Speak Out A 05/09/03

Small is good

WHEN WE moved to Jackson, we found out our daughter would be attending school at the Gordonville Attendance Center. On our first visit, I was not impressed with it being a small school. I only took a few days to realize this school was going to provide my daughter an opportunity to have a smaller class and more attention from her teacher. I love the Gordonville school. You could search the whole world and not find better teachers and staff. I hope the community will not let this school and others like it fade into the sunset. Being small is not a bad thing. It is a plus.

Destruction ahead

"CAN PRESIDENT Bush restore order in the GOP?" asked syndicated columnist David Broder, who seems to think that with sterner leadership Bush can right the GOP ship of state. I think Sen. Rick Santorum's sanctimony and Bill Bennett's blatant hypocrisy will destroy the Republican Party.

Concerned about safety

I AM appalled by the lack of parental supervision of the children waiting at the school bus stop at West End Boulevard near Bertling Street. I witnessed a boy running in the middle of the street with a truck almost coming to a dead stop in the road. This little boy did nothing to move to the side or to get out of the way of traffic. This is not the first time I have witnessed children in the road or too close to the line of traffic. At 7:30 in the morning there is a lot of traffic on this road with people going to work or school. The parents of these children need to be watching them, or he police need to get involved.

Improve what we have

HONESTLY, IF a water park came to Cape Girardeau, I would probably drive to Farmington or Poplar Bluff anyway. It seems to me that everything Cape gets that is potentially good turns into a disaster. I am not sure why, but I can only guess that the management is poor. For example, some excellent restaurants are super in St. Louis, but here they have poor service and bad food. I am not down on Cape. I just think more effort should be made to make the things we have better before we spend a bunch of money on something new. Just drive around and look at all the empty businesses. I agree that we need tourism, but we want to keep them coming back -- not run them away.

Protesting culture

THIS IS to everyone complaining about the River Campus. When it gets built, don't go to any event there. Protest by missing out on culture. You have obviously decided that you don't need it. Better yet, protest at the beginning of a semester when new students arrive who were attracted to SEMO because of the River Campus. I'm sure all of those complaining about Cape's economy will love it when the money starts coming in. And I'm sure Jim Drury won't allow any out-of-towners coming to the River Campus to stay at his hotels.

Our highest priority

I WOULD like to take a moment to address a few comments I have heard concerning the Jackson School District and the many ideas expressed as to how to save money. I moved to this area a little over eight years ago in an effort to find a suitable place to raise my two little girls. I have found just that in a small slice of heaven known as Jackson. If you think our taxes are too high, try paying $300 to $500 a month per child for a private school because the public school system has gotten so bad that, when tested, the seniors were reading on a third-grade level. Or try living in a town where the city parks have been fenced and locked in an effort to reduce illegal drug sales and other crime. Imagine no high school sports teams and no band. I was attracted to Jackson by the schools. I can only use one word to describe them: perfect If our children are not our first priority, then what is? If it means higher taxes, then so be it. Some things in life are more important than money.