Speak Out 9/10/08

Useful checkpoints

I WOULD like to commend the Jackson Police Department and the officers who were working a sobriety checkpoint on U.S. 61 Friday night. I think it's a great idea to have these occasionally. Cape Girardeau should take note of this and run these checkpoints occasionally.

Public meetings

THIS IN regard to Gerald Jones' comments: "If we can go into closed sessions, that's the way we'll handle it. If we can't go into closed sessions, I'm just not going to tell Jay Purcell about it." How is he going to tell Larry Bock about it? They're not supposed to have meetings with just the two of them. This is against the Sunshine Law.

Electric bill issues

I GOT a nice letter from the electric company today saying that even though my balance is $0, because of late payments, they're going to start putting a monthly deposit on my bill. Now, doesn't that make sense? If people are having trouble paying their bill, let's make their bills higher. Let's give them more trouble.

Civic opportunities

SOMEONE SEEMS to be of the opinion that teachers -- whether they be at the university or public school level -- somehow give up their constitutional rights. Southeast Missouri State University faculty members have served on the Cape Girardeau School Board, run for Congress, attended national nominating conventions, served on numerous state boards and been active in both parties at the local and state level. Would this person have been as concerned had this faculty member been a supporter of John McCain?

Energy independence

What is energy independence for America? Taken literally, it means satisfying all of our energy needs through domestic sources and production. Both presidential candidates are fond of using this phrase. Consuming less energy provided from sources abroad may be possible, but complete independence is a myth unless we all agree to limit ourselves to one or two tanks of gasoline per year.

A clearer view

Regarding the pro-life, pro-war stand: 3,300 Americans die each day in abortions. In the Iraq War we have 4,155 brave solders who have died since the war began in March 2003. Of those 3,376 died in combat. This means more than 10 million innocent babies have been killed during the same time here at home in abortions. The number of Americans lost to abortion far outweighs the number lost in Iraq. We are pro-war due to the fact that it is in our best interests. If your family was being held at gunpoint by a person who is beyond reason and you had a gun in your hand, would you use it? What would be the best choice?