Speak Out A 03/25/02

Blocking traffic

ATTENTION CAB drivers: Traffic laws also apply to you. Today one of you parked broadside in both lanes of traffic in the southbound lanes of Kingshighway until the light changed to make a left onto William Street. Besides blocking two lanes of traffic for a block, what about the people you are carrying. Show a little common sense. Thanks for the near miss and mild heart attack.

Running roughshod

PLEASE STOP patronizing fundamentalist churches in order to curry their favor and support. Instead, jump their cases and remind them that they have no right to run roughshod over the constitutional rights of citizens, even in the name of religion.

Old buildings just fine

I READ with great relief that the bond issue in Cairo, Ill., failed. The taxpayers won one. One of the greatest universities in the world is Oxford University, and its buildings are hundreds of years old. Oxford has turned out fine students for hundreds of years, which goes to show one can learn in antiquated buildings. The school buildings they wanted to replace in Cairo are younger than I am. Buildings aren't the key to success. It is what one learns there and how to use it.

Antique fitness

I HOPE that when St. Francis moves Universal Fitness Center to its hospital campus that they improve get rid of some of that old equipment. Members are using weight equipment that would qualify as antique.

No academic leaders

THANK YOU for publishing "A Central Celebration, 50 Years of Cape Central High School." It's a great publication. When you're doing the different decades and listing all the people who were big in the high school, you listed the sports figures and the prom queens. But no where are the valedictorians or salutatorians listed. Those people really earned something.

Tear-jerker article

THE OP-ED article in the March 17 Southeast Missourian from our resident engineer at MoDOT was a real tear jerker. The real hooker of this article was the last sentence of paragraph three. Property owners, read that one carefully. Possibly, Scott Meyer has not heard the old adage, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

Need limit near schools

ON ROUTE K west of Wal-Mart, the speed limit is 55 mph. However, there are two schools located on that road, Eagle Ridge Christian School and Notre Dame Regional High School. There is going to be a fatal accident if the cars do not slow down. Can anything be done to lower the speed limit in the area of the schools?

Jackson's highway

PEOPLE OF Jackson should think twice before we let MoDOT ruin our chances for commercial expansion in our city. The most logical, affordable area for future commercial expansion in our town is to the west along West Jackson Boulevard. We have more everyday commuters coming from the west than in any other direction. Parkways and limited-access highways generally aren't built through the heart of residential and already developed commercial areas. The only possible solution is to give the people on the west side of Jackson the same access as the property owners along East Jackson Boulevard. Don't fall for the bullying take-it-or-leave-it tactics of MoDOT. We've watched as MoDOT has changed what's best for the people along the highway three times in the past four years. A bypass is too costly, says MoDOT, even though everyone knows this is the solution and has been for the past 20 years. Because MoDOT doesn't have the funding now, we are faced with losing our most prime area for future expansion due to this strip of concrete down the center of our highway. If you think this strip of concrete will beautify this town, drive along Highway 74 from I-55 to Sprigg Street and see how MoDOT maintains this stretch. Gravel and litter are not beautiful to me. I'll take a turn lane, please.

Pothole on Broadway

I GET tired of paying high taxes in Cape Girardeau. Consider the money we spend on streets, and what happens? You've got a pothole on Broadway already in front of McDonalds. I guess if I hit that, I can charge it to the city, can't I? Something needs to be done.

Pub-crawl disgrace

REVIEWING THE front page with our children is a way to teach our children about important current events and opens time for discussion which is not easy to do with television news. Imagine how difficult it was to explain why the pub crawlers who went to 30 bars in three hours was so important that the paper thought this account would have accomplished a good thing. For the first time I am embarrassed to live here. I hope these pub crawlers at least had the sense to have a designated driver.

Not just Catholics

WE'VE BEEN hearing a lot about priests and some of their problems. But Protestant preachers have problems too. I've seen that.

Potholes on bridge

COULD SOMETHING not be done about the old Cape Girardeau bridge? There are potholes so big in it you can practically look down and see the river. I've got a fairly new car, but by time the new bridge is built, my car will be falling apart.

Special Olympic winners

I WOULD like to congratulate the Special Olympic Wolfpack teams. They both won medals this weekend at Blue Springs, Mo., in the state tournament. One team brought home a gold, and the other brought home a silver. I'm really proud of them, and they should be proud of themselves. They all played good games.

Tax caffeine too

I SEE they're talking about raising cigarette taxes. Cigarettes are hard on you, but caffeine's also hard on you. So why don't they raise the tax on a cup of coffee and see how many people would like that?

Not fit for front page

AS THE grandmother of 14 grandchildren, I was appalled at your Monday Southeast Missourian that showed on the front page a group of people who had nothing better to do on a Sunday than crawl through 13 bars in three hours. I think you have a responsibility as a newspaper not to glamorize something like this. This newspaper goes into classrooms where children see this stuff. Is this really anything you want to have your children seeing?

Endangered evolution

IF WE really believe in evolution, why do we have the Endangered Species Act?

Not in his pocket

AND YET another column that proves David Limbaugh is not a puppet of George Bush. He criticized the president in a recent column. These people who keep saying Limbaugh is in Bush's pocket can forget about it. He's obviously not. That's two columns in one week.

Call the police

IT'S TOO bad the Catholic church is being embarrassed. But when church officials realized some of its priests were illegally abusing small children, why didn't they just call the police?

Wrong definition

I REALLY enjoy Tom Harte's food column. They're very informative and cleverly written. But I must comment on one thing. His definition of "cruise diet" as an oxymoron is not true. An oxymoron consists of words that vividly contrast with each other like "bittersweet."

School bus issue

I'M A homeowner who lives on the Highway 34-72 expansion in Jackson where they're going to have the median and four lanes. I'd like to ask someone what are they going to do about the school bus drivers. Our bus driver stops on the other side of the highway, and the kids run across to meet the bus. Are they going to have to pick kids up on one side and turn around to pick up kids on the other side? How are they going to do this? I don't think the details have been thought through.