Speak Out 9/26/06

Rates going up

Way to go, Jackson Board of Aldermen. It's hard enough for small businesses to make it, so let's take away their 10 percent electricity discount and raise rates 12 percent. Be sure and take care of the people who take care of you. Pay the taxes.

Religious war

It should be clear that the war in the Middle East is over religion. One's choice of religion is a personal matter. It is useless to try to make people change by force.

Iron fist at meetings

SCHOOL BOARDS will do everything in their power to keep you from speaking at a meeting if it is assumed you're going to say something critical. The usual excuse is that you were not on the agenda. School boards are run with an iron fist.

Real agenda

DR. MICHAEL Devaney wrote another anti-ethanol opinion. Like previous opinion pieces, it relies on an incorrect study by Pimentel and Patzek to say that ethanol is not efficient. All other creditable researchers and the U.S. Department of Energy say ethanol is energy-efficient and getting better every year. More importantly, ethanol is investment-efficient. In fact, it is so profitable that research money will find ways to make it more efficient in the next few years. Devaney's real agenda is revealed in his last paragraph. He is angry that a large corporation like ADM is making huge profits on ethanol. Would we rather send the energy profits to Iran to pay for more terrorists?

Be informed

I JUST heard that a 2-year-old in Idaho died this week after experiencing symptoms of E-coli. His family reported he had eaten spinach on Tuesday. Who would still have spinach in their homes? How can anyone be that out of touch with the national news? People need to pay attention to what's going on.

Do the right thing

I DROVE past the new entrance to Southeast Missouri State University. Then I read about the ceiling debris at Dearmont residence hall. The student is paying $3,000 a semester to live in a room where stuff falls from the ceiling, and everyone at the university thinks its OK. Southeast, where are your priorities? I bet the university administration wouldn't put up with this for a minute if it was happening to them. Do the right thing for these students regardless of the cost.

Freedom is free

DOES ANYONE pay attention to all these meaningless phrases that spew out of their mouths? Case in point: "Freedom isn't free." Why not? Do you really believe we have to go kill people in other countries to remain free? Don't you see that it's a trite soundbite to get you to sacrifice yourself or your families for people with money and power? If we hadn't invaded Iraq, do you really think we wouldn't be free right now?

Heartwarming

IT MAY have caused apoplexy in many, but it warmed my heart to see coming together for the common good Laura Bush and Bill Clinton.

Cancer protection

APPARENTLY THE mother who doesn't want her daughter to be protected from cervical cancer and others have not read enough about HPV. It is a silent and dangerous disease. Why would any mother subject her daughter to the possible ramifications of it were it possible to prevent it? I wish this vaccine had been available years ago. It would have prevented a lot of heartache and medical issues today. Get your daughters vaccinated, please.

Visual hazards

POLITICAL CANDIDATES: Please be careful where you post your signs. You need to consider visual issues at intersections such as hills, curves and tall grass. These visual hazards are an accident waiting to happen. Please move back the signs.

Trampling on rights

TO THE caller who asked why it is so hard to put a dog on a leash in this town: it is the same lack of respect that people have when burning leaves, smoking and cursing in public. They feel it is their God-given right even if it violates other people's rights.

Price swing

SOMETHING I have always heard about gasoline prices is they always go up in the summer because gas stations want to stick it to us when we go on vacation. This summer, however, the liberal media blamed our president for increased gas prices. But the gas prices went back down the same time they always do, right after summer.

Caffeine problem

THE SCHOOL district's wellness policy is not good enough. All it does is jump through the required hoops. By no way is this in the best interest of children. Children learn about proper nutrition in various grade levels and then the Cape Girardeau district contradicts its own curriculum by offering treats and sodas. What kind of message does that send? Only diet soda will be allowed next year, the district says. What about the caffeine and phosphoric acid that leaches calcium from bones and the allowable Hershey's chocolate bars that have caffeine? Caffeinated children must make for a better learning environment. Why else would the district do that to children? Ask your school district how much money is made each year selling junk food and sodas on campus.

Ethanol concerns

I'VE SEEN a lot of opinions about ethanol plants, including the latest from the college professor at Southeast Missouri State University, which was right on. Wake up before it is to late. Don't say we didn't tell you.

Speeding officers

FRIDAY MORNING while traveling I-55 from Jackson to Perryville I checked my rearview mirror to see a police officer behind me. My speed was 70 mph and I had my seat belt on, so I kept my pace only to be passed again and again by patrol cars marked as K-9 units moving at 75-plus mph. It amazed me that the police officers who attended the Missouri Police Canine Association meeting in Cape Girardeau all felt the need to break the speed limit only to get home a few minutes sooner. But I'm sure they didn't need to worry about being stopped.

Makes me proud

THE EXPRESSIONS of love, sympathy and patriotism that were displayed at Jeremy Shank's funeral make be proud to be a resident of the Jackson area. We sent him out like the hero he is. My prayers are with the Shank family, I pray you find the strength you need to get through the hardships that have been dealt to you.

Prevention is best

RESEARCH HAS shown that cervical cancer only occurs in those who are exposed to the HPV virus, which can be spread through sexual contact. I see no problem in vaccinating teenage females against the disease. It is hard to peg an at-risk group when many parents don't even know their children are having sex.

Sweet tax

TO ALL of the parents who are outraged by the snack-food police at school: Now you know what it feels like to have your rights trampled on. It doesn't feel too good, does it? We smokers have had our rights taken away right and left. Some of us are getting a chuckle out of hearing someone else complain about something as trivial as candy at school. At least people aren't trying to tax your child's candy to an absurd point and telling overweight children that they need to lose weight. Maybe there should be a sweet tax. Obesity also has enormous health-care costs.