Speak Out A 01/30/02

Plenty to do

JACKSON YOUTHS need a rec center, but the Jackson Police Department is neither big enough nor proactive enough to decrease speeding and vandalism. Shane Anderson at the Parks and Recreation Department works tirelessly to program for youths, and both public libraries do programming as well as provide written and electronic entertainment. Sports of all types abound. We have a great park. And what about kids using a little imagination to make their own fun? Parents and siblings need to forgo other activities in favor of spending more time with kids. If we put a little thought into it, there's plenty to do.

Lower the price too

THE THING that needs to happen at the Show Me Center as well as other types of social and sporting events is to reduce the price. Things that are meant to be a family outing would cost $100 or more for a family to go to. Many families don't have that much to spend at one time for entertainment. I think reducing the price would increase the volume. That would do probably as much as anything else as well as decent entertainment.

Creating jobs

I WOULD like for people who believe the proposed tax cuts unfairly benefit the rich to tell me how many jobs poor people create. Poor people take jobs, but poor people do not create jobs. Any tax increase is always passed back to the consumer.

Sleazy golf image

I THINK it's a shame that golf has acquired a sleazy image. Golf used to be a gentleman's sport. I think it's a shame to allow a tournament to be named after Hooters. Surely they can find some other restaurant to sponsor such an event.

Fighting back

ISRAEL IS not sitting back and allowing terrorists to kill its people. Israel is going after terrorists where they originate. And this is exactly what has to be done about the terrorists who attacked America and are terrorizing the whole world. President Bush knows this and is going after them and their covert sponsor, Iraq. These countries that are leveling criticism against the United States will change their tune when they become the victim of a catastrophic attack. You cannot be a patsy to terrorism. You must fight back.

Tax alternatives

ALL GOV. Bob Holden knows is taxes, taxes, taxes. He wants to raise cigarette taxes by a whopping 325 percent. That went over with the citizens of the state like a lead balloon. He wants to put the onus of state overspending on the trucking industry. We say, "No way." Why doesn't he cut some of the money from the massively over-inflated law-enforcement budget? Or stop trying to put every person in jail who is no more than a social drinker or drug user? Or release some of the people that are behind bars for non-violent crimes? Or reorganize and streamline the Division of Family Services, the second most corrupt and wasteful department in the state (the first being state law enforcement agencies)?

Progressive taxes

INCOME TAXES are not evil. They are a wonderful way of redistributing the wealth in a more equitable and just manner. However, taxes need to be more progressive, with the wealthy paying a higher percentage of income tax.

A failing grade

AS A result of his enthusiastic support for using taxpayer money to pay for students who want to attend non-public schools and his implicit endorsement of federal control of education, I give guest columnist Marc Frey of Focus on the Family a resounding F.

Were they thinking?

WHEN I was younger, kids had field parties all the time, but not like the one where the explosion occurred. We never kept gasoline anywhere near the party. I don't understand what any of the kids were thinking. I threw parties at my farm too, but I never had anyone out there who would do something like throw a closed container of gas in a fire. I want to send my heart out to the kids who were injured.