Speak Out 8/6/06

Vital protection

IN RESPONSE to the story "Missouri lawmakers want all sex offenders to register despite state Supreme Court ruling": Our state's founding fathers intent was to give those who live in Missouri stronger protections than even the U.S. Constitution. Now in order to be able to punish a few they want to strip everyone in the state of this additional protection? Changing the constitution in this manner will in the long run have a detrimental impact on every single resident of the state as new challenges to previous rulings happen and the previous rulings are overturned because we allowed the few to strip away vital protections. We need to scream loud and clear leave our constitution and the protections that our founding father's had the foresight to include alone. I hope Missourians are more intelligent than to allow the few to strip the many of what the founding father's perceived as a vital protection.

Misinformed on signs

THE COMMENTS recently saying "We can't put out yard sale signs" and "We can't ride ATVs" are examples of the ignorance of those who read Speak Out and believe everything they read without checking out the details. There is no law against yard sale signs or riding ATVs. There is a law that bans yard sale signs on public right-of-way. That doesn't mean you can't put one in your own yard. This is not a recent change either. As for equating smoking to freedom, how about the freedom of those who can't breath unpolluted air due to the smoke that is blown out by those who are too selfish to realize they are taking away the freedom of others? This is another example of misinformed ignorance by the Speak Out commoners.

Too much ethanol

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI farmers are selling all of the corn they produce every year. It sounds like five groups want to build ethanol plants. Marty Hutcheson and his group of farmers want to build a plant in Malden. David Herbst and his large group of farmers want to build a plant in Sikeston. Southeast Missouri Milling wants to build a plant at the Scott City port. Russ Mothershead wants to build a second plant at the same Scott City port. And Phil Danforth says he already has the money to build a plant at the Cape Girardeau airport. There is not enough corn in this area to support five ethanol plants. It is my opinion that one plant will be built in Sikeston and one at the Scott City port. All of the other plants may not happen.

Secondhand smoke

I THINK the no-smoking policy on hospital grounds is an excellent decision. Right after I had my baby I walked out holding him, and there were people smoking. I felt offended. And I worried about the exposure. Who wants to come into the world breathing secondhand smoke?

Cell phones and bikes

I HAVE seen it all. I was driving on Kingshighway during the busy lunch hour and saw a middle-aged man on a bicycle without a helmet and talking on his cell phone. He had a cell phone in one hand and the handle bar in the other. He was having a hard time keeping the bike under control. Car drivers were swerving to avoid hitting him. I couldn't believe it. We wonder why there are so many wrecks. Maybe cell phones should be used only when they don't distract the driver. What do you think?

God's destruction

TO THE person who said God would not hurt unarmed children: How about Sodom or Jericho or even the flood? If God wants to destroy someone, it doesn't matter who's in the way. It's going to happen.

Road measurement

THE CORRECT measurements for a road easement for county paving is 30 feet from the center line of the road (the majority of which is already road), not "50 feet of the landowner's property" as one mistaken comment suggested.

Tattoo publicity

I CAN'T believe the Southeast Missourian gave front-page coverage the tattoo business. This is a free ad for them. I think tattoos are gross and dirty looking. These people aren't thinking past their noses. Businesses will not hire them. The Centers for Disease Control says they are relatively safe but not definitely safe.

Controlled supply

OIL PRICES are not based on demand. They are based on the fact that a cartel is controlling the quantity available. The supply is there, but the cartel is controlling the amount of oil that comes into the market. It's not going to allow the country buy oil in the quantity we want. We need celluosic ethanol, and the time is now.

Car-seat info

REGARDING CHILD-restraint car seats: The health department is only a referral source. The best place to get car seats or information about car seats would be to call Safe Kids at Southeast Missouri Hospital or to call the Cape Girardeau Police Department. They will be able to help anyone with car seats.

Inconvenience line

YESTERDAY I sat in a drive-through line at a convenience store for probably 20 minutes. A drive-through line should be for sodas and cigarettes or anything behind the counter. People were buying milk, bread and cases of beer. Give the clerks behind the counter a break, and give the rest of us sitting in line and wasting our fuel a break too.

Immigrant struggle

Of course taxpayers are going to support illegal immigrants. And we'll do it with a smile on our face. Would you like to know why? Because after those English-as-a-second-language courses and those laborious jobs that pay so little and the struggle to support their families abroad, illegal immigrants become valuable members of our society. They work harder than you ever will to make a better life for themselves. They are fighting for something that you were born with: citizenship.

Joy of porches

Yes, TJ Greaney, the demise of the porch has affected our lives and our attitudes toward life. As children, we often slept on Grandma's front porch, which was preferable to sleeping upstairs in an un-air-conditioned steam bath. We shucked peas and snapped beans there. We played there when it rained. People have become so dependent on air-conditioning that they cannot tolerate the heat of being outside. Perhaps air conditioning is a large part of why porches have declined in popularity. I still have one. Neighbors stop over when I'm out. People wave as they drive by. It's a neat thing to have and enjoy.