especially were not mature before that age, and it was unforgivable for the justice system to ruin so many young lives. I agree. I am old now, but I can remember doing things in my youth of which I am still ashamed even today. I agree with the judge. If a young man can mature, complete a degree and turn his life around, why not give him a chance at a decent future?

Motorcycle danger

I LIVE past a corner on Highway 177 and have seen many wrecks in front of my house. The wreck I am waiting for will involve those who drive motorcycles. I can't count the times I have been passed by one of those either on a hill or right before a corner. It will be very bad when a motorcycle hits another car.

R-rated highways

NOW THAT the courts have ruled that sexy billboards have to be allowed, I guess children under 18 won't be allowed to travel down the highway unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Whose Guard?

I'M CONFUSED about the National Guard: the word "national" seems pretty self-explanatory. That arm of the service is not called State Guard. Do the states pay the salaries of the National Guardsmen, or does the federal government pay them? It seems to me that the states and the feds should be able to work together to resolve who is in charge of the National Guard without anyone fearing that their authority is being usurped.

Protect our rights

THE CITY council should not have the right to business owners they can't smoke in their places of business. If a person owns a business, he should be boss over that place, not the city council. If people don't want to go where there's smoking, they can stay away. Quit taking people's rights away from them.

The party's over

SINCE THE Republicans in Congress find it necessary to walk lockstep with what George Bush proposes, I think it's time for a complete change. Those people are following the lead of a person who is approved barely by a third of the public. If almost two-thirds of the public doesn't want what Bush wants, why should we want what the Republican Party has to offer?

Illegal parking

I WISH the Cape Girardeau Police Department would do something about the illegal parking at the intersection of Broadway and Main Street. Every day around noon there are cars parked there. The sign clearly states "No parking from here to the corner." Yet three to four cars are always parked there.

Turn on lights

I LIVE in Scott City. This morning it was foggy out and dark. I wondered how many people would turn on the lights on the vehicles when it's like this. I was out at 6:30 a.m., and there was people in dark-colored vehicles who acted like it didn't matter. I don't know what their problem is. What really caught my attention was this: I was making a right turn, and a policeman turned in front of me. He didn't have his lights on either, which is setting a poor example for everyone else.

Still smoking

I AM so glad that Saint Francis Medical Center is allowing us to smoke. It is giving us our right. By the way, on the Internet yesterday there was a 115-year-old man who never drank in his life but quit smoking at 90 after 76 years. I think I'll keep on smoking, because I really do enjoy it.

School attendance

IT'S SADDENS me that Mark Bliss thinks he did the right thing regarding a board member's residency. There should be a law that a school board member or anyone working in administration and has school-age children should attend the public school they represent.

Don't need the gate

I'M SURPRISED there has not been any comment about the idea of putting a gate in the floodwall at Independence Street. Why in the world do we need another gate? This is a waste of money.

Hard-working farmers

SOME PEOPLE think the farmers around here are getting all kinds of government benefits. My dad has been a farmer for 50 years. He's never received anything, and he worked his butt off. We need to be glad we've got some farmers.

Free farm trade

The only way government crop subsidies will cease is if government gets its nose out of the market altogether and lets trade control prices. Ethanol is not the answer.

Old campaign signs

How long are we going to have to look at politicians' signs left from our most recent election? There needs to be a time limit for them to be posted. There have been some that have never been removed from prior elections.

Consider the facts

Does anyone, who isn't blinded by greed or political ambition, believe that 20 people living in a single-family dwelling, being paid in cash and sending most of their earnings home to Mexico really give more to our economic and social system than they take out in services?

Solution is costly

The reason why Cape Girardeau falls apart during inclement weather is the fact that the city's sewerage system has not been upgraded as the city has expanded. It takes serious dollars and most likely serious road upgrades to update the system to today's demand levels. Because gravity has to move the water, the main drains are buried deeper and deeper as they approach the water treatment facility and the Mississippi River. I don't think citizens would appreciate spending millions of dollars upgrading.

Safety zones

The orange cones in construction zones are placed on the road to keep motorists out of an area for the safety of workers and motorists. The public doesn't need to cross the cone line for any reason, even if it takes a little longer to drive to an open intersection to turn around.

Did nothing wrong

I appreciate the high standards held by the Missourian, which makes me feel good about the newspaper. But your reporter Mark Bliss didn't do anything wrong. He pointed out a situation that was not legally correct. What does it matter if he personally filed a complaint or if the attorney general had taken action because of information already printed in the newspaper? I don't see the difference.

Telling whole story

I want to say thanks to the Southeast Missourian for telling the whole story about Eric Kesler, Mark Bliss and the school board seat at Scott County Central School District.

Still in Korea

A recent caller claimed that once we realized we couldn't win in Korea we got out. Really? Tell that to the 38,000 U.S. troops stationed there.

Not a big deal

Do we really need a front-page story about being gay in Cape Girardeau? I hope no one gets fire-bombed. That would be appalling. The reason the area is accepting of gays is that it isn't in your face. It's the same reason the area is accepting of other non-traditional characteristics. People here tend to live and let live. By that I don't just mean gay. I mean Muslim, Goth, skateboarding. The list goes on. It's when the activity becomes in your face, like skateboard jumping off my portico, that the problems arise. So why the front-page story? Is it that big a deal?

No to school bus

I HAVE decided not to let my children ride the school bus to Clippard Elementary School. The bus is always late in the mornings. School starts at 8:10 a.m., and the buses don't arrive at school until well after then, and the children still need to eat breakfast, which puts them in class 30 minutes or so late every morning. The length of the ride home in the afternoon is ridiculous. We live about 10 blocks from the school. On the day that the kids rode the bus, it took almost hour to get them home.

Good education

Thank you for the story "In the open." It was refreshing to see a story in the Missourian that will shed a positive light on the gay community in Cape Girardeau. It's important that we see who these people really are: regular, hard-working folks just like the rest of us. The best way to end all of the uninformed, negative feelings is to educate, and I think the Missourian did that with this well-written and informative article.

Relieving anxiety

I am glad to hear that Saint Francis Medical Center has chosen to adhere to the state's smoking rule and leave the regulations that they have already set in place as they are. It's one thing if you're a smoking patient in the hospital and another thing if you're a family member who smokes, spending long hours there, often stressed out. Smoking is still a choice, and to smoke when stressed out has a calming effect for addicted smokers. I feel that demanding visitors to leave all property to smoke when a family member is sick leaves the family members nowhere to go to release their anxiety.

Did the right thing

So Mark Bliss decided to do something about Scott County Central School Board member Eric Kesler's not being in agreement with the state residency requirements, and you discipline him for this? He should be congratulated and given a pay raise. Shame on you, Southeast Missourian.

Best papers ever

The Southeast Missourian is putting out some of the best newspapers I've ever seen. Keep up the good work.